News and Articles
Read about upcoming exhibitions and see art demonstrations and art tutorials from Dupont Art Club.
Painting with Pallet Knives
Painting with Pallet Knives. Painting with pallet knives can give an interesting textural effect to your painting.The knives come in different shapes and sizes. There are short square ones which tend to be good for using on roofs and shingles shapes as well as various flowers and grasses. The smaller diamond shaped ones have the springy tip and are good for sculpting in shapes such as rocks. These are also good for dabbing round flower type shapes in. The large larger pallet knives are good for dragging colors and laying down large sections of color. You can drag and wriggle the knife for reflections such as in water. The long knife shape is good for painting, edges, and cutting lines. It is also good to load your knife with the darker green blue color and pull down under the waves of water to accentuate the waves too good effect. Do not hold the pellet knife as if you were buttering a piece of bread. You should hold the pallet knife at a 45° angle with your fingers and the index finger on the actual knife itself in order to control the paint. Use a light touch. Do not press into the painting, but hold it flat against the page. Using the pallet knife will take up a lot of paint. If you were using heavy body acrylic paint, you will need to mix it first so it is not stiff before you start. Oils tend to be stiffer as well. Put on a fair amount of paint in order to obtain the nice texture that knife painting can give. Enjoy playing with these techniques, using the knives, both horizontally and vertically to see the different effects.
Quink used as a Water Colour
Caroline chose a large sheet of water colour paper and liberally applied water to the surface, the subject was a beautiful forest scene with reflections in a lake.With a mid sized pointed brush, for the background the Quink was diluted and as it hit the paper burst into the damp surface, some of the colour ran down the paper and Caroline picked areas to mottle and form the reflection in the lake area. As the paper dried, tree trunks were added, still with the diluted Quink.Once this was fairly dry a less diluted solution of the Quink was used to create nearer trees, however Caroline flicked water over the paper so some areas again burst into the water giving a beautiful soft effect in certain parts.Caroline used a rigger brush to add smaller twigs and branches gradually thinning as they went up the tree and into the distance. The background began to disappear and look very misty, all the time she gradually built up the reflections in the lake.To give that extra punch undiluted Quink was used to add the the nearer trees, a line added for the shadow of the lake giving a real 3D effect, every brush stoke was quick and loose, following the patterns of the leaves. Water was flicked, then Quink was flicked so areas burst out or stayed dark. It was important to allow some areas to remain white this allowed light through the trees and gave power to the dark Quink.
The Use of Brushes in Art
BRUSHES used in ART Caroline gave us an excellent education on various types of brushes used for art. She divided them into oil/acrylic/encaustic which use syththetic or hog brushes (encaustic) and the softer synthetic or synthetic/squirrel or Sable brushes for watercolour. Prior to starting she had a number of tips for us. Generally, watercolour brushes have a shorter shaft. The longer shaft in brushes are used with other mediums so you can stand back from your easel. The sizes listed on the various brushes differ from company to company so it is difficult to determine the brush by the size listed. With all water based brushes it is a good idea to pat them with a tissue so there is not so much water being taken up on the brush. There are various types of cleaning products for brushes. A very good one is called ‘The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preservative” which is available in small cans. She recommends that you should clean your brushes daily to stop them from developing dried pigment at the base. If the brush does become filled with dried pigment but still has some brush at the top that’s available try cutting into the brush and use it for mark making. With regard to the price of various brushes, she has found success with the cheap brushes that she uses vigorously and then discards. For a better quality she recommends sennelia , da Vinci and pro art for good quality. NEVER use your watercolour brushes for anything other than watercolour as it could destroy their effectiveness. Keep these brushes separate from all the others. BRUSHES: Flat brush: This brush is good for Mark making. It is good for angles and straight lines. Try putting two different coloured paints on each side of the bristles to...
Lost Edges in Painting
Lost Edges in Paintings Using photographs from paintings by John Singer Sargent, Caroline showed the edges which melded into surrounding background colours. These lost edges create moods of mystery and creating distances. It makes images meld into the surrounding area. The surrounding hard edges will pop out bringing your attention to them. In Carolines demo she shows how the red apple’s shadow melds into the dark background as do the grapes. The use of lost edges is a useful way of bringing out some areas and melding others into the background.
