Acrylic Class Project: 3 Poppies Week 3

This week what we did in class was to add another layer of color to our puppies to help bring up their color and create some of the detail. Because acrylics dry darker and they are a transparent medium it is sometimes necessary to add more than one layer of paint to create the desired effect that you want, these puppies are a bright color so they may need at least two if not three layers of paint.

I also painted out part of the background that I thought had too much green in it on the left hand side between the middle poppy and the poppy on the left, I had brought the green background up too far and I wanted to put some of the blue sky back behind these orange flowers so that I could use the complementary colors of blue and orange to best effect.

One of the beauties of acrylic painting is that you can paint right over something whereas, in another medium you would either not be able to do it easily or would have to scrape off paint but with acrylic we can just paint over it, however, when you are painting out an area you want to make it looks like the surrounding area and not a big patch that you put on your painting. You don't have to match the colors exactly what you do have to do is to blend them in with the colors that are around them, for instance, this blue sky I didn't just paint out the area of green that I wanted to get rid of, I painted that area and then I lightly used my brush in a dry brush technique and blended the blue sky back into the rest of the blue sky so that it matched the color. I also had a patch that was too light on the other side in the sky so using blue with a touch of white in it, I was able to bring down the value of that patch of white but I remembered to blend those colors into the surrounding area so they look like they belong. Fixing something is not hard you just have to keep in mind that you need to make it look like it fits where are you are working.

The other thing that I did was I put in the under painting for the stems there is still some work to be done on them. I used my Hooker’s green with a little touch of orange to grey the green and a little touch of yellow to lighten the color, I painted in the stems also I added touches of ultramarine blue where there are shadows to start the shading process. Learning to work wet into wet is a lot of fun and it can create some very soft blended shades as you are painting.

Because people were at varying stages of this painting I did not do much else. I do hope that you can get your own paintings caught up to this stage so that we can possibly finish the project in the coming class. Start looking around for something that you want to paint for the rest of the semester and I will help you get started and to do demos as needed to help you along so keep painting and I will see you in class.

SPRING 2016 ACRYLIC CLASS WEEK2

ACRYLIC CLASS Project: 3 Poppies

You should have your canvas covered with your background and you should also have sketched your design onto your canvas using either chalk or charcoal. This needs to be done before you can start work on the poppies.

You will need your flat sable brush a #6, #8 or #10 depending on the size of your canvas, you don’t want to work with a brush that is too small because in a case like this it is better to work wet into wet which means working faster by using a bigger brush, with practice you will understand the necessity of the bigger brush. I was using my #10 flat sable brush.

The colors you will need for the poppies will be cad yellow light, cad orange, napthal or cad red and your gesso. The reason we need the gesso is it is an opaque color whereas titanium is more transparent, we need the opaque quality of gesso.

I started out mixing a good sized pile of a mix of orange and yellow with a bit of gesso to help the other colors cover just be careful not to add too much gesso because you want this as a rich golden orange color not a murky weak orange color if you use too much gesso. To this golden color you can add more yellow and touches of gesso for a lighter color, or add more orange and red for the richer deeper colors. We will not use any of the cool colors to deepen the values on the flowers so we can keep the colors clean and not muddy.

A reminder to all: Acrylics dry darker, that is just their nature and they are also a transparent medium so do not be discouraged when you come back and see that your flowers seemed to have changed color and value even with the gesso, we will need to go over the flowers again to brighten the colors and that added layer will cover any thin spots where the background may show through.

Before you start painting, have your reference photo in front of you where you can see it not in your bag and don’t leave it at home. This is your road map and it has all the information you need to paint the project so put it where you can see it.

It does not matter on which flower your start, just look at the reference photo and pick a spot. If you start say on the middle flower with that brightest part of the petal, you will use yellow and gesso then add some of the orange color you mixed earlier to turn it into a soft golden yellow starting at the edge of the petal and as you work your way across the petal add more of the golden orange and blend them together as you go. You can also add touches of orange and red if you see the areas is darker just blend them wet into wet as you go. Whenever you are painting an object, especially flowers, you want to follow the natural curves of the object you are painting. Flowers, particularly poppies, have a specific growth with veins or wrinkles like the poppies. Also note that the outside edges of the petals are not smooth but undulate so use the corner of your brush to create some movement of the outside edges.

You will probably have to repeat this process again once the paint has dried, the method is the same, just follow what you have there already, This is still under painting in that you are trying to get the canvas covered, yellow and orange are two of the most transparent colors in acrylics, there is just no way around a second coat or two, even adding gesso which will make your color too murky. You can see the difference between one and two coats of color where I stopped in our last class, the flower on the right and the front petals of the center flower have 2 coats, the back petals and the flower on the left only have one.

