Acrylic – Glass and Metal Finishing Touches
For the most part, we were about finished with basing in our still life last week, all that is left are the finishing touches to make it come alive. The most important part of this process is putting in the shadows.
Shadows are often times neglected or put in as an afterthought by many artists beginning and advanced alike but they are the key to give your painting drama and a sense of light. You should look to see where you will have your shadows even in the planning stages and even if you are working from a photo that doesn't have shadows per se you need to figure out where exactly you need them for the best effect in your painting.
Another thing to remember is that you should only have one light source otherwise you will have light shadows going in several directions. While this might work well if you were doing dancers on a stage, in most other cases, it will work against you. This may take some practice on your part and maybe so be sketching so you know where you are going but eventually as you develop your skills, you can look at a flat lit scene (meaning that there is no distinct source of light) and decide for yourself where the light should be coming from and place your shadows accordingly.
My light on this still life came from the right so all of my shadows will go off to the left. Notice the shadow under the snuffer because the handle is propped up on the edge of the candle holder there is a gap between the handle and the table it is resting on. I used my charcoal to sketch this in and also the shadows under the bell of the snuffer, the holder, the candle and the bottle. I needed to get some dark behind my candle so using my artistic license, I imagined that the table was up against a wall and the shadow of the bottle runs up the wall behind the candle, this give me the darkness to make the candle stand out from the background.
Next I mixed a dark shadow color which consists mostly of ultra marine blue and purple with maybe the tiniest touch of sienna to darken it. This color should be very dark. It isn't, you have too much water in your paint, probably from your brush. Be sure to dry your brush well before you start to mix this color and squeeze it near the metal ferrule where water likes to hide.
With little paint on your brush, start scrubbing this color where your shadows will be. The edges of shadows are seldom hard except maybe right next to the object that is casting it so keep the edges soft, you can make them harder later if you feel you need to. Notice that under the holder, there are 2 shadows, one is very dark right under the rim the other is just slightly lighter, just be sure to get it dark enough under the holder you can even scrub over the one side of the foot of it creating a "lost and found" effect that can add interest. Get the area behind the candle fairly dark and in the area where it might be the shadow from the bottle, scrub a bit of green into it. Glass is transparent so some of the light comes through the glass and is in the shadow, however, this color should still be darker that the bottle as it has passed through it and has lost strength.
As the shadow of the bottle goes up the wall it changes from the blue/purple to a dark green because of the afore mentioned transparency of the glass so using the same dirty brush, I mixed a bit of Hooker's green into my brush and scrubbed in the shadow of the glass onto the wall occasionally picking up touches of sap green to make parts lighter or added blue to make it darker to suggest the varying thickness of the glass.
Once that was done, I thought that I needed to darken the edges of my painting to make it more dramatic. I went back to that dark blue/purple color and scrubbed in with a dry bristle brush more color. I started in the corners to get the darkest color and as I moved towards the subject, lightened the pressure on my brush to give a graded look to this glaze. I did this all around my painting.
To finish it I mixed a color similar to the table color and put the light holes back into the shadow of the handle of my snuffer and looked for any place else I thought needed more shadow or highlights. This is a personal preference though I do suggest that you quite while you are ahead. You can fiddle a painting very easily to being overworked so if you are looking for things to do: STOP! Let it sit for a few days and look at it with fresh eyes, you will probably find it looks okay as is so call it finished and put it in a frame.
This finished my demo as such. This wasn't intended to be more than a study however, if I was going to be doing this as a true painting, there were things I would have added and several of my students either asked or pointed out the need to make it finished so I made a few adjustments and it turned out to be a more satisfying finished product than just a study. Again, these are things that you as an artist need do decide for your self and can either put them in or leave them out, your choice.
First, I wanted to make it looked like a polished wooden table. Using my liner brush and mixing colors that were both lighter and darker than the table color I suggested wood grain in the table area. I didn't spend much time on this just light lines that could pass for grain. Next, I put in the reflections of the objects. Reflections are always a darker version of what they reflect and they reflect what is underneath them, it is like seeing what a mirror would see if it was on the ground, not on the wall. With the appropriate color and a very dry bristle brush, first I pulled this color straight down, then straight across. This takes a very light touch and you may need to build up to it but don't get heavy handed or you will have problems. This is reflections on a table, not on water which can appear more solid in color.
To the candle, I added a flame. First I took straight yellow and dry brushed in some yellow haze on the inside of the candle using a circular motion but my brush was very dry and my touch very light to give a slight glow on the inside and back edges of the candle, then with a round sable brush using orange and yellow (first orange then yellow) quickly added the flame. I also added these colors to the side of the bottle and smudged them with my finger. Notice I left a space to suggest the side of the candle o the bottle.
It was also suggested – and I agreed – that there was an empty space that needed "something". I am glad that my students are seeing these things because it isn't always easy to spot when the negative space is lacking and that negative space is as important as the rest of it, like supporting actors in a movie, it makes the painting more interesting so to finish my painting, I added a book.
We are done with the class project so you will need to bring in something of your own to work on. I will be doing a demo on how to finish a painting with varnish and I will demo creating fabric. We only have two more sessions and we will take a break. The next classes will start Sept 20th and registration for Torrance residents will start Aug 24th, non-residents on Aug 31st. Be sure to get registered in your classes as soon as you can so they don't close your class for lack of students, they usually close under enrolled classes a week before they start so don't get left out and encourage your friends to take classes as well. See you in class.
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