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.