Paul Talbot-Greaves
teaches watercolour and acrylic painting in workshops and demonstrations to art societies throughout the midlands and the north of England. He can be contacted by email: information@talbot-greaves.co.uk or through his website: www.talbot-greaves.co.uk
This month’s scene, being devoid of features, draws on the strong ability of acrylic to utilise multiple layers of semitransparent paint to generate shape, form and interest. I sketched out the main proportions on a piece of Canson paper before loosely blocking in the darkest darks. These didn’t have to be accurate shapes, in fact the looser you apply this starting value, the better. Whilst the paint was still a little damp, I added water to make a mid-value and again, roughly applied the paint in order to block out the white of the paper. I let this dry before moving into colour.
Starting at the top of the paper I applied cerulean blue diluted with flow improver medium. This is a fluid medium that is mixed with water and used when you are thinning your acrylic to a watercolour-like consistency. The medium helps with adhesion of the thinned paint. In the land I continued with washes of colour using varying amounts of yellow ochre, perylene violet and burnt sienna, all mixed on the paper. I continued the colours over my darks, switching to cerulean blue then cobalt blue in the stream.