Painting Digest No. 2

SOROYA FRENCH

Subject: tropical scene
Support: mountboard
Medium: acrylic inks, Daler-Rowney System 3 acrylic paints, oil pastels

Typical Mixes: unmixed colours on large areas of the painting
Background: thin washes e.g. yellow ochre applied with flat brush
Figures: blocks of ultramarine blue, cadmium red and other medium tones freely applied
Skin tones: burnt sienna and yellow ochre - may be quite dark
Sunlight / sunlit areas: white and scumbled white and/or yellow mixtures
Shadows: darken to add drama

Soroya's Tips: (1) negative shapes loosely painted around the figures/subjects define the figures, rather than blocking in the figures themselves
(2) thicker paint - sometimes impasto - in some areas
(3) part of the subject-matter cropped by the edge of the picture
(4) use complimentary colours next to each other e.g. yellow and purple
(5) add zingy colours with oil pastel e.g. bright pink against brown
(6) have two quieter areas in the picture
(7) create textures e.g. paint rollers or cards dragged across the surface
(8) add white acrylic ink highlights at the end

Di Alexander TAS Editor