Try to get your paintings to this point and we will continue in our next class. See you then.

Spring 2016 Lerri's Acrylic Class

Spring 2016 Acrylic Class: Project – 3 Poppies

I am working on a 12 x 24” canvas in the landscape position (horizontal), however, if you do not have a 12 x 24 or cannot find one it is not necessary that you use one, it is only an option.

Also, I had toned my canvas before I started working on it using gesso, ultramarine blue and burnt sienna, again not necessary but it will give you the opportunity to practice using your blending brush to create soft out-of-focus patches of color and also to learn to work quickly.

Looking at the reference photo, I wanted to change the background to something better than dirt, so I will be adding some sky to the top, the blue will go well with the orange poppies because they are compliments, the sky will softly blend in with some suggestions of some background flowers and bushes, this will be my background and it needs to get in before we start working on the poppies themselves.

First thing you want to do is to have everything ready. Have all your paints out, and I do mean all of them because you don’t know which ones you will need so have them all out, and your gesso. Have your mister bottle handy plus have your soft blending brush ready to go, and paper towels in hand, you need to work quick because this is wet into wet painting and you don’t have the time to go looking for something if you didn’t put it out.

Before I started to paint, I lightly spritzed my canvas with my mister bottle so there was a light coating of water on your canvas. This will help the paint go on smoothly and will help keep it moist as you blend. Starting across the top using a big bristle brush – I was using my #12 flat bristle brush, you use the biggest one you have – I alternated between my gesso, the ultramarine blue, touches of purple and even some touches of burnt sienna and quickly scrubbed these colors across the top of my canvas to about a third of the way down where I switched to sap green, yellow, gesso, touches of burnt sienna again scrubbing and patting these colors on quickly. This green should be a soft grey green in the background.

Do not waste time on this step because your paint needs to be wet for this next step, if it isn’t the blending will not work. Keep your mister handy. Using you blending brush, be sure that it is very dry and clean, start up at the top of your canvas and use long, very light, flat “x” strokes to blend the sky together. If it feels like the brush is dragging too much LIGHTLY spritz your canvas with water, then quickly blend in the water as you soften the sky across your canvas. Then work down your canvas to the green area. Wipe your brush out and gently blend the blue and green areas together, it should look soft and fuzzy where they meet.

If you want at this point you can add little spots or shapes of orange to SUGGEST poppies in the background before you finish blending the green area. Remember all of this is supposed to still be wet so don’t doddle  be quick, don’t try to create the perfect poppies in the background they are too far away and too out of focus to worry about, then blend them along with the green so it all looks soft and out of focus.

As you work to the bottom of your canvas start adding darker colors like Hooker’s green, blue, touches of purple and sienna to create a darker green. You can do this with your bristle brush or the blending brush and just remember to softly blend as you go.

If your paint starts to feel sticky and isn’t blending like it should, lightly spray the area but be sure that you blend all the water in or it will leave spots though in this painting those spots may look like flowers so don’t worry too much about them if you see them later.

Once this is dry, you will need to assess your background. Acrylics always dry darker, as did mine, so you may need to go in and do some adjusting of the color before you add the poppies.

I took my #12 flat bristle again, use the largest brush you have it makes it go faster, and on my palette I mixed some sap green, gesso, a little burnt sienna a little yellow…I was looking for a soft, greyed, yellow green for the background that was a bit lighter than what was there. I loaded my brush with this color, then using the broad flat side of the brush almost parallel with the canvas, I patted the color on then pushed up quickly working across my canvas. I also added some more orange as I went to add more of a suggestion of flowers but as they were blended in, the orange became a softer color. If some of the previous color shows through that is okay, it becomes texture and shadows, don’t try to cover it all up.

I was working quickly so it was still a wet into wet technique and I also lightly blended the top edges with my blending brush, just be sure it is clean and dry before using it.

As you work into the foreground (bottom of the canvas) again, add blue, Hooker’s, purple and sienna to create a dark foreground using that patting and push motion. You do not need to blend this area, you can leave some of the texture from your brush strokes. Also you can add blots of orange to suggest other poppies, just be sure you blend some of them in to soften the color and the shapes.

When this is dry you can sketch your poppy design on your canvas be sure you are using either soft vine charcoal or chalk to sketch with. Try to get you painting to this point, keep painting and I will see you in class.