Rat Fink "Statue" in oils

[tradeshowjoe]

Hey there Klowns! I'm new so I'll let you know what my hobby is; I collect hobbies. I draw, paint, write, sculpt, and do whatever can hold my attention long enough. The muse truly is a monkey on my back. Lucky for the muse and me, I'm an insomniac as well. So on occasion I'll paint a "mini", you know, like a D & D figure? I find this is great when a model gets me frustrated with it's small parts. The mini reminds me what small really is, and the model is no problem when I return to it. S I got to thinking oil paints should work great for figure painting. A little time with Google showed me that it is indeed done.
So this Rat Fink model (all 5 pieces of it, not counting the transparent red pupils that I won't be using) will serve to teach me the process, at least serve as an intro to it. The vibrancy achievable with the oils should really make this rat pop. As simple as he is, this will take some time due to work, other builds and the nature of the oil paint dry time. I will be adding drying accelerator and placing the wet model in my drying box, but still- oils.
On with the show...

[AL]

...... what?, .. you don't play in a band too? -------%%%

[knarf]

this should good

[tradeshowjoe]

Al... only on the occasional Thursday, when the boys are in town!

Alright I suppose the point of this thread is to try and provide some info that I might have found useful when I started into this project myself. That being said, I'd also like to make it perfectly clear, I AM NO EXPERT. I have played with oils before, but even as an artist, it has never been my medium of choice.
Enough with the disclaimers. After priming him with automotive primer, I filled in a small amount of seam gaps, mostly on the sides of his belly. I used Bondo Professional Glazing and Spot Putty (2-part). Then sanded, primed again and taken to the kitchen sink for a toothbrush and toothpaste scrubbing. Followed with dish washing detergent.
After that had dried, I went at homes with some red paint. I put a dab of all my colors on a piece of cardboard; this will leach out some of the linseed oil, speeding up the dry time. Some. While painting the red, I mixed in a "thinner" called Liquin. This has a few qualities, chief to my purpose was to speed up the dry time. Unfortunately, it also makes the paint more transparent; helpful in steps to come, not so much now. After letting it set up a bit, I came back to it and "stippled" (pounced the end of a brush on it to kind of blend it) the surface. I set him in my dry box (wooden box lined with a kind of foil and a desk lamp set in it).
So a day or two later I came back and started with the green. This time I didn't use the Liquin, just a dip into Terpinoid Natural every now and then to keep things flowing. I might add here that when I start to paint I'm grabbing the same paint from the cardboard from the first night. It's just sitting in the garage all this time, nothing special done to it. When I start a session I mix up my color with a small putty knife, repeatedly dipped into the turpinoid that gets me started.
The green covered much better than the red did. Nothing special to report, just plain ole base coating, avoid brushstrokes, cover it all.
 That brings us to tonight, another two or three days since putting on the green. I whipped up yellow and applied it. I started with a wash mixture and flowed it into the deep edges. I should have done this with the red as well- next layer I will. Then I mixed a dark red into some black, thinned down to a wash and applied it to the "empty" mouth area.
That's it from the Oily Pulpit for now. Not a real exciting sermon and I don't expect it to get much more exciting, but it'll look good at least

[AL]

........ after reading said sermon, ... I believe you're saying you're NOT finished with him. ................................


---I think he looks Great! -so far Joe .....................................

-AL

[Bert]

Nice start on a ratty project

[hobbybobby]

Looks very nice, so far, great Job!

[redbaron]

Great painting