January 18, 2023

Step-By-Step Team Work

Team work!

Here's a series of step-by-step videos that explain how my daughter Jamie and I created a 30" x 60" acrylic painting as our Christmas project when I visited her in Victoria, BC.

We painted in her kitchen by wrapping plastic over the table and on the floor. We were happy with the set-up but big dog Nan was not impressed with the slippery floor.

This series was created in a Reel format for Instagram.

Here's a look at the finished painting...

and a few close-ups of my favourite areas...

Step 1

Creating fabulous textures with Holbein Acrylic Mediums! Daughter Jamie and I teamed up to work on a 60" x 30" gallery wrapped canvas. The first step was creating the textures - lots of fun!

Step 2

Here's step 2 in the large painting project that Jamie and I tackled together. Acrylics become richer by layering and building the surface. Although these marks will be covered with paint in the next few steps, some will remain visible and enrich the final appearance. The coloured lines and smudges show through and animate and activate the surface.

Step 3

"Smudging" can be a fast and fun way to make gorgeous marks and effects with acrylics. Spray the coloured pencil marks made in the last step with a bit of water. Then brush a very little Holbein Mars Black Acrylic on to reveal the texture and smudge the lines. Although these marks will be covered with paint in the next step, some will remain visible and enrich the final appearance. Reveal and conceal!

Step 4

Add just a tint of colour! Enhance the textures and add a bit of mystery to the surface by rubbing and brushing selected areas with colour. Transparent and semi-transparent colours work best for this step, but well thinned opaques can work too. We used Holbein heavy body Cerulean Blue and Phthalo Turquoise (a light and a dark blue), but chose your favourites. Work a small quantity of paint into the surface with a stiff brush to spread a thin layer - you want to see the underlying black smudges and lines through this application. Quickly scrub, and whisk the paint to drive it into the crevasses in and around the dry gel and gesso. The tooth of the canvas and tiny pockets in the texture will trap the paint! Allow the paint to dry.

Next apply some Holbein Pearl or iridescent acrylic over the dry colour. Burnish with a stiff brush or rub with a cloth to a lustrous sheen. Beautiful! Jamie and I will show you in this next video.

more steps soon!