Summer 2010

Acrylic – Fabric

The mini demo for last class was about painting fabric but it could also be applied to any irregular surface like a crumpled piece of paper or a plowed field with rows the best instruction I can give you – which is what I always give you – is to be observant. It also helps to have some reference photos, even a paper towel can be a visual aid while you are learning to paint fabric.

When you are looking at your reference, be it photo, paper towel or the real thing, pay close attention to the lights and shadows these are a lot more subtle on undulating surfaces than they are on flat surfaces. Yes you will have light, dark and middle areas but you can also have in between values as well. The more you can see these changes in value and apply them to your painting the more realistic your fabric or field will become.

As always, when you are painting in acrylic it is best to start with a middle value, this gives you some place to go with your values and it is almost better to start out too dark than too light because most of you get scared when you have to go darker when you start out too light so it is usually easier for you to go lighter, it doesn't seem to have the same fear factor as going darker.

I do need to point out that the middle values for light colors are different than the middle values for darker colors. For instance: The middle values for white may be almost as light as the highlights for navy blue so the color of your subject will influence how you start painting it.

I started by painting a burgundy color for my red curtains with red and a touch of blue. For the shirt, I used ultra marine blue and a touch of purple for my under painting. Both were fairly dark but not my darkest dark.

The next step can be done a couple ways: you can put in the darkest shadows or you can mix a slightly lighter value than you just used and find your folds. Sometimes you can just use the color straight like using the red or the blue (my examples) by itself to find the folds just remember to not cover everything you just did because that becomes another value that you need. Look for the darkest folds and paint those in. Your darkest color will have blue and purple because they are your natural shadow colors plus what ever color your fabric is such as red or green. When you are painting lighter colors like yellow or orange, add sienna to the shadow color as well and remember that the dark shadows won't be as dark. If it is white, the blue/purple will only be slightly darker than what you started with. Very seldom will you see really dark shadows in a light/white object.

Always, ALWAYS soften the edges of your values when working on material. Even things like satin will have soft blends of values and color so either use a dry brush technique when adding your values or remember to soften with your finger but soften them.

When it comes to highlights, usually you can add white to lighten a color and it will work fine, red is a different animal. Adding white to red give you pink. Even a little white can change the red enough that what you wanted as red now looks like some variation of pink. Rather than adding white, instead use orange to lighten your red. For your very lightest highlights you will need to use white but that will be okay for the highlights to be a bit pink.

This lighter value is near the top of your folds it may also be the highlight for some of the smaller folds or these that may be in the shadows of others, look at your reference to see where you might use this color. Fabric has a lot of subtle changes the more of these you see the better. Using dry brush to add touches of color here and there can add another value without having to mix one, just use your brush very lightly and let a lot of the previous value show through.

I cannot stress enough to all of you that you need to take the time to learn to use your brushes so you can see how they work. Pressing hard will put more paint on your canvas, lessening the pressure will leave less paint and give you a softer blend. This is a common problem I see in class: Students struggling because they are stuck in one mode with their brush and it is usually being heavy handed. They get too much paint when trying to do dry brush because they are pressing too hard even if they have wiped out their brush of most paint. So practice barely touching to surface of your canvas it will help in may situations.

The final highlights are right along the tops of folds but please notice that they may not run the whole length of the fold. The folds on fabric start and stop. Some are higher some are lower, just pay attention and you should do okay.

The coming class will be the last for the semester. Be sure to bring in something for critique, either something you really like or something you need help with or both. Bring in several if you want. Critique is a good learning experience and you will be surprised to find that other people will have a better opinion of your work than you do. We are usually our own worst critic so it is always good to get a second opinion where art is concerned. See you in class.

Acrylic Summer 2010

Acrylic – Glass and Metal Finishing Touches

For the most part, we were about finished with basing in our still life last week, all that is left are the finishing touches to make it come alive. The most important part of this process is putting in the shadows.

