In my effort to clean up old things, I have all this craft paint which I’m not using that fast for mini painting. I decided this year to get rid of it… by using it up. What better way than following Bob Rose videos. I’m up to ep 8 in season 1. It hasn’t been easy for more than one reason.
I’m using craft paint
Look you can make any paint work with right kind of love. Craft paint needs mediums like blending and flow to help get it to the right consistency for mini painting. It was all I could afford for years. But craft paint is not meant to last. So these bottles are crusty and some only have one use left.
I’m using Acrylic instead of Oil
Ross’ technique depends on the properties of Oil paint, something I have no interest in. I had to learn a few things differently for any of these work. First, don’t use a wet palette. Dryer paints work better for what he does, so keeping water to a minimum is a must. Part of the process is mixing colors right on the canvas. Failures to do so well Ross calls it mud mixing and this first painting definitely suffers from that.
I failed at depth, light, shape.. just about everything. At least it looks kinda like trees. What I learned is that I need more brushes than he seemed to be using, I needed to let things dry a bit more before brushing over, and I needed a bucket. Getting brushes dry enough was a problem, so having more brushes was key. A bucket would help with drying.
Things can go bad fast
So fast. The dark red black canvas of ep 2 depended on a lot of subtle blending which seemed to be going well and then I did a couple of bad things. I pushed too hard, I had too much water, and I went over the whole painting not just part.
I lost all the color and detail in one bad swoop.
I gave up and “fixed” it.
Still not great but it’s something. Lessons, use a porcelain dish, brush out brush before painting. Use smaller brushes. Beat the brushes to dry, Have more brushes.
Watch other peoples tutorials
I started watching more videos on acrylic paint. This helped in the next painting.
Soft brush, Soft Touch
I now had my bucket, and a some mop brushes, and a find mist spray. I got better clouds with a dry soft brush with the mop. I’m starting to achieve depth. Foreground still sucks.
Screw Color, Go Darker
I should have started with the a darker green, but I got the fan brush to work. I also discovered a small flat brush worked better on trees. I’m so happy with that water.
Still need to work on the foreground
I think I have a good tool set but I only have so many canvas… I got more creative with this one.
Going Small
Before I use paper I decided use up the tiny canvas that I have…and maybe it’s working.
I had to use smaller brushes but I had a lot of fun with this one. This whole process is relaxing and fun. As I use up old paint I’m getting excited for new paint. Speaking of which:
Gouache
Videos of me painting these will be going up on YouTube. It’s a fun new adventure for me.
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