Husky Portrait in Casein

Casein gives you a safety net when you're painting animals because you can switch to a new pose halfway through. That's what happens during this portrait of Smooth, the husky. (Link to video on Facebook)

I start out with a sleeping pose, assuming he'll stay there longer. But the squirrels act up outside the window, and he lifts his head up to an alert pose that I like better.



Making a big change like this demands a spirit of faith and carefree risk-taking. No worries—it's just paint, and any mistake can be corrected.

With oil, it would be better to rub off a failed start, or else the paint would get muddy. But with casein, you can paint opaquely over a previous passage without lifting it up.



Smooth alternately goes to sleep, wanders off, and checks his food dish. But with a little encouragement, he comes back to the window. When he does, I make corrections and try to commit the details to memory.



I like painting animals because it keeps me on me toes as a painter, sharpening my attention and speeding my decision-making. For me, efficiency of technique and speed of execution aren't central goals of art, but they're a by-product of a heightened state of consciousness.
-----
I'm editing a 15 minute version this (very detailed step by step) that I'll release in a future tutorial on animal painting.
Check out my casein painting tutorial video:
Download "Casein Painting in the Wild" at Gumroad
Download "Casein Painting in the Wild" at Sellfy: Buy now
DVD from the manufacturer (ships worldwide)
Gurney's Casein 6 Pack is white, black, cobalt blue, raw umber, Venetian red, and yellow ochre
Pentalic 5" x 8" watercolor book

How I start a casein painting

I often approach a casein or gouache painting with two passes: a semi-transparent lay-in of the big shapes, followed opaques, going for the details last.

The surface is a Pentalic watercolor journal. Here's a big blowup of the page so you can see the finished sketch up close. Note that "PALACE HOTEL" is painted dark over light.

The limited palette of the Gurney 6 Pack is enough for this subject: Colors include titanium white, ivory black, Venetian red, yellow ochre, and cobalt blue. The cobalt blue mixed with Venetian red makes a nice near-black that I use as a base for the shadow. Note the partial mixtures in the shadow..

(Link to watch video on YouTube)
My Gumroad tutorial: Casein Painting in the Wild
On Amazon: Casein 6 Pack
Casein six pack with travel brush set

Casein in International Artist Magazine

The new Feb/March 2017 issue of International Artist magazine has an article on casein painting with facsimile pages from my sketchbook reproduced nearly full size.

It also includes the following answers to frequently asked questions:

CAN YOU VARNISH CASEIN?
Yes, but first it’s worth considering leaving the casein unvarnished. The matte surface can be very attractive, and it photographs well. The value range can be extended in Photoshop after it’s shot. You can also buff the surface with a T-shirt to give it semi-gloss. For a shinier surface and deeper darks, there are two choices. First is the liquid varnish, applied with a brush. Wait at least a week or two before varnishing. Brush it on lightly to avoid disturbing the dry paint.

A spray varnish can also work. Both brush-on and spray-on varnishes require several coats because they tend to soak into the surface, especially if the painting is done on absorbent paper or illustration board. For those substrates, it can take over four coats before you start seeing much gloss or darkening of the darks. A surface primed at the beginning with gesso, or a thick layer of casein that fills the paper’s pores allows the varnish to float on the surface more.

HOW FAST DOES CASEIN DRY?
Drying time depends on the heat and humidity, as with other water media such as acrylic and gouache. It will dry to the touch anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or so. You can slow the drying time of the paint blobs on the palette by squeezing out the tubes on damp paper towels. A spritz of water from a spray bottle can also keep it alive a little longer. Casein is unusual in that the proteins in the milk emulsion continue to strengthen after the paint has dried to the touch. So after a few days or weeks, the paint will be more durable than paint that has just dried.

PRO TIP:  GETTING THE FEEL OF CASEIN
Casein can be used semitransparently, but it has great opacity when you need it. The paint has a unique, unforgettable aroma. The milk-based binder seals each layer enough so that the paint won’t reactivate with later application. The paint dries to an attractive matte surface that photographs very well, particularly in saturated tints, which is one of the reasons it was so popular with early illustrators.

