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Tad Spurgeon

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Modifying the modernist malaise.

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Solvent-free painting in a variety of styles can be done simply using the putty medium. Following is
a step-by-step illustrated tutorial about making an example putty from beginning to end.

Putty is principally made from


stone dust and oil, a few other
ingredients come into play in
small amounts. The oil in tube
paint is raw and makes a
relatively weak paint film. The
putty
oil
is
therefore
engineered to be stronger by
using no raw oil. However,
thicker or prepolymerized oils
need to be used with care in
more traditional styles of
realism -- at about 5 to 10
percent of the total oil amount - as they can easily create a
paint which is over-saturated
and difficult to manipulate.
Illustrated here are a variety of
oils that might be used. From
left: Allback boiled linseed oil, aged a year in the light, a mixture of leaded walnut oils, all also preheated, Burnt Plate Oil #7, another pre-heated leaded walnut oil, a pre-heated walnut oil. More
information about the oil can be found here.

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First step, the oil is mixed into


the bowl. In this case, I'm
replicating a putty recipe that
worked out well with a few
small changes. The oil can be
all thin, in this case the putty
will dry matte. Adding small
amounts of pre-polymerized oil
-- such as sun oil, stand oil,
Burnt Plate Oil -- will give the
putty more saturation. These
seem to work best at about 5
to 10 percent of the total oil.
Burnt Plate Oil especially
needs to be used in small
amounts if control and
relatively normal paint handling
-- and drying -- are important.
All of these factors of course
depend on the look the painter wants. Because the putty is inherently stable, its parameters can -especially on panels -- be pushed much further than other mediums without any technical issues
occurring.

Next, the egg is broken and


separated. The white gets
beaten a little, but not enough
to make glair. The yolk is
reserved in this case, although
putty can be made with egg
yolk for use on panels. This
paint has a soft saturation
similar to tempera grassa if
egg yolk is added as 5 to 10
percent of the putty.

The egg white is added to the


o i l . Egg white creates a
seizing of the putty which
requires more oil, resulting in a
putty with more movement.
This putty will be used on
panels, for use on canvas it
would be best to use egg white
in smaller amount, at about 5
percent of the liquid totals. Egg
is, in any case, optional.
Without egg, the putty is more
adhesive and tends to make
low impasto or none at all.

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The egg white is mixed


thoroughly into the oil. It can
form a loose emulsion, as
here.

Various forms of stone dust


can be used in putty, but the
principle one is calcium
carbonate. The various forms
of calcium carbonate all
perform a little differently.
Chalk is more absorbent, the
crystalline forms such as
marble dust or calcite less so.
Fine chalk is quite glutinous,
coarser chalk more mobile. In
practice none of these
differences matter that much - they all work, they all stabilize
and buffer the paint -- unless
you need a certain degree of
fineness for the style. For very
fine work this can be
important. This particular putty
is being made with 1/3 cup each of Kremer Calcite, Graphic Chemical French Chalk, and a fine
Omya marble dust.

}Dry ingredients added to wet.


It's always a good idea to wear
a particle mask for this.

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Beginning to incorporate dry


ingredients.

It looked a little wet so I added


more calcite. Unless using a
quality scale, putty is a
relatively inexact science, but
one learns more about what
various rheologies will do on
the palette from experience.

How tight or loose you make


the putty depends on how you
work and the specific
combination of ingredients. I
make it on the loose side when
it's going in a tube, because it
sets up a bit with age. On
panels putty can be applied
like mortar, but for canvas it
can simply be used as an
extender and strengthener of
smooth paint.

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One final ingredient, a


tablespoon of bentonite. This
complex clay is never very
light but even a small amount
will make a putty more springy
or boingy.

Putting the putty into a large


tube. This is not necessary,
but ensures long shelf life for a
recipe that you like. I'd also
recommend working with the
putty more informally for a
while as just chalk and oil
before tubing it, you can cover
more conceptual territory
quickly this way.

The final product, ready to


extend and strengthen tube
paint. Recipe in this case is:
7T pre-heated and/or leaded
oil, 1egg white, 1 cup assorted
calcium carbonate, 1 T
bentonite. About half the
amount of egg white would be
preferable
on
stretched
canvas.
Putty recipes tend to continue
to evolve with experience, as
the paint suggests different
ways it might be configured.
The recipe track may slow
down getting to know the

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material, however. It may be


helpful to work with a simple
wet-dry mix of chalk and oil on the palette for a time before making up a particular or more
complicated formula.

The putty changes color behavior. Here are samples of terra rosa, green earth, and ultramarine
blue.

The samples above cut progressively with putty. While these colors are lighter, they have
significantly more chroma than a similar value made with white. If this is making the hairs on the
back of your neck stand on end, thank you. The putty brightens the colors, and gives them a lighter,
more aerated quality. Using the putty allows a great deal more apparent color to come from a
simple earth color palette by sequestering the use of white to specific areas of the painting. This
was of course the foundation of many different 17th Century techniques.

more putty information

The putty medium can be


configured in many ways. It will
make paint which is thin and
smooth as well as paint which
is rough and broken. It acts
both physically and chemically
to stabilize the paint film. It will
not, however, make you
breakfast. Almost all work on
this site from the last three
years is made with the putty
medium and no additional
res in. This is an extremely
versatile and tough material.

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More putty process details to be found here.


More putty history and instructional text, including a variety of recipes, can be found here.
Detail below of alla prima study of onions from 2007 made with a simple chalk-oil putty.

For further information on technique or a specific painting please contact tadspurgeon@comcast.net


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