The end of another day (acrylic painting)

I am going to demonstrate a different style of painting, this time painted in acrylics. One of the main differences between oils and acrylics is their drying time. Acrylics dry up by evaporation of water while oil colours react with the air in what is known as oxidation. The fast drying time of acrylics can be of a disadvantage but also of an advantage. It is an advantage if I want to paint several layers of very thin paint (glazing) without having to wait for a long time for the previous layer to dry up. Atelier Interactive acrylic paints are not only especially formulated to prolong their drying time but also they can be reworked after couple of hours if becoming wet again after the paint was already touch dry. This helps you to blend colors into each other in a way similar to oil colors.

The subject of this painting is a sunset and view over a typical Australian farmland. Painting sunsets is fun creating a lot of interesting colors in both sky and land. I decided to keep the colors as much as possible vibrant while making the best out of the complementary colors. Red, green, yellow and purple/violet are the main colors used in this painting.

Materials used: 101 x 50 cm stretched 10 oz cotton canvas Brushes: Normal 1 inch and 2 inch house painting brush, selection of medium and small flat Taklon brushes A selection of painting knives Color palette (Atelier Interactive Acrylics & Derivan Matisse): Titanium white, Olive green, burnt sienna, raw sienna, Burnt Umber, brilliant violet, dioxazine purple, Payne's Grey, Pthalo green Blues: French Ultramarine Blue, Pthalo Blue, Cobalt blue Reds: permanent alizarin, Brilliant Magenta Yellows: Naples Yellow, cadmium yellow light,  cadmium yellow medium, cadmium orange, vermilion Under-painting (Blocking in) For this painting I decided to use a vertical canvas, unlike most landscape paintings. The horizon line was set to slightly above the middle part of the canvas. When painting sunsets, one needs to remember that the warmest colors are those around the light source, in this case the setting sun. The further we go away from the sun the cooler it will become. The easiest way to remember this is to look at the color wheel, take cadmium yellow light as the warmest color and just move anti-clockwise towards the purples and blues. This order needs to be followed when painting both sky and land. The first layer of underpainting was done using a 2 inch house painting brush with not too thick but neither too thin layer of color. Cadmium yellow light was used for the area around the sun, followed by cadmium yellow medium, vermilion, permanent alizarin and ultramarine blue with the addition of alizarin at the top. Starting from the most distant land mass using horizontal brush strokes and using a tint (with the addition of white) of brilliant violet plus some cobalt blue. As progressively as I advanced into the middle hills, I increased the amount of permanent alizarin, ultramarine blue and dioxazine purple. To the darkest part at the front I also added burnt umber with ultramarine blue. The next step was to start adding more detail and form to the sky and landscape. This time I wanted to apply a very thick layer of pigment and to do so I started adding pure color directly from the tube onto the canvas and mix the colors on the canvas itself. I also decreased the size of the flat taklon brush to 1 inch. The sun was painted using white and cadmium yellow light. In the same order of colors as used for the underpainting I started to add more pigment and moving the pigments into each other using the sides of the flat brush. I also started adding the next darker color into the lighter one to create the impression of clouds and shadows in the sky. Since the darkest upper part of the sky seemed to look like a dark cloud, I added brilliant magenta to underside of the cloud or the area where the sun hits.  I space in the cloud was opened to give the impression of broken clouds, by painting the sky with a mixture of Pthalo blue and white. Lucky accidental brush strokes that gave the impression of clouds or the broken sun itself, played a significant role in the development of this sky.  Mid- and fore-ground The next step was to start adding more detail to the land starting from just below where the sun is. Along the horizon line I started by adding cadmium orange followed by alizarin and magenta, especially to the central part underneath the sun. The glow on the ground of the two fields in the middle ground (on the right) was painted with Naples yellow with touch of olive green. White was added to the more distant one. The trees in shadow were painted using Payne's grey plus some cobalt blue to the distant ones or else with the addition of some Pthalo green to the closer ones. Using a painting knife I painted the grass on the closest hill using a mixture of ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow medium, alizarin and red gold. Burnt sienna and burnt umber were also used for the ground at the front. Finally I painted the sheep, blocking them with purple and highlighting them with Naples yellow, titanium white, alizarin and a touch of cadmium yellow/cadmium orange. I find sunsets very inspirational due to their colors and drama, especially if the sky is cloudy. I named this painting "The end of another day", because I find that the time when the sun sets behind the horizon is also a time of reflection. When the sun sets marks the end of another day, meaning another day less from our journey of life on this planet. It is a time to think about the importance of time, since very day, minute and second that passes we cannot get it back. So it is very important that we use every second of our life wisely.

