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Easy Oil Paintings new happenings and tips
December 07, 2014

Hello!

* How to photograph your work.

* The Gray Under Painting, why we do it.

* The Poinsettia, do you know its story?

* How to Make your own easel, cheap!

* Two Golden Nuggets from contributors

* Christmas Sale is on!

* Pinterest?, Facebook? Twitter? *

Here's your latest edition of Easy Oils Blast! A blast of new information, paintings and demonstrations in oil painting.

So lets get started with some really great information!

How to photograph your art.

I have an entire section on the site that discusses the ins and outs of photographing your work. In todays world, it's simply a must for you to be able to spread the word (and pictures) of your artwork if you're in the business of selling it.

I've added a short film on how to completely eliminate glare. This is especially important if your work is behind glass, or you paint in oils that have a shiny finish.

photograph art remove glare

The Gray underpainting, why we do it.

Here's another part of the flemish process that folks like to work around. Some can do, some can't. I'm in-between. Some paintings done without this layer seem to work ok, but some simply don't have the depth that doing this seems to give your painting. Those tricky half shadows that seem colorless are so hard to create without the gray under painting. Once completed, a simple glaze of color into that half shadow and full shadow will have that richness and depth that will have folks wondering how you did it!

Click here to get even more details on this important part of your painting tool box.

The Poinsettia, do you know its story?

This time of year always brings these beautiful plant to our attention. Do you know the story behind it? It's known as a Lobster Plant, a mexican fire plant, a flame leaf. So how's it associated with Christmas? Find out here, The Poinsettia, so much is behind this little plant!

How to make your own easel, cheap!

So, this link is going to take you to a YouTube channel. It's done by a great artist, Mark Carder. He has some great free instructional videos, and I thought this one was particularly good.

In the video, he puts together a great and sturdy easel using simple tools and 2" x 4" lumbar.

Click below to see it, and while you're there, check out some of his other cool stuff.

Mark Carder Video on making an easel

Golden Nuggets from contributors.

This painting was submitted by Barbara, and what a beauty. She's also included all of her progress images from sketch to finished painting. Go see her work!

Here's another work done by Lori! The composition and handling of the sea shell, pearls, and ribbon are simple wonderful. Congratulations in creating a great piece.

Check out her talk here!

Christmas Sale is ON!

So, some of the Christmas lights are up, and plans in place as family and friends schedule their comings and goings for the celebrations to happen soon.

Then, my web guru says it's time to run the sale, so, if you've been undecided about picking up the e-Book or the DVD on the Flemish technique used to create these works, now is the time.

As you know if you've been on the site for a while, I only do this a very few times (twice usually) a year. It's just too much computer time for me. I'd rather be painting then changing price schemes and ads.

Pinterest fan base is amazing!

Don't get left behind. This is one of the fastest growing social media sites out there, and it's perfect for artists like you and me! You will find throughout the site a new button. They will look similar to one of these below:

What are they all about? This is a social media site similar to facebook, or tweeter, but it's based on images only. This is an artist's dream! Soooo many pictures, but not enough time to see them all.

The buttons above send you to my page, but once your registered, you'll have your own page to set up and start collecting your favorite images!

If you really like a painting or image found on the site (Easy Oil Techniques), feel free to push that little button underneath the image!

It will post the image to the Pinterest site. You do need to go through a simple registration process, but you will not be disappointed. The pictures available are simple amazing and will truly get your creative juices flowing with ideas for your next painting project!

Facebook Like it please!

Don't forget the great addition to the site is the Facebook application!

If you're a Facebook Fan, then you'll appreciate this. You can "like" a page, and comment on it's contents so your Facebook friends can see what all the hub-bub is about, and where you spend your valuable hours learning on how to paint great things!

Spread the word! Click on the like buttons and give me your comments on the site! You don't even have to leave the site, it's all right there for your convenience.

And our readers love 'em!

Also, in the upper right hand corner of most pages, you can find my Facebook page, and follow along activities that I post in-between ezine issues.

I'm now on Twitter! I find that if you reply to me rather then direct message (DM), I'll be able to find you easier. I get so much spam these days, I rarely check my direct messages in twitter any longer.

You can follow me, and I'll follow you back, but do reply to me that you are following so's I can follow you back! just tweet an "@delmus" in your tweet box!

Follow me on Twitter

Well I hope the information was useful to you. Future ezines will be in a similar format, just different information.

Let me know what you think! Have I helped you in any way? Twitter me, or drop me an email. I would love to see some of your work!

Till next time!

This is Delmus Phelps wishing you a happy painting day!

If you missed the 1st issue of the ezine, you can get it here, Ezine Back Issues.