ACRYLICS FALL 2015 Project: Cool Refuge Week 3

We had a lot to do on the project this week: First thing I wanted to do was start filling in some of the spaces in the back like the windows, plants in the pot... any little thing that I can do. I'm not trying to finish it but I am trying to get it closer to finished before I base in the shape of my chair.

For the window frame and the planter box underneath it I mixed up my burnt sienna with a little touch of blue and a little touch of purple to make a darker brown color this is the underpainting for the window frame and planter box. I should have added a touch of white because it is a bit too dark so we will have to make it lighter to fit the plane that it is in on the painting.

Remember when you are painting something that is supposed to be straight up and down, the  vertical lines must be parallel to the sides of your canvas so that they don't angle, only the horizontal perspected lines go at an angle, the angles of the window are a little bit confusing because the street goes up and the angles of the window and planter box go down slightly because of their position below and above the horizon line respectively, but the vertical sides will always be straight. I'm not looking for perfection but you do want them to look believable.

The plant in the pot by the front door is painted much the same way as the pot was except instead of using warm colors like orange and burnt sienna you'll be using greens. The first thing I did was I mixed my sap green with a little touch of yellow and orange to make it lighter and warmer then I tapped that color on the sunny side of the plant. As I moved around the plant I picked up sap green and Hooker’s green and mixed it into that warm green color, tapping and blending into the first green – wet into wet – to the sides and back of the plant. When I say tapped I was using my flat bristle brush and I was using the corner of it to create little roundish shapes that overlapped and were very congested, I could blend the colors as I went. Going into the shadowed side of the plant I added blue and a touch of purple into my green to create cool shadow color. Remember when you were painting your plant, you want the outside edge to be a regular, more organic, looking shape because it is a living thing and it grows in irregular shapes this is not a piece of topiary sitting by the door.

I hope everyone has their reference photo out so they can look at it as they are sketching in the outline of the chair. If you don't have a way to enlarge drawing that I provided you will have to do this manually and you must have photo in front of you to see the angles. Again, it does not have to be perfect but you do need to be very aware of the angles. This photo is not straight on the chair its slightly at an angle away from the viewer, there is some definite foreshortening in both the arms in the back slats are angled as they come into the rest of the chair. Do the best you can and don't worry about the small stuff. Look in the side bar for the page on enlarging an image for suggestions.

Once I got the chair sketched in I looked at my reference photo to see where the values changed on the chair. If you notice, the back of the chair is darker than the front of the chair and the legs are a warmer color than the rest of it. These are the things you need to look at before you start mixing paint or painting. The more you can see these values and color changes the more life you will be able to paint into your future paintings as well as this one.

I mixed up a base color of burnt sienna, blue and purple keeping it towards the sienna side because I want it to be a warm dark brown color. I mixed up a lot of paint because I will use this as the base color of the chair I will mix into it other colors to change either the value and/or the color but this will be my base. I suggest you mix up enough so you won't have to remix every few brush strokes.

I put this dark, warm brown color on the back slats and in the dark support under the bar armrest. There is also a very dark part of the leg in the front that is under the chair where I used this color, then I added just a little bit more sienna, which will slightly lighten the color, and I painted in the lower support that goes into the back leg. I also used a little bit darker version for the outside of the left leg. Please look at your reference to see what I'm talking about.

The front of the chair is not only a little bit lighter it is also a little bit cooler so I took some of my base color added a little touch of white and a little touch of blue to make it a lighter color. I don't want it white light, I just wanted at least one value change lighter than what the back of the chair is. If the back of the chair is an 8 on the value scale the front of the chair at its lightest would only be a 6, so it's not a real big value change, however, it is necessary.

I like to work wet into wet so while I had this lighter color on my brush I worked some of that lighter color into both of the arm rests and then I picked up some of the darker color - my base color - and worked that into parts of the arms as well. Again, look at your referencephoto you will see that the arms have light and dark areas on them, that's all I'm painting. I like to do it while the paint is still wet because it gives me a more even blend.

The front legs of the chair about the same value as the front of the chair but they are a little bit warmer so to the color that I mixed for the front of the chair I added more burnt sienna in a little more white to make a warmer gray color and I painted in the legs of the chair. They extend from the armrest down to the ground in places and where there was a value change, I added just little touches of white and blended it in because to create the illusion they have three dimensions. This is where your value system comes into play, use it to your advantage.

We probably have at least another couple of weeks on this project so please try to get as much of this done as you can. If you need help I will help you in class, I know this is a challenge but you will learn a lot about light and dark, cool and warm, and how to do dry brush to create some beautiful old wood. Keep painting and I will see you in class.