Page 21 - The Decorative Painter Summer 2014

ACRYLIC
BAUERNMALEREI TIPS
In the Bauernmalerei style of painting, some terms with which you might already be familiar are used in unexpected ways or have meanings that are different from what you are used to. For this and other reasons, it’s very important that you take a few minutes to read these painting tips before starting.
n Large flowers and leaves can be painted with the no. 4
round. Small flowers and leaves are painted with the no. 2 round. The no. 0 liner is ideal for stems, outlines, and veins. When using the liner, thin the paint with water to an inky consistency and load it all the way up to the ferrule. The best linework is produced by hold- ing the brush perpendicular to the surface and pulling it toward you.
n When properly loaded, a round brush will carry more paint than a flat. To load a round for use in basecoating a large area (the rose, for instance), press the bristles flat against the paint on the palette several times; don’t just dab the brush into the paint, but really flatten the brush against the palette. When painting flowers in Bauernmalerei, you’ll often be working wet-into-wet. In these cases load the brush as described, apply the basecoat, and then immediately reshape the brush by rolling it on a paper towel. When the point returns, poke the tip of the dirty brush into the over-stroke color and add the over-strokes immediately, while the basecoat is still wet. This is a quick and easy way to give a nice, blended look to the strokes. Remem- ber that the basecoat must be smooth, that the brush must still be dirty with the basecoat color, and that you must paint only one flower at a time—otherwise,
the flowers may be too dry before the over-strokes are added. If this happens, the over-strokes will not blend nicely with the basecoat color.
n In Bauernmalerei, to double-load simply means to load one side of a round brush in two different col- ors. To create a creamy texture, add a drop or two of Jo Sonja’s Flow Medium to all puddles of paint. Paint that is too thick will not flow from the brush prop- erly. Double-loading with one thick paint and one thin paint will not allow for smooth blending. Begin on one side of the brush, flattening the bristles in the paint by pressing them against the palette; this opens up the brush. Load the first color approximately half- way up the bristles in this way. Load the same side of the brush—do not turn it over—in a second color by stroking through the puddle on your palette two or three times. When you move to the surface, you’ll continue to use this loaded side of the brush. You have achieved a successful double-loading when you can see both colors coming off the brush. Do not over- blend when loading the second color; if you do, you’ll have a brush-mix instead of a double-load.
n Finally, you’ll encounter the term stick dots in this text. While smaller dots are easily made with a sty- lus, I use stick dots for larger dots, or for those that gradate in size from large to small. Stick dots are ap- plied with the handle end of a paintbrush. To make beautifully gradated dots, apply the largest dot with the end of the paintbrush handle. Apply three or four successive dots, each one smaller than the previous one, before reloading.