Fall 2010 Acrylic Class

Fall 2010 Acrylic Project – PV Eucalyptus Final Touches

Mostly what was left to do were some final touches. Some final highlights to brighten some areas, some shadows to give more form, some detail to define certain things…The detail and finishing of a painting becomes a personal preference: You can do a lot to make it more realistic or do nothing at all and give it a more impressionistic look, it is totally up to you at this point, I will run through what I did in class and what I did at home to finish the painting the way I wanted it to look.

In class, I did some more highlighting to the leaves of the tree. This was brighter than the first highlights using yellow, sap green and white on my #4 flat bristle brush occasionally adding touches of orange and or sienna to the mix and trying not to cover up everything I have done up to this point. The original under painting becomes shadowed leaves, the first highlight color becomes leaves that are closer to the ends of the branches and the final highlights become the leaves that are at the ends of the branches. All are important so leave some of each preceding color as you add the next.

The top and the left hand side are getting most of the light so as I moved around to the right side of the tree I lightened the pressure on my brush and faded the highlight colors so the tree looks rounded, leaving the shadowed side dark. Be very careful not to leave a line of demarcation on your tree. It is not light side vs dark side but a gradual transition from one to the other.

Using my liner brush, I mixed up a dark color using burnt sienna and blue and added in more tree limbs and branches. If you look at the reference photo you will see that the tree has a lot of branches just remember when you are adding the branches to make some of them go behind the leaves as well as in front. Look for some of your clumps that don't have any support, they are the ones to do first so the leaves don't look like they are suspended in air then in the spaces between the clumps where you can see sky, add branches.

To the very ends of some of the clumps I used my liner to makes some little squiggly lines to suggest individual leaves. I did this mostly at the outer edges and a few on some of the inner clumps. This helps to suggest the feeling of eucalyptus tree.

I brightened the trunk just a bit with white and a tiny touch of yellow – you only want a slight tint – and I kept this color on the lower part of the trunk as the branches probably have shadows on them. I also took my sienna and suggested some of the shedding bark on the tree in places and highlighted them with a touch of orange and yellow.

I brightened the sunny side of the road again using my #4 bristle brush (acrylics always dry a bit darker so you may have to go over something a couple time to get the look you want) and I also took my tooth brush and scattered some random colors on my road. When I finished that, I rinsed my brush and mixed a shadow color of blue, purple a touch of sienna and some water and using the dry brush technique, I suggested some shadows from the tree on the road. Don't loose all the highlights and it will give it a more "dappled" look.

Finally, using my liner, I added a touch of white to my shadow color to get a gray color and added some birds to my sky. Please note that the birds are small "V" shapes or some very flat "M" shapes of different sizes and going in different directions. This is where I finished in class but this is not how I wanted to finish it for myself so I added a few things.

First, I brightened the highlight on the house, on the road especially as it goes over the edge by the ocean and I brightened the very left side of the tree. I also darkened the corners of my sky using a darker glaze of blue, purple and sienna and a VERY dry brush. In the foreground, I added some more grasses and some dead bushes and I also darkened the corners a bit with the same color but a touch more sienna. And finally, I thought that there should be something on the path so I added a surfer headed down to catch a wave, but it could have been anything like a dog or horse or a couple walking, whatever you want to put in or leave as is, just be sure that if you do add something that it is in proportion to the tree in the foreground.

Next class bring in something that you want to get started on so you can get some help before we head for the holiday vacation break and on our final class, please bring in something for critique whether it is something we have done in class or what you've been working on at home or something you did a while ago and would like a second opinion on, you can learn a lot from what others see in your painting. See you in class.

Fall 2010 Acrylic Class

Fall 2010 Acrylic Project – PV Eucalyptus Tree

We are winding down on this painting which means that we are up to the details so you can bring out your smaller brushes and your sable brushes. This is the time for those brushes unless you have been working on a very small canvas you want to save your smaller brushes and your sable brushes for the detail, using your larger bristle brushes as your work horses.

First thing is to work on the dirt path. I was using my #4 flat sable brush a lot at this point along with a smaller flat bristle brush later. With the sable brush, I mixed a very dark color using my blue, purple and sienna, I need to make a very dark shadow right under the bottom edge of the bushes on the left side of the road. This color will only be on the sides of the dirt that faces the viewer but it is important to give more depth to the bushes and settle them down into the dirt.

