Teaching Tools and Other Stuff

Painting Mouths

I painted the below mouth examples as a teaching tool for my students, and also to get them inspired about painting mouths.  They are interesting, expressive, and each one as a totally unique quality.  Two of them are movie stars (now deceased) ... can you guess?

Painting Cloth

Below is a brief primer for painting cloth.  The kinds of lights and darks falling on fabric also depends on the type of fabric, from velvet to satin.  The below would do for cotton or wool or the like.  These are simple formulas, and if you are doing an "epic" painting you should experiment with an effect that pleases you, the painter.

"Prosepine"

Started my Spring Semester Museum class in Acrylic Portraiture Monday, and below is our subject matter for that class.  "Proserpine" by Rosetti, featured in the Vero Beach Museum of Art's new exhibition, "The Victorian Radicals," a must-see for all who love portraiture.  Such a thrill to see this great work in person, even though some of it is under glass.  The hair and the folds of her garment were quite a challenge, especially since I am always in such a rush and working right down to the wire.  To me, life is a banquet and I jam-pack as much in a day as I possibly can.  All good things though, including my granddaughter Salem and little doggie Piper.  Paintings coming of both of them ... when time in between classes.

"Prosepine" 16"x12" Acrylic
by Judy Burgarella, From Rosetti

Painting & Drawing Classes

Currently teaching at the American Legion in Sebastian (pen to the public), Indian River Estates (private group), VB Museum (sign-up ahead), and private clients.  I am available for lectures, critiques and demonstrations.  Call for pricing - 772-581-8281.

Homage to Red I & II

Below is my demo painting from Indian River Estates (Vero Beach), from March 15th.  It began as a "Wipe-Out," wherein I squeeze paint from the tubes right onto the canvas, using alizarin crimson and sap green (both transparents that mix really well).  The paint is pushed around by a big ol' bristle brush (purchased at a hardware store) in such a way that it does not blend together in one solid color, but leaves both color shades somewhat visible here and there.  To add the illusion of light coming from a corner, I squeeze a small amount of cadmium orange on and lightly blend into the darkness, fading gradually out of sight.

Images are pulled out of the darkened canvas using a rag, Q-tip, toothpick, and whatever tools or household objects that give you the effect you want.  The vase was pulled out with a rag wrapped around my finger, the berries and stems were pulled out with a foam make-up applicator,

"Homage to Red I" 8x10 oil by Judy Burgarella

This little painting above was painted on stretched canvas, as a prelude to my demo piece below.  I applied a thin coat of linseed oil on the primed stretched canvas, wiping off as much as possible with a paper towel before painting.  It went quick and was very enjoyable,  After wiping of course you have to add some color.  I added color on all elements, skipping some on the twigs.  The beautiful blackness under the lip of the table is achieved by adding prussian blue.  You just can't get that from any black out of the tube.

"Homage to Red II" 12x16 oil by Judy Burgarella

Above is a repeat from the day before so I could work out any problems ahead of time, this one was painted on "bargain" canvas board I purchased off Amazon.  Never again will I skimp like that.  Since I do lots of demos--and have for many years--they pile up quick wen painting on stretched canvas.  Therefore I now do my demos on canvas board--easier to store, and less apt to get damaged in my carry box.

The 12x16 one came out good in spite of the disappearance of oil from the pigment.  My best guess is that it probably had sawdust inside instead of cardboard, and there was not much priming on the canvas.  While wet it looked beautiful, but I could see the oil disappearing before my eyes, and by the time I brought it home it was miraculously dry!  This technique usually takes a couple of weeks to dry.  But it was fun to demonstrate and the audience really enjoyed it.  When I coat this piece it will look much more colorful and lustrous.

Well, that's all for now.  will post again when something artsy-interesting happens.  I hope you're doing something artsy with your spare time--it's good for the soul!

Judy Burgarella
Blogger

"Misty Morning" in Acrylics ... and more!

As promised, brief directions for painting 

"Misty Morning" in acrylics.

