FALL 2011 ACRYLIC CLASS

There was no actual demo in class this past week as people tried to finish up the value study but I would like to remind everyone to bring in something that you want to paint. It can be a photo graph you have taken yourself or something you found in the paper or on the Internet it just needs to be something that interests you.

I am going to do a demo showing how to use the hake brush and the liner two brushes that give you the most problems yet they are two brushes that can really help you with your painting. You might want to have a scrap canvas (and old painting that you have gessoed over) or something to practice on if you want to follow along.

See you in class.

ACRYLIC CLASS FALL 2011

Acrylic Demo – Value Study

I hope that you have learned something from doing the value study, it was a great exercise and I hope it taught you to see the various values in a subject that brings it to life – even in black and white.

My final day on my study was to just look to see where I could add some more detail and to fine tune the shapes of the elements of the painting. All I was interested in was the shape and the value of that shape. I know I sound like a broken record, but most of you are still way to concerned about the "flower" or the "vase" or what it is in the reflection. All of those things do not matter, the only thing that matters is the shape of the thing you are painting, then the value. If you get the shapes right the vase, flower and reflection will be there when you are done and that is the only time they may matter.

Once I had my black and white painting done, I made sure that my highlights were bright and I could call it done at that point. You can also stop at this point if you like the black and white version color is only an option, the lesson were the values.

If you do plan to add color as I did, remember that these are just glazes. What ever color I used, I added water to it so it was very transparent. In watercolor we would call them washes in oils and acrylics they are glazes. You want the transparency of the color because you want all the work you did on the values to come through not hidden behind thick paint. You may have to go over your highlights again because acrylics do dry darker but if you keep your glazes thin you shouldn't have any need to lighten the areas you go over with color.

Next class I will be going over some basic strokes and techniques so there won't be any reference material you need to worry about. If you need to finish up your value study or if you are ready to move on, please bring in something you would like to work on and I can help you get started. See you all in class.

Fall 2011 Acrylic Class

ACRYLIC DEMO – Value Study

I think one of the hardest things for the beginner to intermediate artist has to over come it the urge to finish an area as you go. A good painting is built form the big shapes to the small detail and from the dark to the highlights. A good habit to get into is working around your painting, don't stay in one area or one color too long. What happens is the painting will be very tight in that area you spent so much time on then the rest of the painting suffers and the finished work is uneven and disappointing.

Even working on a value study, moving around your painting is important. It may be just shades of gray, but as I walked around the class I noticed that not only were students trying to finish as they painted, they were using the same value of gray for everything. This exercise is to get you to see and use the whole value system to create more interest in your paintings. Please take the time to really look at the reference photo before you paint. Look for the subtleties between the values of gray.

Another thing to remember is all you are painting are shapes. You shouldn't be naming the thing you are painting such as I'm painting the vase or I'm painting the flower you are only painting a shape such as a curve. Think more along the lines of does this shape curve in or out? Is this shape lighter or darker than the shape next to it? Is this line thick or thin? If in the end you have a value study of a sunflower in a vase then that is icing on the cake, just don't worry about it until the end.

Another way to paint is to turn it upside down along with the photo you are working from. I mention the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards because it is a great way to learn to draw and it also explains how your brain works. Most of us are in our left brains in our day to day lives because it is our language, time, and logic, while our right brain is working in the background. However, when we are trying to paint we need to bring that right side up to bat. The right side is our spatial orientation so we can walk through a room and not have to feel our way, it recognizes the differences between faces, it sees the beauty of the world. The left brain has its own "short hand" so it sees anything that looks like a chair as a chair, names it and moves on. The right brain can tell the difference between a folding chair and a throne and wants to linger and appreciate the differences. When you turn something upside down, your left brain can't make sense of it because it becomes just shapes that is when the right side can take over and you will "see" more and your painting less forced. Try this until you can switch that left side off, it is a way to train your right brain.

All of this said, this is how I was painting the vase and flower. I worked from the back – which would be the reflection behind the flower – to the front looking for the shapes and the values that make up the image. It didn't matter if I was working on the reflections or if I was working in the petals of the flower, shape and value were the only things I was concerned with as I moved around the painting. I did notice that I tend to work counter clockwise as I worked but I do keep moving around my painting.

I also wasn't trying to finish the painting either. I want to get it up to the point where all I have to do is the final highlights and detail. If I didn't like a shape, I could just use the black to paint it out and then I could try again. Don't sweat the small stuff. This isn't a class in carving stone, if you do something you don't like, paint it out and do it over, that is why they make gesso in all colors.

I will be finishing up the value study this week and I may add some color to it when I'm done. I hope that you are all looking for something new to paint once you are finished with this study and apply what you have learned in a project you want to paint, that is the real challenge, I'm sure you are all up to it.

ACRYLIC CLASS FALL 2011

ACRYLIC DEMO – Value Scale

One of the things I have noticed with my students over the years is they are afraid to go too dark when they paint and their paintings suffer for it, so I thought it was time for a lesson in values to get over that fear and learn to put in those dark darks as well as all the values between dark and the lightest light.

First off we painted a value scale. We will be using this throughout our painting. Part of the problem many have is they do not believe that something is as dark as it really is. Our brains lie to us so we need to have something to convince ourselves that it really is that dark and the value scale will do just that.

First, I put out some black gesso (black paint will work as well) on my palette. On the strip of paper I provided I painted a 1 inch section at one end with the straight black. I rinsed my brush and picked up some white gesso (titanium white will work as well) that was about half as much as what was left of the black on my palette and mixed the two well. I added this new color next to the black on the strip about the same width. I repeated this action, each time adding half as much white to the previous color – you may want to just use a small portion of each mix or you end up with a huge pile – until I got down to one unpainted section. You can leave the white of the paper for the white or you can paint it with pure white, just be sure to rinse and clean your brush well so there is no remaining black that will tint the white. When this is dry you can punch holes in the middle of each value, this will help you when you need to evaluate a area.

