Back to “Tanglewood” – done already in gouache and watercolor and pastels. Now it is time to do it in acrylic! (If you want to see these, and the photo, click on the tag “Tanglewood”.)
Here I decided to work on setting up values – light and dark, warm and cool. I thought it might be fun to set up areas in complementary colors, but who knows. The whole thing could end up very odd looking, certainly for me and my boring outlook and driveness to reality. I am seeing this as an adventure. The photograph itself is rather dark and murky.
Colors used on Fredrix canvas pad are cobalt blue, Naples yellow, quinacridone magenta, and zinc white. These are applied atop 2 layers of gesso and then a substrate of yellow ochre mixed with Marigold (Holbein’s cadmium orange).
Now that social isolation is lessening and classes can resume in person, albeit with masks and social distancing, I have taken on colored pencils and acrylic painting. To say I have been having a blast is an understatement. Of the two, the painting class is more “me” but the colored pencil class is an adventure into unknown territory.
Colored pencil drawing seems like a logical next step to graphite (pencil) drawing, and in a way it is, and in a way it isn’t. With graphite, shades of grey is what makes the picture. With colored pencil, pencils become almost more important because color, pencil type, and techniques used to create effects in the painting / drawing are considerably more complicated than graphite! So, here are some more colored pencil drawings I have done.
Moving on from colored pencil, my acrylic painting class began last week. I chose “intermediate” as “previous painting experience” was the only requirement. Since I paint with watercolor and gouache with some success, it was a logical choice. And what a wonderful group! Many people have been taking the same class for 4 years – quite a tribute to the teacher. The class is not structured, so subject matter is up to the individual. This doesn’t mean a lack of instruction, but what it provides is direction from the student and help in the process. It works for me.
Years ago, like 40 or so, was the last time I worked with acrylics. I didn’t like them at all. However, today my attitude is a lot different. I have time, motivation, and the opportunity to learn from many resources – teachers online and in person. My sister also paints with acrylics and she has been very helpful with all sorts of information and such.
This was my first acrylic painting. I brought it to class with the underpainting done. I used a Daler-Rowney Acryla 3 set with about 10 colors. My approach was quite trepidatious! I pretended I was painting with gouache, which helped, but my fear was destroying brushes and having paint dry in seconds. Neither catastrophe occurred. I used Canson XL paper as the support, taped to a bit of gator board.
The next one, above, is a rendering of a photo I took while walking along the bluffs in Carpinteria, north of me along the coast. I did this on Fredrix, a canvas pad which is primed. I gessoed it, and like the paper, taped it to gator board. Here I used matte medium only, and the result was a really pleasurable application of paint – it was fun to feel the paint get all squished around with the brush. The canvas surface, too, was a pleasure to work on. Once off the gator board, the Fredrix is really like a canvas off the stretcher bars.
For this image, and the one below, I followed a couple of videos by Will Kemp on YouTube. The one above I only used water to thin the paints; the one below was only matte medium. The supports were canvas panels, 8×10, pre-primed but re-primed by me.
Comments from those who have seen these apples like the apple in the lower painting best, but the background in the upper painting best. I agree.
This is my latest painting. It is from a video I watched by M. Stewart on YouTube. The video is an hour long, filled with information and funny comments. I think I learned the most with this video insofar that there was more time and more detailed instruction. The simplicity of Kemp’s videos of the apple helped me get ready for the complexity of the Stewart’s video – both are excellent teachers.
Tomorrow . . . I think I need a bit of a break from painting, but I do plan to continue working on art as much as possible every day. However, sewing does call, and so does the beauty of the outdoors, and . . . life is too full for only one thing!
Today is my fifth painting with acrylics. I felt confident enough to choose a more complex subject, using (of course) another YouTube video. I am learning a lot by following videos, especially ones that suggest brushes and colors, as well as explain techniques.
This painting is done on Fredrix canvas pad paper, 11×14. The canvas, though already gessoed, was gessoed by me. I like that step and feel it is a good way to begin a painting, much like grinding ink prior to doing sumi-e. There is a meditative element to it.
Murray Stewart, whose video I followed, painted his underlying canvas with burnt sienna. I used red ochre and found that the color is just yummy! I live where red soil is known, so it was like seeing an old friend. That said, from there I pretty much followed through the video. About half way, Stewart mentions that the basic work was done, and details were what were needed to finish the painting. I agreed, but watched through to the end.
I have been using titanium white for mixing colors, but decided to use zinc white, as I do with gouache. For gouache, and mixing colors, it is great, but the titanium is a much better choice for mixing colors in acrylics. I am not quite sure where I will use zinc white in acrylics, but I am sure I can do some research.
This video presented me with a lot of material I enjoyed learning: making sun beams, using a fan brush for foliage, dark against light and light and against light effects. More, too, simply by doing. While painting, I found that dipping my brush in water prior to picking up paint made for better painting. The brush wasn’t sopping, and the water in the brush gave enough moisture to allow pure pigment to be spread around. I also found that this helped with glazes.
So, here is Stewart’s video – he did a good job, and he is pretty darn funny, too!
Today I followed along with a YouTube video by Will Kemp. I rather like his online presence and instructions – what I have done so far. He’s low key, explains, demos. What more could you ask for?
Kemp’s apple is much nicer than mine. He paints his apple over a series of 2 short videos, beginning with laying in a background, upon the gessoed canvas, of yellow ochre and cadmium yellow light. From there, the painting begins, with the colors in the study being raw umber, ultramarine blue, white, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow light, and cadmium red light at the very end.
Here is my study, following along with Will. I think the yellow ochre – cadmium yellow underpainting adds a nice warmth to the painting. Two brushes, a filbert and a small round, were used to create this painting. Only water was used to thin the paint.
After doing Will’s study, I decided to do it again, but without using the underpainting colors.
No underpainting made for a different sense of color. By accident, I pickedup some of the cadmium red when mixing the upper background, so I just kept it. The lower part, upon which the apple rests, is burnt umber, white, and ultramarine. I made this apple more green than yellow, and applied the paint heavily, mixing it with matte medium. At the end, I used my finger tip to mush the colors together as the brush kept picking up the colors beneath, even though I had dried it.
My hair dryer may or may not be the best thing to use for acrylics, but these are studies, so not important! Both of these are painted on Arteza primed 8×10 canvas panels.
I deliberately chose to use only water, as Kemp did, in the first painting, and then only matte medium in the second. Both had their plus and minus points. Making a glaze out of the paint with either media is not easy – the colors are not really easy to blend well before applying. That is why I mushed things together with my finger on the second painting. I will need to study glazing a bit – read up on it to learn more.
Simple but effective studies to learn more about paint, as well as various techniques, such as underpainting, glazing, and so on. Of course, just doing and not setting out with the goal of a masterpiece, to have fun, makes it all worth while.
Another attempt at acrylic painting. This time I used a sheet from a Fredrix linen pad. I gessoed it and then used, initially, the Open medium with the paints, but I didn’t like the way it was working, and so switched to regular matte medium to dilute the paints. I tried to use the paints fairly straight out of the tube, blending with white and matte medium. The result was a fairly thick paint that behaved well.
The Carpinteria Bluffs are located in the southernmost section of Santa Barbara County, just above the border of Ventura County, where I currently live. Carpinteria was home for many years and always enjoy returning, especially in summer when the light shifts and everything has a glow of its own. Eucalyptus trees and other plant life make for a wonderful walk along the cliffs above the Pacific, and across the Santa Barbara Channel are the various islands that make up the Channel Island National Park. This might be San Miguel Island, but I can never remember which one is which!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 