# Art Journal- Acrylic painting



## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Ooo yay! Looks good so far!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Thanks. Though I am excited about the tape method, I don't normally paint on canvas board. I am nervous to try it on stretched canvas, which is normally my canvas of choice for commissions. 

Do you ever tape off subjects on stretched canvas or do you pretty much only paint on canvas board?


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

I do both. I tape on stretched canvas as well, you just have to be more careful when cutting so you dont go through. I personally prefer canvas board to stretched canvas but either way it takes some getting used to. Good thing about acrylic is you can always go over it! lol


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## Creampuff (Dec 1, 2010)

It looks like it's going to be quite the piece!  

But I'm afraid I don't understand the "masking tape method"?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

me neither.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Good luck Liz, I'm looking forward to see how this turns out, you're such a versatile artist that I'm sure you won't have any problems at all picking up acrylic


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Creampuff said:


> It looks like it's going to be quite the piece!
> 
> But I'm afraid I don't understand the "masking tape method"?


 Well basically you tape off whatever you dont want to be painted when you started the background. 
For example, in this painting she has taped off the horse so that no lines get missed and no paint gets on that part of the canvas when she goes to start it :wink:


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Background completed and most of the tape removed. Next step, begin painting the horse.


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

It looks great! I'm not good with paint, I stick to my pencils LOL


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

lol equiniphlie. I am not as good with paint as I am with pencils either, but I really want to get better at acrylic painting. I don't have the patience for oils.


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## PintoTess (Aug 18, 2010)

It looks good so far


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## RisingGlory (Sep 12, 2010)

I totally love it. I'm just starting to get used to painting. I'm definitely better at pencils though. If you have any pointers that would help people make more sense of the painting, you should share!!!!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Tonight's progress...The colors are off because this picture was taken with crappy indoor lighting...I'll try to get a better picture of the next update...I have added the first couple layers and played around with techniques to make the horse look fuzzy as she still has her winter coat in the photographs...I still have quite a bit more work to do before I move on to the full body shot.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

And you said you couldn't work in acrylics? Liz, I think you're a closet painter!!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

LOL Kayty. In all honesty, I was brutally disappointed with the last couple commissions I did. The owners were happy, but I felt like I had taken a step back with my painting skills. I must admit that I am happy with how this one is turning out so far. This just might renew my faith in acrylics again.


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## wren (Dec 13, 2009)

Have you thought about oils? i know they sound scary, but i have always found them more forgiving since you can reblend into areas without totally redoing them. i love love love the softness of oils...to me its like the difference between pencils and pastels


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Ooo Loving it!!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Wren, I have had many people suggest oils to me. I would love to give them a try, but I love the convenience of only needing water to clean my brushes, not to mention I am too **** impatient to wait for oils to dry. However, I may give them a shot down the road. I still have a set of watercolors I have yet to try.


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

I used oils for awhile and hated waiting for them to dry! Brushes arent bad to clean, only you need alot of soap and they make a greasy mess which i hated.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Kayty said:


> And you said you couldn't work in acrylics? Liz, I think you're a closet painter!!


 
Out of the closet!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Ha Ha Ha Tinyliny!!!

Anyway, here is tonight's progress. I added a couple more layers to the horse's coat and began laying down the first layer in the bridle. I am almost done with the head shot. I need to add some detail/highlights to the tack and obvsiouly paint the ribbon. There are a few small things I may go back later and touch up in the horse, but for the most part I am done with the horse.


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

Looks fantastic!!!! Great work!! I think it looks great!!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Oh yeah, and for ya'll acrylic painters and aspiring acrylic painters, I bought a tube of titanium white as well as a tube of zinc white to play around with. I have only ever used titanium white until now. The art store cashier suggested I try both types of white to give more depth to my paintings. Here's what I have discovered....

Titanium white is solid, it seems to work well when you want bold colors that aren't transparent or if you want true white highlights (such as the horse's forhead). When mixed with black (um, can't remember which black I have) it gives off a sort of blue/gray tone. 

The zinc white is more transparent. I used the zince white to tone down some of the gray areas to make it look more blended without making it too light. I also noticed when mixed with black, it created an almost brownish/purple tone. 

So, when I combined the zinc white/black and titanium white/black gray tones, I wound up with a lot of depth in the coat. it's been a bit of trial and error, but I like using both whites when mixing colors for different effects. And I have to admit, I was nervous painting a fuzzy dappled gray. Now I am loving it. I am excited to see what else develops. I may get different types of black down the road as well. I;d love to do a painting class one day, just to learn the art of color mixing.


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Head shot finished. Gonna start on the full body shot now.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Very nice piece! It is fun to hear how you are exploring these things. Technique has a lot to do with success. I am not skilled in acrylics. I invariably overwork them.

May I make one small suggestion? As you explore different paints, you might want to explore ways to create shaded areas. Most peopple try to make things darker by adding black to the shadowy area. The thing is, what our eye really sees when it sees a color in the shadows is best represented in paints by using the opposite color on the color wheel, added to the base color to create a shadow. 
For example, if the horse is a sorrel (main color is brown and orange, so that is RED and YELLOW and some blue ) the shadow area will use the opposite color of RED and YELLOw , which are Green and purple. So, you add some of this to the base color rather than just black. I might add some black too, but not soley black.

For a white horse, this is harder, but think of snow or clouds. They have purple and yellow as the shade and highlight colors.

You may already know this, so please excuse me if I come of as preachy.

I admire your courage to strike out in this new medium.


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

No not preachy at all. Someone once suggested I mix blue and dark brown to give the illusion of black. I have used that technique before with success. I think my lack of confidence after the last 2 paintings I did made me go back to basics and regain my confidence in acrylics again. However, though lacking in other ways, the last painting I did was a chestnut horse and I used a lot of purple mixed in with brown to create shadowing effects and I was very happy with that. 

Here is the start of the full body shot. I haven't done any of the fine detail work, just playing around with the dapples (this is my first painting of a dappled gray) and adding in some light brown/yellow tones. The one thing I do love about acrylics is the ability to touch up mistakes.


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## A knack for horses (Jun 17, 2010)

That is amazing!!! I can't wait to see the finished product!


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Those dapples look great. Yes, being able to recover from a mistake is a valuable asset of acrylics


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## Caitlinpalomino (Nov 16, 2010)

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!! I love the painting i cant wait to see the finished product!! you are very talented!


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Looking so good!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

smoothing out the dapples and starting on the rider. I still need to touch up the legs and hooves quite a bit.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

looking great!


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

Finished! There's a glare over the horse's ribbon. I don't even know how that's possible considering the flash wasn't on. Oh well. Otherwise, this is a fairly clsoe representation of the actual painting minus some slight differences in color.


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## Caitlinpalomino (Nov 16, 2010)

That looks amazing!! I love it


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## PintoTess (Aug 18, 2010)

Thats looks good!


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I bet the client will be absolutely thrilled. You can be very proud of yourself!


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Wow, it's beautiful! How much would you charge for something like that?


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## Equusketch (Jun 16, 2009)

equiniphile said:


> Wow, it's beautiful! How much would you charge for something like that?


This painting is 10 x 14. I would normally charge about $75-85 for a 9 x 12 depending on if I am painting on canvas board vs. stretched canvas. I am still working out prices for larger paintings as I am just going to charge so much for each inch increase (probably around $3-4 for each inch increase), so a painting this size would be roughly $85-100 plus shipping. 

That's in US dollars.


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Really well done


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## Phantomstallion (Jan 3, 2010)

a mazing painting. never would be able to do that in a million days. My best are on 'My Horsey Drawings'.


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