It took a little longer, but the painting is finished!
I was told this painting does not look as if it had been made with acrylics, which I took as a compliment. Acrylics do tend to look a little artificial and well, plastic. I would have had a much easier time painting this with oils, but that was not the point. Besides, like I have said before, acrylics allow me to paint many more layers in a shorter period of time, thus gaining a pretty unique sense of depth.
I purposely reserved some areas of the painting where, if you look closely, you will see brush strokes from the initial 'gray' thin coat I applied as I was getting started. That "richness" in my opinion is worth the time and effort, because it brings an additional blending element. More importantly, it emphasizes the fact that this is a painting, not a photograph. I want the audience to appreciate the painting's photographic quality, but I also want them to see the different kinds of strokes and textures obtained by the brushes. To me, that is what makes a realistic painting interesting and alive.
I'm looking into borrowing a good camera to get some quality pictures of all of this. As soon as that happens, I will upload them on the Facebook album I have created for it. Feel free to visit it and tell me what you think.
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| Click on the Matilija Poppy to visit this its Facebook album! |
I was told this painting does not look as if it had been made with acrylics, which I took as a compliment. Acrylics do tend to look a little artificial and well, plastic. I would have had a much easier time painting this with oils, but that was not the point. Besides, like I have said before, acrylics allow me to paint many more layers in a shorter period of time, thus gaining a pretty unique sense of depth.
I purposely reserved some areas of the painting where, if you look closely, you will see brush strokes from the initial 'gray' thin coat I applied as I was getting started. That "richness" in my opinion is worth the time and effort, because it brings an additional blending element. More importantly, it emphasizes the fact that this is a painting, not a photograph. I want the audience to appreciate the painting's photographic quality, but I also want them to see the different kinds of strokes and textures obtained by the brushes. To me, that is what makes a realistic painting interesting and alive.
I'm looking into borrowing a good camera to get some quality pictures of all of this. As soon as that happens, I will upload them on the Facebook album I have created for it. Feel free to visit it and tell me what you think.