SPRING 2013 ACRYLIC

Project: Az. Wash

I have a couple of weeks’ worth of blogging to get in so tis will just be one blog that covers all the ground.

The first thing you need to finish up is the background with the cliffs and the trees on the other side of the wash, this area needs to be dry before you put the glaze over it. If you have worked on the background and want to do something while you wait for paint to dry, you can do the under painting for the wash and the foreground. You will use a #10 (#8 if you are working on a smaller canvas or #12 if you have one for a larger canvas).

The colors you will mix will be white or gesso, yellow, a tiny touch of purple and as you paint pick up tiny bits of burnt sienna to blend in as you go it should be a grayed yellowish color. The stroke you will use is a flat “u” type stroke. Start in the middle of the wash and work side to side, back to front. When you go back under the trees, if you use very light pressure and with very little paint on your brush, you can scumble this color lightly under and around the base of the trees so it looks like shadows under the trees. If you can’t see the dark color you either use too much pressure on your brush, too much paint or both, if you have, while it is still wet, you can use a damp paper towel to wipe it back and try again.

 

Acrylic - Working in the foreground now.

As you come forward with this sand color in the foreground add more purple and sienna especially into the corners. These areas will be in shadow eventually so making them a bit darker now will get the process started.

By now the cliffs and trees in the background should be dry if they weren’t already so before we move on we need to glaze that area. Remember there are two types of glazing we did before: The dry brush, more of a spot glazing you do to certain areas you want to push back a bit more, the other was an overall thin wet glaze that will push everything back. You will need to assess your own paintings to see if you need just one or both glazes. For instance: If you got your cliffs to intense in color or too dark, you might want to do some of the dry brush spot glazing to push the cliffs back. Use the thin side of your flat bristle brush in tight circles but use light pressure, you don’t want to obliterate the cliffs, just push them back so very little paint on the brush and very light pressure. Keep a damp paper towel so if it gets some place you don’t want it you can wipe it off.

If you don’t need to do that step, you will need your 2” hake or blending brush (the one with the very soft bristles). On your palette you will mix white or gesso it a tiny touch of blue and sienna and lots of water. You will end up with a dirty gray color but it needs to be very watery. Better to error on the side of too thin than too have it so thick it looks more like the fog has rolled in. Keep that wet paper towel at the ready but don’t panic, when you first apply this wash it looks way too murky even a very thin wash so let it dry before you assess the outcome. Watch for drips. You want to put this on with long crisscross strokes but you don’t want your brush so wet that the glaze runs or pools up into little almost drips that will be denser than surrounding areas when it dries, these you can smooth out with your brush with light strokes the drips you will need your wet paper towel.

While this is drying you can take the time to practice with your liner brush. The liner is one of my favorite brushes but it can be a bit tricky at first which is why I say practice first before you try it on your painting. I’ve been using this brush for a long time and I know how to make it work for me, it is also why I may it look easy but I had my struggles in the beginning also but I could see the benefits to mastering this little brush so I kept at it.

The first problem area is mixing the paint, it should be the consistency of India ink, if you tilt your palette it should do a slow run (clear water will do a fast run) but it should run. Washes and the liner brush are about the only time you will hear me say add more water but water is the key to both these techniques.

Next, loading the brush: You will need to roll the wiggle the ENTIRE bristle end of the brush in the paint to load it up properly, when you want to take it off your palette, pull and lift while rolling the brush between your fingers. This action will create a point with the bristles and now you are ready to test it out.

Hold your brush at the very end of the handle between your thumb, first and middle fingers like a pinch of salt and hold it pointing slightly down, this will let the paint refill the tip like a fountain pen. Most of the movement you will use will come from your wrist and your fingers not your arm.

Tree branches are made by first pushing down with the entire bristle end of the brush to create the fat end of the branch then as you pull to make the branch lift until you are at the very tip of the bristles. Try to see how long you can make a line and how thin you can make it, this will teach you technique and give you control of this brush. If you have a nervous twitch in your hand, don’t worry, this is actually good when doing tree branches and twigs they usually aren’t straight anyway and this tree we will be doing is very “twitchy” so consider it a gift, the rest of us have to remember to twitch a little as we move the brush.

When you want another branch or twig off the first branch, start your stroke back inside the first branch, then “branch off” where you want to start the new branch. This makes for a more natural connection between the branches, you can make funny marks or come too straight off the branch or be too thin or too thick if you start where you want the next branch so start inside the previous branch or tree trunk then branch off.

Grasses are done using a lot of wrist movement so you need to start the movement before you get to the canvas. Load and hold the brush the same way but this time start by making circles with the end of your brush. You want to get into a rhythm with the brush so when you touch the canvas you continue the movement. You want to touch the canvas on the up stroke of your circle, big circles make tall grass, and small circles make short grass, do them both. So many of you have your nose on the canvas and a death grip on the brush painting one blade of grass at a time, this will be scary for you if you try it on your painting on your test canvas you can mess up to your heart’s content until you feel safe to go to your painting. Practice with this brush before working on your painting because this is the brush you will be using for the most part.

Back to the project: If your glaze is dry and if you want, you can take your charcoal and sketch in the general area where things will go such as the tree the path and the bushes on the right side. You do not need to do a detailed drawing, just a few lines to show you where you are going. Don’t forget the green bush on the left side in front of the tree it is easy to miss. When you sketch your tree, just sketch in the major trunk and limbs it really won’t matter where the branches go so worry about the trunk not the small stuff.

In the sand of the dry river bed – if you want – you can add some bushes in a few places just be sure you aren’t adding little tuffs of grass all the same size and spacing, these are weds that grow in clumps some bigger some are smaller some touch or overlap other clumps don’t get too carried away because these are sparse in this river bed because the next rain a flash flood can wipe them all out, they are survivors.

Under paint the little bush in front of the tree on the left side with sap green, a bit of blue, purple and a touch of white (gesso), it is done the same way as the trees in the back and it should be a bit darker near the bottom so add more blue and purple (wet into wet) as you paint.

If you have a sable brush (round or flat) you can use it or a newer flat brush will be fine for the tree trunk and the bigger branches of the bushes on the right. These trees have very dark bark to begin with and are also in shadow so we can start with a fairly dark color. To get that dark color you mix your blue, sienna (umber if you have it) and purple. It should look almost black but it should be slightly to the sienna side so it is a little warm in tone. We will use this for the tree trunks and will add water and also use it for the branches so make enough that you don’t have to stop and re-mix.

To paint the tree trunk and the larger branches with always follow the direction of growth. I use my flat (#4 sable) the long way (a round you don’t have to worry just follow the direction of the growth) making short choppy strokes. This will leave a texture both visual and actual you can use later, just paint in the major parts of the tree and the branch on the other side. When you are done, add water to the color you are using and add branches and twigs to the tree. Remember to start inside the bigger branch and branch off of it and make a lot of branches and twigs. Contrary to what you might think, you actually need a lot of branches and twigs to make it look “natural” not less. Look at the photo, there are a lot of twigs and branches just try not to cover up the major cliff in the background but you do want to “frame” it with twigs. Same with the bushes on the right, there are a lot of twigs and branches. You can also add some lighter branches if you want look at the photo so see where the best place for them is.

Well, this is where we ended but I hope that you will have enough time to try and get some of this done before our last class. Most of what we need to do to finish this up involves the liner brush either twigs or grasses. Follow the photo and do as much as you can on your own and when we meet again I will show you how to finish it up. See you soon.