Painting Projects 2019

Simple step by steps / Exciting techniques / Expert advice

painting

PROJECTS YO U R

FRE E E 32- PAGS S KI LL GUIDE

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INSPIRING WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR ART Acrylic, watercolour, oil, pastel and print challenges to try

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pastel

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Out of the blue

KEVIN SCULLY creates a lively morning landscape in pastel Kevin’s materials

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•Pastels

A selection of soft, round pastels from a variety of manufacturers: Jackson’s; Unison; Schmincke; Sennelier; Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth soft, square pastels •Paper

Strathmore 500 series charcoal paper, blue-grey •Scalpel •Soft cloth

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The outline of the hills and buildings was drawn in with a soft turquoise pastel. As it is square, a fine line can be created using the edge. The buildings were positioned low in the composition to emphasise topography. Areas were blocked in using blues, greens and creams.

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Once tonal values were established, colours were introduced. I used the pastels’ sides and tips to add variation in the landscape and sky.

Apart from the white buildings and other small areas, the sky was to be the highest key. Touches of lilac and mauve gave relief to the blue hills.

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I added stronger colour, gently rubbed into the paper and overlaid with linear pastel marks, particularly in the foreground hillside. This added weight and texture to the area closest to us, which is the focus. The darker greens and purples strengthen this illusion of distance.

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Using a pale-blue pastel on its side, lighter colour was added to the bottom of the most distant hill. When looking at a range of hills: the top appears darker than the bottom.

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I added more detail to the buildings and foreground, where marks at different angles created movement in contrast to the static hills. To add radiance to the sky and suggest an early-

morning glow, I introduced a slightly more yellow colour. Blue was introduced into the foreground.

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The yellow sky was detracting from the early-morning haze. I dusted it off with a cloth and dragged a pale-blue over the hills to blur. A grey-brown pastel was sharpened to a point and used to add detail to buildings and poles. www.kevinscully.co.uk

Top tip

Don’t buy p ap er pad s that includ e colours you won’t u se, instead get separa te sheets and cut to size

From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 3

11 Painting Projects

in association with

11 PAINTING PROJECTS The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd. Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ Telephone: (020) 7349 3700 www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk

EDITORIAL Editor Sally Hales Art Editor Lauren Debono-Elliot Deputy Editor Rachael Funnell

CONTRIBUTORS Grahame Booth, Kevin Scully, Siân Dudley, Terence Clarke, Matt Jeanes, Sandrine Maughy, Lara Scouller ADVERTISING Advertisement Manager Nima Azarian (020) 7349 3702 nima.azarian @chelseamagazines.com Advertising Production allpointsmedia www.allpointsmedia.co.uk MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING Managing Director Paul Dobson Deputy Managing Director Steve Ross Publisher Steve Pill Chief Financial Officer Vicki Gavin Subscriptions and Marketing Manager Drew Brown Circulation Manager Daniel Webb Director of Media James Dobson 11 Painting Projects is published by the makers of Artists & Illustrators (ISSN 0269-4697), which is published every four weeks. We cannot accept responsibility for loss of, or damage to, unsolicited material. We reserve the right to refuse or suspend advertisements, and regret we cannot guarantee the bona fides of advertisers. Readers should note that statements by contributors are not always representative of the publisher’s or editor’s opinion. © The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., 2018.

All rights reserved.

Cover image From Modern Acrylic: A Contemporary Exploration of Acrylic Painting by Blakely Little, published by Walter Foster Publishing, £12.99. www.quartoknows.com/walter-foster 4 11 Painting Projects From the creators of Artists & Illustrators

Siân’s materials •Watercolour

Daler-Rowney: Lemon Yellow, New Gamboge Hue, Sap Green, Cobalt Blue, Permanent Mauve Leaf mix 1: Cobalt Blue, Sap Green, Permanent Mauve Leaf mix 2: Sap Green, Lemon Yellow, New Gamboge Hue Bract mix: New Gamboge Hue, Permanent Mauve, Cobalt Blue

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•Brushes

Da Vinci: Series 35, size 4; Pro Arte: Swordliner, medium •Paper

Bockingford: 140lb NOT (stretched) •2B pencil

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watercolour

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Paint a daffodil

Watercolour artist SIÂN DUDLEY adapts the grisaille method to create vibrant yellows

Daffodils are a delight, but present a problem to paint. Because they are yellow and bright, it is difficult to achieve the dark tones necessary to describe the trumpet shape and crinkly edges without losing freshness. I have adapted the grisaille method, using it with yellow glazes to build the shape of the flowers without muddying colour. The mix I use for stems includes purple, the complementary of yellow. By placing these colours in the image I have increased the liveliness, capturing vibrancy.

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Having drawn the design, wet the paper from the top left towards the daffodils, being careful to leave flowers and leaves dry.

Loosely drop in Cobalt Blue and water to create a background. When completely dry, use the same brush technique to add Lemon Yellow across the leaves.

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Using Lemon Yellow and a size 4 brush, lay down the first wash on the daffodils.

Take care to vary tones to build shape, leaving highlights very pale and applying paint more thickly to the darker areas.