(I used an 11"x14" canvas)

To get interesting colors blending and residing side-by-side--and also to add some excitement to a usually boring part of starting a painting--just squeeze the paint on.  I used titanium white, phthalo green, dioxizine purple and ultramarine blue.  Using a big brush blend colors together, but not so much that the canvas ends up all one color.

Notice how you can see the variations in color, and that it is lighter on the top.  In order to get this effect, you must work fast and blend just enough so that you can see individual colors here and there.

Paint soft waves using a large brush towards the bottom, gradually making the ripples smaller as you get towards the middle.  Dark shadows on the underside of the waves, lighter highlights on the tops.
When dry, trace a sailboat with graphite paper (see next photo), wherever on the canvas you choose.  I plan on painting in a couple more far-away boats, more misty,  on the left side.

 The following is as far as I got during the 1-1/2 hour demonstration, and I was painting fast.  For the sails I used yellow ochre with lots of white, then added for shadows sap green, phthalo green, and purple.  Very sparingly but it was beautiful close up and pulled in the background somewhat. 

This piece probably needs another 4-5 hours to be worthy of framing, especially if I add 2 more boats in the distance.  But it was a fun piece to paint and demo, and everybody liked it and learned from it.

"Misty Morning" 11"x14" acrylic by Judy Burgarella (unfinished)

Spent a good part of my day yesterday (Saturday) demonstrating oil portraiture at the Vero Beach Museum of art, where I am on the faculty.  Other faculty members were demonstrating too, and it was a very successful event, one that fills our classes up.  I demonstrated a portrait of my brother, Timmy, who worked for NASA in Cape Canaveral most of his life - and so I put a rocket going up in the background.  When I am finished I will post it, but it's pretty rough right now.  He was a great guy, good brother, whom I miss very much.  Unfortunately he passed on 2 months before me and my husband moved to Florida 15 years ago. 

Anyway, the whole Museum was open and admittance was free, including their fabulous "Victorian Radicals" show, subjects which I will be using in my next set of classes there.  If you are in the Treasure Coast area and love to see really fine art, please stop in and see the show.  Worth a trip.

Hope you enjoyed this posting.

Judy Burgarella
Art Blogger

Welcome to Burgarella Art Tips and Tricks ... Stay tuned for helpful information each week!

Dear Artists and Artist-Wanna-Be's ~

This blog has been created for all those aspiring to learn more about creating art.  During my years of teaching others how to paint and draw, I have developed some helpful teaching tools and techniques that I am happy to share with all who can appreciate them, my students in particular will benefit from this blog since they are fans of my teaching style and techniques.

So much to share, where do I start.  First of all let me start with a short bio and visual of a time-lapse video of creating a portrait in oils, which is also available on Youtube,  Please watch and enjoy, and hopefully you will gain from following my weekly (or maybe daily) blog.  Click on the link below and see me paint Bob Barbour in about 2 minutes (actual painting time is 4-1/2 hours)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcLf7ACVaJk

Live Portrait Demonstration - Painting Bob Barbour

Brief Bio:

Currently teaching portraiture in Acrylics at the Vero Beach (Florida) Museum of Art, and on March 29th-30th two full days workshop in Portraits in Oils.  Also classes held at the Sebastian American Legion, and Indian River Estates, in addition to private and group classes and demonstrations.  Teaching art for 20 years, crafts for years before that.  Belonged to lots of clubs, shown in lots of galleries and shows, won awards, love to volunteer in anything artsy, and love learning new artsy things and sharing freely whatever I learn.

Stay tuned for helpful information on portraits, landscapes, animals, seascapes, etc, in all mediums and styles.  Learn along with me new tips and tricks as I discover new and better techniques myself with each new painting.   My mission is to spread the joy of art, so I hope you enjoy my blog.  Visit again soon as I expand and grow this blog.

Yours in Art,
Judy Burgarella
Blogger

Same day - later
Just want to upload at least one of my charts to get this thing started.  Following is a simple color mixing chart, would work for oil or acrylic, and each color may be different in your collection of paints, depending on brand, quality, etc., so I suggest you make your own chart with the colors you normally use. Bold black outlined squares indicate cross-section of same color.  Feel free to print this out, or for that matter anything on this blog, for your own use.  Hope it helps you.

Judy Burgarella