FALL 2013 ACRYLIC CLASS

ACRYLIC CLASS PROJECT: Water Lily Week 6

When we get to this stage of our project I notice that the class is very scattered when it comes to where each student is in comparison to where I am. I try not to get too far ahead of where the majority of the class is so I don’t lose people along the way so it may not look like I did a whole lot last class but I didn’t want to leave the class in the dust.

I did paint in the center of the flower using my #6 flat SABLE brush (sable brushes are good when you get to detail and finishing), a mix of orange, and a touch of red or alizarin crimson for the under painting of the center. The paint should be creamy like soft butter so add water if you need to just don’t make it runny or it won’t cover. To load my brush I drug my brush through the paint on both sides to bring the flat edge to a sharp edge, then using my brush’s edge I pulled the center structures down and towards the center of the flower. Remember that all parts of the flower start from that center point so that is where your brush strokes need to end. Each time you reload your brush, reshape the sharp edge. Let this dry before adding highlights.

Using this same sable brush (you may need to use a smaller one or a round sable if you are

working on a smaller painting) I worked around my flower adding detail and shadow. When I say shadow in reference to this flower, with only a couple of exceptions we haven’t gotten to yet, these are not deep, dark black shadows, these are softer, slightly darker values of the original flower value. Flower petals are translucent so light can pass through them and add light into most shadows, the best way to avoid creating a color that is too dark is to have a pile of your base flower color (white/gesso, blue and a tiny touch of sienna to gray it slightly) then add touches of blue and or purple to slightly darken or you can add more white and touches of

yellow to lighten, this way you won’t stray too far from the original flower value (I am still using that base gray color I started with for the water, just added more white for the base flower color).

The highlights on the center of the flower are basically yellow but you will want to add a touch of gesso to it because yellow is very transparent and will disappear when it dries. Don’t cover up all the orange you put down because that is your shadow color and the lightest areas are on the top left-hand side and are done the same way as the orange color with the sharp edge of the sable brush. We still have the front petals of the flower to put in so some of this will be covered up, just paint them like those petals weren’t there.

I will go over more of this next class and I hope to get real close to finishing up this project. Do what you can at home if you have questions bring them to class I’m sure you are not the only one who will have questions. See you next class.