Shadows are often times neglected or put in as an afterthought by many artists beginning and advanced alike but they are the key to give your painting drama and a sense of light. You should look to see where you will have your shadows even in the planning stages and even if you are working from a photo that doesn't have shadows per se you need to figure out where exactly you need them for the best effect in your painting.

Another thing to remember is that you should only have one light source otherwise you will have light shadows going in several directions. While this might work well if you were doing dancers on a stage, in most other cases, it will work against you. This may take some practice on your part and maybe so be sketching so you know where you are going but eventually as you develop your skills, you can look at a flat lit scene (meaning that there is no distinct source of light) and decide for yourself where the light should be coming from and place your shadows accordingly.

My light on this still life came from the right so all of my shadows will go off to the left. Notice the shadow under the snuffer because the handle is propped up on the edge of the candle holder there is a gap between the handle and the table it is resting on. I used my charcoal to sketch this in and also the shadows under the bell of the snuffer, the holder, the candle and the bottle. I needed to get some dark behind my candle so using my artistic license, I imagined that the table was up against a wall and the shadow of the bottle runs up the wall behind the candle, this give me the darkness to make the candle stand out from the background.

Next I mixed a dark shadow color which consists mostly of ultra marine blue and purple with maybe the tiniest touch of sienna to darken it. This color should be very dark. It isn't, you have too much water in your paint, probably from your brush. Be sure to dry your brush well before you start to mix this color and squeeze it near the metal ferrule where water likes to hide.

With little paint on your brush, start scrubbing this color where your shadows will be. The edges of shadows are seldom hard except maybe right next to the object that is casting it so keep the edges soft, you can make them harder later if you feel you need to. Notice that under the holder, there are 2 shadows, one is very dark right under the rim the other is just slightly lighter, just be sure to get it dark enough under the holder you can even scrub over the one side of the foot of it creating a "lost and found" effect that can add interest. Get the area behind the candle fairly dark and in the area where it might be the shadow from the bottle, scrub a bit of green into it. Glass is transparent so some of the light comes through the glass and is in the shadow, however, this color should still be darker that the bottle as it has passed through it and has lost strength.

As the shadow of the bottle goes up the wall it changes from the blue/purple to a dark green because of the afore mentioned transparency of the glass so using the same dirty brush, I mixed a bit of Hooker's green into my brush and scrubbed in the shadow of the glass onto the wall occasionally picking up touches of sap green to make parts lighter or added blue to make it darker to suggest the varying thickness of the glass.

Once that was done, I thought that I needed to darken the edges of my painting to make it more dramatic. I went back to that dark blue/purple color and scrubbed in with a dry bristle brush more color. I started in the corners to get the darkest color and as I moved towards the subject, lightened the pressure on my brush to give a graded look to this glaze. I did this all around my painting.

To finish it I mixed a color similar to the table color and put the light holes back into the shadow of the handle of my snuffer and looked for any place else I thought needed more shadow or highlights. This is a personal preference though I do suggest that you quite while you are ahead. You can fiddle a painting very easily to being overworked so if you are looking for things to do: STOP! Let it sit for a few days and look at it with fresh eyes, you will probably find it looks okay as is so call it finished and put it in a frame.

This finished my demo as such. This wasn't intended to be more than a study however, if I was going to be doing this as a true painting, there were things I would have added and several of my students either asked or pointed out the need to make it finished so I made a few adjustments and it turned out to be a more satisfying finished product than just a study. Again, these are things that you as an artist need do decide for your self and can either put them in or leave them out, your choice.

First, I wanted to make it looked like a polished wooden table. Using my liner brush and mixing colors that were both lighter and darker than the table color I suggested wood grain in the table area. I didn't spend much time on this just light lines that could pass for grain. Next, I put in the reflections of the objects. Reflections are always a darker version of what they reflect and they reflect what is underneath them, it is like seeing what a mirror would see if it was on the ground, not on the wall. With the appropriate color and a very dry bristle brush, first I pulled this color straight down, then straight across. This takes a very light touch and you may need to build up to it but don't get heavy handed or you will have problems. This is reflections on a table, not on water which can appear more solid in color.

