Notes and Tips
List of supplies for Acrylics and Oils
(can be purchased at Michael’s with Coupons of 40% one at a time.)
Brands: Grumbacher Academy, Liquitex, Winsor Newton, and Golden.
Paints:
*Cadmium Yellow or Hansa Yellow
*Cadmium Red or Pyron Red
*Alizarin Crimson
*Ultramarine Blue
*Cerulean Blue
*Dioxine Purple
*Cadmium Orange
*Titanium White
Heavy Gesso White
Yellow Ochre
Black Gesso
(The ones with the stars are the first to buy)
Necessary Supplies
#4 flat or angle Brush synthetic (Zen Brush)#6 flat Synthetic (Zen Brush at Michaels)
#8 Flat Synthetic
#1 fine liner
Other supplies
Paper towel
Plastic water bucket (for acrylics)
Glass jar (for oil)
Pictures you want to paint
Gel medium gloss and matte (for acrylics)
Stretched Canvas
Odorless paint thinner (for oil)
(I have recycled thinner you can use I have here)
Artist Quality verses Student Quality Paints
There are usually two grades of colours available, artist quality and student quality.
But what is the difference?
And, is it worth the cost?
Your paints can help greatly in your progress as a painter, what usually happens is a hesitancy on investing in the ‘good quality’ paints until you yourself become a better painter.
This is a mistake.
One of the key things to understand is the labeling and differences between artist and student quality paint and how better quality paint, can make your life as a painter much easier…
Artist quality Highest pigment levels, varied price range, widest choice of colours, Limited colours shift,
Student Quality: Less paint coverage, more affordable price range, Greater colours shift, Good for large scale painting and under-painting
It should be simple, but sometimes all the information on a paint tube can be confusing.
With a few easy tips, you will soon know your Phthalo from your Quinacridone.
Price: Paint pigments can be expensive and vary in cost. Manufacturers group colours into various price bands depending on the amount of the raw material and what the raw material is.
The binder (acrylic polymer) is relatively inexpensive in comparison. That is why artist quality paints are split into series, (e.g. Series A, Series B) and others numbers (e.g. Series 1, Series 2).
This indicates the higher the letter or number, the more expensive the paint.
Cadmium Red is an expensive raw material so is series 9 (highest price) whereas Burnt Umber is relatively inexpensive so is series 1 (cheapest price).
It is important to note that in Student quality paints you can only get series 1 and 2.
Hue
“So, can you not get Cadmium red in student quality paint?” I hear you ask; well you can get Cadmium red hue.
When you see “hue” written on a paint tube it means imitation, not a pure Cad Red pigment but a combination of cheaper available reds to make a Colour very close. So you can imagine it’s never going to have the colour saturation that an artist grade paint will have, however, for pigments that are manufactured to resemble historical colours they can also be called “hue”.
For example, ‘Alizarin Crimson Hue’ from Golden Paints is a modern artist grade paint that is trying to replicate historical Alizarin Crimson.
Golden have substituted a mix of quinacridone and phthalo modern pigments to substitute a traditional Rose Madder.
- Coverage
This is how easily a paint Colour covers another paint Colour, for example, a black paint will cover a yellow easier than the yellow will cover the black.
- Opacity
Pigments vary in their transparency by nature; different paints have difference levels of opacity depending on the paint pigments chemical makeup.
So a paint made from earth, such as an ochre will be made from crushed up rock, this, of course, is hard to see through, but will make a paint that has pretty good coverage.
If you were using a paint that the pigments comes from a dye or is man-made, such as a quinacridone, (called synthetic organics) the thinner and more translucent paint will be.
They are often labeled on a paint tube, for example, Winsor & Newton use the following abbreviations:
T for Transparent colours
ST for Semi-Transparent colours
SO Semi-Opaque colours
O Opaque colours
PRO TIP: It is very handy to understand the differences so if you want to make a super translucent glaze, the quinacridones are perfect for glazing (thin layer of paint)
A rule of thumb is if you can’t pronounce the name it is usually a transparent paint. If it sounds more ‘earthy’ it will be more opaque.
Transparent colours are used for glazing and tinting.
Opaque colours cover other paints easily and are great for making solid, flat areas of Colour and covering up any mistakes you’ve made.
- Paint sample: On most artist quality paints, there will be a Colour swatch of the actual paint on the exterior of the tube. This is really helpful when deciding which paints will suit your needs.
- Colour range: Artist grade paints have a larger choice of colours available.
- Paint consistency: In some ranges of artist quality paints, such as Golden Acrylics, the manufacturer offers a range of different paint consistencies, this is unique to acrylics.
