plate no. 0086

Evening

Petros Malayan, 1973

oilExpressionismcityscapecityscapebuildingsstreetcarsfiguresroofs

recreation guide

This recreation guide addresses the painting 'Evening' (1973) by Petros Malayan, an oil cityscape executed in the Expressionist style. As a cityscape, the work falls under the broader genre of landscape painting, which traditionally depicts the surface of the Earth but includes urban environments and hardscapes such as streets and business complexes (Source 3). The Expressionist style implies a focus on emotional experience over physical reality, utilizing the expressive capacity of oil paint to adjust translucency, sheen, and the density or 'body' of the paint (Source 1). The medium is oil, which allows for significant manipulation of texture and form while wet, enabling the artist to change color or remove layers if necessary (Source 5).

estimated time

20-30 hours over 5-7 sessions

materials

7 items

steps

6 in sequence

materials

item	purpose	modern equivalent
Oil paints (artist grade)	Primary medium for the painting.	—
Linseed oil	To mix with paint to adjust drying time and consistency, adhering to the 'fat over lean' rule.	—
Mineral spirits or turpentine	To thin paint for initial layers and clean brushes; also used to remove wet paint if corrections are needed.	—
Canvas	Support surface for the oil painting.	—
Charcoal or thinned paint	For sketching the initial subject onto the canvas.	—
Palette knives and rags	Alternative application tools and for scraping off hardened paint or removing wet layers.	—
Cold wax or resins (optional)	To adjust translucency, sheen, or body of the paint, enhancing expressive capacity.	—

preparation

surface prep

The canvas should be primed to accept oil paint. While specific priming methods for Malayan are not detailed in the sources, traditional oil painting techniques assume a prepared surface that allows for the layering of paint. The 'fat over lean' rule requires that the initial layers be leaner (more solvent, less oil) to ensure proper drying and prevent cracking (Source 1).

underdrawing

Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the artist sketching the subject onto the canvas with charcoal or thinned paint (Source 1). For an Expressionist cityscape, this underdrawing likely establishes the basic forms of the urban landscape, such as buildings and streets, without necessarily defining fine details, allowing for expressive brushwork later.

underpainting

A grisaille (monochrome underpainting) may be employed. This involves painting the composition in neutral tones, mentally extracting red and yellow colors to establish values and forms (Source 2). This layer must be quite dry before proceeding to glazing and scumbling with color (Source 2).

color palette

Neutral Grays/Browns

Black, white, and earth tones

Establishing the grisaille underpainting and shadows in the cityscape.

Warm Yellows and Reds

Yellow ochre, cadmium red, etc.

Glazing and scumbling over the dry grisaille to introduce color, particularly for evening light effects.

Cool Blues/Greens

Ultramarine, phthalo blue, etc.

Shadows and atmospheric conditions in the evening sky.

composition

As a cityscape, the composition likely includes hardscapes such as streets and buildings (Source 3). General composition principles suggest avoiding exact bisections of the picture space and positioning the horizon line to emphasize either the sky or the ground, depending on the desired focus (Source 8). The viewer's eye should be led around all elements before leading out of the picture (Source 8). Specific compositional moves for this particular artwork are not described in the sources, so these general principles are applied.

step by step

underdrawing→underpainting→first pass→refining→finishing

underdrawing

step 01
Sketch the cityscape subject onto the canvas using charcoal or thinned paint.
Tip — Keep lines loose to allow for expressive changes later.
Traditional underdrawing

underpainting

step 02
Apply a monochrome grisaille layer to establish values and forms, excluding red and yellow tones.
Tip — Ensure this layer is completely dry before proceeding.
Grisaille

first pass

step 03
Begin applying color using glazing (transparent coats) and scumbling (semi-opaque painting) techniques.
Tip — Use oil at first; later, varnish and oil can be mixed for mastery.
Glazing and Scumbling

refining

step 04
Build up layers adhering to the 'fat over lean' rule, ensuring each layer has more oil than the previous one.
Tip — Prevent cracking and peeling by maintaining proper oil content ratios.
Fat over Lean
step 05
Use palette knives or rags to adjust texture, scrape off unwanted paint, or blend forms while wet.
Tip — Oil paint remains wet longer, allowing for changes in color, texture, or form.
Palette Knife/Rag Application

finishing

step 06
Allow the painting to dry by oxidation, which may take up to two weeks.
Tip — Do not varnish until the painting is fully dry to the touch.
Oxidation Drying

critical techniques

Fat over Lean

Each additional layer of paint should contain more oil than the layer below to allow proper drying and prevent cracking (Source 1).

Glazing and Scumbling

Glazing applies transparent coats of color, while scumbling applies semi-opaque paint over a darker ground to create coldness or gray blooms (Source 2).

Palette Knife Usage

Used for application and scraping off paint, allowing for texture adjustment and correction (Source 1).

common pitfalls

→Applying lean layers over fat layers, which will cause the final painting to crack and peel (Source 1).
→Adding black to darken colors, which can cause hue shifts toward greenish or bluish tones; use complementary colors instead to neutralize without shifting hue (Source 7).
→Varnishing before the painting is fully dry, as oil paint dries by oxidation and can take up to two weeks (Source 1).
→Creating exact bisections in the composition, which can make the image less interesting (Source 8).

what the sources don't tell us

Where the corpus is silent, we say so rather than guess. These are the gaps a complete recreation guide would normally cover that our source passages don't.

·Specific visual details of 'Evening' (e.g., exact buildings, lighting conditions, specific color choices) are not described in the sources.
·Petros Malayan's specific personal habits or deviations from traditional oil painting techniques are not detailed.
·The exact size and aspect ratio of the original artwork are not provided.

grounded in

The technical procedure in this guide traces to the following classical art-instruction texts.

The Practice of Oil Painting↗
- COLOURING A MONOCHROME — applied to Grisaille underpainting, glazing, and scumbling techniques.

cross-referenced from

Named facts about this artwork and artist were checked against these reference pages.

Wikipedia: Oil painting↗
- part 2 — applied to Underdrawing, fat over lean rule, palette knife usage, drying time.
Wikipedia: Landscape painting↗
- part 13 — applied to Definition of cityscape and hardscape elements.
Wikipedia: Composition (visual arts)↗
- part 6 — applied to General composition principles for cityscapes.
Wikipedia: Color theory↗
- part 6 — applied to Color mixing pitfalls regarding black and hue shifts.