Color Step by Step REINDEER GAMES

Ornaments
Acrylic
Color Step by Step
REINDEER GAMES
SUZIE SNOWFLAKE
SNOW SANTA
The Decorative Painter
Issue No. 6, 2006
31
REINDEER GAMES
SUZIE SNOWFLAKE
Reduce or enlarge the
designs to fit your gourds.
SNOW SANTA
Ornaments
tom near the chalk line and cut out
the bottom of the gourd. Remove all
the seeds and fibers and scrape the
inside. Fill any holes with wood
filler. Mark the center front and sides
of the gourd using the chalk pencil.
This will make it easier for the placement of the arms.
SCULPTING
■ Arms with Mittens: Roll two logs
of clay to the desired length. Press on
the top and smooth for the shoulder.
Mark the fold lines at the elbow,
wrist and thumbs using the needle
tool. Press the bottom of the sleeve
and make it larger. Roll a small snake
of clay and wrap at the wrist for the
fur on the robe.
■ Robe: Roll a ball of clay and flatten with your fingers. Wrap this over
the top of the gourd and press in
place over the shoulders to form the
hood. Press the folds with the needle
tool. Insert the screw eye at the back
before the clay cures. Press the needle tool along the edge to form a
small fur trim on the hood. Roll a
long, thick snake of clay and press in
place around the bottom (cut area)
of the gourd to form the bottom fur
trim.
■ Boots: Roll clay into a log the
desired length. Bend the bottom to
form the boot. Use the needle tool to
mark the sole. Punch a hole through
the top of each boot (side to side).
■ Tree: Roll a snake of clay for the
tree trunk. Press one end as you roll
the snake to make a long thin cone
shape and place in position in the
right arm. Allow the tree trunk to
cure before you continue. Roll a ball
of clay and flatten into a circle with
your fingers. Pull up the center of the
circle and drape it over the tree trunk.
It will form folds as you drape into
place. Press over the back of the arm.
BASECOAT
Flesh Tone: face
Graphite: beard and mustache
Buttermilk: robe
Payne’s Grey: fur
Burnt Sienna wash: tree trunk
Antique Teal: tree
Splendid Gold: boots and mittens
LET’S PAINT
■ Face: Sketch the facial features
with thinned Burnt Sienna. Shade
the face using Burnt Sienna. Paint
the eye area Light Buttermilk. Paint
the pupils Lamp Black with Titanium
White highlights. Line the top of the
eye and pull tiny lashes with Lamp
Black. Paint the cheek color in layers. The first color is Antique Rose.
Float from the beard up as you walk
toward the eyes. Float Napa Red in a
smaller area with the final layer a
brush-mix of Napa Red+touch of
Payne’s Grey in the darkest areas.
Add touches of these same colors to
the lips and end of the nose. Highlight the face with a brush-mix of
Flesh Tone+touch of Light Buttermilk.
■ Robe: Using Winter Blue and the
largest angle brush, float the shading
on the robe. Step down to the next
smaller brush and float the next
shading of French Grey/Blue. The
final shading is Payne’s Grey. Drybrush the highlight to the robe with
the dome round brush. Start with
Light Buttermilk and then pick up
touches of Titanium White. Add final
highlights with Cool White.
■ Boots and Mittens: Shade both
with Payne’s Grey.
■ Tree: Shade the tree with a wash
of Black Green. Blot any excess with
a paper towel. Dry-brush the highlights with a brush-mix of Antique
Teal+touch of Buttermilk. Add detail
dots randomly with Cool White.
■ Beard, Mustache and Hair: Use
the filbert rake brush to paint the
beard in layers. Brush-mix Graphite+
Buttermilk and thin slightly with
water. Stroke the hair, leaving some of
the basecoat showing. Build the high-
Acrylic
lights by adding Buttermilk, Light Buttermilk and finally Titanium White.
■ Fur: Stipple Splendid Gold over
the fur trim on the robe.
DETAILS
Dry-brush touches of Splendid
Gold on the tree and add randomly
to the robe.
FINISHING
Drill a hole in the back of the
gourd, below the folds of the hood.
Cut a piece of jewelry wire about 14
inches long and thread through this
hole. Curl the top end of the wire so
it won’t slip through the hole. Wire
the boots to the other end of the
wire, twisting the wire to secure
them. Pull the wire back inside the
gourd until the boots are hanging just
below the bottom edge of the gourd.
Cut any excess wire at the top, curl
the end and add a dab of glue to
secure. Tie the thread for a hanger.
Spray with matte varnish to seal. y
Artist’s Sketch
Dottie Kuhl began
decorative painting in
1990 and started
doing her own woodworking, which led to
the business name
Kuhl Kuts. In 1997 she
published her first painting packets.