To the candle, I added a flame. First I took straight yellow and dry brushed in some yellow haze on the inside of the candle using a circular motion but my brush was very dry and my touch very light to give a slight glow on the inside and back edges of the candle, then with a round sable brush using orange and yellow (first orange then yellow) quickly added the flame. I also added these colors to the side of the bottle and smudged them with my finger. Notice I left a space to suggest the side of the candle o the bottle.

It was also suggested – and I agreed – that there was an empty space that needed "something". I am glad that my students are seeing these things because it isn't always easy to spot when the negative space is lacking and that negative space is as important as the rest of it, like supporting actors in a movie, it makes the painting more interesting so to finish my painting, I added a book.

We are done with the class project so you will need to bring in something of your own to work on. I will be doing a demo on how to finish a painting with varnish and I will demo creating fabric. We only have two more sessions and we will take a break. The next classes will start Sept 20^th and registration for Torrance residents will start Aug 24^th, non-residents on Aug 31^st. Be sure to get registered in your classes as soon as you can so they don't close your class for lack of students, they usually close under enrolled classes a week before they start so don't get left out and encourage your friends to take classes as well. See you in class.

Acrylic Summer 2010

Acrylic – Metal and Glass Still Life

This week we finished up our under painting so all that is left to do are the finishing touches.

Most beginning students do not understand the importance of the under painting or exactly what it is yet it is the basis for any good painting whether it is acrylic, pastel, oil or watercolor or any other paint based art form. It is the foundation which you build you finished painting, just like building a house if the foundation is solid the house will be solid. If your under painting is good your finished painting will be a success.

As you build these layers of paint during the under painting process, you do not cover up all of the work you did in a previous layer, you leave some of the previous layer for texture or shadow. It is why we use the dry brush technique so often so we can see the previous layer through the layer we are working on building upon what we had to create what we want. As you learn more and more about acrylics you will begin to see what I'm talking about, for now, you will have to trust me.

We left off with our background done and most of our bottle based in (under painted), now we need to finish getting in the candle and the snuffer.

The candle looks white or cream colored but we do not start there, if we did, we would have no place to go with our color. We start with a gray version of the color. Remembering that wax is translucent I don't want a real dark color as my under painting so I mixed white with a touch of blue, sienna and a tiny touch of red making a soft gray color that was not too light but a little lighter than a middle gray. Starting in the shadowed side of the candle I scrubbed this color in. At the edges of the candle, I used the end of my bristles and pulled in rather than pulling a straight line down the side. This keep the edges soft for now if I want a harder edge I can do it later but for now I want to avoid and ridges of paint that will be hard to get rid of once they dry. As I painted towards the lighter side I added touches of white and sometimes picked up red or orange to warm and lighten the gray just slightly.

I skipped and area where the rim of the candle was and went to the inside starting with the darker gray down along the bottom and again as I moved up the inside of the candle added a little white, red or orange. Keep in mind I don't want a RED or ORANGE candle, I just want to give the suggestion of color, the highlighting will come in the next steps, this just sets the tone.

The under painting for the candle holder is a mix of blue sienna and touches of yellow. The yellow will turn the color slightly green but this is okay it will give the appearance of tarnished brass in the end, with any luck at all. Just get the holder covered in the dark color and it will be much darker than the candle, we will give it shape and form later when we highlight.

The brass snuffer has a couple of sections, first the inside of the bell. Notice how dark it is, many of you struggle getting your color dark enough and usually the problems is either 1, you have too much water on your brush diluting the mix, 2, you aren't using enough paint and stretching it too thin or 3 a combination of 1 and 2. Before you pick up paint, if you have been using a light color you will want to rinse your brush well (guess there is a 4^th, light color on your brush) just be sure to dry it well and get the water out from under the metal ferrule before you pick up paint. Remember, a little water will go a long way and it will thin your acrylics down so much they are transparent, it doesn't take much.