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Using leaf mix 1, create a range of greys biased towards green. Continue to build the flowers’ shape using this mix.

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Selecting different hues from leaf mix 2, paint in some leaves, balancing the colours across the design. Remember to vary the tones to create interest. When dry, repeat using leaf mix 2, mixing the greens of the leaves and extending the colours towards the purple end of the range.

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Using leaf mix 2, add punchy darks to the gaps between leaves and stems.

Using the colours from the rich purples in this mix will take advantage of the complementary yellow-purple pairing, giving vibrancy.

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Using the bract mix, paint the papery-brown areas as a pale varigated wash. When dry, add crinkly details. Using both yellows, neat and in a mix where appropriate, use directional marks to describe the flower heads. If necessary, increase colour with thin Lemon Yellow washes, taking care not to overpaint highlights. Increase dark tones with thicker paint. Add green markings with Sap Green.

Siân’s latest book, Painting Flowers – A Creative Approach, is published by Crowood Press, £16.99. www.crowood.com; www.moortoseaarts.co.uk

Top tip

Be courage ous.

It is import ant not to undere stim ate the depth of to ne nee de d in dark are as

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watercolour

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Wet painting

The pouring British weather can be too much to bear but, for the watercolourist, it’s a subject worth exploring, says GR AHAME BOOTH

DRAWING UMBRELLAS For some reason many painters show umbrellas as pointed rather than domed. This is probably because they are pointed when folded. It is an example of painting what we think we see rather than what is actually in front of us. Most umbrellas consist of six or eight sides and if the umbrella is slightly angled it can be constructed by drawing two concentric ellipses, adding the ribs and connecting the rib ends.

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Xxxxx project In Britain we get plenty of wet days and, on such occasions, many plein-air painters will have a rest day.

This is a shame, as wet days can be exciting subjects. Or why not try a few rainy subjects from your studio?

Even if you don’t have any photographs, it isn’t too difficult to convert a dry day into a wet one.

All paintings should show the effect of light on the objects and shapes within the subject, a rainy day is no exception. Where we have the strong light and shade of a sunny day, we have instead a soft light filtered and dispersed by the cloud layer and rain.

We have no cast shadows but we will still have dramatic contrasts of light, further enhanced by the reflections from wet surfaces. The reflections will give some of the most dramatic effects and are fairly straightforward.

A smooth, shiny surface will give what we might consider to be perfect reflections, a more or less similarly sized upside-down version of what is

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With most of my paintings, I begin with an all-over wash and for a rainy day it is the perfect way to begin the process of edge softening.

Only three colours were used for this piece: Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and Winsor Red. A varied and light mix of these colours was applied freely to the top two thirds of the paper, and on the bottom third I painted strong vertical strokes to suggest the reflections on the road. When dry, I used a similar but stronger mix to suggest the buildings. These were painted in a single, varied wash with a couple of darker accents on the closer tower added after drying. I wouldn’t usually leave the vehicles and people untouched at this stage, but it makes the demo clearer.

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The trees were added using Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna. They were allowed to combine so the result is a group of trees instead of eight or nine individual trees. A few distant figures with umbrellas

above. This is not entirely true as, for example, the reflection of an open umbrella will reveal its inside and not a simple upturned version of the umbrella as we see it.

Perspective plays its part in controlling what we see and how we see it. A road, however, is never perfectly even and the undulating surface causes reflections to elongate and lose their detail.

Using strong merging vertical strokes will suggest reflections.

Colours will never be as bright on a rainy day but they don’t need to be a neutral grey. You can subdue colours with their complement. The soft, non-directional lighting will have the effect of combining shapes, reducing the number of hard edges that we would see on a sunny day. Allow objects to merge and avoid painting them with a hard edge around them.

This isolates them from the rest of the painting giving an unnatural effect. www.grahamebooth.com

STRING THEORIES It can help to stick the end of a length of string at the ‘vanishing point’ of your painting and use the taut string as a guide line.

This guide was also used to add a more substantive road surface for the final stage of this piece [pictured above].

If some of the non-reflective surface of the road is not introduced, it can end up looking like a river.

were added, concentrating on proportions rather than detail and allowing one figure to merge into another. Again, I am seeking a group of figures rather than defined individuals.

Vertical marks were pulled down to enhance reflections.

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The vehicles and their reflections were painted as a single linked wash, keeping the reflections soft edged and vertical. No strong details were placed on the vehicles, trusting in correct proportions to give a believable illusion. The tail lights and their reflections were painted with pure Winsor Red.

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The two main figures were applied, connecting them to the road with their reflections. At this point there are reflections only on the road, with little to indicate the surface. A convincing road must also be added. Some white road markings were painted with gouache, taking care that they run according to the rules of perspective.

From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 7

pastel

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Create a likeness Getting the proportions of children’s faces correct can be tricky. This step by step will help you achieve a likeness

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pastel

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The first marks are extremely important as they set the course for both the location and size of the portrait. This lovely blue-grey paper is larger than necessary; you can always crop in later as the portrait develops.

Use vine charcoal to make four light marks to indicate the top of the head, the hairline, the bottom of the chin, and the edge of the composition at the bottom. These four marks set the scale and the location of the head in the composition.

