Acrylic Winter 2011

Winter 2011 Acrylic Class – Apple Demo

All classes: I am just going back to putting the link to the picture page in by adding hyperlinks throughout the text, it more than doubles the time I spend writing the blog to add the pictures in where they should go. I'll keep looking to see if Google improves how blogs are edited but for now I will go back to the tried and true hyperlink, sorry. Just hit the back arrow in your browser to get back to the blog.

I do want to state again that when you are designing your painting whether it is something alone or a very complicated scene, you must decide what is important in your painting so when you place it, it not only is in a prominent point on your canvas or paper but that it is also large enough to show its importance. This is especially true when you only have one or two objects, make them big enough so they don't get lost in the background. As I walked around the room many of you made the apple very small on your canvas so that most of your painting was just the background, if I was enough of a math genius and could figure out how much space my apple takes up on my canvas, I would say that it is close to a third of the space, maybe a bit more. The apple is my subject NOT the background.

I first sketched in the apple with my charcoal so I would know where I needed to put the light in the background. I didn't paint around this area, it was only for reference, I drew it back in once I had my background in.

I started my background using sap green, gesso and a touch of yellow, painting over the charcoal lines around the top and left side of the apple area, using my #12 flat bristle brush and a "X" type stroke (See strokes page in the side bar). I roughly made a light circle around the area with these colors like a halo around where the apple will be. I made sure that any paint I got in the apple area had soft edges by smoothing them with my finger.

As I moved away from the apple, I picked up just the sap green and worked it into the edge of the first color, you want a soft transition between each new color. The further from the light area I went, I picked up sap and Hooker's green then just Hooker's and Ultra marine blue in the corners. It should look like a spot light hitting the area of the apple getting darker to the corners, this will help focus the viewer on your subject. When the paint was dry I re-drew my apple but not the stem.

I do have 2 other reds on my palette this time, Cadmium Red (Cred) and Alizarin Red (Ared) and I did use them to get some variations in the red of my apple. I under painted the apple using my napthol red (Nred) with some Hooker's green (Hgreen), the hgreen darkens the red and is another way to make a very dark color. I also used my orange with a touch of blue in the areas I under painted where there will be yellow and around the stem.

Please remember about your strokes: They should follow the shape and direction of the object you are painting, when you are painting the area around the stem, it should come up and over to suggest the dip at the top. The strokes on the body need to be curved to go around the apple either vertically or horizontally or a combination of both, they are not straight.

In the shadowed side of the apple, I switched to Ared with touches of Hgreen and blue to make a dark color. Notice that the shadow fades into the light area so soften these colors into each other for a gradual blend and this will probably be a dry brush type blend.

When this coat of paint is dry, the next layers of paint will be applied the same way though you might want to switch to a sable brush for a smoother application of paint. The difference is this time you will be suing the paint almost pure in the light areas. Acrylics dry darker so you won't be able to do this in one step, just remember that each time it is okay to leave a bit of the previous payer of paint showing in places which will give your apple some depth. I used straight napthol red, cad red light in the sun lit areas and alizarin more into the shadow areas mixing with bits of green and blue to make it darker. I also use orange and yellow in their pure form in the yellow areas of the apple.

The background I made darker in some areas and created the suggestion of an edge so the apple looks like it is sitting on a table.

Shadows are important not only on the apple but also on the cloth it is sitting on. I mixed my Hgreen with blue and purole to make a dark green color and starting at the areas just under the apple, I added the shadow in. I also didn't worry about going over the edges of the apple with this color, I wanted to create some "lost and found" lines as if the apple is fading into the shadow. I also used some of that shadow color on my apple around the stem area using a bristle brush and a dry brush stroke to keep the edges soft.

When I was satisfied with the color of the apple, I added on the highlight. I took mostly white and the tiniest touch of sgreen and mix in to the white. Next I tapped this color in the highlight area then with my finger smudged it around. Notice the highlight on the real apple has a bright area and then a less bright area, it is this second area we just created, the brightest area is made with pure white tapped just in the center of the smudge and lightly touched with a finger. Very little paint is use in both of these cases, most of you were using way too much paint.

I also added a reflected highlight in the shadow area with a mix of purple, blue and a touch of white to make a soft lavender color. It doesn't take much but it adds a lot into your shadows.

The stem – if you want to put one in – was a bit of sap green for the stem, sgreen with red for the shadow and touches of the white with green you used on the apple. I used my small flat sable to make the stem and the less you worry with it the better, just a few touches then leave it alone.

PV classes I am going to be doing rocks. Please download the rock picture to have in class. Torrance we will be doing the poppy please have the reference photo for class. See you soon.