Next, I had everyone paint their canvas black. No sense being shy about the dark because we will be starting out with our darkest dark. For my new students, when we paint in acrylics we start out usually in a mid level dark color and work our way to the light and final darks. All mediums require that you do several layers to increase values and color, doesn't matter if it is acrylics, oils, pastels, watercolors or whatever, you need to build a foundation for your painting first before you can put on the finishing details. Think of it like building a house from the ground up: You have to have a foundation, framing, wiring, plumbing, a roof, drywall, flooring…you get the picture, all before you can hang the paintings on the wall or move in the furniture, so learn to be patient with yourself and your painting.

When the black was dry, I showed how you can transfer a drawing to the canvas by using chalk on the back of a drawing then using it like poor man's transfer paper. You will need a light chalk because charcoal doesn't work to good on black. You can wait to do this step until after we get the first layer of color on the canvas if you want.

We won't be getting into any color for a couple of weeks and you may not want to put color on it at all when you are done. This is actually how the old masters use to paint because the pigments were so expensive because they were usually gem stones and other expensive materials, they could get white and mix carbon black from their chimneys to make black and grays with their oils then when they were done they could put on glazes of color and not waste the pigments. I will wait until the end to add color IF I want to add color.

The first value I mixed was a dark gray which was about 2 values down from pure black (keep those scales handy). This I used for the area the vase is sitting on. Look at the reference photo – you should always have the reference photo handy when you are painting – and see the light gray area that goes up about ¾ of the vase. In that gray area are shades of light and dark, the dark is what you just mixed and to that you can add some more white when you are in a lighter area, I do want to caution everyone that you are not trying to get the final values at this point, we are just establishing lighter and darker areas.

For the new students I used what is called a dry brush. What this means is there is very little moisture in my brush so each time I rinse it I make sure I have all excess water out of it, it also means that I have little paint in it as well. I load my brush then wipe the excess off before I go to my canvas, then I scrub in all directions, this is called scumbling. I'm not painting a wall, I am painting something that has bumps and high points how ever subtle and remembering that this is just the under painting, I just want to get the canvas covered. Yes, some of the black may show through and that is great! If you look at the photo on the picture page you can see that the black of the canvas shows through on mine, I'm not concerned. I also want you to notice that the area between the gray and the black in the background is very soft. You want to avoid hard lines as much as possible in acrylics because they are hoard to get rid of when you don't want them.

This is where we stopped for the day. Next class we will do more glazes of values, depending on how fast the class works, we may be done the following week, if we use color it will be when we finish the values study.

I would like if students could find their own type of reflection and/or glass to do a painting that they would rather do for the rest of the semester after we are done with this project, that way I can help you when you need it and you can put into practice what you have learned.

See you all in class.

FALL 2011 ACRYLIC CLASSES

We are about to start a new semester so I wanted to let you all know what we will be doing in class.

I have gotten several requests to do glass and reflections so to kill two birds with one stone, that will be our project with the added bonus of values.

For the most part this is going to be a study in black and white, I will have some black for those who don't have any black - this is one of my exceptions to the rule - or you can make a dark color that will work just as well.

One of the things I notice with my students is the are afraid of the dark but unlike the creepy feelings you get walking around the house in the dark, you need the dark in your paintings to create a more dynamic painting and learning how to use all the values from white to dark is important in taking your work to another level.

I am also going to have the set up in class so you can see it in real life, the photos are for reference and detail.

Let me know if you have problems with the link to the picture page, I think I have it set for public but I could be wrong.

See you all soon.

Summer 2011 Acrylic Class

Acrylic – Demo: Pelicans in Flight Week 4

PV Students, you are almost caught up with the Torrance students as far as the demos are concerned, you will need to go back to last weeks blog to review the under painting of the pelicans but the rest of this blog will apply to what we covered in class except for the highlighting of the birds, that is where I stopped with Torrance.

When I look at my paintings when I'm writing these blogs, I will often times see things at home that I don't when I am trying to teach the class. What I saw at home that I couldn't quite figure out in class was that the water and the island behind the birds were too plain, they looked too flat so before I started finishing up the pelicans, I wanted to finish up the water and Catalina.

Painting with acrylics you can go about things in a couple of ways: You can either go darker or lighter depending on what you think your painting needs in a particular area. With that in mind, when I looked at my water, I thought it was a bit too light and I needed to add some darks and some movement to it and could accomplish both in the same move.

I mixed up a color of blue, a touch of sap green and a tiny touch of purple. A reminder: you want your paint creamy like soft butter but not runny when using a regular brush however, if you use you liner for this step you will need to use enough water in your paint so that it is very ink-like, the choice is yours, I demonstrated both using my liner and using a #4 flat sable brush.

I turned my canvas so that is was in the vertical position and starting out with that dark blue mixture on the very edge of the canvas I made long vertical lines that were slightly "u" shaped. These overlapped or crossed each other but for the most part they were vertical and I painted about a third of the water color in these stripes.

Please take note and check the picture page: I DID NOT cover the entire under painting. The paint that was there becomes the highlights on the water. If that area had been darker than it was, I could have put highlights back in with the same technique with lighter colors but I would have left the dark blue as shadows. Too many of you still cover up all of your under painting when you could have left it to work for you as shadows then you have to work twice as hard to get the darks – sometimes lights – back in your painting. Let the under painting work for you.

