Some of My Favourite Acrylic Supplies

Well you knew this post was coming ;) Again, I only use high quality professional materials as in the long run, you save money by buying higher quality products as you use less of them.  It is also so frustrating using student quality as they just do not perform well and are much less luminous.

If you are interested in taking one of my acrylic classes, please register in the at online registration or call (604) 931-2008 for more information.  This will be my last acrylic class before summer and registrations ends in the next day or so.

Paints

I love Golden's Fluid Acrylics as the pigment load is very high so a little goes a long, long, long way.  As with all mediums, I like to use a more limited palette and mix the colors that I want.  For a  very versatile color mixing palette, I use the colors below as my basic color mixing palette as I can create a huge range of colors from just the three primaries.

Basic Color Mixing Palette - Golden Fluid Acrylics

• Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
• Quinacridone Magenta (can mix a fuller range of purples) or Quinacridone Red
• Hansa Yellow Medium
• Titanium white

Some of my Favourite Colors - Golden Fluid Acrylics

• Turquois (Phthalo)
• Quinacridone / Nickel Azo Gold 
• Alizarin Crimson
• Iridescent Colors
• Interference Colors

Brushes 

I don't use brushes much when I use acrylics as I prefer to use spatulas, old credit cards, etc. but when I need to use a brush any old bristle brush or soft synthetic brush will do depending on the thickness of the paint.

Substrates (surfaces to work on) 

I prefer just plain old MDF coated with Gesso but I also like regular cotton canvas, watercolor paper, yupo paper and bristol board.

Grounds

For surface preparation I love Liquitex Gesso. It is more fluid than other gessos I have tried and has great coverage so you need less coats.

Molding paste is great for adding texture at the beginning of a painting as well.  It is an absorbent surface so you can do cool liquid techniques as well as more traditional acrylic techniques.

Mediums

So it seems I like shiny things more than I realized.  So I prefer polymer gloss mediums and gels (mainly soft gel but also like the heavy gel gloss as well) for most of my painting.  I do use the matte medium at times when I want to veil and areas or add a bit of texture for the paint to adhere to.

Some of My Favorite Watercolor Supplies

 These are some of my favorite watercolor supplies. For info about each and links on where to buy them, visit my Fine Art Blog.

Oil Study - Mouth of David Beginner Oil Classes Starting March 23, 2015 at Port Moody Art Centre

Mouth of David Cast Oil Study

This is a little study I did when I first started painting in oil.  It is a closed graiselle, which is a painting completed in black and white only.

I did not have the actual cast at the time so I had to work from a photo.  Since then I purchased the cast and have drawn it but I think it is time to try my hand at the cast from life.

After transferring the outline sketch to my canvas I mixed a string of gray scale values using Raw Umber, Ivory Black and varying amounts of Titanium white to get a range of 7 values.  My value 1 is straight titanium white and my value 7 is a 2:1 mix of Ivory Black and Raw Umber.  I really enjoyed this exercise and using a simple subject really allowed me to focus on modelling the form without getting caught up in the details.

The next beginner class starts March 23, please visit http://www.stateofartportraits.com/art-workshops-lessons.htm for more info and register early as spots are limited and classes are cancelled if  the minimum registration is not filled.  

Watercolor for the Absolute Beginner Class...Only 1 Spot Left!

Watercolor Magnolia - Work in Progress

For the final project in my last Watercolor Painting for the Absolute Beginner we painted similar flowers and I enjoyed painting them so much, I thought I would paint more flowers just for fun.

This is a little painting I have been working on.  I LOVE magnolias and they are blooming everywhere I look right now!

There are still a few more layers to go but things are starting to take shape and I am really liking the color, so unlike me to paint such chromatic paintings ;)

My next Watercolor Painting for the Absolute Beginner starts March 23, 2015, only one spot left!

Please visit http://register.asapconnected.com/EventDetail.aspx?pk=343497 to register or call (604) 931-2008 for more information.

