 | How I paint such marvelous tiny works, Here is the secretPosted Sep-18-07 17:09:26 PDT Updated Feb-08-08 15:09:05 PST I have found numerous ideas on what and what not to do when creating my watercolor ACEO's. First is the type of paint to use. I use only Winsor and Newton professional grade watercolor paints. I paint very detailed mermaids and fairy's. Student grade paints would be clumpy and very hard to control in this tiny arena. The subjects are somewhat pinup material and the shading is very detailed and smooth. I begin with cold press Arches #140 paper. To get the paint to "float" on the surface for awhile while I finish the blending of the skin and skin tones. What this means is that I flood the desired area with clean water, pushing the bubble of water into the corners and up to the line with a brush and then dip the brush into a watered down version of the color and "push the color" around with my brush untill either it dries up which is usually the case or I like the coverage and let it dry completely. I repeat this process several times for face and hands to get the glazes. It is important not to disturb the color underneath when applying a new top glaze. Especially with the above mentioned colors. I now use different colors to mix flesh tones. I use completely staining colors now for a new affect. These colors are new gamboge, alizarion crimson and winsor blue. I use these in a very VERY watered down tint and glaze each tone of face and hands over and over. Remember when using staining colors that once put down you CANNOT get them nicely off of the paper. So miserly is the word here. Farther down was my previously preferred colors for face tints. I do not rinse the finish off of the paper. I did try to soak the paper and then "stretch" it with masking tape on a stryrafoam base but the color would quickly sink into the paper no matter how dry it was. I did try to use cardstock but this was unsuitable. So to begin, to keep a neat overall appearance to the ACEO, I do is tape around the 2.5 x 3.5 area to be painted and tape the card to a light piece of styrafoam, about 5" x 6". This helps keep the painting lightwight so I can hold it or turn it as necessary. I also invested in a good magnifying glass that magnifies x10. the styrafoam backing helps to keep the painting weight light for I am constantly scrutinizing my work up close and holding onto the brush with one hand and the painting in the other. If it was heavy, I would tire out from holding the drawing. I mix my fleshtone by mixing parts of new gamboge, cobalt blue and opera rose until I get a nice creamy consistency. I use these pigments because they are nonstaining and I can blend as much as I like to without the color being mixed too quickly into the paper. I do not mix with white for it is so opaque that it would dull the wonderful luminosity that watercolor is noted for. I will use an empty (white) styrafoam eggcrate container to mix my paints. Number one, again, it is lightweight and disposable and it has 12 wonderful deep wells in which to mix to my little hearts content. I try to mix the color hue first, always with a little goldened suntanned look to it. Then after testing on the scraps of watercolor paper and letting dry (it dries much lighter in color than when wet) I will obtain my desired color. I then will add water to one side of the paint well and dilute the color to get a pale hue. I then additionally wet my brush and dilute the color further on the brush. Finally, one more dilution is that I use plain clean water to carefully moisten the area in which I will be painting and "float the paint" onto this puddle of water. During the paints journey to drying onto the painting I will carefully manipulate the pigment up to the line drawing of the face or body so that it will disperse evenly as it dries. Before it has lost is sheen, I charge in opra rose for the cheek blush or burnt sienna for the shadows. An important tip I have found is not to paint the area that the lips and eye shadow will be. The white paper lends itself nicely to those pouty shiney lips and lip color that are signature of my paintings. Why mermaids? Well, I love fantasy artwork and love to use all the colors in my palette. Bright happy colors, vivid florals, translucent backgrounds and fluid poses all are incorporated into a mermaid painting. I really like painting beautiful faces. I have some bizzar fish like people in mind to paint but for now the mermaids are all beautiful. I get most of my ideas of poses and colors from fashion magazines. Sometimes it's just really hard to come up with some fresh ideas. Magazines always seem to feed the imagination. I like ones like "Allure" that are fresh and up to date, not just tired poses. I will also search the internet for model pictures that lend themselves to my artwork. I tend to focus on 'pin-up' material for alot of my merms are ment to be sexy & alluring. Mostly Full bodied women stretching to thier full potential. It's what I would think a mermaid to be. It's a Damn big ocean out there and the weak just don't make it.
Joanne
|
) 
 About eBay | Announcements | Security Center | eBay Toolbar | Policies | Government Relations | Site Map | Help | |
Copyright © 1995-2008 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy.
| |