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Oil Painting Techniques and Materials
Stimulating, informative guide by noted teacher covers painting technique, painting from life, materials — paints, varnishes, oils and mediums, grounds, etc. — a painter's training, more. Speed also provides expert analysis of works by Velasquez, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hals, Rembrandt, and others. 64 photos. 5 line drawings.
280 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1987
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About the author
Harold Speed
39 books15 followersHarold Speed was a painter, and author of books on art. He was the son of an architect, Edward Speed, and initially studied architecture.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 2, 2009
Most of the time I'm getting painting books for the pictures. This is the first book on painting I've really sat down and "read". As such, I found it pretty amazing. He talks about a lot of different subjects related to painting, and in particular how it should/should-not be taught. Lots to think about...here are some quotes that struck me:
"There is a widespread desire to break with all restraints, that the individual may express himself more freely. Perfect freedom is a thing only conceivable, for one individual, in one universe. If there were more than one, their desires might clash and all would have to give up their freedom to the one. But even one individual endowed with unlimited freedom, would be enough to upset the smooth working of any universe. This desire for absolute freedom, this anarchy, is a destructive not a constructive tendency. And in art it is everywhere destroying but nowhere creating. It is so much easier to destroy than to create, so much more effect can be got for your effort. And to those not capable of the long-sustained effort creative work requires, destroying is very tempting as a substitute. One seems to be doing so much, and certainly attracts more attention." (p35)
"The study of nature can never be neglected by the artist without impoverishing the language in which he expresses himself." (p59)
"That earnest person of honest narrow vision who comes along and says, "I don't see that colour," should have one's sympathy, as looked for with his coldly accurate eye, all the glory of colour disappears and has no existence. But Turner was quite justified in saying "Don't you wish you could!" for colour is one of the most rapturous truths that can be revealed to man. Colour must be felt before it can be seen." (p138)
I was accosted, when copying in a Continental gallery, by a globe-trotter, who said: "Young man, you are an artist; will you kindly explain to me the beauties of that picture? It is 'starred' in Baedeker, so I suppose it is a good one but I can't see anything in it." This attitude of mind is hopeless, however earnest. In the commercial world thing can be explained, but artistic things have to be experienced. And the picture itself is the only thing that can produce the experience. When this has failed, as it obviously had with my inquirer, you are as helpless as you would be if he had just partaken of a good dinner, which he had not appreciated; and had asked you to explain the quality of it, and refused to believe it was a good dinner because you could no do so. (p213)
There is too much striving for an aggressive and self-centred individuality, and not enough of the artist's losing himself in the deeper currents of the emotional life of his time. It is this "herd matter," as I believe psychologists would call it, that gives the weight and significance to art. (p265) [This discussion contines in an analysis of Rodin's sculpture as it represents the masses 'coming to power' through literacy and democracy, catching the emotional wave of the times.:]
It cannot be too much insisted upon that the creative faculties are not in the conscious intellect, are not the result of "taking thought." To be of the right quality they must come unsought, surging up from some unknown tract of inner mind, and nourished more by the affections than the intellect. A painting may be perfect as far as any known principles of form, tone, and colour are concerned, and yet lack the vital something, that is the most important element in the whole thing. (p274)
"There is a widespread desire to break with all restraints, that the individual may express himself more freely. Perfect freedom is a thing only conceivable, for one individual, in one universe. If there were more than one, their desires might clash and all would have to give up their freedom to the one. But even one individual endowed with unlimited freedom, would be enough to upset the smooth working of any universe. This desire for absolute freedom, this anarchy, is a destructive not a constructive tendency. And in art it is everywhere destroying but nowhere creating. It is so much easier to destroy than to create, so much more effect can be got for your effort. And to those not capable of the long-sustained effort creative work requires, destroying is very tempting as a substitute. One seems to be doing so much, and certainly attracts more attention." (p35)
"The study of nature can never be neglected by the artist without impoverishing the language in which he expresses himself." (p59)
"That earnest person of honest narrow vision who comes along and says, "I don't see that colour," should have one's sympathy, as looked for with his coldly accurate eye, all the glory of colour disappears and has no existence. But Turner was quite justified in saying "Don't you wish you could!" for colour is one of the most rapturous truths that can be revealed to man. Colour must be felt before it can be seen." (p138)
I was accosted, when copying in a Continental gallery, by a globe-trotter, who said: "Young man, you are an artist; will you kindly explain to me the beauties of that picture? It is 'starred' in Baedeker, so I suppose it is a good one but I can't see anything in it." This attitude of mind is hopeless, however earnest. In the commercial world thing can be explained, but artistic things have to be experienced. And the picture itself is the only thing that can produce the experience. When this has failed, as it obviously had with my inquirer, you are as helpless as you would be if he had just partaken of a good dinner, which he had not appreciated; and had asked you to explain the quality of it, and refused to believe it was a good dinner because you could no do so. (p213)
There is too much striving for an aggressive and self-centred individuality, and not enough of the artist's losing himself in the deeper currents of the emotional life of his time. It is this "herd matter," as I believe psychologists would call it, that gives the weight and significance to art. (p265) [This discussion contines in an analysis of Rodin's sculpture as it represents the masses 'coming to power' through literacy and democracy, catching the emotional wave of the times.:]
It cannot be too much insisted upon that the creative faculties are not in the conscious intellect, are not the result of "taking thought." To be of the right quality they must come unsought, surging up from some unknown tract of inner mind, and nourished more by the affections than the intellect. A painting may be perfect as far as any known principles of form, tone, and colour are concerned, and yet lack the vital something, that is the most important element in the whole thing. (p274)
January 23, 2025
i enjoyed reading it but didn’t really find it helpful. i like speeds paintings. he says some stuff that baffles me: “The evolution of culture is an interesting subject of inquiry that has not yet received the study it deserves.”
