EASTER BUNNY

 

In class I started by showing the skeleton of a rabbit, discussing how it is different or same as other animals, and comparing it to the human body. Notice these things about a rabbit's body:

1. The eye sockets are huge and nearly at the top of the head. The upper part of the socket protrudes.

2. The nose bone on the skull is quite long.

3. The forelegs bones are similar to our arms, and they travel on their feet, unlike dogs and cats, who travel on their toes.

4. Hind feet are quite long. Notice how they support the body at rest, and the curve of the springy hind legs.

5. the spine is curved in one direction, unlike the human spine and that of horses and some other animals. 

This week I'm working on this cute little guy, just in time for Easter. I am emphasizing ways to make an animal look furry and alive.

Below is the sketch, taken from a photo I found on Unsplash.

Below is shown the first two or three steps. First, wet the entire body, but not the face or ears yet. I used raw sienna, burnt sienna, and French ultramarine blue, but you can use the colors you like. 

I wet the entire body. When I want the illusion of soft furry edges, I WET to the edge, but I don't paint to the edge, but let the paint travel and create a softer edge. I laid down an overall color of raw sienna, with burnt sienna in some darker areas and French ultramarine in shadow areas. While it was still shiny wet (not puddly, just shiny) I added some kosher salt and some popcorn salt. I let that dry on its own so the salt can react. 

While waiting for the body to dry, I painted pink inside the ears and around the outside lilning of the eye.  I also put in the pink in the nose. After the pink is painted and dried, I painted the iris blue. This part of the eye is very round and leaves very little white visible. Then I darkened the pupil, also very round, and more visible at the top of the eye than at the bottom. This part should dry rather quickly.

Then I painted the face and outer ears with the same colors as the body, this time salting only with popcorn salt.

TIP: If your paint dries before you can salt it, drop water droplets onto paint that has lost its shine. That will give tiny blossoms similar to salting. Also, don't throw gobs of salt on this. You don't want it to be like sandpaper.

Close up of eye and start of ears below.

Begin to make the effect of fur around the face. To do this, put a little darker paint underneath the chin,

then, with a small pointed brush, pull some of the dark into the dry face to make it look like fur.

This is done under the chin, on the side of the face, and in the right ear.

Gradually add some darks to the ears in areas where you see dark. There is also a ridge above the eye and below the ear that is dark. This is where the skull around the eye protrudes.

Back to the bunny body. Wash over the body with some water on a large brush. This serves to even out

some of those salt marks and make them look more like natural fur. Start to paint the dark shadows you see underneath the rabbit, around his hind leg, and on his back. Play with the color until it is what you want. 

Will finish this next week.

yupo example

 Last post I referred to previous posts for examples and instructions on using fluid acrylics on yupo with watercolors. I am just posting a step by step example. This is sort of the kindergarten version of the process, extremely simplified to its basics.

1. Beginning with your background of poured fluid acrylics, draw on your pattern. This background should be of a medium value overall. You can draw it on with pencil or colored watercolor pencils. Also, If you use Saral or another graphite transfer paper, you might consider a colored transfer paper to trace your picture/pattern. It may show up better on your color than gray.

2. Using a brush or tool dipped in 91% alcohol, rub off anything that will be white or very pale in value. In the picture below, you can see that I have rubbed off all the whites in the flowers. Now I have 2 values, white and a medium value.

Pattern with some of the whites removed.

TOOLS TO RUB OFF THE WHITES: bamboo sticks or skewers for thin lines and small detail; bristle brushes, small, like those used as scrub brushes; cotton swabs; tissue; cotton balls, and more. Do NOT use your good watercolor brushes in the alcohol.

Pattern with all of the whites removed. Note that the alcohol can also remove some of the pencil lines.

Begin to add your darker values, as in the leaves. You do this with watercolor, slightly diluted from the tube instead of dried paint on your palette. You CAN use watercolor pencil for finer detail. Some enjoy inking with pen. Some like to use more fluid acrylic on spots that just won't take color any more. The advantage of using watercolor is that you can wash it off with a damp brush and blot it if you don't like it.

Then you can add in some pale color, such as the pink on the far right lily.

