ATOMIC TENNIS SHOE--POURING PAINT

This reference is a very old photo my husband took years ago. He'd placed a black light in the shoe, turned off the lights, and photgraphed it. It looked so cool, I had to paint it.

 The first picture shows the sketch I am working from with the areas of my first miskit marked out in orange.

For the first pour, I used new gamboge, permanent rose, and cobalt blue. I mixed (what I thought was) a thin mixture of each in small cups. It's important to mix the paint thoroughly. You want a fairly light wash first, and each following wash will get gradually darker. 

Then I wet my entire paper thoroughly, and holding my painting at an angle, poured yellow and let it drizzle on the paper. then I poured the permanent rose, allowing it to mix with the yellow. Last, I poured blue. I liked my result, put I think it's darker than I intended in some spots. Oh well, that's part of the fun, the unpredictability. 

There are several ways of pouring some more controlled than others. Do what works for you!!!

Below is my second map, showing where I will miskit next. Normally I would have tried to make the entire map first, with four or five values noted. But I wanted to try to teach how to use this map, and it it makes more sense for me to do it one miskit at a time. The colors do not indicate what color or value I will pour. They only indicate which areas I should cover up next.

More next time!

But please check out sites on pouring to refresh your memory and to see some amazing things artists have done with this technique. Jean Grastorf has beautiful work, but not many you-tubes. Linda Baker, Leslie Redhead, Linda Smith Latimer, and Catherine Martha Holmes are just a few that have some informative you-tubes on this subject. 

PAINTING EYES

A little knowledge helps you understand drawing and painting the eye. Here is a cutaway side view diagram of an eye. Notice how the cornea bulges. The cornea has fluid between it and the iris, which causes a lot of the shiny reflections and hilights we notice in the eye. It is especially noticeable when 

drawing the side view of the eye.

Below is a kind of gross model, but useful. See how the eyeball is placed inside the eye sockets of the skull and held in place by the muscles. 

Below is an ALMOST side view of a young child's eye. The iris is an oval shape, and you really don't see much of the white of the eye. You can see a little of the inner pink (on the left side) and the flap

of the lower eye lid is visible. Hilight is at the top of the eye.. Pupil is also almost flat oval. The lashes curl up and partly over the eyeball as they travel down the side. They begin on the outer

edge of the top rim, not closer in.  

In a true side view only the round area of the cornea would be visible, not the skin on the left side. Sometimes the tear duct will be slightly visible.

Here is how I think about drawing an eye.

The first chart shows I start with a square (kind of representing the sockets in the skull) and mark the square in quarters. This helps me make a more perfect circle and find the perfect center. I make a smaller circle in the exact center, using abut 1/3 of the space. This will be the iris. (the iris takes up approximately 1/3 or more of the space of an eye). 

The second square shows how you can make almost a 45 degree angle across the iris through the pupil. This marks the high point of the upper eye lid and the low point of the lower eye lid. (ON THE RIGHT EYE, THE DIAGONAL GOES THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION) You position the tear duct a little lower than most of the eye, and draw the lid around those points. (this is the left eye)

In the third picture I've drawn the inner thickness of the lids. In reality, depending on the angle of the eye, you would only see the upper or lower, or part, not both, but I include them in my drawing to remind me they are there. LOOK FOR HOW THEY ARE PLACED IN YOUR REFERENCE. I also drew the creases in the upper lid and lower lid. 

In drawing #4 Ive added lashes (attached to the outer thickness of the lid). Lower lashes should be barely visible. Lashes can be drawn in small cluster, and go in different directions. Just pay attention to your model or reference. In an eye that is facing forward, they are not as noticeable. 

For the eyebrow, start at the inner corner above the tear duct and work up to the arch. In general, if you draw a line from the edge of the nose through the pupil, you will find the high point of the arch.