What?
He also doesn’t really bother to understand those who are less concerned with his definition of technique, which is very narrow, but this doesn’t come close to making him shy about explanations.
He writes about Cezanne as though his painting were defiant of realism and very trendy. But like, do his landscapes and still lifes not look vividly real? Like you could pluck the fruit? The colors of many of the masters, maybe for scientific reasons idk were—-like well an apple or pear would not look quite the color you want to grab for! but their brownishness would read well with the distant mountains, and pale flesh, etc. I mean, maybe speed never touched anything harder than black tea, but he forget s how trippy reality is, and that strong emotional ties live in the stomach and loins and not just the cartesian mind!!! how dare you say “primitives” lack texhnique. just give me easy tricks and pipe down about your i de as of art! sorry.
What?
He also doesn’t really bother to understand those who are less concerned with his definition of technique, which is very narrow, but this doesn’t come close to making him shy about explanations.
He writes about Cezanne as though his painting were defiant of realism and very trendy. But like, do his landscapes and still lifes not look vividly real? Like you could pluck the fruit? The colors of many of the masters, maybe for scientific reasons idk were—-like well an apple or pear would not look quite the color you want to grab for! but their brownishness would read well with the distant mountains, and pale flesh, etc. I mean, maybe speed never touched anything harder than black tea, but he forget s how trippy reality is, and that strong emotional ties live in the stomach and loins and not just the cartesian mind!!! how dare you say “primitives” lack texhnique. just give me easy tricks and pipe down about your i de as of art! sorry.
July 7, 2007
Harold Speed, asked to write a book on the art of painting, ultimately wrote a book on many of his philosophies surrounding painting. Written in 1924, he writes of modern art, eloquently stating both the impressive and the absurd aspects, and hypothesizing what he hopes is to come of it. He writes of the influence of press, the various workings of the art market, the Paris salons, and overfed food critiques. He also writes of very intricate philosophical aspects of painting, colour technique, tone, etc. so only the first half of the book would be exciting for the non-painter. The book is so fluid, however, that it wouldn't surprise me if a non-artist enjoyed it.
"The use of swear words by ignorant people is quite excusable, because they have not the wit to use, or the knowledge of, just those words which would forcefully express what they want to say. And failing to give their expression the force they desire by the legitimate use of words, they throw in some nasty expression of entirely alien association, like a bad smell, but calculated to give a shock; which gives them the satisfaction of having made a forceful remark. The violent use of colours and forms adopted by much of so-called advanced art nowadays, is just like these swear words. They want to create a sensation, and not having the wit to use the wonderful instruments of expression that are at the disposal of the modern artist who is prepared to follow the straight and narrow way, they would destroy the restraints of tradition and rush to the use of swearing yellows and screeching reds, of classhing lines and jarring planes, in lieu of anything really forceful to say."
"The use of swear words by ignorant people is quite excusable, because they have not the wit to use, or the knowledge of, just those words which would forcefully express what they want to say. And failing to give their expression the force they desire by the legitimate use of words, they throw in some nasty expression of entirely alien association, like a bad smell, but calculated to give a shock; which gives them the satisfaction of having made a forceful remark. The violent use of colours and forms adopted by much of so-called advanced art nowadays, is just like these swear words. They want to create a sensation, and not having the wit to use the wonderful instruments of expression that are at the disposal of the modern artist who is prepared to follow the straight and narrow way, they would destroy the restraints of tradition and rush to the use of swearing yellows and screeching reds, of classhing lines and jarring planes, in lieu of anything really forceful to say."