The issue has features on Linda Gendall, Geoffrey Johnson, Mark Harrison, Robert Brindley, Jacqui Grantford, David Kitler, Amanda Hyatt, and Tiziana Ciaghi.

Links and resources

"Casein Painting in the Wild"
HD Digital download on Gumroad (Credit cards)
HD Digital download on Sellfy (Paypal) Buy now
DVD at Kunaki (ships worldwide) or Amazon
Casein Explorers Pack (12) (A good introductory palette that gives you pretty wide gamut.)
Casein 6 Pack (On its own, it's a rather muted palette. It makes a good supplement to the 12 pack.)
Casein 6-pack with travel brush set (Same set as above with the short-handled set).

Linkology 
Instagram @jamesgurneyart
Twitter @GurneyJourney
Facebook JamesMGurney
iOS app GurneyJourney Blog
Pinterest GurneyJourney

YouTube GurneyJourney

Broken Aspen

When we set up to paint, we didn't know we were standing in the middle of the moose's salad bar. Luckily they left us alone. If you're getting this post by email, you may need to follow this YouTube link to see the video.

I'm focusing on a single broken aspen, selecting the central area for a lot of careful detail, and letting the detail module broaden on the outside edges.

Let me take a question from Philip Ackermann on my Instagram page:
"I was always wondering... is there any problem with the colors becoming dull/sinking in or darkening upon drying? Let us take a value scale from 0-10. Zero is glossy black oil paint. Relative to that - where is the darkest achievable value with casein on that scale? I hope this does not seem like a foolish concern, but it really bugs me when painting with acrylics."

Phillip, that's not a foolish concern at all. I've found that with gouache or casein, the darkest darks will never be as deep as is possible in oil, where you can use glazes and varnishes and keep a shiny surface.

You can varnish casein with a brush-on or spray-on varnish like Krylon Crystal Clear and get the darks back, but I think the paint lends itself to an aesthetic that's different from the tenebrism of Caravaggio and many oil painters.

Casein seems to favor a lighter approach, with the beauty in the variety of color in the lights. Here are a few tips:
1. Try to push your values into a light group (8-9 by your scale) and a dark group (1-2).
2. Avoid middle tones. That's where the dullness comes from. Also avoid pure white and pure black.
3. Always try to get color character in your darks. Make them definitely cool or warm, and alternate the colors within the dark group.
4. To practice getting the values right, work in grisaille or very limited warm/cool palettes.

Learn more with these links
Previous blog post: My Favorite Gouache Masters
Wikipedia page on how an aspen forest is one giant organism
Our painting companion is Carl Bork
Krylon Crystal Clear
Casein Explorer's Set
Gumroad video: Casein Painting in the Wild
Watch my casein video

Charley Parker on Casein

Charley Parker of the blog "Lines and Colors" has written a well-illustrated and comprehensive post on painting in casein, as well as a review of my recent video "Casein Painting in the Wild."

"Casein is one of the least familiar of the water based painting mediums available to contemporary painters, even though it’s one of the oldest painting mediums known. Casein’s use can be reliably traced back over 9,000 years, with evidence of the formulation in cave paintings, and examples have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs from several thousand years ago....Personally, I find casein to be a genuine pleasure to work with. I like the way it flows and handles, the textural possibilities and the appealing color and matte surface in finished paintings."

Painting with Casein Paint
Review of "Casein Painting in the Wild" on Lines and Colors 

A guy comes up to me while I'm painting....

One of the things I love about painting outdoors is meeting the locals. While painting in Salida, Colorado, I chatted a bit with artist Ronald E. Paine.

The painting is in casein and gouache. The full account of the technique of the painting is on my new video Casein in the Wild. If you're getting this post by email, you may need to follow this link to watch the video.