After I painted that third of the water, I mixed in a bit of white and a little green into the same mix, I wanted it to be a bit lighter though it should still be a bit darker that the next area we will paint. Again, I painted vertical strokes but this time they were a bit shorter and closer together. I am trying to create distance in my painting keeping in mind that as things go into the distance they become softer, greyer in color and closer together. About another third was painted this way thought I did put some of this color in the border between the darker strokes and this color.

That last third was painted the same – vertical strokes – but I added a bit more white and barely skimmed the surface of the water so that the ripples in the water faded out as they went into the distance. Don't over think this, it is just ripples on the water it should be done quickly and be done with it. Turn it back to horizontal when done.

Next, I wanted to add some contour on the island hills, for this I mixed my blue with purple and a little touch of sienna and white to make a color that was just slightly darker that what was there. I just want a little value (darker) change just enough to suggest some detail in the hills. With a bristle brush (#6 flat), I scrubbed in this color where I wanted shadows. My light is coming in from the top left side so shadows will be on the right side of the hills. I have looked at hills and shadows all my life so I can figure out where the shadows go but if you need to see how shadows fall on hillsides, please find some reference of take some photos, those reference photos can be worth their weight in gold when you need to know how something looks, keep them handy and add to them.

When I finished with the shadows on the hills, the next thing I did was soften the line between the Island and the water so it wasn't as defined, to accomplish this I mixed a touch of gesso into some of that blue color and a lot of water this time, I want a very thin glaze of a light color for this effect. With my bristle brush I loaded this color on my brush and then I used my paper towel to remove any excess water from my brush, this is a dry brush technique with very little paint.

Right along the line between the water and the land, using a circular, scrubbing type stroke, I very lightly (little pressure on my brush) went over, under and above that line almost like making clouds. This haze that you are creating should be uneven as you go across. This does take practice but it is a good thing to learn because you can use it in many situations to soften distant hard lines or add some atmosphere to your paintings.

Torrance students we did get started on some of the details of the pelicans, though we didn't get too far, we have some left to do in our next class but you should all have your birds under painted at this point.

I started at the head around the eyes in the feather area, from an image of a pelican in mating plumage I found on the Internet, I could see that around the face the color started out as a sienna color and faded back to a soft yellow. I went back to the small flat sable for this step so I would have more control and will use it for all the work on these birds.

Starting with the sienna I pulled that color back away from the eyes, keeping in mind that I was painting feathers that followed the contour of the head, using short strokes. This color goes to the top where it ends at the bill and fades out under his chin. I just wiped out my brush and picked up some orange and mixing slightly into the sienna, made more small strokes just behind the first color. I did a similar thing with yellow and a touch of white. Again, I'm not trying to cover up all my under painting because that will give me texture and shadows.

I mixed a bit of grey by using what I had on my palette with some gesso to start, I wanted a lighter color than what was already on the bird for the top of the head, back and the top of the wing. Using just the edge of the brush I made short, choppy, over lapping, strokes to create a feathery look in the sun lit areas ALWAYS following the growth pattern of the feathers.

On the two smaller birds, I just put touches of color because they are too small in the painting for much detail.

Both acrylic classes we will be finishing up the birds in the next class and we have a few more weeks to go so please have something with you that you want to paint and I can help you get started. See you soon.

SUMMER 2011 ACRYLIC CLASSES

Acrylic – Demo: Pelicans

PV Classes I do want to remind you that blogs on how to do the skies are a couple entries back but because we are such a small class and we have 3 hours, we are almost caught up with Torrance, so you will want to read the parts on clouds in this blog.

Torrance class we started out by putting clouds in our sky. The clouds are not the story in this painting, they are just there as supporting features, to put the pelicans in their environment as it were, I didn't want big, flamboyant, colorful clouds that would compete with the birds, so I strived to have them there but not as attention getters. It is not to say that if you want the clouds to have a more prominent role in your painting you can make them more outstanding, it just isn't what I wanted for mine.

Even though the clouds are the big, fluffy white kind we see quite often, I still need to start out with a grey under painting. I wanted a grey that was just a bit darker than the sky behind it and I needed to put the clouds where they will help my pelicans so I want the grey behind where the heads are going to be, however, I didn't need to draw the pelican in, I just needed to mark where his head would be so when I painted my clouds, I would have them in the right position.

My grey was white (gesso), ultra marine Blue, burnt sienna and diox. purple. This is my standard mix for grey though there are other ways to make grey, this is my workhorse mix. The white or gesso is what changes the value of the color, no white and you have a very dark almost black color and it is what I use instead of black when I need a dark color. This version is mostly white to create a soft medium light grey color.

When I apply the color to the canvas, I start where the middle of the cloud would be with my bristle brush (10 or 12) and with circular motions create the shapes of my clouds all the time thinking about how the clouds themselves are formed with bubbling and boiling shapes. There are no had edges to a cloud so the outside edges need to be very soft and airy so when I get to the edges I lighten the pressure on my brush and dry brush the top and bottom portions of the clouds. I even picked up little touches of the sky pink to put in the clouds to repeat the color and worked it in to the color that was already there.

The next layer, when the first was dry, I added more white or gesso to the same pile of paint and mixed it in but this time when I loaded my brush I wiped out the excess and using a dry brush stroke, I kept this color to what would be the tops of the "boils" of a cloud so I left some of that darker color as shadows in the clouds. The final layer (glaze) was just white on my brush and I dry brushed this on again on what would be the tops of the clouds and very dry brush. This take practice so your clouds don't look like cotton balls so you might want to try it on a separate canvas at first.

When my clouds dried, I took the pattern I had and my soft vine charcoal and rubbed the charcoal on the back of the pattern along the lines. Then I taped it to my dry canvas where I wanted the birds to be and with the end of a brush handle I traced over my pattern and transferred the birds to my canvas. I did have to go over the transferred lines with my charcoal so I could see them clearly on the canvas. I did blow off the excess when I was done.