November 16, 2017
Fucking phenomenal - to all self indulgent humans a- like, this really grasps the spirit of an artist; a selfish, self pitiful, arrogant or oxymoronic human depending on how well your Rabbit fat soaked in - here it lay, the unravelled mind of a lifetime of canvas staring, tobacco chewing and depressive drinking.
He seems to flicker between progression and conservatism throughout, more toward ones deep connection with ones art, and more the art of doing art, reacting from instinct but sticking to fundamentals, like most books, this the discussion of the grey, thought provoking shit mind.
Need I note, he’s an eloquent mother fucker like.
Tip - read with a dictionary to hand lol.
He seems to flicker between progression and conservatism throughout, more toward ones deep connection with ones art, and more the art of doing art, reacting from instinct but sticking to fundamentals, like most books, this the discussion of the grey, thought provoking shit mind.
Need I note, he’s an eloquent mother fucker like.
Tip - read with a dictionary to hand lol.
December 7, 2022
I read and enjoyed Harold Speed on drawing a few years ago, but he was even more helpful to read on painting while I was actually learning the technique of due/tre prima painting. Similar to, I imagine, anyone who’s taken any painting classes, all I knew before this was alla prima techniques. I had learned the basics of alla prima academic painting, but was certainly getting a bit lost in the multiple extra stages involved in second and third painting. Speed, who takes for granted that you’re painting in layers in more than one sitting, has loads of helpful tips on the subject.
‘The artist must master his technique before he can express what he wishes to, but he may in gaining this power become so enamoured with it, that he may be prevented from launching out into any newer forms of expression (which are always at first rather crude, demanding some sacrifice of technical accomplishment), and be content to dazzle by the display of his ability.’
This was page one, and I was just entering the struggle of ‘I can draw to a point and paint to a point and I’ve passed that point and now it’s bad AND I HATE IT’.
‘The student who tries to paint by filling in the spaces between outlines will never develop any freedom of execution or much quality of painting.’
Which was also, as it happens, my issue with the way I was taught tre prima.
‘It is not the edges of the object but the edges of the tone masses that make up the visual impression that you are painting.’
‘Avoid painting in parallel streaks, and in the case of a background, it as well to let your brushwork be in every direction.’
‘The great thing is to learn one thing at a time, to concentrate on one particular difficulty, and practise and practise until you master it.’
‘This is a faculty of colour the impressionists have much used, putting bright colours around the edges of light masses, and in the shadows surrounding them, that add greatly to the intensity of their colour impression.’
To repaint a section paint a thin film of white over it to give a ground to paint over.
‘Notice particularly the colour of your edges, as one mass comes against another, and particularly the edge where the group comes against the background.’
‘You can easily paint the less brilliant colours into the brilliant ones; but you cannot paint the brilliant ones into the less brilliant, as they will get sullied by them.’
Pettit: ‘Don’t bother about the greys, the greys will come.’
‘You often find the darkest part of a shadow on its edge, nearest to where the light, or rather the half-tone department of the light, commences.’
Use unmixed white out of the tube for highlights.
‘All such edges can only be done well when the tones on both sides are wet.’
Rubbing in is done with the side of the brush to put a thin film of solid paint on the canvas.
Put down the darkest darks and lightest lights in order to judge the tone scale.
‘Two tones come together too suddenly because another tone is needed between them to unite them.’
Rubens: transparent brown in the shadows, cool light in the whites, then scumbled transparent brown all over. Flesh half-tones were then painted in blue with vermilion lights and yellow. The scumble present would modify them. Then accents were painted in.
‘A colour painted in a second painting upon a similar colour underneath is poor-looking and dull. The advantage of scumbling all over your work before painting into it is that you make it all wrong and have to take the whole thing up again.
‘And similarly with any other colours, if they are very vivid and violent they will tend to make their complentary colours tell in the picture, and to kill the quieter varieties of their own colour.’
‘Many students cut up their life studies by overdoing the little changes of hue in the local colours of flesh, while missing the bigger schemes of cool half tone contrasts with warmer shadows and lights.’
Me: OOPS
‘I prefer very stiff brushes as they move the paint with more vigour; and if the brushes are long-haired they will have all the delicacy one wants, except for special occasions.’
Validation for Team Bristle!
A big brush ‘saves the necessity of making two touches when one would do; and it is always an advantage to touch your canvas as little as possible.’
