Sunday, June 7, 2009

Picture a Day - Day 186

I'm not a big fan of sharing any painting tips or techniques. It isn't because I have stumbled upon some ancient secret and I want to keep it all to myself or that I actually hire gnomes to make all my paintings (mental note, look into gnome unions).

No I just don't have many cool or interesting tips to disperse. Use brushes comes to mind. Paint over darker colors with a light one for texture. Soap and water are your best friends when it comes to acrylic. Yeah nothing too profound.

But I have re-started a technique that I quite love the look of (I have a weird habit of finding something I like and then abandoning it). I used it to create the background for the raven and also on a new wedding dress (which looks tre chic right now if I do say so).I think most normal artists would call it sponging, but I'm too cheap for that. Instead I use my good friend Mr. Paper towel. It gives me a nice control over painting contrasting colors in a random ebb and flow.

I'm actually working on a painting all for me, myself and I. It's my first ever 18X24 and I hope it'll look really cool once I'm done. I promise I'll share once I add the last important bits and then you can see better how easy the "paper towel" method really is and what it can result in.

And since it's Sunday and dark and yucky out here's the main reason why that trend to take animal heads and turn them into pillows and bean bag chairs should die:Believe it or not but that's actually supposed to be a giraffe though I keep seeing Snuffaluffagus everytime I look at it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember sponging - for a while as a child I took decorative painting lessons from a family friend. My mum was really into it and had all this stuff, including sea sponges. It was quite intense what we were able to do. Of course, now I have forgotten it all but that is okay.

I'm glad that your "sponging" technique works just as well - more cost effective anyways.

Leslie said...

I see a funny colored hippopotamus.