Everything but the feathers and erasing grid from water. It’s nice to be back amongst you all. 
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Hi Brenda.
You never fail to impress me with your ability to work along during the live lesson. As typical, I’ll do mine as homework before next week.
Terri Robichon
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Thanks, Terri. I enjoyed the lesson last night. It’s been a long beginning to 2024. It felt good to do a normal Wednesday night with art and a good portion of comic relief. Looking forward to next week already. 
Brenda
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I’m ready for tomorrow night! Feathers are somewhat sketched in. I haven’t used acrylics in such a long time. I only have very basic colors, so I’ll be doing extra mixing, I fear! I have ordered the medium to extend drying time which will be helpful.
See y’all there!
Brenda
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Hi Brenda. Yup, you’re definitely ready for lesson 2. You never disappoint.
I’ve been thinking about this project and struggling with a concern about my available time. (I’m counting the weeks before this summer’s local county fair.) I have a list of fine art fair entries, what I’ve done and what I still need. In the oil/acrylic painting category I already have an oil painting of an “animal” that is getting close to done. What I need is a painting of “people”. I’ve decided to watch every lesson, and then try to apply what is being taught on an acrylic painting of a portrait of my dad. (The lesson in this media is much needed.) I’ll try to keep the same schedule as the Live Lessons and hope I’ll be successful in applying the skills Ashley is teaching to my own (different) subject. And yes, my drawing is also ready to go.
Terri Robichon
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Hey Terri! I had a good start, with the drawing. But man oh man. I have painted over the background tonight, because the work on the ripples was just a mess. It’ll be dry in the morning, and I will try one more time. I may have to kiss acrylics goodbye.
Brenda
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Hi Brenda
Acrylics is without a doubt my least favorite media. But, for the first time the painting I’m working on of my dad is looking okay. My big turning point has been using the slow drying media. It not only slows the drying but also thins the paint a little so it follows better.
I’ve also been surprised by the small size brushes Ashley is using and how slowly he is working. I prefer small brushes.
Hang in there and let me know how it’s going.
Terri Robichon
Brenda,
Your duck is looking great - good ripples! As you know I am just watching since acrylics and I have not gotten along in the past! Hahha.
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@junenez and @robichon, I am currently torn regarding my duck. I had a real epiphany last night as I watched Ashley work. He was using a filbert, which I thought MIGHT make some difference, but as I thought about the liquid medium vs. the gloss medium, I realized I most likely needed to change to gloss. It has made a HUGE difference to use the gloss medium and a small filbert brush. I was able to go back and smooth some of the edges I had problems with. Right now, my darks appear a bit too dark, and my light looks white because it’s so diluted with white paint. I can post it, and I’ll be okay with whatever suggestions you have. The ripples look a little “stark” to me.
My tentative plan is to lighten my darks with a layer of a lighter mixture, mostly to the left of the duck’s neck. I may wait to do anything to the lights for now. I’m thinking once all the really dark shadow and brown of the duck are in, the darks are going to look lighter, but also the lights are going to look whiter. The other option is to paint over it and have a third go at it! Honest opinions, remembering that I am NOT an acrylic artist. This is really testing my patience and my abilities! LOL (I’ve considered giving her a cute little hat! But that might put it too close to the top edge.) Also, my background is way bluer than Ashley’s. If I painted over it again, I could fix that, but I also kind of like the blue!
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Hi Brenda @Brenda -
I think you should leave what you have done so far, and using what you are learning, continue with the rest of the waves.
You may want to make adjustments at some point but will know better what to change and how to do it when you’ve worked on it a little longer. This practice is important so don’t be too hard on yourself.
I’m a rooky with acrylic paints too, and it is probably my least favorite media. But slowly I’m beginning to get the hang of it. I’ll try to share what is working for me, but that’s just from one struggling artist to another. Ashley and Matt are the pro’s. And even Ashley is trying to figure it out as he goes because he usually paints with oils.
I’m watching the live lessons closely to see how Ashley is approaching the project, and then taking that information to my own project - a portrait of my dad (instead of the duck). The only thing I’ve “finished” so far is my dad’s ear and I spent a couple hours working on just that.
What I have done is mix my paint colors, and then I’ve added some of the slow drying medium to the mixed paint. That has kept it usable on my pallete for several hours. I often dip my brush in even more medium as I’m painting, the way Ashley is doing it. What is happening is that the paint is thinner and it is easier for me to move it around, and easier for me to blend the edges. I’m adding layers (kind of like I would with watercolors).