(yellow line)

When the eye is completely drawn, notice that the pupil looks higher up. That is because the upper lid covers more of the eye than the lower one.  If your eyelid does not cover the iris, and the iris appears as a perfect circle, the eye looks scared or surprised.

PAINTING EYES

Remember that eyes should look wet and shiny. And these are suggestions, not the final word in how to paint an eye. 

1. Start with a drawing as above. Paint the skin around the eyes. 

2. Paint a little pink on the tear duct, corners of the eyes, and the outer upper lid. 

Shade the white (sclera) of the eye with cobalt on the sides and underneath the upper lid.

3. Paint the creases by applying paint in the crease and softening the edge over the lid. Let that dry.

Do the same for the lower lid crease. Put a drop of masking fluid in the upper part of the eye above and into the pupil. (Be sure to look at your model to see the placement) Paint some quin gold

into the iris and dry. I also painted a faint wash of blue on the left side where the nose would shadow it.

4. For a brown eye I mixed quin burnt orange with blue and painted in the color. While the paint was wet, I lifted an arch of light with a thirsty brush. I added a few more pinks in the tear duct and outer edges. For the brow, put in a light brown wash just to show general shape. 

5. Strengthen the cobalt shadow underneath the upper lid. Shade the skin above the eyelid, applying paint to the crease again, but this time pulling the paint ABOVE the crease to account for the curve and shadow in that area. Add some dark browns around the outside of the iris and painted in the pupil. When dry remove the miskit in the hilight.

6. For the lashes, with a very thin brush put in some tiny lashes on the bottom, giving them some curve....don't apply in straight lines. the lashes begin at the outer edges of the rim on the lids. 

For the brow, use several shades of brown and burnt sienna. With tiny stroke put in the lash hairs, follwoing the direction of the brow. Soften the bottom of the brow with some lifting. 

This is an example of a green eye. All the same steps were followed, just color changed.  In this, I started with some flecks of quin gold first. When dry, I added some cobalt blue and dropped in quin gold. The outer edge of the iris is not painted with black, but with darker blue.

FINISHING THE ZEBRA

I am posting student work from this project because it shows how different we all paint but it still looks great.


THE EYE:

Miskit off a small hilight in the eye. When it is dry, paint the eye a dark blue, lifting a little paint from
the center to make it slightly lighter in the center. Add some purple in the outer edges of the eye to make it a little darker. This should have the effect of making the eye appear rounded. Dry it. If you need to darken it a little, do it after it is dry. Then remove the hilight.

THE MUZZLE:

Wet the muzzle, and apply blue paint, then drop in reds and then yellows where you want it a little lighter. While the paint is wet, use a thirsty brush to lift out the half-circle around the nostril where it should be lighter. Also, while wet, lift a bit from the upper lip. When it dries, darken the upper inside of the nostril. Then darken the line of the mouth between the lips, softening the bottom edge.

THE MANE:

1. Paint in the thin stripes of the main, using two colors in the stripes. They should be darker at the edge of the neck where the mane changes direction.
2. WET the tip of the mane from the front down the neck. Drop in wet blues and reds to create the dark fringe at the top of the mane.
3. After that is dry, use a stiff brush to lift and soften the stripes, working from the base of the neck to the brush on the mane.
4. You can use a fan brush to paint in thin lines to indicate more mane.

TEN COMMANDMENTS OF WATER COLOR

I've been asked to post these in my blog.  here they are, the ten commandments of watercolor:

THOU SHALT….

1.              Leave white

This is the sparkle in your painting!

2.            Paint only on shiny wet or dry paper

Avoids muddy, dull color; avoids blossoms; avoids bleeding

3.            Plan and mix up enough color before you paint

So your paint will not dry before you can add more

4.            Use good quality supplies

5.            Use the right brush for the job

Too small leaves streaking; too large loses control

THOU SHALT NOT….