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Locate the shape of the head and lightly sketch with vine charcoal. Use straight lines to indicate angle changes. Work around the floral headband, capturing the basic shape. Then indicate the angle of the shoulders with a diagonal line.

Next work on the facial features.

Locate the eyes and state the darks of the eyebrows. Draw the shoulders and torso, relating the shapes to the head above in order to find their locations.

From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 9

pastel

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Darken the edges and tone in the shadows with vine charcoal.

This creates a visual map for the portrait as we begin to paint with pastel. Use a hake brush to lightly wisp over the drawing and release any loose charcoal in preparation for the next stage.

Using soft pastel, mass in the shadows with side strokes of umber. Start with a middle-dark value a little darker than the paper to establish the mass; we will go darker later. Next use reddish dark brown to restate some of the drawing over the vine charcoal.

These linear strokes of pastel secure the drawing more firmly, as vine charcoal tends to fade easily.

Push the darks further by using side strokes of warm sienna soft pastel.

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It’s time to establish warmer skin tones on the lighter side of the face and arms.

Use side strokes with smaller pieces of soft pastel, rather than lots of linear strokes.

Use a warm peach in the middle of the face and on the arms to transition the light and shadow area. Then use soft black pastel to strengthen the darks in the hair, eyes, and eyebrows, pushing the value to the extreme.

Use dark chocolate brown to deepen the shadows by the hair, under the chin, and at the edges of the blouse.

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Begin the background with broad multi-directional strokes, creating dynamic energy and excitement. Start with various shades of violet greys. Going back to the girl, begin massing in more colour, adding broad strokes of pink to the floral headband to indicate

roses. Use pink and mauve in the midtones of the face and arms.

Next use linear strokes of scarlet red in the inside corners of the eyes, around the nostrils, and throughout the lips. Add red accents to the ears and cheeks at the edge of the lit side of the face.

pastel

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Restate the darks with brown along the left edge of the face, the bridge of the nose, around the eye sockets, and the lips. Then add light-blue notes to the background on the left side, clarifying the edge of the head and ear. Add light pink to the roses in the hair to begin shaping the flowers. Next add more layers of blue, violet, and purple to the background. Add lush vibrant salmon on the blouse and face to give the portrait more vibrancy and glow.

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Using dark brown and black again, restate the darks in the hair and in the shadow areas of the torso and arms. Use umber browns in the midrange between the hair and face to transition the forehead. Then use both soft and hard pastels to continue developing the midrange in the darks and lights, creating more subtle gradations from dark to light. Don’t be afraid to take risks with colour, letting your intuitive side play. Experiment with some teal blue to the left of the head.

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Begin to add thicker, bolder strokes of light pink and violet in the roses of the floral headband and throughout the light side of the face. Add some bold strokes of pink in the blouse as well. Then add deep red strokes in the flowers, hair, face, and ears to give a feeling of life. Add a few dashes of orange throughout the face and arms to add visual excitement.

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After many layers of pastel strokes, it’s time to quiet the texture of the painting and fuse edges.

Use a paper towel to gently blend the background. Using a soft hake brush, carefully blend the face and arms with wisps of the brush. You can use fingers in more sensitive areas of blending.

The final stage is about moving through the darks, middles, and lights of the painting once more to refine the drawing, clarify the values, enhance colour, and adjust edges. Build up the floral headband with fresh marks again, as well as the background. Use more hard pastels in the face at this last stage to execute the smaller details around the features, focusing a lot of attention on the eyes. Place a small crisp highlight in each eye, using a sharpened white hard pastel.

Use a black hard pastel for the pupils and the eyelids to really make them stand out.

This is an edited extract from Art Studio: Faces & Features, published by Walter Foster Publishing, £12.99. www.quartoknows.com From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 11

Xxxxx project

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Express falling leaves

Artist TERENCE CL ARKE helps you to create bright, expressionistic landscapes This is an example of how you can use a simple study to create a full painting in the studio. Many plein-air artists, including Claude Monet, used this technique, particularly if they wanted to explore an image beyond realism.

This painting was started in woodland.

I put the basic structure down, using my time to create a tonal study, which I developed later. I was trying to create the feeling of falling leaves, as well as the intensity of autumn light.

By using bold colour and very free brush work, I was able to go beyond the factual into the realms of an almost expressionistic, Van Gogh-like depiction. Because I was not tied to the original tones and colours, I could use my imagination to capture and enhance the “sensation” of the season, while still using the original information from the study. www.terenceclarke.co.uk

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Terence’s materials •Support

Professional primed canvas, 50x60cm •Acrylic

For drawing: Daler-Rowney System 3 Acrylic, Prussian Blue Hue •Oil

Lukas Terzia: Vermilion, Magenta, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Phthalo Green •Brushes

Seawhite: hog-hair filberts, sizes 4, 5 and 7

Xxxxx project

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Having prepared the canvas with a softcoloured ground, I used Prussian Blue Hue acrylic to draw the image of the woods. It is almost like a watercolour study in that the washes establish the tonal areas. This generates a very vivid light effect, which I will use to guide me back in the studio.

