Page 25 - The Decorative Painter Winter 2015

ACRYLIC
HAT, SHOES, AND BUCKLES
Basecoat the hat, shoes, and large braided macramé cord with Burnt Umber. Let dry. Normally the following details would be left to the finishing steps, but in order to paint the highlights, the macramé cord needs to be glued to the hat. Once the paint is dry, hot glue the macramé cord around the head and above the hairline with the ends meeting in back. Trim away excess and secure ends together with hot glue. Now that the cording is in place, use a no. 6 oval drybrush and Norwegian Orange to dry- brush highlights on the cord around the head. Keep the highlights bright in the middle of each section around the head. Repeat and brighten the highlights on the cord with a layer of the Mustard Seed.
Use Silver to basecoat the four large foam squares for the buckles. Carefully hot glue the small black squares to the middle of each of the silver squares. Then line the post of the buckle. Save the buckles for later as they will be glued to the nutcracker in the finishing steps.
JACKET AND BELT
Basecoat the jacket, sleeves, lever, and inside the lever area with Mustard Seed. Use Turners Yellow and the no. 10 domed round blender to drybrush highlights on the main areas of the jacket and sleeves. Apply a thin coat of Jo Sonja’s Clear Glazing Medium over the jacket and sleeves to set the paint. Let dry. Then transfer the detail lines on the jacket and sleeves with the white graphite paper. Use Brown Earth and a no. 12 flat to float shad- ing on the edges of the jacket. Basecoat both sides of the mini craft stick with Burnt Umber. Transfer or tape off the rest of the belt around the sides of the jacket; and paint with Burnt Umber. Use a no. 8 oval drybrush with Brown Earth to drybrush highlights on the mini craft stick and around the belt. Use the Light Turners Yellow Mix and the no. 5/0 script liner to line the vertical stripes on each sleeve, and the no. 1 short liner to line the thick edging around the jacket.
TONGUE
Use Red Earth to completely basecoat the top of the lever, ending just before the curve of the lever. Use a no. 6 oval drybrush with Rose Pink to drybrush highlights on each side of the tongue. Then
brighten the highlights on the tongue
with a touch of the Light Pink Mix. Use
Brown Umber to round out the tip of
the tongue by basecoating the corners
of the lever around the tongue. Also, line the crease down the center of the tongue with Brown Umber.
BOTTOM BASE
Basecoat the bottom base with Olive Green. Drybrush highlights around and on top of the base with Leaf. Use white graphite paper to transfer the leaf design. Basecoat the leaves with Mustard Seed. Use a no. 12 flat to float shading on the base of each leaf with Brown Earth.
Float highlights on just the upper leaves with Turners Yellow. Use the no. 5/0 script liner to line the stems with Burnt Umber. Use a small stylus and Mustard Seed to add a small dot close to the tip of each leaf.
PUMPKINS, LEAVES, AND STEMS
Completely basecoat the three pumpkins with Norwe- gian Orange. Using a charcoal pencil and the pattern as a guide, lightly draw each of the pumpkin sections. The large pumpkin has eight sections, and the medium and small pumpkins each have seven sections. Use Tiger Lily and the no. 6 and 10 domed round blenders to drybrush bright highlights down the center of each section. Wipe off the same brushes and use them to further brighten each highlight with a touch of Turners Yellow.
Use Leaf to basecoat all sides of the foam leaves. Use the no. 6 domed round blender to drybrush highlights on the top of each leaf with a touch of Turners Yellow. Then basecoat the twisted macramé stem pieces with Burnt Umber. Once dry, tie a knot at the end of each stem leav- ing a small tail at the end. Drybrush the stems with Leaf leaving some of the Burnt Umber showing through. Set aside leaves and stems for later.
DECORATIVEPAINTERS.ORG
The Decorative Painter
• ISSUE NO. 4, 2015 23