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Autumn Glory - a mixed media painting tutorial

Autumn Glory
Cyndi Lavin, 2017



As my obsession with trees continued, I had a pile of paintings that just didn't work out.  I used one of those as the base for Autumn Glory, although that's not really completely accurate since I repainted the entire thing!  However, just to be completely honest, the background was very dark, and maybe a little bit of it shows through the lighter colors near the middle.  Or not :-)

This piece was the first of my experiments with adding more obvious shading to the trees to suggest distance.  I didn't want to go too far into the realm of realism, but on the other hand, it's good sometimes to apply what you know to your abstract work as well.  Abstract doesn't mean "rule-free"!



The center portion was rolled with Hansa yellow opaque and white gesso.  I let it dry and then sponged on two strengths of Pyrrole orange and gesso, and of Dioxazine purple and gesso.

 

Mix waterproof white ink with a few drops of Dioxazine purple and a drop of water if needed, and drip the distant trees.  Let them dry and sponge over them lightly with Iridescent copper, just where the trees are and the center of the piece.

Mix white ink with a bit less purple and drip in the mid-distance trees.  Sponge them and the distant trees (again) with Iridescent copper.  Don't re-sponge the middle. 


Use white ink with no purple at all for the foreground tree.  Sponge the entire piece lightly with copper one last time.  

This post contains affiliate links: Dick Blick

Copyright 2017 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. The tutorial only may be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Comments

Robbie said…
This is FAB!!!!! Really FAB!!!!!!!
Cyndi L said…
Thank you! It's really FUN too :-)