BRING OUT YOUR CREATIVITY
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Resume
  • Let Me Make Some Art For You
  • Email Sign Up
  • Ebay
  • Prints
  • Prints

Happy Mood In A Painting: Part Three: Adding Dimension

11/23/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
It's time to start adding dimension to my subject's face. The first thing I did when I started working on this painting again, was glaze yellow over the edges of her right cheek and nose where a ring of red had formed. I’m very happy with her cheek now, but I think her nose still needs some work.
Her hair needed some highlights. Because these needed to be opaque, I painted strokes of titanium white where I wanted them to be. Otherwise, they wouldn't have shown up. For the highlights themselves, I used a combination of yellow with a touch of burnt Sienna.
I was considering going over the apples of her cheeks with titanium white mixed with yellow because the highlights are just not as bright as I think they need to be. I know I’ll have to careful to blend the edges out properly of course.
It’s the day after after I wrote that last block and I’ve followed through with my plan of painting titanium white mixed with yellow over the areas I said I would. I really didn’t mix enough yellow into the white at first at it was really glaring. After I glazed some yellow over it, though, I was much happier. Now they’re starting to look like cheekbones.
Next I'm going to add flowers around her to enhance the cheerful mood of the painting.
0 Comments

Happy Mood In A Painting: Part Two: Adding Color

11/22/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
​​I started the process of adding color by glazing raw sienna mixed with zinc white over this woman’s face. I decided to add my warm yellow over the parts of her face where light would hit, so cheekbones, bridge of nose and chin protrusion. I thought this would look more natural than painting it all over.
​I wanted to paint a golden red over this yellow. Now, I wanted this to be golden red, not orange. I experimented to figure out how I’m going to come up with that color. I decided I was probably going to mix green into red and mix that into yellow. After this is on the canvas and dry, I’m probably going to glaze some of my red and green mixture over it.
I'm less happy with my piece after having added this last layer. That just means I need to figure out how to improve it. I need to make my shadows around the nose and cheekbones darker and my highlights brighter.
If you're interested in how I bring a piece back from being "ruined", which happens more often than you might like this video.
0 Comments

Creating A Happy Mood In A Painting: Part One

11/16/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
A few years ago, I showed you how I made a painting with a dark and spooky mood. I decided then that one of these days I would do a something about creating a calm and happy mood in a painting and now I’m finally doing it. ​​I chose this particular photo because of the woman’s serene expression. I’ll be using mostly warm tones, yellows and oranges.
The concept of using warm colors starts with background, for which I used yellow mixed with a bit of burnt umber.
Picture
I’m using a sepia toned underpainting instead of my usual gray one for this piece. This will not inferior with the warmth of the colors I’ll be putting on top. I know this from this experiment.
Picture
I part two of this post, I'll be discussing the surface colors.
0 Comments

Painting A Live Model

11/9/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
 I’ve had the opportunity to draw live models before in art classes, but today I made my first attempt at painting one. This session took place in the Craft Studio 2 of my community’s club house. I chose to work in watercolor. I started by sketching in the outline of the subject’s face and body as quickly as I could while still making it accurate. To make sure the features of the face were in the right places, I used the techniques outlined here. 
When it came time to start painting, I started with the model’s flesh, which I painted by mixing yellow and purple. Now, the color I had was going to be way too dark, so I wet my paper first to dilute the color. Watercolor is probably not the best medium or the most practical medium for a short modeling session, since when you wet the paper, like I did, you have to wait for that layer to dry. When someone’s only going to be in front of you for a half an hour, you want to be able to go back and add more layers as quickly as possible.
After I painted the model’s hair, I realized I needed another layer on her face. This layer, though, was way too yellow. Nothing I could do about that, though, until it dried. In the meantime, I blocked in color on her shirt.
Once it was safe to go back over the face on my portrait, I did so with purple, making sure to thin it out of course. This toned the yellow right down. I decided to use purple for the shadows and planes on her face too. I tried to look and see where the edges of the shadows were and draw them in my piece.
​My goal was more about having fun and learning than creating a masterpiece. If I was painting a model professionally, it would be done in sessions and both the model and I would take breaks. I think next time, I'll work in black and white. That will probably be easier. 
1 Comment

Adding Background Details

11/2/2021

0 Comments

 
​Paying attention to seemingly unimportant background details can make a big difference in your piece, because of the dimension these details add. This impacts your entire piece.
Picture
Drawing before adding the pattern to the wood
Picture
Drawing after adding the pattern to the wood
Take a look at the rails on the fence this bird is perched on. In the pic on the left, I have no pattern in the wood and in the pic on the right, I do. You can probably see that the first picture looks relatively flat in comparison. When I put the first curves of the wood pattern in, I could see the clear separation between the top and sides of the rail start to form.
​I was almost going to skip this part because it seemed boring and unnecessary. The bird is my focal point. As long as I have enough detail on him, I’m good, I thought. But giving the rails more dimension, by adding the details on the wood, also gave the bird more impact. Pay attention to your background and you can make your subject look even better.
0 Comments

