Brush & Color

Capture your impressions of a subject by painting a sketch rather than drawing it. This is a marvelous way to gather information for a more finished piece later as well as to learn about different types of paint and techniques you can use. Watercolor is a fantastic medium to start with because you can make changes quickly and easily. The only rule is to keep the paint transparent. That way, the color is almost luminescent as it passes through and bounces back from the white paper beneath. Use crumpled plastic wrap to create an extraordinary textured background of dense ferns that will beautifully set off a dragonfly. Try acrylics on an animal portrait, which will give you practice at reproducing fur. While some parts of the coat require sharp individual features, others need to be kept soft and fluid. Consider also movement and depth along with variations of texture and color. Wet-on-wet acrylic painting offers all these properties. Oil painting is unequalled when you want to convey sunlight, shadow, depth, and texture. Here you'll work with a traditional method, in which the paint layers are built up. This will give you a better understanding of what function they perform. Painting a stone wall will familiarize you with color mixing and the effects of sunlight. Find out about mixed media by combining acrylics and soft pastels on a composition of a girl and a foal. The acrylic underpainting provides strong, bright colors and texture. The pastel layer lends softness. Once you begin to remove the pastel, you'll see the acrylic detail and can then choose which areas to reveal and which to leave soft. Working with paint in this way is as exciting as it is important to anything you might create later. Book jacket.Taggart, Paul is the author of 'Brush & Color ', published 2005 under ISBN 9781402731082 and ISBN 1402731086.