Category: Tips and Techniques

We had a discussion recently in art class about the concept of blocking in. This concept was a difficult one for some to grasp. In its simplest form, blocking in means to see the main large shapes in your painting, and quickly paint these without much detail. It’s a great way to check that your overall composition is a good one. Too often the little details can detract from seeing the big picture well. In acrylic it’s easy to do the blocking in quickly, since it dries fast and can be painted over with details as desired. Oil painters sometimes greatly thin the first layer of paint when blocking in. With water mixable oils, it is the only time it is acceptable to add lots of water to your paint. The paint will dry much more quickly, and you must be sure that this initial thin layer will all be completely covered later with thicker oil paint in order to avoid any crackling. Watercolourists are sometimes more comfortable simply doing a quick black and white pencil sketch of the main shapes on a scrap paper since watercolour is more difficult to work on top of at times. Below are 2 images of one of my paintings – one to show the blocking in stage, and then the completed painting. This painting is fluid acrylic on canvas; although it was done in a very watercolour style. 

There is a lot to think about at once when painting. Take for example choosing a background colour. As well as considering contrast in temperature and in value, it is really important to echo some of the colours that have been used in the subject, in the background. Take a look at some of your favourite famous paintings and check this out. Even portrait artists often throw some of those flesh colours into the background. Without that, colours can feel disjointed or lonely. Conclusion – when doing backgrounds, think about: value, temperature, and echoing colours that you have already used. 

Anyone who knows me at all knows that in art, I’m not much for rules. It’s art – not brain surgery! If it works, I say, do it. There are only a few exceptions, and those have to do with technical things. Things that would greatly reduce the life time of the final painting. In oils, there are some things that you can do incorrectly that would cause your oil paint to crackle when it dries. Sometime, even crackle and fall right off the canvas in chunks! This can actually happen in weeks, as well as months or years. That I do try to avoid. So what are the rules? Simply put – 1. fat over lean and 2. thick over thin. The word ‘fat’ refers to the amount of oil in that particular pigment. Each colour has it’s own ratio of oil to pigment. The most oily are white and yellow ochre. There are differences in some of the other pigments too, but I have not seen them cause crackling – feel free to comment if you have had crackling involving an underpainting of colours other than those two – I’d like to know. The rules only kick in when you have a dry layer of paint that you are wanting to put another layer of paint on top of. So, a dry layer of white (or a mix containing lots of white) or yellow ochre risks having additional layers crackle as they dry. Stirring oil mediums into subsequent layers of paint is one solution. The problem with that is that mediums tend to leave that surface in that area much glossier, which can be unpleasing. As for rule number 2, when you think about it, thick over thin is really the same thing. A dry thin layer of oil paint has less oil content than a thicker layer of paint put on top. However, if all of the paint is wet together at the same time, the oil has a way of evening itself out as it dries, and you can ignore both rules. /  You can see a video of this portrait “Blue Eyes” being painted here on YouTube… Cheryl O Artist – YouTube 

Sharpie markers are an attractive art impliment when you want to make a strong black line. However, you need to be very sure that you are not going to want to change that line, because Sharpies are very permanent. Plus, they will bleed up through subsequent layers of acrylic paint, making changing those lines almost impossible. In painting, it’s safer to use a dark paint and a rigger brush for dark lines. In the acrylic painting on the left, I did use Sharpies to make the rigging on the boats. Here is a link to some fun art that was made with Sharpies. And no, fun though it is, I don’t think I’m doing this to my car. “Awesome Artwork Made with Sharpies“. 

One concept that people new into painting have a hard time grasping is that paintings can often go through stages, some quite ugly, on the way to a great work of art. Sure it would be nice if every stroke, every layer in a painting made the painting look better and better; but that is not always reality. Particularly with freer techniques like the wet and wild ones, you can have quite a mess at some stages. So why use those techniques? Because there is no other way that you get the dynamic colours and shapes that can happen when working very loose. In any type of paint, you can then go ahead and add or cover details until the painting is as realistic or refined as the painter wants it to be. The creative spirit seems to respond in exciting way to these messes as well, ending up with a wonderful work that simply would not have happened with a more controlled approach. If you want to try this, but don’t want to let go of the brush, here is a suggested playful exercise. 1. Use a large square brush (1 inch square) and a canvas or paper at least 10 x 12 inches 2. Squint at your reference so that you see only large shapes 3. Force your hand to move quickly and establish those shapes with rapid brush strokes and bold colour 4. When most of the canvas or paper is covered, stand back and decide where you want to go with this experiment. Watercolour paint can be lifted and added. Acrylic can be let dry and painted over. Oil can be lifted away with a thirsty brush, or painted over both wet or dry. If the dry oil base includes a lot of white, you will need to work thicker on top, or add mediums to subsequent layers. Most of all, in any paint, have fun, and keep away from those finicky little brushes as long as possible! (Watercolour painting by Cheryl O) 

 

The connection may not be obvious, until you think about it. A good still life set up has a lot in common with a good landscape composition. They each have a foreground, mid ground, and background. In the still life though, it’s most often the mid ground that has the starring role, while in a landscape it can be any of the three depths. Both types of paintings are enhanced by variety in shapes and size throughout the composition. The painting posted here is one by Cezanne. You can sense how he set up the table cloth like foreground foothills leading up to the mid ground of fruit and the final backcloth like a mountain behind it all. We are exploring this concept in the current Fruit Flowers and Crystal class. This type of creative thinking can make arranging a still life set up lots of fun. 

There are 2 basic types of watercolour paper: hot-press and cold press. It’s easy to remember the difference. Hot-press is smooth with no texture – essentially it has been ‘ironed’ flat by the hot press machine. Cold press has some texture in the surface. The amount of texture and pattern of it will vary with brand. Hot press is great for those who love little details. Cold press is more popular because a lot of painters like the added texture feeling that cold press give. Cold press will also accentuate the granular effect of sedimentary pigments. Take time to experience both in order to see which suits your painting style the best.