Home About Jaya Artwork Past Show Photos Benefits & Demos Process Notes
Links Shop Jaya Calendar 

Questions Answered

A few notes and thoughts on my process

 I have included footnotes - click on a highlighted word to learn more!

KEYWORDS

Placement, inward, do not overwork, removal, detail

 PROCESS NOTES

• I realize that not only do I remove paint with the paper towel; I also soak it up with a dry brush.  This is good for more small detailed work.
• For the big negative spaces I use a brush that can hold more water.  This is my ½ “ sable. 
• Things that I overlook:  changing the water.  Why isn’t my paint moving?  Oh.
• I listen to a lot of music when I paint; I also put on movies that I have seen many times over.  I watch the movie in my head while I paint.
• My mind never stops when I paint-I see many outcomes to the piece.  As I work, I visualize past pieces and the process I used on them.
• “Negative space” is key in this process. By removing most of the paint in the areas surrounding your figure or building first, you can create a silhouette from which to work. I reccommend looking at your piece in light & shadow. This is how you will flesh out the details in the point of interest.
• Word to the wise:  If you are drinking coffee or a soda, make sure that you do not set it down near your water dish.

WHAT IS GOUACHE?

“Designers Gouache Colors are a range of opaque watercolors, so called because they were developed for and continue to be mainly used by designers.  Gouache is however also used by fine artists as an opaque watercolor, or in combination with artist’ water color.

Winsor&Newton Designer Gouache is accepted today as the finest quality range available, with a wide color spectrum catering both for designers and fine artists.  In addition unsurpassed covering power is achieved by the high level of pigmentation and brilliance of color from the use of pure pigments.  In use the color’s even flow produces flat washes without streaking.”

-Winsor&Newton.com

Like watercolor, gouache contains a gum binder and ingredients such as sugars and glycerin to improve the paint’s handling characteristics. Unlike watercolor, gouache paints contain an added ingredient such as preticipated chalk or blanc fixe to make the paint opaque.

PRETICIPATED CHALK & BLANC FIXE
Chalk (calcium carbonate) that is made synthetically. It’s used in various paints, such as gouache and pastel, for its whiteness and as a filler. Blanc fixe is an inert white powder (barium sulfate) used to give gouache it’s body; it’s also used in the manufacture of some lake colors and is the white pigment in some modern freso palattes.

ACRYLIC GESSO
Acrylic gesso may be applied with a knife, brush, spatula or any handy tool. It may be left rough (as we will be experiencing in this workshop) to provide a textured ground, or it may be put on smoothly and when dry, further smoothed by sanding.

TOOLS

• Gessoed-bug-bombed-found-wood: All of the found wood provided today has been bug-bombed (just-in-case) and pre-gessoed. I bug-bomb all of the wood that I find to guarantee that no unwanted guests might take up residence. (I’ve included a “How-To-Bug-Proof-Your-Wood” information sheet with this packet!) I have applied a layer of gesso (white paint primer) to each of the pieces of wood.
  
• Gouache colors:  ( Holbein and Winsor&Newton are great brands to use)  Gouache is opaque watercolor and can be used with traditional watercolors. I like to use a “limited palatte” of gouache colors in this process. Gouache can also be mixed with matte-medium to create glazes.
• Spray bottle: I use the spray bottle to keep the gouache moist for easy movement. The gouache dries fairly quickly so it is convenient to use the broad coverage of water to keep it moving (rather than continually dipping your brush in the water bucket)
• Q-tips: Q-tips are a convenient tool if you need to lift off a small area of paint. I find that I use q-tips in the more detailed areas of a painting.
• Paper towels: Always an excellent tool! Use the paper towel to lift off the paint and dry your brushes.
  
• Brushes:  Small synthetic round, and flat brushes (1 each), 2 small synthetic bright brushes, ½“ sable brush, ¾” synthetic stroke brush. I prefer to use synthetic nylon brushes. They have stiffer bristles than sable and it is easier to lift off the paint/move the paint around.
  
• White water-soluble pencil (Stabilo brand is what I recommend), a few water-soluble pencils in the same color palette
• Water bucket: The bigger the water bucket the better! The water will get muddy fast from all of the removed paint. So the less you have to change the water, the more time you have to work.
• Matte Spray Fixative (Krylon or Blair fixative)
• White transfer paper: This transfer paper is a specialized wax-free transfer paper that works like carbon paper to transfer a design from one surface to another. It produces waxless, greaseless, clean tracings that lay lightly on the tracing surface and are easy to erase. Transfer paper comes in a few different colors, however white is the best to use for dark surfaces.
• Matte Medium (Liquitex or Golden brands are great) Or acrylic polymer emulsion, matte medium creates a matte, non-reflective finish, is milky when wet but dries clear. It increases transluscency, adhesion, and paint flow. It is also non-yellowing. The brand I prefer is “Liquitex” but “Golden” also has a great product on the market.
• Disposable palette or Multi-palatte, this is an easy-to-use palatte that is similar to wax paper. The multi-palatte comes in handy towards the end of the painting process when I am glazing with matte-medium or adding paint.  

SPRAY FIXING

• HOW DO I KNOW WHEN I AM READY TO SPRAY-FIX?  When I begin to rework areas over and over, yet still achieving the same outcome, I know that I am just delaying this next step.  When I start glazing areas over with washes of color, this is also a sign that I am ready for the next step.   I forget that I can still do much detail work after the spray-fix, and it is usually the nit-pick details that take the longest time.
• SPRAY-FIXING TIP: before spraying the piece, spritz a couple times off to the side to get any clogs out of the way.  This will also indicate which way the wind is blowing, and you can adjust your stance so you won’t spray yourself.
• I like to use a matte spray fixative.  I find that in this process it does not matter if the fixative is “workable” or not, I just prefer the final look of the Krylon Workable Fixatif.  Spray the entirety of the piece a couple times over, using long and steady swoops.  Hold the can about 6”over the painting at an angle-if you hold it too close then a heavier layer will saturate the painting and it is apt to crack or create a milky film upon drying.  (Both have happened to me before, and I have still completed the pieces by use of glazes.  If this happens it is more work to cover that up.)  When you spray-the pigment does darken and the contrast between the lights and darks is enhanced, however it will be consistent throughout.  Some folks prefer the look of the paint without the spray-fix, however the painting will be very monochromatic and a little more “flat”.
• It only takes a couple minutes for the spray-fix to dry.  Test the paint to see if it still lifts.  If it does then just apply more coats.

GLAZING

“Acrylic matte medium:  water resistance can be achieved by adding small amounts of acrylic matte medium.  Care should be taken however, as some colors can react.  The pinks and violets in Designers’ Gouache can have a tendency to change color on combination with acrylic.  Some other Designers’ Gouache colors may be sensitive to alkali and produce gelatinous or lumpy mixtures.  The addition of the medium will also deepen the…so experiment on the palette first.”

 –Winsor&Newton.com

·        The acrylic matte medium is milky in color but dries clear.  I use this to create glaze upon glaze throughout the painting.  I use this to create glow effects, enhance shadows, and to push the depth in the background.