Acrylic Class Spring 2012

ACRYLIC CLASS – Apple Turnover Finish

If you have gotten all your under painting finished, it is now time to start the detail work that will finish you painting.

I need to reiterate about under painting: Just because I call it "under painting" doesn't mean that you have to paint over it all. Quite the contrary, most of what has been called "under painting" will become the shadows or texture or what ever else depending on where it is in your painting, it is very important to the final look of your painting so PLEASE do not paint over all of this good under painting in the process of finishing your painting.

The apples need a highlighted area. This is more than just a white dot if it is too look like an apple. If you haven't already or if need to do more to make your highlighted area look bright enough, mix orange with your red (napthol or cadmium) to make a lighter color. If you mix in white, it will turn your red to pink and that's not the look we are going for this time. Even using touches of yellow will brighten the color. This color goes on the area that is getting direct sun the top "shoulders" of the apples or the sides that you think are facing the sun. this color changes to a darker red pretty quickly as it curves away from the light so blend it into the rest of the apple with your finger or by adding touches or red. If you have any doubts about how light plays on the surface of an apple, if you have an apple or use something rounded and place it near a single light source such as a bright window or a lamp and LOOK at how the light plays off the apple. See where the shadows are. I can talk until I run out of words but unless you learn to see these things for yourself, you will have difficulty painting them.

A problem I saw with many of you was not only using this highlight color on your whole apple but you also weren't getting the shadows down in between the apples. It is hard to get a pile of apples but the next time you are in the store, look at the fruit on display. You will see – even in that bad light – that in the spaces between the fruit is very dark. They are casting shadows on their neighbors and on the fruit underneath them so it is very dark, this is even more pronounced when you have only one light source. You must have dark to show the light, you also need that light to dark to show shape and contour. Look for it and understand it so you will know how to use it in the future.

The green apple gets a mix of yellow, sap green and white for its lightest area but the same rules apply this is only where the sun is hitting it the most, not for the entire apple.

While those are drying, if you put in a handle like I did, you can detail it out by putting  on a highlight and a shadow just remember that the shadowed side won't be as dark as the inside of the bucket because it is getting a lot of reflected light into its shadow. You can even throw in a touch or orange or sienna into the shadow as light might be reflecting off the bucket and onto the handle.

You can also block in the leaves at this point if you are putting them in. They need to be dark green so a mix or sap or Hooker's green with blue and/or purple make a dark green for their under painting. We will detail them out later.

If your apples are dry you can put on the brightest highlight. This is white with a very tiny touch of yellow in it just to slightly tint it, it should still look white but with some warmth. This just gets put where you are going to have the "glint" on the apple like the glint in the eye. Just tap it on in a very small area then either wipe out your brush to tap the edges or use your finger to spread it just slightly, then leave it. When it is dry in a minute or so a tiny touch of pure white right in the center of that spot and your apple sans leaves will be done.

To finish the leaves you will need an apple green color which is sort of a bluish/ gray green color. To get this add sap green, blue a touch of sienna to enough white to make it light enough to show against the dark color then paint only the parts of the leaf that will be in the light. That dark under painting becomes the form shadows of the leaf.

Now for the grasses: I used my #10 flat bristle brush to start pulling up grasses around my bucket and my apples. I will do more detail with my liner but this is to get the mass color and shapes in. I used a "flicking" type motion. Holding my brush back on the handle and using my lighter colors (yellows, greens, orange, just light colors because they are in the sun light), starting at the base of the bucket and pulling up the grasses in front of the bucket, you will see how the dark under the bucket works for you by giving contrast to the lighter grasses in front. PLEASE don't cover all of this dark, just pull up enough grass to get your point across nothing more. Work you way thru the apples though the brighter colors will be where the sun hits, use darker colors where it might be in shadow and give some texture to the grass.

Finally, get out your liner brush. If you haven't used this brush much, you might want to practice with it. First off your paint needs to be very inky in consistency. If you tip your palette it should run. To load your brush, wiggle the whole bristle end of the brush in the paint and as you lift it off your palette, roll it between your fingers to bring it to a point. Holding the brush and close to the end as you can, using your wrist to make it go in circles, get your brush moving BEFORE you touch your canvas and keep it going! Touch the canvas or the paper on the up stroke, then lift and move to the next place while you are still circling your brush. You can practice on paper with just water if you want, but learn how this brush works before you get to your canvas and it will do some amazing things for you. Big circles make tall grass, small circles make short grass. You can also dab and touch with this brush to make seed heads. Try making circles in both directions (not as easy as it sounds) and bend and break some of your grass.

You will use different colors for your grasses depending where you are and you will use this brush in both the foreground around the apples and in the background grasses. Use darker, cooler colors in the shadows, warmer, brighter colors in the sunnier areas. I put some darker weeds in the corners to vignette the painting but you will have to finish the painting the way you want it to look.

