Acrylic Lilies
This is my second try at painting a pair of paintings at the same time. I like it. It goes faster than painting two separate paintings because you save time preparing and mixing the colors. I worked back and forth mixing a color once and applying it twice.
Usually I work on a painting in one sitting, but it’s hard to find a large block of time. So, this time I worked over four consecutive days – one hour before dinner each day.
Day 1: I got everything set up. I attached the canvas panels side by side to the easel and I laid out the paints and brushes. I then used a small sponge to block in the green and black background.
Day 2: I added light yellow and blue. I used the inside of an old white sock to blot on some textured blue. I also used a small, round sponge to daub on paint. I used a #6 round brush to paint the flowers.
Day 3: I refined the greens and added variations of color to the flowers.
Day 4: I added detail. I sharpened the edges of the petals against the black. I added glazes of white and light yellow to the petals and defined the shapes of the flowers by adding some detail.
I used Golden Fluid Acrylic for these paintings. I struggled with it. It’s hard to mix or blend two colors together. They seem to want to stay suspended in each other instead of melting nicely together. I had to stir the colors vigorously with a palette knife to thoroughly mix them. Creating variations of color and value took way too much time. Also, I had a hard time applying glazes. I tried thinning the paint with both gel medium and water, but I couldn’t achieve a nice transparent glaze. The paint was too opaque. I do like the brilliant colors, and I also like how quickly the paint drys.
I expected to like one painting more than the other (keep one, sell or give the other away), but it turns out I like them as a pair. They are like twins born at the same time. It would be a shame to separate them.
Canvas panels, Golden Fluid Acrylic paint. 6 x 6 inches (15.2 x 15.2 cm).
Jim