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I used thick areas of oil paint to block in the basic light effect. All areas of the painting are being opened up to colour, including the sky, the trees and the foreground. Note how important the dark regions at the back of the composition are for suggesting depth in the scene.

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You can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs, so it is important for an expressionistic, Fauve-type painting that you put lots of paint on your palette. You need to be generous to carry the expressiveness of your painting’s brush work.

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Note here that the darker areas are still thin paint with the thickness building through the tones to the 3 lightest areas. Up close, you can see how individual marks and spots of colour are working in harmony, despite the vivid hues.

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Here you can see how the colour almost sculpts the recessional space. The shadows are also modulated with an array of brightly coloured tones to suggest they are filled with light and thus intensify the sensation of a rich autumnal scene.

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In the foreground, I let rip with some bold colour. The bold reds and contrasting greens and blues help to bring the foreground forward. The whole picture is bounced off this foreground, despite it being low on detail. Although it is outrageous, it works by being tonally in harmony with the other elements of the painting.

Top tip

For this st yl e of expre ssion is tic painting , re member to put lots of paint on your pale tte

From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 13

acr ylic

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How colours work together

Artist EVA MARIE MAGILL- OLIVER helps you explore this important aspect of painting by imitating master painters

Eva’s materials •Paper

One sheet of 140lb (300gsm2) hot-press watercolour paper or smooth mixed-media paper.

•Mechanical no 2 pencil •2.5cm painter’s tape •Acrylic

15-20 matt acrylic paints •Brushes

Two or three flat synthetic short-hair paintbrushes

I wanted to talk about Josef Albers (18881976) and Mark Rothko (1903-1970), two modern abstract art masters, who dedicated their lives to the study of colour and its function. Their careers were long and successful, and, even though both men were prolific, they focused on one certain style and series later in their careers.

Rothko was always interested in the study of colour, but only through significant evolution in his work did he start to create his well-known colour fields. These vertical large-scale paintings were composed of rectangular blocks of complementary colours that were meant to overwhelm and envelop the viewer.

In some of his work, the colours almost seem to vibrate, and, in others, he creates an optical flicker through his use of colour. I love this quote from Rothko about colour as a language of art: “[My primary interest is] only in expressing basic human emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on. And the fact that a lot of people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can

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communicate those basic human emotions.

The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. And if you, as you say, are moved only by their colour relationship, then you miss the point.”

Albers began a series in 1949 that explored chromatic interaction and was called Homage to the Square. He worked on this particular series for more than 20 years, and created each piece using basically the same format.

They consisted of three to four squares nested inside each other, yet not overlapping. He executed this by using a palette knife to apply the paint as thinly as possible onto wood panels. His colour choices were meant to evoke different moods and visual effects similar to Rothko.

This exercise focuses on Albers’ Homage to the Square series and calls for you to create your own studies. The simplicity of his compositions and repetition of format helps in focusing on colour combinations and seeing how they relate and interact.

acr ylic

PREPARE Albers created his Homage to the Square series on panel and by using a palette knife. Both these materials require some practice, and this

exercise is focused on learning about colour relationships, not about mastering certain paint tools. So I decided it was best to stick with paper and brushes.

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Cut or tear six 20x20cm pieces of your chosen paper.

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Tape off and size your paper into a 15x15cm square.

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Lightly draw three or four squares inside of your 15x15cm frame.

Use one of Albers’ designs and be sure not to overlap them.

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Albers’ paint choices were flat and matt, devoid of any shading or visual brushstrokes or texture.

So choose paint colours that you will be using directly from the tube with no mixing, blending, and so on.

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I recommend using small, short, flat brushes for this exercise. The shorter the bristles, the easier it will be to control your lines. I also prefer synthetic hair brushes, as they typically allow for easier blending and your goal here is to make each colour square uniform.

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Once all your squares are drawn, choose a colour and begin to paint a square in each one.

Alternate between them as others are drying.

You may either do this freehand or use your painter’s tape to tape them off individually.

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Experiment with colour choices for each square.

For one, stick with monochromatic colours, and for others, strongly vary your usage of colour.

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Create at least six squares so that you can begin to appreciate and see the different relationships among your colour choices in the repetition.

This is an edited extract from Paint Alchemy by Eva Marie Magill-Oliver, published by Quarry Books, an imprint of The Quarto Group, £16.99. www.quartoknows.com From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 15

Xxxxx project

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acr ylic

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Paint a still life BL AKELY LIT TLE shows you how to create a mar vellously modern still life For this still life of oranges, let’s use a bold complementary colour scheme that is vivid and full of contrast.

I painted this on a birch wood panel, but you can use canvas or canvas paper if you prefer.

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Start with a sketch from life to build the shapes and help you determine the shadows and highlights.

Top tip

Use Yellow Ochre on a birch w ood panel to cr eate an underpainti ng of the orange s

From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 17

acr ylic

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On a birch wood panel, use Yellow Ochre to create an underpainting of the oranges from the sketch.

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Using Ultramarine Blue and Payne’s Gray, mix navy blue to paint the table – this colour will make the orange look even brighter. Then add white to lighten the navy and fill in the back wall.