To get a dark color start with the ultra marine blue, sienna or burnt umber and a touch of purple. If it looks too brown add more blue. Ultra marine and sienna make a very nice dark gray adding the purple gives it life but it will be very dark. Start in the center that would be the very inside of the bell. Not only is there shadow but there is also soot so it will be very dark. Create the upper edge with this color and down the sides a bit. As this color comes out into the light, add a touch of white, not much just enough to make a nice dark gray and blend the light into the edges of the dark so there is no hard line, use your finger if you have to. I used a sable brush in this area because it helps me to make soft blends of color while the paint is still wet.

The brass on the snuffer is a bit redder that the holder so the color I mixed for its under painting was blue, orange and a touch of red, it should look like dark mustard. I painted in the all of the snuffer with this color.

The next step could have been done right after I did the background, but I waited until now so I knew where all of my elements were going to be and that is the table top. Remembering where my light was coming from, I started near the bottle with orange and sienna to give a warm glow around the bottle and the bell end of the snuffer and as I worked my way to the edge, using a horizontal scrubbing stroke with my bristle brush, I picked up some red and sienna, then sienna and purple and finally just purple and what mud I had on my brush to take it to the sides and corners. I am making a wooden table but this will work using any color you are using in your painting, just use colors you need and add blues and purples to make the corners darker.

I did start the highlighting process on the candle and snuffer, these aren't the final highlights these are more like giving the things shape. On the candle I mixed a lighter version of the gray I used before and scrubbed it on using a very dry brush. If you are doing this right, you should be able to see the under painting thru this layer. Again, I picked up touches of red or orange along with my gesso I was using for white and scrubbed on the color even along the rim area. When I had all of the area covered, I came back with more gesso and the mud on my brush and still using a dry brush scrubbed the light color on the lightest side of the candle and the top rim. I also looked for places that were lighter to give shape to the lumps and bumps.

The holder, I used yellow and the mud on my very dry brush and scrubbed this color in. It isn't a bright yellow, more a dirty yellow and looking at my subject lightened areas that might be getting some light. I used some of the dark shadow color under the top rim to create depth and to start to shape the stand it is on.

On the snuffer, I used yellow, orange and red and again using a dry brush, scrubbed this color on. It should be brighter than the under painting but don't cover up all of the under painting, it creates texture. I did use a dark color to add some shadows to the holes in the snuffer and along its edge.

We will finish the still life next session so please have something you want to start painting with you in class. Only a few more sessions left so best to get started now while you have time to ask questions.

Summer 2010 Acrylic Class

Glass and Metal – Acrylic Week 4

Now that we have practiced painting metal and glass, we are going to put what we have learned to practical use by organizing our elements and adding a simple third element into a pleasing simple composition. How ever, the first place we start is not by drawing on our design but with the background.

I know just how tempting it is to jump right in and get started on the things that matter most in a painting and worry about the background later, the thing is the background is like the stage set. Yes, you can act out the play without the set but it is very difficult to move the stage in or get the props on once the play has begun, I know, been there done that and had to be physically held back from running on stage with forgotten props =-O (I still have nightmares). While you may not have nightmares if you don't get the background in first, you are going to have trouble trying to get the background to look like it belongs as you try to paint around your subjects leaving halos and hard lines and odd colors you may never get rid of, so trust me when I say" Do the background first, it will make your painting a lot simpler.

If you come from an oil background you may have been taught a different way, the thing with oil is you can blend oil weeks after it has been applied and smooth out hard lines or blend edges. Acrylics dry so fast even with extenders that we don't have those kinds of options, we need to start with what is furthest away first and work forward. In this case it means the background.

