Painting
Acrylic paint and colour mixing
First thing to know about acrylic paint… THIS STUFF DRIES FAST. ☺
Ferrule: Metal part of the paintbrush that holds the bristles together – no paint here!
Water: Keep it clean! Avoid muddy colors
“Mixing…It’s a ratio…”
Value: Lightness or darkness of any hue
Tint: Any hue plus varying degrees of white (Lighter = more white less hue) Ex: 10% hue + 90% white = VERY light value
Shade: Any hue plus its complement OR a dark COOL hue(violet, blue, green) Ex: 10% hue + 90% complement/cool dark = very dark value
Tone: Any Hue plus grey
*Layering of hues is fine. Wait until first layer is DRY to avoid the“lift” effect (white spot when painting)
Care of your Brushes
Acrylic paint dries very fast. To preserve the health of your paintbrushes it is extremely important to:
- Keep the bristles moist at all times while painting.
- Clean brushes promptly at the end of each painting session.
During your acrylic painting session, make sure to rinse any residual paint from your brushes before putting them down and keep them wet just in case there is any unseen residue of paint near the ferrule, you don't want it to dry, or your bristles will spread out and lose their shape.
When you change color paint or you switch to another brush, remove any excess paint with a paper towel and rinse the brush thoroughly, then lay the wet brush flat until you need it again.
How to Wash Your Brushes in 10 Steps
Remove most of the paint from of your brushes using a paper towel or a rag.
Wet with water
rub the brush onto a soap bar
Rub the soapy brush on the palm of your hand, in circles.
Create enough foam to take off all residues of paint.
Massage the bristles with your fingers to get all the paint out from the middle of the hairs.
Rinse thoroughly and repeat until foam and water are clear.
Dry excess water with a rag, being gentle on the bristles.
Flat dry, making sure that hairs are not pushing against any obstacles that may bend them.
Once dry, store your brushes flat or bristle-up, to avoid bending of the hairs.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO ON HOW THE MOST EXPENSIVE PAINT BRUSHES ARE MADE
ACRYLIC PAINT
Different from water colours as designed to use straight from the tube [thicker - think custard consistency]
Brushes are usually stronger [often square]
Longer drying time
To darken a colour - use the opposite on the colour wheel [or dark blue]
There are many ways to apply Acrylic paint from thin washes to thick impasto...
ACTIVITY: watch the paint techniques video below and copy them into your visual diary [you can do as spheres or you may apply random techniques over your page]
The Color Wheel - Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
Primary: Red, yellow, blue cannot be mixed
Secondary: Orange, green, violet Mixed from two primary colors (50/50 mix) Ex: Green - one part blue and one part yellow
Tertiary: Red-orange, red-violet, yellow-green, yellow-orange, blue-green, blue-violet one primary + one secondary color (25/75 mix) **
Ex: Blue-Violet – this will be 3 parts Blue and one part Red paint
Ex: Yellow-Green – this will be 3 parts Yellow and one part Blue paint
Complementary Colors – ANY two colors opposite each other on the color wheel
Analogous Colors – Any 3-5 colors side by side on the color wheel (eg: Violet, Blue-Violet, Blue, Blue-Green, Green)
Colour Bias
Imagine a time of poster paints and white paper. Of bright colours, chubbie crayons, green grass and blue skies. These were perfect painting days apart from one thing….brown sludge.
Lots and lots of brown.
Your teachers told you ‘mix yellow and blue to make green’, red and blue to make purple. You listened, but the problem was still there.. you created brown sludge. What were you doing wrong?
Nothing, you were just given the wrong paints…
In basic colour theory we learn that the colour wheel can be split into warm and cool colours. This can be confusing when we start to use paint as the primary colours red, blue and yellow alone are not the whole story. Small amounts of other colours are hidden within each pigment – this gives each colour a colour bias. This is often also referred to as a warm or cool bias... confusing right! THIS VIDEO gives a really good explanation of colour bias. or you can read more about colour bias here
ACTIVITY
You will now paint a 12 point colour bias colour wheel to show the difference between the two sets of colours. Print out this template to work on. Remember the mixing rations -- secondary - 50/50 Tertiary 25/75
The inside circle of the template will use COOL Bias Primaries
The outside circle of the template will use WARM bias Primaries
Mixing Tints and Shades
Hue: selected colour
Tint: any color (hue) plus varying amounts of white (depending on desired value)
Shade: any color (hue) plus its complement [or dark cool colour [blue/violet/green]
ACTIVITY: colour mixing
download the worksheet and print to A3 size. If you don't have access to a printer the worksheet can be hand drawn on multiple pieces of paper.
start by painting in the boxes for the warm and cool bias of each primary
mix 4 versions of secondary colours using 50/50 ratio of the bias primaries as indicated and fill in the boxes.
Tints and Shades. Refer to your colour wheel and secondary colour chart when selecting your hues for each box. *watch the videos for practical demonstration
Following the advice above to achieve consistent results, mix sufficient amounts of your hue [aim for 1tsp]. Paint in your middle box.
divide your "spoonful" of paint into thirds [keep middle bit pure and clean] slowly add small amounts of white to one side to create your tints, painting in each box as you go.**
on the other side add small amounts of the complementary colour to make Shades. **
** watch the videos to help you ESPECIALLY yellow - its the hard one to not get brown!
Neutrals the neutrals are made by adding a small amount of a shade to a larger amount of white.
mix up a small amount of the shade as indicated in the brackets, add a small amount at a time to a thumbnail size blob of white. add until you get a pale grey
Chromatic Black - Blue Violet + yellow [refer to the secondary squares for what two primaries made your darkest blue violet and add warm yellow]
Your finished product should look like below.
