My painting class just finished their animal paintings using a limited palette. Students were to use only three colors plus black and white. I encouraged students to use the primary colors so they would be able to mix any color they needed. Some students did, some didn't.
These paintings were done in acrylic paint on a canvas board. Students started the painting by underpainting the canvas board with a color of their choice-anything to get rid of the white of the canvas board. An underpainting is the initial layer of paint applied to a ground (like a canvas board, canvas and paper.) I usually recommend painting the canvas with a complementary color of whatever is the dominant color in the picture. For example: If the picture has mostly greens and blues I would paint the canvas a peachy-red color. I think it just gives the painting a lot of depth and I like the underpainting to show through in spots to provide some interesting contrast. If you want to keep your paintings more natural and realistic a black and white or brownish underpainting works really well.
Next up we are doing a watercolor landscape, I will post those when we finish!
You must me an awesome teacher. Those pics are so much better than I could do really.Love the dog. Thanks for sharing Michelle.
ReplyDeletethese are wonderful! my favorite one is ALL of them. such a great exercise and your students were able to get such wonderful palettes by mixing the paints themselves. i'm looking forward to the watercolors, which is something i like to do, too.
ReplyDeleteyour students are soo talented! i really like the fish. it's simple, but really beautiful. the colors are just so eye-catching and vivid. you're a great teacher! i love the assignment, too.
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