Summer 2018 Acrylic Class

Acrylic Class Project: Marsh Madness Week 2

Last week's stopping point.

            






Remember I said last week that I needed to make changes to what I had done in class (smaller image), well, the first part of the class I spent changing the things I didn't like. I made a soft orange color with gesso and a tiny touch of orange, to re-shape the tree line in the back using the dry brush techniques (little paint or water on the brush) and scrubbing it on using little circles to create a bit of haze behind the trees and blending it up into the sky (use less pressure). this way I didn't have to worry about matching the blue of the sky and it added a bit of warmth into the painting. I may do more of that later.

Next I added the big tree behind the trees that are along the water's edge. It is a more blue-green tree from the ones in front of it so I used Hooker's green, ultramarine BLUE, a touch of burnt sienna and a little gesso. Leave some of the sky showing through near the top, Near the bottom you can add a bit more blue and green to make it darker and it can be more dense, also, you can use this darker color to shape the trees in from of this new tree, that is called negative painting.

When these were dry, I went back in and highlighted the trees: A lighter lime green for the trees along the water (sap green, a little yellow and a touch of orange and white) and a lighter version of the big tree (add yellow and a touch of white to the colors you used to create the big tree)

That got me caught up and things fixed so I could start moving forward.

I have been using a #6 flat bristle brush to do all of the work so far. the bristle brushes are the workhorses of acrylic painting because of all the scrubbing we do, I will continue to use the bristle brushes for most of the rest of this painting.

Here I mixed a dark blue/green using the Hooker's green and blue with a little touch of purple to create the dark reflections in the water and the dark in and under the tree line. When the dark color was dry, I used a medium lime green (same as above just no white but a touch of blue) to suggest limbs hanging over the dark areas under the trees.

In the water I scrubbed in that dark green color using the dry brush method (little paint or water on the brush) to create some of the dark reflections. When working on water, your strokes need to be horizontal or parallel to the top and bottom of the canvas so it will look flat. If you have reflections n the water, after you scrub them on parallel, you can lightly pull straight down, this will give the effect of movement in the water.

Be sure you have the reference photo IN FRONT OF YOU, not a photo of my painting because the best information you have is the photo, if you were working outside, the real thing would be your best information.

Look at the shape of the reflections and try to do your best to recreate them. they do not have to be perfect and if need be we now know how to fix something so just get it in as best you can.

The last thing we did was to add some of the dark foreground leaves where the trunks are going to be coming out of the water.

Yes, you will be covering up some of that background we have been working on bit it needed to be there so you can leave holes in the new color (same as we used in the water, just put it on a bit thicker), and it will look like you can see through the trees. 

If you want, you can add blue when you are working in the area near the bottom of the trees where it is naturally darker and a more solid color and you go up into the top of the trees, add more sap green instead of the blue though you want to keep it on the cool (blue) side for now. Remember to leave holes near the top and  "flip" your brush to soften the edges of the dark and create clumps of what will be leaves. You DO NOT have to do leaves yet, we will get to them, this is just the under painting for them.

I know it is a lot but this is going to start coming together in the next class or two, so hang in there, keep painting and I will see you in class.