Page 90 - The Decorative Painter Summer 2014

OIL
These backgrounds come out a little different every time I paint them. Con- sider my sample a suggestion.
Bunch up your rag so it is poufy and soft in the center. Starting with the white area in the middle and using a soft touch, gently rough the Titanium White paint into the Dioxazine Purple paint. Work out from there. When you reach another area that has Titanium White, switch to a clean area of your rag. After you have roughed all the paint, use a clean area of the rag to gently soften if desired. Do not over-blend; keep it mottled. When the surface is completely dry to the touch, mist it with DecoArt Multi-Surface Sealer. Apply the design using white transfer paper.
PAINTING METHOD
I use three no. 4 short shaders: one for Dioxazine Purple, one for Blue- Violet Mix, and one for Red-Violet Mix. I use a no. 6 short shader for Tita- nium White, and a no. 2 short shader for Blue-Black Shade Mix.
Paint all items in the following manner using the appropriate colors. Load only the bottom quarter of your brush with paint. Apply a thin, smooth coat of paint with no ridges, and paint each color right up against an adjacent color. Block in all of the colors as shown in the Step-by-Step on page 87, and then blend using the largest oval blender you can handle for the area. To blend, lay the bristles so that they straddle the two values of paint, and then very lightly tickle them together by zigzagging across the line so you move only the top layer of paint. Next, pat gently with the oval blender until the values melt together and you cannot see the transition line. Wipe your brush on the paper towel often to remove excess paint. I only soften the line togeth- er where they meet; I do not pull one color into the other unless it is desired.
Apply tints as indicated using a very light application of paint, and then gently soften around the edges with an oval blender.
Pansies have five petals; the front three have fine lines pulled out from the center. Apply the lines using the no. 10/0 liner, thinning your paint with Liberty Odorless Brush Cleaner, or a short shader and a chisel stroke of dry paint. I prefer the short shader brush. Wipe clean, and then load your brush by stroking both sides of the bristles into the edge of the paint, press- ing the bristles together as you stroke. This will create a crisp edge, which you will use to stroke your lines perpendicular to the surface. The harder you press, the wider the lines will be. If you do not like a line, you can blend it out. I use this technique for the veins on the leaves as well.
LET’S PAINT
PANSY 1
Use Titanium White and Dioxazine Purple tinted with Quinacridone Violet after blending. Leave the two back petals streaky. Shade the darkest areas with Blue-Violet Mix. Use Quinacridone Violet and Dioxazine Purple for the lines.
PANSY 2
Apply Titanium White then Blue-Violet Mix and blend. Shade with Blue- Black Shade Mix and tint with Red-Violet Mix. Use Blue-Violet Mix and Blue- Black Shade Mix for the lines.
dEcOratIvEpaINtErS.Org
PAINTING TIPS
All bends, flips, and folds point toward the center where the leaf or flower petal attaches to the stem. Notice where your eye is drawn first: the deeper, darker shading; vibrant colors and accents; and brighter, lighter areas. As your eye moves around the design, the details are softer farther out in the design, and the values and temperatures begin to grow closer together.
I encourage you to apply the paint sparsely so you will not pick any up should you touch it with your hand.
Paint one flower at a time to help you distinguish all of the petals and folds.
The pansies are numbered for convenience; I recommend you paint from back to front if you think you might drag your hand in the paint.
Frequently refer to the Shad- ing and Direction Map on page 89 to make it easier for you to get the correct angle of your strokes. Refer to the Step-by-Step to see what each area looks like before it is blended.
Do not clean the brushes until you are finished with the painting. You will be painting with dry brushes.