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acr ylic

Top tipert

filb Use a small dd a to sh bru s on n o ti c e fl re the e th f o the rinds s e g n ora

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Use a medium orange colour to work on the shapes of each orange. I used a flat paintbrush so that you can see the paint strokes, which help define the curves of the circular fruit.

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Add white to the medium orange paint, and fill the insides of the cut oranges. Take a tiny dab of light orange and mix it with white to create the lightest shade of orange you can – almost white. Use a small filbert paintbrush to add reflections on the rinds of the whole oranges and to paint the membranes in the cut oranges.

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Mix some navy with the orange and paint the shadows on the oranges and the dot where the stem once was. Use this colour to roughly block in the cast shadows the oranges make on the table as well. With a stippling technique, use the lightest orange to create texture on the orange rinds. Finally, do a wash of white on the background wall to show the light moving from one side to the other, making the right side brighter than the left side.

This is an edited extract from Modern Acrylic: A Contemporary Exploration of Acrylic Painting by Blakely Little, published by Walter Foster Publishing, ÂŁ12.99. www.quartoknows.com/ Walter-Foster From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 19

X xaxt e w x rxc p o rl o u j er c t

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Moody skies

MAT T JEANES tackles the trick y topic of controlling large washes

I am tackling a rather moody rugby match because I am going to attempt a big, dark sky in watercolour. You may think, “What’s the big deal here? It’s just a big wash.” But big washes in watercolour are fraught with difficulties. If you don’t have your paper at the right level of water or paint, the result can stain, bleed and contaminate – or just not work.

The other problem with this seemingly simple piece is the players. There are a lot of them and, while you want to give the impression of them, you don’t want to overwork. After you have conquered the difficulties of the sky, you don’t want it ruined by too much detail in the figures or foreground. www.matthewjeanes.co.uk

Matt’s materials •Colours

Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolours, pans and tubes: Payne’s Gray, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Orange, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Gold Ochre, Winsor Red Deep, Cadmium Yellow, Winsor Yellow, Permanent Sap Green, Olive Green, Green Gold, Viridian, Pthalo Blue (Red Shade), Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Turquoise, Perylene Violet, Ivory Black, Indigo, Dioxazine Purple, Winsor Blue, Alizarin

Carmine, Hookers, French Ultramarine, Cadmium Red. Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache: Titanium White •HB pencil •Paper

A2 Winsor & Newton 140lb Artists’ Water Colour Paper •Masking fluid

Winsor & Newton Colourless Masking Fluid •Brushes

Winsor & Newton Series 7 Sable Water Colour Brush.

Pro Arte Brushes at various sizes, including 1, 3, 10, 20 and a 1in flat

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watercolour 1

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I suggest drawing on cartridge paper before you transfer onto watercolour paper, but, in this case, I jump straight in as this is primarily big areas of judgement. The figures are trickier because they are in motion and standing behind each other. Plot their position lightly and attack them one by one. I use Winsor & Newton Colourless Masking Fluid to paint them out. This protects detail from large washes.

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On to the sky, which is made up of many colours. I start with a light wash of Naples Yellow at the top and paint in Indigo and Payne’s Gray. This plots some of the way forward as underpainting. While I wait for it to dry, I put bold strokes into the foreground in Green Gold. Next, I mix a light wash of Payne’s Gray/Indigo to cover the sky area above the clouds. While it’s wet and can move colour around, I drop in some Winsor Blue and Alizarin Carmine.

Dry flat to avoid bleeding.

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Now is the time to start the wash in the foreground. I try to dry areas of the

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wash with a hairdryer to create a light stain feathering to represent grass texture. I add in greens – Olive, Sap Green, Hookers and Viridian – and also Yellow Ochre and French Ultramarine. This balances the painting.

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When these washes are thoroughly dry, paint in some of the mid-distance.

Look at the colours and paint in a base wash for the trees. When this is dry, add in some masking fluid to add texture to the foliage.

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When everything is dry you can return to the mid-distance. Look for the colours in the shadows and foliage – purples, dark reds, greens, blues and browns bleeding in together can lift your painting. Delicately add them into your washes. Once dry, add some more masking fluid and repaint.

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It’s now time to move on to the players.

I like to see the washes and paint, so my focus on the people is to keep it loose, but still retain the look of a game. I remove the masking fluid with my finger and start

Top tip

painting in the Work on pa inting skin tones small group s of players at a (Naples time so that you do Yellow, Burnt n’t lose your way Sienna and Cadmium Red). I follow with the darker blues of the kit and shadows. Focus on a small group at a time so that you don’t get lost. Finally, add in the red and some more detail.

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I finish with some Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache (Titanium White) for detail in the clouds and highlights on the players, and a little white pencil for blending and I think I’ve finished... Or maybe not.

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Like most artists, I am never satisfied with my own work, but it’s still wise to give yourself some time before saying, “It’s finished.” I decide that the foliage looks too light and, armed with a wash of Winsor Blue (red shade) and Indigo, I add a full colour wash over the trees.

