Acrylic – Metal and Glass Still Life
This week we finished up our under painting so all that is left to do are the finishing touches.
Most beginning students do not understand the importance of the under painting or exactly what it is yet it is the basis for any good painting whether it is acrylic, pastel, oil or watercolor or any other paint based art form. It is the foundation which you build you finished painting, just like building a house if the foundation is solid the house will be solid. If your under painting is good your finished painting will be a success.
As you build these layers of paint during the under painting process, you do not cover up all of the work you did in a previous layer, you leave some of the previous layer for texture or shadow. It is why we use the dry brush technique so often so we can see the previous layer through the layer we are working on building upon what we had to create what we want. As you learn more and more about acrylics you will begin to see what I'm talking about, for now, you will have to trust me.
We left off with our background done and most of our bottle based in (under painted), now we need to finish getting in the candle and the snuffer.
The candle looks white or cream colored but we do not start there, if we did, we would have no place to go with our color. We start with a gray version of the color. Remembering that wax is translucent I don't want a real dark color as my under painting so I mixed white with a touch of blue, sienna and a tiny touch of red making a soft gray color that was not too light but a little lighter than a middle gray. Starting in the shadowed side of the candle I scrubbed this color in. At the edges of the candle, I used the end of my bristles and pulled in rather than pulling a straight line down the side. This keep the edges soft for now if I want a harder edge I can do it later but for now I want to avoid and ridges of paint that will be hard to get rid of once they dry. As I painted towards the lighter side I added touches of white and sometimes picked up red or orange to warm and lighten the gray just slightly.
I skipped and area where the rim of the candle was and went to the inside starting with the darker gray down along the bottom and again as I moved up the inside of the candle added a little white, red or orange. Keep in mind I don't want a RED or
The under painting for the candle holder is a mix of blue sienna and touches of yellow. The yellow will turn the color slightly green but this is okay it will give the appearance of tarnished brass in the end, with any luck at all. Just get the holder covered in the dark color and it will be much darker than the candle, we will give it shape and form later when we highlight.
The brass snuffer has a couple of sections, first the inside of the bell. Notice how dark it is, many of you struggle getting your color dark enough and usually the problems is either 1, you have too much water on your brush diluting the mix, 2, you aren't using enough paint and stretching it too thin or 3 a combination of 1 and 2. Before you pick up paint, if you have been using a light color you will want to rinse your brush well (guess there is a 4th, light color on your brush) just be sure to dry it well and get the water out from under the metal ferrule before you pick up paint. Remember, a little water will go a long way and it will thin your acrylics down so much they are transparent, it doesn't take much.
To get a dark color start with the ultra marine blue, sienna or burnt umber and a touch of purple. If it looks too brown add more blue. Ultra marine and sienna make a very nice dark gray adding the purple gives it life but it will be very dark. Start in the center that would be the very inside of the bell. Not only is there shadow but there is also soot so it will be very dark. Create the upper edge with this color and down the sides a bit. As this color comes out into the light, add a touch of white, not much just enough to make a nice dark gray and blend the light into the edges of the dark so there is no hard line, use your finger if you have to. I used a sable brush in this area because it helps me to make soft blends of color while the paint is still wet.
The brass on the snuffer is a bit redder that the holder so the color I mixed for its under painting was blue, orange and a touch of red, it should look like dark mustard. I painted in the all of the snuffer with this color.
The next step could have been done right after I did the background, but I waited until now so I knew where all of my elements were going to be and that is the table top. Remembering where my light was coming from, I started near the bottle with orange and sienna to give a warm glow around the bottle and the bell end of the snuffer and as I worked my way to the edge, using a horizontal scrubbing stroke with my bristle brush, I picked up some red and sienna, then sienna and purple and finally just purple and what mud I had on my brush to take it to the sides and corners. I am making a wooden table but this will work using any color you are using in your painting, just use colors you need and add blues and purples to make the corners darker.
I did start the highlighting process on the candle and snuffer, these aren't the final highlights these are more like giving the things shape. On the candle I mixed a lighter version of the gray I used before and scrubbed it on using a very dry brush. If you are doing this right, you should be able to see the under painting thru this layer. Again, I picked up touches of red or orange along with my gesso I was using for white and scrubbed on the color even along the rim area. When I had all of the area covered, I came back with more gesso and the mud on my brush and still using a dry brush scrubbed the light color on the lightest side of the candle and the top rim. I also looked for places that were lighter to give shape to the lumps and bumps.
The holder, I used yellow and the mud on my very dry brush and scrubbed this color in. It isn't a bright yellow, more a dirty yellow and looking at my subject lightened areas that might be getting some light. I used some of the dark shadow color under the top rim to create depth and to start to shape the stand it is on.
On the snuffer, I used yellow, orange and red and again using a dry brush, scrubbed this color on. It should be brighter than the under painting but don't cover up all of the under painting, it creates texture. I did use a dark color to add some shadows to the holes in the snuffer and along its edge.
We will finish the still life next session so please have something you want to start painting with you in class. Only a few more sessions left so best to get started now while you have time to ask questions.
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