6.            Use too MUCH or TOO LITTLE water for the job

7.            Outline objects or make long lines of same color (you need to break up color-3 inch rule; outlining dries before you can blend)

8.            Focus on details first

It makes it hard to incorporate background into the painting. Work around entire painting

9.            Depend only on color to produce a good painting Remember to use the elements and principles of design, especially value

10.        Compare yourself to others.

(“Do not let a comparing spirit rob you of your creative spirit.

COLORFUL ZEBRA

There are a few things in this exercise that will help you to paint like a water colorist.
It emphasises the following:
1. Laying in a 3-color graded wash.
2. blending color wet into wet, and watching the new colors created
3. Leaving white without masking it out
4. Not worrying about "local" color in order to create a fun painting
5. Creating beautiful darks and light with just three colors
6. Lifting paint (at the end) to create soft, brushy mane

Draw your favorite picture of a zebra, or other animal with interesting patterns. 

For the background, choose three primary colors. I chose quin magenta, hansa yellow,

and pthalo blue. I wet the paper with a large brush, and applied a graded wash, left to

right, with magenta, yellow, and blue. I left some white patches, especially near the eye,

by painting the wash close to, but not in those areas. That created a soft, disappearing

edge in those areas. I spattered clear water onto some of the drying areas for blossoms.

After the initial wash was dry, I began the stripes. Using the same three colors that I used in the background, I wet a stripe, then applied color, letting them blend into each other. The trick is to never let all three colors blend together at once, trying to keep the colors pure. For example, I might start with magenta, change to yellow about an inch later, then change to blue, then back to yellow, alternating colors. You can see that better in the close-up below. Try not to make your intervals too even or predictable.

You can make stripes with just two colors if you want to.

One trick is to put down one color, then, starting away from the first color, put down the second color and let it run back into the first. That way you have a tip of pure color to add to the next one.

FINISHING THE MANE, EYES, MUZZLE, AND DETAILS NEXT WEEK.

Three color painting

This post will look weird bc it is from my phone.

The first photo of the fruit is done in 3colors, working left to right or top to bottom. Red, yellow, and blue were put in wet in wet to shade each item, each done in a different color order. 

The other of the beach pail is the finished product of the 2color painting. 

two color painting exercise

PAINTING IN TWO COLORS

This is a 2-part lesson in learning to think out of the box when it comes to color.

Be sure to look at some of Carol Carter’s amazing paintings on her web site. Notice 4 things: 1) How her backgrounds move from warm to cooler either top to bottom or side to side. 2) How her colors are clean “out of the tube” colors. 3) How she may place color from the cool side of the background into the warm side when she’s doing the foreground. 4) How she uses “back runs” or “blossoms”. 5) How she incorporates “surprise” colors. She doesn’t pay as much attention to “local” color as she does colors that create a mood.

Exercise #1

Choose one of these two sketches or draw your own. I just want some simple, easy to shade shapes, that connect in some way.

Choose TWO colors, a warm and a cool, that you think will work well together to create a mood that you like. These do not have to be complementary colors. Do some color samples to see what you might like to try. Maybe go for something unusual.

Working either top to bottom or left to right, wash the background with dark cool, gradually lightening it, and then gradually add your warm color until by the bottom of the picture (or right) you have pure warm color. (I did the beach scene with aqua and yellow ochre.) You can miskit off areas if it makes you more comfortable. You do not have to have a perfect half/and/half background. But it’s nice if some of your objects are completely inside one color, and some are completely inside the other color. (EX: The seashells are completely inside the ochre color. The pail is mostly in the aqua.)

As you “watch your paint dry,” try spattering in some clean water drops to create blossoms. In my example you can see the blossoms in the aqua and in the sand.

 Let this dry completely. Remove any miskit if you used it.

Start shading your figures in the color that is opposite from what its background is. If the shells have an ochre background, I will shade them with the aqua. If the pail has a blue background, I will shade it with the ochre, adding some blue in areas if I need it.

As you paint, leave patches or pure white so that you can add a “surprise” color later.

NEXT TIME: Trying the same shapes, only using 3 colors to shade.