The first thing I look for is my light source and which way the light will be traveling. In this case the light was in the front right so it will hit the upper left third of my background. I went over the "the rule of thirds" in class and if you do a search on the Internet, you will find a lot of sites that can give you more examples and explanations so I won't go into it here except to say that it is important to my composition to use the third lines when I am designing my painting and that includes the background.

Now that I have determined where my light source will be the brightest on my canvas, I can start painting. First I use some gesso in the brightest area getting it pretty well covered then, while the gesso is still wet, I pick up a little yellow to tint the area. A little yellow will go a long way so don't get too much on your brush (I was using a #12 flat bristle) and brush mix on the canvas using a scumbling or crisscross stroke to move it out from the center.

This moves pretty fast so don't stop between steps.

Next, pick up a bit of orange and gesso and on the outside edge of your pale yellow work the orange out a bit more making another ring of color. Blend the two areas together either with light strokes from your brush or with your finger, you want a nice gentle blend. Keep working.

Next, pick up red, sienna and gesso and repeat what you did with the orange. You may find that on the left side you have run out of room for a complete ring, that's okay, just get your canvas covered and be sure to blend the area where the two rings come together so you have a nice transition.

The lest step to the background will probably be mostly the corners and down the right side and bottom, use sienna and purple without using gesso to create a dark color in the corners. Again blend the touching areas so you don't have a hard dividing line. Now it must dry before you can put on your design.

Before you start drawing your still life, check your composition. First and foremost, you want to fill up your canvas with your subjects. If you are have something tall like my wine bottle and you go with a horizontal (landscape) placement of your canvas, you are probably going to have a lot of wasted space around your subjects when you get finished so a vertical format will probably be better for tall things. Also overlap your objects so they become a unit, not separate thing competing for attention.

Again, rule of thirds. I placed the bottle close to the left vertical third line as well as the candle and the bell of the snuffer very near the bottom third intersection and the handle running near the bottom horizontal third line. This I usually do in my head but if you need to, divide your canvas into thirds before you start drawing. You should be using soft vine charcoal or chalk because both of those will wipe off with a wet paper towel. Don't use a pencil at this point or you can leave marks in your under painting that won't go away.

Add as much information as you need or want to create the elements of your design just don't be so committed to them that you are afraid to improvise when you need to. I look at my subjects as my guide once I've gotten my basic drawing on my canvas.

I started with the wine bottle because it was the thing that was furthest back in my composition. I based it in with sap green and I overlapped the area where the candle will be to be sure that the bottle will look like it continues behind the candle. Looking at my bottle I added in yellow in the lighter areas, and sap with blue or just Hooker's green into the dark areas. I was using a #6 Filbert which is similar to a #6 flat bristle brush and I was basically scrubbing the color on. This is just the first layer of under painting for the bottle, there is some more work to be done next week.

Depending on how fast the class works – and I am by no means trying to rush you – we may get done with the painting next week and for sure the following week so please start looking for something you would like to paint. It can be any subject you want. Also, think about what you might like to do next semester so I can plan for something you want to learn or feel you need more instruction.

Summer 2010 Week 3 Acrylic Class

ACRYLIC CLASS – Glass and Metal

http://picasaweb.google.com/artclasspics/Summer10#

There are similarities between glass and metal that will be apparent when you really look at the two, glass has the added element of being transparent for the most part, in both cases it is good to know where you are going with them and that requires a good road map.

You will hear me almost every time talking about drawing skills, my hope is to get a few of you to take it to heart. Like anything else you have to learn, the more practice you get the better you will become and if you concentrate on creating shapes rather than the thing you are drawing you will see improvement. Shapes are important in creating a road map for your glass or metal.

