The Knoxville Watercolor Society sponsored a three- day workshop with Laurin McCracken at the Fountain City Art Center May 19, 20. 21. I had only one of those days available. I was allowed to observe on May 20th.
Laurin McCrackin does beautiful, infinitely detailed paintings of crystal and silver. His workshop was planned as carefully as he plans his paintings. He generously supplied many handouts of his procedure. The images on this blog were scanned from those handouts.
Laurin arranges his still life compositions in a darkened room with one light source, a 150 watt daylight bulb.
This is the image of the still life. A slide of this image is projected onto watercolor paper and traced.
After tracing the shapes, more detail is drawn. Laurin believes that the more information in the drawing, the better the painting.
Drafting tape, 3M or Pearl, is used to protect the teapot while painting the background.
Masking fluid is used for small detail. Laurin uses a Masque pen. He stresses the importance of cleaning all tools immediately. He suggests using a small needle and thread with three knots to pull through the very small applicator points to remove all traces of masking fluid. All tape and fluid is removed as quickly as possible.
In this picture the background has been painted, the tape has been removed, teapot detail has been added with fluid masking, and the fruit and tablecloth have been painted.
The gray of the bowl is a mix of blue and light red. Start with the lightest gray. Details will be a darker gray.
Masking fluid has been removed. Note the hard edge where the fluid had been.
Laurin uses Winsor-Newton series seven brushes, "0" - "1" for fine detail. He advises to always "point the brush" after loading it with paint and water. Touch the tip to a paper towel.
I am closing with one of my favorite McCracken paintings, Pear and Artichoke. I like the composition and simple pear and lemon forms against the detail of the cut artichoke. I also enjoy the reflected light of the table cloth on the pear and the shadow of the lemon that falls over the edge of the table.
Laurin McCrackin does beautiful, infinitely detailed paintings of crystal and silver. His workshop was planned as carefully as he plans his paintings. He generously supplied many handouts of his procedure. The images on this blog were scanned from those handouts.
Laurin arranges his still life compositions in a darkened room with one light source, a 150 watt daylight bulb.
This is the image of the still life. A slide of this image is projected onto watercolor paper and traced.
After tracing the shapes, more detail is drawn. Laurin believes that the more information in the drawing, the better the painting.
Drafting tape, 3M or Pearl, is used to protect the teapot while painting the background.
Masking fluid is used for small detail. Laurin uses a Masque pen. He stresses the importance of cleaning all tools immediately. He suggests using a small needle and thread with three knots to pull through the very small applicator points to remove all traces of masking fluid. All tape and fluid is removed as quickly as possible.
In this picture the background has been painted, the tape has been removed, teapot detail has been added with fluid masking, and the fruit and tablecloth have been painted.
The gray of the bowl is a mix of blue and light red. Start with the lightest gray. Details will be a darker gray.
Masking fluid has been removed. Note the hard edge where the fluid had been.
Laurin uses Winsor-Newton series seven brushes, "0" - "1" for fine detail. He advises to always "point the brush" after loading it with paint and water. Touch the tip to a paper towel.
I am closing with one of my favorite McCracken paintings, Pear and Artichoke. I like the composition and simple pear and lemon forms against the detail of the cut artichoke. I also enjoy the reflected light of the table cloth on the pear and the shadow of the lemon that falls over the edge of the table.
1 comment:
thanks for taking the time to share these. i have tried silver pieces in still lifes, but, not good enough to post. i will study these steps.
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