Creative Artist - AU (2020-02)

Materials List

• 51 x 61cm good quality
  canvas board. Quality
  canvas is essential. As you
  do not want a board that
  is not well primed and
  sucks the life out of the
  paint – nor one that is too
  slippery.


• Art Basics 101 Flat Bristle
  in all sizes
  
  
  • Eterna 579 (a cheap
    ‘hairy bristle but useful for
    some effects and softening
    edges)
  
  
  • Monte Marte ‘Rake’
    brush - great for grass
  
  
  • Art Basics Bristle –
    round 1 & 2
  
  
  • Eterna 582 Bristle round
  
  
  • I also cut my own
    brushes with sharp
    scissors using old brushes
    I no longer use. These are
    great for a variety of uses
    where texture is required.
  
  
  
  


• Thin willow charcoal


• Colours
  
  
  • Art Spectrum Australian
    Red Gold
  
  
  • Art SpectrumPilbara
    Red
  
  
  • Art Spectrum
    CadmiumYellow
  
  
  • Art Spectrum
    UltramarineBlue
  
  
  • Art Spectrum
    ManganeseBlue
  
  
  • Art SpectrumBurnt
    Sienna
  
  
  • Art Spectrum
    TransparentRed Oxide
  
  
  • Winsor& Newton
    Blue Black
  
  
  • SchminkeTitanium
    White
  
  
  • Sap green
  
  
  
  


• Medium:Gamsolsolvent -
  one of the safestsolvents
  to use. All the aromatic
  solventshave been refined
  out of it, makingit safer
  than any of the aromatic
  petroleumsolvents.It
  also has a very high flash
  point.

Continued...

Robyn Collier

artist 39

Step One
Firstly I draw in my subject with accuracy but no
detail. I use thin willow charcoal because it is easy
to rub out. Pencil is difficult to remove and painting
directly on to the canvas often means a messy
drawing with correction lines. The board I chose is a
51 x 61cm, which I felt suited the subject matter of
the Kimberley Eucalypts.
I always begin by blocking in my darks, then mid-
tones, then lastly my lights. If I am working on a
section of the painting as I am with this one, then
the darks of that section go in first. In this case
it is the foliage and the darks of the rocks. I have
decided to work from the background and the top
section of the painting first.
Using a mixture of Sap Green and Burnt Sienna,
I block in the foliage, rubbing the edges with a
rag so it softens them and also helps keep
colours clean when I paint my sky back into
the foliage.
I then use my dark mix – Burnt Sienna and Blue
Black – to define the shadows in the rocks. Using a
mix of Transparent Red Oxide (Art Spectrum,) I then
block in the mid tones, giving a warm base. At this
stage I have used a rag again to rub out some of the
mid tones, giving a natural rock-like texture. It gives
me a good base to start forming the rocks in more

detail and allows some of the translucent colour to

come through.

Step Two

I want to work my way down the board. This way I

can better judge the tonal value of the shadows in

the trees.

At this stage I have put in my basic sky (Titanium

White, Ultramarine Blue, Manganese Blue and a

touch of Blue Black), brushing it into the softened

edges of the foliage but being careful not to pick up

any green. If you do pick up green, wipe your brush

or you will end up with a muddy sky. Pay attention

to keeping the lower sky a lighter tone than the

sky at the top of the board. I then applied a few

highlights to the foliage using Sap Green, Australian

Red Gold and Cadmium Yellow in various shades.

It is important to remember that all greens are not

the same and you need variety of colour in your

painting. I am always working one edge into the

other – the sky into the foliage then the foliage back

into the sky.

Having now established where my tonal value

sits, I can begin to paint in my tree trunks – starting

with my darks. The shadows in the tree are a variety

of colours, so I am using mixtures of Titanium

White, Blue Black, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna,

Step 1 Step 2