Acrylics

Little Witch… A Halloween Painting

| cathmary1030

This painting, which I mentioned in this post, is from a reference in Ali Kay’s Fresh Paint VIP membership.

One of the perks of the VIP membership is getting seasonal reference images / classes. I did not “attend” the video class, just using the reference image.

I highlighted the black outfit with dioxazine purple (PV23). I dry-brushed the sides of the skirt to get a tulle effect (as the dress in the reference image appears to have some tulle layers).

What I would change were I to do paint this again — the trees and sunlight (substantially blurred in the ref image) as it’s too busy. The hat needs purple highlights; it looks like I painted black on black. AND I need to work on making hair more realistic!

Granny’s Flamingo Float… from Fresh Paint

| cathmary1030

I really liked the vivid colors in the reference image from Ali Kay‘s Fresh Paint class, but there are a few things I learned from this process.

First, I just loathe Phthalo Blue and Phthalo Green — both are way too intense, which just irritates the heck out of me. Plus, I just couldn’t get a good mix of the two for the swimming pool water. (Perhaps I’ll try Cobalt Teal next time, although it’s quite expensive.)

Second, I ruined a beautiful velvety canvas panel by using clear gesso on it after doing the trace. I won’t do that again — it was like painting on sandpaper.

Third, if I paint more figures I need to use a panel larger than 8×8 so I can get the detail properly painted. Once I’m more skilled, maybe I can go small, but right now, it felt like I needed a toothpick to paint the lady’s facial features. Ugh! Her left leg looks deformed at the ankle — I didn’t catch that until now — but her torso looks realistic.

I’m including the entire line-up of WIP photos below.

Eiffel Tower… another Fresh Paint Reference

| cathmary1030

This is on an 8×10 canvas, and after I more or less followed Ali Kay’s reference, I redid it and more closely followed the reference photo.

I was watching one of Ali Kay’s videos about how big should you paint. She herself prefers larger surfaces in part because you can use bigger brushes and brushstrokes, and don’t have to be so tight and detailed like you might with an 8×10 canvas. She suggests beginners go with 11×14 or 12×12 surfaces. (I mostly have 6×6, 8×8, 8×10 and 9×12). This is different from my online teachers at Acrylic University who suggest you paint small to knock out more paintings from scratch.

Anyway, the version with the clouds was my first version; the light blue sky (and tilted Tower!) is my second version.