Pastels and Watercolors (and a few other art media)

I'll share

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Started my acrylics class today. We started with a practice on values using just black and white paint. Subject could be a cropped area of a photo or an object. I chose this lighthouse photo then I cropped it and turned it b&w. This is a WIP - I need to add more darks and lights for contrast. I’m not very comfortable painting without color but I do see the value in identifying the light and dark.

Original photo
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Reference photo
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WIP painting
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Hey, great start! You have a nice sketch from the ref photo. This must be so different to you from watercolors - hopefully you like the acrylics?

All this needs is some layers to build up the contrast, as you stated. I think it's a good exercise!
 
You're off to a fantastic start! As you see, B&W can have it's own challenges.
 
I finished my painting since I decided not to fight the crowds in NH today. I can go during the week! being retired is great!

I think I’m done. Added some more layers and contrast. Fixed the undersized window. Suggestions welcome.

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I really like it; it looks great. Having a good knowledge of photography helps with compostion, point of view/perspective and to an extent, value.
Nitpicking: The small window is not quite that round but more oval, and there is a little more shading around it, but there is such a thing as artistic license.
 
I really like it; it looks great. Having a good knowledge of photography helps with compostion, point of view/perspective and to an extent, value.
Nitpicking: The small window is not quite that round but more oval, and there is a little more shading around it, but there is such a thing as artistic license.

I redid that window so many times! I can’t seem to get it the right shape.
 
Looking good! I don't care about the window shape: like Charlie said - artistic license. It's fine! Try practicing simple ellipses in your sketchbook sometime. Repetition is your friend, and ellipses are a pita!

What I'm noticing (on my little phone screen, FYI), is not much difference between the values of the WIP pic and your final version. I think your overall sketch, and all the detail work on the seams, look great as is. But you might darken the overall body of the lighthouse to make the light lines around the seams pop a little more.
 
Looking good! I don't care about the window shape: like Charlie said - artistic license. It's fine! Try practicing simple ellipses in your sketchbook sometime. Repetition is your friend, and ellipses are a pita!

What I'm noticing (on my little phone screen, FYI), is not much difference between the values of the WIP pic and your final version. I think your overall sketch, and all the detail work on the seams, look great as is. But you might darken the overall body of the lighthouse to make the light lines around the seams pop a little more.
It is a bit darker in real life than in that photo but it could probably still use more contrast. Here’s a new photo without the glare from my work lamp.

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Yep, just practice. You’ll get it.
As you can see above, I gave it another tweak. It’s better but not perfect.
 
Practicing some blending techniques. I’m enjoying the flexibility of acrylics. It’s nice to be able to fix a mistake - mostly and it’s easier not to have to plan the whole painting in advance to preserve the lights like with watercolor.

I can’t seem to stay in practice mode - I keep starting out as a practice then I “see” flowers and switch over to fussy mode lol.

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