Shiva, keep on burning

I did another 5 hour session in the studio with focus on working more with the airbrush on the background flames on the Shiva piece.

Here are the tools I'm using. Compressor and Iwata Eclipse HPC airbrush. Creatix and Golden fluid acrylics with airbrush medium/extender. Home made shields cut out of watercolor paper.

The first thing I did was to use golden acrylic and smaller shield shapes to put down a variety of orange flame shapes. I really like how the airbrush can be used to create hard and soft lines.

I gently glazed over from bottom to top res-orange-yellow to create a gradual change in color. I think the flames are looking more violent now with more harder crisp edges.

Here is a shot of the entire piece so you can better see the darker red bottom and how it moves up into the yellow at the top. I think it is starting to look like a bushy ball of fire.

I then created yellow flames over the entire piece. I was hoping the yellow would be less opaque an I wasn't happy with how "canary" yellow the tone came out but I do like the gentle fades over the orange and red.

I used the airbrush and watered down reds and oranges to tone back the yellow and bring back the gradient I ant the whole piece to have from top to bottom. I am still not entirely happy with the flames yet, but I need to put in some more lights and then go over it with freehand to smooth out some areas. But first, I need to get to the art supply store for some more black Gesso and to get a different color yellow for the remaining flame layers.

Shiva, light my fire

Airbrush time!!!

This is where I left off last session. I blocked in the red and some black spots to be the deepest level of fire. This was all done freehand with the airbrush. The paint I am using is Creatix liquid  airbrush paint.

I then blocked with the variety of shields shapes in orange. I added in some free hand areas to begin the flushing out process and to add some of the outer embers.

I went back in and darkened the lower half with more red. My plan is to have the lower portion more red with embers and fade gently up into brighter yellow flames.

It may be hard to tell in this photo, but the next stage here is a subtle blocking in with a yellow/orange over top the previous layer. The shields are soaked and my hands are covered in over spray. I am starting to get the hang of it.

I worked a brighter yellow over top and worked out some more shapes. I think I am going to do a second layer of the entire process again over this fire to create more depth and detail. I like using this shield method to create realistic looking fire paint effect.  I intend on painting the rest of the painting in oil. I have to have this part blocked in first since it is acrylic and it is the background before I proceed with the rest of the painting.

Shiva begins

to come to life

I used the center line to place the Shiva figure on the big black canvas, sketching it in with black charcoal. I always rub my face and look like a coal miner during intense drawing sessions, it's kinda funny.

I'm having troubles placing the drum hand, it's still not resolved but I'm going to sit on it and see how the other stuff develops compositionally and allow it to unfold. creativity should be a risk. Artists need to take them, otherwise it would be paint by numbers.

In the next session, I whipped out the airbrush. I blocked in with red the general location and shape of the background flame. I am painting the red first which represents the flames that are furthest away. As I continue, I will paint lighter and lighter colors layered on top.

On the floor is the little compressor and some black and white reference photos. This is my first time really using an airbrush (another risk). I like it but it does take some practice.  I still might be faster by hand but I really want to get this fire to look real rather than graphical.

I revisited some blacks to help create some depth and allowed it to drip to add some interest and texture. This paint is supposed to be dry if not heat set, so I am going to wait a day to ensure it is at least dry enough to continue painting the layers.