Old World Painting

Multitalented artist Roger Johnson has a passion for giving old styles a new twist.

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Filed under: Traditional, Art, Design Style

When he began to master the medium of oil painting, artist Roger Johnson's love of aged techniques led him to rediscover an ancient style of painting. Today, his oil-wash paintings are exciting examples of using an old style to create refreshing new works of art.

Roger's unique paintings begin with a pencil drawing of the landscape, portrait or still life he wishes to create. Next, he applies a turpentine wash, a combination of turpentine and oil-based paints, to the canvas drawing, a technique first used in the 15th century. Roger then redraws the image using color graphite pencils. A second turpentine wash is applied. Next, a layer of "underpainting" is applied with oil paints. This "wet over wet" technique can be repeated several times, depending on the desired depth of the turpentine wash effect.

Once the final effect is achieved, a final glaze layer of oil is added onto the dried surface. The final effect is an amazingly vivid oil painting that looks contemporary, despite its use of Old World techniques.