From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 21

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Paint a giant poppy Have a go at recreating SANDRINE MAUGY ’s flower using the wet-in-wet technique

Last winter, the far end of the garden turned wild. This was partly because I wanted to sow some wild flowers, but it was going that way anyway. I dug over the plot, but then forgot to sow the seeds so the mini-meadow was left, temporarily abandoned. In the spring, lots of little seedlings grew. I had no idea what they were, so I left them and waited for what turned out to be a dazzling and unexpected result:

around a hundred giant scarlet poppies – taller than me and as big as dinner plates – appeared. Of course, a few made their way to my painting desk straightaway. I will show you how to render the opulent brightness and taffeta-like texture of the petals using wet-in-wet technique and optical mixing, before finishing with dry brushwork. www.sandrinemaugy.co.uk

Sandrine’s materials •Watercolours

Daniel Smith: Nickel Azo Yellow, Pyrrol Scarlet, Pyrrol Red, Quinacridone Coral, Anthraquinoid Red, Permanent Violet, Phthalo Blue Red Shade and Titanium White •Brushes

Prolene Plus 007, sizes 000, 2, 4, 6 and 10 •Paper

Fabriano Artistico Extra White, 640gsm, hot pressed

22 11 Painting Projects From the creators of Artists & Illustrators

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Using the harmonic shadow method – which consists of blending three primary colours used later on in the painting – I mixed my shadow colour from Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Pyrrol Red and Nickel Azo Yellow. The density of the wash depends on the colours that follow. The shadow mix on a petal in full light is more dilute than on a petal in the shade.

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Four different reds are used on the petals, but none are mixed on the palette. The base red is Pyrrol Scarlet.

The other reds are layered in thin washes over the Scarlet, mixing by transparency – otherwise known as optical mixing – Quinacridone Coral towards the top of the frilly petals, Pyrrol Red for stronger colour and Anthraquinoid Red for the darker, cooler folds.

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I sometimes mix pigments straight onto the paper. Pure water is applied to a petal, then base Scarlet is

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8 dropped in wet-in-wet. While the wash is still wet more reds are applied, merging into the Scarlet. This makes washes more lively.

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While working wet-in-wet, wriggle the brush to render the unevenness of the texture. The pattern of the veins is parallel but, because of the papery texture, they form folds, creases and dents along the way. If the paint runs too much, the lines can be tidied up, while the wash is still wet, using the edge of a damp straight brush.

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I adapt brush size to the proportion of the area being painted. This large petal is painted with a size 10 brush. The stronger veins and highlights are reserved. This means that, although water is applied over them, when the petals are wetted for the wash, the paint is kept away from the lightest areas. This gives a soft edge to the highlights.

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Black patches are also painted wet-in-wet to make sure the transition from red to black is soft. They have an under-layer of Permanent Violet, followed by a wash of the shadow mix, concentrated into a drier black colour.

The veins are lifted while the wash is wet. The black is strengthened with a dry brush once the wash has dried.

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The stem and seedhead are painted wet-in-wet with the same mix: Phthalo Blue Red Shade and Nickel Azo Yellow.

To differentiate greens on the stem, a glaze of Nickel Azo Yellow is added later.

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It’s time for some dry brush to sharpen details with strong, undiluted colours. The petals behind the stamen remnants are blackened, and black mix is added to the black patches. Details are sharpened using Titanium White on a 000 brush. Stem hairs are painted with the same tiny brush, using the dry green mix.

From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 23

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Create a dog portrait Follow artist DAVE WHITE’s step-by-step guide to capturing the personality of man’s best friend

The objective of this project is to show how to shadow a white dog in extreme lighting. I have also chosen to open Alfie’s mouth and expose his tongue, showing that you can vary what you see in your initial photographs, using further reference photographs to help.

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First establish the direction of the light, here coming from left to right.

Mix Hooker’s Green and Ultramarine with just enough water so that the paint holds its texture but becomes transparent. Practise first on scrap paper or in the palette. Dab onto the canvas using a 2.5cm round brush.

Turn the brush to vary the effect, creating the look of natural foliage.

Make sure the paint is lighter to the left of the painting.

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Cover the canvas, including the sides, making sure the background is lighter on the left.

Allow to dry. Mix Hooker’s Green with Ultramarine and water to make a transparent mix and use a 2.5cm flat brush to glaze this over the right-hand side of the painting to darken it further. Allow to dry.

Divide the canvas into three, both horizontally and vertically, with white chalk lines, and plot the main points of the drawing on this grid: the right-hand eye is at the corner of the top right-hand third (see inset). Plot the other points in relation to this and begin to fill in the drawing, rubbing out with a rag as necessary.

I added the tongue from a second reference photograph of Alfie.

Make a purple mix from Ultramarine, Cadmium Red Deep and Titanium White for the warm shadows on the white parts of the dog. With the no 6 round, paint this quite darkly under the chin, then make it lighter for the shadows on top of the head. Blend with a scrubbing motion of the brush to create contours.

Paint a blue-white mix on the left of the left-hand ear and blend it in with your finger. Whiten the purple shadow mix and paint a line for the hair at the edge of the mouth.