When you are placing your birds, remember to give them room to fly into. You don't want to place the lead bird so close to the edge that he is going to "bump" into it, you want to give him enough visual space from the edge so he has room to fly. If when you look at the charcoal lines and your birds aren't in a position you want them, take a wet paper towel and wipe them off and start over. Better at this point that after you start painting them in.

The birds will be under painted in varying shades of grey so you might want to mix up a good pile of a very dark grey (little or no white/gesso) and add little bits of white as needed to lighten on the head and back. DONOT USE WHITE ALONE at this point, it is still shades of grey. Keep the grey to the cool side by adding more blue, if you want to warm it up in spots add sienna or a touch of orange like on the body of the main bird or on its bill, but essentially grey will be your basic color to which you will add touches of white to lighten the color in the sunlit or light areas of the bird such as the head, back and top of the wings. Look at your photo to see where the light and dark areas are and add touches of white in those areas but do not paint them white at this point in time. We will get there but this step is important to give body and form to your birds. Use a brush that is the right size for you painting, I was using a #4 bristle, you can use a sable if you want, and paint in the direction of how the feathers grow, keep that photo handy.

Also, when you are doing the birds in the distance, watch their shape, I saw a lot of crows in my classes because you were going too fast and didn't pay attention to the shape of those birds and they ended up a different species. They don't need a lot of detail so don't spend too much time trying to make them look perfect, they are just suggestions of pelicans and play a supportive role like the clouds.

All students, we will probably finish this project up next week so if you want to bring in something you would like to paint next bring it in so I can help you get started. If you have any thing you would like to see a demo on, let me know because if you need help on something chances are that others in class need help as well.

PV students try to have the birds sketched on to your canvas and we will work on them next class and probably finish them.

See you all soon.

SUMMER 2011 ACRYLIC CLASS

Acrylic Class – "Pelicans in Flight"

PV students, you will want to review the previous couple of blog entries so you will know what we will be doing in class on Tues. I hope that you have been able to get your blending brushes (the real soft ones) but if you couldn't find one, do not worry, we will just have to do our skies like we practiced in class last Tuesday, it might not be a nice smooth sky but it isn't a "wrong" sky, just a different way to achieve your goal. If you are going to follow along with what I will be demonstrating, please download and print out the reference photo and the drawing found on the picture page. Let me know if you have problems, I do have a few extra copies.

Torrance students you should have your paintings up to the point so that it has the sky, Catalina, and the water (if you put water in your painting), I did not do the clouds yet, that will be our next step on Monday, also, if you are not going to draw the pelicans freehand but are going to transfer the image to your canvas from a drawing the size that will fit your canvas, be sure to have the enlarged drawing ready, we will probably get to where we are basing in our pelicans in the next class.

I do want to mention that we should be done with this painting probably in the following class so you might want to start looking for something you want to paint and I can help you get started on it in class.

SUMMER 2011 ACRYLIC CLASS

ACRYLIC DEMO – Grids, Skies, Clouds and Feathers

I didn't want to start the project with the 4^th of July holiday the next week because we would have to go back to square one when we did come back to class, however this was a great opportunity to practice what we will be doing on the project in the hopes of working out the bugs before we get to our project.

The first thing I covered is how to get an image on your canvas. There are several ways to get an image on your canvas that do not require a lot of drawing skills, which would be your first option but in a practical sense I know that most of you do not have good drawing skills, I will keep encouraging you but in the meantime you need some alternatives. You can buy a program that will enlarge a photo or a drawing in your computer, I have the link to Poster 7 in the side bar or you can use an opaque projector or even take what you need to Kinkos and get it enlarged but one simple way to enlarge a picture or drawing is using the grid system.

The grid system has been around for hundreds of years. Before photographs artists would create these huge elaborate grids with rope and wood and set their subjects in front of them to get a precise rendering of the scene. Today you can buy sheets of clear plastic with a grid already printed on it or you can buy paper with a grid pattern or you can buy a kit that will make you an "instant artist" using the grid system or make your own grid with pencil and ruler the process is the same.

What I do when I use a grid – yes, I have use the grid system when I need to – I will print a copy of my subject on a full sheet of paper, the image is usually around 8" x 10" and I mark off 1" squares, it keeps things simple. On another sheet of paper like drawing paper or tracing paper that is at lest the size of the canvas I am going to use, say 16" x 20" I will make my grid with 2" squares because my canvas is twice the size of my photo so the ratio is 2 to 1. I can make this as big – or as small – as I need so long as I create a grid with squares I could enlarge something to wall size if I needed to just be sure that you have the same amount of squares on your canvas as you have on your picture.

It can be a bit tedious drawing the grids but once you have them drawn, the real work begins. If you are working from a photo what you will be looking for is the edges of objects and important detail such as eyes or door or as much detail as you think you will need. You could do a line drawing from your photo either by using a light box or taping it to a bright window and going over the important lines, then putting your grid on the line drawing.

Pick a spot to start on your photo or line drawing, you can put numbers and letters along the edges so you can just go to the 3C square or just count over and up, then what ever shape you see in that square you want to recreate it on your paper or canvas grid. Note where the line(s) intersect the lines of the grid and where they stop and start. You can just put dots to indicate starting and stopping points or high and low points then when you draw you line it will be like the "connect the dots" you did as a kid, you do need to be aware of the line you are drawing as you connect the dots so if it is a curved line or a straight line you need to do the best you can to recreate the shape of that line. Remember: That is all it is, a line. A line that creates a shape and if you got all your lines and shapes close you will have your subject enlarged and transferred. Don't think about the thing think about shapes only. Practice this and you will be amazed at how well it works.