Mono Printing and Jelly Painting
Mono Printing and Jelly Painting Steph Howard gave us a demonstration on mono printing during our Thursday Dupont class. She used Essdee water soluble block printing ink but said that the Speedball printing ink was just as good. A piece of acetate was given to each person and instructed to put a small amount of the black print printing ink on it. This was rolled with a brayer roller for at least 5 to 10 minutes until there was a mat Sheen on it. A thin paper was placed over top of the acetate with ink And a quick line drawing was made with a pencil on the paper. We were told that the shadowing around the body could be made with the pencil or even with your finger. Once the paper was removed, the drawing was exposed. This process is almost like using carbon paper but with inks. Lucy demonstrated jelly Printing. “ Jelly arts gel printing plate looks and feels like gelatin, but it is durable, reusable and stores at room temperature. It is easy to clean and always ready for Printing. Printing on a jelly plate is Simple and fun” from jelly arts printing plate. Lucy printed acrylic paint onto the jelly pad with a Brayer roller. She then used numerous items to imprint on the acrylic paint such as plastic items, cardboard , bubble wrap, and even making her own with glue gun on a cardboard roll. Anything can be used as long as it is not sharp and does not cut into the top of the jelly pad. She then put paper over the imprint and lifted the paper to show the drawing. She used a feather on one of the demonstrations and leaves can be used as well. She suggested to check the transparency...
Using Watercolour Pencils
Caroline demonstrated how to use and get the most out of watercolour pencils. She picked quite a colourful portrait of an older lady. Looking carefully she decided which colour pencils were needed for the face, red being a strong colour and yellow a weaker one. Starting with the dark areas, she began to 'layer' the colours red green and yellow ochre. When the water was added the colours blended together. She said to avoid using white as the luminosity would disappear. it could give a chalky look For the nose, a pale yellow with a peach on top was used. The highlights as with all watercolour are the white paper areas which are kept clean to give the brightness. Purple and browns were added to the really dark areas trying to get as much pigment on as possible. Hatching or crisscrossing will disappear once water is brushed on. Warm reds over the purple helps to build up the picture. She put pinks over brown. The cheeks were built up with yellow, orange and red. The Lips were red with purple darker areas. These needed plenty of pigment as they are the focal point. She put lighter red for the bottom lip. The glasses should be thought of as part of the face with the eyes within them. Carefully look for the white areas of the eyes and add the pupil. She painted green around the eye then added red to warm it up. Brown, yellow and black was used to really emphasise the eye. Keep checking the tonal values. The hair was brown and dark purple with added brown to the shadows. It's a good idea to squint so you can really see which areas need more tonal value. Make sure everywhere is dark as you want before adding water....
How Watercolour Behaves Painting Flowers
Caroline started off this demonstration by instructing us to soak our watercolour paper for 5 to 10 minutes. She also stated that she used a size 12 watercolour brush and a rigger. She recommended 300 g watercolour paper taped down in order to stop the wrinkling of the paper. You could use it at an angle to encourage drips or flat. She started painting very pale red in the form of flowers. With the wetness of the Paper it gave it a soft result. Once this was completed, she added a purple to the red and then added this warmer colour to the inside of the flowers. She also added water underneath the flower to encourage dripping and spreading. She then worked with yellow ochar for the tops of the flowers. The paper was dry at the top so she was able to get harder edges. She mixed her Emerald green with yellow to give a light green which she painted in the stems. She added a bit of red to darken it and continued varying the greens. she added drips to the greens as well. She stated that if you wanted to take out some of the colour you could do so by blotting. You can use masking fluid initially if you wish or to add gouache which is non-transparent. She said no to the use of the watercolour eraser as it takes the top coat off the paper and reduces the luminosity. She then went over the dried flowers with quinacrine pink and a alizare crimson to draw in the flower shapes and bring the dark forward. For the centre she will not use black but combines green red and ultra marine blue for a soft black which she painted in the centre bits of the flowers. Someone...
The Language of Shadows and How they Behave.
