MY GO-TO PAINT HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN FLUID ACRYLICS, however, lately I’ve rediscovered the joy of soft and heavy body paint. The creamy consistency and the feel of the paint softly caressing the canvas is a rich experience to behold. Because of the paint’s high viscosity, it’s easy to make marks and lines that hold their shape. For this particular painting, my inspiration was the melding of a simple traditional landscape with the backdrop of a gritty cityscape. Keep it simple and play with creating textures with just your paint and the tools you have at hand.
Assorted brushes
Assorted heavy body paint: black, white, Warm Gray
Assorted soft body acrylic paints: Quinacridone Magenta, Carbon Black, Australian Blue
Brayer
Catalyst wedge and blade
Fineline applicator filled with Titanium White fluid acrylic
Gesso
Glazing medium
Hardbord panel
Jerry’s Jumbo Jet Pencil
Spray bottle
Prime your surface with gesso using a catalyst wedge or a scraping tool. Using a scraper will create lines of texture.
Mix a glaze of Quinacridone Magenta and glazing medium. Randomly brush on the mixture to the top portion of your landscape. Spray water onto the surface while the board is tilted to allow some of the color to run down. Blot excess color.
Use a catalyst blade to scratch into the glaze layer while it is still wet.
Use heavy body black acrylic paint to cover the base of the surface. Roll it on with a brayer. Change directions as you roll and spread the paint around. Paint over some of the magenta as well, but use a lighter hand so it will still show through.
Continue to use heavy body paint to build up the surface. Squirt out some white directly to your substrate above the horizon line. Use a dirty brayer or mix a little black into the white in order to encourage value shifts. Change directions with your brayer to build up shapes. Scrape into the paint with your blade again. Let dry and repeat these steps to build layers.
Bring in a contrasting color using a small brush and Australian Blue to add small random sections of blue. Hint at a skyline or cityscape. Because it is an abstract, you are creating a mood rather than a perfect representation. Perhaps it will be a rainy foggy day in the city.
Continue building up the layers and adding abstract shapes.
As you are building up the paint layers, use your mark-making tools to dig into the heavy body paint. This will create a weathered and worn look of texture.
Alternate between using a brayer and a scraper to add paint. You want to encourage a variety of interesting shapes to emerge. Using multiple tools in addition to brushes will assist in accomplishing this process. Warm Gray (which resembles putty) adds a neutral hue to the composition. Finish the bottom with black fluid acrylic. This will flow nicely over the heavy body paint and add dimension to your layers.
Tilt the panel and add paint to the top of the surface with a wet brush, or spray the paint with water to encourage it to drip. The colors will comingle as the paint drips down the panel.
Splatter several of the paint colors you’ve already used to tie the work together. Use a Jumbo Jet Black pencil to draw designs and marks.
Finish your detail work by using the Fineline applicator to suggest lights, windows, buildings or patterns you’d like to draw attention to in your composition.
Consider repeating this landscape using the same color palette but emphasizing a different color within your palette each time. You’ll be on your way to creating a great collection!
CIRCLING BACK AROUND
11" × 14" (28cm × 36cm), acrylics, charcoal, pencil on Ampersand Hardbord
FIRST DAY OF SPRING
12" × 12" (30cm × 30cm), acrylics, gel medium, pouring medium on Ampersand Gessobord