Drawing Basics and Drawing the Human Figure in Charcoal for Beginners

 

I remember as a young boy struggling drawing full figures.  I was very comfortable with drawing portraits and pretty much any thing else but when it came to figure drawing it was a struggle.  A few months ago around June of 2021 there was a public drawing session held by the University of North Alabama Art Department in which I attended and found out that their were artists struggling to draw particularly the human body.  I now have learned how to draw the human figure.  Later after that drawing session I went to a local artists guild meeting and a artist mentioned that they struggled with drawing the human figure.  

 I took it upon myself to create a video series in which I titled Drawing Basics and Drawing the Human Figure in Charcoal for Beginners.  In in this video I shared my experience in drawing when I was young.  In the video I go over the basic fundamentals of drawing.  I also share with the audience the concepts of gesture drawing and getting down what you see in a lose way.  I also go over the importance of purchasing a wood mannequin along with many other things I cover in the video on the drawing series.   https://youtu.be/j4fWMB8rIa8

Dee's Limited Palette for Plein Air

There has been a few times when I prepared to paint in plein air on to arrive on the scene and relized I for got a color I needed to paint.  Have you ever done that?  Also there would be just too much stuff to haul with me to paint.  

In this blog post I will discuss with you my limited palette that I use whenever I paint in plein air.  My colors went from twelve or more to six due to limiting the colors I bring with me.  It has been refreshing and a big comfort to limit the amount of colors I bring.  

By using a limited palette it allows me to develope a color harmony through out my mixing.  It is very cost effective to not just bring but buy just a few selective colors.  For example I may need a warm green that has a local color of yellow in it.  By using a limited color palette all I have to do is just take these three colors and mix them to get close or right at the color I need.  I would mix a phthalocyanine blue with a cadmium yellow medium mix the two with just a very small amount of blue to the yellow to get yellow green.  I also can disaturate the intensity by mixing the color's compliment or using any color with alter the saturation.  I could use white, gray or brown any of these colors will cause the color to lose it's intensity.  Those three colors are the most  common colors to disaturate the color intensity.

Before I place any color on to my stay wet palette I get my container of Liquitex slow dri gel which is a medium and mix it into my limited palette of color.

Here is my limited color palette.

The three colors at the top from left to right are titanium white, cadmium yellow medium and yellow orchre. 

Finally, the three colors at the bottom from left to right are as following: cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber

The three colors at the top from left to right are titanium white, cadmium yellow medium and yellow orchre. 

Finally, the three colors at the bottom from left to right are as following: cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber

MIXING COLOR TO GET BLACK

In order for me to get close to a black if I ever need it in my painting I would mix up the following color cadmium red medium, phthalocyanine blue and raw umber.

MIXING COLOR TO GET GREY

In order for me to get a grey I would just add titanium white with the three colors I just mentioned above

MIXING COLOR TO GET A COOL GREY OR A WARM GREY

f I need to get a cool grey, there would be a little bit more of blue.  If I need a warm gray then I would mix more brown in the color along with titanium white.

MIXING COLOR TO GET BROWN

If I need a brown I would mix all of the primary colors red yellow and blue.  Whenever your mx these three colors you get a brown.

MIXING COLOR TO GET ORANGE

If I need a orange I would mix cadmium yellow medium and cadmium red medium.

MIXING COLOR TO GET VIOLET OR PURPLE

If I need a violet or purple I would mix cadmium red medium and phthalocyanine blue equally.  In order to get a cool violet I would mix a little bit more of blue than red.   If I need a warmer violet then I would need a litte more red to mix. 

I hope you have learned the reasons in why I use a limited color palette.  Remember that to bring down a colors intensity or pureness it must be mixed with another color particullarly gray brown white or the color's compliment.  The color that is accross on the color wheel from it. 

If this content has been a value to you then please share it with others who need to read it.  Also for more art related content then comment below with your questions and response to this material. Thank you. Shalom 

How to Create a Stay Wet Palette for Acrylics

Have you ever painted in acrylics and while you were still painting some of your acrylic paint dried up.  Perhap also you hava alot of paint left over from painting and you had to throw that paint away.  I'm pretty sure you saw that paint go into the garbage and you said to yourself there has got to be a way of preserving my paints.  For the past three years I have been using a stay wet palette while painting in plein air.  I also use in my acrylic paint a medium called liquitex slow dri gel not the fluid when I mix my limited palette of color before arriving at my scene to paint.  In this blog post I want to share with you the steps in creating your own stay wet palette. 