Many of you have problems making a very dark color and the problem can be two-fold. One, you have too much water on your brush and you are thinning the paint too much and it won't cover very well. The second problem could be that you are just trying to spread your paint too thin or a combination of both. After you rinse your brush and really you only need to rinse it when you are changing from dark to light paint, dry your brush COMPLETELY using your paper towel to squeeze out the water that hides up near the metal ferrule before you go into you paint. Another thing to be aware of is you can pick up water off your palette without even knowing it. If you pick up paint near the wet paper towels, your brush can act like a wick and suck up water as well as pick up paint so if you need the paint to be a thicker consistency, take if from the top of the pile and not the bottom. And please, put out paint! I know that we are all trying to save a buck by not throwing away perfectly good paint but if you keep your paints moist between uses, they will last a long time so put out enough so that you can cover your canvas and not stretch your paint so thin it is more like a watercolor wash than the technique we are using which is more like oils.

That is not to say you can't use your acrylics like watercolor but if you do, you will have to build up layers just like I do in watercolor applying wash after wash until I get the depth of color I'm looking for. Just be aware of this problem so you can work accordingly.

Back to the shadows. I pulled this dark color down starting at the bottom of the bushes and pulling down the eroded edge. This not only gives the weeds some depth but it creates some more texture in the edge. Remember – and this is always important – make you strokes go in the direction of the thing you are painting, in this case, the slightly curved edge of the path. When you get near the back, all you have to do is just touch the area under the bushes to suggest the shadow. I also just touched a bit of this dark color on the other side of the path but only where I thought there might be shadows, like the at the very base of some clumps.

Next I under painted some small rocks in the path. I don't know why, but rocks seem to intimidate people, I find them interesting and challenging. An important thing to remember when painting rocks is to vary the size and shape. As always, when you are painting something that is new to you, you might want to find photos or take your own or even go out and look at rocks and do some sketches so you understand the rocks. I've been doing rocks for a long time so I can visualize them enough that I can paint convincing rocks but I did have examples when I started and if I'm painting something specific, I use reference photos to get what I want. You need to do this as well, build up your reference files so you can find examples when you need them.

The rocks in the path are just small details so I didn't need to much in way of reference, I just made small blobs in varying sizes and shapes to fit my path. These aren't boulders these are those annoying rocks you stub your toe on when you are on a dirt path. I added some sienna and a touch more blue into that dark mix I was using to paint these shapes and that is all they are at this point – shapes. Some are flat some are rounded, some are big some are in groups some are along the edges of the path others are in the middle. The ones in the foreground are bigger than the ones in the background. But they are JUST SHAPES. Be careful not to make all the same size and shape or lining them up in rows or you will have what Jerry Yarnell calls "a herd of turtles". I let them dry before adding highlights.

While I was waiting for the rocks to dry, I started the highlighting of the trunk of the tree. The left side is where the sun will hit so the left side is going to be the brightest. Some eucalyptus have very light trunks that can be almost white to others that look like gold in the sun, if you have a favorite, you might want to get pictures to make it your own. I mixed white with touches of yellow and orange to make a golden color, using my #4 sable brush on its edge I pulled in from the edge of the trunk a bit then made short choppy strokes following the direction of growth down the length of the tree trunk and some of the major branches. As I got to the sides of the tree, I lightened the pressure on my brush so it was more like dry brush and leaving more of the under painting. On the back of the tree, I mixed in some blue and purple to make a medium light lavender color, this will be reflected light on the shadowed side of the trunk and parts of the main branches. Always follow the direction of the thing you are painting, it makes all the difference in the world to your finished painting.

Back to the rocks. Still in that lavender color and still using my #4 flat sable, I added more blue and sienna to the color to get a gray color. It needs to be lighter than the blobs you painted before but not so light that it looks like a bright highlight, this is mostly a form color or the base color of the rocks. Again, the light is coming from the left, I used quick strokes to suggest my rocks. You can make several small rocks out of a big blob or a big rock and several small ones, just keep your strokes quick and varied. This is a good color for the rocks in the shadows, but in all cases, don't cover up all of your dark under painting, you need it for shadows, cracks, texture and separation between other rocks. This color goes on all the rocks whether they are in the shade or sun.

For a brighter highlight for the rocks in the sun, you can use a similar color to what you used on the tree, mixing white with tiny touches of yellow and or orange. This color goes on only the rocks that might be getting sun in the middle of the path or on the sunny side of the path. Please do not paint over everything you just did, this color is just tiny touches on the very tops of the rocks, not the whole sunlit side.

