Wednesday, July 11, 2012


A Little Time-Out 

Varnishing

 

Varnishing Supplies:

Canvas:
Your finished painting

Varnish:
In this Demo, Dina used retouch varnish by Grumbacher

Brushes:
Foam/sponge Brush

Misc:
Disposable plate or tray

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Varnishing

One of the great things about my art class is the impromptu demo.  Here Dina showed us how to varnish a painting done by our June Student of the Month, Nicole.

Dina used retouch varnish, which is a varnish that you can paint over after it has dried.  There are varnishes that you can't paint over so it's important to pay attention when purchasing your varnish.  She poured a small amount of varnish onto her tray and with her foam brush made vertical and horizontal strokes across the surface of the painting...



You have to work quickly as it is pretty thick and dries fast.  Make sure you don't use so much that it puddles or drips down the sides of the painting.  You can lift the painting and use the reflected light to see any spots that may have been missed...


Here is the finished product.  You can see how the varnish adds depth to the painting where the dark areas previously appeared flat.



On a different note...


Cheryl Kline Maintains a beautiful garden between the two buildings which is where we did this demo.  There is also seating and a fountain with lily pads that make a wonderful oasis to retreat to when not painting.

Day 5 

Mandala

 



Day 5 Supplies:

Canvas:
Your Mandala

Oil Paints:
Raw Umber (any brand)
Titanium White (Williamsburg preferably)
Your mixed value series

Brushes:
You will only be using brights during this part of the Mandala.  I only had 3 bright brushes to work with (1/4", 1/2" & 3/4" Wash/Shaders).  I recommend having a couple of smaller brights as it will help getting into the corners.

Misc:
T-shirt rags
Palette (round or square - whichever you prefer) or
Palette Paper (grey - not white)
Vegetable oil for cleaning brushes

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Mandala Shading (cont'd)

Shading: 3 Largest Crescents


This is probably the most satisfying part of the Mandala so far as it fills in the 3 largest areas and gives me a better idea of how the finished product will look.  First I laid down the mid-tone as follows:


Note that there are now 6 areas set aside for my darks and lights  Remember - the idea is to have a mid-tone to paint into so blending is easier.  I had to make special effort to cover my lines now that I have edges connecting and not just corners...


Laying down my white -  I had to go over this several times to get a nice blend to the fan shape.  Here you see it in the preliminary stage...


The upper edge was the trickiest part.  I wanted just a sliver of dark up there with it keeping true to the crescent shape.  I had to redo this part about 8 or 9 times - starting apprehensively along the edge and working my way into the wet mid-tone.


When getting into the corners I wanted to mirror the previous color as much as possible for symmetry.  Up close you can really see how rough my edges are (cringe).  To make matters worse, somewhere along the line I managed to lean on the wet part of another section of the Mandala and smeared paint in areas it didn't belong...  Oops. 


 Pardon me for a moment while I clean this up a bit...


There, that's better.  Though I wasn't able to completely remove the smudges, it's definitely a vast improvement.  Note to self:  Learn to paint without using the painting for a support.  Dina does this well and makes it look so easy.

On a different note...



I know I could work faster on the Mandala by doing more as homework.  But I am more concerned with learning the technique than I am in finishing the piece.  There are no due dates at Kline Academy.  Everyone is at a different stage in their work.  Some have just started their Mandala, like me...  others are working on their 3rd, 4th, or 5th assignment.

What I get out of taking my time is the one-on-one instruction I get from Dina.  If someone were to have given me the instructions for doing the painting and walked away, I would have a much different Mandala than I have now.  Too many times I needed help with this project to think I could do it on my own.

For beginning painters...  Don't try this at home!  Seek professional help or paint at your own risk. :)






Day 4 

Mandala

 



Day 4 Supplies:

Canvas:
Your Mandala

Oil Paints:
Raw Umber (any brand)
Titanium White (Williamsburg preferably)
Your mixed value series

Brushes:
You will only be using brights during this part of the Mandala.  I only had 3 bright brushes to work with (1/4", 1/2" & 3/4" Wash/Shaders).  I recommend having a couple of smaller brights as it will help getting into the corners.

Misc:
T-shirt rags
Palette (round or square - whichever you prefer) or
Palette Paper (grey - not white)
Vegetable oil for cleaning brushes

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Mandala Shading (cont'd)

Shading: 3 Triangles Connecting Crescents


This part of the Mandala is a little different.  Instead of just a couple of corners being darkened in, in this part - one whole edge and two corners are dark.  Remember to start with the mid-tone, leaving the upper edge and the three corners empty.  On this one I filled in my white first, giving it the arch to mirror the white arch in the triangle below it.  Then I applied raw umber to the outer corners and along the top.

When applying to the top, these areas were just 1/8" thick with each shade.  This allowed plenty of room for blending.  Here is where I found it really challenging to be stuck with only 3 brushes.  I did nearly this entire section with my 1/4" bright.  Because of this, my paint ended up streaky and I lost some of my good edges to blending with too large a brush.  Trying to get a smooth transition into the corners was a challenge as well, but I really liked the end result.

To clean up edges I used the tiniest amount of oil on a clean brush.  This isn't always possible when you are trying to clean up an area where the underlying paint is still wet.  Luckily, though, my adjacent layers had dried in this case and I was able to come off with a nice, crisp line.

On a different note...


The subject came up about brushes.  It seems it is not always easy to tell what kind of brushes you are using as  every manufacturer has their own way of labeling and it's not always written on the side.  For this beginner I got a lesson in the difference between brights and flats.

Brights are what we are using on the Mandala as they are shorter than flats and thus give you more control.  The width and length of the hairs are about equal on brights.  These are good for short brush strokes.  Flats on the other hand have longer hairs and are better for long, sweeping strokes as they can hold more paint and maneuver more easily.