Caroline Marsland instructed us that perspective, shape, tonal values and contrast are what we need to look at in mastering how to draw or paint in the shadows.There are dark shadows blending into half shadows as well as reflected light. Often light will come up from the bottom.With some shapes such as a tree, the shadows will undulate. Shadows can describe shape such as with steps as well as in a portrait. with some shapes such as a tree, the shadows will undulate .You should squint to look at the shadows of what you are about to draw. You must know where the shadows fall near the light and be careful of the half shadow area. She has used a 6B pencil to draw in the figure with in half shadows using hatching with darker shadows added.You continue to darken the shadows with an 8B pencil. You continue to darken the shadows with a 8B pencil which will not give you a sharp line as it is too soft. The shadow can change the shape of your picture. You must be careful with the half shadow as it reaches the light. When painting Caroline suggested that you do a light wash over the area first before you start to decide where the shadows and half shadows are. Dark areas are a focal point and lead people around the painting.Landscapes are best with darker shadows generally. She encourages us to do a rough sketch 1st to outline where your shadows are going to be.
Drawing With Inks
Caroline was unavailable to demonstrate for us this week, but fortunately Amanda Davies came along to show us how to draw with ‘drawing’ ink as opposed to writing ink, the latter used more for calligraphy. It’s was am extremely informative demonstration.Pens, different drawing pens for drawing ink, these have a split in the nib and are pointed as opposed to calligraphy pens.Paper, any paper can be used, even a brown paper bag but the smoother the paper the the further the ink will flow and glide over the surface, Amanda likened to dancing with the pen. If you are planning on using water colour paints a heavier paper is needed, however the ink is permanent when dry, (ink line and wash) so other mediums can be used and water colour pencils work well. Amanda has also used coffee dregs to draw with, to add more interest.Note, always check on a sample page how the ink is going to react on your paper of choice, see how far it flows and thickness of line.Drawing the Portobello Mushroom,Colour inks - Burnt Sienna, Nut brown,Black and Peat brown.Using water colour paper, a pencil can be used if your nor feeling confident, however Amanda drew with her pen, she dipped the pen in the burnt sienna ink making sure the well was filled, tested on similar paper to see what line was going to be made, and drew the mushroom outline, try to relax an following the shape.Always wipe the nib after each use to keep it clean and ensure a true colour.With a pipette Amanda used one of the ink lids to mix her inks and a brush to add a wash of colour to the mushroom. The ink dries much quicker than water colour, but can be blotted to lighten if needed....
Drawing upside Down
Caroline said nothing is too difficult to draw! If you look at the picture upside down.By turning the picture you make your brain think in a different way. To start look for shapes, major shapes, in Caroline’s picture this was the rectangle in the middle, easiest point. Check if the vertical or horizontal lines are correct by using your pencil as a reference, you can also use the pencil to measure length and depth of each ‘shape’.It’s important that each shape is relatively to the next, use your pencil again to check which shapes in different parts of the picture line up with you starting rectangle, this will help with perspective.Once all the major shapes are positioned, add the smaller detail ‘shapes’ how they overlap each other, some will just be lines. It’s like building a jigsaw puzzle.Next is the tones, larger areas could be lines or hatching, make sure the tonal values are darker for the shadows around objects, light and dark areas.Nothing is too difficult to draw if you break it down into simple shapes concentrating how they line up with the other shapes and of course measuring the lines. Keep checking the position of each shape with all the areas of the picture this will help to get the picture positioned on the paper correctly.
