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September 6, 2009

What I’ve Learned about Portrait Painting

Filed under: Paint and Painting — Tags: , , , , , , — @ 6:30 am

Wow, I find painting portraits to be an awesome experience. Starting with a blank canvas you begin to create when you put the pencil to work. My first portrait was a baby in oils. Oils work best with portraits because they take hours and sometimes days to dry giving you the time to work with them adjusting skin tone, light and shade. Remember to always start with three shades to every colour you use. Mix your colour, this is your dark shade,  separate a portion and add a little white to it, this is your medium shade, then take some white and add a little of the dark shade now you have your lightest tone.

The medium shade is likely to be the tone you will use the most, with the darker shades for the shadow effects and the light tone in areas touched by light. Look at your photo or model carefully as you mark these areas on your portrait. Always soften the edges of your colours so they appear to blend into the next colour and not end abruptly leaving sharp edges. Don’t over blend or work the edges of your colours or they will end up runnning into each other. Continue to work on the skin areas building the character of your portrait with every layer you apply.

Depending on how much time you have to spend on your painting it could take anything from a few days to a few months to complete. Just be patient  the end result will be well worth it.

Have Fun :)

August 29, 2009

Paint Class

Filed under: Paint and Painting — Tags: , , , , , , — @ 3:00 am

For about twelve  months I have been going to weekly art class and have found so far that I have a passion for portrait painting. While still sometimes needing help from the art teacher on finishing touches I have been reasonable happy with my finished pieces.

My first real portrait style painting was a baby in oils. I will share a little of what I have learned. Firstly the drawing, I used the square scale  from a photograph and drew my image with an art pencil,  but another method many artists use is the projector method.  To do this you need a transparent sheet, available in most art or office supply stores. Enlarge your photograph or image to about A4 size so that all the fine details stand out. Place your transparent sheet over the top of your enlargement and trace your image. Include all the details including the shadings of light and dark. Use a fine black marker for your drawing.

The next step is to place your transparency on the projector and project your image onto your canvas. Before you do though, paint an undercoat onto your canvas, it doesn’t matter too much what colour you choose as it will be painted over, the purpose is just to seal your canvas. Now you’re ready to draw, zoom in or out to adjust the size of your image to fit the canvas. You are now ready to draw, with an art pencil, the projected image onto your canvas. Try and keep everything in place during this step.

Next post, next step, but if you’ve come this far your on your way.

Happy painting :)

July 25, 2009

Kids Keep On Painting

Filed under: Kids Painting and Crafts — Tags: , , , , , , , — @ 4:01 am

Bubble Painting :- Powder paint or Dye, dishwashing liquid, bowls or plastic containers, drinking straws, paper. Put some dishwashing liquid into a separate bowl for each colour. Mix sufficient paint with a small quantity of water and add to dishwashing liquid to make a strong colour. The child must be able to BLOW through the straw for the next step.

Put straw in liquid and keep blowing until bubbles rise higher than the sides of the bowl. Gently place sheet of paper on top of bubbles and repeat for each colour. The effect is lovely, Dry Fla

Foil Painting :- Foil, acrylic or tempera paint, liquid soap, brushes. Cut foil to painting size. If using tempera, add 2-3 drops of liquid soap to paint.

Foil Etching :- Foil, cardboard, tape, tempera paint in dark colour, liquid soap, broad brush, pencil or twig. Mix 2-3 drops of liquid soap with tempera paint. secure foil to cardboard with tape. Brush paint to cover foil. Let dry. Using stick scratch dry paint from foil to make pattern or picture. Do this carefully so the foil does not tear.

Wet Paper Painting :- Paper, water, sponge, thin paint, small spoons, brushes. On a flat surface coat paper with water using a wet brush. Drip paint onto wet paper using a spoon or brush. Allow colours to blend. Use a brush to help blending. Dry Flat.

Have Fun :)

July 13, 2009

Crochet – Know How

Filed under: Knitting — Tags: , , , , , , — @ 3:45 am

Holding The Work

All crochet stitches are based on the principle of drawing one hoop through another. The hook is held in the right hand. Left-handed people may find they can learn to crochet using their right hand.

  • Begin by making a slip loop at the end of the yarn.
  • Hold the hook in the right hand like a pencil. Put the hook through the loop and pull the yarn tight.
  • Wind the yarn round the little finger of the left hand across the palm and behind the forefinger.
  • Hold the loop at its base, close to the hook between the thumb and forefinger.

The Stitches

  • Chain – Take the hook under the yarn and then from the back over the top, hook the yarn and pull it through the hoop. This is described as ‘yarn round hook’. This makes one chain. Repeat moving your hold up the work as you go.
  • Foundation Chain – Crochet usually begins with a length of chain into which the first row of stitches is worked, this is called the foundation chain. The hook is inserted into the centre of the last chain stitch, there will be two threads above the hook and one below.
  • Turning Chain – Because crochet stitches are worked from the top down, chain are used to take the yarn up to the top of the work at the beginning of each row. These are called turning chain.  The turning chain acts as the first stitch of the row.

Practice these stitches for a while, some more stitches will be introduced tomorrow. :)

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