Different binders are available in different consistencies so you can have a thick paint or thin paint but the thinnest paint will have as much pigment as the thicker paint.
This can be very useful.
If you want a solid colour to cover your canvas but still want to leave a ‘tooth’ on your canvas, use fluid acrylics. It will give you a deep, rich colour without the diluted, watery effect which you would have if you thinned a thicker paint with water.
Paint consistency range: Heavy body acrylic, Fluid acrylic, Airbrush acrylic
- Colour shift: In acrylics the colour of the paint when wet changes when it dries, it goes slightly darker.
This is due to the binder (acrylic polymer) that is usually used, being white. The acrylic emulsion is white when wet but becomes clear as it dries. As a result, it darkens.
Pro tip: If you like adding mediums to your acrylics to increase drying time be careful of the increased colour shift because acrylic medium is just like adding more binder-more white so the colour shift will be more pronounced.
Winsor & Newton artist acrylic use a clear binder and claim no colour shift but I have found there is still a little colour shift, but not as noticeable. In student quality paints a white binder will have been used and often the cheaper you go the greater the colour shift. ” it makes it harder for the beginner to accurately mix the colour they want, not from lack of trying but using the wrong materials.”
- Tinting strength: This refers to how much or how little paint is needed to alter the colour of white paint.
So if you used phthalo blue (high tinting strength) you would only need a very little amount of paint to drastically change the white, in comparison to say Terre Verte which has a very low tinting strength.
So for bright, colourful abstracts Terre Verte would be the wrong choice, but for toning down a bright pink in your portrait painting palette, Terre Verte would be perfect.
The Fundamental Information on a Paint Tube Label
The amount of information that appears on the label of a paint tube (or jar) varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but good artists’ quality paints will typically list the following:
- Manufacturer’s name– Golden, Liquitex, Winsor & Newton
- Common name for the colour– Cadmium Red
- Manufacturer’s name of colour –Winsor blue,
- Names of the pigment(s)
- Color index name/number(s)
- The vehicle the pigment is suspended in(e.g. acrylic polymer emulsion for acrylic paint, or gum arabic for watercolour and gouache).
- Lightfastness or permanence rating– AA and A rated and are recommended as permanent for artists’ use.
- Quantity of paint in tube or jar– e.g. 60ml
- Series – Manufacturers group colours into various price bands depending on the cost of the raw material.
- Paint swatch of actual paint– this is great to be able to see the consistency of the pigment.
- Permanence– paints are rated on their permanence to light
For beginners, that’s about enough information that you need to know for an informed choice to get started but for the paint geeks there’s more detailed information below:
- Pigment colour –Often paint colours that are almost exactly the same are called different names depending on the manufacturer. One companys ‘ yellow ochre’ is other companies ‘yellow ochre pale’ they also name the colour depending on their brand. Winsor & Newton ‘Winsor blue’ has the same chemical properties as golden ‘phaltho blue green’.
Although the pigment chemical names will be the same there will be subtle differences in shade.
You can be a paint detective though by understanding the colour index of pigments.
- Colour Index Number– The label on a tube of paint should tell you what pigment(s) it contains. Many of the more exotic named paint colours are simple a mix of two or more existing colours.
Student quality paints don’t tell you this information.
- Color Index Name -Every pigment has a unique colour index name, it consists of:
two letters. These stand for the colour family, e.g PB – blue, PG- green
And some numbers which identifies the pigment. For example:
Golden Heavy Body Acrylic
Manufacturer name – C.P Cadmium Red Light
Chemical name – Cadmium Sulphoselenide
Chemical index number – PR 108
PR108 is PR(red) 108 (Seleno-Sulfide) more commonly known as Cadmium Red Golden Heavy Body Acrylic
Manufacturer name – Alizarin Crimson Hue
Chemical Name – Quinacridone, Chlorinated Copper Phthalocyanine
Chemical index number -PR122/PR206/PG7
- Quality standard information-
Paints made in the USA have information regarding conformance to various ASTM standards:
e.g. ASTM D4236 (Standard Practice for labeling Art Materials for Chronic Health Hazards)
D4302 (Standard Specification for Artist’s Oil, Resin-Oil, and Alkyd Paints)
D5098 (Standard Specification for Artist’s Acrylic Dispersion paints), as well as the required health warnings
LESSON ON MIXING COLOURS:
There are 8 colours we put out when we paint a picture unless we are doing a specific technique. They are two Reds (a cool and a warm), two Yellows (a cool and a warm), two Blues (a cool and a warm), Purple and a White.