Non-Toxic Oil Painting Class at Port Moody Art Centre - Oil Painting of Flower ProgressFirst Color Pass

Oil Painting Flower - First Color Pass

This is an update on the flower we have been working on during my oil painting class at Port Moody Art Center.

We are using the indirect method of painting, for the first two stages of process, see my previous post http://blog.stateofartportraits.com/2015/03/non-toxic-oil-painting-class-progress.html

The color image is the first pass of color and I will do one more pass and then perhaps minor adjustments for a total of 3 color “layers” although the final layer would be just small areas that need adjustments.  

For the color stage, we start with the basic mixtures of color strings and then adjust as needed to shift the hue (the local color), value (lights and darks) and chroma (the intensity of the color).

The next beginner class starts March 23, please visit http://www.stateofartportraits.com/art-workshops-lessons.htm for more info and register early as spots are limited and classes are cancelled if  the minimum registration is not filled. 

New Rosemary Brushes & Chocolate...What More Could A Girl Want?

Rosemary & Co Brushes

The only thing better than creating art is receiving new art supplies in the mail...and when they through in some chocolate with the order, what could be better! 

This is my second order from RoseMary & Co and I am sure it will not be my last.  Last time I ordered the Ivory Long Flat brushes and LOVE them for plein air painting.

This time I ordered several rounds and filberts from the Series 99 Pure Sable which I never thought I would do but I broke down and bought them as once the supply is gone, they will not be replaced.  These brushes I plan to use for indirect painting in the studio and can hardly to try them out!  Rosemary & Co apparently bought a huge supply of sable many years ago that was ethically sourced and this option is no longer available so I thought if I am every going to try sable brushes, this is it.

I also purchased some of the Eclipse Filberts for indirect painting  & the Series 2045 Chungking Filberts for plein air painting as well.  The Chungking brushes are stiffer than the Ivory and while for me, I prefer the Ivory a friend and long time artist loves the Chungking so it is a matter of what you are used to I guess. I think they will be good for laying down larger areas with thicker paint so I will bring them along next time I go plein air painting....which will not be soon enough!

Non-Toxic Oil Painting Class at Port Moody Art Centre Progress - Oil Painting of Flower

Open Grisaille & Closed Grisaille Demo

This class is flying by, only one session left!  We are working on a flower painting and will be starting the color layer this week, yay!

We started with a open grisaille or underpainting using only Burnt Umber to work out the value range.  This stage is fun as it goes so quickly and is done in one session so you really feel like you have accomplished a lot.

The second stage is the closed grisaille using paint mixed in even values of neutral gray from dark to light, or values 1 to 10.  Even though we paint over top of the Burnt Umber layer, the first layer affects the second just as the second layer will affect the third or color layer.

So this week we start the color layers, which can be tricky.  The great thing about this method is that at each stage of the process we are able to better judge our subject, the value range, painting handling etc so that by the time we get to the color layer, we can just focus mainly on color which take a lot of the pressure off!

The next beginner class starts March 23, please visit http://www.stateofartportraits.com/art-workshops-lessons.htm for more info and register by March 16 as spots are limited and classes are cancelled if  the minimum registration is not filled.

Acrylic Abstraction for Beginners ClassStarts Tuesday, March 31, 2015 from 10-12pm at PMAC

Trickle Down - Acrylic 9x11"
$75 Matted & Framed

 This class will be held on Tuesdays from 10-12pm starting March 31, 2015 for 8 weeks at the Port Moody Art Centre.

Explore fun and innovative approaches to painting using acrylic paints and mediums. We will create several paintings using a variety of surfaces and different techniques to create interesting effects using acrylic washes, glazes, texture and layering. This class will be a fun exploration for beginners and more experienced students.

All supplies are professional quality and are included in the cost of the class.

If you are intereseted you can register at http://register.asapconnected.com/EventDetail.aspx?pk=343420   Please register early as if minimum class size is not reached, registration is shut down roughly one week prior to class start date. Registration fee is waived for members.