Spring 2012 Acrylic Class

Acrylic – Apple Turnover Week 2

By this time I hope that everyone has their under painting finished so we can add the basket, there are a few things that we need to do before we start painting in the basket and apples the key thing is to be sure that we have a good dark area behind the basket and the only way to find that out is to draw the basket in with the chalk or charcoal. Here's the thing: you want to make the dark grasses behind the basket fit the basket, not the other way around.

When you sketch in the basket and apples they should be dominant in the painting probably around 40% of the painting will be covered with the basket and apples. Keep the basket heavy to the left side and let the apples "spill" out in front and across to the right side to the painting. If you need to, extend the dark area behind the basket to it is slightly above the top of the basket. You need to have dark to show light. We will add back the highlights to the weeds later.

Next, in the area of grass that is behind and to the right of the basket is s sunny area, using yellow, orange and touches of white (gesso) and sienna I added some highlights using that same patting stroke I used the first time. I brush mixed my colors with this patting stroke to give more variation to the area.

Once these things are done, now we can start basing in the basket, re-draw it if you have to. The light is coming in from the upper left side so the top left of the outside of the basket will be light and the lower right side of the inside of the basket will be light, the apples on the inside will be mostly in shadow. I want to work wet into wet so I will keep moving down the outside of the basket, I started on the outside top of the basket with blue, sienna and white on my brush and following the grain for the wood I started filling in the top of the basket, thanking these colors down a little more than a third around the side, mixing on the canvas (brush mixing), it becomes a warm gray color. Without cleaning my brush, I picked up just the blue and the sienna on my brush and starting just below the first color and still following the grain of the wood, I applied these colors then first worked down a bit then worked up into the still wet previous paint to create a soft blend between the 2 areas. Wet into wet allows for these gentle transitions from one value to the next. The next section, I wiped out my brush but didn't clean it so there may still be some white in it but I picked up more blue and sienna and repeated what I just did, gently blending the colors together where one meets the other. The last and darkest color I first rinsed my brush to get out the white, then I picked up the blue and sienna but this time I added a touch of purple to make it very dark. You always follow the grain of the wood and remember to keep all your edges soft.

On the inside of the basket, I started with the dark – since it was on my brush – and with a similar technique, I worked to the light area. Please look at the reference photo and the painting from class if you are having trouble visualizing this, it will save a lot of repainting.

If you have alizarin crimson on your palette, you can use it or the napthol red will work for the apples with a touch of purple or blue, we are just basing in these things so don't try to be exact, just get in the mass color, next week we will start picking out the individual apples and start on some of the details. If you are going to put in one green apple, your Hooker's green and purple is a good color for the under painting just be sure that red or green, even though this is just the foundation color, you need to follow the shape of the apples with your strokes.

I may make some changes to my basket next week so you can see that changes are not difficult to make with acrylics. See you all soon.

Spring 2012 Acrylic Class

Acrylic Class – Apple Turnover

Be sure to have the reference photo and drawing before you start so you know where you are going. You do not need to draw the basket or apples just yet, all you need is a horizontal line about a third of the way up from the bottom – doesn't need to be exact – so you know just how far down you need to bring your background weeds. The drawing will come later.

Be sure that you have ALL your paints out and ready to go and PUT OUT PAINT! I do mean ALL YOUR paints and little dabs will not do ya, put out paint! I say this and still, I see tiny pea sized portions of 3 or 4 paints put out, that isn't even enough paint for a 3 x 5 at least an inch of each color.

We started by using our largest brush (this can be your 2" haki or blender or the largest bristle brush you have like a #12) and coating the upper 2/3s of the canvas with gesso. You will need to work quickly so the gesso stays wet for this part of the process and for the most part, you will not be cleaning your brush but keep a paper towel handy to wipe out your brush occasionally. You can wipe out your brush to get some of the gesso out if you feel you have too much on it otherwise, double or triple load your brush with colors such as burnt sienna, blue, purple, orange, yellow red, green (like I said ALL your paints), you double load by putting color on each corner, you will be using the chiseled end of your brush to paint with, not the sides.

Hold your brush near the back of the handle use long, overlapping, curving strokes (think grass when you are doing this), start working these colors into the gesso on your canvas. You should see streaks of these different colors as you paint your canvas but you do want to cover all your canvas with these colors and with this type of stroke. When you need more color, pick up at least 2 on your brush and work it into what is there as you work across. It needs to be darker at the bottom of this area and lighter at the top so plant on using your darker, cooler colors (blue, purple, sienna and darker greens) near the bottom and your warmer lighter colors such as yellow and orange with your sienna near the top. If you need to make it lighter pick up bits of gesso instead of white it will help opaque the colors.

One thing to watch out for is making stripes of color when you are doing this. You don't want a dark stripe and a light stripe, you want it to blend from one to the other. Another things that can happen is you make all your strokes exactly the same: Same size, same direction same ole same ole. Very the size and direction of your strokes, remember what you are painting: A field of uncut weeds and grasses, they will go every which way. Some will be straight, some will be slightly bent others maybe broken or almost on the ground, your strokes need to reflect this.

When you are done covering this area you should have a softly blended background that looks like out of focus grasses. If you have a lot of paint still on your brush, you can wipe it out on the bottom of the canvas if you want, or if you need to soften the bottom edge of the area you just painted. I will often just "clean" my brush in an unpainted area because it won't hurt anything and will actually work for you as part of your under painting.

In this bottom part of the painting we need to under paint for the grasses and apples that will be coming later, this is done with at least a #10 or #12 bristle brush, you will be double loading again but this time you will use the flat side of your brush in a scooping/patting type motion. The brush is held almost parallel to the canvas before you start then you pat down and push up quickly, this creates texture. this area is shorter grasses and the basket and apples are laying in a spot of sun so the area next to the darker area above it will be your lightest area, for this you will use yellow, orange and gesso (white) as your primary colors but to that you can work in red, green, sienna and near the bottom – especially in the corners - leave out the gesso and use your darker colors: green, sienna, blue and purple. Again, watch out for stripes of color these colors should blend from one to another so when you add an new color work the color in all directions as you move across and down to the bottom of you canvas.

This next part you will need to use either a sable (synthetic sable is fine) flat or angle brush or a # 6 – 8 round brush. These types of brushes will create a more definite stroke and make these next strokes look closer. If you are using either a flat or angle brush, the stroke will be the same as before using the chiseled end of the brush and just like before you will be making grass that has different angles. Its like scribbling out something with a pencil ((((((( only more slanted. This is tall grass so make big movements with your brush no matter what brush you are using. Get your arm going before you get to your canvas and hold it near the back of the brush. I don't mention this often enough but when you choke up on your brush, you limit your movement, save that for the detail, right now you need to go crazy with this grass. If you are using a round brush, it is like using a liner to make grass, make sure that the paint is creamy and will flow off your brush then hold the brush at the back and start making circles before you get to your canvas then when your motor is going, hit the canvas on the up swing and vary the size of your circles and occasionally switch directions.

Start with darker colors (sienna, blue, purple, Hooker's green) at the bottom, it need to be dark up far enough so that you can paint in your basket and have dark behind it so at least ¾ of that background needs to have these darker grasses. The tops of the grasses will be in sun light so you can add some of the lighter colors near the top. Just be sure that at the bottom of this area you have it well covered in dark, at the top, you can have spaces between the grasses as they come into the light. We will do more detail near the end so you don't need to finish it now.

We will be drawing in the basket and the apples next time and will probably get them all under painted as well. I will see you all on Monday.