From these colours we can make:
Orange: Yellow plus Red
Green: Yellow plus Blue
Purple: Red plus Blue
The complimentary colours are: Yellow and Purple, Red and Green, Blue and Orange. When you want to tone down a colour you add a complimentary colour e.g.: if something is Purple you add a little Yellow to tone it down. The same applies with the other complimentary colours (if something is too Red, add green) etc.
To make a neutral grey, mix three primary colours together in equal amounts. e.g. Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson + Cadmium Yellow. If your mix has too much Yellow in it, add more Alizarin Crimson + Ultramarine Blue. If it is too Red add Yellow and Blue etc.
HOW TO START WITH A PREMIXED PALETTE
Start with a colour Red ground. It is best to use a warmer colour for an all-over warm palette; (paintings that are warm sell faster than cool temp paintings. People like warm cozy colours.) Use a pre-mixed palette by mixing the following Piles of paint. Adjust all colours by adding White to each mixture. Start with the Yellow and add White (Pile 1), then add Yellow to Orange to make another colour (Pile 2). Yellow and Red (Pile 3). Then take the Red and mix it with White (Pile 4). Mix the Blue with White.(Pile 5). Mix the Red and Ultramarine Blue together (Pile 6). Mix Cadmium Yellow with Ultramarine Blue (Pile 7). These are all the warm colours premixed.
Now we go to the cool colours: Lemon Yellow is mixed with White (Pile 8). Lemon Yellow mixed with Alizarin Crimson (Pile 9). Mix the Alizarin Crimson with White (Pile 10). Mix the Alizarin Crimson with Cerulean Blue (Pile 11). Mix the Cerulean Blue with White (Pile 12). Mix the Cerulean Blue with Lemon Yellow (Pile 13).
Now the neutrals: warm first; mix the Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow and Ultramarine Blue equally, then add White to lighten (Pile 14). Mix the three cool colours Lemon Yellow, Alizarin Crimson and Cerulean Blue to make Grey by adding White. (Pile 15) The last one is a mixture of Orange and Dioxin Purple, (Pile 16) which makes a colour similar to Burnt Sienna.
This requires a lot of planning first, but then you don’t have to stop painting to mix your colours. You paint faster and more creatively when you don’t have to stop to mix. See below picture of my palette.
Notes on Workshop
When applying glazes to acrylic paintings, you have two options: water or a glazing medium. Is there a benefit to using one over the other? Either will work, but there are distinct advantages to choosing a glazing medium.
No matter which base you choose for your acrylic glazes, it's also important that you mix them properly. You do not want to break down your pigment with too much water​ though a glazing medium can be used in any ratio you desire.
Much of this depends on your style of painting and the look you're going for.
THE BENEFITS OF A GLAZING MEDIUM
Glazing medium is preferred by many acrylic painters because it maintains or adds to the gloss or matte effect of the paint. These mediums are available in both gloss and matte finish. You will want to choose which works best with the paint you're using as well as the effect you desire in the painting.
The other (and more important) advantage to a glazing medium is that it retains the 'stickability' of the paint. The medium contains a binder (or glue) that gives the mixed glaze the ability to stick to the panel or canvas and any underlying layers of paint. Water, on the other hand, can break down the binders that are present in the paint and too much may lead to your paint peeling.
You can use a glazing medium with paint in any proportion, adding as little paint as you like for the effect.
This is because the medium is like a thin, colorless paint due to that binder.
THE ISSUES WITH WATER FOR GLAZING
Water works fine for glazing up to a point. As mentioned, you do run the risk of the binder in the paint being diluted too much and it losing its ability to stick.
Fifty percent paint to water is the general rule.
Some paint manufacturers suggest no more than 30 percent water. Artists often don't pay too much attention to these recommendations, particularly when it comes to glazing.
You will know when you have too little paint in your water. If the paint lifts off when you paint over a thin layer with a stiff brush, then you've gone too far. It's very similar to how watercolor paints work.
A MIX OF WATER AND GLOSS MEDIUM
If you like, you can also use an acrylic gloss medium along with water to create a custom finish while glazing.
- An equal proportion of water and acrylic gloss medium will produce a matte finish.
- As you use a higher percentage of gloss medium, the finish will become more satin-like.
- A straight gloss medium will, of course, produce a glossy finish.
You can vary these finishes anyway you desire for the effect you're going for in the painting. Also, consider using various finishes to bring out specific properties in certain areas. For instance, you might want a high-gloss glaze over a lake in your landscape and more of a matte or satin look for the pine trees. This approach can produce some very nice effects.
As always, if the finish didn't come out exactly as you planned or you don't like the final results, you can always add a varnish.
They too are available in matte and gloss.