Line and Wash
Caroline picked a lovely picture of an Owl she wanted to create a loose and expressive picture. Using water colours and remembering not to keep painting over the same spot, which would mean the luminosity would be lost as the paper surface could be spoiled, two yellow ochre eyes were painted, then a wash of emerald greens raw siennas, the grey plumage was created with dark red and blue with a touch of yellow ochre, softly painting the shapes of the feathers, all wet into wet all very loose, drop the paint in. The wash is just the support for the pen. Flashes of orange and green sweeping with the water colour brush, dulling down with sienna if too bright, look for and try to keep the different tonal values. Similar colours for the background but more watery. As the eyes are the vocal point Caroline added green to give depth. With a bic biro Caroline started to build up details of the feathers, to add texture and more interest hatching or scribbling or circles could be worked, like an etching, slowly building up values, keep going darker, echo the shapes of the markings, remember to keep certain areas lighter. As water colour dries quite a lot lighter, go over prominent parts again so they show up, keep you eye on the tonal values all the time. Wet the area then drop in the colour again darkening the feathers orange and blue for brown feathers. The eyes are the important area lots of work with the biro to bring out the owls character, to bring back light white gouache could be applied with a rigger brush or a cocktail stick. Add shadows to the head
Wet into Wet Watercolour
The demo today Caroline chose a winter photo of a small brook and trees in quite dull mono tones. She mixed a yellow quite watery and washed over the sky, she then mixed some purple with the yellow and blended the paint onto the paper, carefully leaving an eye catching, White centre to emphasise the light.Caroline then added an orange to the purple to cool the colour. She did a soft background of impression trees, banks at the side of the brook leaving lots of white gaps to give the look of snow and add light interest. Still keeping to the purple and orange mix but creating a darker colour she pulled the paint through the damp background, making the paint bleed into the background, to form the trees, using a rigger and a larger brush, to soften the edge and give tone she brushed away the edge of the trunk and branches. She also had a small twig and scratched into the fresh paint to give a lovely texture. At this point the paper was not too wet or too dry, salt was added to give even more texture. One the trees had dried slightly darker tones can be added but still keeping the softness, dropping in darker tones on top so it bleeds in gives a misty effect. Caroline added a touch of red to the centre light to draw the eye. For the bank in front, again a wet mix of purple/ orange/ red dropped in, flicked with the brush, allowing the paint to melt together, and more salt once it has dried slightly. Going back to the trees, Caroline pulled darker colour through adding to the tones, again using a dry brush to soften the edges. Keep looking at the picture make sure the light is kept and the dark tonal values emphasised....
Watercolour Negative Painting
Watercolour Negative Painting Caroline explained that we will be creating the positive by painting the negative. She started by painting areas of colours yellows, reds, oranges, and browns with a large brush.She added salt on top of the wet parts and placed cling film over part of it. She sprayed the remaing part. Using dark greens and browns with she parted to paint around the edge of the leaf letting the background colour show through in places.She added a second layer to the dried areas to darken them adding salt to them. She glazed orange over the leaf flicking dark paint over top. Using a ringer brush she demonstrated how to flatten it out by pulling it over one side then the other. Once flatten she used it to draw in further lines into the veins of the leaves. She suggested not to draw around the total leaf as it will flatten the look of it Final piece first paint negative painting
Critique of a Painting
How to critique a painting. Caroline explained that in looking at any picture one should follow the line, colour, tonal value, contrast and how the eye is guided through the picture. The focal point is a very important area of interest. It is where you’re going to put the most contrast in value. Caroline has selected a photograph of a painting for us to study located below.. The first area of interest we find is the body of the lady who is in white against a dark background. In looking at her, we follow her eye, which is looking upwards to another figure who is in white but not as large and is looking down at her. This takes the eye back-and-forth and from the man, The lines go down the tree and across the bottom area so that you are actually circling the photo with your eyes. Brush marks can also give direction Along with the line, colour, total value and contrast. Carolyn stated that Brown is a neutral color along with gray. Opposites on the colour wheel in a painting help the images to pop out. The pink in this photo makes you hunt for other pink areas as well. Texture makes things pop out. In looking at warm versus cold colours, the warm colour advances and cool colours recede. Moods can be established through dark mystery shadows. Light colours tend to be more upbeat and happy. Caroline explained that during the process of painting we can take out and put in objects, colour, line, etc., throughout the whole process until the picture is finished. Even if you have painted the most gorgeous image and are hesitant to do anything with it, if it doesn’t fit then just paint over it or change it into something else that...
Painting like Wayne Thiebaud
Wayne Theibaud was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting common place objects, such as pies, cakes, lipsticks, paint, cans, and ice cream, cones, etc. He was born in 1920 and died in December 2021. he used heavy pigment and exaggerated colors for his subjects with well defined shadows. The objects were simplified. Caroline used his cheesecake photo to illustrate this artist big brush approach. She drew the shape in greens, including the blue for shadow and under the plate and then used the following colors to paint the cheesecake . CAD red mid and light, primary blue, phalo green, and white. She recommended using inexpensive paint to try this out as you layer the paint on quite thickly like icing. Towards the end she layered over the painting swiftly with big dollops of paint being swished around, especially on the berries. Enjoy playing with this artists way of painting.
