Painting fantail rose

I finished painting Fantail Rose today, an original painting of a fantail with a rose, in memory of my Dad. I didn't set up a camera to film, as I now have a very cramped workspace. I took some progress pics with my phone, so I have put some of them in this blog post.

The room I am painting in is dark but I was able to have reasonable lighting with two lamps.

Fantail Rose, acrylics on canvas by Xanthe Wyse

I use my own photos as reference pics (to avoid copyright issues). I had some ideas in mind and I could have sketched out some thumbnail ideas (which I do sometimes). As I was working with a reasonably small canvas (9x12 inches), I decided to do a mockup with the main reference photos with Photoshop Elements. It doesn't matter that it's rough. It's for the general composition and proportions.

I also transferred other reference pics with better fantail colours and details to a tablet. Normally, I could also work from a laptop but I simply don't have the space currently. Working from digital references is preferable, as there is more colour information than in printed photos. I also don't have space to keep printing off photos. I have taken thousands of photographs. These two are linked to my Dad.

White canvas can be intimidating, so I usually do a wash layer with acrylic inks diluted with water (with flow aid), to get a feel for the placement. Each layer is left to dry before starting another layer. The layers after the acrylic inks were with artist grade acrylics that are a lot thicker from the tube (but can be thinned).

It was hot weather, so I had a mist bottle that I sprayed my paints with to keep them workable. I only put out enough paint for what I need onto a white porcelain plate. Use up all the paint, then wash up. The fantail was the main element, so I wanted to make sure it had enough room around the outside edges. I haven't used a proportional divider tool for a while but I used it for both the rose and the fantail, to compare relative proportions of my reference and the painting. 

Some people do grids when they want proportions but it seems too mechanical for me, plus I don't want rigid lines all over my paintings.

I don't try copy the reference pics exactly but I did want a recognisable fantail and rose (confession: I've never painted a fantail before and I've only painted an abstracted rose before). The rose was trickier than the fantail. I could see that I didn't like how the second rose was crowding in on the bird

​Luckily, with acrylics, this is easily rectified, if using thin layers. Just let it completely dry, then paint right over the top. When using titanium white in the mix, there is coverage of darker and brighter colours. Sometimes, I use a thin white masking layer but this wasn't needed.

I wasn't sure if I would have a paler, washed out background. I had some other reference pic with back lit fantails and was keen to try out some ideas. I could have trialled some backgrounds digitally but it's always different painted anyway.

I tried some layers of acrylics for the background. I felt the background was competing too much but could fix that later. I also decided a gap between the rose and bird would be better, so I reduced the size of the bird's head. I also moved the angle of the bottom edge of the rose.

I did glazes to knock back the background. Glazing is done over dry paint using a touch of paint pigment mixed with gel medium (to provide some 'glue') plus a little water (I had flow aid in my spray water). Some people glaze with water only but this is not recommended, as it could flake off if there is not enough 'glue'. Glazing is like applying a stained glass filter over parts of the painting. It has a different look. I also did some dry-brushing in parts, as the glazing was a bit patchy (probably because of the hot weather).

I didn't like the out of focus background roses, so I painted over the top of them (using paint with some titanium white for coverage). I did some more layers on both the bird and the rose. Adjusted some shapes like leaves. A little glazing on the bird to warm it up a little. One problem with photography (especially with budget gear like mine) is that it does not accurately capture colour and tone details.

Also, photos are flat and one needs to suggest shapes when painting. I have yet to take some photos with my camera in better lighting (in case I want to look at doing prints).

Then, I will do an isolation coat with thinned gel medium. Let dry throughly, then varnish.

Fantail Rose

I only listened to music at certain parts. I have more movement, intuition and abstraction when painting with music. I wanted a particular composition with good proportions, so had to think more during stages of this painting.

One song, I cried, listening to, while adding the top layers to the rose. It was an instrumental piece my Dad listened to. I finished with an uplifting song about inspiration.

After painting, I noted in my art journal what colour combinations I used and also sampled those mixes. This gives me a reference in case I want a particular colour again, like a certain shade of green, for example. I also note which songs were most significant.