Paint Effects & An Art School in Paris

Ryan gave a lot of great information about colors and painting mediums at his workshop: which ones to use, how to use them, and how to get certain effects. a great base for flesh tone is genuine vermillion, lemon ochre, lazurite (lapis lazuli) and lead white.

Orange Molybdate is great for warmth in flesh tones.

Ryan almost never uses cadmium orange, accept maybe for a fall painting. Gamblin’s Asphaltum is a nice reddish transparent brown that’s great for open grisaille studies or as an ‘imprimatura’.

As for ‘sinking in’, most colors do that to different degrees depending on the surface you paint on. This requires that you oil out your surface before painting into it, so you can see the color and value as it should be. You can “oil out” the painting by using ½ mineral spirits and ½ oleogel (Natural Pigments) to build a couche (a layer) you will immediately paint into, or 3 parts mineral spirits and 1 part oleogel in the places you don’t intend to paint into. This will bring the vibrancy back to the painting everywhere, making it easier to make relative decisions about color and value, as well as creating a great surface to work into, in the areas where you built the couche.

Ryan is working toward making an art school in Paris. His vision is to establish a 6 year academy. What Juliard is for music, the CAS would be for painting.

Envisioned future school in France

He plans to also revive the concept of the Prix de Rome competition, which was an arts scholarship created in 1663 for students who proved their talents in a qualifying competition.

The prize was a fully paid 3-5 year continuation of a students art education that acted as, not only a platform by which the students were introduced to collectors and patrons, but also a transitional period that allowed the students to transition from being students to being catapulted into their professional careers. The winners got to live at the Palazzo Mancini for free. How great is that!

Prix de Roma