Need Painting Advice

[jillsy]

I usually like to antique my work. First, I like the look, second, I like the way it brings out other dimensions of the carving. Is there another way to bring out the carving without antiquing? For example, a Santa's beard never shows up so well until after I antique it because it goes into all the little crevices, really bringing out the beard and making it look more like hair.

Sometimes though, I'd like to keep the actual colors, rather than making them look so drab by antiquing. But then I dont know how to bring out all the cuts from the carving. Any ideas? Having trouble explaining it!

Jill

[Callynne]

Jill, there's a couple things I do to keep the antiquing from over powering my painting. First, where the lightest paint color is, i.e. a Santa's face and beard, I will paint on a coat or two of satin finish varnish (sold right in with your acrylic paints). This will keep the antiquing from setting too deep in those areas.

Another thing is to dry brush white paint back onto his beard after the antiquing is done. This will highlight the raised areas, leaving the antiquing in the crevices, which makes for very nice contrast.

Hope this helps! Deborah

[jillsy]

Thank You! Thank You! I'll Try It!

[Canopener]

Jillsy,
I think I understand where you are coming from, because I am prone to "just one more coat", and then it is over done.
Callynne's idea sounds very good, I'll try that next time around. But what I have done in the past is to make sure certain cuts are just a bit deeper to hold the antiqueing and make a beard,piece of clothing etc. stand out.
Also, and this is off topic, but it seems you live in the Delaware Valley and we are talking dry brush painting. You gotta go see the Wyeth exibit on the Brandywine. Went there last week on vacation. There are some great examples of dry brush painting, also a Wilhelm Schimmel Eagle and some other carvings besides all of the great art. Amazing.
Good luck.
Jim

[Irish]

Jill, Deborah's suggestion about dry brushing is excellent. You can base coat an area with a color that is just one or two shades darker than the top coat color. Let that dry then load a flat shader with the top coat ... bloat or brush off an extra color ... then drag that 'dry' brush across the high areas of the carving.

So, for your Santa, if you want bright unstained color you can base coat his beard with a light or pale gray then dry brush over it with white!

It's an easy way to add a little depth to your work without "darkening or dirtying" a carving with stain.

Susan

[Irish]

In this thread on Santa Eyes, post #3, you can see an area of mustache, beard and eyebrows that are white dry brushed over the medium skin tones.

Santa Eyes

Susan

[Big_Al]

Maybe this will help; Before I antique, I spray w/matte finish Krylon, then antique. It will do the creases but not the flat surfaces. Big Al

[jillsy]

Thanks to all for your advice.

Big Al, I do spray mine with a matte finish before antiquing too, but it still comes out too heavy. If I try too hard to remove the antiquing, the paint starts to come off as well.

If I water the antiquing down though, it's doesn't show up enough. Guess it's more trial and error til I get it right!

[Goody]

Patience My Dear,
You need to know a little about acrylic resin ( which is the binder that carries the pigment of the paint in a suspension). Acrylic resin is dry to the touch in about 20 minutes. It hasn't cured for about two weeks. If we try to antique our santas sooner than three days of painting the antiqueing is unpredictable. You need a barrier coat between the painted piece and the antiqueing. We use Jo sonyas polyurethane satin varnish. It can be applied right after paint but we like to let it cure for a week before antiqueing. For antiqeing medium we use acrylic paint in the umber family thined down with flow medium and retarder. We have found that you can slide your antiqueing around on top the original paint with out affecting the original color below. You can leave it as heavy or as light as you wish. For a harsh look wipe it off with a terry towel to soften it use an old makeup mop brush, one swipe and dry the brush on a paper towel another swipe and dry the brush again. We can paint a santa white and put antiquing over the white with no problem. The main thing is let the acrylic cure! Notice in the pics that the paint is white and the antiquing is in the pores of the wood.
The Goodys