He tones his canvas by putting dabs of paint on then rubbing with a rag damp with turps.
Speed is also – as I noted in his previous works – quite scathing of the curse of post-modernism, in which he is totally correct and also creepily prescient.
‘Democracy has so enormously increased the size of the stage of public life, that it is only those whose work shouts at you, who have much chance of any immediate notice.’
‘Not that craftsmanship is art, but good craftsmanship is a healthier soil for art to grown in that fine theories about aesthetics.’
‘We are gradually substituting the making of money for the making of good things to buy with it, and are fast heading for the time when machines and ‘antiques’ will be the only good things worth buying.’
ARGHHH
‘It is so much easier to destroy than to create, so much more effect can be got for your effort. And to those not capable of the long-sustained effort creative work requires, destroying is very tempting as a substitute. One seems to be doing so much, and certainly attracts more attention.’
‘And the originality that is of so delicate an order that it cannot stand a course of academic training, is so poor a thing that it were better not considered.’
LOL SICK BURN
‘But even if you want to flout the old masters and strike out on new lines, you are not in a position to dismiss them until you have comprehended them.’
THIS THIS THIS
‘The artist must master his technique before he can express what he wishes to, but he may in gaining this power become so enamoured with it, that he may be prevented from launching out into any newer forms of expression (which are always at first rather crude, demanding some sacrifice of technical accomplishment), and be content to dazzle by the display of his ability.’
This was page one, and I was just entering the struggle of ‘I can draw to a point and paint to a point and I’ve passed that point and now it’s bad AND I HATE IT’.
‘The student who tries to paint by filling in the spaces between outlines will never develop any freedom of execution or much quality of painting.’
Which was also, as it happens, my issue with the way I was taught tre prima.
‘It is not the edges of the object but the edges of the tone masses that make up the visual impression that you are painting.’
‘Avoid painting in parallel streaks, and in the case of a background, it as well to let your brushwork be in every direction.’
‘The great thing is to learn one thing at a time, to concentrate on one particular difficulty, and practise and practise until you master it.’
‘This is a faculty of colour the impressionists have much used, putting bright colours around the edges of light masses, and in the shadows surrounding them, that add greatly to the intensity of their colour impression.’
To repaint a section paint a thin film of white over it to give a ground to paint over.
‘Notice particularly the colour of your edges, as one mass comes against another, and particularly the edge where the group comes against the background.’
‘You can easily paint the less brilliant colours into the brilliant ones; but you cannot paint the brilliant ones into the less brilliant, as they will get sullied by them.’
Pettit: ‘Don’t bother about the greys, the greys will come.’
‘You often find the darkest part of a shadow on its edge, nearest to where the light, or rather the half-tone department of the light, commences.’
Use unmixed white out of the tube for highlights.
‘All such edges can only be done well when the tones on both sides are wet.’
Rubbing in is done with the side of the brush to put a thin film of solid paint on the canvas.
Put down the darkest darks and lightest lights in order to judge the tone scale.
‘Two tones come together too suddenly because another tone is needed between them to unite them.’
Rubens: transparent brown in the shadows, cool light in the whites, then scumbled transparent brown all over. Flesh half-tones were then painted in blue with vermilion lights and yellow. The scumble present would modify them. Then accents were painted in.
‘A colour painted in a second painting upon a similar colour underneath is poor-looking and dull. The advantage of scumbling all over your work before painting into it is that you make it all wrong and have to take the whole thing up again.
‘And similarly with any other colours, if they are very vivid and violent they will tend to make their complentary colours tell in the picture, and to kill the quieter varieties of their own colour.’
‘Many students cut up their life studies by overdoing the little changes of hue in the local colours of flesh, while missing the bigger schemes of cool half tone contrasts with warmer shadows and lights.’
Me: OOPS
‘I prefer very stiff brushes as they move the paint with more vigour; and if the brushes are long-haired they will have all the delicacy one wants, except for special occasions.’
Validation for Team Bristle!
A big brush ‘saves the necessity of making two touches when one would do; and it is always an advantage to touch your canvas as little as possible.’
He tones his canvas by putting dabs of paint on then rubbing with a rag damp with turps.
Speed is also – as I noted in his previous works – quite scathing of the curse of post-modernism, in which he is totally correct and also creepily prescient.
‘Democracy has so enormously increased the size of the stage of public life, that it is only those whose work shouts at you, who have much chance of any immediate notice.’
‘Not that craftsmanship is art, but good craftsmanship is a healthier soil for art to grown in that fine theories about aesthetics.’
