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.