Take your paints to the streets

Gumroad (Credit cards)Digital download (HD 1080p 3.1G MP4)

Find out more about Casein
Sellfy (Paypal) Digital download (HD 720p 1.5G)
DVD at Kunaki (ships worldwide) or Amazon
Casein Explorers Pack (12) (A good introductory palette that gives you a pretty wide gamut.)
Casein 6 Pack (The colors I used for this painting. On its own, it's a rather muted palette. It can be used on its own and it also makes a good supplement to the 12 pack.)
Casein 6-pack with travel brush set (Same set as above with the short-handled brushes).

Casein Palette

A few people asked about setting up a casein palette. I made this palette out of a metal lid from a colored pencil box that I spray-painted white. The steel tray holds onto the magnets embedded in my homemade palette.

Those colors give a pretty wide gamut. I often squeeze them onto a damp paper towel to keep them moist longer. I don't usually use a palette knife for pre-mixing, but sometimes it helps to set up some gradated pools of color. They only stay wet for 10 minutes for so, but having them there can encourage bolder and thicker handling.

This image is from "Portraits in the Wild."

The new release is "Casein Painting in the Wild"

Casein in the Wild

Painting Without an Underdrawing

Drawing is not just what you do with a pencil. You can draw with a brush too. (Link to YouTube)

CM Ranch, casein, 5 x 8 inches

And with this motif, I decided to draw the horses and fences with my paint brush, working from background to foreground.

Excerpt from my new tutorial, "Casein Painting in the Wild."

Treat yourself to inspiration

Gumroad (Credit cards)Digital download (HD 1080p 3.1G MP4)
Sellfy (Paypal) Digital download (HD 720p 1.5G)
Buy now
DVD at Kunaki (ships worldwide) or Amazon
Casein Explorers Pack (12) (A good introductory palette that gives you a pretty wide gamut.)
Casein 6 Pack (The colors I used for this painting. On its own, it's a rather muted palette. It can be used on its own and it also makes a good supplement to the 12 pack.)
Casein 6-pack with travel brush set (Same set as above with the short-handled brushes).

Solar Flare Underpainting

Here's a mini video showing how to prep your sketchbook page with a solar flare underpainting. (Link to watch video on YouTube).

Here's what the page looked like as I was preparing it. It's good practice to do those gradations with a big flat brush, wet into wet.

When I painted this, I didn't know what I would choose for the final subject, but I had to find a view facing toward the sun, where a dark object blocks the light. Note that there's a gradation in the sky, too, going from pale yellow to a cooler and darker tone at the edges.

This is an excerpt from my new video tutorial, "Casein in the Wild."

----

Treat yourself to inspiration!

Gumroad (Credit cards)Digital download (HD 1080p 3.1G MP4)
Sellfy (Paypal) Digital download (HD 720p 1.5G)
Buy now
DVD at Kunaki (ships worldwide) or Amazon
Casein Explorers Pack (12) (A good introductory palette that gives you pretty wide gamut.)
Casein 6 Pack (The colors I used for this painting. On its own, it's a rather muted palette. It can be used on its own and it also makes a good supplement to the 12 pack.)
Casein 6-pack with travel brush set (Same set as above with the short-handled brushes).

Painting Amid Chaos

One of the biggest challenges of plein-air painting is maintaining focus while unpredictable things happen around you. A park should be a calm, peaceful place to paint, right?

This excerpt from "Casein Painting in the Wild captures a little of the fun when we painting in Montreal last summer. (Link to watch video on YouTube)

Square Phillips, Montreal, casein, 5x8 inches

Have you faced similar challenges? Tell your tale in the comments.

Links and resources

"Casein Painting in the Wild"
Gumroad (Credit cards)Digital download (HD 1080p 3.1G MP4)
Sellfy (Paypal) Digital download (HD 720p 1.5G) Buy now
DVD at Kunaki (ships worldwide) or Amazon
Casein Explorers Pack (12) (A good introductory palette that gives you pretty wide gamut.)
Casein 6 Pack (The colors I used for this painting. On its own, it's a rather muted palette. It can be used on its own and it also makes a good supplement to the 12 pack.)
Casein 6-pack with travel brush set (Same set as above with the short-handled brushes).

Previous related post
Gamestoppers (46 comments)