I need painting tips

[ig Jeff]

Hello All,

I have learned alot from reading the posts and viewing the pictures of your carvings are truly inspiring. My carving has improved but my painting has not. I have a couple of questions.

What size/kind of brushes are you using?I am using acrylic paints.

I am currently making a bunch of snowman ornaments and wonder if anyone has a tip for painting round eyes? mine just don't look right.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Jeff Stubb

[mpounders]

I like the Golden Taklon brushes. I use a larger fuller pointed one and a long skinny one for most stuff. I occasionally use larger brushes when i have vast areas to be covered. I use a wood burner with a small skew tip to outline the painted areas on carvings, to help prevent colors from one section bleeding over. I like to dip my wood in water or keep it wet with a spray bottle when doing a faded wash finish or painting faces and hair. But I let it dry when I paint eyes and pupils and such. I usually finish with satin polyurethane brushed on and then wiped off with a paper towel to make the colors look rich. You might try the ends of dowels for small round eyes? Practice a bit to make sure you get the right amount of paint.

[cb1959]

My favorite brushes are filberts, I can use them turned on their side to get fine lines and flatten them out to get dry brushing and feather edge details. I use #'s 2,4 and 6. I also use a #6 round to do the overall washes. You will find that experience will lead you to a specific brush and technique to result in the finished product you are wanting. I have tried several published techniques but keep comming back to these.
Good luck along the way.
Charlie

[Bartster]

ok first the most importantant tip is to wash your carving before painting with liquid soap and a brush or i like to use simple green and scrub it and rinse, then paint it wet it helps the paint to absorb

2. paint in light washes except white mix it a little heavier, eyes and such should be undiluted.

3. for round eyes you can do it with a brush loaded heavy with paint or you can go to the art stores and find a set of burnishers mine came in a pack of 3 with 6 different sizes, load these heavy with paint and apply,

hope this helps
bart

[blanchard65]

For the eyeballs I use a paper clip or something like that to get a nice round spot

[Tina Toney]

Jeff,
I personally prefer an angled flat brush. It's shaped like a skew which enables getting into corners. Another rule of thumb is to use the largest brush possible which helps to cover an area more evenly. Also it's good to use an extender with your paint or flow medium in the water.
I too, have used a wood burner as suggested by Mike. For those who don't have a wood burner, a shallow incised line made with a knife helps to differentiate and hold back over bleed.
If you have a wood which is extremely porous, such as Jelutong, then a penetrating sealer is called for to control the wicking.
As for the eyes, the best tool I've found is a double ended tracing stylus. They do come in at least three sizes.
Hope this helps. Tina

[Claude]

I use a round toothpick. Cut just a bit off the end, dip in the paint, and make a small round dot on the snowman. For a larger dot, I cut more of the tip off the toothpick. If I need one larger than a toothpick can do, I'll use a 3/32 dowel, 1/8 inch dowel, 5/32 inch dowel, etc., depending on the size I want.

Claude

[BeaverDon]

exactly what Claude said!! I also like the filbert brushes. they are very flexible in terms of various ways to use them. I was using some cheapos and , like most cheap thing, they didn't last long. The Blick student line is pretty good. I like #12, 8, 6 and ) for fine details. A lot of artists and crafters use the tip (opposite the bristles) for making dots.

[Donna_T]

I suspect we all have our favorite brushes. I use artist quality brushes (mid-range of costs) from Hobby Lobby or other art suppliers. Golden Takon works--as does other brands. I watch for their sales to pick up new brushes.

I paint with the largest flat brush that works for the project when covering a large area. I like the angled flat brush for going around the edges of colors next to other colors. And I use filberts when doing certain details. I take pretty good care of my brushes and still have some that I used 40 years ago when I did oil painting. I even have some coarse stencil brushes that I use for specialty carving projects.

When painting eyes, I never paint a full circle. I let the upper and lower eyelids cover part of the circle. A full circle would give a wide-eyed SURPRISE look that doesn't fit anything I carve. Also, when drawing faces on snowmen, I usually use a fine point Sharpee. Gives better control and comes in several colors, although I usually use black. I will sometimes add a hint of color to the drawn eyes on snowmen, but who has really seen a blue-eyed snowman?? The secret to drawn eyes like these on snowmen is to practice drawing different expressions on a piece of paper first. Back when I oil painted and did ceramics in the 70's, there was a paper chart of faces and eyes available from ceramic suppliers. I've still got that and refer to it from time to time for different looks.

Donna_T

[ig Jeff]

Thanks for all the great advice, I will buy the brushes this weekend and practice, pratice practice.
Thanks,
Jeff