Ade's Acrylics Demo
4th Oct 2012
The Target
The demo I am
proposing will be Mountains. The demo will need 3 hours so please
arrive to be set-up for a prompt start at 7pm. We should all go away
with a finished painting. The reference photo is below.
To make the picture
a little easier to understand here is a black and white and a tonal
version:
I will bring a
complete reference painting to the demo – it won’t look exactly
like these – my stuff never is that precise – and the sky’s a
bit boring so that’ll need fixing. Note that these pictures are in
4:3 format (ie they are 4 units horizontal and 3 vertical so in order
to get a similar composition your support (ie the thing you paint on)
needs to roughly the same ratio of dimensions eg: 16x12 inches /
40x30 cm etc...
This is a picture of
the reference painting... note the different crop.
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What you need to
bring (all prices from 2010 but I doubt they’ve changed much)
Paint
I’ll have a chat
with Tom about the clubs paint stash and I will have quite a bit with
me but let’s assume you are bringing your own:
I use Daler Rowney
system 3 as it’s cheap and does the job however it can be difficult
to get hold of in York. The art shop in the Shambles does stock it –
but he charges full price. Hobby craft in Leeds also stocks it (again
at the same price ~£3.85 per tube) for that reason I recommend
buying online: Jacksons www.jacksonsart.co.uk
charge £2.70 per tube, www.craftyarts.co.uk
charge £2.31 per tube – buy 75ml tubes. If you’re really into
acrylics (like me) buy the 500 ml ones – but spend over their free
delivery level or you’ll get stung on postage 500ml = 1/2Kg = lots
of money.
If you’re buying
system 3 avoid the new heavy body and 3D ranges as they’re harder
to use for beginners.
The palette
(colours) I’ll be using for the demo are:
Cadmium Red (Hue),
Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Yellow (Not the deep), Burnt Umber and Titanium
White. You need to get as close to these as possible or you might
find my mixing advice during the demo just doesn’t work for you.
If you are using
another brand (fine by me) then their versions of Cadmium Red and
Yellow should be OK but go for the medium versions (rather than deep
or light). Cadmium Red and Yellow both tend towards orange and are
therefore warm Red and Yellow (hence avoid crimson and lemon –
these are both cool). Phthalo Blue often comes in a green or red
shade. The system 3 version is quite neutral but has a slight bias
towards green. Oddly the better quality Daler-Rownley (cryla) phthalo
blue green shade is very green. If in doubt on your blue get a
neutral/primary blue or even cobalt blue... Burnt Umber (reddy brown)
and titanium white (white) are pretty standard...
Brushes
If you want to get
the most from the demo, you need to use appropriate brushes. I only
use brights (short flats).
Do not bring your
nice watercolour or oil brushes as acrylics will destroy them. I
recommend having just two brushes: a ½” and a 1” short flat–
you can probably live without the 1” for this demo. Rounds and
little brushes don’t work for me and you’ll find the demo really
tough with them and you will have trouble keeping up (your choice).
I’ll have a few spare brushes with me but if you intend to do
acrylics regularly invest in your own.
System 3 brushes are
OK. Crafty arts are the cheapest for individual brushes. A 1” flat
is £4.54 and ½” flat is £2.98. You can also get full sets of
these brushes on ebay at reasonable prices.
There are better
brushes out there but obviously the cost more money... and if you’re
spending the money go for long handles: Windsor and Newton LH Short
Flat Galeria Acrylic No 18 £10.43 (again from crafty arts)... if you
want the best then go to Rosemary & Co www.rosemaryandco.com
and look at the Shiraz or Ivory ranges (and brace yourself – not
cheap - but the ones I use).
If all that sounds
just too expensive then have a look for cheap synthetic brushes in
the Range or equivalent – just make sure they are synthetic – and
flats.
Support
The demo will be
done with undiluted paint applied thickly and involves a fair bit of
wet-into-wet work. Paper will just fall to bits or will buckle under
the weight. You could you an acrylic practice pad – but tape the
sheet to something solid like a drawing board.
I strongly recommend
you use a canvas board or even a stretched canvas. Try the range or
even that cheap books place... erm... I will bring a few boards which
you can buy from me for £3 each.
Whatever you use
keep the ratio of dimensions as close to 4:3 as possible. I recommend
12x16”.
Sundries
Must haves: Water
pot , some kind of palette, kitchen roll. Water pots – generally
bigger is better. Palettes – disposable palette paper works for me
but good sized greaseproof paper plates work well too. Kitchen roll –
Bounty is the daddy.
Nice to have: some
kind of easel... probably a box or desk easel – try the Range.
Sprayer – an atomiser not a plant sprayer.... Barnets or Boots?
A warning on
clothing
Acrylic doesn’t
come out – ever. Doesn’t matter to me, I dress like a tramp
anyway... but the more elegant of you should watch your clothes.
Aprons might be a good idea.
Any questions to
adebrownlow@btinternet.com
*****************************************************************Table Top Stand
Here is a picture of the stand we will be making for the exhibition. You can make one yourself if you want to.
The completed BIG Picture. June 2010 our second big picture
49 pieces of a well known picture were copied and enlarged by members. Nobody knew what the picture was until it was assembled at our open day in June.
Well done to everybody. This was a great exercise for the club and the result is pretty good.
As somebody famously says 'Can you tell what is is yet?'
