I'm so excited because I started a new small portrait of my dog, Maea.  It's going really well and I can't wait to get back to work on it tomorrow!  I'm going back to my old 19th century palette and the colors are working beautifully!

  I've been resetting my oil color palette and doing some research about pigments from the 19th century.  This was all in response to a recent portrait that I started that didn't turn out well at all.  I had been using a "modern" palette of colors, which left the painting feeling incredibly heavy and garish.  This got me thinking: "Will the pigments I use have an affect on the outcome?"  The answer is absolutely yes.
  The materiality of art has an impact on the final outcome.  This doesn't mean that if you buy some classic pigments then you'll paint like Rembrandt.  But, if you're interested in old master painting and 19th century works, you're missing a piece of the puzzle by not studying the pigments used by those artists.
  I used to think that I had to fit in to the times I live in.  That I had to be a part of our age in art.  The truth is that time is cyclical and not linear.  You're not old fashioned because you use time-tested and proven pigments versus the "modern equivalents".  
  I'll give the example of titanium white Vs. silver white.  Titanium white is an incredibly heavy and opaque pigment and will leave your flesh or other tints feeling chalky and dull.  If you look at painting with silver white (which is a combination of zinc white and lead white) there's a pearlescent quality to the mixture (especially useful for flesh-tones).  There's no comparison between the two different whites.  I'll say also that part of the translucency of older paintings comes with age because pigments become more transparent with age, but silver white, flake white and a few others will help to give you that effect.
  Take what I say with a grain of salt and test out your own colors and see what works for you.  I'll share my current palette below.  Yes, some of the pigments are newer, but this is what works for me.

Basic Classical Palette:
-Silver White
-Flake White
-Naples Yellow
-Chrome Yellow Light
-Chrome Yellow Deep
-Yellow Ochre
-Cadmium Orange 
-Vermillion
-Chrinese Vermillion
-Rose Madder Lake
-Madder Lake Deep
-Venetian Red
-Burnt Sienna
-Veronese Green (Emerald Green)
-Viridian
-Cobalt Blue
-Ultramarine Blue
-Raw Umber
-Van Dyke Brown
-Ivory Black

Additional Colors:
-Cadmium Yellow Light
​-Burnt Umber

  A HUGE thank you to everyone who follows me on Instagram!  I'm so happy that everyone can see my latest work!  And a very special thanks also to all my Instagram patrons!  As a celebration of 500 followers, I am planning an Instagram GIVEAWAY!  If you're interested in being a part of the giveaway, then follow me @ericsantoli for more details coming soon!
  I have some other big news!  I have officially opened an online store for my fine art business, E.A.S Fine Art & Portraiture.  The store is run directly through my current website and involves an easy process for custom portrait order & delivery.  I have a lot of pet portrait examples, but I also do portraits of any of your loved ones or any other subject matter that you would like!  Thank you again to everyone who enjoys my art, I couldn't do any of this without you.

  I've been doing a lot of watercolor sketches lately in a small watercolor Moleskine that I picked up from Dick Blick.  I'm really falling in love with watercolors.  I love the way you can capture reflections with watercolor in a different way than oil painting.  Oil painting allows a lot more manipulation of the paint; watercolor painting is more fragile and doesn't allow as much messing around.  I think watercolors have a more poetic and transient feel to them, which I also am constantly trying to understand.