Carla's first acrylic painting

Carla has recently taken up painting, initially working in acrylics. She is studying under a local artist.

This is her first work, done from a photograph:


Best regards,

Doug

Very cool, Doug! I'm looking forward to numbers 2, 3, ...

Doug Kerr said:

Carla has recently taken up painting, initially working in acrylics. She is studying under a local artist.

This is her first work, done from a photograph:

Douglas A. Kerr: CC Crittenden: Sunset Number 1, 2014​

Reproduced by permission of the original artist​

Click to expand...

Doug,

If this had been executed by Sarah Palin, then the tea-partiers would say that this is proof she indeed has vision, explaining how she can see through the smoke of her husband's sledge-dog meat-curing house, across the Behring straits. the evil empire of Russia! This would printed on greeting cards to raise money to save her Amerika from black hawk helicopters, the United Nations and the Negro College fund recipients.


But from Carla, it's just a wonderful new page in the openness of a woman who brings class, (and the Red Hat Society), to any community she makes her home. I like this new work and look forward to what's to follow. BTW, I'd vote for her, platform unseen!

Asher

In the photo Carla worked from, there were two ranks of mountains. I think her instructor did not realize that, and suggested for the "second rank" a light blue color. (Not sure what she was thinking that was.)

One cloud bank also ended up a sort of medium blue as well.

The result didn't really make sense, and today Carla went to the studio and reworked the painting.

Here we see issue 2:


Revise, revise, revise!

Best regards,

Doug

So, might I inquire discretely, how old is Carla and does she have any specific disabilities I would not know of? it would help me immensely in making an educated critique or perhaps makes suggestions as to possible painting techniques to try.

Hi, Chris,

Chris Calohan said:

So, might I inquire discretely, how old is Carla and does she have any specific disabilities I would not know of? it would help me immensely in making an educated critique or perhaps makes suggestions as to possible painting techniques to try.

Click to expand...

Carla will be 76 next week. She does not have any disabilities. I'm sure she wouild be delighted to have the benefit of your critique and suggestions.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug

Doug Kerr said:

Carla has recently taken up painting, initially working in acrylics. She is studying under a local artist.

This is her first work, done from a photograph:

Douglas A. Kerr: CC Crittenden: Sunset Number 1, 2014​

Reproduced by permission of the original artist​

Best regards,

Doug

Click to expand...

Hi Doug.

What a fun hobby for Carla to start doing. I did my very first painting (in oils) when I was either 13 or 14 and it was a painting of an Eskimo child wearing a hood with thick fur all around the face area. I think the image was from a calendar. You always remember your first fondly; ha... just realized that could work for more than your first painting! :-D )

It is such a wonderful feeling to manipulate paints with a brush I'm sure Carla is finding this very fun and very energizing. I still paint sometimes but mostly digitally now. Layers and undo buttons are miraculous.

One thing I would mention, and this would have to be for her next painting, especially since she is using acrylics and they dry so quickly, would be to not paint directly on the white canvas. I would suggest using a base color so that this color shows through the gaps that are not painted and ties it all together. I usually use a warm color such as a sepia if painting cool colors and a bluish color if painting something with rich warm colors as I find it gives the painting a lot of depth.

A few more suggestions would be to do the bigger base coats with bigger brushes so areas don't look fiddly. Paint with motions from your elbow and arm and not the wrist, especially with longer lines. This will help to keep the lines steady. Another help is to use a long stick such as a teacher's pointing stick that rests on the ground and at the top of the easel. If she is right-handed, that would mean placing the top to the top right of the easel and the bottom to the floor to the left across her body. Now she can lean her arm on that and it will give her both support and steadiness.

I hope Carla will find these few hints helpful.

Best of luck, Carla with your new hobby! Maggie

Aha...

Well, I'd suggest she do a stronger under-painting using split compliments as this would push the oranges and blues to push and pull the eye. The under-painting might consist of a faux cloudy sky or just be a nice flow of some yellows, light greens, aquas and even a pink or salmon.

Since acrylics dry so quickly, she could make the under-painting, get a glass of tea, contemplate how she would approach each new element, finish her tea and begin. Black is generally a no-no if it can be avoided as it tends to tone down the surrounding colors too much.

This is a sort of generalization as to what I mean and in no way is meant to lower the value of her progress but rather to give her thought to other possibilities. I also did a very fine wash of my pink over the top layer which helps to "brighten" the existing colors.


I had not seen Maggie's suggestions prior to this, but we are pretty much on the same page as to the under-painting importance.

Maggie, Chris,

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I'll pass them on to Carla.

Best regards,

Doug

Maggie, Chris,

Carla sends her thanks for the helpful tips.

Best regards,

Doug

Hi, Asher,

Asher Kelman said:

But from Carla, it's just a wonderful new page in the openness of a woman who brings class, (and the Red Hat Society), to any community she makes her home. I like this new work and look forward to what's to follow. BTW, I'd vote for her, platform unseen!

Click to expand...

Thanks so much.

Carla sends her regards.

Best regards,

Doug

I love acrylic paint as a creative medium! The first thing I do is to gesso up a canvas to the point that there are no threads showing through. I also like (prefer) paper, cardboard, wood, particle board, other flat surfaces just as much as canvas, but when you paint on canvas you take yourself more seriously! My best paintings are on cardboard though.

The second thing I do is buy and use LOTS of paint. Carla's first painting isn't great, but it ain't bad either! The strongest part are the dots right above the blue part, and the wave along the bottom just to (our) left of center. These are the places the paint is thickest. Palette knives are good at trowelling on a lot of paint, but even better is just squeezing it right from the tube onto the surface.

Carla - keep at it! You've already done the hardest painting of all, it just gets easier and more fun from here on out.

Hi, Chris,

Chris Heilman said:

I love acrylic paint as a creative medium! The first thing I do is to gesso up a canvas to the point that there are no threads showing through. I also like (prefer) paper, cardboard, wood, particle board, other flat surfaces just as much as canvas, but when you paint on canvas you take yourself more seriously! My best paintings are on cardboard though.

The second thing I do is buy and use LOTS of paint. Carla's first painting isn't great, but it ain't bad either! The strongest part are the dots right above the blue part, and the wave along the bottom just to (our) left of center. These are the places the paint is thickest. Palette knives are good at trowelling on a lot of paint, but even better is just squeezing it right from the tube onto the surface.

Carla - keep at it! You've already done the hardest painting of all, it just gets easier and more fun from here on out.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your tips and encouragement. I'll pass them on to Carla.

She by the way just got a nice set of palette knives. And she now has quite an arsenal of different paints.

Best regards,

Doug