STEPS TO PAINTING WITH ACRYLIC GLAZES
Squeeze out a tiny amount of glazing liquid or retarder. You only need to squeeze out the size of a US dime (17.91mm). You can add more as (and if) you run out.
Select your main color, dab some on your brush and swirl it on your palette, loosening up the paint. Add a quick dab of water and/or glazing liquid to increase the fluidity of the paint. In general, you want the paint to be thin, not thick, in order for it to be a glaze.
Next, select the other colors you're interested in, and mix them into your main color. Add more water and/or glazing liquid as you see fit. If the paint seems too thick, keeping adding more glazing liquid until your paint is nice and watery.
To see what I mean, look at the photo of my palette below. You can see that I only use a small amount of paint, but when making glazes, it goes a long way. The paint is so thin that you can see through the paint to the palette below. This is the level of consistency that you are aiming for.
When creating a glaze, what you're looking for is a mixture that is very fluid and thin. Not thick. So thin it almost looks inconsequential - it makes you think, "How can this tiny amount of paint have any effect on the canvas?" But you'd be surprised - when creating acrylic glazes for photorealist painting, a little amount has a great effect!
Sometimes the acrylic glazes are very watery, as this creates a very subtle transition. When my acrylic glazes get really watery, I lay the painting flat on a table and work on other things until the glaze is completely dry. This is important, because if the painting was upright on an easel, the glaze would either flow down (if it's too runny) or just a part of it will flow down, creating a little pool of intense pigment at the bottom of the area just painted. This isn't desirable, so it's best to lay the painting flat. Also, make sure that the glaze is totally dry before you work on it again. If you work on them too soon, you can ruin the glaze and will need to repaint that area.
If you're familiar with the properties of watercolors, then you'll notice that acrylic glazes almost feel like working in watercolor, in terms of the thin quality of the acrylic paint. So if you can get your glazes to resemble the transparent fluidity of watercolors, you're on the right track!
Of course, not everything you paint will need to be thin and watery. Sometimes you will need strong, bold, thick colors. Rather than load up the brush with lots of paint, I normally paint those areas that require solid, strong colors by building up to it. For example, instead of piling on the black to create a sharp shadow, I add a bit of black, let that dry, then add another bit of black, etc. until it looks finished. Although acrylic paints are very forgiving, it's still easier to add paint than it is to "subtract" paint - that is, to paint over a mistake you've just made.
But if you do make a mistake, don't worry. You can just paint over the problem area. This is the beauty of acrylics! Sometimes a mistake might be so whopping that it's distracting and you can't get your bearings in the painting. If this happens, just paint over the problem are with titanium white or titanium buff and start that area again.
So, to recap: after you paint your under-painting, in which you mapped out all the important areas of color, begin working on your glazes. Continue building up these thin, watery acrylic glazes until the image takes form and comes to life!
TIPS
- A painting is composed of subject, tone, Colour, Composition and Application of paint. Any Two of these can carry the work.
- No line crosses the main composition swing.
- Two objects create a diagonal; have to be reversed .
- Many objects? Create a sculptural unit.
- The point from which you start visually
- What is in-is out-what is up-is down
- A dot within a dot
- One third vertical, one third horizontal (created by an Object
- A series of objects or linking through ears plus high, low dark - white on white, black on black, white on black, black on black, white on black.
- Large medium and small ( objects, lights, darks and brush strokes thick and thin) lights, darks and brush strokes thick and thin)
- Exaggerate light in distance; Reddish or cobalt blue
- Ninety percent cool 10% warm or opposite.
- Angle; reverse–angle
- Don’t drop at the edge
- The cat needs a tail object within the C
- Ocean, horizon, and buildings are done with a ruler
- Each colour has its own composition
- Three steps back-interlocking ovals are steps in the landscapes,
- Flowers and trees grow in families.
- Clean to the edge
- Major focus on one of the 3 steps back
- Opposites- thick thin- line versus mass,impasto over glaze
- Place to play, place to rest ( string of Pearls)
- Fine lines and dots of staccatos- I really care
- Every line hits every other line at right angles even on the edges
- A line loves another line (different length and widths)
- An object or person facing right is placed on left, and vice versa
- Colour – base colour or glaze, mother colour Grey, Black and white all used
- The visual line is a composition line
- Work fast and make mistakes… premix palette
- Brush strokes at right angles to the line
- Anything growing is done in a vertical stroke
- Points of Tension
- Points of staccato Black and white
- Vary brush stroke and colour
- Limited white
- Golden mean
- Don’t cut off the corner- Don’t drop at the edge
- Great art is a specific moment in time
- No fences or blocked passage ways.
- No unbroken horizon or vertical
- No u shapes in a landscape
- Roads and ponds are painted as interlocking ovals