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.