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.
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