Friday, July 1, 2011

The Mill by the River


This was done for the DPW challenge, this week is a photo of a lovely old mill by the river. The image, submitted by Jean Nelson, was one she painted herself. The photo image has potential (her words) but needed some coaxing to get the right image to come out.

This style is something I haven't done near enough of, in fact I think I've only posted 1 or 2 like it before. Using acrylic inks with brush/pens, I "sketch" a series of black lines, various thickness. Then come back with a soft brush & put acrylic washes over the scene. The outcome somewhat matches a watercolor style I like with inks & watercolor washes, but the thicker consistency of the acrylics make the washes a bit darker. Often, after the washes are dry, I will go back with my black ink brush/pen to reinforce the black lines. 

I rather like the look - I think it makes the scene interesting to the eye. This was my second submission for this challenge, the first being here:


Done in a somewhat more conventional manner, I tried to paint with a looser style. But what I think I wound up with is a palette-knife style of thicker paint -- and a very busy image. Too busy I think, but I'm not about to take white to the canvas & "erase" it. I think I will leave it (and the other) on the easel for a few days & see if there are changes I want to make, or if I will just leave them be as is. I do prefer the first one though.

Acrylic inks & paint on 9x12 canvas sheets

2 comments:

Autumn Leaves said...

Honest to Pete, Nan, I think I like the second image better. That said, I really like them both. I had seen this same challenge piece posted elsewhere but this is the first time I realized that there was water running alongside the old mill. For some reason, I thought it was a road! Beautiful work on both pieces!

Nancy Goldman said...

I really like both of these. The first one has so much energy and I've always liked ink work mixed with color. The second one has such beautiful colors and that bush in the foreground gives a wonderful sense of depth to the painting. After looking at these and going to the blog and seeing the photo, I think I will try this challenge also.

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