Today I got the email that Week 6’s cloud lesson is available… so I hustled to paint Week 4’s painting! So here is Week 4’s effort for Dianna Shyne’s “Cloud Challenge” at Acrylic University. The reference photo was for the setting sun’s rays breaking through the clouds. (I wish I could share, for comparison sake, but it’s a copyrighted photo by the artist.)
I’m getting behind on the cloud paintings, and remembering to post them! Here, for Week 3 of Dianna Shyne’s “Cloud Challenge” at Acrylic University, is my effort. The reference photo for this class was a sunset over a body of water.
This is the second of 3 miniature paintings from the Acrylics 101 course at Acrylics University. (See also this post.) I used a medium neutral gray as the toning color, and a red soft pastel to draw out the design.
As with the work done in this earlier post, I did another follow-along/demo portrait from Hashim Akib’s book Painting Portraits in Acrylic. I bought some student-grade acrylics (Amsterdam brand) since this is merely practice. The background was toned in a Quinacridone Rose (PV 19) as directed, but I drew out the figure using willow charcoal. As for the skin colors, again I followed along mostly: the primary skin colors are burnt sienna, orange (PO 73) and yellow ochre (PY 42).
I painted the folds on the scarf using a palette knife; I did not go back and add touches of a pinkish yellow white representing sparkles reflecting the light on the scarf. Maybe later.
Her lips should be pinker and darker; the top of the scarf away from her head should be darker and bluer.
This is the first human figure I’ve painted! Yesterday, I said this was a 9×12 — no, it’s actually 11×14, which is the biggest canvas I’ve painted on so far.
I’m actually fairly pleased with this. And I’m including a work-in-progress photo, because I changed a lot of the colors.
This work, Girl in a White Dress, is yet another online tutorial on the PaintCoach Patreon page. It’s 9×12, toned in pale umber, and drawn out in willow charcoal.
Right now, I’m mapping out the big shapes of the water, with the colors to be adjusted later.
BetterLateThanNeverArt 