First, draw the basic shape of the glass or metal you want to paint. The outline and some basic "road signs" like a label or a corner is all you need to start. When that is done now look at your object and look for all the shapes that are reflected that are reflected. Don't worry about what is causing the reflection it is truly unimportant even if it is you that is reflected, just draw what you see. If it is glass you may see the shapes of things behind the glass such as the table and that will have its own shape. You may even see shapes within shapes, depending on how detailed you are going to make your drawing/painting will determine what you put in. Remember you do need to suggest enough of what you see to tell your viewer that it is glass or metal, beyond that is up to you as an artist.

If your subject is burnished metal or glass that is not as transparent you still to look at your subject carefully. Whether it is a tarnished copper pot or a ruby glass vase, it you look close, you will see that the things around them do reflect into them, maybe not as strong as something highly polished or transparent, but it is there and you need to be able to see it.

Once you have your "road map" – it could be a simple as a few basic shapes to note the most prominent things you see or it can be highly detailed, your choice – now you have to fill in the map. It doesn't matter where you start just hold off on your highlights until the very end. Even light shapes in a very reflective object aren't pure white so you will want to gray them down with a bit of mud from your palette or a touch of blue and sienna – teeny tiny touches – you just want to take the white down a bit.

If you are painting clear glass, really look at your glass. There is very little actual white, in the thickest parts it could be green or blue or gray and the overall color will be a very thin glaze of that color so start off with that color and keep it handy you will need it. Save the whites for the very last.

If you are painting a highly polished metal object, remember to soften the edges between your shapes with your finger or lightly with a clean sable brush. If you have a very soft small blender (an old blush brush works great) that is perfect, if not a sable brush or your finger will not leave brush marks.

Because these are suppose to be tests or "thumbnails" if you need to test a color before you add it, go right ahead and place a bit next to where you want to put it to see if it is what you want. Have your object where you can see it and check your color against what you see in the glass or metal. Don't be afraid to make mistakes because this is why we are doing thumbnails so we can work out our problem areas. There are times when what seems like a "mistake" turns out to be more what we want than what we had planned so don't be afraid to play or experiment with these practice paintings, that's what they were meant for.

If you are doing a highly reflective metal or transparent glass, after you have finished adding all the shapes you see in them to finish them off you can add some final glazes to add some overall color and to add some shadows or brightness before you add your final highlights. If you are working on silver or polished steel a light glaze of white will give it a sheen. Remember to follow the shape of your object, if it is round, your brush strokes should be either "U" shapes that go around the object or curvy lines that follow the vertical shape of the object. If you are painting brass add a touch of yellow to your glaze, if it is copper add a touch or red or orange or sienna the exact color may be a combination depending on how much patina it has.

Only when you are satisfied that the thing is as done as you would like it to be is when you will look for your final highlights. For that you can use pure white or white with a touch or yellow or orange if you are working on a colored metal. Look at your subject and look for the sparkles, that is where you will add your final touches. If you need to get out a smaller brush, now is the time.

We are going to put these objects all together this week and create a simple still life so you will need a fresh canvas (don't paint out the test canvas just yet, have it for reference) and bring in your glass and metal along with one other thing for your set-up. It can be a piece of fruit real or not, a silk flower but keep it simple, your glasses if you don't need them to paint, a book…What ever you think would go with the other two objects that isn't a project in itself. I want it simple for your sakes, this third item will help you compose your painting easier than with just two but it should be something you are familiar with painting-wise.

Acrylic Class Summer 2010

Getting into Our Right Mind. Glass and Metal

I know that most of my students thought that I had lost what little mind I had left with our first assignment of the semester, but as you later found out, there is method to my madness.

As a teacher it is my job to help you along your artistic journey. I watch as I see my students struggle with even simplified scenes, I know what they are going through because I've been there myself, but until they understand on their own, the struggle will continue.

Most of that struggle comes from how our brains work. Students who have been with me for a while will get tired of hearing me mentioning Betty Edwards' "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" but it is an excellent book on how we see things and how our brain processes the information dividing it up into the left and right sides of the brain. It is the right side we need to tap into as artists but more often than not, the left side just won't let go of the brush so we can get closer to our artistic goals. This is the struggle and we need to find ways to convince ourselves that it is okay to let that creative side take control, which was the purpose of the exercise.