The next thing we practiced was skies. Awwww, the simple blue sky: So pretty yet so deceptive in its simplicity. As you probably figured out when you were trying this in class, getting a even, graded blue sky isn't as simple as you would think, it does take practice and patience but if you stick to it, you can create beautiful, flawless skies.

You will be using your very soft blending brush or haki brush for this entire process, a stiff bristle brush WILL NOT WORK the bristles need to be very soft. First, spray or brush your canvas with water, this will help the gesso go on. Next, use generous amounts of gesso to coat the entire sky area. Don't try to be conservative with your gesso, it is going to help you so you need a good coat on your canvas. Also, keep your spray bottle handy, the second you feel your brush start to drag, hold your sprayer back about 18" and mist the entire canvas and work the water in so it doesn't spot. You can keep your paint "open" (workable) for quite a while using this method.

If you want to have a different color at the bottom of your sky - and often times a sky can be pinkish or orange-ish near the horizon – streak the color across the top, then with BIG X strokes and little pressure on the brush, work the color down the canvas, it should gradually get lighter as you go down but if it gets too light, you may have to add more color but start at the top and work it down the same way, you want a graded look. When you are happy with that color, flip your canvas over and do the same thing with your blue. I usually add a touch of purple and a little sienna to slightly gray the color, but you don't need to. Work the color down to where it almost touches the other color, then rinse your brush, dry it completely start in the warmer color and blend up and down – still using those "X's" - and wipe your brush frequently so you don't get too much dark color on your brush or you could get some strange colors depending what you use for your horizon. You should get a nice even blend, it does take practice not to have a striped sky, if you can see stripes, you need to blend more. If you have to spray while you are painting your sky, first wipe your brush out, then mist (not too much water) the entire canvas and quickly go over the entire canvas with your brush to work it in.

Next we practiced clouds. Use a flat bristle brush for this. Dry brush means that the brush has very little water and very little paint on it so if you rinse your brush out, dry it completely. After you mix your paint, wipe off the excess. If you have loaded your brush correctly, even if you press hard – as most of you do – you should still be able to see the color that is under the paint you are putting down.

Clouds bubble and boil as they grow and dissipate, keep this in mind as you paint your clouds. I often start on the narrow side of my brush and work back and forth from the wide flat side to the narrow side, making circles with my brush to form my clouds. There are no hard edges on a cloud and the bottoms need to have very soft edges. The color depends on the situation but like any white subject you need to start with a blue/gray color, so mix our standard gray – blue, sienna and a touch of purple with white or gesso – to create the base color for your clouds. Let each layer dry before doing the next, then add more white and even a touch of red or orange to the color. You need to have at least one or two lighter form colors before you put on your whitest white to give your clouds dimension.

Last we practiced dry brush feathers. This technique is good not only for feathers but also hair, fur and grass, whenever you need some texture. The loading of the brush is the same as above, same brush as well, the stroke is just a quick flick. If your paint is too think or too wet, you will get a solid line, if you loaded your brush correctly you will see streaks, that is your goal.

Practice these things between now and when we meet again and if you need to you can do a drawing on another sheet of paper but DO NOT DO A DRAWING ON YOUR CANVAS! Not yet, we have a lot of work to do before we even get that point so having that stencil ready is as much as you need to do. See you all soon, have a happy 4^th.

Summer 2011

I have posted the photo and drawing I will be using for the class project if you want to take a look. As always, if you don't want to do pelicans you are free to do something different, I do suggest that you watch the demos because you can always learn something even if it is a subject you are not interested in.

Here is the link.

We have enough people to keep the class open but unless another persons signs up before Monday we may need to cut back on the time. I think if we cut the class by a half hour per class we can get our 9 weeks in and keep the office happy. Let me know what you think at our first class.

See you soon.

Final Week Acrylic Spring 2011

Acrylic – Utah Fall

Try as we might, we just needed one more week to finish this project, if this was the summer class we might have made it, as it was we got a lot done so that most of our painting was covered with an under painting and that is something I want to address because as I walked around class there are a lot of you who struggle because you want to finish and you skip under painting whether it is the large areas like for the grasses or mountains or smaller areas like the trees, I saw many of you going straight to the highlight color then wonder what went wrong!

Your under painting is like the foundation of your painting, if you skip this step it is like skipping the foundation of a house and just painting the drywall hoping that the house will stay standing with the next breeze. Like the house of straw, your painting just won't hold up and you end up doing more work trying to rescue it than if you had just under painted in the first place. I show you this step by step for a reason, if there was an easier way, trust me, you would be the first to know, for now, you need to trust me when I say everything gets under painted until you can see it for your self.

Last week I talked about glazing areas of your painting to soften and create distance in you painting. It is a wonderful technique to use in many situations but really works well pushing areas back in your painting. When I looked at my painting again when I got home, I thought it needed another layer of glaze, my hills just didn't look far enough away. Always let your glaze dry before assessing it because it looks totally different when it is wet.

I added more glaze starting just above the foreground trees where dust and haze will be most concentrated and went over all my hills, then I added in some blue and purple to slightly darken the color and glazed the areas between the hills to add a hit of shadow, it helps to separate the hills slightly. That is the only thing I did while you were painting that I didn't mention because it is totally optional. You painting may not need it or you may not want to do it but I thought I'd mention it here so you know it is an option.

We did add some preliminary highlights to our trees. You will need to mix a color for both the green and the red trees so you can go back and forth between them. This is NOT the final highlight on these trees, we didn't get that far, but they are important if you want to give your trees depth.

