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.
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