Drawing Complex Building Scenes
Drawing Complex Building Scenes Break the building scene into shapes of small, medium and large and start with the large shape. Finding the middle of the photo draw in the large shape of the dome. Do not add the detail yet. Switch over to the horizontal lines connecting the dome to the remainder of the shapes. Find the vanishing point. There may be more than one. There may be more large buildings so before starting with the smaller ones add these. You can then go to the medium and smaller shapes and draw what you see is there not what you actually think is there. Start with the detail and tonal values by adding shadows to complete the shapes. This is almost like doodling in these areas. With the small shapes just draw in the tones of the shapes. Be careful not to draw dark shapes near the edge as it could take your eye off the page. If the shapes need adjustment at this time you can draw these in. For drawing distant buildings, Caroline suggest drawing a varied line for the horizon as she has indicated in the photos below.
Portrait in Charcoal and white Pastel
Portrait Drawing in Charcoal and Pastel White This exercise by Caroline is on tonal values. She started with a light grey drawing of the face. The charcoal was then used to draw the darker shadow on one side of the face. Charcoal is easy to wipe out, erase or smudge if a mistake is made. To help with the drawing measurements, she draws points, on the drawing on the width of the nose and mouth and eyes. The width of the nose is often the same as the width of the eyes. With the eyes check out the area of white in the actual eye. The ear starts above the level of the eyebrow. Measure all of the distances according to the facial distances. She starts with charcoal and blends. She can use the white but not for blending at this time. She then repeats the charcoal to darken over the shadows. Once they are drawn in the white pastel can be added but not blended as it simply turns grey with the charcoal. It is OK to blend it at the end if need be. At the end of the shaping of the eyes, they can be redrawn with the white pastel and the iris can be corrected. You were constantly adjusting. The charcoal that she used was by Coats, but she was not happy with it as it was quite scratchy. She suggested that the Windsor Newton charcoal are very good, as our a number of other charcoals. Enjoy practicing with these mediums and portraits.
Collage with Acrylic Paint
Caroline sketched out the head of a tiger, then using non shiny magazine pictures she picked out different coloured paper, some with interesting patterns, you could also use old postage stamps, wrapping paper, anything that will create interest and draw the eye. With a strong Pva glue you could also use old jewellery or even pebbles.Covering the tigers head with Pva glue, Caroline tore and added strips to the face, picking out a colour and shape for the nose adding extra layers again to create interest through texture. A jigsaw effect. To draw everything together, acrylic paint will cover most surfaces.Caroline mixed white yellow and red for stripes. She added a little yellow to white for the white stripes, blue, red and a little yellow and pink for grey using an old bristle brush to create the look of the fur. Then giving detail with black. The focal point are the eyes for which orange with a hint of black just to dull it down, circled with black and then the tigers markings, the nose was yellow with a hint of orange. The paint pulls the picture together and can make for a subtle look. Glaze everything when dry
Mark Making and Tonal Values
Tone, texture, colour and line! Caroline had quite a boring picture of brown cliffs going into a distance. With the use of acrylic paintsShe mapped out a rough line of the picture, then starting with the nearest, the foreground, she used warm colours to bring the cliff forward, yellow, red and blue to make a warm brown. She mixed the cooler colours for the distance, primary blue, phthalo green and red to dull things down, making a kind of turquoise.With lots of underpainting and thick brush strokes the first cliff started to appear from the paper, lots of reflective light into the sea and the sea colour, to the lower part of the cliff face building up lots of texture, adding rocks in the sea, the top of the cliff in contrast was light to give line and impact. As she continued down the line of the cliffs, duller colours and less texture to give them distance, adding dark shadows to separate the different sections.The movement of the sea imitated by the movement of the brush, tapping in different textures and blending whilst wet. Remember to cool colour down with a red in necessary.A wild sky was added with all the colours of the cliffs and the sea, giving a very moody storm look.To get different textures use old bristle brushes adding red or blue to give the tonal values, foreground or distance.Play with the paints adding purples to bring out the rocks and cliff edges to separate them.To give the white water movement, add a touch of lemon to the white, tap the white over the rocks and the bottom of the cliff and scratch for more texture and movement. Add light and dark to the top of the cliffs to give light using different angle brush strokes, going...
