Here I show you how to seal your acrylic artwork with a varnish seal. This is an essential part of any artwork. If not done correctly your artwork might start to lift from the paining and all that time and effort may be lost. The secret is let it dry between each stage.
Continue reading “How to seal your acrylic artwork painting”
Yes thats right free download of my new easel plans from my website or youtube channel from Phil Willetts.
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Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year Wild Card.
I decided to apply to take part in the TV Sky artist of the year way back in February the 27th and sent off thee paintings and a photo of myself (Passport as requested by them)
Originally I applied for the Portrait competition as I like drawing and painting portraits and the comments have always been good by artists that have seen my work and by the people that I have painted by way of commotions.
I also decided to apply for the Landscape competition and sent of the relevant paintings that they asked for.
Palette knife
The last two paintings I did was a combination of brush and palette knife, I find using the knife helps to create movement and a 3D effect particularly for sea and mountain scenes, this is achieved by adding dabs of paint on its side and maneuvering your hand and arm in the direction of the waves or mountains being painted. Under painting isn’t necessary with this technique. Try scraping out an area of wet paint you don’t like, which has the added benefit of creating interesting texture. For the most part I add more paint on top and enjoy how it interacts with the paint below, this also depends on how much pressure you put on the knife and following the direction of the waves when painting a seascape. Continue reading “Using Palette Knife”
Painting with John Hoar,
I decided to go to one of John Hoar’s painting workshops, who is someone whose work I have always admired. So this April I drove to South Devon and spent two days painting with John. There were four of us in the workshop all were good artists and it was great to see other artists style, we managed to complete five paintings three in his studio and two around Johns home in the Devonshire countryside.
Continue reading “With John Hoar”
Yoko Traditional Dress
I have just finished two portraits of the same person which is a very unusual commission. The commission came from a member of the person’s family, they wanted one for themselves and the other was a Christmas present for the young lady I had painted.
Painting two portraits of the same person can be challenging as very often one painting can be better than the other but this time I was very pleased with both paintings.
The portrait was of a Japanese girl dressed in her traditional costume which made a very striking portrait. I painted the portrait from some photos but I also met the young lady which is very helpful to get a likeness of the person that is being painted.
The portrait that the family wanted me to paint was of Yoco in here traditional dress this was taken during her coming of age. For those who do not know what coming of age in Japan is all about, when a person reaches 20 years old they dress up in their traditional attire and attend a ceremony receiving gifts and have a party with family and friends.
For young women, the festival is an opportunity to dress in the traditional kimono attire and zorisandals. The kimono is full robe worn with the left side overlapping the right and tied together with a sash. Young unmarried women wear a style of kimono, called furisode, which has long length sleeves as is seen in my portrait of Yoko.
Traditional dress in many cultures is usuallygreat to paint as it makes the person look spectacular and can give the painting the wow factor so unlike modern clothing that has very little style and usually very boring
I went to Malta two years ago and noticed in the main room of the hotel a series of painting of Japanese Girls dressed in traditional costume, from then on I thought it would be great to paint a portrait of a Japanese girl dressed in traditional attire, and I was delighted when I was asked to paint this portrait of Yoko.
We decided to hired two pitch’s one at the war and peace show and the other at military Odyssey to exhibit and show my artwork. As the names suggest both these shows are about military history and there were lots of people dressed up in military uniforms particular around world War 1 and 2. My two sons have served in Afghanistan and so much of my art work has a military theme. I decided to make a French style easel for the shows as I wanted one stronger than you can buy in the shops and a different size, the overall size of my easel is nineteen and a half inches long by fifteen inches wide.
Hear are some photos of my easel being used at the War and Peace show and the others of it being constructed, the plans are available free on my web site, as I have said my french easel is stronger than you can buy in the shops, if you want to reduce the weight then the legs and main frame can be reduced by one eighth of an inch.
Photos of easel under construction.
Here we have a very simple video of how I make my own greeting cards for any occasion using images from my original are work from my website
The list of kit and equipment you require to make your own greeting cards and links to the mail order I use are below:
Image for the greeting card ( I use popular images of my artwork)
Printing paper for the image ( I use various types of paper from canvas paper to 160g -220g card. you can try photo paper 6 x 4 are very good gloss or matt)
1 x Glue Gun (ATG Tape Dispenser no 1345)
ATG Tape (Glue for the gun) double sided individually packed no 444 SCAPA ATG 19mm x 33mm (does about 30 greeting cards per roll)
Both items are purchased from Lions picture framing supplies
Greeting card cardboard template item AP71E-59
Embossed Lines & Designs 50% Recycled
104x152mm – Oblong 62x110mm – Textura Recycled
Natural White
370mic/230gsm
Envelopes to go with the greeting card ENV15
Standard Quality White Envelopes
114x162mm – This Is A C6 Envelope
Plastic sleeve for the completed item with envelope. PPB04
Clear Greetings Card Bags – Polypropylene
118x164mm
Orders taken from http://www.craftcreations.com
If its your own art work don’t forget to sign the corner to give it a more personnel touch.
If you have any questions on my method for creating your own greeting cards then please email me.
Don’t forget my greeting cards are available to purchase from my website.