Page 47 - The Decorative Painter Spring 2018

ACRYLIC
STEP-BY-STEP
ROSE STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3
DEW DROP STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3
pattern lines on the Step-by-Step even after I had done the various stages of the design. Once there is even a light coverage of acrylic with either, lines don’t wipe away. Regular white graphite lines are quite hard to remove if you don’t cover them completely.
How do I load the brush for floating color? Masterson Sta-Wet Painter’s Pal Palette took me from fighting the switch from oil to acrylic growling and ugly to a completely happy switch. It’s all in the loading. My china painting teacher had us sideload to blend the oil-textured color into our brush for a graduated load. I adapted these techniques to my oil painting and once I had my sta-wet palette, I realized it worked pretty much the same way as the china paint.
THE SECRET IS...clean your brush with every load. You can sometimes sneak in a second, but it’s usually not as perfect as the first load. I make sure there is all the water the sponge will hold beneath a piece of palette paper that has been soaked in a cylindrical container for at least three hours. I wipe down the surface to remove excess water from the top side of the paper using a Viva paper towel folded into fourths. I then place my colors in families (light, medium and dark) in a straight vertical line on the palette, using only a single drop of each color. Better to take a second drop if you need it later and besides, the fresher the drop the better the blend in the brush.
I establish a blending path, then stay with it for consecutive loads. If you reduce the brush size, you need to use a small 2" square of paper towel to wipe and clean off the blending path right up to the paint droplet. The width of the blending path cannot be wider than the width
Carefully slide one edge of the sponge and apply color to the outer thickness edge and also to the inside cut-out. Because the wood was wet first, it will allow you to do all top and thickness areas. Try not to get any color on the backside as you work.
Let it sit on the dry-it points for a couple of minutes, then place your fingers on diagonal points and flip the frame over so the back is up. If you have over-applied the thickness edge color so it seeped onto the back, you will want to scrub it off as much as you can or it will not allow you to keep an even, all area, thin coverage. Wet the surface and apply paint as you did the top. With a nice piece of knot-free wood like this, I really like to make the whole thing in a single layer of color.
Allow it to dry thoroughly, then sand with the fine grain sanding block and very light pressure to remove all raised graining. Tack away all dust particles.
LET’S PAINT
TRACING ON THE DESIGN
You could photocopy the pattern onto vellum or carefully trace just the rose and leaves on tracing paper. I try to make my patterns as accurate and easy as I can, but you must also trace accurately or you will be lost before you know it when you start painting to establish the design. Use White Super Chacopaper on your soft green frame.
Note: I used Chacopaper on my wood piece, but I used white graphite on the Step-by-Step. Chacopaper wipes away with a damp cloth, so it’s not as critical to cover pattern lines exactly. I wanted you to be able to really see
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The Decorative Painter • ISSUE NO. 2, 2016 45