New Tutorial! Guest Teacher Diane Culhane

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art, diane culhane, painting, tutorial

Diane Culhane came into our studio a few weeks ago to film this little project tutorial for you. She talks about painting using negative space… have fun with it!

And a big THANK YOU to Diane!

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Diane is a painter and art educator living in Seattle. She has held two online classes through us, “Between Speech & Silence” and “Table Top: Drawing & Painting.” Both are available as self-study classes now.

Day #2 • Book Release Blog Celebration • Red Bull Tutorial

Tags

Animals, bull, Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals, drawing animals, painting animals, red bull, tutorial

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Hello! Today’s tutorial is sort of a Take It Further option of Chapter 5: Imaginary Animals: Abstract Watercolor Starts. (Regular readers will recognize this piece!)

I will be showing you how I made the above drawing/painting (kind of interchangeable in my mind). However, this only outlines how I happened to finish this particular piece, and it could have gone many different ways and still have been successful (or not). If you choose to try the steps outlined below, remember that the result will — and should — turn out differently… your own unique hand will enter the process, a very good thing!

(Click to enlarge images.)

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SUPPLIES NEEDED
One piece of hot press 140# watercolor paper, about 7″x10″
watecolors, brushes (I like a #12 round)
white gesso
mechanical pencil
spray fixative

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STEP 1

(This first step is really two steps combined, as i hadn’t originally planned to make this a tutorial and didn’t scan the very first step.)

Step 1a. Using red watercolor and a #12 round brush, mix up a very watery amount and make a mark. I started with the tail in this case. Once I had a shape I liked, I picked up the paper and added more watercolor to the base of the tail, and then tipped my paper so that the pigment would slide across the page. I had a dog in mind, and just kept repeating the mark/dripping process until I had a recognizable animal (head, body, four legs). Also, load your brush with pigment and then “splatter” it onto the page randomly by hitting the brush against your hand.

While the paint was still wet, I went in to some of the areas and pulled out little lines (fur!) from some of the areas with a sharp stylus (though you can also use a mechanical pencil or even a shish kabab skewer). Here’s a detail:

Step 1b. Once your red watercolor is dry, mix up another color of your choice and color in your animal, leaving the areas where you want the eyes, white.

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STEP 2

Step 2. Here I added some blue watercolor on the body, and some pencil iines as fur once that dried. In addition, I decided to “take a risk” and turn the head a bit, as I was feeling the original was a little boring. (At this point the “dog” became a bull.) I also decided to pencil in the eyes, and changed their shape a bit at this step as well. Let dry.

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STEP 3

Step 3. After changing the head direction, I felt it would be too difficult to hide the original lines without the help of the big guns — gesso. Using a small, round, dry brush I added the fur on the body. Then, I wet the brush a little when i applied it on the face. I also added a white layer to the eyes with a very small brush. Let dry completely.

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STEP 4

Step 4. All the shading and details were then pulled out using a regular, cheap mechanical pencil (2B). When applying your pencil lines for fur especially, keep your hand very loose and apply more pressure at the beginning of the stroke than at the end of the stroke. Work fairly quickly so you don’t over-think it — fur is usually scraggly!

Here’s a detail:

Spray with fixative. Done!

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This post is part of a Two-Week Book Release Celebration for my new book, “Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals: A Mixed-Media Workshop with Carla Sonheim.” For the schedule, which includes book and art giveaways, contributing artists features, tutorials, and assignments, click here.

Abstracted Flowers Painting Tutorial

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abstract flowers, Abstracted Flowers Painting Tutorial, flower tutorial, painting flowers, tutorial

Hello!

When I posted the above flowers a few weeks ago, many of you expressed an interest as to how I made them! So following is a quick tutorial (though, after several weeks of experimenting, I still haven’t been able to replicate the above flowers exactly… oh well! Just remember to have fun and not worry about the end product very much; because it is such a fast and loose process, you won’t be able to control it that much anyhow!)

SUPPLIES YOU’LL NEED

• #140 hot-pressed (smooth) watercolor paper (or similar), cut or torn to any size
• watercolors (pan or tube, either is fine)
• white gesso (I use Golden brand, because it is a bit thicker than some of the other brands)
• one or two flat brushes (between 1/4″ – 3/4″)
• pencil (I use a cheap mechanical pencil)
• eraser (I prefer kneaded rubber erasers)

STEP-BY-STEP DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Randomly “splotch” 3-6 different colors of watercolors onto your paper. This can be done in one step, and it’s okay if the colors overlap and run a bit. (I usually use a half-inch flat watercolor brush.) Leave some whites spaces. Let dry completely.

Step 2. Once your watercolors are dry, get out your white gesso. Using a DRY brush (or one that you’ve squeezed most of the water out of), start painting gesso circles around areas of the watercolor, as shown above. Once you paint a circle, immediately turn the brush around and “draw into” the gesso with the brush handle. Draw lines for petals, circle-y scribbles, etc.

Here it is at the next stopping point. Notice I covered the in-between areas with white gesso, too. (Also, the white “stars” above are made by putting a dollup of gesso in the middle of a color patch, and then turning the brush around and drawing into it.) Let gesso layer dry completely.

Step 3. Next, add pencil to pull out your flower shapes even more. Keep your hand as loose as possible.

Step 4. I went back in with gesso and added a few more star shapes, as it seemed a little bare after step 3.

Step 5. Fill in the areas between the flowers with a light layer of pencil. Vary your directions a bit, and then smear with your finger to soften.

Step 6. This is hard to see here, but this step involves lightly going back in with an eraser here and there. (This is an optional step; I just felt I was a little too heavy-handed with my pencil in Step 5, so I wanted to soften it a bit.)

Step 7. Finally, I gave the entire piece a VERY LIGHT layer of sepia brown watercolor to unify the piece. (Again, an optional step for you!)

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These last few weeks I have been FLOWER CRAZY! As I got into trying to get this tutorial ready for you, things kind of exploded and I found I could approach the flowers in many different ways on many different surfaces, using all the layered painting techniques I’ve been sort of making up the last 15 years. (Gesso plus watercolor? Yes! And on wood? And collage, too? Yes and yes!)

Some of you have requested a longer, more in-depth online painting class, so I’m working to have FLOWER CRAZY! ready to start April 9, 2012 (we’ll finish up just in time for the “real” May flowers)!

Watch for details and registration info March 1st (or sign up for my newsletter to get a note in your in-box).

Thanks for visiting!

😀

I Get Mail

Tags

cereal box, etsy, Girls, paper doll, paper dolls, tutorial

I get the most wonderful mail! Yesterday I received the following from Mary, age 12:

Thank you, Mary!

As for the paper dolls, the idea for those came when I was working on other things, perhaps even with the cereal boxes themselves, just messing around. Perhaps I had seen some paper dolls at the store that day. In any case, I had been working on a series of girls with their animals on wood, and it was easy to transfer them to the cereal boxes!

Here’s a link to the tutorial, featured on etsy.com last year!