Day 3 Waves

A few more steps...we are getting close now to the finished wave.  The next thing I did was to draw in the bird, and because I had already painted the water, I needed to scrub out the blue...how? you ask...
I created a template.  Using regular ol' packing tape...I took a piece off the roll...laid it on the back of my hand to remove a bit of the tack, then put it over the drawing of the bird. 
With a very sharp (new blade) ex-acto knife, I very carefully cut out the tape around the outline of the bird.  *Tip*: be careful not to cut your paper.

Once the outline of the bird was cut out, I carefully lifted out the tape. Wha-laa...instant template... I then used Mr Clean Magic Eraser (the original brand, no other) to clean off the paint. We will paint the bird later...

The next thing I did was put in some darker values in the shadow areas. in the area behind the wave and under the wave.

Next, use raw sienna, burnt sienna, and a seaweed green mixture (pthalo blue green shade, and your cool yellow), and using your reference as a guide lay the colours into the rocky area in the foreground.  Then when there is still a sheen to the paint, add a bit of salt to create texture.  I also added some french ultra marine blue to the rocks to create the darker shadow areas.  Ensure your waterline at the bottom of the wave is not straight across. 

Now it is time to put the finishing touches and paint the bird.  Remove all the masking fluid using your thumb, or a rubber cement eraser.  Stay tuned for the finishing touches.

Day 2 and 3 of Florals: A bugs Perspective; painting a calla lily

                           On a recent excursion to

Seattle with Leslie Redhead I took this image at Pike Place Market.  I loved the back light effect and the glow it created within the Calla Lilies.  I cropped the image and photo-shopped it so we were dealing with colours other than grey.  

We sketched out the image on 140 lb cold press paper and masked out the whitest whites to preserve them in case we get carried away with the paint.  We begin adding a warm yellow to the areas where you see a warm glow, and also on the areas that will be background and stems. Once it dries, add another layer of colour finding the areas that are a bit reddish to the petals and in the bowl of the lily adding a warm red, we used scarlet lake.

Using a large brush, we began adding mauve, a mixture of Opera Pink and Cobalt Blue to those areas that appear that way in the image.  Remember to soften those edges  with clear water that appear soft in the reference. I added a touch of dark value to get a feeling for the range of values we would be dealing with..(mixing a rich green)... I just couldn't resist.

We added wet-in-wet warm yellow and a warm red to the stamen.  As well, a first coat of green to the stem areas. 

More to come for next weeks class.  Stay tuned.

Day 2 of Waves for the students at Monterey Centre

We are painting a wave, this is a traditional wave form.  We will be painting it in layers.  Trying to keep the transparency of the light coming through.  In completing this painting you will learn, about shapes, and value. We will also experiment a bit with texture.

We started by sketching our image onto 140 lb cold press Arches paper.  Using a bit of frisket or masking fluid to keep some of the areas of froth white. That was done by the end of Day 1.

Our first layer will be on the ocean, that is the expanse of sea behind the wave.  We used a "knat's whisker" of pthalo blue. and using dry brush technique painted the upper portion of the painting very quickly, leaving some bits of white in the process.

The same process was done in the foreground for the lava rock and seaweed the first coat being raw sienna.

Next we added some Ultra marine over the Pthlao on the area behind the wave.  The mixture was a bit darker and again we used the dry brush technique.

 Next we gave a first coat to the wave. Again using pthalo, and a cool transparent yellow to make an aqua colour, lots of water was added to maintain transparency.  The solution should be like clear tea. 

Turning the painting over, we added more pigment from the edge of the froth and moving our brush in the same direction as the wave we put in the next value.  The important part here is to keep the direction consistent throughout the wave. 

 This is the image at the end of Day 2.  Stay tuned for more of the Wave.