Sisters (2 figures/4 hands)

Sisters (2 figures/4 hands)

Aprox 2 hour

In this workshop I will show you how to recreate one of my paintings. I will show you how to incorporate texture and colour into your underpainting. Together we will loosen up our figurative work by exaggerating the  proportions of the figure. I will show you that hands are really fun to include in your work..(honestly!) and by making them extra large we add a new expressive element to our figurative work.

Step by step

Step 1
gesso your canvas with thick, broad brushstrokes. The tip is not to make the surface smooth, quite the opposite! Try to keep the brushstrokes random and apply the gesso generously to create texture. Allow to dry and repeat the process.
Step 2
Apply 3 to 4 colours individually and with each application use a scraper and a water spray to move the paint around. Do not be afraid of runs, splashes and drips!
NB. Allow each colour to dry completely before applying the next, to avoid muddying the colours.
Step 3
Draw in the figures. As this isn’t about realism we can play hard and fast this proportions and anatomy!. Exaggerating the size of the hands will make them more expressive.
Do not worry about getting the drawing correct first time, I encourage keeping your working lines visible. I do not erase them.
Step 4
Painting in the figures.
Starting with the highlights around the figure and block in the dresses.
It is import to create tonal values of the lights and the darks, this is what creates the illusion of a 3 dimensional figure on a 2 dimensional canvas.
I bounce between the lights and the darks, warming up some areas of shadow (ie. the fingers) with reds. Then i use a mix of white and Raw Sienna as a bridging colour to create softness and skin tones.
This is not about exactly ‘colouring in’ so we want to break up some of the outline by brushing paint over the lines, to create a blurry, dreamy effect.
Step 5
Painting in the faces.
Even though this is a small area, we do not want to get too tight with detail. The rest of the painting is so loose and brushy, the face must balance this, and not be too detailed.
Step 6
Be aware of the background.
Painting in the negative spaces around the figures is important, but we do not want to block out all of the wonderful underpainting we created. Work from the figure out, utilising the flat edge of the brush to create sharp edges, but then loosely brush the paint away. You can use the water spray to ‘wash’ some of the paint away and allow some soft runs.
Finally…. do one more ‘sweep’ around the painting to sharpen up all the highlights. Lighten up the lights and deepen the darks.

MATERIALS

Below is a list of the supplies that I will be using for the projects in this course.  However, you are always encouraged to use what you have on hand.

Pre stretched canvas. I  used a 20x 26 inch (50x70cm) but feel free to work smaller if you wish
White gesso
Old DIY paint brush
DIY store wallpaper scraper
Water spray
Small rubber brayer (speedball)
Paper Towels
Acrylic paint
Amsterdam
Greenish blue
Azo orange
Turquoise green
Pyrole red
Naples yellow green
Titanium white
Titanium buff deep
Raw sienna
Paynes grey (or black)
Black charcoal or pastel pencil (i love derwent)
Pastel fixative spray
Paper sheet palette or similar
Flat edge brushes-
1.5 inch,
3/4 inch (No. 12 )
1/2 inch (no 10)
1/4 inch (no 4)