Demonstration using Genesis Heat Set Paints

About Leslie

Leslie Tribolet lives on Kauai with her husband and her animals. She studied at Santa Barbara Art Institute back in the 70’s, but with pencil as her medium of choice. During her battle with both cervical and breast cancer, she decided to try to learn how to paint for something to do. She dabbled in watercolors and loved them, but seemed that everyone on Kauai was painting with watercolors, and that she found to be boring…..

She was introduced to the Genesis Heat Set Paints in 2007, and loved it because of the ease of finishing her work quickly, without having to wait for the paint to dry and it was “different”. These paints are dried with heat, (heat gun or an oven) which speeds up the process and it is great, especially with living in the humid air of Hawaii. She has always been drawn to ethnic faces, so she decided to try her hand at painting them with these paints, and it worked. She hopes that you enjoy looking at them as much as she enjoys painting them.

Visit Leslie’s Websites today:

http://www.leslietribolet.com

http://www.genesispaints.com/

Genesis Heat Set Paints Demonstration

The first step for my paintings are always the backgrounds.  I actually don’t paint scene backgrounds anymore, as I have chosen to paint like many Chinese artists do, and that is on a “Simple Background”.  But for this demo, I have painted the ocean for these siblings.  I will get more detailed with waves etc. after I get more of the kids on the painting.  I don’t want to have to be painting over a wave where the white paint could be raised.

I actually did this painting on the backside of another painting that I no longer liked.  Don’t throw away those old paintings, just turn them over!  You will have to get or make a new frame for it, but if you have a stapler, it is not really hard to mount and then gesso the surface.

This was a vignette that I did of these boys and their sister who were here visiting Kauai.  I had taken many photos so I could get the best of all three of them.  They were not standing together, but were actually in different photos.  Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to put them on the same page.

To get a perfect outline, I printed a light black and white photo to the size of the canvas.  I then placed it on the canvas with some transfer paper underneath, then do a simple outline of each kid.  This allows me to get the perfect proportions and I don’t have to worry about needing to erase mistakes from drawing a I don’t want to rough up my background.  Easy and fast.

I start here painting the older boy, painting in layers and drying the painting after each layer on get on the canvas.

At this point with my painting of these kids, it is just a matter of getting paint on the canvas.  I have to remind myself how great it is going to look once I get a few more layers on.  The painting seems dull and flat, but that will slowly change with each layer I get on the canvas.  Remember that I am drying the painting between each layer.

I work from my IPad as it allows me to look very closely at details in the photo.  It is very easy to zoom into those areas that you need to see the details on.  Every artist that I have come in contact with who sees me working from the IPad, tells me what a great idea it is, and they are now going to be doing the same thing.  If you have an IPad, load the picture on it that you are working from as I know you weill be thrilled with how great it is for  ”Seeing”!

The painting is slowly starting to take shape, but there is still al long way to go.  I study the photo very carefully, trying to get all the “highs and lows” that are showing up in the photo.  That is what allows the painting to look more real and not so flat.  Still at this point in the painting, it is a matter of just getting more paint on the canvas.

A real plus, a HUGE plus about these paints is that if I want to leave my painting for another day, I can either dry it or I can leave it wet to move paint around for another day.  Because these paints don’t dry on their own, that means that the paint won’t dry on my brushes either.  I can just leave the brushes I am using, loaded with paint to return and pick up and use on the painting another day – or week.  I do not have to do any clean up if I don’t want to! Yeah!

At this point in the painting, it is really good to show what I was talking about from the previous page.  This photo, while it is getting closer, is very flat looking.  What is missing is the highs and lows that I spoke of.  It is very important to get them on your paintings to avoid the flat look.  Just look at the difference of the kids hair with the painting completed below.  It is not just the highlights that give the hair depth, but also the dark, almost black areas too.

Shadows are also something that are very important to give your paintings depth.  If you look at the shadow of the boogie board on the boy on the left below- depth.  Same with his brothers shadow from his surfboard and under his arm.  Small things like the tan line on the older brother, all little details make the painting more complete…be observant.

With the painting completed I know want to talk about the benefits of Genesis Heat Set Paints.  I have been painting with these paints for about 5 years now and other than an occasional watercolor, which is completely different, I do not paint with any other medium.  The advantages of using Genesis is great.  The fact that they never dry unless you want them to, allows me to have several “permanent palettes”.  I keep my paints on glass in a couple of double decker boxes.  They won’t dry out, but they will get dirty, so I keep them covered.  When I start a new painting, I go to my palettes first and take the colors that I will need, instead of mixing every color from scratch.  When I am done with the painting, I scoop them up and put the leftover paint on the glass palette and back in the box for another day and another painting   I don’t clean my brushes until I am done with the painting.  Could be weeks.  A big advantage!

For more information about the these amazing paints, either visit my Website here or contact me at leslie@leslietribolet.com.