Painting a Dolphin

Lesson #4

Acrylic Blending We will start by explaining the blending that I did on the dolphin in Lesson 2. I took the color that I painted the dolphin with and started by mixing three shades of that color. To keep it simple and allow you to learn this as a concept and not just an isolated instance, I will use black and white to do the shading instead of the dolphin colors. Remember that with color (hue) you need to be aware of value more than just color. Value is divided up from dark to light. With acrylic and especially Liquitex, the value is written on the side of the jar or tube. Number 1 is the darkest and 10 is the lightest value. So using your ivory black and titanium white, lets make three mixtures. First pour out the black into a pool about the size of a quarter. Now do the same with the white. There you are. You have two of the three piles done. Now pour out half of the amount of each color and make the third pile. You now have a third mix of half black and half white. Now you have a very dark value black, a very light value white and a middle value of gray. If you are using any other color than black and white, you just mix appropriate amounts of any color to change the values. Shading is done by blending several colors slowly together as you move over the surface of your subject. On the dolphin I worked with Deep Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, and ivory black. Now with this black and white demonstration I have mixed three piles of different values. In this I use white instead of a lighter gray, just to make it easy. Now lets start. We wont be using the dolphin now, we will just practice blending these colors with each other. Take a flat brush, (1/4") is fine for this practice. Pick up with your brush a little white paint and paint a 1" path about 4" long. Now wipe your brush with a paper towel and dip it into the gray paint and paint a one inch path right below the white, but blending into it as you go across the 4" area. The blending stroke is a little like making x's across the canvass. But instead of trying to be mechanical, you watch the blending as it goes. As you blend, just look as you do it and see if it looks like a nice soft blend or not. At this point I sometimes take another dry brush and come back over the same area to make it look softer. What you need to be aware of is if you over blend , it will all look like the same color with no gradual change of color. Now add a little more gray and do this again. This time you will be blending across a lower area and not picking up so much white because you are blending into a darker area of color (white and gray mixture ). Now dip into the gray and go across again, all the time adding a new 1" path a little lower than before. Now it is time to again wipe your brush and dip into a darker color. This time being black. Be careful now. Just a little black on your brush at first. Blend into the gray and go across the canvas again. Add a little more black and go across again, all the time each layer going one inch or so lower. Now you should have something that looks like this. This is Now your first layer. Let it dry and go right over it again and it will soften even more. Techniques need to be practiced. Try this using different colors. Graduate your colors from a light value to a dark value. Try doing this to a circle about 4" in diameter. Just blend away. Try changing the size of your brush. Large areas need large brushes. Small areas need small brushes. After you have mastered this, go back and finish your dolphin.

Robert's genuine love for the sea is reflected on canvas in the mediums of oil and acrylic. An avid diver and photographer, the artist is best known for his realistic portrayals of the undersea marine life in Hawaii. Robert's home is on the Big Island of Hawaii, where he lives with his wife Victoria and their six children. Robert frequently teaches and demonstrates painting at his studio on the Big Island, while Victoria stays busy raising the kids and entertaining their many guests. Robert is a contributing editor to WetCanvas!, and can be reached via email at robthoma@ilhawaii.net. Be sure to visit his official web site at www.scenicgallery.com.