Once you have your rocks highlighted, we need to put some more highlights on the path and to settle the rocks down into the dirt. Add some sienna and orange to your light color – same brush – "drift" some of this color up against the rocks that are in the sun and even up against the roots of the tree. This stroke is like a "u" on its side, you start at the rock or root, pull down a little then straighten out your stroke, this will settle things down into the dirt and make them look like they belong and not just sitting on top. In the shadowed side of the road mix in some sienna and purple to the mix, even some red and do a similar thing in the shadows.

I ended the days lesson with the first highlights of the tree leaves, this time I used my #4 flat bristle brush and just like I did when I was doing the under painting for the leaves mixing sap green with yellow and or orange, sometimes sienna to create a light highlight color for the sunny side of the tree. While I want to highlight, I don't want to cover up all of my under painting, this will give depth to the clumps of leaves. One problem I was still seeing was that a lot of you were still painting dots of color. LOOK at trees. Notice how parts overlap or combine clumps. Unless the tree guys have been there and just butchered the tree, the leaves and branches are going to connect visually and the eucalyptus is kind of like a willow in that it has long leaves that hang and droop so pull down with your stroke to give that droopy effect.

I still have some finishing touches to do to this painting however, you might want to think about something you want to paint and bring in a new canvas to get started.

Fall 2010 Acrylic Class

Fall 2010 Acrylic Project – PV Eucalyptus

I started the class by finishing up the palm trees in the background and any highlighting on the field or road I didn't do last week. I may do a bit more highlighting later but for now I need to wait until I'm on my finishing touches before doing any more.

The palm trees were done using my #4 flat sable brush for two reasons: one, it is a size that fits the thing I am working on and two it will give me more control of what I'm doing. The bristles are finer and they hold their shape a trait I will need for this step.

The palm tree right behind the house is very small and should be done very quickly. DO NOT spend too much time trying to create the perfect palm tree, it is too tiny. Using my sap green, a tiny touch of purple and some gesso (or you could use white if you want) I mixed a light gray green color. Remember, as things move into the distance they become smaller, less detailed and grayer in color. This is atmospheric perspective along with normal perspective, learn to see it as you drive around town.

I turned my brush sideways and using the width of the brush made a small "u" shaped stroke to start the trunk of the palm, then I made another right on top of that stroke to "stack" the strokes until I got the height I wanted for the trunk. For the fronds, I used the same color, this time using just the end of the brush to make small ribs for the fronds and off these ribs I made little "flicking" strokes to suggest the leaves coming off the ribs. Put enough in there to make it look natural. You might want to practice on a spare canvas with a bigger brush so you can see what you are doing. This was a problem for most of the class. Some had the ribs and no leaves, others had "stars on a stick" because they only made 5 leaves on the trees, others had scared palms because the fronds were sticking straight out from the tree so bend them, droop them, have them come from all directions from the center. Make small ones and long ones especially when you get to the closer palms because you will see a bit more detail. The closer ones were made the same way as the distant one except I added a bit of sienna to my color for the trunk and a bit more green for the fronds.

This is where I finally sketched in my eucalyptus tree with my vine charcoal. I leaned my tree into the picture and placed the trunk near the vertical third line and I took my tree off the top and the right side of my canvas, this will suggest that the tree is much bigger than the canvas can hold which is fine, the problem comes when you try to confine within the canvas so when it is framed it looks like it is stuck to the side of the frame. If it is going to go off the canvas anyway, make it look like you mean it.

Remember, this is just a sketch so avoid detail, you will do that with your brushes, all you need is a guide or suggestion of where the tree will be, how high it will be, and how far across your canvas it will come. You don't want to feel married to your sketch that can cause you problems when you go to paint your tree.

With my #6 flat bristle brush this time, first I added some dirt around the base of the tree. I painted right over some of my bushes but that is okay, I can fix the bushes later. I used a mix of sienna and a touch of purple for the patch of dirt under painting and will highlight it later.

For the tree I used the same brush and color but added a touch of white to gray the color a bit and touches of orange as well. Just like I started the palm trees, using the brush on its side for the edges of the trunk, I pulled in toward the center with a slight "u" shape. I do this so the edge of the tree isn't a hard line, the bristle ends will create a soft edge on the sides, the center of the trunk I used vertical strokes to fill up the space and to start the main branches. I will finish the branches and limbs with my liner brush.