Here are the items you will need to create your own stay wet palette. 

Step 1

Gather all your items to create the stay wet palette.  There are two items left out of the photo that you don't have to have but if you want precision they are a must.  A pencil and a ruler is optional.

Step 2

Take the medium size cloth and cut it to the size of the bottom of the shallow container.  After cutting the cloth run water over the cloth and after squeeze it.

Step 2

Take the cloth and and place it at the bottom of the container

Step 3

Take the parchment paper and pull it out to the size of the bottom of container.

Step 4

Measure the distance of the bottom vertical from on size to the other and draw a straight line using a pencil and a ruler then use the scissors to cut the parchment paper.

 

Step 5

Take your scissors and cut along the line you made.  

Step 6

Place the curled side of the parchment paper facing down and spread it out to the sides with your fingers.

Parchment paper is strong enough to withstand the paint and the dampness of the cloth underneath.  Wax paper will not work.  I hope you you have been blessed by this blog post on making a stay wet palette.

 

Plein Air Painting as a Beginner with Acrylics

Hello everyone!  Have you been thinking about paintingin plein air or outdoors.  Perhaps you been desiring to paint your flowers outdoors, your tree in yout yard, your garden, your car or truck, your bike, skateboard your lawn mower your shoes in plein air or perhaps your home your backyard, neighborhood on your street or even your local park.

Here are things you need to know before you start your first plein painting.

1. YOUR SUPPLIES

French Easel

Stay Wet Palette

YOUR BRUSHES

It is best to use a large flat brush at the beginning of your painting to block in all your dark shapes such as your shadows first because the light shifts about every 7 to 10 minutes especially in the evenings and mornings.

1. Flat Brush        2. Filbert Brush        3. Round Brush        4. Liner Brush

YOUR TIME FRAME TO PAINT IN PLEIN AIR

As a beginner it is very important to paint close to noon from 11:30am till 12:30 for about one hour.  One hour is reasonable time to paint in a small size of  8"x10" scale or even smaller 5"x 7".

1. Morning

2. Noon

3. Evenings

OUTDOOR TEMPERATURE

It is very important to paint in temperatures as a beginner that is comfortable.  Good temperature range to paint in plein air is from 65 to 75 degrees with less wind as possible.  However, the highest tempts I've ever painted in was 90 degrees in June of 2020.  I was very uncomfortable and sweeting a lot.  I had put a tee shirt and I put it over my head to keep me cool.  I had not checked the weather forecast on that day.  I encourage you to watch the weather forecast before heading out to paint in plein air.

You now know now what to do and what to expect when you go out and paint in plein air.  I advise you to write out a check list of supplies before you go out and paint in plein air.   I hope this post has been a help to you as a beginner.  Thank you.

Winter View a Painting done in Plein Air

©dweaverart

On Sunday Feburary 14, 2021 a very powerful winter storm Uri came into the deep south and produced freezing rain, sleet and snow.  On Wednesday night the same week another winter storm came into the south named Viola and dump a whole lot of snow.  On Thursday the following day that afternoon I painted a shed that was in the snow.  I went and got prepared to paint in plein air.  I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to paint the snow in plein air something I have never done in the snow.  In this photo you see my plein air set up.  I use a homemade stay wet palette and a french easel which was given to me as a gift.  I have a wooden board in dimension of 12"x20" that I place the underneath the stay wet palette. 

 

Whenever I paint in plein air I work with a limited palette.  A limited palette is a arrangement of primary color with white how ever I add a raw umber in order to get as close as possible to a black.  As a artist painting in plein air time is critical because of the light of the sun.  In this case there was no sunlight at all it was an overcast day.  The colors seen in nature under a overcast sky are muted ( desaturated ).  The colors are not as vivid and saturated than under a sunny sky.  

