Creative Breathing Painting Tutorial

It has been the most rewarding experience for me to see so many of you giving Paper Clay a try. I have seen the cutest Easter creations ever on so many blogs that I visit.I have gotten quite a few e-mails asking about the paints I use.  Ah! A Creative Breathing Post if ever there was one.

I am passionate about color and think knowing just a few basics elevates your work tremendously. Do you have a favorite color pallet? Think of all the things you have created and will create as your body of work. Is it cohesive, does it tell a color story?

Here are all of the paint colors I have now used for five years. Primary and secondary colors; black, brown, flesh, and white. Notice there are three values for each color, dark, medium, and light.

"Now, the dining room. I'd like yellow. Not just yellow; a very gay yellow. Something bright and sunshine-y. I tell you, if you'll send one of your men to the grocer for a pound of their best butter, and match that exactly, you can't go wrong!" Do you recognize this line from "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House?"

The paint scene is my very favorite! Here is how I work with colors. WHITE: Is put off center on pallet. Paint all white areas first. NOTE: Paint is pulled onto the brush from the edge of the paint.

FLESH: Is placed a distance away from white. The two colors are drawn to the center  to mix. NOTE: Don't squeeze white directly into another color as you will waste paint trying to get the right shade..

CHEEKS: A highlight color is added to pallet with room on the right side to drag shading brush first through flesh then edge of highlight color. I wanted a little orange with my MS Love Dove; so I have added it alongside. You can see the "clean line" on the pallet left by the brush.

YELLOW HAIR: Yellow is added a slight distance from white and mixed in the middle of both.

EYES: A small amount of black is added to pallet. Eyes are painted while flesh and white are still available for touch ups and highlights. A liner brush is dipped into the center of the paint an allowed to "ball" on the end of the bristles. This allows you to "push" the paint for easier application.

BRUSHES: An inexpensive package of liner brushes is essential. The longest brush is used to "line" the eyes. Add a few drops of water to center of paint and mix with liner brush. The brush is pulled and "twirled" several times to bring the brush to a point.

EYE LINER:  Begin where black has already been applied. If your line appears too thick, you have too much paint on your brush. Add another drop of water, and twirl brush into a point again. Eyelashes would also begin on the eye and go out.

  
MIXING COLORS: I have washed my pallet to mix lots of lightened yellow for ducks. I now want to paint a vintage shade of pink which has an orange tint to it. Because yellow is used to make orange, I will leave it on my pallet and use it to warm my pink and lighten it because there is already white in the yellow.

A lovely shade of vintage pink!

DUCK LIPS: You can always use a lighter shade of any color that is a component of the next color you want to use instead of adding white. Orange is made by mixing red and yellow. There is red, white, and a touch of yellow in my pink. It can be used to lighten my orange. A perfect duck lip shade!

MATCHING: Medium blue and white are mixed in the middle. A square shader is the other type of brush that is a must have. When painting a large area, the brush is "loaded" with paint. It glides onto the surface. (You can see this is a favorite brush as it's paint has come of the handle!)

The blue above was mixed to match my paper sailor's hat. Yellow is added for my bluebird to match the vintage paper on the trinket box. I use a very limited group of papers when I create as shown in the first photograph. Red, black, orange and green are added in the fall months. My papers match my felt and paints.
They tell my Creative Breathing story.

My Sailor Duck is happy that his shirt and hat match!  I share this post for those of you new to crafting to know that with just a few basic supplies, much can be made. And I do hope you will share your creations with me!