If you don't have a liner, a round sable will work, just be sure it is one that comes to a nice point and whether it is a liner or a round you might want to practice on a piece of paper or a scrap canvas. Start your stroke at the bottom by pressing slightly, this will make a thicker line. As you pull up don't be afraid to wiggle or jerk your brush around a bit, your branches will be better for it but as you pull up to make the branch, also lift to make it thinner. To start another branch off of one you have just made, start the stroke in that existing branch then change direction to create a new branch. Trees have lots and lots of branches, limbs and twigs so don't do just a few, make interesting negative spaces between the branches and remember to overlap and cross over branches as well.

Next we will be adding the clumps of leaves to the tree but this is where I really need to get you to understand the importance of direction of your stroke. Our eyes pick up a lot of subtle detail that we may not be totally conscience of, it is how we tell people apart or can pick out our car in a parking lot full of cars, it is the same when you look at such ubiquitous scenes as driving down PV and you see all the trees. Most of us can spot the pine trees or the eucalyptus or palm trees. We know it without thinking, why? Because of their shape, their color and the way their leaves grow. As artists, we need to understand this so we can convince the view that what we are painting is a eucalyptus and not an oak, for instance. While they can be of similar size and some can be similar color – sort of a gray green – the shape of the leaves and the way they grow is totally different. Eucalyptus trees remind me of moss hanging off branches, they sort of dangle and drift in the breeze giving the tree a more graceful, flowing look. Keep this in mind as you are painting. I saw too many "oak" trees as I walked around class.

I was using my #6 flat brush still and I mixed a dark gray green color with Hooker's green and a touch of purple and a little white to slightly gray it. You want it to be dark so not too much white. Also as I painted I picked up touches or sienna and orange. The leaves on our trees grow in clumps that seem to drape over the branches, my stroke was to put the whole brush on the canvas, pull down, twist and lift. Get out your practice canvas so you know what you need to do. I did this rather quickly, creating clumps – this is called the mass color – leaving pockets of negative space in some places and overlapping and connecting clumps in others. I was also careful not to make the edges of my tree too symmetrical, lots of ins and outs.

When you are done, you should get the sense that the leaves are hanging down, if you don't, you will need to go back in and pull down on the edges of some of your clumps just remember to not fill in your tree completely, it needs some places where the birds can fly through.

Next time – with any luck – we may finish this painting, your homework is to look at eucalyptus trees and study them. Compare them to other trees and with each other. The more you know and understand your subject, the better off you will be.

Fall 2010 Acrylic Class

Acrylic Project – PV Eucalyptus Week 2

The first thing we did was to add a few high clouds into our sky. While they are really necessary because out tree is going to take up a lot of our sky area, one, it is good practice, and two, it shows you how to "fix" little imperfections you may want to minimize like brush strokes or where the paint didn't cover well enough or if you have too hard a line between colors, clouds can soften and add interest as well.

The technique is called "dry brush" for my new students, it is how we blend using acrylics and it comes in very handy in a lot of situations and as the term sounds, the brush is only slightly damp – remember we have to wet the brush first before we go into our paint - it needs to be as dry and you can get it, then we load the brush with just a little paint, working it into the bristles of a flat bristle brush (you don't want to do this with a sable brush or you will ruin it), the lightly wipe the brush before going to the canvas. The things to remember are: Dry brush, little paint.

I picked up some white (or gesso will work) and a tiny touch of yellow or a tiny touch of red or orange, just something to tint the color, it should still look pretty white. Remember to wipe out any excess before starting these clouds because these are just feathery, high clouds not big puffy ones, we'll save those for another time. Using a circular motion, I started making my clouds. If you have loaded your brush correctly and if it is dry enough, you should be able to see the color under this new color. If it covers too well or if the paint looks "runny" you have either gotten too much paint on your brush or have too much water, respectively. If too much paint, wipe some out on your paper towel and try again, if too much water, use your paper towel to squeeze the bristles near the metal ferrule to get the water out before trying again. If your brush is loaded right you should be able to scrub pretty hard and still not get a lot of paint off at any one time.

Like everything else, this will take some practice but once you understand it, you can make some very convincing clouds.

I didn't spend too much time on the sky because it didn't need much, just enough to add some interest to the sky behind the tree we will eventually put in, for now, that is enough.

