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I absolutely love to experiment with all genres and media. I work in watercolor, pencil, pastel, acrylic, ink and oil. I also enjoy doing very careful, detailed studies and the freedom that intuitive abstracts affords. This piece combines both abstract and impressionism and was created using acrylic and oils. I would like to walk you through my creation process.

 

I started with an abstract background that used bright fluorescent pink, fluorescent orange, fluorescent yellow, and fluorescent green.  At this beginning stage, the piece was intuitive. I had no idea what the final piece would look like or what the subject matter would be. I just painted! The acrylic paint brand I used for the  fluorescent colors was Liquitex. Paint was applied with a brush and squeegee on prepared canvas. I did this in multiple layers and then allowed to dry thoroughly.

 

 

I kept studying the piece over the course of several weeks as a vertical as shown here and as a horizontal, in various orientations. I kept leaning towards water and reflections and decided my next direction. My reference images were selected.

 

The next layers were all done in water mixable oils. I prefer these to the use of chemicals with traditional oils that smell and are not eco-friendly. I use a variety of brands including Cobra, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, Holbein, and Georgia. The process followed the stages as follows:

 

1. Outline the subjects in an interesting composition, I used a photo reference and quickly outlined the shapes I wanted to include and ignore unnecessary details. Images  can be transferred with using a grid, light table or projector. I have used all of these, depending on size, subject and substrate. This just quickly defines shape. (Drawing is still a very important skill and must be practiced!)
2. Define the darks. With oil, it's better to go dark and lighten in subsequent layers. Squinting helps simplify what is dark from what is light.
3. Move to the medium values and start to add definition to the shapes. Be cognizant of the background colors, not the reference image.
4. Add the light colors and highlights, being mindful of background and how reflected light will strike the subject
5. Adjust background as needed to harmonize the two elements. This can be done with acrylics only if they are applied on the acrylic layer. Applying oils overtop of acrylic is preferred in this case so the hues and luminosity are consistent. Add details for reflections and shadows cast by the subject.
6. If desired, use subtle varnishes to accentuate value differences. 

Hope that you find this useful. Please shoot me an email for comments/questions.