SPRING 2013 ACRYLIC

Project: Az Wash

 

Acrylic - Made changes and adjustments also added treeline.

The first thing I wanted to do was to make any changes I wanted to make and to add some brighter highlights where I thought I would need them because when we glaze this area we don’t want to have to make any changes if we don’t have to.

I was not happy with my sky so I changed the color a bit using a dry brush and very light circular strokes to add the color to my sky. I wanted to show that you don’t have to paint out an entire area to make changes, you just need to fix what is bothering you. I also needed to add more highlights and shadows into my cliffs, acrylics always dry a bit darker than you think so quite often when you are doing highlights you think they are just the way you want but when you come back they have totally changed to a darker version. Some of that can be minimized by using less water in your paints but it will darken just a bit. I do want to note that I did work on this at home a bit but felt that what I was doing was repetitive and didn’t want to waste any more class time fixing my problems. You needed to see how I handle a problem but what I was doing at home was just more tweaking than anything else.

I also moved the closer hill up a bit so it would show behind the tree line when I put in the trees.

When I was satisfied I had made the changes I felt it needed, I put in the line of trees that are on the other side of the wash. This seemed to cause quite a few of you some puzzlement because you couldn’t see it in the photo or more precise you couldn’t “imagine” the tree line. When you are working from a photo you need to “fill in the gaps” of the information you see in that photo. For instance: If we could magically remove the cliffs from the landscape, I think it would be safe to assume that we wouldn’t see a big cliff shaped hole in the scenery, there would be blue skies or something else filling that space, the same goes for the tree line. If you were to walk through that break in the foreground bushes would you only see the few trees that are directly across from the path you are on? Probably not, there has to be something on the other side of the bushes in the foreground between the wash and the cliffs which are a distance of 10 to 15 miles of space so something has to be there. If you look closely through the foreground bushes on the other side of the bright wash, you will see dark shadows and if you follow that dark shadow down to the gap, you will see that it is the shadow under the tree line on the far side of the wash, that is how I know what is over there and why I need to paint the trees I can’t see. As the painter, you want your viewer to want to visually want to wander through your painting, even a suggestion that there is something on the other side of the wash is enough to accomplish that goal.

Back to the trees. Remember, we under paint everything with a darker version of what is there so these trees are under painted with a dark khaki to dark olive green. I used my #10 bristle brush and mixed Hooker’s green with touches of blue, purple and sienna and little touches of orange and white, just enough of these last two color to change the value because we are still working on a distant area and we don’t want to be too dark. To form the edges of the trees, I use the brush so that the skinny side is up and use the corner of the brush to form to outer softer edges of the trees. The inside of the trees it doesn’t matter what stroke as long as the canvas is covered but the top edge is critical: It needs to be soft and airy like the tops of trees and it needs to have changes in elevation and differences in size and shape of the trees. It is not a manicured hedge, give it some character. Also, at the bottom of the tree line, be sure to not stop so that you leave a hard line. Feather out the edge so it is soft and it won’t cause you problems later down the line.

Next class we are going to highlight our trees, do our glazing, under paint the wash and the foreground so please be sure that you are caught up to this point. There are only 3 more weeks for class and we have a lot to do. I would also like you to start thinking of things you want to paint so I can get some suggestions for next semester. See you all soon.