The left side of your brain has a very short attention span, if you will. It wants to name things and move on. If it looks like a chair or a flower or a car or whatever, that is what it is now let's move on! It is your right side that sees the difference between a delicate rose bud and a wilting daisy; or a beat up old Vega and a hot new Porsche. It sees the beauty and nuance of the world around you but with the left brain in charge, it is like driving on the freeway with someone with a lead foot and you are trying to look at the scenery. You need to find a way to make it stop.

Fortunately, we do have ways to slow that side down and the more you feel that shift in your mind, the easier it will become. One of the best ways to slow your brain down is to turn your picture upside down adding the element of the opposite hand brings it to a stand still! What you are left with are shapes and color, the very thing that interests your creative side. When you get right down to it that is what all painting is about: Shapes and color.

You will hear me say quite often that it is just shapes: Shapes of the highlights, shapes of the shadows, shapes within shapes. If when you get done putting those shapes together and those shapes are similar to the original shapes you will have a painting that looks close to what you pictured in your minds eye, the picture will be there.

All in all, I think all of my classes did a great job. It was different and a challenge but in the end what we had surprised everyone and that is a good thing. It is also good to know that if you do have problems with a painting, turn it upside down. You don't have to paint it with your opposite hand unless you want to but it gives you that option to tap into your creative side.

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We started a bit on what we will be doing for the next couple of weeks and that is working to create glass and metal. I want to just do some studies to begin with because it is an important step to understanding how everything goes together.

As I mentioned in class, most beginning and intermediate artists want to get right to the business of painting their masterpiece but more often than not, there are elements in that masterpiece they are at a total loss as to how to proceed. Rather than stopping and doing a few studies to work out the problem, they will work and re-work the areas that cause them problems until the rest of the painting suffers and there goes the masterpiece.

I just did a quick demo on focusing in on certain areas of the subject like a glass bottle or polished metal vase, neither are as they seem. Glass in particular can be reflective, transparent and have its own color, things you need to deal with if you want a convincing piece of glass in your painting. Even if you are doing a more impressionistic rendering, you need to see what is going on in that glass so what you have will look transparent instead of solid. Glass and water have a lot in common so this is good practice for both.

Metal is much the same with out being transparent. Metal has its own color but it also picks up the color of things around it, even burnished metal or tarnished metal, they will still reflect the things around them.

We will work on this more in the next class so don't forget to bring something glass and something metal, I say this because it helps to have it in front of you rather than going by a photo alone.

Spring Acrylic Class Week 7

Acrylic Class – Week 7: Borax Wagon

This week we start on some of the detail of our wagon, first we need to make sure that the wagon is bright enough especially in the sun-bleached areas of the wood planks, it should be very bright, if it isn't do some more dry brush with white and the tiniest amount of yellow, it will be mostly white (titanium or gesso). Remember to dry brush with the grain of the wood (horizontal).

Next, we put in the dark shadows under the wagon. Please do not worry about the streaks of light right now just the shadow, those streaks will come later. When you are doing large areas, remember to use a larger brush. I was using at least a #10 or 12 to get the area covered quickly and it will look less labored. If you need to, you can draw the back edge of the shadow so you know how far up to paint, Look at the photo and note that it comes up just below that structure under the wagon and that it is not straight. This shadow is going over uneven ground so it will follow the depressions and rises on the ground. Don't get out your rulers!

The shadow color is the one we have been using and is my standard shadow color: blue, purple and burnt sienna, keeping it to the cool (blue/purple) side but it should be a dark color and watch how much water you mix in, if you have too much water the paint won't cover well and you will have to go over the area again at least once, maybe more to get the look you need so keep the water to a minimum. Remember that there is water in your brush especially if you just rinsed it out.

