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Harlan's Easy Painting Course in Acrylics
Play #10: Paint from your thumbnail sketches.
I sketched these thumbnails from my imagination. (It helps that I've painted flower paintings from life.) By not being tied down to copying what I see before me -- I'm free to rely on impressions from memory. You can do the same.
See the paintings, directly below. By the way, I'm now using three tube colors (blue, red, yellow) plus white to mix my colors. It's amazing how many nice hues you can get from these primary colors.
It bears repeating: keep it simple. I tried to do that in these two paintings: a simple background; a mass of leaves painted loosely and rapidly (with only dark green and medium green to give the impression of leaves) followed by dabs of paint that represent flowers; and a vase.
Again, you're more than welcome to copy these paintings or create your own versions. You might do even better!
Play #11: What to do with leftover paint?
At the end of a painting session, you may have small piles of leftover paint. Acrylics dry rapidly so you can let the unused paint dry. Or, if you're frugal and hate waste, you can paint a whimsical abstract painting like I did here. I like the cheeriness of this painting more than some of my realistic paintings. And if you're so inclined, all of your paintings can be non-objective or abstract.
I think it's a good discipline for any realistic painter to also seriously play with abstract paintings, because subtle abstract shapes often undergird a realistic painting: (notice the white or negative shapes at left, too). But more importantly, it's just fun to paint abstract designs and not be tied to realism.
This "leftover" painting was inspired by the Abstract Expressionists of the 1950's. The difference is that they painted very large canvases, 6' x 8' or larger. They seemed to enjoy brushwork, color, and dynamic shapes for their own sake. When I attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago I especially enjoyed viewing the raw power of Franz Kline's huge black on white paintings.
One more "leftover." Kind of reminds me of my mom's baking days. She used leftover cinnamon roll dough to make tasty tarts.
You may find these kinds of spontaneous paintings are among your best if you keep a playful, inventive, adventurous spirit.
Go to the next page for Play #12.
All art work Copyright © Harlan Simantel
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