HOW TO PAINT WITH BRUSHSTROKES WITH CONFIDENCE BY : ARTISTS NETWORK STAFF

HOW TO PAINT WITH BRUSHSTROKES WITH CONFIDENCE

by Artists Network Staff

Confident use of bold brushstrokes starts with a foundation built on color value.

By Patti Mollica

Soho florist (acrylic on gessoboard, 12×12; collection of Susan Bucher) by Patti Mollica

Patti Mollica is the awards juror fort AcrylicWorks 9 — the final deadline to enter the competition is October 18, 2021.

Fast, loose, and bold are three words that describe what happens when you approach a painting with confidence. If you feel confident in your method and process, it shows in the resulting painting. The painting is executed relatively fast because you are working with a value plan. Your brushwork has looseness because you lay down definitive strokes and don’t need to change or rework them. Your colors are fresh because they are not over-mixed. The underlying design is bold enough to support the painting and read well from a distance.

Many people that attend my workshops have the impression they will be learning to paint fast and furious. Therefore I explain early on, almost apologetically, that my approach is better described as mindful. After all, anyone can paint fast and furious. Give paint to a two-year-old and watch the speed and energy. My method is mainly geared to representational painters who want to give up the compulsion to paint in the great detail that is holding them back from being more expressive.

The gardens in Next to Compton’s (acrylic on canvas, 12×12; private collection) come alive with bold strokes of color.

A Foundation for Consistency

The question becomes: How do you get the artistic confidence that is required to produce paintings that look it? It took me years to hone the essential tools that helped me become a consistently better painter. Consistent is the key word here. While I was experimenting with my method, I was producing paintings that sometimes were successful and sometimes not at all. To achieve consistency in my work I have to know, upfront, that I have laid the necessary foundation on which to build a strong, solid painting.

My method is based on three building blocks. These keys set a solid foundation that enables an artist to paint with confidence. Once these tools are understood, practiced, and implemented, the doors open wide to a much freer painting experience.

Confident brushwork emphasizes the energy and motion of the busy New York City street in Times Square Biker 2 (acrylic on canvas, 24×24).t

From Recording to Designing

The first and, in my opinion, the most important building block is understanding and seeing simplified value relationships. For many years I heard the word “value” tossed around, and was told how important it was to look for the correct values. Value refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a color. I understood the importance of identifying approximately where a color’s value fell on a scale of 1-10. But I didn’t exactly understand how this would improve the quality of my paintings. Understanding how to identify a color’s lightness or darkness is important. However, learning how to group together values that are similar is equally important in creating a bolder underlying design.

Finally, learning how to take that design and modify it to create a stronger, more readable image is key. We often have to use “artistic license” to change the values of what we see to values that work better as a painting. For instance, if I am painting a middle - tone subject against a middle - tone background, I often push the background to be either lighter or darker so that my subject will stand apart more dramatically. My goal is to make a good painting, not to transcribe exactly what I see. Often our subject is not placed or lit perfectly. We have to be able to move mountains — or change their size and shape — and change values of what we’re seeing in order to make our subject read easily and result in a strong painting.

Color and energetic brushwork, rather than great detail, define Shopping Buds (acrylic on gesso-board, 12×12; private collection). Building on Black and Gray

In the 1980s I went to school to learn graphic design, art direction, and illustration. Throughout my career I became experienced in creating graphic illustrations and logos for a variety of clients. Back then we did not have personal computers so everything was created by hand. The tools I used to do my work were black and middle-gray markers. The images I created had to be clear and very readable in specific applications such as: black and white newspaper ads which used very coarse screens; fax machines which at that time were grainy and low quality; and stationery packages that required the designs be shrunk to business card size.

I did not work in color until I was sure that my ideas worked in only black and white (and, if I was lucky, gray). If my design passed that test, I was ready to present to the client. Once a design was approved, I moved to the next stage, translating the design to colors using colored pencils and markers.

Bleeker and Thompson Street (acrylic and oil on gessoboard, 8×8) illustrates how a simplified color value plan creates stronger images. Slow Down to Paint Fast and Loose

This experience proved invaluable in helping me transition into designing the compositions I would use for my paintings. Many instructors will tell you that every good painting has a strong underlying design. The trick is learning how to create simplified value plans so that you know, even before you pick up the paintbrush, that your painting has a very good chance of being successful. This is not commonly taught because it is somewhat challenging to teach.

Many students want to jump in and start painting immediately, with the goal of painting exactly what they see. I understand that because I do, too. But I have learned through trial and error that I paint with much more confidence when painting with a value plan in front of me that I can refer to throughout the painting process. I always encourage students to slow down and work on a value plan that will help them stay on track with the composition, and only then move into color.

In The Guy Walk (acrylic on canvas, 16×20) brushstrokes are placed and then left alone.

The Power of the Value Plan

The second block is being able to translate values to mixed colors. Every paint color has a value attached to it ,and in order to have your painting read properly, attention must be paid to ensure the colors translate to the correct values. For instance, dioxazine purple right out of the tube is a dark value, yellow ochre is a middle value, and cadmium lemon yellow is a light value. It is very easy to identify the values of some colors. Other colors, especially the very saturated, vibrant colors appear much lighter than they actually are.