With this dark color cover the whole area that is in shadow. Don't paint around where the wheel will be. Don't paint around the spokes or light streaks, just paint the whole area for now and you can use a scumbling stroke (every which way) to scrub this color in remembering to keep the back edge soft, smudge it with your finger if you have to, no hard lines.

While your shadow is drying, you can draw in where that iron bar that attaches to that wood beam that comes out from under the wagon (see photo). It isn't necessary to have an exact drawing just a curved line that attaches to the beam and please note that it is curved, not straight. Some people have trouble seeing it isn't straight, that would be the left brain kicking in. Also, if you want, while you are placing things in with the charcoal, you can draw in some of the other detail under the wagon.

This is one of the few times I will suggest a smaller brush and it can be either bristle or sable at least a ¼" wide, this is for the metal bar. With just burnt sienna on your brush, paint in the shape of the bar. Kinda dab the paint on rather than draw a smooth line. This is an old, rusted, hand-made iron bar that has seen much better days, the rougher the better. After you have the bar in, pick up some blue (ultra marine) on the end of your brush and just touch and dab it to the shadowed side of the bar. Rinse your brush and dry it well, then pick up some orange and do the same thing on the sunny side of the bar, these are quick simple strokes don't take a lot of time worrying this poor bar to death, just do it and it's done!

At this time you can also block in some of the things that are in shadow with your dark color. There are bolts and bars and blocks and…All in shadow, they are just shapes but they will make that area under the wagon more interesting.

We are finally getting to the wheel, so now is the time to use your charcoal or chalk and draw in where you think the wheel needs to be. You can start with the hub or the outside rim, just keep your reference handy so you can refer to it as you draw. Keep in mind that I didn't draw all the spokes in the drawing I provided, however, if you want it to look more like the real thing, you can put them in, it is up to you.

Even though it is hard to see, the wheel is slightly canted in so it isn't completely round. That is part of the reason you can see a lot of the inside rim on the right side but not on the left. This is called "foreshortening" and it is something you need to be aware of when you are drawing and painting. That said, after class I noticed that my wheel is really not the shape it should be, unfortunately because the next time will be our last, I will correct my painting but will explain what I did on the blog at a later time so we can get as much done before the end of class.

The outside wooden rim of the wheel is under painted much the same as we did for the wagon. Using that blue, purple, sienna mix, I added gesso (or white) to get a dark warm grey color. If your color is too cool (blue) you can add some sienna to warm it up. Again, if you have a brush that is about a ¼" wide, you can use that brush to paint in the parts of the wheel, it might make you feel more in control. There are also some part on the hub that can be under painted with this color so while you have it on your brush, you might as well get it in, just refer to your photo.

The spokes of the wagon are painted with what mud you may have on your brush and sienna with touches of red and orange. The inside area of the wheel rim starts out with this sienna/red color then becomes more orange. It doesn't need to be the final bright orange, this just gets the process started.

When you get to the hub, you will be using sienna, orange and red but it will work out better if you "brush mix". What this means is pick up one or two of the colors and mix them on the canvas. The center of the hub is made with wedges so start from the outside and pull your colors into the center. Once again I am not concerned with the lug nut in the center, that will come later, right now I just want to get a mottled sienna/orange/ red thing going in the center.

The bands around the hub are done much like the bar you did earlier, use sienna to base it in then pick up some blue and tap it in an uneven way. Your wheel should be based in and if everyone can get there on time on the 7^th we may be able to get this finished.

I also want to remind you to bring something in for critique on our last day. It can be something you have done at class or at home or any other medium you may be working with and you want some feed back. It can be your best work or a "problem child", critique is a good way to get a second opinion on your work.

Also, registration starts on Tuesday, so if you are a Torrance resident you can register for classes this week if you aren't a resident registrations starts the following Tuesday, June 1^st. See you soon and enjoy your holiday.