      Never Miss A Post

    Subscribe to Newsletter

    Sara Millett

    Painter of portraits and wildlife

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All
    Acrylic Floral Paintings
    Acrylic Nature Paintings
    Acrylic Painting
    Acrylic Paintings
    Acrylic Painting Tips
    Acrylic Painting Video Tutorials
    Acrylic Portrait Paintings
    Acrylic Portraits
    Acrylic Wildlife Paintings
    Advice About Art Supplies
    Advice For Artists
    Advice For Beginning Artists
    Animal Drawing
    Animal Paintings
    Art
    Art Advice
    Art Discussions
    Art For Stress Relief
    Art Habits
    Artist Questions
    Artists And Social Media
    Art Lessons
    Art Motivation
    Art Thoughts
    Art Tips
    At Thoughts
    Avoiding Blooms In Watercolor Painting
    Avoiding Plagiarism In Art
    Being An Artist
    Canvas Choice
    Colored Pencil
    Color Layering
    Color Mixing
    Color Mixing Exercise
    Composition Tips
    Concepts For Paintings
    Creating Depth In Your Painting
    Creating Texture
    Creative Process
    Creativity
    Dealing With Difficulty In Art
    Drawing Animals In Pastels
    Drawing Glass
    Drawing Portraits
    Drawing Tips
    Encouragement For Artists
    Famous Artists
    Fixing Color Mistakes
    Glazing(technique)
    Graphite Drawing
    Hair In Watercolor
    How To Work As An Artist
    Impressionism
    Improve Your Drawings
    Improving As An Artist
    Inspiration
    Issues With Watercolor
    Landscape Painting
    Lightfastness
    Mood In A Painting
    Mood In Art
    Nature Drawings
    Nature Painting
    Nature Painting In Watercolor
    Nature Painting Tips
    Nature Scenes
    New Ways To Mix Skin Tone
    Originality In Art
    Painting A Deer In Watercolor
    Painting Advice
    Painting Animals In Acrylics
    Painting Animals In Watercolor
    Painting Backgrounds
    Painting Birds In Acrylics
    Painting Birds In Watercolor
    Painting Clouds In Watercolor
    Painting Detail
    Painting Experiments
    Painting Feathers In Watercolor
    Painting From Life
    Painting Glass
    Painting Human Features In Acrylics
    Paintings
    Paintings Done On Ampersand Boards
    Painting Skin Tone
    Paintings Of Animals
    Paintings Of Birds
    Painting Sunrises
    Painting Textures
    Painting Tips
    Painting Transparency
    Painting Turtles In Watercolor Pencil
    Painting Water
    Painting White Things
    Pastel Drawings
    Planning Paintings
    Playing With Paint
    Portrait Drawing
    Portrait Painting
    Portrait Painting In Acrylics
    Portrait Painting In Watercolor
    Portrait Painting Tips
    Portraits
    Portrait Tips
    Productivity For Artists
    Product Reviews
    Routine For Artists
    Routines
    Sketching In Watercolor
    Skin Tone Tips
    Thoughts On Productivity
    Tips For Artists
    Tips For Beginner Artists
    Tips For Painting Fur
    Trying New Mediums
    Understanding Color As An Artist
    Use Of Color
    Use Of Color In Art
    Use Of Light And Shadows
    Use Of Underpainting
    Using A Reference Photo
    Using Color In Art
    Using Reference Photos
    Videos
    Watercolor Nature Painting
    Watercolor Painting
    Watercolor Paintings
    Watercolor Painting Tips
    Watercolor Portrait Painting
    Watercolor Portraits
    Watercolor Techniques
    Watercolor Tips
    Watercolor Wildlife Painting
    Ways To Draw Better
    Ways To Improve Your Paintings
    Ways To Use Color In Your Art
    Wildilife Painting
    Wildlife Art
    Wildlife Drawing
    Wildlife In Watercolor
    Wildlife Painting
    Wildlife Painting In Acrylics
    Wildlife Paintings
    Wildlife Painting Tips
    Working As An Artist
    Working Through Difficulty In Art
    Working With Ink
    Working With Pastels
    Youtube

Privacy Policy​
Terms Of Service​
Contact​
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Resume
  • Let Me Make Some Art For You
  • Email Sign Up
  • Ebay
  • Prints
  • Prints