Next, I sketched in my house – or barn if you like – and the bushes just at the edge to the land area. These are in the distance so they don't need to be very detailed, but we do need them in now so we can start to highlight the field in front of them. If you don't want to put in a house, you can add more trees or a barn or a windmill, I'm just trying to keep this simple and only have one reference photo, if you want to put something else in, you will probably want to find your own reference photo for what ever it is.

When I sketched in my trees in, I kept in mind that they weren't well manicured trees so I varied the size and shape and gave them lots of "in's and out's". Remember that these are just sketches so you know where things are going and their basic shapes, you don't need to add a lot of detail, that – what there is of it – you will do with your brush. The palm trees can just be lines so you know where they need to go. Keep it simple so you don't overwhelm yourself with the drawing.

With my sketch drawn, I based in my house starting with the rood. As we do with everything, I started with a darker color, sienna and a touch of purple for my soon to be tile roof. I was using a smaller brush to fit the size of the area I was working in, a #4 works well here and my strokes followed the direction of my roof: Slanting down. Next I under painted the house itself with a mix of white, blue and sienna to give me a soft cool gray color. It is better to start with this cool grey than to start with white so you have some place to go with your color.

With my house based in, I switched to a #6 bristle brush and mixed a dark green color for the bushes and trees. It was a mis of Hooker's green, a touch of purple and a touch of sienna and to load my brush I was rather mean to it by smashing – for lack of a better term – it end first into my palette which does t a few things: One, it blends the colors together, two it loads the brush and three it splays the end of the bristles out so I can use the deformation to create my trees. Bristle brushes are designed to take abuse.

When my brush was loaded, using that smushed end of my brush, I tapped the shapes I wanted for my bushes and trees. I occasionally had to smash the brush into the palette to reform the end of the brush. The color should cover the area pretty solid near the base of the trees and have suggestions of leaves at the top so you will vary the pressure on your brush from heavy to light depending on where you are on the bush.

While the trees and house were drying, I under painted the road. I started on the left hand side and I wanted to suggest a little bit of an eroded drop off edge, still using a #6 bristle brush I mixed some burnt sienna with some purple to get a dark brown mix I applied the paint with an "L" shaped stroke. In other words, I was following the shape of the drop off which angled down from the grasses and when it got to where the flat of the road started, my stroke also flattened out. In the foreground the strokes were taller and wider and got smaller as they went into the distance but the always followed the shape to the ground I was painting. This darker color only went maybe a third to a quarter way across the road where I switched to a color that was more sienna than purple and added in touches of orange red and sometimes yellow. I was using the end of my brush and making small flat, overlapping "u" shapes. This color should run right up into the bushes on the other side.

Now we have most of our painting under painted so now we can start some highlighting. First the house. On the roof I used my #4 sable flat brush and mixed a bit of sienna, orange and white to make a sunshine color for the roof, then using the width of the brush made small strokes that followed the angle of the roof, leaving gaps of the under color to suggest the spaces between tiles. You just have to suggest this, your viewer's eyes will fill in the detail.

The sun in coming in from the left, so that is the side of the building that will be highlighted. I still had some of my white tinted with yellow from my sky on my palette, to that I added a touch more white and a bit of mud from my palette to slightly gray the color and applied this color where I thought the sun would be hitting. In the shadowed side, I mixed in some blue and purple to that color to get a darker color and painted in the shadows. Next I rinsed my brush and mixed a very dark color of blue, purple and a touch of sienna, this color I used directly under the eves of the roof and for the door and windows. The house is done.

Next, I put some highlight on the trees around the house and on the far side of the road. I used my #6 bristle brush again and loaded it just like I did when I was under painting but this time I used sap green, yellow and a touch of sienna or orange and just lightly tapped this color on the left hand side to create dimension and separate out limbs and other bushes/trees from the mass color. Don't get carried away or you will loose the dark and keep the lighter color to the top edges of the bushes/trees. Those are done.

I did a similar thing in the grassy field as I did with the trees, the technique it the same but this time I used yellow and white or yellow and sap green or orange and yellow, what ever bright colors I have on my palette to create some sunshine on the grassy field. Remember this is just highlighting so don't cover up all of your under painting, you need those darks and lights.

While we may still add a few more highlights to these areas, they are basically done, next week we will work on the road, maybe do a few rocks and maybe get started on the tree, in the mean time, I want you to look at eucalyptus in the area and be aware that they have a very unique look to their structure, to the way the leaves hand and to the color of the bark and leaves. The more you know about your subject the better off you will be when it comes to painting it. See you next time.