"Thalamis at the Lae Line" start to finish breakdown

"Thalamis at the Lae Line" is an illustration based upon a character in my fantasy world, Telimvor. Thalamis is the ruler of the sylvan people in Telimvor (dryads, centaurs, pixies, fairies...), and takes on the form of a centaur and a satyr crossed. I wanted him to be guarding a Lae Line, a mythological gate that connects two places far away with fey magic, and that allows a traveler to simply walk from one end to another. I wanted the painting to reflect leadership and power, but also a serene and peaceful quietness. I chose to keep most of the painting cool in color hue for this reason.

 The choice to paint in acrylics rather than oils was simply one of frugality: I had run out of Ultramarine Blue in oils, and didn't want to buy more paint during the month.

 Beginning stages included forming the background colors using layers of watery acrylic paints blended over each other (lots of layers: in total, the background had around 70 different layers of color mixed into it). After this was done, I was able to start to define different shapes into my composition. I liked this outcropping rock, so I decided to put it in as the focal point of where my figure would stand.

 

I then proceeded to paint in some silhouetted trees and foliage to help frame the center of my composition. Usually, one wants to avoid the center of a canvas as a focal point, but because of all of the circular and elongated shapes caused by the tall canvas and trees, I decided to take the risk- in the end, it worked out fine.

 At the moment, the painting looks a bit sloppy- stick with it! As you continue to refine things, the image begins to tighten up.

 I decided to block the Lae Line in, as well as Thalamis. I wasn't completely happy with his pose at first- it seemed as though his antlers were a bit small and natural, and not as impressive as I'd like, as well as the rump of his backside getting lost in the gate. Notice the undercoat on the vines completely clashes with all of the warm background lights- this is OK. For a first coat, a cool green will really help create the effect of depth against all of the neutral and warm greens in the painting.

 After having corrected the figure pose, and adding layers and layers of detail into the vines, and the trees, I had a finished piece- or so I thought. The greatest achievement of the piece was also my downfall- Although the mood was created well with all of the warm greens and yellows against cool blacks and browns and purples, I knew I needed something else to stand out. I decided to take a complete risk and add in fairies in a bright light blue. Once you take a bold step like this, there is no going back. Because of this, I made sure to tape some tracing paper to my painting and try 4 or 5 different color combinations for the fairies before finding my colors of choice.

The finished piece- Boasts some great color combinations, as well as an interesting display of light, form and movement. Great Success!

Atmospheric Layering in Acrylics

So I'm back to Acrylics for the next few days- I wanted to start working on a larger piece, but I didn't have the colors for what I wanted in oils, and rather than go spend tons of money on paints, I figured I'd try acrylics. I'm building layers into the atmosphere on this piece, so I thought I'd take a second and talk about how to achieve this.

After first session- maybe 3-5 layers in the background

Here is the base layer of this (large, 38x20") painting. The background is scumbled mixing of 4 different colors- Yellow Azo, Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue and Paynes Gray. Doing this in random layers is great, but often builds up too much paint. I fix this by constantly spraying the canvas (fairly liberally) with a small misting bottle for cosmetics. This will cause the background to run a bit, but that's ok, because you're going to paint over the edges when the trees go in.

Same Painting- around 35-40 layers in the background

Here is the same painting 5 hours later- As the layers build up (again, misting bottle and paint, over and over), the atmosphere begins to look realistic and believable. The more layers you put in, the more you can get lost in the painting. with painting like this, it's important to not get frustrated with how things look as you progress, but rather to just keep adding layers, trusting in the process. 

It's worth noting- If you us WHITE in this process, use ZINC WHITE and not TITANIUM WHITE because of transparency: Titanium White is literally the most opaque color out there, and doesn't lend itself well to this technique.

RAWBoston Presents: SENSORY- May 6th, 2015

I'm super excited to share that I've been chosen to exhibit and sell my work in RAWBoston's May showcase, entitled "Sensory". The show will be happening at the Middle East in Cambridge on May 6th, 2015.

RAW events are a little more cool than your typical art show. Think art show meets electronic music festival meets fashion show meets open bar meets giant party. Starts to sound pretty cool, huh? 

Tickets are incredibly cheap for such an event ($15 bucks gets you in the door!) and you can pick them up right below here, at the link I'm posting. Every ticket sale helps support me as well, so you should totally pick a few up for a great night!

Follow the link below, and buy your ticket right from my page!! 

http://www.rawartists.org/acrylicalexander

Last time I saw a RAWBoston show, I had a friend in the show and was blown away to step into the exhibition hall. There were hundreds of people coming in and out, all looking at art, and many of them first time art collectors. If you like art, whether you know a lot or nothing at all about it, then this show is a great stop for you!

Dress is "cocktail attire"

Hope to see you all there!