This was painted on a 12×12 canvas panel, and is based on a paint-along work being done by Dianna Shyne in Acrylic University for a series of holiday / winter scenes this month.
This was fun because I did it on my own using the reference photo, not a photo of her painting, and not watching the video (which is not yet available).
This was painted on a 12×12 canvas panel, and is based on a paint-along work done by Dianna Shyne in Acrylic University for a winter challenge back in December 2023 (before I had joined AU as a member).
I started out following her, but then I gave up and focused just on the reference photo for guidance.
My husband thought they were Christmas lights until I had completed the tags. (That said, I’m now working on a piece that IS of Christmas lights, part of this year’s winter challenge. Hopefully, I’ll have it done before Dianna’s paint-along this Friday.)
So, we know that mixing two complementary colors will get us a brown or black if we do it deliberately, and “mud” if we don’t. 🙂 You can see a Burnt Sienna (“orange”) and Ultramarine Blue chromatic black that I used here.
I mixed opaque Red Iron Oxide (PR 101) with both Ultramarine Blue (PB 29) and Anthraquinone Blue (PB 60). Both mixed to a nice dark black, but as I continued to add more white to that black, the PR 101 – PB 60 mix created a bluer gray.
I also mixed Dioxazine Purple (PV 23) with Green Gold (PY 129) and got a dark brown rather than a black.
Finally I mixed Quinacridone Magenta (PR 122) with Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG 36) and then with Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG 7). The chromatic black for both of these mixtures was far and away the deepest black (much more evident than in the photos). What was striking to me was how blue the tinted version of the “black” mix of PR 122 and PG 7. (See bottom photo.)
I have a couple of shades of red and a couple of shades of yellow, so wanted to see how a mixed orange would play out, and then how it would tint. Turns out my Naphthol Crimson (PR 170) is quite close to my current favorite Anthraquinone Red (PR 177). And the light yellow is more of a lemon (cool) color, while the medium yellow is considerably warmer.
I recently bought some Primary Red (PV 19) which turns out to be nearly the same as my Naphthol Crimson (PR 170) — definitely a cool (transparent) red. And I picked up a tube of Transparent Red Oxide (PR 101) and the color is not significantly different from the regular (opaque) Red Oxide (also PR 101) which I already had.
The warm yellow seemed to make more of a difference than the warm red (at bottom — pyrrole red PR 254) as far as the orange was concerned. Meaning, I don’t see much of a difference between the medium cad-free yellow mixed with PR 254, as compared to the same yellow mixed with PR 170.
As with my sunflower painting posted the other days, this is on a 6×6 “Claybord” panel with the undertone painting done in metallic paint — this time silver. I still don’t care for the slippery metallic paint and/or the Claybord.
The beach birds are based on one of the 7 challenges demonstrated at the 2024 Summer “Challenge” at Acrylic University. For drawing out the scene the birds and key lines of the waves), I used a Posca paint pen (uni® POSCA® PC-5M, Earthtone Water-Based Paint Markers (8 Pack)) in a navy blue color that I bought at Michael’s.
Painting the scene, I used just 4 colors: Ultramarine Blue, Anthraquinone Blue, Payne’s Gray and White.
In honor of that, here are 11 Fascinating Poinsettia Facts You Should Know
Earlier this year, I painted a red poinsettia based on a painting by Ali Kay. Today I painted a white and pink one (always my favorite live poinsettias) on an 8×10 canvas based on an image by Cindy from Pixabay.
This bird was painted on a 11×14 canvas which I toned with Blick Studio neutral gray — but I should have added at least one layer of gesso. (Cheap “pre-gessoed” canvases are less and less appealing to me.)
This is from another class on the Acrylic University website, originally shown to the public on YouTube for a brief period of time back in January 2022. The focus of the week’s classes was “Radiant Landscapes” and this class was about going big and bold with your brushstrokes to paint a chickadee.
There were 4 ways suggested to “go bold”: 1) limit yourself to 30 minutes painting (and that’s it, no going back later); 2) Limit yourself to a certain number of brushstrokes — say, 50, or 75; 3) use a large brush throughout; 4) paint with your non-dominant hand
I went with a larger brush than I typically use, and I had a lot of fun with this painting. It makes me happy to look at.
This painting is on a 6×6 “Claybord” panel with the undertone painting done in gold metallic paint that’s roughly the color of yellow ochre. (Like a rank novice, I wasted decent money on metallic paints and have never figured out a use for them — same with the iridescent paint I bought last year. Anyway, I recently read about an artist named Michele Usibelli who uses gold metallic paint as her undertone in a number of her paintings — bingo! I’m going to try that myself.
Turns out either the metallic paint or the Claybord (or both!) had a slippery sensation that was hard to work with. (But that could be me…)
In any case, these sunflowers come from one of the 7 paintings demonstrated at the 2024 Summer “Challenge” at Acrylic University. Which I didn’t participate in at the time, but am trying my hand at now that I have some more time.
This is the week 32 painting for Jed Dorsey’s Mini Painting Challenge at Acrylic University. It’s called “Venice Boats” and is based on a reference photo by y-heng. 6×6 canvas panel, toned in a medium gray.
Dorsey used a sky blue acrylic paint marker and a black one at first to do the outlines. I used a small brush with acrylic paint since my markers dry out so fast.
It felt good to paint again.
BetterLateThanNeverArt 