The fourth live session will be here on:
Monday 1st February
at
6PM Uk time (10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern)
What we’ll be doing
Now that we’ve warmed up nicely with some studies and found our feet a little with this tricky subject, we’ll make a start on the full painting.
In this first session on the painting, we’ll be aiming to:
- Get a good line block in established, simplifying the form
- Get all the major colour areas established
- Handle our edges to make sure we don’t get them too defined too soon
- Create expression with our brush strokes right at the start that will still be visible at the end
The painting may not look like much at the end of this session, but try not to be tempted to bring any of it to a finish! We’re really focusing carefully on our drawing, values, colour and edges in large, simplified blocks, building a strong foundation that will build on the following two sessions.
In the second sesison, we’ll define of the roses more and in the final session we’ll look at where we want to resolve things more to bring them to create focus and depth.
Remember, the point is not to create a finished painting, but to learn and practice a process of gradually building up from simplified beginnings.
Although of course, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t try for a finished piece of that’s what you’d like to do.
Preparation
There’s no preparation to do apart from the colour mixing. We’ll apply the couch and do the drawing out live in the session.
What you’ll need
Brushes: Mostly, the brushes you’ve used so far will be fine. We’ll be working over a larger surface, so you’ll want a couple of larg-ish (1 inch) brushes for the background. Then a selection of half inch synthetic flats for the flowers themselves.
Surface: We’ll be working larger for this final painting, so a panel 9 by 12 inches. I’ll be using an ampersand gessobord panel as usual. You can use what you like, but make sure your surface is not absorbent.
Palette:
- Titanium white
- Ivory black
- Raw Umber
- Bright yellow lake
- Cadmium yellow
- Yellow ochre
- Quinacridone rose
- Transparent red oxide
- Phthalo green
It might also help to have Green Gold on hand if you have it. It can be useful for some of the hues in the shadows.
Medium: linseed oil and a solvent. We’ll be working into a couch as usual, although with a slightly higher solvent content. Don’t put the couch on until the session starts, or it might dry as your’re working on the painting!
Reference photos
Photo one – the subject with a grid fro drawing out
Photo two – the subject by itself
Photo three – a blurred and pixelated version of the subject to help us to see the bigger forms and avoid detail at the start
Photo four – a value only version with a valu scale, to help with nailing those values!
