Monday 9 April 2012

alphabet in progress, 2

Here's the next stages:

wet the sound hole areas and drop in some indanthrene blue and paynes grey


These are the colour mixes I'll be using on the body of the violin. I find it useful to paint swatches on a strip before I start to put in large washes on the painting.


Mix up two washes in preparation. Raw umber and burnt sienna, then winsor red and burnt sienna.
Wet the violin body, leaving the finger plate dry. Wash the ru/bs mix all over the wet area, then drop in some of the wr/bs mix in places where the violin would naturally be darker. The bridge, the curve, the bottom mid of the painting. Leave to dry.


On the bridge and the lines of the curve,  paint in a  second wash of the wr/bs mix and leave to dry.

Paint a third and last wash of wr/bs mix on the bridge and this time on all of the curve and let these dry.


Now, those of you who know violins will probably have spotted that I've made a mistake here. For some unknown reason, I overlooked painting the mid section of the sound hole on the left. Probably because the crop split it in three and I wasn't paying enough attention as I worked out colours.

It enables me to give you a great lesson that I have learned  - and that is "never panic" 
Leave the area alone to dry and later on we can fix it.

I've seen many people who have made a mistake, seen it almost immediately and then straight away dive in and try to rectify it.
Don't do that!
Pound to a penny the painting will be ruined. Let it dry.  Fix it later. 

Which is just what I'll be doing -and hopefully you'll see a great painting still !

14 comments:

  1. This looks a great painting now, let alone later! I'm enjoying the process with your explanations.

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  2. Just the kind of mistake that I would make too. But I think it is fixable, good luck! Don't panic, is good advice! :)

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  3. Glad you think so, Ann - and happy you're enjoying it xx

    Thanks Judy, sometimes we do make mistakes, but usually they are fixable if we keep our heads :) xx

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  4. Stradivarious! I'm curious of the finished work :) Arianna

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  5. I'd love to have one of those for a model, Arianna :)
    Finish shouldn't be too long now :) xx

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  6. An amazing painting Pat! it's wonderful to watch all the stages. looking forward to seeing the finished piece. I hope you have had a lovely Easter! xx

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  7. Looking very good, Pat. Love the "don't panic". I found myself saying that yesterday - leave it; let it dry; fix it later.
    XOXO

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  8. Enjoying your progress! (I bet if you didn't point it out no one would notice a mistake!)

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  9. Hi Pat - enjoyed your blog - thanks for sharing your mistake and how you will fix it. Have a great day.

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  10. love those colors and they are perfect for the painting

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  11. It is beautiful. I heard a story that some Indian tribes make a mistake on purpose in their crafts because only God can be perfect. Now I have an excuse for my mistakes. HA! HA!

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  12. I cannot wait to see this finished. We have changed our living room into all music. No tv! A violin will be the first instrument that Stephen gets lessons for.

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  13. Looking good, Pat...you've said such important words to be remembered..."Let it dry. Fix it later". Words to "work" by for sure.

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