I may work a bit more on my painting before next week but am ending this part of the project here. I see some things I want to change in mine that may be okay on yours so if you see a bit of difference between now and then, this is only for aesthetic reasons not to "pull a fast one" on you. I am going to show how I got the glow in the original painting we are working from and maybe how to varnish it when it is done. You may continue to work on this painting if you haven't finished it or start on another project. We only have two more weeks before the end of the semester so there isn't any time to work on something else.

Torrance only has 2 more classes the classes will start up again on June 19^th so be sure to get signed up as soon as you can. If you have Google Chrome, I have started a Circle for my art classes if you want to comment or post a photo of things you are working on, it can be a bit more interactive than just a blog. You are all doing amazing work, keep it up and I will see you next week.

Acrylic Class Spring 2012

ACRYLIC – Apple Turnover Week 4

This week we really start getting into detail on our bucket and apples. You should all have the main elements under painted and some of the highlighting started on your apples and bucket. This is the time for any adjustments you need to make in case your apples are too big or too small or maybe you need to adjust the size or shape of you bucket/basket ( mine looks more like a bucket now), while you can always make adjustments even if you are almost finished, it is easier on the psyche if you have not invested a lot of time into something that needs changing, if you have been working on the details which take more time and effort to do, you may be reluctant to make needed changes and you run the risk of over working the area or the areas around the trouble spot., so fix things now.

I wanted to get as much of my highlighting and wood grain on the bucket before I started on the details, slats and the metal bands around the bucket. This is done with dry brush. I started at the top with a mix of white a tiny touch or yellow and tiny touch or orange to make a warm creamy color I apply it a bit heavier near the top of the bucket and lighter as I go down the sides. This color can also go into the lighted area of the inside of the bucket. I add touches of orange and sienna as I more down the side, then sienna and purple to almost totally purple at the very bottom. I will be bringing grasses up over the bottom of the bucket so I need it dark to put light grasses in front of it.

Another thing you can do to add character to your bucket – and this goes for any time you are painting old wood – you can dry brush in touches of other colors, basically any color you have on your palette or color that you have used in your painting. It really makes the old wood look like you could get splinters from it even though from a distance you don't see the individual colors the effect is what you are going for. I used my liner brush and just streaked several different colors into my bucket trying to keep the warmer colors in the sun lit areas and cooler colors in the shaded areas but I did put some of each color in all areas of the bucket. If you have to give yourself permission to do this, make up stories like maybe it use to be a red bucket that got painted blue and then had moss growing on it, what ever it takes to feel "safe" adding these colors even thinking I'm crazy to suggest this but you need to trust me and try it.

When you get your highlights on the bucket done now you are ready to add the slats and detail that will make this bucket look lie old beat up wood. With my liner brush I mixed a dark color using my blue, purple and burnt sienna, this should almost look black and you will need to add enough water so that it has a very ink-like quality to it. Those of you who were having trouble with this step weren't getting your paint thin enough to flow off the liner brush so if it doesn't flow, add more water until it does then as you lift your brush off your palette, roll it between your fingers and you will get a nice point to your bristles.

If it makes you feel more confident, sketch in the slats with your charcoal before you start to you can get them going in the right direction. Remember that on the top edge of the bucket the line will have to change direction so it looks like there is some thickness to the slats. The lines do not and should not be straight. This is an old beat up bucket, nothing on it is straight, there will even be holes and cracks in the wood. There will be tiny cracks along the top and bottom edge of the slats where the wood is splintering the edge needs to be rough. Don't forget the inside of the bucket as well.

One of the characteristics of old wood is where you have a crack there will be a highlight because where it has cracked the wood may be lifting up so if you have any of the highlight color (see above) left over, add water to it and along SOME of the cracks or spaces between slats, highlight along the edges. This does not need to be a solid line, more along the line of "dots and dashes" to give the wood more character. You really need to do this along the cracks you made at the top and bottoms of the slats and while it is not as necessary in the shadowed area at the transition between light and dark add a bit of blue to your highlight color and highlight a few of the cracks. This goes for the inside as well.

When you feel you have gotten as many cracks as you want sketch in the bands on your bucket. These bands go slightly above the wood at the top this is to give them some depth. I started at the top with orange, yellow and sienna and maybe a bit of white which will dull it slightly at the top of the band, as I worked my way round the side, more sienna until it was all sienna then sienna and purple until it went into the shadows and became very dark. This is wet into wet brush blending but it doesn't need to be blended well just enough to make the transition from light to dark. Along the top of this band, using my liner and the dark color I used for the cracks, I added a dark line for a shadow on both top and bottom bands.

