There is a demonstration on how to paint the sky and sea in an earlier post. The painting has exceeded my expectations, and thankfully has met with approval from those who have seen it. You can just make out where the ship is going to be placed on the page in my earlier post. Having used a pencil to outline the French frigate, I put a background wash of acrylic paint across the page and then used the pencil again when the wash was dry to further define the ship. Cryla Cadmium Yellow, Winsor & Newton Galeria Mixing White and Cryla Yellow Ochre were used for the sails, along with some Lefrance Burnt Sienna for darkening down the mixture. Lefranc Black acrylic and Cryla Titanium White were used to get the grey for the rigging. Lefrance Deep Blue was used over Cryla Ultramarine to form the blue.
Although I'm not going to show the finished piece; here is a snapshot from the painting, taken some two hours before completion. The plan now is to frame this painting using mounting board and glass. Only the top edge of the painting will be taped to the mounting board. This should prevent the Daler Rowney A4 size Acrylic paper from wrinkling over time. The idea is that the glass and the backing board will sandwich the artwork and prevent it from moving. You don't normally glaze in front of acrylic artwork, but I'm doing it for several reasons; (1) an off the shelf frame complete with glass is cheaper than getting a bespoke frame, and (2) although the painting reminds me of the work of the 'Old Masters', it also reminds me of watercolour techniques, with its flowing movement and softness of stroke, and (3) if you don't glaze in front, then you need to [a] fix the acrylic paper to board, and [b] varnish the artwork. To be quite honest, I don't want to do either of them, as the fixing or varnishing could ruin the artwork.
Photograph: Hommage à L' Hermione (acrylic on acrylic paper)
Rba 2016, All Rights Reserved
Remember, whenever you frame your own artwork into a frame with glass and a backing board; you need to tape the backing board to the frame after completion. This helps to prevent dust being forced in through the back of the frame over time.
