first pic of study

I have partly done the first study - oil over acrylic - the blue is acrylic everything else is oil.


The idea here was to figure out a better way to render the road than I had done when blocking in color in the big painting. I think I've done that - at least it looks good from a distance. My next task will be to render the stonework in the quay, which I will do in this study. I may, actually, wind up with a smaller edition of the big painting, although I'm not sure I'm going to include the boat - at least, not the big one. What I might do is put the small sailboat that I'm leaving out of the first painting in the study because my intention is to paint that boat in my second painting, anyway.
I've got to give this one some time to dry - the other two boards aren't ready yet - so I guess I'm stuck until tomorrow. Unless, of course, I go out and buy a couple or three tubes of acrylic paint so I can keep on going. I need a tube of red and one of yellow so I can make colors - I have blue and white so I just need those and I can make any color I need.

Well, I guess I'm off to Hobby Lobby. Ta!

And the winner is ...

Liquin. I love this stuff and what it does to paint. In toning the three boards, I found the best painting experience working with Liquin. You mix your paint, you add some of the Liquin gel, and then mix some more. It doesn't change your color and it makes the paint a) go farther and b) go on like soft butter. The paint gets to be so smooth it's incredible. So, in the future, I will use Liquin to establish the underpaint unless I'm in a hurry - in which case I'll use acrylic. Actually, I like acrylic - it flows on much like the Liquin/oil paint mix. I used an extender for the acrylic that looks and works similarly to Liquin, which is probably why it flowed as well as it did while painting. I think I may try an acrylic painting at some point, but not now. Anyway, the next step is the study. Oh, and by the way - I figured out why my road looks so bad - the fact that it's blue notwithstanding. There is no perspective established in the current rendition of the road - there is no feeling of near going to far. In the picture, it's obvious, but somehow I missed that when I started to block in the color in the painting. So the study ought to look better, if for no other reason than I will establish that missing perspective right from the start.

Here's hoping.

No class Wednesday

Another skipped Wednesday. Again, not something I voted for, but it happened, nonetheless. In honor of the class I should be having, I am going to do a little experimentation as I start a couple of studies.

I am going to tone three canvas boards with a light blue underpaint; one with acrylic paint, one with oil paint with drying linseed oil as medium and one with oil paint with Liquin as medium. The idea is to see which of these will dry fast. At the same time, I want to experiment with using acrylic paint as an underpaint with oils over the top. I want to do the same study on the Liquin to see how it might feel different than the acrylic.

The studies I'm going to do are related to the road and how I'm going to eventually portray it in the painting. The third board is going to go to a study that will support my next painting, which is actually of an element in the photograph that I'm leaving out of the current painting. If all turns out well, I should be working on the next piece before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I really hope somebody looks at my wishlist on dickblick.com. Ahem. I really need a good easel.

Tomorrow is Turkey Day. Hope all is well with everyone.