Friday, February 10, 2012

Fast and Loose Lemons


4.5 inch X 6 inch acrylic on canvas sheet

This was a fun painting.  I bought four tubes of acrylic paint--red, yellow, blue and white.  I've seen painters who make an underpainting with acrylic and then paint on that with oils.   I thought I'd like to try it.  

Karen Mathison Schmidt is one of my favorite artists who uses this technique.  She creates rich, luminous paintings with lots of glazing and underpainting.  Check out her blog. 

Anyway, I started out with the paints on a paper plate,  thinking of making an underpainting.  Once I got started, I did the whole thing in acrylic.  They dry fast, so it was a completely different feeling from oils.  I painted  much looser than I do with oils.  And it was fun to see what I could do with just three colors. 
I'll have to try the underpainting another day. 

Have a good weekend! 






6 comments:

  1. I like the shadow colors with the light purple in them, it contrast nicely with the lemons!

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  2. That sounds like a fun thing to try! Great job on the lemons and I love the cloth. The touches of violet are very nice.
    Now on to check out Karen's site! :-)

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  3. Pretty cool method Virginia. Nice lemons. Acrylics drive me nuts but I should try this.

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  4. It's amazing what you can do with a limited palette!! These lemons are beautifully painted, Virginia!!!

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  5. It's nice to try another way of painting, and another medium;I like, sometimes, too , do that, with acrylic.
    Beautiful painting, Virginia!

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  6. I like the colors you got. Nice painting with the lemons and the folds in the cloth.

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