More ArtRage Vitae… Copying a Master

| cathmary1030

Today I tried painting a Christmas ornament in ArtRage Vitae, and I used as a reference a painting by Teddi Parker, which you can see here.

As with the sketch of Simba, I struggled a bit. In the Simba drawing, I used the felt pen tool; in this case I used the square flat brush, and widened the stroke.

It should be obvious that Teddi’s painting (master copy) is on the right.

The funny thing is, it actually felt like I was painting, despite using my finger tip! But I want to get back to the brush tomorrow.

Trying out ArtRage Vitae

| cathmary1030

I’ve never really considered digital painting before because I don’t have an iPad or an iPhone. Instead, I have an Android phone, and a Kindle Fire 10. However, one of my favorite artists on Instagram (Teddi Parker) has posted occasionally some work she’s done using ArtRage Vitae. So I decided to check it out — and to my surprise it’s available not only for Apple products, but Android and desktops (Windows, MacOS).

Okay, then. I bought it for $2.99 on Google Play and loaded it on both my phone (can’t see using it there, though!) and my tablet. Below is my first work.. a sketch of my cat, Simba, based on a photo I took of him some time back when he was on my lap. I saved it before I finished his long white whiskers (well, really I messed up with layering and had to start all over again.)

Not bad, for a first attempt. I used my finger, and am debating purchasing a stylus to see if that helps.

Holiday Candy… Acrylic University Challenge

| cathmary1030

This was painted on a 12×12 canvas panel, and is based on a paint-along work done by Dianna Shyne in Acrylic University for a winter challenge back in December 2023 (before I had joined AU as a member).

I started out following her, but then I gave up and focused just on the reference photo for guidance.

My husband thought they were Christmas lights until I had completed the tags. (That said, I’m now working on a piece that IS of Christmas lights, part of this year’s winter challenge. Hopefully, I’ll have it done before Dianna’s paint-along this Friday.)

Playing with Color… Chromatic Blacks

| cathmary1030

So, we know that mixing two complementary colors will get us a brown or black if we do it deliberately, and “mud” if we don’t. 🙂 You can see a Burnt Sienna (“orange”) and Ultramarine Blue chromatic black that I used here.

I mixed opaque Red Iron Oxide (PR 101) with both Ultramarine Blue (PB 29) and Anthraquinone Blue (PB 60). Both mixed to a nice dark black, but as I continued to add more white to that black, the PR 101 – PB 60 mix created a bluer gray.

I also mixed Dioxazine Purple (PV 23) with Green Gold (PY 129) and got a dark brown rather than a black.

Finally I mixed Quinacridone Magenta (PR 122) with Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG 36) and then with Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG 7). The chromatic black for both of these mixtures was far and away the deepest black (much more evident than in the photos). What was striking to me was how blue the tinted version of the “black” mix of PR 122 and PG 7. (See bottom photo.)

Playing with Color… Shades of Orange

| cathmary1030

I have a couple of shades of red and a couple of shades of yellow, so wanted to see how a mixed orange would play out, and then how it would tint. Turns out my Naphthol Crimson (PR 170) is quite close to my current favorite Anthraquinone Red (PR 177). And the light yellow is more of a lemon (cool) color, while the medium yellow is considerably warmer.

I recently bought some Primary Red (PV 19) which turns out to be nearly the same as my Naphthol Crimson (PR 170) — definitely a cool (transparent) red. And I picked up a tube of Transparent Red Oxide (PR 101) and the color is not significantly different from the regular (opaque) Red Oxide (also PR 101) which I already had.

The warm yellow seemed to make more of a difference than the warm red (at bottom — pyrrole red PR 254) as far as the orange was concerned. Meaning, I don’t see much of a difference between the medium cad-free yellow mixed with PR 254, as compared to the same yellow mixed with PR 170.

Beach Birds

| cathmary1030

As with my sunflower painting posted the other days, this is on a 6×6 “Claybord” panel with the undertone painting done in metallic paint — this time silver. I still don’t care for the slippery metallic paint and/or the Claybord.

The beach birds are based on one of the 7 challenges demonstrated at the 2024 Summer “Challenge” at Acrylic University. For drawing out the scene the birds and key lines of the waves), I used a Posca paint pen (uni® POSCA® PC-5M, Earthtone Water-Based Paint Markers (8 Pack)) in a navy blue color that I bought at Michael’s.

Painting the scene, I used just 4 colors: Ultramarine Blue, Anthraquinone Blue, Payne’s Gray and White.

Big and Bold: Chickadee

| cathmary1030

This bird was painted on a 11×14 canvas which I toned with Blick Studio neutral gray — but I should have added at least one layer of gesso. (Cheap “pre-gessoed” canvases are less and less appealing to me.)

This is from another class on the Acrylic University website, originally shown to the public on YouTube for a brief period of time back in January 2022. The focus of the week’s classes was “Radiant Landscapes” and this class was about going big and bold with your brushstrokes to paint a chickadee.

There were 4 ways suggested to “go bold”: 1) limit yourself to 30 minutes painting (and that’s it, no going back later); 2) Limit yourself to a certain number of brushstrokes — say, 50, or 75; 3) use a large brush throughout; 4) paint with your non-dominant hand

I went with a larger brush than I typically use, and I had a lot of fun with this painting. It makes me happy to look at.