Do i need geneva paints

vamsee

Hi, im vamsee from india. 
Thanks to Mark's videos i finally was able to materialize my long lasting dream to make an oil painting.
Obviously i got many things wrong with the first attempt at oil (painted with water colors 20 years ago) , 
i've used normal oil colors mixed with liquin for the painting below.

My questions are : 

1. I do not have the exact colors as suggested by mark in his color mixing videos, and i found it fine to work with mixing liquin with colors vs linseed oil, so considering this would it be any better to go for Geneva paints?
2. Can you nevertheless ship to india as well? if direct shipping is not possible can you try with Amazon, im sure there many around the world who could benefit from international shipping.
3. if possible, please suggest next steps on what to work on next to improve my skills.

BOB73

Welcome and well done. We have members in India who will be able to suggest alternative paint brands and mediums for you. Liquin speeds drying time and is also a solvent that thins the paint forcing you to work very fast to mix your color steps. From your painting, I don't think you are a novice at mixing colors.

PaulB

Welcome to the site vamsee.  For Geneva questions, send email to [email protected]

To answer your question, I thin you should work on your drawing and proportions.  Here's why:

Your color mixing is very good.  Well done.  Your edges need a little work, for example the front of her clothing is a hard edge, and should be softer.  Your drawing is off, in terms of facial feature placement.  Do you have a proportional divider?  If so, compare your painting to the source, specifically the placement of the eyes on the head, the height of the forehead, the shape of the blue headband, and the length of the nose.

tassieguy

Hi, @vamsee. The short answer to your first question is that you do not need Geneva paints to learn the technique but you do need the five basic colours - a red such as pyrrole rubine , burnt umber, ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow and titanium white. With these you can make virtually all the colours you'll usually see. 

I don't think Geneva ships to India and as far as I know the paints are not available through Amazon. But the brand doesn't matter. Just use a good artist quality brand that is available where you are. Don't use student grade as they do not mix well and you won't get the covering power of professional artist grade paint.

Next steps would be to closely watch and meticulously follow the instructions in Mark's free videos and work on those skills mentioned above by @PaulB.

Welcome to the forum. 

Kaustav

Hi @vamsee I am from Noida in India. You can use Camlin artist grade oil colors. Geneva is not available in India. You can also go for Winsor and Newton artist grade when you make progress. You need to prepare the paint the way Mark explained in one of his earlier videos. Previously, I used Sennelier safflower oil, Camlin turps and clove oil with paint in glass containers. This will work well during winter which is not too far away now. Watch out for paint being too runny.

vamsee

Thanks everyone for your responses.
special thanks to @PaulB you are bang on wrt the critque, appreciated. 

this was drawn with no aids used, the pencil sketch below, i think i screwed up some proportions while painting. It has always been psycological concern to use any aids for drawing. But, i will consider your feedback for next paintings.
something which is 
@tassieguy , @Kaustav i have used camlin oil colors for this painting and have strictly used the 5 color method taught by Mark, really enjoyed doing so.

But the only concern/query i have is i do not have pyrole rubine or cadmium yellow. i have used mixture of vermillian hue and crimson red as i dont know which is closed to pyrrole rubine. Also have used mixture of lemon yellow and chrome yellow.
Are these ok? i think i could find cadmium yellow on amazon but could not find pyrrole rubine anywhere and the ones found are very expensive. so, can you please confirm if these color mixtures of red and yellow are fine?

Any suggestions/references on next painting are appreciated. want to work on something which is not a portrait. Thanks again.

vamsee

Hi,

My earlier comment is not posted somehow

Thanks everyone for the feedback. And special thanks to @PaulB for the bang on target feedback. I agree with the feedback. Just that i think i have screwed up the proportions more while painting somehow, i think i did not pay enough attention while painting within the lines.
(attaching the initial line sketch below)

@tassieguy i have used the five color method that Mark taught for this painting.
But my concern is that i do not have the same colors with me, i.e., i do not have Pyrrole Rubine, instead i've used a mixture of vermillion hue and crimson red.
and instead of cadmium yellow, i have used a mixture of lemon yellow and chrome yellow. As im unsure which color is closer to the respective colors availabe in geneva paints.

@Kaustav are you using the same colors as suggested in geneva paints? or you are also using a close match? if yes which ones?

I'd also be greatful for some suggestions on what to paint next (not portrait though), at my skill level to improve further

Kaustav

for Camlin: you can use Titanium White, Cadmium Lemon, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber and French Ultramarine. On need basis: Cadmium Red, Prussian Blue, Viridian.

My present color palette is different as I use a lot of colors now.
Basic palette: Titanium White, Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Orange, Alizarin Crimson and Prussian Blue. On need basis: Burnt Umber, Pthalo green, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Indian Red, Indigo.

I also use Zorn palette: Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Indigo/Ivory Black/Payne's Gray.

vamsee

Thanks for sharing @Kaustav

BOB73

The sketch is wonderful. If you are a novice painter I suggest some simple still life with just a few objects some of them symmetrical to help with learning to draw proportions if you need practice in that.