1. Florals offer an excellent opportunity for experimentation with colour mixing, design composition, new brushwork techniques and loosening of established habits that hold back emerging artists. I offer here a process for the development of floral acrylic paintings on warm, red-toned masonite panels. A complete value study in charcoal or graphite on pastel paper is a must.
    Final painting
    A full-size value study, 14.5" W X 12" H


    Transfer onto toned-panel with vine charcoal. Clear, clean lines are vital.

    I chose a semi-split palette of titanium white, cadmium yellow light, lemon yellow, cadmium red light, quinacridone red, ultramarine blue and light forest green. I also used Acrylic Glazing Liquid made by Golden to slow down the drying process and allow a bit of blending with the acrylics. In the warm summer weather the acrylics squeezed from the tube on the palette start to skin over in less than an hour.


    The background area is painted in with a large flat brush taking care to mix pigments directly on the brush and keep the brush moving on the panel without lifting it off while painting, working around all the foreground objects by moving the whole arm and not just the wrist or fingers.
    Colour was added into the irises, a mixture of quinacridone red and ultramarine blue.

    Warm yellows were added to the main leaves and stalk of the irises using cadmium yellow light and cadmium red light.

                               
    Final painting; Acrylic on panel 14.5" X 12"




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  2. Sometimes art is part utility part inspiration. The utility part in this post refers to the easy availability of masonite panel near my studio in the western Himalayas. For some time now I have been wanting to explore a looser, quicker painting style  and my sabbatical from publication art and children's books has provided the opportunity. Masonite panel allows for quick preparation and a variety of sizes up to 48 X 96 inches.
    When I arrived in India after leaving a large project, Trees in Canada, with the Natural Resources Department, I stopped at the Camel Art Store in Defence Colony New Delhi. Of the many paints I purchased the large 500 ml jars of all the colours of Camel Acrylics that they had in stock was probably the most ambitious of the purchases. Up to that time I had rarely worked in acrylics other than using it in mixed media illustrations. The jars sat largely unused in a box in my studio up until a few weeks ago.
    I think it's important for artists to try new styles, break new ground, find out what they don't know as well as, surprisingly, discover what they do know and what they do best. Acrylics offered an opportunity to break from a rather meticulous detailed style in watercolour and an equally labour-intensive style in digital media in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop. Since I had so much paint available, and some had already gone mouldy over the 20 years since purchase, I decided to try an impasto style using  large flat brushes with plenty of thick paint mixed right on the bristles of the brush.

    The impasto use of acrylic is evident in this detail of Inside the Rosebush, painted on warm red-toned panel.


    Despite the loose painting style, a charcoal or pencil value-study is still vital for the success of the final painting.

    The value study is then copied to the toned masonite panel. I usually make a rough grid on the board just to place the elements of my painting. You can see the cross-hairs on the charcoal study above. On the masonite panel I just find the centre of each side and make sure the negative shapes between elements are reflective of those in the study. It goes without saying that the dimension ratio of the painting must match that of the study for the latter to be relevant to the final work.


    I draw onto the masonite with vine charcoal because it easy to change on the fly with the bush of a finger. 

    I strive for bold dark lines to ensure the confidence of the brush strokes when starting in on the backgrounds with a pigment laden flat brush. The photo above is of toned masonite (cadmium red mixed with cadmium orange and titanium white) on the top of a wicker foot stool. 


    This is the split palette that I used; a warm and cool red, yellow and blue with the addition of titanium white and sap green.

    Painting in progress showing loose painting using Rosemary and Co's 1/2" long flat brushes.

    A detail that shows the red background tone still evident around the elements of the painting.

    Completed artwork for apple blossom footstool.






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About Me
About Me
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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
I am a Canadian author/illustrator of fiction and non-fiction for both trade and educational publishers in Canada, the US, and abroad. I have written 4 trade books for Orca books, illustrated and written over 2 dozen picture books and am coauthor/illustrator of an environmental middle-grade fiction series for Harper Collins Children's Books in India. Email: steve@stephenaitken.com
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PUBLISHED BOOKS
PUBLISHED BOOKS
PUBLISHED BOOKS
Sonu & the Metal Elephant
What a Tree Has Seen
What a Tree Has Seen
What a Tree Has Seen
Santillana USA
The Ice Berries
The Ice Berries
The Ice Berries
Puffin Book of Bedtime Stories
The Pond
The Pond
The Pond
SRA McGraw Hill
The Everything Tarot Book
The Everything Tarot Book
The Everything Tarot Book
Adam's Media
Let's Learn Hindi
Let's Learn Hindi
Let's Learn Hindi
Sterling Publishers
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