Abstract Ben Nicholson style
Caroline had a still life picture of a fruit bowl, Nicholson would pick out and separate the main shapes. Caroline drew the out line in Sepia ink with a small brush giving harder lines to give interest. She started by ‘seeing’ a star shape in the centre of the orange, she overlapped the grapes to give a better composition, she then added the bananas and apple. Nicholson liked warm colours to the foreground and cold to the background, he loved to add texture and flicked paint to add more interest. Using ultra marine, yellow ochre, adding a red to make various shades of grey. Adding a blue centre star to the orange draws the eye, then adding yellow on top of the orange paint. Lovely yellow bananas outlined with green, turquoise grapes carefully leaving a dash of white to give shine, muted apple, red and green yellow for light. Caroline carried the orange carefully through the the background, but used the muted greys to outline making sure there were no hard lines.
Expressive Loose Watercolour Animals
Caroline sketched an outline of squirrel. She mixed the water colours ready for use ranging from raw sienna, ultra marine, red, yellow ochre, green pthalo, and mixed to form lights and darks of purples and grey.She squinted to emphasise the dark areas, and noting any specific interest. Caroline started with the head. A twig or a drawing pen can be used.Using dark colours then pulling down with the brush to move the paint to a lighter tone, she blended the areas together, made sure the light around the eye was kept and the dark above emphasised. Keep the brush light using water to give a light wash, wiggling the colours together, flick and scratch to give looseness and texture. Because the colours are mixed in the beginning you can granulate the paint down the squirrel so the colours bleed into each other giving a soft but striking work. Water colour dries lighter so to keep the tonal values it will be necessary to go over the dark areas again. The tail was a wash then colour dropped in, Caroline made the black with red blue and green, keep working whilst wet, splatter and scrape again for texture. When the head was dry, Caroline filled in the eye leaving a slight white slit. She did use some true black for this. She emphasised the eye socket. Be bold with the dark but keep the light areas light. Go back to the tail repeat the dark areas but blend with water. She used a hint of red which she then added to the eye area as a reflection, splatter, scratch and flick. Any background needs to be muted as it would spoil the impact of the colours in the squirrel.
Painting watercolor skys and Clouds
Caroline instructed us to have all of our colors mixed ahead of time. She used yellow ocher and ultramarine to make the grays. All primaries mixed together will also make a gray. She used the turquoise straight without mixing it. For method one she took a large brush and painted a wash across the sky. She let it absorb until it was slightly damp. She picked up the shape of the clouds with a sponge and the bottom line of the cloud was, painted in a light gray. The shadows around the cloud were also in light grays. To get rid of the hard edge, she put a wet brush along the bottom to help move the line. Method 2 This method has no wet wash. All she did was paint the sky color around a cloud shape and used a wet brush to merge the hard edges into the clouds with a light gray. She painted lines into the cloud this way. Message three. A rainy sky was painted by using yellow ultramarine and red. She started with a pale yellow at the top of the cloud and orange at the bottom, and then used gray with the sharp edges, washing into the top of the cloud, into the yellow and into the orange. Some purple can be added to this as well to suggest rain. She suggested to keep this wet all the time to blend. Caroline uses the white night watercolors as they have very high pigment and are reasonably priced. In case any of us use these watercolors she informed us that apparently the white night watercolors which are from Russia are being taken off the shelves as the UK added a 30% tax on them so the manufacturer is withdrawing them from the UK market....
Ripples and Reflections with Coloured Pencils
Caroline often starts in the middle of the picture and works out. The dark/light contrast attracted her so that was where she started drawing the buildings, measuring shapes in comparison with others. She drew with a 4B pencil but normally would choose a 7B. She hold the pencil from the end( the back) to get more movement. The shadows were drawn in blacks and grays in cross hatching to darken. Caroline said that the best pencils were polychrome and Albert Durer. The cheaper ones had lighter pigment. She recommended putting on the colour in a similar way to when using pastels. One can purchase the blender and burnished pencils to assist. With the colours, she blended colour to achieve the correct tone. With the yellow, she swirls green lightly over top to blend. Her black was not deep enough so she added dark green and red blending in. Also red and blue were used in another area. One can see hints of colour underneath. It is imprtant to make the marks in the direction of the ripples using swirls for the bushes. You can only add so much colour before the area is saturated. photos
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