whitbeck-notes-winter-2024-25

Whitbeck Notes

Winter 2024/25

Figure eight was the usual pattern, the motion best used for grinding. Left hand gripping the handle, right hand cupped on the top adding slight downward pressure, the muller gliding smoothly atop the glass pallet slowly working the pigment down to a buttery consistency. Depending on the color and the application the idea was not to totally obliterate the fine particles. Years of building up knowledge over using oil as a vehicle for pigment has shown that having those miniscule little particles in your paint were beneficial in catching the light and making for a more vibrant color. Without these intact particles some colors would lose their luster. And it did not take Thomasz long to get this down and understand that certain feel of the muller pushing the oil and pigment over the glass pallet to know when to stop. A few times early on in the apprenticeship Johannes had to have him continue on with the mulling after checking the consistency and once or twice it was overworked and Thomasz had to start again. But he was a year on now in Johannes' studio and after hundreds of times of this daily morning ritual he got the feel for it and Jan no longer needed to watch over him.

Leiden, 1632 in the studio of Johannes

Upon arriving at the studio early in the morning Thomasz would find the list of colors needed to be mulled left by Jan the day before. Sometimes it was his job to make the short walk to the apothecary shop a couple of streets over to purchase certain pigments that were running low. Amongst the herbs, spices and other ingredients used for various medicines, you would also find rows of glass bottles holding the different colored pigments used by the numerous other painting trades. Some were minerals from as far away as Afghanistan (click here for the WN's on mining lapis lazuli in Afghanistan), some were crushed up insects and others were plant based, all making for a pleasing visual, colorfully arranged behind the apothecaries counter.

Sometimes paint was submerged in water to make it last into the following day or days, the extra paint that had not been used by the end of the studio day. But for the most part, just enough paint was ground up for what the master painter needed at the time.

It could be that Johannes was working on the figures in a religious piece, or a history painting as they were sometimes called, and so would need the various colors used for the flesh tones. Or it could be the day when the final details of the Turkish carpet in a grand still life (a pronk stilleven) were going in and so vermillion, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and white would be on that list. Or maybe it was a fruit still life on the easel and the oranges would need lead-tin yellow, vermillion, raw umber and white. You always needed white.

The beginning stage of a painting, the underpainting, used a lot of whatever color was preferred by the artist. The underpainting was basically a monochromatic rendering of the finished piece, establishing the lights and darks, "setting" the image onto your canvas or panel. Some studios preferred raw umber, some a more silvery gray, and yet some went for a red ocher feel, it really depended on what you were painting and your technique. But Johannes preferred raw umber for his still life paintings and would often work on two or even three paintings at the same time. And so when it was a day of starting up a few new pieces Thomasz would find in the morning, on his list at the mulling table the name of just one pigment: raw umber.

Of course Thomasz would have other tasks as an apprentice, like that of preparing the surfaces of panel or canvas, or stretching canvases. There was enough to do that the day was often broken up into different projects and there was never the monotony of doing the same thing every day. As most of these prepping stages were somewhat physical (anyone who has spent sometime with a muller grinding paint will know that the forearm gets a good workout) it was always a nice change of pace when Thomasz was asked to do some easel work.

This came over time, gradually, and would always start with learning the skill of drawing. But by after the first year he was finding himself more and more at the easel. Sometimes he was asked just to work in some foliage on one of Jans landscapes, or it was that he was needed to paint the clothing of one of the figures in a history piece while Jan worked on the face and hands, something that needed more skill and experience.

In the 17th century, painting was considered a trade, just like that of a cobbler or a tailer or a carpenter and apprenticeship was one of the required stages to being allowed access into that certain trades guild and becoming ones own master. It was required and Jan ran a good studio with a good reputation, one that Thomasz would spend the next few years in, learning the ways of the artist, working his way up to the final test of painting his own masterpiece, the painting that would allow him into the Leiden Painters Guild and the life of being his own master painter with his own working studio with his own apprentices.

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I have to say that if I was painting as more for a hobby I would for sure be grinding my own pigments, stretching and traditionally preparing my own canvases and panels and fully embracing the old studio practices. Its fascinating! But as the time it takes to prep in this way takes much time and effort, taking away from actual painting time, I think that I will have to save all of that fun stuff for retirement, or get an apprentice! Plus, the quality of the paints and materials these days allows for me to not have to rely on producing them myself.

I am looking forward to our first artshow tour in Florida this coming March. Get ready you Floridians, as you will be the first ones to view all of the many new paintings that have been completed over these past fall and winter months. You will have the benefit of seeing them all together before they begin to be sold, you will be able to enjoy all of my many hours, days and months of accumulated creativity laid out before you on the walls of my tent. As I am writing this I am still quite busy in the studio, finishing up paintings, and I hope to have completed about thirty pieces all together.

I am very much looking forward to getting them out of my storage boxes in the studio and finally viewing them together all in one space. So be sure to make one of the two Florida shows this March, first Vero Beach and then Winter Park. Click here to view the Art Shows page of my website. Here you will also find the official show websites with more information.

All my best,

James Whitbeck

www.jameswhitbeck.com

whitbeckstudios@gmail.com

(413) 695.3937