The color for the green trees is sap green, yellow, a touch of white and occasionally a touch of orange. This color should be a shade or two lighter than what you have already and more on the yellow/green side, the orange just slightly modifies the green so it looks more natural so not too much. The color for the red trees is yellow, orange and a touch of white and an occasional touch of red just to change up the color.

I used the flat, bristle brush to lightly tap on these colors keeping in mind that the leaves of these trees grow in clumps. Please, look at the photo or go out and look at trees before you start painting and really LOOK at how trees grow and how the light plays on the leaves. I can show you haw to load your brush by pulling it in one direction thru the paint to create a twisted end and I can tell you that you lightly tap your brush to create the appearance of many leaves and that they grow in clumps and you need to be aware of that, but unless you actually see this in Nature and understand it, I know you will just paint over all your under painting – it becomes the shadows of the trees - until you have a solid color then wonder why your trees look flat. Do the best you can but go out and look at trees and see how the light plays on the leaves, that is the best advice I can give you.

While that was drying, we added in our road. The road that shows in the distance we don't need a lot of detail, I just took my yellow, white and a touch of orange to make a light, sunny color and applied that color to the road. While it was still wet, I did pick up a bit of sienna and a touch of purple and at the end of the road that goes in between the trees, I slightly darkened that section of the road, lightly blending the two colors together. The closer road was painted starting with that light color with a touch more sienna in it but the key here is to use flat "U" or upside down "U" shapes that are parallel to the top and bottom of the canvas. If your strokes are at an angle your road will look like it is slanted. As I came forward on the road, I added more sienna and orange even a touch of purple in the corner.

A cautionary note here: Make sure that the edge of your road does not come straight out of a corner of your canvas, either come out above or below the corner of the canvas otherwise it will look like an arrow pointing out of your painting.

While the road was drying, I started adding some shape to my rocks. Using my gray mix (sienna, blue and purple) I added enough white to make it just a shade or two lighter than what I had for the under painting. Using a dry brush, I started shaping my rocks referring often to my photo. I left some of that dark under painting to be the beginnings of the shadow areas so don't paint it all out, this is just the next darkest color and it shows the shapes of the rocks.

The grasses and bushes next to the road on both sides will require a lot of paint to do it correctly, you can't put out a pea sized blob of paint and think it will cover all of the area, get your paint out and have it ready.

The colors were basically mix on the canvas, I double and triple loaded my flat brush with paint, Hooker's green, sienna, blue and purple where my base colors but I did add in orange, yellow, red just to change the flavor occasionally. I scooped up the paint, and with the flat side of my brush I patted the color on. It is more like pat, push and lift motion that gives the texture of grasses. In the area in from of the rocks to get that gray straw color I used mostly, yellow, white, the mud on my brush and touches of purple.

A couple more things before we quit first the ruts in the road. They need to be flat "U"s and as they go back into the distance they become lighter in color and closer together. Again, keep the "U" shapes parallel to the top and bottom and don't have one rut coming out the corner, they can look rough, that will be a plus but they need to look flat. Initial highlights on the road need to be flat as well and can be a combination of flat "U"s and inverted flat "U"s using yellow, white and orange and the dry brush technique.

I started suggesting bushes using the same technique I used to make my trees and the same colors, the grasses were made with the flat brush and using a "flicking" motion. I will repeat this until I get my point across: Don't cover up all your under painting, it becomes the shadows in your painting.

Well, that is as far as we got, there was a lot of work to do. If you are taking the summer class bring it in to work on the first day when I have to do orientation for the newbies, I will try to finish up and post between classes. I hope to see you all soon.

2011 Spring Acrylic Class

ACRYLIC CLASS – "Utah Fall"

I mentioned in my last blog that when I see I have a problem with a painting, I bring it in to class to show my students how I go about changing something that I'm not quite pleased with and what I thought I needed to correct this week was I had made my background trees and hills too intense in color. I wasn't seeing enough distance between the hills and the line of trees I had painted so I needed to knock them down a bit in color and in value.

With my #1 flat bristle brush I took a bit of gesso and a touch of blue and a lot of water to create a thin glaze. Before I go to my canvas, I use my paper towel near the ferrule of my brush to suck out any excess water from my brush because I don't want to have drips on my canvas so this will be very dry brush. With very little pressure on my brush – I tend to use the side of the brush not the flat part – I make small circular motions and lightly dry brush this glaze on ALL of the hills and the line of evergreen trees on the left hand side of my canvas. The harder you press, the more paint will come off so keep your pressure light.

An important thing to note when doing a glaze like this, wait until it dries to assess it before trying to make corrections. It will look totally different when it is dry than when it is wet, it can look like you have too much when it is wet and not enough when it is dry so let it dry. If you need to do more you can, just let it dry before you do.

Once the hills and trees were dry, I needed to put in the next row of closer evergreen trees which includes the two tall trees on the left side. Check out the step by step on the picture page, even though it is done in watercolor the technique is the same. You can use a flat sable brush if you want but practice first before going to your canvas. I mixed a dark green color with Hooker's green, blue and a touch of purple, using the length of the chiseled end of the brush I created a line about 2 brush lengths long vertically where the tops of my tree was going to start, then using the corner of the same brush and starting down a bit from the top, I flicked the brush to create small branches at the top of the tree. As I worked down the tree on each side, I started at or near the center making the flicking a bit longer each time, flicking in the direction I wanted the branches to go. Remember that there are branches in front of the tree so use that same stroke across the front as well, I saw a lot of "fish bones" and Christmas trees as I walked around class, you need to practice.

The bases of the trees can merge into one dark color. The branches are longer near the bottom, they overlap each other, there may be more trees down there – just basically a lot of reasons to paint it more solid using a scumbling stroke (any which way with the brush), just the tops need to be more defined. This dark color is also used for the tree on the far left that goes out of frame.

