Venus Genetrix
20x30
Alla prima painting using copal medium (Robert Doak)
Oil on Linen

Crete beach

8x10
Alla prima painting using copal medium (Robert Doak)
Oil on Linen sold

Paleocastro beach

8x10
Alla prima painting using copal medium (Robert Doak)
Oil on Linen sold

Whispering Brook
20x30
Alla prima painting using copal medium (Robert Doak)
Oil on Linen

La Entrada - Valparaiso Chile
20x30
Bistre drawing, and glazes
Oil on Linen

Adriatic Sea Breeze
22x30
Croatia
Bistre drawing, and glazes
Oil on Linen

Untitled
30x40
Oregon, USA
Bistre drawing, and glazes
Oil on Linen

Agates
32x32
FKK
Dutch and German Freikorperkultur
Bistre drawing, and glazes
Oil on Linen

Scriptorium Arcana 
24x36
Venice, Italy
Bistre drawing, and glazes
Oil on Linen

Castello di Venere
32x48
Sicily, Italy
Bistre drawing, and glazes
Oil on Linen

Lake Como Italy
20x30
Bistre drawing, and glazes
Oil on Linen

Leda and the Swan
28x42
Bistre drawing, and glazes
Oil on Linen

Female Torso
14 inches tall
Carved Stone sold

Artist Notes

Materials and Methods

As a firm believer of doing things right the first time… The artist’s materials and practice of applications of such are as important as the slow and fast line of a strong composition. Is the foundation of the old Masters like the Dutch and without knowing the materials, the artist will struggle too get the idea on the canvas and it will show. There lies the principle reason that we are able to enjoy the works of the Old Masters work today, they knew their materials and the applications.

I will not claim I know the materials and method secrets of the OM, but there are Artists and persons in Archival Science today that have dedicated their life to not only uncover these secrets, but improved on them to the point that we may have succeeded them.

There are materials and methods that have been past down through the ages by masters in oil painting that have been guarded and then reveled, horded and scandalized to a point that has created a confusion in most and a almost religious following in some.

Some members of this oracular following are Robert Doak, James Groves, Robert Howard and Tad Spurgeon and similar practitioners to name a few that are living and have a web presence without cracking a book. Their dedication and teachings are unparalleled as far as I am concerned. The knowledge and application of their craft is apparent, patrons and artisans alike would do well to have a look. Get Robert Doak on the phone in New York or Rob Howard in a forum and you will find out all the things you may be doing wrong.

Though I am diligent and meticulous in what I do and how I do it, I have only applied these “OM” materials and methods to Sixty paintings in the past two years and have found these methods of the utmost importance in the artistic form of oil painting. I have been a professional artist in one form or another for only 25 years, so I may not know what I am talking about. I do know that it works very well for me. I struggle not, except with myself to get the idea on the canvas and always planning for the next project.

I continue to enjoy the idea that my paintings not only have been enjoyed by others, but most important to me is the paintings have been done right by utilizing the highest quality materials and methods that I have collected from literature and other artists like those I have named.

James Taylor
Jan. 2007

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