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Take a no 6 round brush and mix Mars Black with a little Ultramarine. Paint the darkest parts, starting with the eyes, painting up to the inner edges of the chalk lines.

Don’t worry about accuracy, as these darkest spaces will be encased by later stages and can be adjusted.

Blend with your finger where they graduate into lighter areas, for instance at the tops of the ears.

Continue painting crevices with a slightly bluer, lighter mix.

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Paint Titanium White onto the edge of the ear while the blueblack paint is wet and blend it in.

Continue in this way, creating the markings on the right-hand ear.

Allow to dry.

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Paint Titanium White on the lit left-hand edge of the neck and blend it in with your finger. Continue painting white on the left of the muzzle and for the brightest highlights on the head, and blend.

Allow to dry.

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Mix a dark blue-black for the base colour of the nose and then paint the dark markings on the muzzle with the same mix.

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Use the no 0 rigger to paint a curved white highlight on the nose and blend with your finger.

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Paint tiny dabs of Titanium White on the right of the nose, leaving dark negative spaces for the texture.

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Paint the underside of the left-hand nostril with white marks. On the right, paint on texture in light blue mixed from Ultramarine, Titanium White and a little Mars Black.

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Dab on tiny white highlights at the top left of the nose.

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Define the top of the nose by painting the line of white hair that leads down to it with the no 6 round. Highlight the cheek on the left of the nose and blend with your finger. Paint the dark background of the tongue with Cadmium Red Deep and Mars Black.

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Lighten the mix with Titanium White and use this to paint each side of the tongue, leaving the crevice in the middle dark by painting negatively around it.

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Highlight the left-hand side of each side of the tongue with Titanium White and blend with your finger.

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Paint the collar in a similar colour to the tongue. This gives the painting a sense of harmony: without it, the tongue would be the only pink element.

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Now work on the shadowed areas of the dog. Use a 13mm round brush to paint on a dark purple mix of Ultramarine and Cadmium Red Deep under the right-hand ear. Blend with your thumb.

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Paint pale shadows on the right-hand cheek and blend.

Mix Ultramarine and Titanium White to paint a blue highlight on the black line between the left-hand ear and the face. Blend to form a shadowed area.

Define the spots on the right of the nose by painting negatively round them with the shadow mix.

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Begin to paint the texture of the dog’s hair with a no 8 rake and pure Titanium White. Edge the highlighted area to the left of the head with short brushstrokes. The rake’s long, separate hairs create the effect of dog hair.

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Change to the shadow mix and edge the shadowed area in the head crevice in the same way.

Using white, suggest hair on the white nose flash.

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Add soft fuzz on the left-hand cheek with the rake and Titanium White. At this point in the painting, I redefined the left-hand eye and added an eyelid with a no 0 rigger and Mars Black with Ultramarine. Allow the painting to dry.

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When the painting is dry, rub off the chalk with a rag. Paint the straight edge of a piece of card with Titanium White. Use this to print whiskers onto the left-hand muzzle.

Continue, bending the card to create different angles for a natural look.

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Use the no 8 rake to paint a shadow mix of Ultramarine, Mars Black and Titanium White on the left-hand muzzle to shape it, then add hairs on top with white.

Repeat on the right-hand side of the muzzle, although the shadow should be darker here.

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Mix Mars Black and Ultramarine and use the same brush to create relief and hair texture around the right-hand eye socket.

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Mix the shadow colour: Titanium White, Ultramarine and Cadmium Red Deep, and use the card again to print whiskers onto the right-hand side of the muzzle. Take a similar mix and use the no 6 round brush to dab on markings around the roots of the whiskers, then blend these in with your finger.

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Paint a mix of Titanium White and Ultramarine around the white right-hand cheek area, then create white fur on the edge of the right-hand ear.

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Paint Cadmium Red Deep on the collar, then, while this is wet, paint Titanium White on top and blend it in. Leave a dark line at the top. The collar should be lighter on the left-hand side.

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Paint the details of the clip on the right with a no 0 rigger and a purple and white mix, then add the buckle with more Titanium White. Mix Mars Black and Cadmium Red Deep to paint the rings in front and highlight them with white. Mix purple with water to make a glaze and paint the shadow of the ring.

Blend to soften.

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I thought the shape of the right-hand nostril needed altering. I redefined it with a rigger brush and a mix of Mars Black, Ultramarine and Titanium White, going round the dark space to correct its shape with negative painting.

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Alfie’s head looked too bumpy, so I lightened the shadow colour (Titanium White, Ultramarine and Cadmium Red Deep) in the crevice and blended it into the white hair with a no 8 rake.

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Alfie did not quite look his enthusiastic self, and I realised that his tongue was not big enough, and needed to hang our further. I drew on a chalk line to extend the tongue, then painted on the dark red background of Cadmium Red Deep and Mars Black using a rigger.

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I added more Titanium White to the mix and painted this over the dark background, leaving a tiny dark edge. I then blended in the lighter colour with my finger. I added more varied pink over the whole tongue.

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I glazed a dark shadow of the tongue over the dog’s neck with a mix of Ultramarine and Cadmium Red Deep. Finally, I added white highlights on the tongue where it catches the light, to make it look convincingly wet.