The other trees are various types of deciduous trees they need to be under painted, however, if you need to sketch out where these trees go, now is a good time to do it. It isn't important to be exact but it does help you to figure out where you are going with your color.

Use a flat bristle brush for these trees, the sables one won't work well and two you may damage them. Bristles are made to be abused.

There are two different colors we will use for under painting a greenish color and a dark orange color. The green color was a mix of SAP green this time, blue and a touch of either orange or sienna. It should be a bit lighter than the dark trees just behind them, this is a shadow color for these trees so you don't want it too light. The orange color was a mix of orange and/or sienna a touch of blue to darken it and a touch of purple. You will want to mix both these colors because you will switch between them as you go across the canvas putting in your trees.

Load your brush by tapping it straight down into the paint. You want to tap hard enough so the bristles at the end of the brush splay out to create an uneven shape. To apply the paint remember that the harder you tap your brush to the canvas the more paint will come out so start out lightly until you figure out what works best, you might practice first. Tap the brush straight on to the canvas and try to create interesting shapes in your trees. You can pick up bits of other colors like red, orange or yellow, more blue or purple as you tap to vary the colors, all the while keep in mind that there are branches coming out in front of the trees as well as the sides. Follow the photo to give you ideas where the colors go.

The last thing we did was to sketch out and under paint the rocks and sketch in where the road will be. The rocks were under painted with sienna, blue and purple, I do want you to notice that at this point it is just a dark blob, I didn't try to paint each individual rock YET, I will do that as I finish them up.

We are down to the wire on this painting and with any luck at all I can get you to where you can finish it up at home if you have to. Come ready to work and I will see you in class.

Spring Acrylic Class 2011

Acrylic Project – Utah Fall

You should be up to the point where you have your sky and the hills in, now you need to put in the trees on those distant hills. Just like those distant hills the colors you use will be lighter and grayer in color, remember these are several miles away so there is a lot of atmosphere between where the photographer stood and those distant hills, you as the artist need to translate what you see in the photo to your canvas, this is where your powers of observation will come in handy and it is something that every artist needs to practice.

In the photo I want you to notice that the trees on those distant hills are just shapes. You know that they are evergreen trees because one, there are evergreen trees in the foreground also because we have all seen scenes similar to this so our left brain names the shapes and wants to move on. As a painter, you need to analyze the photo so you know how to recreate what you see to make it believable. I saw several people in my classes painting actual trees on those distant hills because the left brain is saying "those are evergreen trees" but the brain is a funny thing: It knows those are evergreen trees but if you paint them as trees it doesn't look right and you know it. If you have to, turn your photo upside down to see that those trees are just a series of different shapes. I harp on this because I haven't convinced you yet that all we as artists can do whether it is through painting, drawing or some other medium, we can only create shapes, if the thing is there when we are done then more power to ya.

Now to paint those shapes I was using a #8 flat bristle brush. I am working on a 16 x 20" canvas so that is a good size for me, if you are working on a smaller canvas use a smaller brush like a #4 or #6 flat either bristle or sable, what ever you have that is comfortable for the size canvas you are working on.

The mixture of paint is Hooker's green, white or gesso, touch of blue and either a touch or purple or sienna. What you want when you have mixed your colors together is a light, soft bluish-gray green. This color can vary a little but should stay light, just slightly darker than the color you have for the hills themselves. Holding the flat brush vertically create various shapes. There are clumps, there are single shapes, clumps that blend together. Tall ones, short ones, some that are on top of the hills and others that grow down the hills. Look at the photo, you will notice that the clumps grow down the sides following the angle of the hill they are growing on, your trees need to do the same. You also need to be very aware of your strokes so you don't line them up and make them all the same size and the same distance apart or you will have a tree farm instead of a wild forest. I saw quite a few tree farms even after I warned against it so please be aware of this, it is a human thing to want everything to line up and be organized Nature is not so obliging.

There are also some deciduous trees you can suggest adding some orange with a little mud from your brush (this will gray the color) or some lighter green (sap and a touch of yellow plus the mud) these are rounded shapes but just shapes. Work back and forth between these elements so they fit in together. Let this dry before moving on.

I know it is hard to see in the photo but there is a layer of trees both evergreen and deciduous trees just behind the middle ground trees. These are just slightly grayer and lighter than the tree in front of them. We use the same colors we used for the distant trees we just use less white. These trees are darker but not as dark as the trees in front of them. This is how you create distance in your paintings with the layers of varying degrees of grayed color.

I used my #8 flat bristle brush, mixed Hooker's green, blue, touch of purple and a touch of gesso (white) just enough to lighten the color, with the full edge of my brush to the canvas, I lightly make a straight mark vertically about two brush edge lengths, I did not make the entire trunk of the tree, just the top. The step by step I did for the watercolor class applies to the acrylic class when it comes to making evergreen trees so look at that if you need clarification. Starting just down a bit from the top, using the corner of my flat brush on the line I just made, I mad a quick "swishing" stroke with my brush. As I move down the tree the strokes become longer and more congested until it is a mass of color. Only the very tops of these trees are individual, they become more dense as they grow together and branches overlap. Keep in mind these are not Christmas trees they do not have perfect shapes, they aren't spaced evenly and they are at different heights.

You can use the same color mix for the deciduous trees along that line as well, just add some yellow to the mix and or orange, it will still look green but those colors will lighten and change the "flavor" of the color.

This is where we stopped so I hope that everyone can be to this point for our next class, with only 2 more classes we have a lot of ground to cover to finish this up, don't think so much, just paint ;-)

I was asked if when I am home and I see something I don't like about a painting do I fix it and go on in class, the answer is "No" because you can learn from my "mistakes". They aren't really mistakes, more like adjustments I think I need to make before I move on. You painting may not need these adjustments but you need to see them done so in the event you need tom make adjustments to your painting– and it will happen - you need to see that all is not lost, it is just a puzzle to be solved. See you in class.

