Acrylic University

52 Mini Paintings Challenge: Week #19

| cathmary1030

This is the week 19 painting for Jed Dorsey’s Mini Painting Challenge at Acrylic University. (I’ll get back to weeks 17 and 18 some other time). It’s called “Roses for Mom” and is based on a reference photo by Ann Dorsey. 6×6 canvas panel, toned in Naphthol Red.

I listened to the video of the class weeks ago — we’re already up to week 23 — and just used a grayscale printout of the photo as my reference. For the roses, the darkest red is Quinacridone Magenta, otherwise it’s just Naphthol Red with varying amounts of Titanium White.

This was a fun one to paint.

52 Mini Paintings Challenge: Week #16

| cathmary1030

This is the week 16 painting for Jed Dorsey’s Mini Painting Challenge at Acrylic University. It’s called “Canyon Shadows” and is based on a reference photo by Jacob Jolibois, supposedly somewhere in the Grand Canyon area. 6×6 canvas panel.

Surprisingly straightforward, although when I looked at the reference and my painting in gray scale, I had to adjust my values for the cliff at the left, and the sky just above it. As well as the distant canyon walls.

AU: Simple Shapes… Week #4

| cathmary1030

A few weeks ago I signed up for an 8 week class at Acrylic University called “Simple Shapes” taught by Dianna Shyne. I wasn’t overly interested in painting the still lifes for the first 3 weeks, despite watching the videos and downloading the reference photos, but I did want to try painting the red onion.

This was on 6×6 acrylic paper (SoHo brand). The first time, I put too many of the colors Dianna used, and the result didn’t look much like an onion! (Hers did, mine didn’t.) So the next day I painted over what I had before, and tried again. I think the second attempt is much improved. I also used smaller brushes, especially for the onion roots.

Cherry Tree… After Dianna Shyne

| cathmary1030

Last week, the instructor Dianna Shyne led a workshop on the “Colors of Spring”, which included her painting four small studies of flowering trees and spring flowers. I was struck most by her field of daffodils, and this flowering tree. (I’m guessing it’s a cherry tree.) I did my own version of the reference photo, and here is my result. (I took a photo at a distance, because in some ways, the painting looks better from afar.) 8×10 stretched canvas.

Colors used: Titanium White, Quinacridone Magenta (PR122), Naphthol Red (PR112), Cad-Free Yellow Medium, Ultramarine Blue and Raw Umber. I toned the canvas a few months ago with Raw Umber and Titanium White.

Field of Daffodils… After Dianna Shyne

| cathmary1030

One of the perks of Acrylic University membership is weekly classes/workshops livestreamed on YouTube. Last Friday, the instructor Dianna Shyne led a workshop on the “Colors of Spring”, which included her painting four small studies of flowering trees and spring flowers. One was of a field of daffodils, and since daffs are my favorite flower, I tried my own version of the reference photo she used.

This was done on an 8×10 stretched canvas, and the yellow used is (mostly) Liquitex Cad-Free Yellow Light (Lemon), with some Cad-Free Yellow Medium in the foreground. All the various shades of green were mixed from Cad-Free Yellow Light and Mars Black.