The Process of Creation

Classical Academic Oil Painting in the Italian Renaissance manner is the method of choice for Darin when creating his exceptional reproductions of the old masters works.  This is the only way a discerning art collector should accept or commission a reproduction of an original work… and why Darin’s original reproductions are consistently appraised so high… because he ensures the process is exactly how the original work was created in the first place. 

With the exception of liquin, an additive to the oil paint medium to help it dry faster, the process and finished product are almost exact in the fashion of the old masters and will last for hundreds of years as well as assuring the increasing value of your investment.

Darin, like the Masters, has been trained in the use of the Italian Il Metodo Grata which ensures accurate likeness as well as Ricomporre, the Italian solution to creative composition via the ancient Golden Mean which is constantly stressed, in an effort to perpetuate the Classical Academic tradition exactly as the masters understood and used it.

As with anything of value, this process is anything but quick. From the preparation of the panel (board) or canvas that takes days in itself, or next the charcoal sketch process,… to the under painting, completely crafted monochromatically in grey-green values called Verdaccio before any color is introduced, you can be assured that your painting has been painstakingly created in the exact process as the masters used. 

Learning the craft of the Italian Renaissance manner is not a “quick fix”. During the Renaissance, an apprentice was required to spend a minimum of two years Sketching from plaster casts and live models; the next two years were spent painting monochromatically in the grey-green values of Verdaccio; the fifth year was the introduction to Color Theory and application which could continue depending on the situation and the apprentice’s abilities. Most color was achieved through the layering of semi transparent glazes except for the final step of applying the flesh values, which has quite the recipe to follow for this more direct method of painting to be accurate.

The best supports other than canvas or linen for classical academic paintings are un-tempered masonite panels. In preparation of these panels, Darin uses 40 grit sandpaper to remove the shine, and then cleans off the excess residue. Next, he applies one thin coat of Frank Covino classical renaissance Gesso (it has marble dust already in it) and is rolled onto the board with a fine nap or sponge roller. Next he thins Frank’s Gesso with 1/3 water to 2/3 matte Polymer Medium. The first coat is 1/3 thinner to 2/3 Covino Renaissance Gesso. He has to allow this to dry and then he coats the back and sides of the panel as well.

After this process has happened over the course of several days usually, Darin then applies 3 to 5 coats of un-thinned Gesso on the working surface of the board, sanding between coats to maintain a problem free surface. For history sake and a point of interest, Raphael used a minimum of 8 coats of this same type of Gesso. Coating the board with Gesso that has marble dust in it virtually creates a rock like finish to be painted on and ensures that your painting will stand up to the test of time by not allowing the painting to flex and move. Even when painting on canvas, these same techniques are used and then the canvas is mounted to board simply because some people prefer the look that canvas or linen has.  Darin makes sure that the value will last by mounting the canvas to board in the same manner as the masters used to do it.

Brush selection includes Bright sable #2,4, 10, round pointed sable #1,8, Bright Bristle #2,4,10, Round Bristle #0,8 are typically all that might be used to complete an entire painting. And working on gesso with marble dust usually chews through several brushes until there is a sufficient amount of paint on the painting to protect the fine bristles from being worn off.

Paints for under painting: ivory black, chromium oxide green, and flake white are used to create our Verdaccio palette which is formulated in values from 0 to 10 by 10% as a graduated value range similar to the palette of Leonardo da Vinci, which inspired such notable illustrators as Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Harvey Dunn, Frank Reilly and their followers, and of course lets not forget the great Norman Rockwell.

For the over painting stage Darin switches to titanium white, thalo green, thalo blue, mars black, cadmium yellow light, yellow ochre, raw sienna, raw umber, cadmium orange, burnt sienna, burnt umber, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, cobalt or manganese violet, ultramarine violet, French ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, cerulean blue, viridian, shiva cadmium green, grumbacher thalo yellow green, winsor orange, Indian yellow, zinc yellow, and winsor bright red. From these base colors, he can mix virtually any color of glaze or direct value that he might need in a specific painting.

The colors needed for the direct and final stage of painting the skin are titanium white, mars black, and zinc yellow for the yellow green grey palette, and then the other colors depending on the skin type and the subject matter’s color… and lets not forget the all important blood colors that give your painting life.

And finally, Darin over the course of 8 years has received this vital information and personal guidance from an Italian-American artist, Frank Covino, who has several decades of experience in the craft of his ancestors along with Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Art Teacher Education from Pratt Institute.

76 year old Frank Covino conducts more Nationwide Workshops than any other professional artist in the country and two Graduate Credits are now offered for 60 hours of Frank Covino Workshop attendance in the state of Colorado; this honor is unprecedented!

Since Frank began teaching in 1962, he has helped to create over 15,000 works of art in his classroom. Covino Students are among the highest paid professional and semiprofessional artists in the world and Darin is no exception. 

“I hope that you have found this section interesting and informative and if you would like any further information regarding anything you have read above, please contact me directly as I would be thrilled to answer your questions.” 

Darin
 

The Difficult Lesson - on panel - Work in progress

the Difficult Lesson Finished

First you need to decide on a size and the content of your painting. Like the painting above you will want to consider the type of background you want and how close you want the image to be to the viewer. It is a good idea to have Darin help you with these questions as well as the outer dimensions of your painting once you have decided on the basic size and subject matter. This will ensure the most important part of the layout is done correctly and uses the same proven layout concepts that the masters used. Are you familiar with the Golden Mean?

Darin uses the Golden Mean in the same manner as the old Masters did. They understood the relations to space, and objects and how to understand and apply the formula to everything that they created.  The golden mean manifests itself regularly around us. Coming soon on this website... more information on the Golden Mean.

More information here on commissions....

Le Inocence - Detail on Canvas by Darin Ashby

The Knitting Girl - Work in progress

Darin's previous project in progress...

The Storm Sketch on Board - First Step

The Storm - Underpainting completed