Acrylic Class - FantaSea Finish

SPRING 2011 – ACRYLIC CLASS – "Fanta-Sea"

This was the last class on our fantasy sailboat. Most of you were finishing up with detail so I didn't do a lot of demo. I did show how to create the ropes or cables using a knife and white. First you take the knife and pull the paint out flat then you cut across that flat section with the edge of the knife to form a small roll of paint on the edge, then with a sort of cutting motion, draw in your ropes.

You can also use your liner/rigger brush, this is actually what they were designed for was adding the rigging (ropes) to the old sailing ships because they hold a lot of paint and can create some fine lines. That said, it does take a steady hand so a knife might work better in this instance for you.

I used the liner to add stripes to my boat remembering that the boat has curves. I also painted the awing over the pilot using black. I know, I very seldom use black as a general rule, but there are some instances where I do use it. I used it here because one, it is a man-made object and humans paint things black out of a can. Two, it repeats the black background color. It's not so much that I don't like black to avoid at all costs, it is more a matter of it has its place and when use properly can add to your picture.

Now you may detail this as much as you want or as little as you want, it is up to you, so this next step is optional as well but I think it add a bit to the final painting. I used a permanent ink marker to outline and add detail to the boat. Some places I did a solid line in other places I did broken lines, it just add a bit of focus to the boat.

Next week we will start the autumn painting so please have your reference photos of the fall scene with you but DO NOT do any sketching yet we will sketch as we go. Also, have a test canvas or two and your soft blending (hake) brush, we are going to practice skies. See you soon.

Spring Acrylic 2011

Spring 2011 – Acrylic Demo – Fanta-Sea

Once you have your splattering and pouring to your own satisfaction you will have to let it dry completely. It may take an hour or more depending on how think your paint is on your canvas, parts of my painting were still wet to the touch when I was packing up to go home so you may have to wait for over night for it to be dry.

When it is dry, you can put your sketch on. I know you will get tired of me harping on this, but you all need to improve your drawing skills because most of you had your proportions were off and this will bother you are finishing up your painting. That said, you just need the basics of the boat and sail at this point, detail will come later.

I like to treat the subject of these paintings with the abstract backgrounds as if the were in a normal setting, I just ignore what it there and paint it like I would at any other time. So first I need to under paint the boat and the sail. Remember we always under paint with a darker version of the main color because this gives us someplace to go with our color. In this case because the boat and the sail are white, I went with a cool medium gray color (blue, white and touches of sienna and purple). I notices that some of you tried to get a head start, which is fine, just remember to follow the steps, under painting is very important it is the foundation of your painting, some tried to skip right to the highlight color and had trouble getting dimension into the boat and sail.

Fill in the entire sail and boat area with this color. It you want when you are painting the shadowed side of the boat, add a touch more blue. Also when you're a filling in these areas, start from the outside and pull in, don't paint it like a wall or you could get some hard lines you won't like later. Use a brush that is comfortable for the size of your painting. I was using a #4 flat sable brush so I had control of my paint. Don't worry about the stripes or the numbers on the sail at this point, get the form of your sail first and do the stripes last. Same on the hull of the boat, get the form first and worry about the detail later.

You might want to sketch with your charcoal where the shadow is on the sail before you start to highlight, it will let you know where you are going with your color. The first layer of highlight is made up of white or gesso, the mud on your brush and a touch of orange. This color should be a couple shades lighter than the gray. On the sail, starting on the outside edge of the sail, pull this color in toward the mast of the boat, fade it out when you get to the shadow area and if you have to smudge it with your finger to create a soft transition. Please look at the actual photo to see the detail of the shadow and the highlights. Use this color to start the highlighting of the boat as well.

The shadows in the sail are that gray you mixed before with more blue and sienna in it so it is a shade darker. Dry brush it on so you get soft lines and transitions. This dark color can be used on the inside of the boat hull.

The next highlight for the sail and the boat is white or gesso, with a tiny touch of orange, just enough to slightly tint the white. White on it's own can look chalky and cold, adding just a touch of warm color – red, orange or yellow – will help make the color warmer, sunnier.

Again, start on the outside edge and pull in but this time don't go quite as far in on the sail and be sure to soften the color into the previous color. If your shadow got too dark like mine did, you can lightly dry brush this color over the area you want to lighten until it is the degree of shadow you want. On the boat, your strokes should follow the shape of the hull which is curved not flat.

Also on the hull, there is a slight curve as it comes to the bow, you can add a tiny touch of green or blue and right near the bow and down around the waterline, dry brush this color on the boat. On the shadowed side, add a touch more of the color – green or blue – and do the same thing, this will suggest a bit of form to the boat.

If you want, at this point you can put on the stripes on the sail. They can be any color you want, it is your painting after all but I will give you my reasoning for why I painted mine the way I did. At the top of the sail I had a lot of bright color in the sky area: Yellows, reds and oranges. I needed a color that would be seen against those colors so I used the compliments to a couple of those colors – blue and green. At the base of the sail, it was next to the water which is blue, green and purple so again I used the compliments to those colors – red and orange - so the bottom stripe would stand out, that was my reasoning you need to look at your own painting to see what will work best for your sail.

I do have a little bit of finishing up to do on my boat before I call it done so that is what I will be doing next time, I will also be doing some demos on skies, these are just going to be some practice demos since we haven't done skies in a while. Just have an old canvas or two that you have gessoed over so you can practice these techniques. I will have a new project the following week.