Since then she has published two
books and a number of packets. In
2002 Dottie started adding sculpting to
gourds to give a dimension effect and
has been creating dimensional gourds
since then. She has taught locally at
chapter meetings and library functions,
and she has exhibited her designs at
HOOT and the 2006 SDP Conference in
Nashville.
You may contact Dottie at 42
Riverdale Estates, Winfield, WV
25213, call (304) 586-2424 or e-mail
dkuhl@verizon.net. Visit her website
at www.kuhlkuts.com.
The Decorative Painter
Issue No. 6, 2006
33
Special
Delivery
Project | intermediate
Acrylic
S anta’s helper opts for alternative
transporation to deliver Christmas gifts.
Prudy Vannier CDA
his design appeals to the “international child” in all of us. This
is a good illustration of how gifts
are actually delivered all over
the world on Christmas night! Like
the simple cookie recipe we’ve seen
on ads, this piece is easily painted but
looks involved…which is exactly
what I love to do!
T
SURFACE
The 12-inch square tray is available from Doug Malaznik, 14215
Westmore St., Livonia, MI 481544149, (734) 422-6466, dmalaznik@
twmi.rr.com. Check your local stores
for comparable or adaptable surfaces.
Reduce or enlarge the design if
needed.
PALETTE
DECOART AMERICANA ACRYLICS
Bahama Blue (TCS BG-4-2-4)
Bleached Sand (TCS WH-6-3-2)
Blue Green (TCS BG-4-1-8)
Boysenberry Pink (TCS RV-1-2-5)
Dark Pine (TCS GR-3-3-6)
Deep Midnight Blue (TCS BL-5-2-8)
Dioxazine Purple (TCS VI-5-1-7)
Driftwood (TCS BK-3-7-4)
Indian Turquoise (TCS BG-3-4-3)
Lamp Black (TCS BK-5-1-9)
Medium Flesh (TCS OR-6-3-5)
Neutral Grey (TCS BK-5-5-5)
Payne’s Grey (TCS BL-5-2-9)
Red Violet (TCS RV-2-2-8)
Silver Sage Green (TCS BG-8-8-3)
Tangerine (TCS YO-5-1-4)
Terra Cotta (TCS BR-1-2-7)
Titanium White (TCS WH-5-1-1)
DECOART HOT SHOTS
Sizzling Pink
SUPPLIES
Fine-grit sandpaper
Spattering tool or old toothbrush
Stylus
Tracing paper
Transfer paper
Water-based varnish or
polyurethane
Wood sealer
photos/Steve Gerig
Midnight Blue, Dioxazine Purple and
Payne’s Grey on the palette. Use the
3
⁄4-inch flat to fill in Earth, starting at
the top left (11 o’clock) and working
to the bottom corner (5 o’clock).
Blend the lighter colors at the top.
Add the darker colors as you work
down so that Payne’s Grey and Dioxazine Purple are predominate in the
lower corner.
Transfer or sketch the land
masses. Place Titanium White, Titanium White+Silver Sage Green, Silver
Sage Green, Dark Pine and Blue
Green on the palette. Use the 1⁄2-inch
angular, slip-slap the colors in to the
land masses, keeping the colors
lightest by the moon and darkest at
the bottom.
BRUSHES
1
⁄4- and 1⁄2-inch angulars (Prudy’s
Best Floater)
3
⁄16-inch texture brush (Prudy’s
Best Pouncer)
No. 1 liner (Prudy’s Best Liner)
3
⁄4-inch flat
PREPARATION
Sand and seal. Place puddles of
Payne’s Grey, Lamp Black, Blue Green
and Titanium White on the palette.
Use the 3⁄4-inch flat brush to slip-slap
these colors over the entire piece,
including the sides. Let dry. Trace
and transfer the basic design shapes.
LET’S PAINT
MOON
Basecoat the moon with Silver
Sage Green. Lightly transfer the face
design.
Mix Tangerine+Titanium White
(1:1) (you’ll use this color several
times, so make quite a bit). Using
the 1⁄2-inch angular, float the mix in
36
The Decorative Painter
the center of the forehead, across the
brow lines, down the nose, over the
nostrils, in the cleft under the nose
and over the cheeks.
Fill the eyes with Titanium White.
Use the 1⁄4-inch angular to float Titanium White on the lips, edge of the
eyelids, top and end of the nose and
the edge of the moon at the 8
o’clock position.
Fill the eyes and mouth with Neutral Grey. Use the liner to line the
features.
Sometimes, particularly in a
whimsical, cartoon-style design such
as this one, I gently emphasize some
shading and highlighting by lining
diagonally with the shade and highlight colors. I did this on the moon
with Neutral Grey and the Tangerine
mix. Float Payne’s Grey over the
back of the moon.
