FALL 2013 ACRYLIC CLASS

ACRYLIC PROJECT: “Water Lily”

Before I started painting the project I showed how to “tone” the canvas. Many artists will not start a painting before they have toned their canvas whether it is personal choice or how they have been taught, it is an option you should be aware of and you can make your own choice whether to tone or not to tone. The theory of toning the canvas is even if you are very meticulous you will miss something on your canvas and the white of the canvas will show through, by toning the canvas first with very watered down wash of color, in the event that there are areas that are missed instead of white showing through you have color showing instead and this color can help harmonize the overall painting. The color is up to you and it may vary from painting to painting, I’ve seen artists who do a very elaborate “toning” of their canvas, the key is to use a lot of water so it gets into all the pore of your canvas and let it dry.

This is also a good thing to do if you are re-using a canvas, throw a bit of color into your gesso and it will cover better depending on how thick your gesso is, you might only need one coat to cover. I usually use a raw or burnt sienna or umber and blue which makes a nice gray, if I know what I am going to be painting over the top I may go with a complimentary color, for instance, if I were going to be doing something with a lot of green in it I may choose to add some form of red to my gesso to add a bit of warmth to my greens, You make your own choices.

When I start a painting in most cases – there are always exceptions to every rule – I start out my acrylic painting by painting the background. I do this so I get the background behind my subject and foreground. If you try to paint around something or leave the area where something goes unpainted in the end it can look like cookie cutter things pasted on your canvas. Acrylic dries very fast compared to oils so painting on top of it is not a problem so work from furthest away or underneath first then paint on top of it when that layer is dry. This is why I said do not do your drawing at this point in time because we have to do our background first.

My background color base was a medium dark, grayed blue/green made with gesso (for my white), ultramarine blue, Hooker’s green and tiny touches of burnt sienna and even less of purple. The purple is a very strong color and a little will go a long way so be careful when adding it, less is more. I will be adding other colors to this as I paint and I will be using this color later so make enough to cover your canvas and if you can save what is left over, we will probably be adding it to other things along the way.

I lightly sprayed my canvas with water from my spray bottle, this helps the paint slide on the canvas easier but don’t use too much water or you will dilute the paint and it will become too thin and your canvas will show through. Your paint should be the consistency of soft butter and you should be using the largest brush you have, I was using my #10 bristle brush but you can use your 2” blending brush if you are working on a larger canvas like a 16 x 20, I just wanted to 1, show that you can use a bristle brush to do this and 2, the bristle brush adds a bit of movement and texture to the paint.

Using a scumbling stroke (meaning a series of un-organized strokes not going in any particular direction) and starting in the upper corner with my base color I worked my way across and down my canvas. I occasionally picked up other colors and worked them into my base color, any color on your palette is fair game which is the main reason I ALWAYS put out ALL my colors because, just like everyone else, if the color I want is not on my palette, I won’t stop to put it out and my painting will suffer for it. If you store your acrylic like I mentioned in class, you won’t have any problem keeping them usable from week to week so get out those paints!

Working your colors together while they are wet and getting those soft blends is a great way to start many paintings, this is called wet into wet blending and it is a techniques oil painters use a lot but we acrylic painters can use it to our advantage as well, the key is to not over blend your color. It is okay if you add orange, for instance, and blend it into the gray base color, if that orange is still there after you have blended the colors, that is a good thing, you just want to tone down the orange with the gray not eliminate it.

Once your canvas is covered, let it dry. It should be completely covered, do not leave areas unpainted or they can cause you problems later.

When your painting is dry, using either your 2” blending brush or your largest bristle brush on your palette take a tiny amount of gesso, to it add a a little touch of your gray color just so it isn’t pure white and enough water to make it look like skim milk. This is called a glaze and it is very thin so in this instance it is better to have more water than less because you can always go over it again, it is harder to fix if it is too thick especially if it is dry. The water had a bit of a sheen on the surface, this glaze is that sheen.

Once you have you mix be sure that you have removed all the excess water from your brush. I use my fingers to squeegee my blending brush along with a paper towel squeezed up by the metal ferrule to get out any drippy water, this is basically a dry brush technique, if you are using a bristle brush, just squeeze the top of the bristles with a paper towel to get out the excess water.

Once your brush is ready LIGHTLY skim the surface of your canvas using long HORIZONTAL strokes. Water lays flat so you want to be sure that your strokes are parallel to the top and bottom of your canvas. This glaze should be slightly streaky but should not be too white or to outstanding, if it is, quickly take a wet paper towel and wipe it off and add more water to your glaze and try again. Glazes can add a lot to a painting so this is good practice for the future.

Sketch doesn't need to be detailed .

This is where we stopped, please try to have your painting to this point for class and if you have time you can sketch in the design of the water lily. A word of advice: You do not need to sketch in all the little detail of either the lily or the lily pads, just the general shape and location, most of the detail we will do with our brush and it will make it look a lot fresher than trying to follow the photo too exactly. Also be sure to have a spare canvas with you we may be doing some quick studies when we get to certain things that may take some extra focus so you understand what is going on.

See you all in class.