We had 43 CFWS members watch the wonderful and informative demo by Laurie Goldstein Warren.

Her painting was a mardi gras musician. Her palette is mostly these 4 colors: Quinacridone Rose and Gold, Antwerp Blue, Cobalt Blue… and Black. Occasionally she will use turquoise which she loves. She paints dark to light, and works in values first, using a black and white photograph. Starting in the upper left corner she used a large #14 Escoda brush to paint in the Quin Gold, then the Quin Rose was dropped in quick and finally Antwerp Blue.

drop Quin Rose into the Quin Gold

Antwerp Blue dropped in and allowed to mix

Let those colors mix on the page. Paint fast, don’t worry about the edges. Start at the top and work your way down to avoid dragging through the paint. Getting the darks early helps build confidence. For darker colors, values of 9 to 7, use the Antwerp Blue and for lighter value colors, of 6 and below, use the Cobalt.

She considers herself an impressionistic painter. Look for shapes with the same values and bundle them together. Play around the values and use Photoshop – Poster Lines – kick up the contrast, move the slider until you like what you see. The Lamp Black is a dead color so it makes colors around it lovely. Add little pieces in shadows, hair, etc.

She uses a large calligraphy brush to paint over all the colors to glaze. She added Quin Gold to the tuba. Leave out the gold for cool areas. If you mix it up between cool, warm, cool, it’s more fun for the viewers.

Quin Gold, Rose and Antwerp blue in the darkest areas

Quin Gold, Rose in tuba

TIP: use corner of paper towel to wick up extra paint

Keep in mind why you wanted to paint this picture. What is the story? Keep it in mind as you pick colors, the center of interest gets more darks or contrast.

adding black

She added lamp black to his eyes and piece of the letter on his hat, and his beard. Black is a level 9 tone value.

Lastly, never frame a painting you haven’t stared at for 2 weeks to find the boo boo’s.

Thank you so much Laurie for a great demo! We learned a lot!     If you would like to talk to Laurie, her email is:  [email protected]

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