Day 5

Guidelines

• You will have 2 started paintings left now to develop.  When you have created an  interesting surface with a variety of shapes, colours, textures, lines - you are ready to add some ink.  

•  Choose two colours and add a couple of drops on the surface.  Spread the ink around, mixing the two colours in places.  Add water to help with the spreading and use a rag or paper towel to mop up excess liquid.  When you have glazed the surface with the ink, leave it to dry.

•  The painting may be quite dark now, you could add some lines or light shapes as I did or move onto the next step. (I did this because I was a little lost - the next step was my way of establishing some unity and design in the painting)

•  Choose a light colour that lives within your ‘family’ of colours in the painting.  Paint over the dark inked surface leaving some shapes that reveal the layers underneath.  In my painting I covered most of the painting - that was because I didn’t like a lot of it.  Only cover the areas that you don’t love.  

•  Now mix up a couple of other light colors that are a subtle shift from your original light colour and paint some areas with this so that you end up with a reasonably light painting but which has some dark shapes, some lovely colour and some surface interest.  Choose a colour from your underneath layers and add some different shapes that are positioned around the composition - think of different types of edges, thicknesses and sizes.  Let your painting dry.

•  Find some collage material!  Find pieces that could be integrated into your painting - match colours, but also look for something that will add a surprise to the painting.

•  Find places in the composition where there are visual ‘links’ - may be a continuation of the same colour, or a shape etc.

•  Analyse your painting - what is your STAR!!  What shapes, marks, contrasts are distracting from your star?

•  Mix up a neutral light colour - remember to add a touch of the dominant colour from your painting to harmonize.  Paint over the distractions.  Turn the painting to look for the best orientation and to look at it differently.  Each time you mix up your paint make the neutral colour a little different (warmer, cooler, lighter, darker) to create subtle shifts.  Think about how you can lead the eye around the painting with shapes or contrasts.

•  Take a colour from your star and distribute it to a couple of places in the composition to help lead the eye around.  You can add a little bit of saturated colour into another area to add balance and interest, but be careful not to add a distraction.

•  Keep working on your painting until you have a lovely balance between your STAR, a few supporting colour heroes (in my case turquoise) and a gorgeous soft compliment of neutrals.

•  Check the design by looking at the painting in greyscale on your phone and when you’re done leap for joy, do a dance and start some more paintings!!