EARTH
Place puddles of Indian Turquoise,
Silver Sage Green, Blue Green, Deep
Issue No. 6, 2006
GOOSE
Basecoat the body and wings with
Bleached Sand and the beak with the
Tangerine mix.
Float Titanium White across the tip
of the head and neck, the back, the
breast, front of the wing and tips of
the wing and tail feathers.
Float Driftwood across the bottom
of the neck, around the wing, under
the elf and to separate the tail and
wing feathers.
Float Deep Midnight Blue around
the wing to deepen the shading, and
then go over it lightly with Red Violet
floats to tint.
Use the 1⁄4-inch angular to float Cstroke feathers down the neck, top of
the wing and over the breast with
Titanium White. Use the chisel edge
of this brush to paint straight stripes
over the individual wing and tail
feathers.
Float Boysenberry Pink to form a
cheek. Deepen the front edge of it
and tint the bottom of the beak with
floats of Red Violet. The eye, smile
line and nostril are Lamp Black.
Highlight the eye with a dot and
dash of Titanium White.
Project | intermediate
Acrylic
Color Step by Step
MOON
Basecoat.
Float yellow areas.
Add facial details.
Add shadows.
GOOSE
Basecoat.
Add shading and tints.
Add details.
ELF
Add shading and tints.
Basecoat.
Add details.
The Decorative Painter
Issue No. 6, 2006
37
TRAY SIDES
Project | intermediate
SANTA ELF AND BAG
Make sure your tracing is accurate
on the Santa elf and bag. Basecoat as
follows:
Medium Flesh: face
Titanium White: leg, tops of gifts
Red Violet: hat, coat
Driftwood: beard, mustache, fronts
of gifts
Neutral Grey: boot, sides of gifts
Dark Pine: bag, mittens, stocking
stripes
Tangerine mix: rein
Design shown at actual size.
Use the 1⁄4-inch angular to float
Terra Cotta on the face next to the
fur area. Float Boysenberry Pink to
form the cheek and redden the end
of the nose. Use the liner to paint
the eyebrows and highlights on the
nose and cheek with tiny strokes of
Titanium White. The eye is a tiny vertical stroke of Lamp Black.
Float Dioxazine Purple on the hat
next to the fur area. Also float this
around the sleeve, in the coat area
under the flowing beard and lightly
across the back of the sleeve. Highlight along the top of the hat, top of
the back and front of the sleeve with
Sizzling Pink.
Shade the mittens at the wrist
with Payne’s Grey. Use this to shade
the bag to form a cuff and across the
bottom. Highlight the fronts of the
mittens and the bag with Silver Sage
Green.
Pounce Payne’s Grey in to the fur
areas using a dry texture brush. Sideload with Titanium White and pounce
in to the wet basecoat.
Use the liner and slightly thinned
Red Violet to paint ribbons on the
gifts and to line the rein.
FAIRY DUST
Experiment with the texture
brush. Using it wet or dry creates
entirely different effects. The wet
makes soft swirls. I started with a wet
brush and used predominately
Acrylic
Bahama Blue, then Titanium White,
then Red Violet. Using a dry texture
brush so that the strokes are more
pronounced, add Bahama Blue and
the Tangerine mix. Use a stylus with
Titanium White to accentuate with
dots.
FINISHING
Float the Tangerine mix across the
top of Earth, the goose’s head and
neck, the front of the wings and the
wing feathers.
Spatter the sky with Titanium
White for distant stars and add Titanium White stylus dots for bright
stars.
Finish a piece on the sides or back
with elements of the design for an
overall spectacular piece of decorative art. On this particular piece, the
sides are a continuation of the background sky but on one side I added
the swirls of fairy dust, on another
the head of the goose and on a third
side, falling gifts.
Varnish with your favorite waterbased varnish or polyurethane. y
Artist’s Sketch
Prudy Vannier CDA
owns and operates
Prudy’s Studio Inc., a
publishing company
for decorative art
books that specialize
in acrylic painting.
Besides enjoying her family and hobbies, she is the past president of SDP.
Prudy’s style of acrylic painting is
fun, whimsical and lighthearted. It
reflects her sense of humor and her
love of this art form. Her simple techniques can be applied to any subject or
surface and are taught by her nationally and internationally.
For a brochure of books and other
merchandise from Prudy, send a SASE
to Prudy’s Studio Inc., 279 Maplewood
St., Northville, MI 48167-1149 or visit
www.prudysstudio.com.
The Decorative Painter
Issue No. 6, 2006
39
Project | intermediate
Acrylic
Quick
& Easy
It’s often fun to use objects in
a design as separate projects. Cut the moon
or the goose and Santa elf out of wood,
watercolor paper or cardboard and paint as
directed in the project. Enlarge or reduce the
design if necessary, and simplify the design
somewhat for easy, fast projects and gifts.
—P.V.