Journal52 2015 Week 4-Silhouettes #Journal52 #ArtJournal #Acrylics

I cheated a little bit on the prompt this week--maybe.  I looked up the definition of silhouette and Google's first offering was 'the dark shape and outline of someone or something visible against a lighter background, especially in dim light.'

The definition didn't specify that the shape had to be a solid color, so I went with my preference, and added a little sharing.

This took about 20 minutes, and at that, I fiddled with it a bit longer than I should.  I didn't take pictures, but for those interested, there is a write-up of my process and reasoing below.


Supplies:
Stillman & Birn Wirebound Alpha 7 x 10 inches
Golden Fluid Acrylics: Ultarmarine Blue, Quinacridone Magenta, Hansa Yellow Medium, Gold Iridescent
Foam brush
1/2 inch flat
Paper mask of man with umbrella

Reasons for my choice of colors:  I wanted to stick mainly with the primaries of red, blue and yellow.  I also wanted colors that would pop and I love how vibrant Golden's Ultramarine is. I knew I'd get an almost neon glow from it.  That seemed to set the tone for a rainy urban scene.  While rain is often portrayed with cool, grayed colors in an urban setting you are more likely to have garish lights reflecting in the water.  

I chose my blue and red (magenta) because they go well together.  A different yellow might have been better, but it's what I happened to have on hand, lol.  After thinking about, I decided to add in the Gold iridescent because it gleams, and would help give that feeling of wet sparkling in the light.

To get my paper mask, I went to the Morguefile Free Photos to find a good reference photo, and drew the outline of a man with an umbrella onto a piece of copy paper.  Then I cut it out.

Using the foam brush, I covered the entire page with a thin layer of Ultramarine Blue, not worrying about streaks.

I placed the paper cut-out mask where I wanted my silhouette to be, and, using the brush, I painted everything with a thin layer of the Gold Iridescent.  I didn't worry about streaks--in fact, I encouraged them.  I wanted the strokes to give an impression of rain pelting down, so my strokes were all slanted. I started each stroke on the mask and then painted towards an edge of the page.  I covered the entire page, but some of the blue showed through some of the gold.

At this point, I was done with the mask and tossed it.  

I painted areas around the silhouette with the yellow, still allowing streaks so some of the gold and blue could still be seen.  Then I painted the magenta shadows with a heavy coat of paint.  Using a much thinner amount, I also added magenta in the upper corner and off to the left side, blending it into the yellow.

I mixed some of the blue and magenta together, and added some shadows on the silhouette, and into the reflections.

Then I covered everything, except the silhouette, with another thin coat of Gold Iridescent.

That was it.  It took longer to write it up, than to do it.




Comments

  1. Oooh, with the gold, this is probably even better in real life--beautiful background, and the silhouette is striking.

    :)

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