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As with any portrait, tiny variations can make the difference between creating a realistic image, not to mention a good likeness. At this stage, take a break from the painting, then stand back to look at it and assess what changes need to be made. Since Alfie is my dog, any details that were not a good likeness were more likely to jump out at me.

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I changed the shape of the inner side of the left eye socket, developed the pattern on the right ear and added the eyebrow whiskers.

This is an edited extract from Painting Dog Portraits in Acrylics

by Dave White, published by Search Press, £17.99. www.searchpress.com.

From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 29

Xxxxx project

Top tip K

eep c hang ing the dire c ti on o f the b raye r to ac hieve ma ximum c overage o f the image

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Painterly printmaking

Scottish printmaker L AR A SCOULLER praises the artful qualities of the lithograph and demonstrates the lesser-known technique of waterless lithography STONE LITHOGRAPHY In this process, a flat limestone or metal plate is sponged using water and rolled with an oil-based ink, which adheres to the grease-loving parts, while the non-image areas are made ink repellent. The ability to reproduce rich fluid pencil lines and brush marks has made this technique very appealing to draughtsmen and artists.

the plate using heat. A thin layer of silicone solution is then applied to create a nonprintable area. The plate is left to cure overnight and the toner is washed out using acetone, leaving a ghost-like image that can then be inked up using rubber ink and a brayer (a hard rubber roller).

The plate is then ready for printing using an etching press or by hand.

WATERLESS LITHOGRAPHY

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

This was created through a desire to develop the process using a variety of easily obtained household materials, including non-paintable silicone, acetone and printer toner. The process, in its simplest form, is based on the ability of silicone to reject printing ink. It involves drawing or painting onto an offset aluminium plate using toner or a watersoluble pencil and bonding the image to

Waterless lithography is less labour intensive, using safer and less-toxic materials than stone lithography, while maintaining many of the desirable characteristics, such as fluidity of line, washes, gradation in tone, textures and reticulation (interlacing patters of lines).

Unlike traditional stone lithography, the aluminium plate is light and can be easily transported to any location, such as a

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museum or for working en plein air.

However, until the surface has been bonded to the plate it is very fragile and needs to be transported with care.

THE PROCESS

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The initial drawing was made directly onto a prepared aluminium plate that has been degreased and treated with sodium metasilicate, this helps to bond the silicone to the plate added later in the process. It is important to dry the plate quickly as any streaks left from the sodium could impair the finished print.

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Once the plate is dry it is ready for the toner solution to be applied. You can use many easily sourced implements to apply the toner, including paintbrushes, lollipop sticks and sponges; even a toothbrush can create great splatters and

specks. The surface of the plate is easily manipulated and can be washed clean with a damp sponge if you are unhappy.

Staedtler Lumocolor creates fantastic fluid lines with subtle gradation in tone when applied with a light touch. A Sharpie pen can also be used to create solid lines or areas of colour. Rich, velvety tones are made using concentrated washes of toner, while reticulation can be achieved by adding more water to the toner. I used large paint brushes and applied a concentrated mix of the toner solution to the plate to create the velvety black areas.

After it had air dried, I worked back into the plate using a lollipop stick to pick out subtle details on the lobster shell.

A soluble pencil was used with a wash of water to create the linear antenna shape.

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Once happy with the results, a heat gun is applied to bond the image to the plate, which will become glossy when fixed. At this point there is the opportunity to add to the image if desired, but be sure you heat the plate again if you do.

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A solution of non-paintable silicone and white spirit is mixed to the consistency of runny honey and is spread onto the plate using a tissue, the aim is to cover the whole plate creating a thin film of silicone. Once you are happy that the plate has been evenly covered, buff the surface using a firm sponge wrapped in tissue. The plate should be left overnight to cure in a well-ventilated room. It is important when working with solvents and chemicals to keep the room well ventilated, and wear gloves and protective eyewear.

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The plate is now ready to be washed out using a tissue and acetone. It is important to keep the tissue well soiled as any abrasive material may affect the delicate surface of the plate. Allow the acetone to do all the work. A ghost image will appear and won’t be fully visible until the plate is inked up.

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Use a rubber-based ink, such as Van Son Holland. Drag and scrape the ink to create a bead at the top of your workstation unit. Place a sub-plate under the printing plate, which has been coated with silicone to reject the ink from the brayer when it goes over the edge of the plate. Once you have inked up the brayer on your glass plate, roll it on a corner of the silicone plate to test if it rejects the ink. If it does reject the ink then you are ready to ink up the plate. It is a good idea to keep changing the direction of the brayer to achieve maximum coverage of

3 the image, using a snapping action to clean off any unwanted ink on the plate.

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With the plate inked, we are ready to print. Smooth paper will produce the best result with this method, such as Zerkal and Fabriano. It is always a good idea to make a couple of test prints onto newsprint first to gauge how much ink and pressure you should apply. The application of waterless lithography has allowed me to retain an expressive, painterly feel in my work. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to develop their printmaking skills. www.larascouller.com From the creators of Artists & Illustrators 11 Painting Projects 31