To summarize, what is working with me is to keep the paint thin by using plenty of the medium and also, I’m using small brushes (rounds where the details are finer). The downside to this approach is that I do have to put on more layers to get the coverage needed for the final painting.
I think on your painting you are just needing more blending and maybe more medium. The slower drying paint will allow you to work each little area until you like what you have done. Then you move on to the next wave.
So here is a photo of the medium that I am using and a close-up of my dad’s ear. Hope this helps a little.
Terri Robichon
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Brenda,
That’s is coming along great. You have gotten the 3d effect of those ripples. But maybe a couple them a bit wide? Not sure. I would leave them until you finish the duck.
June
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Brenda,
I think that your duck looks great. Your ripples are amazing, and I actually prefer the color, don’t tell Ashley - lol!
Have not been on the forum in a while but I am enjoying seeing what you have done.
Teri (w 1 r)
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@robichon , @junenez , @TLP , thank you so very much for your thoughtful responses! My current plan is to continue to the ripples on the right side of the duck and do the section Ashley did on the most recent live lesson. I feel a bit more confident than I did a week ago. Please stand by. I’ll post an update when I catch up and do the homework Ashley suggested.
I feel so honored to be part of this forum with such supportive input from other artists I admire so much.
Brenda
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Brenda,
How is your Duck coming along?
Teri
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Well, Teri, my duck has developed no further than it was the last time I posted it. I’m debating what to do. I may very well just set it aside and maybe bring it back out at some point. I enjoy the live lessons whether I’m participating or not. I will patiently await the next series! If and when I work on the duck, I’ll certainly post it here.
Brenda
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Hello Brenda,
I have done the same with the snow dog watercolor painting. I have it all sketched out but just waiting for the inspirational time to finish.
I look forward to seeing your duck finished, the water is turning out so nice and that is not easy.
Teri (with 1r)
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Hello,
I started Sunday on a canvas panel with off brand acrylic paints from hobby lobby. I realized too late that I didn’t have a medium for acrylic paints so my paint dried out before I could finish the first lesson. I also traced as opposed to use grid to draw the duck plus made it smaller. I’m so late to this live lesson that I’d like to catch up before Ashley finishes.
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Hello Sonia (with no r’s),
It looks like you are off to a good start.
I have not started this one, just watching the lessons and the feed.
Will be watching for updates to your process.
Teri (with 1r)
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@TLP Teri W1R Thank you, there’s plenty of room for improvement for the duck in acrylics. Actually reworked the colors on it yesterday evening. Also room for improvement for the following one in watercolor pencils. I just now finished it. It’s a watercolor pencils live lesson landscape from TVI. I’m getting so close to attempting actual WC paints with the heavy duty 400lb WC paper and a better brush that doesn’t shed as you apply water to work a textured tree.
It’s a small 6x9 painting on arches hot press 140 lb WC paper with the 24 set of derwent WC pencils.
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Hi Sonia - both paintings are quite nice. By the way, the heavy watercolor paper is 300 lb (the heaviest that is made). You might also find it interesting to know that while I own two large sets of watercolor pencils and love watercolor painting, I’ve never done a piece of artwork with the watercolor pencils.
That’s going to be changing. The Kandiyohi County fair secretary just contacted me a couple days ago and based on a conversation which she requested last August, they are refining the categories for fine art (effective when the new fair booklet comes out in July). I just helped her by reviewing her proof and then made changes to get the terminology correct.
Last fall the fair secretary told me she knew a lot about cows (June, you should be able to relate to that), but she knew nothing about art. She asked me to show her what the different media looked like. I hauled in tubes of watercolor, acrylic and oil paint. I had graphite, charcoal, chalk pastels, oil pastels, watercolor pencils and colored pencils. She was able to scribble with some of them to get the feeling of why they were different. I even brought the dreaded crayons with so she could compare it to the quality of the other media. I’m thrilled that these are the new categories that we ended up with (and crayons have finally been removed):
- Oil/Acrylic painting
- Watercolor painting
- Watercolor pencils (new)
- Ink drawing/painting
- Graphite/Charcoal drawing
- Chalk Pastel Drawing
- Oil Pastel Drawing (new)
- Colored Pencil Drawing
- Multi-media
- Any other
Each of the above (except the last two) can have up to five entries with one each of the following subjects:
Flowers, Landscape, People, Animals, Other.
I love the opportunities it gives to the community to participate and how open they have been to suggestions. There is no way that I will be able to finish all these because of the two new categories, but I’m going to be busy doing as many as I can.
Terri with 2 r’s
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