The most important reason for using a limited palette your color will harmonize more naturally.  Also less color you have to carry or bring to your scene to paint.  My limit palette are starting at the top from left to right are cadmium yellow light, yellow ochre, cadmium red medium.  The bottom half from left to right phthalocyannine blue, titanium white and raw umber.

8"x10"

This is a photo of my color ground or color stain of the stretched canvas.  I paint with acrylic so all the colors I use is acylic paint which is water base paint.  I used a spray bottle of water and saturated the canvas and mixed the colors of paint on the wet canvas.  The colors for the ground are cadmium red medium and phthalocyannine blue.

8"x10"

After I applied the wet color to the canvas I used a dry old rag and wiped the color all over the canvas to stain it.  This is how the canvas will looks like after the color is wiped into the stretched canvas.

©dweaverart

I want to show you the reference photo right beside the picture of the painting.  The reason I want to share this with you without the colors is because of the value.  As artist who paint in the style of realism must understand the value stucture which influences to color mixing.  Value is the light and darkness of a color.  When you take away the color and make it black white and grays you began to see the ranges of value in your subject.

©dweaverart

Here is the finished painting of the subject.  You can see the shed the fence in the lower right side of the painting the smaller shed to the left with snow on it's roof and the trees in the painting.  I used a flat brush #10 to block in the large shapes.  It is very important when you paint in plein air to block in all the large shapes the darks first to the lighter value.  I also used a small round brush to refine the large shapes.  Finally, I used a palette knife to brake up the large area of space both negive and positive space in the compostion.  Give me your feed back on this painting or if you are interested in purchasing this painting then email me at dweaver15@gmail.com  You can also direct message me on Instagram @dweaverart and on facebook @dweaverart.  Thank you.

 

Winter Barn in Plein Air

© dweaverart

I had been watching the weather forecast for the week and the meterologist had forecasted for warm weather.  I had got of from work and I said to myself I'm going to paint today.  I did not plan on painting. It was unseasonally warm for Feburary.  I went home and mixed my paints as I always do for a limited palette.  I got all my supplies needed to paint in plein air and lefted the house to paint.  There was just off the road a train crossing but I was not in a good place to paint in plein air do to privacy.  I went further on down the road and crossed the highway and found a good location to paint.  I shouldn't be picky about locations to paint at but when I don't feel it or it is unsafe to paint there I will not paint.  I usually look for places that have a great center of interest with some verticals.  I wanted to arive there before the clouds rolled in.  My goal was to paint the light and shadow but the sun had went behind the clouds.  The weather conditions became overcast.  I was determined to paint something.  I found a barn in a distant field off the road and I painted it. 

© dweaverart

Whenever I paint in plein air I paint using acrylics.  I took the time to prepare to plein air paint even though it was on the spur of the moment.  I had premixed my colors limited in colors going from left to right at the top of my palette raw umber, phthalocyanine blue, and cadmium medium red.  Now from the bottom going from righ to left is titanium white, cadmium yellow light, and yellow orche.  I used a palette knife and used some slow drying medium to premix the paint. 

© dweaverart

I was pleased with the outcome even though I did not have much time to paint.  I took me 40 minutes to paint this painting.  I had stained the canvas with yellow orche.  All my colores where dulled down using other color instead of straight out of the tube because they are too rich or vibrant in intensity.  Whenever I paint in plein air my goal is to be loose as possible.  The brushes I used to create this painting where a round brush, flat, filbert and a liner brush.  Despite the time of the day it was very rewarding just to get out doors and paint.

Lady with the Blue Face

Lady with Blue Face 24"x30"

Lately I been inspired to shift my painting style when it comes to painting portraits.  I am now going to be more free and loose at the under painting stage with loose and expressive mark making.  This expressive mark making is done spontaneously to produce a under structure in which differ brush marks can be applied over.  

When this occurs it provides a abstractive approach in the painting where it will not be so rigid and tight.  In this new style there will be more variation of edges.  The women in the painting is my wife from a abstract perspective.  The goal is to learn from and build upon the new concepts and incorporate them into my process.  I truly have always enjoyed creating and painting my art however, with this new shift in style and approach I look forward to more fresh looking works of art.  This is the fourth large scale painting I have done in a row.  

I desire to do more large scale painting in 2021 with the intention to enlarge my small scaled plein air studies.