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.