ANOTHER YUPO PROJECT

 PLEASE REVIEW THESE BLOGS ON THIS YUPO PROCESS:

5-22-2018 

5-31-2018

Those will give a more detailed account of pouring fluid acrylic paint onto yupo and then wiping off the whites with alcohol. 

I handed everyone a small square of yupo that had fluid acrylic poured over it and dried. They could choose to do a butterfly, flower, or their own pattern.

After drawing on the pattern remove all whites.

Then paint in the darkest darks. You can adjust colors. YOu can also use colored watercolor pencils for fine areas.

A finished yupo should have a sealer over it to protect it from moisture.

THE BOAT ON MASA PAPER

MASA PAPER is an inexpensive, machine made, Japanese "rice" paper that is interesting to work with. You can see my other blogs on masa paper projects for more information, but basically it is a thin, soft, acid free paper made of sulphite pulp. It is often used in printing processes.  

I always begin by making a small X in one corner with pen on the wrong (smooth) side, so that, after getting it wet, I'll be able to tell which is the right side.

CHOOSE: You can either draw your pattern on before you wrinkle the paper or afterward. The advantage of the first is that it is easier to draw on smooth paper. The advantage of the second is that you can look at the underpainting and decide where to put parts of your drawing. You can also choose to use MICRON or ULTRAFINE SHARPIE to outline your pattern if you like the pen and wash style.

Then I wad up the paper into a ball, just as if you were going to wad up trash. Then I soak it a bit in water, just long enough to get the entire thing wet.

I put the wet paper on an absorbant surface, like a puppy training pad or paper towels, and appy a soft underpainting. My object is to have an interesting color flow no edges, not too dark. It always dries lighter because of the large amount of water in the paint. 

I like having no lines on the paper to tell me where to put color when I first start out. I really like the unexpected colors that can happen if you don't over plan. You can leave whites where you really need them. 

You can't use masking fluid, but you can do a small amount of lifting. You want to use a very soft brush on this to avoid "pilling," which occurs when you over-brush the paper.

On the painting below, I chose to ink the image first, then do an underpainting. Dry the underpainting. 

Then I brushed in blues, reds, and browns as I saw them in the reference photo. Expect some "bleeding" from one area to the other.

I used cobalt blue on the blue areas, alizarin on the reds, new gamboge with some brown in it for the yellows. On the first layer, as I did the blues, I dropped some burnt sienna in areas to give it a more aged look. 

For the second pass of color, I added some purple and burnt umber to the bottom of the boat and in aeas that were in deep shadow. I darkened the blue on the back of the boat. Added some burnt umber drybrushed on the wood around the rim. With French ultramarine, I added a dark shadow under the ropes, and deepened the dark inside the boat on the far right.

The ground is painted in with gold ochre and green apatite genuine, with a little blue toward the sky. There is dark shadow beneath the boat and to the left to keep it from appearing to float or hover over the field.

The railing is painted just as the previous picture, by wetting the rail, an inch or two at a time, and dotting with French ultramarine on the bottom, then dotting over the blue with burnt sienna (or quin

 burnt orange) to make it appear rusted. 

I painted a few houses and farm buildings on the horizon line, along wth some small trees. I need to keep those less distinct to keep them in the background. 

For the sheep, I lifted out round ovals where I wanted sheep to be, then dried it. I put black tranglular shapes for the head and ears, some little black legs.  I had to use some white gouache in a few spots.

MOUNTING 

Masa paper needs to be mounted either on another sheet of watercolor paper (this is where your cheap stuff comes in handy) or white board. Apply glue to the paper you are mounting to. (I use an acid free bookbinding glue called Yes Paste, but Aleenes or other good glues will do.)  Make sure you don't miss spots---use a broad palette knife or credit card to spread it. Situate the painting on top of it carefully. Put a piece of wax paper over it so you don't accidentally smudge paint or glue. Then gently rub the masa painting down. I like to begin in the middle and work myself to the edges to be sure there are no air pockets. I also use a breyer to rub it all flat.

I then turn it upside down on a flat board, put weights on it, and let it dry naturally so that it will be completely flat.

You can still work on it after it is mounted and DRY.

MORE BLOGS INFO ON MASA PAPER: JUNE 2016

MAR 12, 2020

MAR 18, 2020

SEP 13, 2019