1/17/11

SAME SUBJECT

The barn posted below was created using a flat, 1" brush from Daniel Smith Art Company in Seattle. It's from their platinum series and is around $15, my favorite brush ever. However, when my hope is to paint in a loosey-juicy fashion, the way this same barn was done in the previous post (see below,) I use a good squirrel mop brush. The Daniel Smith flat brush gives me plenty of control with watercolor, rather than the looser look. This brush has a razor edge so very tiny spaces can be painted as easily as a 1" swatch area can.

Another difference in the paintings is the kind of paint that was used, with this one being done with Golden and Da Vinci fluid acrylics, with one, or at the most, two, glazes or washes. An old bristle fan brush was used for the grasses and a credit card employed to indent the still damp, painted paper for the tree branches.

Miskit was applied to cover the snowy roofs, the tops of the silos and fence posts before beginning. The paper was misted overall, then diluted colors were allowed to flow as I tipped parts of the paper at a slant for the sky. The trees were tapped in while the paper was still damp to create a soft look, with the tips of the pines being put in later when the paper was dry.

Once the sky area was dry, the whole paper was misted again. Since the sky area was painted with fluid acrylics, rewetting that previous wash didn't disturb it a bit. The snow bank was blushed on to the top of the hill and allowed to move on its own while the paper was held at a slant. (I never ever tape down my paper so that it can be manipulated at whatever angles I want when it's wet.)

The details of the barn area and fence posts were added, again with fluid acrylics. The paint seems to dry just a breath darker than it looks when it's wet, quite the opposite of watercolor, which dries considerably lighter when used in washes this wet. I'd like to try this once again using a squirrel brush in the fluid acrylics in a loosey-juicy style, but first I'll have to buy a cheaper squirrel brush than the ones that I save just for watercolor. The painting actually has much more color in the barn than it looks here. It kind of glows IRL.

"EARLY EVENING" Fluid Acrylics on 140#CP Arches 14 x 11"

8 comments:

Berit said...

Beautiful painting:)
Greetings, Berit.

Christiane Kingsley said...

Both versions are beautiful, but if I had to choose a favorite, it would be this more recent one: the sky is so gorgeous and the barn does seem to glow with soft colors. Stunning!

Studio at the Farm said...

Beautiful, Sandy. And I can not describe more closely than by saying "it pleases my eye".

javi said...

Un gran trabajo, muy delicado y lleno de matices y magicas tonalidades.saludos

Sadami said...

Dear Sandy,
Thank you for sharing the info on brushes and media! The old, watercolor painting has more wash and this Fluid Acrylic work looks more solid. But both, beautiful!! (coincidence, I bought brushes today.) Keep up wonderful work!
Cheers, Sadami

Cynthia Schelzig said...

Normally I am not drawn to old barn paintings but I think you have changed my mind for the better:)...even barns cannot escape
your artistic brush and become something of magic. I actually want to GO hangout in this barn!!!

Cynthia Schelzig said...

oh yeah,,,I was so enthralled with the magic that I forgot to say thanks for explaining how this all came about...interesting to read your work process.

Meera Rao said...

Thank you for the primer on fluid acrylics --I always learn so much from your posts! And I think I am partial to the watercolor version :)