Page 10 - George O'Hanlon
George O’Hanlon is the technical director of Natural Pigments, and executive director of Iconofile, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to promoting understanding of sacred art. George received his fine arts education and apprenticeship in Mexico. Upon return to the United States, he worked as creative director for advertising agencies in Silicon Valley, working on such major accounts as Sony, Hewlett-Packard, and Ricoh. He founded an agency later acquired by the chemical giant, Shin-Etsu. There he served as vice-president of U.S. marketing. In 1992, he studied traditional art techniques abroad. Then in 2001, co-founded Iconofile and in 2003 Natural Pigments to promote an understanding of these practices. Since that time he has formulated hundreds of artists’ paints and materials, including Ceracolors, a waterborne wax paint.
- November 21, 2015 857
Over time, the appearance of paintings change not only because of accumulated dirt but also because aging itself alters the materials that make up the painting. Besides the build-up of dust, dirt, and grime (i.e., soot, nicotine, etc.), the gradual yellowing and cracking of the varnish layer alters the image. This article gives artists practical and safer methods to clean their own paintings than what is currently taught or practiced by artists. The cleaning methods demonstrated in this article apply specifically to oil paintings, but the techniques and materials can also be used with additional precautions on gouache and tempera paintings...
- November 21, 2015 1740
The second step in cleaning paintings is the removal of more tenacious dust and dirt by dry cleaning with dry sponges or tacky materials. Further cleaning may require the use of aqueous cleaning methods...
- November 21, 2015 2522
The first step in cleaning a painting is the removal of loose dust and dirt. This can be accomplished with brushing, dusting, or vacuuming. Further cleaning may require the use of dry cleaning materials and aqueous cleaning methods...
- November 21, 2015 3882
The final step in cleaning a painting is by methods using water. Water is more invasive than dusting and dry cleaning, but is effective in removing contaminants that adhere to the painting’s surface...
- October 01, 2015 2627
This three-day workshop will give you the skills to complete fresco painting for walls and portable panels. The course begins with hands-on instruction on applying plaster. Using a prototype, you draw and paint the cartoon, transfer it to the plaster and begin painting the image. At the end of this workshop, you will complete a portable fresco to take home with you...
- August 10, 2015 2319
Rublev Colours lead whites are made with basic lead carbonate (made according to modern processes) ground in oil without additives (such as stearates, a common pigment stabilizer found in all other commercial brands) to alter the characteristics of the pigment. As a result, you get a higher pigment volume concentration (PVC) than other brands of lead white (flake white). This means most brands of flake white in oversized tubes do not weigh nearly as much as Rublev Colours lead white in our standard 50-milliliter tube. Yet, Rublev Colours Lead White is not overly stiff and mixes well with all other oil colors...
- July 23, 2015 239
Panel discussion examines painting materials and artistic practice through the ages with a special focus on oil painting. The discussion includes thirty-minute lectures by Brian Baade and Kristen deGehtaldi, painting conservators from the Winterthur/University of Delaware, and George O'Hanlon, technical director of Natural Pigments...
- June 26, 2015 4624
This is a tutorial on preparing the grinding tools and dispersing pigments into the water to make your water-based paint. This technique can be used to prepare dispersions of pigment in water to be mixed with gum arabic solution for watercolors, egg yolk for egg tempera, casein solution for casein paint, animal glue for distemper, and use in fresco painting. The same technique can be used to disperse pigments in preparation for making pastels and pigment sticks...
- May 14, 2015 5036
Resins-based paint mediums consist of resin, such as dammar or mastic, dissolved in a solvent and combined with oil used in megilp, Maroger, and other popular oil painting mediums. Oleoresimus mediums became popular in the nineteenth century. This article examines the advantages, if any, and problems associated with using oleoresinous mediums in oil painting...
- February 27, 2015 1296
Oil paint darkens and becomes increasingly translucent as it ages. These changes may cause visible disfigurement of paintings, and although the phenomenon has been extensively studied, the causes are not definitely known at present. This article presents evidence that demonstrates how improper technique and materials in the ground layer can lead to ruined paintings...