In order to see a color’s true value it is necessary to squint at it, with your eyes half shut. Your eyelashes act as a darkening filter that will block out some light and help you to perceive the lightness or darkness of a color. For instance, at first glance brilliant cadmium red or orange may be perceived as a light value. However if you stroke a dab of it on a middle gray palette, and then squint at the color, you will see that it is a middle value. This is the optical illusion of saturated (bright, vivid) colors. It is for this reason I always work on a neutral gray palette, as I am constantly squinting at my colors while mixing them to see their actual value.

Notice how the saturated bright color of the orange appears to be lighter than the unsaturated dull gray background. The same photo in black and white shows that the values of the orange and the gray background are exactly the same. If you look at the color photo and squint so that your eyes are almost shut, you can see that the values are nearly identical.

Strokes of Confidence

The third block is expressive brushwork. I like the look of brushstrokes that are energetic, gestural, and unfussy. This type of brushwork can only be accomplished with strokes that are placed and then left alone. I try to mix the correct value, and put down my stroke in the shape that helps define the form. In other words, I try to accomplish as much with every single stroke as possible.

This economy in stroke results in fresh, clean brushwork. In my workshops I give students specific exercises that can only be done using large brushes and very few strokes. For many, this is an entirely new experience. It is easy to fall into the habit of dabbing at one’s strokes — often unconsciously — while considering what to do next. I find that dabbing diminishes the gestural quality of the brushstroke. I encourage students to put down their color once, and make it a conscious point to leave it alone.

Although there are many aspects in creating a successful painting, my personal experience is that having a solid plan and methodology in place fosters the confidence needed to paint in a bold, looser fashion. I prefer to do the heavy lifting in the very beginning by designing my values and composition so that I am free to be more playful and expressive with color and brushwork.

Demo: Soho Florist

Materials • Strathmore Toned Gray Sketch Pad 51⁄2×81⁄2 • Golden heavy Body Paints in quinacridone magenta, alizarin crimson, cadmium red light • Yellow ochre, cadmium primrose yellow, phthaloblue (greenshade) orcerulean blue, ultramarine blue, titanium white, burnt sienna or burnt umber • Princeton Catalyst Polytip Brushes. flats, Nos.2, 4, 6, 10, 12 and 16 and a rigger or script brush • Grey Matters palette paper • Soft vine charcoal sticks • White chalk or pastel • Kneaded erase

Step 1

This is a typical value sketch I create before starting a painting. I work out the basic design on a neutral toned gray 5.5×8.5 sketchbook, and use soft vine charcoal to simulate my darkest values and white chalk to decide where my lightest values will be.

Step 2

I grid my square value sketch so that it will be the same proportion when I translate it to a 12×12 gessoboard. I use black gesso to paint the gesso board, and a white colored pencil to draw in the preliminary sketch.

Step 3

I start with a middle value red since my darks are already in place on the black background.

Step 4

Next I begin placing some dark value cool colors.

Step 5

After placing a few dark and middle values, I add some light values. This helps me to see the relationships of the colors and ensures that I am adhering to my plan.

Step 6

As the painting develops, I squint often to make sure that I am following the value sketch I created in the beginning.

Step 7

I try not to fuss too much with small details — preferring to let the structure of the carts, boxes, fruits, and other elements merge via the colors and the values I choose.

Meet the Artist Step 8

Although it is a complex scene with many elements, there is a loose quality to the brushwork because I have confidence in my value plan and therefore don’t have to repaint any of the strokes or passages.

Patti Mollica believes the beauty of any scene — whether it be a garden or a busy New York City street — can be brought to life by the artist. Mollica works in oil and acrylic. In her book Modern Acrylic, she explores how acrylic provides artists with versatility and a medium for personal expression. Her other books include: Color Theory and Getting Started (in Acrylics). Her work is housed in private as well as the corporate collections of American Express, Sheraton Hotels, CBS and RCA records, Penguin Press, Mellon Bank, and many others.Visit her website at pattimollica.com.

Patti Mollica is also the awards juror for ArcylicWorks 9 --- the final deadline to enter the competition is October 18, 2021.

MARK SHELLSHEAR

Mark Shellshear 0947.647.34.65 markshellshear@gmail.com galeriadelasislas@gmail.com

“ Blue Nude on a Red Couch.” I was wanting brush strokes that gave a very soft feel to this painting. Like the colours were shifting around. The blue woman becomes immersed in the shifting colours.

Acrylic on canvas.

When the customer says. I am just looking around, thank you. Now we have all said that and if you are showing your Art or you have a booth at an Art show, most likely when we hear that statement we assume that they will not buy. You cannot assume that, you must be smiling and friendly and very enthusiastic, so say something like. I love it when people come to look around my Art. May I point out two pieces to you. First point out the most expensive piece in your show and say the price and then point out an inexpensive piece, and then say. I will leave you to look around. Then walk away. You complied with their request, but you have also pointed out your best piece and an inexpensive piece and you did it in a friendly caring manner and hopefully they liked you and so will like your work. Doing this gives you a few seconds to sell yourself and give them a comparison of your price points, this is important. The customer has two reactions to your high price point, that seems reasonable or that seems expensive. The reasonable thought when you show them the inexpensive will think, no I prefer the first one and the person who thought it expensive will see the inexpensive ones as good value. In a few seconds of talking you got them to make a decision on choice. Does this guarantee a sale? No, but it’s a far better place to be in because you may get a sale, than to assume the sale was lost when they said, just looking, thank you.