I had been experimenting with stains and masking tape in several ways over the years, so I have had quite an understanding how these elements behave. I had made preliminary sketches to consider the composition, which led me to consider the techniques I would use as well as the colour scheme in a fairly general way, as I like to make decisions on both composition as well as colour as I go. I also used quite detailed reference for the birds and the landscape although quite basic is a scene from across the road where I live, a beautiful pocket in suburbia where developers have quite rightly kept the natural billabongs and grasses and made a natural bush corridor.
I will describe the process I used for this artwork.
Step 1. I drew the birds onto the canvas with pencil and roughly worked out the structure of the composition. I blocked out the birds using masking fluid, usually used for water colour but I find it works and it keeps the bird section still bare canvas (which will be painted in detail later). if it's covered in stain it will not keep the vibrancy a white background gives to a painting.
Step 2. I cut the masking tape into long strips with a blade on a cutting board and lay them onto the canvas representing the grasses, laying them down from the bottom of the canvas first as they need to be in front. This is the most tedious of the process, but I enjoy this sort of work as a mindful, meditative activity.
Step 3. First spray the canvas with water .
The stain - I use acrylic paint mixed with water to a runny consistency, making many colours by mixing and blending them together to achieve a nice complimentary scheme. I sometimes use airbrush inks if I'm getting lazy. These colours are quite vibrant. Lie the canvas flat and pour the stains on with consideration of where you want your colours and tones. leave to dry. (the colour seeps under the tape, giving that strong textured quality.)
Step 4. I use an airbrush now and plenty of lace pieces to spray through many colours which enhance and add depth to the stained area, I also worked on the soft tree section and the sky. The dotted flight path came a little later as I needed some straight lines and tonal contrast to help the composition. You may notice how strong the blue is of the dotted flight path and see how many layers I have airbrushed to achieve the soft tree line. It is also quite tricky to know how strong or what colour the taped areas will be, but you use the surrounding colour as a guide and a bit of blind faith.
Step5. Remove the tape. Yay, the fun part -(easier said than done) The tape has well and truly established itself now and I need some long fingernails to pull it off.
Step 7.Making adjustments to tone etc and composition now with brush and paint and remove the making fluid. (It just rubs off.)
I painted the birds carefully and this is the part the painting relies on to have the contrast of abstract textures, made sense by associating with realistic birds.. I used Prussian blue as my blue (as well as turquoise) in the painting as it is a soft colour in the painting when used as a tint as well as a good blue to use for the deep dark blue on the bird. Using the same blue ties the foreground to the background, uniting the composition, and making the story connected.
I will describe the process I used for this artwork.
Step 1. I drew the birds onto the canvas with pencil and roughly worked out the structure of the composition. I blocked out the birds using masking fluid, usually used for water colour but I find it works and it keeps the bird section still bare canvas (which will be painted in detail later). if it's covered in stain it will not keep the vibrancy a white background gives to a painting.
Step 2. I cut the masking tape into long strips with a blade on a cutting board and lay them onto the canvas representing the grasses, laying them down from the bottom of the canvas first as they need to be in front. This is the most tedious of the process, but I enjoy this sort of work as a mindful, meditative activity.
Step 3. First spray the canvas with water .
The stain - I use acrylic paint mixed with water to a runny consistency, making many colours by mixing and blending them together to achieve a nice complimentary scheme. I sometimes use airbrush inks if I'm getting lazy. These colours are quite vibrant. Lie the canvas flat and pour the stains on with consideration of where you want your colours and tones. leave to dry. (the colour seeps under the tape, giving that strong textured quality.)
Step 4. I use an airbrush now and plenty of lace pieces to spray through many colours which enhance and add depth to the stained area, I also worked on the soft tree section and the sky. The dotted flight path came a little later as I needed some straight lines and tonal contrast to help the composition. You may notice how strong the blue is of the dotted flight path and see how many layers I have airbrushed to achieve the soft tree line. It is also quite tricky to know how strong or what colour the taped areas will be, but you use the surrounding colour as a guide and a bit of blind faith.
Step5. Remove the tape. Yay, the fun part -(easier said than done) The tape has well and truly established itself now and I need some long fingernails to pull it off.
Step 7.Making adjustments to tone etc and composition now with brush and paint and remove the making fluid. (It just rubs off.)
I painted the birds carefully and this is the part the painting relies on to have the contrast of abstract textures, made sense by associating with realistic birds.. I used Prussian blue as my blue (as well as turquoise) in the painting as it is a soft colour in the painting when used as a tint as well as a good blue to use for the deep dark blue on the bird. Using the same blue ties the foreground to the background, uniting the composition, and making the story connected.
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