Monday Acrylic Class your blog post will follow
the beginning class’s post. Some of you who are newer might like to review the
101 class notes for a better understanding of the medium.
Acrylics 101 – Brushesand Gray
In a first class we
learned about brushes and the difference between bristle brushes and sable
brushes. The bristle brushes are the workhorse in acrylic painting while the
sable brushes are for the detail and fine work of our paintings.
We also learned about
the properties of acrylic paints. I had sphere already on my canvas and I
showed how I could change that from a sphere to a cube to a rock to a turtle
without ever having to paint it out and starting over again. Acrylic paints
will cover what is already there completely if you take the time and use enough
paint and a little gesso you won't have to start over.
We also learned about
the color wheel and the primary colors which are blue, yellow, and red. The
secondary colors are a combination of two primary colors. These are green
orange purple. When these colors are placed on a circle with blue yellow and
red being at the 8 (blue), noon (yellow), and five (red) positions and the
green, orange, and purple being at the 10, 2, and 6 positions respectively you
have a color wheel. The colors that are opposite of each other on the color
wheel are called complementary colors this is important to remember because it
is always good to add the complimentary to color of the dominant color in your
painting to create harmony and pleasing accents in your paintings.
Also knowing your
complimentary colors if you need to tone down a color you add its complement or
a form of its complement to soften the color. For instance: if you wanted to
tone down red you would add some form of green to soften or modify the red. What
this means is you are adding the other two primary colors, blue and yellow, in
the form of green, to change the red to a softer grayer color. Some teachers
only use red, yellow and blue in their class because in theory, you should be
able to mix all colors using just those 3 colors and it is good to understand
this aspect of color.
We also learned how to
mix gray as opposed to making mud. In
both cases you have to have all three primary colors present but gray is
usually a color you want and mud isn’t. My general formulation for creating gray
is ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and a touch of purple using gesso to change
the value (lightness or darkness of the color). Using blue, Sienna and purple
makes a very dark color which is why I don't have black on my palette, there
are also other combinations that will make a nice dark color without having to
use black because black out of the tube is a dead color and will deaden the
colors it is mixed with so try to avoid using it if possible.
Learning to mix gray in
all its forms is a good thing because we use gray to modify our colors. When we
are painting landscapes for instance, we need to have soft grays in the
distance to create the illusion of distance and knowing how to mix that soft gray
color will help with you create that depth in your landscapes but it is not
just landscapes that we use gray we use it in everything so learning how to mix
gray and how to gray a color is very important. If you can learn to mix the
Basic Gray above and then practice mixing different forms of gray with the
other colors as you advance in your painting skills you will see how this will
help you.
Next are values. We use
white or gesso to change the value of your color. Value is the lightness or the
darkness of your color so black is your deepest darkest color and white is your
very lightest color and the grays are the values in between white and black or
dark. Value is different than intensity of a color which means how much color
is present. You can have a very pale yellow and a very intense yellow yet the
value on the gray scale is virtually non-existent. Other colors will increase
in value as their color intensifies such as a pale blue to a rich blue but even
then they may not be too far from each other on the value/gray scale. I know it
is confusing but it will come.
Practice mixing your
colors and changing the value and we will start working on brushstrokes next
time.
Acrylic Class: Garden Fantasy
Week 1
I am working on an 18 by
24 Canvas long or portrait direction. I started with my gesso and a touch of
yellow in the area where I want most of my light to be, I was looking at my reference photo so, for me, the light area is in the
upper right quarter of my canvas. With my gesso and a touch of yellow I started
mixing the color on the canvas with my number 12 bristle brush. I am using my
large brush so that I can work quickly to cover all of my canvas before all of
the paint has dried. I kept my spray bottle handy to keep my canvas moist but
just remember to only spray lightly and quickly mix the water into your paint
or it will cause spotting.
As I worked my way out
from the light area I use gesso along with my orange and red. By adding gessoor white as I went along I kept my colors on the lighter side so that when I
put my garden in front of it there will be contrast between the darker colors
of the garden and the lighter colors of the background. As I moved around my canvas
I added other colors such as my ultramarine blue, purple, I have (p)thalo blue,
as well as my sap green and my Hooker’s green, but to all of these I blended
them with the white/gesso to soften and lighten the color. When I got through
covering my canvas with these colors I took my blending brush and very lightly
blended the colors. You want to lighty skim the surface of the canvas with long
flat crisscross strokes, this creates a soft mottled background. Also while my
paint was still wet, just along the bottom where I know I'm going to have water,
I lightly spritzed the canvas with my spray bottle this caused the paint to
slightly run to give a drippy affect.
After my background had
dried I lightly sketch on some of my drawing. I was only interested where the waterfall was going to be so all I sketched in were the back trees and the
waterfall with some of the rocks, I had both my drawing and my reference photos
where I could see them when I was doing my sketch. I will sketch the rest of my
drawing later as I still have some under painting to do.
Once I had my waterfall sketched
in, I used my number 6 flat, bristle brush to mix color for the under painting
of the water. This color is a mix of my ultramarine blue, a little touch of
purple, and a little white to lighten the color slightly, with that on my brush
I painted in the water. When you were painting in your water be sure that your brush strokes follow the water. What I mean by that is if the water is in a
pool it will be lying flat your brush strokes should be flat (horizontal)
however, when it falls down one of the waterfalls your brush strokes will follow
the water down the waterfall that will give visual clues to your viewer that
the water appears to be falling over rocks, brushstrokes are important be aware
of them.
I brought this color all
the way down into the pond in the front but I did not bring it all the way to
the bottom of the canvas I want that color to fade out before it gets to the
bottom so the background shows I also sprayed this so the colors would run.
In the area above the
top of the waterfall I painted in the suggestion of a palm tree and since this
is a fantasy and not reality I used an orange red for my palm tree it matches
some of the
This is where I stopped
for the day try to have your painting up to this point and if you want to you
can draw on the rest of your sketch. Be sure if you are doing the background
that you are using white or gesso to make the colors lighter this will give
contrast when you put your garden in front of it. Keep painting and I will see you in class.
No comments:
Post a Comment