My name is Mokhtar Ibrahim and I am studying with Alan Dedman on both the Oil Painting Course and the Drawing and Painting Diploma. This work is referenced to an old painting dated back to the early years of the 19th century. The scene is for an entrance of a Mosque in the Old Cairo, Egypt. I did carry it out using oil on canvas. The size of the paint is 60 x 90 cm.
In this work, I was influenced by the technique of painting put forward by the Artist Mark Carder (www.drawmixpaint.com) I have started by drawing the subject using a color pencil on a brownish stained canvas. For staining the canvas I have used burnt umber and white (1:3 ratio approximately) thinned using normal turpentine. In preparing colors, I did consider the three primary colors only (yellow, blue, and red) in addition to white and burnt umber.
I have completed the whole work in around 16 hours net. In painting, I was keen not to blend different shades as much as possible, in order to avoid muddying colors to reflect a bright painting. To me “Mark Carder” technique is very promising, and it did help me a lot especially in the process of preparing colors, cleaning brushes, and setting up the studio. All were helpful and made the painting process a pleasant endeavour.
Mokhtar Ibrahim
