Acrylics: Safe Harbor Week1

I am using a toned canvas for this project. This was a canvas that I had previously had something else on and I didn't want it anymore so I took some gesso a little bit of ultramarine blue and some burnt umber and painted it out to get rid of what was on there before. Your canvas doesn't need to be toned, however, if you want it to be toned that's fine and just use neutral color or a warm color like a raw sienna then let it dry. This is totally a preference of the artist and you do not need to tone your canvas for this project.

Using my #10 flat bristle brush I applied gesso the upper third of my canvas above the horizon line, this will help me blend my colors so while it was still wet I picked up some yellow and painted it along the horizon line blending it lightly in with the gesso. Next I picked up a little bit of orange and painted the orange at the top of the yellow blending it slightly with the yellow. Next, I picked up some red and at the top of the orange added the red and blended it slightly with the orange. What this will do is give us a buffer between the yellow at the horizon and the blue at the top so we don't mix green.

Now I clean my brush, up to this point I have not cleaned my brush, I only wiped it out but because I want to have a nice clean color I needed to rinse my brush well. On my now clean brush I picked up my Ultramarine blue, a tiny touch of purple and a little touch of burnt Sienna and I painted across the top of the canvas lightly blending into the gesso. When I got down to the red area I lightly blend the two areas together then I rinsed my brush well again, and then I started to blend the areas together to create a nice gradual transition from the yellow at the horizon to the dark blue of the sky, wipe and/or rinse your brush often especially if you have been in the dark blue before you go into the lighter yellow area. If you want, you can take your blending brush - the one with the soft hairs - and lightly go over the sky area to blend the colors, the key to this brush is a very light touch. If you want to, you can also put some clouds in the sky (you may need to do this if your sky is dry and the bands of color to distinct) or some mist, this is totally up to you.

While the sky was still a little wet I mixed a blue gray color that color is made with ultramarine

blue, a touch of burnt sienna, a little bit of purple and white or gesso. You want color that its value is just slightly darker than the sky and it should be on the blue side, then using your flat bristle brush or a flat sable brush you just want to make shapes right along the horizon line. They don't have to be distinct shapes just stuff. They can suggest trees or buildings or a harbor in the background and what I did on mine was at the left side of my canvas I made the shapes smaller and less distinct and as I came across my canvas I made the shapes a little larger a bit more distinct such as the suggestions of masts or buildings, that way it gives some suggestion of distance to my background as things go into the background they become smaller softer and color and less distinct.

That is where we ended our lesson for Monday I hope everyone can get their own paintings to this level. Keep painting and I will see you in class.