That time when Tim got talked into talking a beginner painting class.
Beginning Acrylics
The local Sertoma Arts Center run by the City of Raleigh offers an assortment of classes and given that the building is only one mile from the house I've always meant to take something, but I never seemed to get around to it. Fast forward to 2021 and Laura saw a listing for "Beginning Acrylics". To be clear, my entire painting experience up to this point is 2 evening "Wine and Paint" classes at Pino's Pallet. Not exactly masters level work. But what the heck, let's see how this goes.
Class 1
What a debacle.
The debacle actually started before the first class with our first shopping trip to find the "required supplies". Being the studious people that we are, Laura and I expected that the list would actually be what was required. We had difficulty finding the exact colors, very puzzled by the lack of sizes given for the "canvas panels", and confused by the listing for a "variety of brushes". Not starting out well so far.
Anyway, we made our best guesses, got supplies and showed up for the first "class". I put the word "class" in quotes because it seems this is more of a "here is a space to paint" than a class. It started normally enough with a bit where the instructor asking the skill level of the students, telling us a bit about himself, and then some simple color theory. Fair enough.
Then after 45 minutes he says "Ok, if you have your pictures picked out you can start now". Errr.
It seems that line in the course description where it said "Students will work from their own photos, simple still-life arrangements or their imagination" meant that even though this was a beginner class, we were supposed to just "wing it" . I found a picture on my website that I thought might work and I started putting paint on a canvas.
Let's just say this didn't go so well. I'm going to need to regroup before next week.
Class 2
After the first class I figured this was going to be a "you get out from it what you put into it class". Always being the kind of person that agreed with the statement that "if it's worth doing it's worth overdoing" I figured I needed some more information. YouTube to the rescue! About 30 "Beginning Acrylics" Videos and 10 Bob Ross videos later, I at least had an idea that the sky goes on the top and the mountains below.
I also picked up some new equipment, because what I had first purchased was just not working. A 16x20 canvas requires a 2" brush for the sky and water. Anything less is just painful to work with, really difficult to blend, and hard to avoid brush strokes.
Ok, it's a painting and it's got most of the parts. Sky, cloud, mountains, and trees. On the "need to work on list" I'll put..... everything.
Class 3
Ok, the painting has all the parts I want. Sky, clouds, mountains, water, reflections, trees, and bushes. On the "needs work" list is still pretty much everything. I would say everything is "better" than last week but that is truly a reality judgement. They sky and water are fine and the blends are fine. I even got a little light shine on the water but clouds are tough.
I would say the major issue is the mountains and particularly the snow on them. It "just seems to work" for the people on TV, but when I used the pallet knife to paint snow, I get a smear, not a break. Either the paint they have is a much drier and firmer consistency, this is one of those oil vs acrylic things, or it's just plain difficult.
More YouTube videos for me.
Class 4
Much better. The sky is fine and the water much better. Clouds still need the work.
Snow on the mountains is a win. A person on YouTube mentioned the issue with getting the look right and suggested using more of a diagonal cutting motion than a feather approach and hoping the paint breaks. I definitely agree. Bob Ross also pushes for really scrapping off the dark mountain color, but this does not work if you are not using the wet on wet approach. I'm thinking I'm going to just have to wait for the dark mountain color to completely dry before painting the snow. I also need to figure out what is going wrong with the shoreline. The paint this with the palate knife is the popular option, but not working for me.
Class 5
Something different this time. The last time I had issues with the sky and clouds not drying before I started the mountains. So for this class and the next I'm painting two paintings at once. Clouds and Sky for this week, and finishing both next week. It's very difficult to see what the final result will look like at this stage. I'm also hoping that a little bit of repetition will help with the learning.
- I tried painting water on canvas first. It looks good from a distance, but up close you can see where the paint broke down.
- I found it impossible to get the paint thin enough on the waters to blend. The paint simply covered everything with a uniform coverage. I attempted a lighter overcoat trying to spread the paint from the center outward but again with mixed results. Maybe I could put down a center "watery white" first and then attempt to blend the blues in from the edges.
- I tried multiple layers of color on the clouds with the large fan brush and would give it "mixed results".
Class 5b
An Interlude
For $75 you can buy a one year pass to the Sertoma Arts Center and use the painting room any time they are open. Since it's only half a mile from my house, it's a hell of a lot easier to just drive over than to set out all the drop cloths here at the house.
Today's job was to add some more clouds and paint some Mountains.
- Unlike the Bob Ross wet on wet oil style, when you use acrylic, there is no fading out of color and you drag the brush down after painting the mountains. I ended up adding a wet white layer and then trying to blend the Mt brown down into that band of white. Mixed results again.
- Without the wet on wet, you either get all color or no color.
- You can dry brush, but that has a unique look that is not a blend.
- Scratching off the mountain paint like Ross does, does not work on dry acrylic. It seems to just remove all of the color and paint.
Class 6
The final class and time to work on some snow and ice, some far trees, and a close tree. Wow this takes longer than expected every time
- Yes you can run your painting under the facet if you really mess up.
- I'm fine with the ice and snow on the mountains, but the acrylic really doesn't seem to flow like the oil paint examples on TV.
- I'm not happy with the far trees. Not enough definition. I'll have to try again and maybe use less pressure?
- The foreground trees still need another layer and then highlights.
Class 6b
Another self-guided trip to the arts center to finish up the paintings.
More layers to all the trees and adding some bushes. Say 4 layers of green and then some yellow and red for a splash of color. The shoreline white was much better after I noticed that Bob use a very thin white for the water line, and a very heavy white for the snow. In the end I would like to swap elements from both of these into one painting but I guess that's why they call it learning. I like the sky, clouds, and water from the second, but the mountains from the first. I'll call both of them a win from the perspective of "it looks like mountains, trees, and water" so I guess that is all you can really hope for from just a few attempts.
Time to call these finished.
8-26-2021