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WIP Grisaille
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Message
Posted
With acrylics you have to work much quicker, you don't have the luxury of being able to move the paint around for long periods. Still, I have always enjoyed working with acrylics and I'll see how this turns out. I'm busy till Sunday so won't be able to finish it till then. I did multiple glazes today though.
Posted
It's looking good. I'm sure you know you can buy retarding medium, though it'll only keep the paint workable for an hour or so (probably an hour at most).
There are also - and I've never tried these - "open" acrylics; they can be re-wetted, and I believe can be kept open for quite a time. Fraser Scarfe is your boy with these; there was also a painter whose demos were shown here some while back - Dawn should remember his name, I'm afraid the old senile decay is biting at my memory chip; sadly, he fell victim to the vile cancer: he was an early adopter of open acrylics.
Perhaps oddly, I've never been really tempted to try them - probably because I also paint in oil. But it's my birthday soon! Now if you were ALL to club together......
Yes, well, you've got to try, haven't you....?
I do wonder if open acrylics would be quite the answer though, because glazing doesn't require the underlayers to be still workable; if you could find some of Hockney's acrylics in which he employed glazing, that should be more helpful. I think, using medium, plus a little water, the paint can be kept manipulable for long enough to get the underpainting done; a spray bottle helps, as well; as does a stay-wet palette.
If you're used to painting in oil, transitioning to acrylic can be a somewhat puzzling challenge - but a) you've made a great start, and b) you already know, use and like acrylic - so all will be well. I know.
(I got a sense of déja vu writing this, suggesting I've said it all before; quite possible - I also left a word out, but fortunately noticed that in time. Ageing is such fun!)
Posted
It is good to see your grisaille experiences. I tried it and thought that it made painting a lot easier. I think I put it in the WIP section. I don’t seem to have gone back to it though, mostly because it is a bit hard to do in a live class and because I seem to have transitioned to coloured pencils, where the colours are already mixed. It is looking good so far. Best of luck!
Posted
More than one way to skin a cat..... or (tee hee!) Cat. **
The note on the historical practice of the original artist is quite correct - but as Marjorie says, not the point: the thing is, we can achieve our results in so many different ways, and glazing may be less common (may have become less common before acrylics intervened) than it was, but is still a very interesting way to paint a portrait. I'd like to think it a practice that will come back into vogue - and not only with acrylics.
** I promise I didn't even think of that crack before I'd written the note inspiring it! If that makes it any more forgiveable.
Posted
Marjorie took the debate a little further on the Gallery, regarding the merits of acyrlic glazing and that done in oils; worth reading her comment there.
I think that it's indeed true that oil paint offers whole other layers of subtlety than acrylic can achieve (I hope this doesn't get me drummed out of the National Association of Painters in Acrylic) .... that's why I still paint in oil; and to be quite honest, I've only scratched the surface of oil painting; my career trajectory was oil paint, acrylic, more acrylic, much more acrylic, then a bit of watercolour.
I've no doubt Marjorie is right about this. I think though that acrylic is capable of so much more than we allow it to achieve - so many of us have treated it as a rather crude medium, a second-best, just a permanent and opaque form of watercolour, when it's so much more than that.
Still - it would be interesting to pursue this issue here on the Forum: not so much "why is acrylic worse/better than oil", or vice versa, but "what can acrylic best do?"; "why do many of us keep going with our oils?", and more.
Now, granted - we'd all rather be painting than exploring such things. But when we're not - how about an exchange of views, as frank as you like and preferably franker?
Posted
I think I chose this one Marjorie because I liked the expression on her face. I thought it would make a good study to try an acrylic glaze. Thanks Art. I did take photos for my own reference but did not post them because I had just done postings for the oil glaze, that's the only reason. You should post your updates as you feel is necessary. Robert, I'm sure everyone would love to glaze. I'm not sure why it's not popular. The necklace you mention on the gallery was easy, just a case of getting the colour mixes right. The necklace took me no longer than two minutes once I mixed my tones. Robert, it was well worth this trial run with the acrylic glazing and I'm glad you brought the subject up. I will use it again.
Edited
by Denise Cat
Posted
Linda, for this necklace I mixed a basic gold colour of Cadium Yellow and white. I added some Ochre and Raw Umber in a graduated mix. I also added a hint of Alizarin Crimson to the various tones here and there. I find with a basic gold mix, have green, blue, red out on the palette to add to the tip of the brush to get the tone you are looking for. It might be just a fraction on your brush, that you need to add to the mix. Gold has many colours and reflections. The highlight on this, I used a Buff Titanium. The chain is made up of small dots. It's not a continual line, it only looks that way. Even though they are only small dots, it's important to get mixes right, so, have everything on your palette.