‘We are gradually substituting the making of money for the making of good things to buy with it, and are fast heading for the time when machines and ‘antiques’ will be the only good things worth buying.’
ARGHHH
‘It is so much easier to destroy than to create, so much more effect can be got for your effort. And to those not capable of the long-sustained effort creative work requires, destroying is very tempting as a substitute. One seems to be doing so much, and certainly attracts more attention.’
‘And the originality that is of so delicate an order that it cannot stand a course of academic training, is so poor a thing that it were better not considered.’
LOL SICK BURN
‘But even if you want to flout the old masters and strike out on new lines, you are not in a position to dismiss them until you have comprehended them.’
THIS THIS THIS
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2022
Lots of useful information for painters. Some parts were a bit hard to get through though, imagine someone narrating what happens in a YouTube artist demo. Also have to take his materials advice with a grain of salt, or rather through a thick lens of 100 years. Incredibly fascinating to hear it anyways though. Titanium white was just invented and Speed didn't know much about it, whereas now it's what most oil painters use. He warns you of lead white paintings being hung in gas lit rooms due to it's apparent darkening effects... not something most modern painters have to worry about. Lots of talk about rose madder, which is a pigment not even produced by most manufacturers due to it's poor lightfastness. I was surprised to learn that some do still produce it though! They say (MH) it's to allow artists to experience more historic palettes, which is a reason I respect. It does highlight for me how important it is to read the backs of paint tube labels and know what you're buying. Imagine a $60 tube of paint that might not last on a painting, depending on how it's hung! 🙈
I didn't mean to talk so much about materials in this review, that was just one chapter. He does also give some timeless practical advice which is relevant regardless of the century you live in, such as
*Use as few pigments as possible for harmony
*Touch the canvas as few times as possible (rather think it through first, and follow a process)
*Use the biggest brush that will do the job
*Make sure portraits are structurally sound
*Talk to your models!!
These are just examples, there was a very long list of a lot of tips and good advice, complete with discussions of classical painter's techniques and merits of their works (Velasquez, Rembrandt, Hals, Vermeer, Gainsborough, etc).
Also enjoyed his thoughts on impressionists, specifically the notion that they did introduce good ideas where color is concerned, but went too far in completely rejecting the merits of a line drawing. This seems to be a very reasonable opinion for a classical painter.
Overall, it was interesting for artists or anyone who enjoys art. I also liked the chapter by chapter discussion of the book on the Gurney Journey blog, and would recommend anyone reading this to follow along there too!
I didn't mean to talk so much about materials in this review, that was just one chapter. He does also give some timeless practical advice which is relevant regardless of the century you live in, such as
*Use as few pigments as possible for harmony
*Touch the canvas as few times as possible (rather think it through first, and follow a process)
*Use the biggest brush that will do the job
*Make sure portraits are structurally sound
*Talk to your models!!
These are just examples, there was a very long list of a lot of tips and good advice, complete with discussions of classical painter's techniques and merits of their works (Velasquez, Rembrandt, Hals, Vermeer, Gainsborough, etc).
Also enjoyed his thoughts on impressionists, specifically the notion that they did introduce good ideas where color is concerned, but went too far in completely rejecting the merits of a line drawing. This seems to be a very reasonable opinion for a classical painter.
Overall, it was interesting for artists or anyone who enjoys art. I also liked the chapter by chapter discussion of the book on the Gurney Journey blog, and would recommend anyone reading this to follow along there too!
June 28, 2015
Speed wrote this book in 1924, and if you can gloss over Chapter two where he rails against the current impressionists, you can move on to very useful chapters on how to train yourself as an oil painter. He tells you how to approach painting, how to concentrate, how to create a portrait, and how to view the masters (Velazquez, Vermeer, Rembrandt). He spends a whole chapter on tone values, and two chapters on color, plus a couple chapters on how to construct and compose a painting, and how to think about inspiration for a painting. This is a very useful book, a classic.
February 6, 2018
old book but still great info
October 25, 2018
I review this yearly - An essential resource; especially for art teachers.
July 10, 2019
great need to keep going through this
August 19, 2019
The writing is perfectly serviceable, though without any distinguishing characteristics. It's like those MFA bores all are.
October 25, 2019
I JUST LOVE OIL PAINTING 😎
February 22, 2021
Well written and instructive but, to paraphrase: writing about painting is like dancing about architecture.
Read
August 27, 2021How red is the red on a penny postage stamp?
December 28, 2008
great need to keep going through this.
December 5, 2010
An excellent reference book for ANYone interested in oil painting and art instruction in general. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews