About Brian Rice:

Brian was born on May 25,1958 and his roots are in the small outport of Pilleys Island, Newfoundland, Canada. At the age of nineteen he moved to central Canada in the Sarnia, Ontario area, where he now works in the Petrochemical industry.

His interest in art began in high school, when an art teacher encouraged him. In 1979 he began to paint realistic images of Newfoundland and northern wildlife, using an acrylic medium. He has many admirers of his work and most of the paintings have been sold; many were commissions. In 1998 he did a painting of an old united church (circa 1945) for his hometown heritage society. Prints were made and sold as a fund raiser.

In 1997 he entered an art contest in Sarnia. This contest was held to select a winner to commemorate the new blue water bridge. The painting got an honourable mention and it was reproduced as a limited edition print.

Brian has no formal training in art. He is self taught and learns most from a careful observation of the order and design of the natural world . He believes that “nature is the artwork of a creator/master artist who displays a wisdom and a genius that we have only begun to understand”. His focus is to create art that will cause the soul to search for a deeper meaning in an increasingly chaotic world.

He started striving for a photo realism style in the 1990′s and achieved it to some degree, but, he found the style did not evoke much emotion and set out on a journey to find a style that was realistic but, with a much looser impressionistic approach.

Eighteen of his paintings were on display at his hometown Petrolia Library during the Summer of 2004.

The Painting “The Newfoundland Cabin” appeared in “Guest Gallery “which is a page in the downhomer magazine; www.Downhome.com is the biggest magazine on the Canadian eastcoast with 26,000 subscribers. This magazine also has a gallery and gift shop in St. John’s, Newfoundland which now carries prints of the painting “seasons of life”

Brian’s Websites:

http://paintingsbybrianrice.blogspot.com/

http://sites.google.com/site/paintingsbybrianrice/

In Calm Waters – An Acrylic Painting Demonstration

Last summer I fished for cod , in Newfoundland, in an area where a lone minke whale was feeding. The water that evening was flat calm and the whale was after some sort of small fish that flickered on the water. It got close to us at times as we fished for cod. This painting tries to capture that moment in time as I remember it. This is an 18′ x 24″ acrylic painting on panel.

Heres a link to read about minke whales.

I prepared my 18” x 24 “ cradled panel with three coats of gesso. On the 2nd and 3rd coat I added a little paynes gray and cobalt blue . I sanded each coat with 220 grit sand paper, and the last coat I sanded with 400 grit sandpaper to get a very smooth surface especially in the bottom half portion of the panel.

This mid tone of color in the gesso gave me that perfect ground color for further glazing of colors in the water area .

I mixed parchment white , paynes gray, crimson ( napthol red and quin voilet) and cobalt blue with glazing liquid for my first coat of acrylic paint. I blended my painting to get a slow transition from yellow /blue/ gray at the top to deep cobalt blue at the bottom.

Then I glazed in layers of yellows, crimson , cobalt blue in the water to get the effect I needed.

The back ground trees and hills were blocked in with a combination of hookers green and yellow ochre

I added more detail in the hills and trees . The sun is going down behind the hill on the left and so a strong shadow and reflection is cast upon the water there. This dark area would later balance the whale color in the center of the painting. I added the ripples on the water . A few more glazes , I think I introduced a little naples yellow at this point.

I added texture to the hill on the left to form the trees and help the viewer get a sense of depth and this contrast with the lighter hills in the distance gave a greater sense of aerial perspective.

I added the whale in a place that best suited the composition. I know the rule about not putting your main subject focus in the middle but in this case it seemed to work best. The whale is made with cobalt blue and paynes gray.

You can can see the small fish flickering ahead of the whale as the whale dives quickly to try and get a mouth full.

I touched up the trees the rocks etc, with raw umber and paynes grey, and a little parchment white .

I will get a better photo when the sun comes out but this is what I got so far. Your comments are always appreciated.

I made some changes and uploaded a new photo of the final painting.

Here is a very helpful acrylic painting tutorial created by  Artist and Instructor Bob Davies.  Bob has a number of free video tutorials on his YouTube page here, so be sure to head on over after viewing this tutorial.

This video tutorial is a well rounded introduction to some of the more popular acrylic painting additives that are available to artists today. These additives change the properties of acrylic paint that comes straight out of the tube.  Below is a short description of the items Bob talks about in the video.

Water

The first is an additive that you know quite well that you can get directly from your kitchen sink.  Its good old water.  Water has a couple of different uses when it comes to acrylic painting.  It can be used to thin acrylic paint in much the same manner as turpentine thins oil paints.  You can also put some water in a spray bottle and use it to spray a mist over your painting while you are working, which will keep your paint workable for longer periods of time.

Acrylic Gesso

Acrylic Gesso is technically not an additive but it is an important item that you will often see in an art store, so it is worth mentioning here.  Gesso can be used to prime the painting surface before you apply the acrylic paint. It creates a surface with a bit of tooth to it which is perfect for acrylic paint.

Acrylic Glaze Medium

This medium is excellent for creating glazes with acrylic paint.  It essentially makes the paint more translucent so that you can see through the paint and the layers underneath.  Water has the same effect as the glazing medium but there is a problem when using water. If you use too much water the paint will become too watery and will lose its adhesive qualities.  The glazing medium is therefore a better alternative as your paint will not lose its adhesive qualities.

Acrylic Retarder

Acrylic retarder is a clear, gel like medium that is incredibly useful.  It can keep your acrylic paint open and workable for longer periods of time.  This medium is your best friend if you are say working in plein air on a hot sunny day as the paint dries rather quickly under those conditions.

Ceramic Stucco

This is a thick, luscious, paste like medium that is excellent for thickening your acrylic paint and adding texture.  You can mix acrylic paints direct into the stucco and apply it to your surface, or apply the stucco first, wait it until it dries and paint over it.  You can apply it with a variety of different tools like paint brushes, trowels or painting knives.

Sand

Yes, you can add sand to acrylic paint!  So next time you head to the beach, take some home with you and add it directly to your acrylic paint.  It makes the paint somewhat gritty and creates an interesting texture.

There is one more very interesting item that Bob talks about in the video below, so be sure and watch it to learn more.  I hope you enjoy the video.  Happy Acrylic Painting!

A Guide To Acrylic Painting Additives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0wSILzNswc

Where to Buy

You can buy all of the items covered in the video online over at my favorite online Art Supply Store, Blick Art Materials.  I purchase supplies from Blick all the time.  They have amazing prices, great customer service and my shipment always arrives fast and in great condition. Highly Recommended.

Follow this link to visit Blick Art Materials Now .

About Brandi

Brandi Deziel is a self-taught photorealism painter living and working in Toronto.

She creates the illusion of a photograph by layering crisp images with soft, blurred backgrounds and foregrounds thus shifting the attention to the focal object and deceiving the eye.

Her work is included in private collections world-wide.

Visit Brandi’s Website Here

Brandi Deziel’s Acrylic Painting Method – Layer by Layer

The following is a step by step look at how I layer acrylic paint.  Its not a right way or a wrong way, its just how I do it.  The process has evolved over a few years and will continue to evolve as I grow in my painting career.  It doesn’t go into detail about brush strokes or the colors/materials I use, but is meant to show how I achieve my blending and final luminosity in my work.  Before all of this begins, I have set up a still life composition (this one in particular was set up on my bedroom floor) and then I photograph it from various angles using various lighting techniques.  That all then goes into my computer and I come up with a composition to draw from. Enjoy.

I start with a line drawing.  I do this straight on the board.  I don’t make it as detailed or refined as I would a finished pencil drawing, but its enough to give me the shapes and the basic darks and lights.

For this particular painting I used frisket (clear masking paper with a slightly adhesive backing) to mask off the foreground characters.  This technique, usually employed by air brush artists, is something I’ve only started recently.  It allows me to blend my background over my foreground while keeping the foreground clean.  Later this will help give the impression that the background is behind the foreground and not butting up against it.

Next I apply light washes of the most prominent colors.  I don’t worry too much about being tidy here since there are still lots of layers of paint to come.  The paint is thin and watery at this stage.  No need to add any blending fluid to the paint yet.  I want it to dry quickly so that I can move onto the next layer.

Here I’ve started quickly blocking in the background colors.  Still keeping the paint light and watery and not worrying too much about details.

Now that I know where most of my background colors go, I start using heavier layers of paint.  I add slo-dry blending medium here to start smoothing things out more.  I’m still not worrying about the foreground at this point. It is protected by the frisket.

More layers of paint here.  I’ve gone back and filled in the blocks that I covered when blending the far background in the last layer.  I’m starting to put some of the reflections into the floor and define the dark and light areas more.

With the background mostly complete it is time to remove the mask.  This shows how the frisket keeps the area clean.

I’m basically going to repeat the layering for the foreground now.  The only difference is I’m going to use more controlled brush strokes and start creating crisper edges and finer lines.  I start with a light wash of colors.

Here the foreground is in various stages of completeness.  From the doll’s face being nearly completed to the horses head which only has a couple of layers of paint on.  I’ve gone in with white and recreated some of the horses mane.  This will help the bright colors go on clean and stand out.  I’ve also added a yellowish glaze layer to the background to alter the lighting slightly.

Here is the finished painting!

That’s it!  Hopefully it gives you an idea of how I achieve my final painting.  If you have any questions please feel free to email me:  art@brandideziel.com.

Text and images copyright 2008 by Brandi Deziel.  All rights reserved.

Here is a free acrylic painting lesson video created by Artist Robert Joyner.

In the beginning of the video, Robert talks about an equation he likes to apply to his painting that I found very interesting. Its a 2:1 equation with 2 parts believable and 1 part imperfect.  In Roberts opinion, which I tend to agree with, its the imperfections that make a painting beautiful.

Robert likes to keep his compositions simple and his brushwork loose and abstract which makes for some very interesting paintings.  In this particular lesson, his composition is two fishing boats that are docked in downtown Newport News.

The biggest lesson I took away from this video is to not take my painting too seriously.  I know that many times I will become intimidated by a particular painting I am working on.  I will worry that it may not come out the way I anticipated and its those worries that  ultimately ruin the finished product.  I think its best to just relax and let go as Robert does in this video. And if it doesn’t come out as good as you had hoped, then put it in the “reject” pile like Robert mentions in the video and paint over it!   What a great concept.

Another great point Robert Makes is when he compares painting to a sculpture.  How he chisels away at the painting one piece at a time and little by little, the painting comes together.

All in all, this is a very interesting video lesson that will hopefully breathe some new life into your own work.  I hope you enjoy.

Acrylic painting tutorial. ‘Keeping it loose’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JuTu8LhS50

A big thanks to Robert Joyner for making this video tutorial available through YouTube.  You can learn more about him and his work by visiting his YouTube page here or his Website Here.

I found a great step by step acrylic painting tutorial today on YouTube created by the very talented Artist and Instructor Bob Davies.  Bob has a number of free excellent demonstrations, tips and tutorial on his YouTube page, so be sure to head on over after viewing this lesson.

Be sure to also check out Bob’s free Ebook “Acrylic Painting Secrets”.  Lots of helpful information there as well.

Red Wharf Bay Painting Tutorial by Bob Davies

In this lesson, Bob will demonstrate how he paints a landscape using a photograph of a place called Red Wharf Bay, as his reference. He is using watercolor mount board as his support. Watercolor Mount Board is usually used as a support to mount watercolor paintings but also makes an excellent surface for acrylic paints.

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICsfWg7u5qI

The first step is to prime his surface. He does this using a wash made of yellow ochre. He does this to cover up the white of the canvas making it easier to judge values during the painting process.

The colors he will be using for this painting are Permanent Rose, Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre and Burn Umber. He is also using a medium called Acrylic Retarder which slows down the drying time of acrylic paints making them workable for longer periods of time.

He thins down some Ultramarine Blue to an almost watercolor consistency.  He will use this to sketch in his composition. There is no need to be too detailed at this stage, just a simple sketch will suffice.

Then, he begins to block in the lights and darks. He leaves some areas of the painting untouched during the block in process. Areas like the sky and water can be suggested with the yellow ochre primer.

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eQWg1GZUGo

In step 2, Bob starts with a mix of Yellow Ochre, Titanium White and a bit of Ultramarine Blue.  He will use this mixture to paint in the sky with a fan brush using a criss-cross motion.  As he approaches the horizon, he uses more white. He is careful not to over blend the sky color as it will take away from the realism.  He uses a darker blue in portions of the sky to balance the painting with the darker blue boats. He has plenty of paper towel on hand to clean his brush before changing colors. Still using his fan brush, he begins to lay in hints of white clouds. He then works on the shadows in the clouds.  To paint the shadows, he uses a mixture of  Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre, Permanent Rose and White. He is careful not to make the clouds appear too “breezy”, as this will be too busy and therefore compete with the subject matter in the foreground.

He now begins to work on the distant hills and trees using various mixtures of Yellow Ochre, White and a touch of blue to create a pale green.  He will add touches of  Burnt Umber in spots to create some variety.  He makes his more distant objects paler and bluer. He adds darker colors behind the houses to make them stand out more.  He makes certain that tree clusters that are near each other are different heights to make them look more realistic.

He paints in the most distant house with a similar color to the sky which will push it back into the distance further.  The houses that are closer to the viewer are painted with a color that is a bit lighter. Don’t make them too bright otherwise they will jump out of the picture.

He now sets up three mixtures of colors using White, Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre. These three mixtures will vary in value from light to dark.  He will use this to paint in the ground of the sea floor. He uses some of the sky color to block in the base color of the water. Paint your water in horizontal strokes to make it look flat and level.

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5l2iQFtbpU

With a mixture of Raw Sienna, Burn Umber and White, he paints in the rest of the exposed sea floor. These colors are only partially mixed as it creates variety and interest, darks and lights.  He adds more details to the boat and adds the reflections in the water. He adds some other details like windows and chimneys on the houses.  Then, using his palette knife, he adds some dark colors to the foreground. He lays this on quite thickly to give a sort of 3-d effect to the painting and give the illusion of rocks. Using a small round brush he paints in the small distant boats. He then adds in some other finishing details to the painting to bring everything together.