Now for the apples: I wanted to make the lighter side a bit lighter but as everyone should know that if you add white to red you get pink and I don't want pink apples. To avoid using white to my napthol red I added a bit of orange. This color goes on THE LIGHT SIDE put this where the sun is hitting your apple the with your brush or finger, blend it into the dark part of the apple. I saw may of you painting the entire apple with this color loosing the shadows that you worked so hard to establish. What had been under painting is now shadow, DON'T LOOSE IT or you will have to put it back in. This color is for the apples that are getting direct sun so be careful when you are near the bucket only a couple of apples will get this color and then only slight touches.

The highlight for the green apple is white, yellow and sap green to get a light greenish color but the same thing applies: this only goes where the sun is hitting the apple directly, don't loose your shadows..

Just a couple more things I did before I quit for the day, first: The leaves of the apple I just under painted with Hooker's and blue to make a dark green, I will detail them out later, I was just placing them at this point. I also put a bracket for a handle on the bucket just on the side on the band and then I sketched in the handle and bale. I tell you to make up stories and as I've painted this bucket each time, I've tried to think of a reason why it has spilled, so in this version I am making it look like the bracket finally gave way and the handle broke so on the back side of the bale I suggested the bracket still attached and hanging in the air. I under painted the handle with a mix of yellow a touch of purple (complimentary colors make grays) and white to get a yellow gray. The bale I added white to my dark color I used for my cracks and with my liner painted it in.

That is where I stopped, I am hoping that we can finish up next time we meet so be ready to work. Everyone is doing a great job, this has been a fun project. See you soon.

Spring 2012 Acrylic Class

Acrylic – Apple Turnover Week 3

(Sorry, I apparently didn't post this blog =-O )

By this time you should have all your under painting done for the basket and the apples, now we will be starting the finishing process, your under painting is important, it becomes shadow and texture so be careful not to loose it all as you finish up your painting.

I started on the top outside part of the basket with a mix of white (gesso), tiny touches of yellow, orange and sienna, it should be a soft peachy color. Using a #10 bristle brush and the dry brush technique, I followed the grain of the wood and lightly stroked this color on. The harder you press your brush to the canvas the more paint will come off so as you move down to the side of the basket, lighten your stroke so you leave less paint with each stroke. Come down about half way on the side of the basket with this color.

IN THE SAME PILE OF COLOR, add more sienna and a touch of orange, same brush same technique, start just below the color you just added and dry brush both down the basket and also lightly dry brush up to about the quarter area of the brush. If you do it right, you will not see a line of demarcation between the first color and the second. The third color is applied the same but this time add purple and/or blue to your sienna and dry brush it on just like you just did before, It need to get very dark under the basket as it goes into the shadow just be sure to feather out the color so there aren't any hard lines, you need soft edges as it disappears under the basket.

The inside of the basket is done EXACTLY the same way just be sure to locate the lightest area on the side of the basket, the darkest area will be on the inside of the basket.

At this point you might want to locate your apples, you may need to use chalk in the darker areas to see where your apples are in the basket. Inside the basket if you have alizarin crimson use it, if you don't have AC use your napthol with a touch of blue to purple it up be sure that the brush you are using doesn't have any white in it or it could turn you apples pink.

Here is the part you need to pay attention to because you can easily make more work for yourself if you don't pay attention to what you are doing. That dark under painting you did on the apples now becomes the shadows on and between your apples. DO NOT COVER IT ALL UP. I saw many of you when you got to the red apples, you painted the whole apple red both the light side and the shadowed side which made your apples look flat, to make them look rounded, you have to put the shadows back in that you just painted over. Learn to use your under painting, while we may need to go back and darken certain areas, most of the shadows will be you under painting, don't paint over all of it.

That said, using either the alizarin or the napthol with blue ON THE TOPS of the apples in the basket, following the shape of the apple you are painting, add the color and if you need to, use a brush or your finger to soften it into the dark part of the apple. Paint each apple individually so you get the shading right. You will build up speed as you learn, at this point, take your time.

You can use the same color on the apples that are out in the sun but it goes on the sides away from the light source: the back and the underneath. If you are putting in a green apple, the shadowed side is Hooker's green and a touch of purple. Go to the picture page and see where I have put the color for each apple so you have a clear idea what you need to do.

Where the sun might be hitting the apples in the basket and for those outside the basket, on the light side I used straight napthol red. Cad red will also work if you don't have the napthol. This is only the start of the highlight but it needs to be done before you can add the final touches.

Another thing I did to the apples inside of the basket and to some in front was to add a reflected highlight into the shadow areas. This is just a hint of color added lightly into the shadows. It is blue, purple and a touch of white to make a soft lavender color. This color is in many shadows if you look for it but it is not LAVENDAR on the back sides of things, it is a whisper not a shout.

We should be finishing up this painting in the next class, or more precisely, I will be finishing the painting up. If you need another week or more you can continue to work on the class project, however, if you are keeping up with me you will need to start looking for your own project to work on for the duration of the semester, I will do demos that will help those with problems and but it will also benefit the class as a whole. See you in class.