Fire and Water - Abstract painting

Acrylic colors used (Atelier and Matisse): 

Alizarin red, cadmium red medium, phtalo blue, ultramarine blue, Naple's yellow, cadmium yellow medium, titanium white 

Brushes:

A normal 2 inch house painting brush, brushes used to apply gesso, a painting knife

Methodology:

This was a very simple abstract I did recently on stretched canvas. I started by placing directly on the canvas ultramarine blue, alizarin and Naple's yellow. Using a 3 different brushes (one for each color) I started spreading the three colors on the canvas mainly at three distinct areas, blue at the bottom right corner, red the upper left and yellow the central to upper right corner. Carefully I started blending the colors together to create the secondaries i.e. green, purple and orange, leaving some areas of pure primary color. I left the colors to dry for couple of minutes  and then I started applying cad red, cad yellow and phtalo blue onto the previous layer using bold brush strokes and applying circling motion depending on how I was seeing the colors developing. I left untouched brush strokes that looked good to the eye or any secondary or tertiary colours that appeared by co-incidence. 

To finish off the painting I took a piece of tissue and placed it in titanium white and I applied it to some areas as a highlight. Using a painting knife I mixed blue, yellow and white and  I applied vertical strokes to the right bottom corner to look like reflections of color.

Painting Tools & Equipment

Canvas

You can paint on any type of surface as support such as paper, wood panels, metal etc. For oil painting the most commonly used is canvas, either stretched or unstretched. You can buy canvas either in roll or ready stretched, however buying a roll will turn out to be a cheaper alternative. You can buy this canvas either already primed or unprimed. The primer acts as a base for the oil (or acrylic) paint to adhere to without cracking, peeling, wrinkling or shrinking. The most commonly used primer is gesso and it can be applied either as a single layer or double layer.

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​There are different types of canvas of which cotton is the most commonly used. The other type is linen that is very expensive. It is important to use good quality canvas and this usually has to be of a minimum of 10 oz and 12 oz for bigger paintings. Ready made canvases found in stores are barely 8 oz and even less. If you buy canvas by roll you can have a better quality canvas with the same price that you buy a similar size but of an inferior one from a store. 

Brushes, Knives and Palettes

For oil and acrylic painting it is very important that you buy good quality brushes. Inferior brushes will start losing hair while painting and it is really annoying to stop every minute to remove hair from the surface of your painting. Do not buy synthetic ones but only buy those having natural hair such as hogs hair. Brushes come in various shapes and sizes. You must have a selection of round, flat, filbert, fan and liners (for fine and delicate work). You must also have a selection of sizes usually numbered from 0 to 12 (12 being the largest). Different brushes are used for various techniques. A good brush must maintain its shape when being used. You must also have a 2 inches brush for background colouring (and underpainting), that you can buy from an ironmonger (also used for house painting). The most important is to clean the brushes while using them and after you finish as if you do not do so then you will end up wasting money. While painting you have to clean the brush before picking up colour and this is done using tissues. Do not clean the brush with turpentine while painting unless you are going to go from a dark colour to a lighter colour. When you finish first remove excess colours using a tissue and then clean the brush in mineral solvent followed by rinsing it in water with a dishwashing detergent. Do not throw away old brushes as you might find them useful to create different effects.

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Painting knives are used to mix paints on the palette as well as to paint, usually very useful to lay thick layers of paint onto the canvas and to create structures like tree trunks and rocks. You can also use them to create fine but straight lines, snowy mountain peaks or to create small waves or ripples on a water surface. Same as brushes, painting knives come in different sizes and shapes. Always clean your knife before picking up colour from the palette.

Use a flat palette for oils and acrylics as it will be very difficult to pick up paint from palettes used for watercolour. You can have a wooden or a perspex palette, or even simply a disposable plate. Alternatively you can use a tear off palette, which is very useful and you do not need to clean it afterwards.

Paints and diluents

Always use artist quality paints for both oils and acrylics. Artist quality paints have more pigments rather then binders. Artist quality paints do not fade away when mixing and also they will last longer. Artist quality oil and acrylics are usually heavy bodied and thus easier to paint using painting knives.

When painting with acrylics, paints are usually diluted to a creamy consistency with water. To increase drying time you can use one of the many retarders that are commercially available.​

Turpentine is usually used to dilute oil paints for underpainting to decrease drying time. Try to use odour free turpentine especially when working indoors. Oil colours can be diluted with linseed oil for upper layers of a painting, thus increasing drying time. Poppy oil is another diluent that can be used to dilute oil paints. The more oil you add the more you increase the drying time. The consistency of the paint should be creamy and should be in a way that the paint is easily released from the brush onto the previous layer. Liquin is another excellent medium that decrease the drying time of oils and is very good for glazes.

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Varnishes

Varnishes are used to protect the painting and colours from deteriorating with time besides making it easier to clean. There are two types, matt and gloss. Matt varnish do not reflect light and hence will give a uniformity to the painting, since oil paints have different glare when dry.

Allow the painting to dry well ideally about 6 months. You can apply varnish either using a brush or using aerosol spray. To apply the varnish lay the painting horizontal on a clean surface (dust free) and apply onto the surface in a uniform manner. Apply in a well ventilated place or outside, and beware of any flying insects that can rest on it accidentally. Matt varnish can sometimes form a cloudy appearance after drying sometimes affected by humidity.

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