Painting with Wilson Bickford

Last time in part one, we prepped the swans and dropped in the background. Now it's time to develop the swans. Join me next as I put the finishing touches on Swan Duet. (calm pop music) -

Narrator

Support for Painting with Wilson Bickford is provided by the J.M. McDonald Foundation, continuing the example modeled by J.M. McDonald by contributing to education, health, humanities, and human services. Sharing since 1952.

Online at jmmcdonaldfoundation.org. (inspiring music) The View Center for Arts and Culture is an Adirondack exhibition and performance space, featuring in-person and online classes for creatives of all ages and abilities. Open calls, events and class schedules online at viewarts.org. Hi, welcome back to Swan Duet, part two.

Last week we based in the water and put in the background grasses, and we're ready to move ahead and start doing the swans. Now, I've been looking at this and to soften that a little bit, push it back a little farther, I've wiped out the fan brush, and I'm just gonna comb through it lightly, lightly, just enough to make everything a little bit more blurry and push it back. This is meant to look a little more distant. That will make the swans look all the more 3-D as they come forward, and they're more detailed, so I'm just gonna comb through that a little bit with the fan brush, just to soften it and blend it out of focus a little bit.

I'm also gonna take my number two liner brush. Now the finished painting here does not have that. I'm just ad-libbing here, 'cause I think I have time. I hope I have time.

Let's put it that way. I'm gonna take the number two liner, with some of my grass colors, and I don't wanna get carried away here, but I can put some individual blades in these clumps, here and there, just to kind of give it a little more detail, especially down here on the lower portion. I wouldn't do it way up in the distance. It's getting too far away.

And see how my grass goes behind this swan's head. I don't want it to look like he's got an antenna coming out of his head, so I'm gonna be careful how I do that. Maybe yours won't. This one, the grass never even encountered his head, so...

Just be careful with it, and this is an option. You don't necessarily have to do it. I'll give it a little more definition, make it a little more grass-like, and then I'm gonna pull the tape off these swans, and we'll develop them. We under-painted those with some blue-gray acrylic, so all the shadow tones are in place, so all we have to do is add the highlights.

Makes it easy. I like it when painting's easy. Life's hard enough. Don't make your painting life any harder than it needs to be.

Okay, I'll swish that brush out. I'm gonna use a painting knife. Now, this wasn't on the supply list, so if you don't have one handy, you can use the little sharp knife that you used to trim the tape out with. Just be careful.

I need something to pry underneath this tape, and these two swans should be right under here where I left them. There's one, or part of one. That's half a swan. By the way, do you know where swans invest their money?

In the stork market, of course. You knew that though, didn't you? Okay now see, this taping business is a lot easier than trying to paint around these or doing the background and letting it dry completely and then putting them on top. There's many different ways to do it, but doing it this way I can do it all in one sitting.

Now you're probably gonna have a few discrepancies here. I do too, where you didn't quite cut on the line. We're not surgeons here with the scalpel, so... (Wilson chuckles) Everybody's gonna have some of those little discrepancies.

I'll tighten those up. It's no big deal. Do I look scared? I'm not scared.

I'm gonna use the number six round brush. I'm gonna put a thin coat of clear glazing medium all over all of the swans, every bit of them, and it's clear and you think it wouldn't show up, but it actually makes the blue acrylic look a little darker, so it's easy to track your progress and see where it's going. Put it on thinly. Notice I'm taking a little bit and then working it around.

Way down upon the Swanee River. (Wilson humming) Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I don't tend to see a lot of swans around our neck of the woods. I know they're out there. I know other people say they see them.

I don't know if they are more of a Southern type bird or why, I really don't. I think they're all over, but we just don't happen to see them here too much that I know of, or else I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time. I see everything else, all kinds of turkeys and geese and ducks and that sort of thing, but... Now see this is gonna lubricate the canvas where it's really dry on these swans.

It's gonna wet it down, so when I put my colors on, it makes it really easy to blend everything. So that's the purpose of this. Somebody wrote to me this morning, as a matter of fact, when I opened up my e-mail, and they said, "I love the way you instruct, "because you tell everything of what you're doing, "how you're doing it, and why you're doing it," so I try to think of that as I do these shows and as I teach in my live classes, so that's why I'm telling you why I'm putting this on. It's gonna grease the wheels for me a little bit, make it easier to make everything blend nicely the way I want it to.

Okay, put it on really thin. Now we're off to the races. What I have in mind is I'm going to apply paint with this same brush, and I'm gonna blend it with my number 6 small flat. This one is clean and dry, hasn't been in the thinner.

It's nice and dry. Gonna make it very easy to blend. It's a soft bristle, so it's very nice for blending. So I'm gonna start with this one.

Notice where the lights are. I got white on the top of his head, on the front of his neck, on his back here, but there's shadow there that leaves a nice notch where his neck and shoulder fits in, a wing here, so you're gonna have to use that as a reference, but on the WPBS TV website, you'll be able to download that reference picture. You'll be able to use that as a guide. So see, I'm gonna take titanium white, this is the thick white, off the pallet.

I'm gonna try to steer around the black markings on his face. I'm gonna put some white on his forehead, a little bit just on that cheek to bring that out a little bit, not too much. There's a nice cast shadow underneath there that I'm gonna darken in just a moment, so I'm gonna avoid that area. I'm gonna bring this down the front of his throat and neck like this, and I know somebody's out there saying, "That looks really hard." I'm gonna blend it.

Blending cures everything. I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. I'm gonna have to lay that down. I need a towel just to wipe this off occasionally.

I got a little smudge on his eye, but I can always come in and re-blacken that. Oh, that sounds mean doesn't it? I'm gonna blacken the swan's eye. I already told you in the last episode, they remember who's mean to them.

(Wilson laughs) I guess I better watch my step, huh? Okay. On this inside edge where the blue and the white meet is where I wanna, no pun intended, feather that out. Oh maybe just a bit.

Maybe just a bit of a pun. We want it to look round, so we need soft edges where those colors meet. I'm just trying to finish that blend there a little bit, keep my shoulder out of the way of the camera. Okay, something like that for starters.

I'm gonna take a little more. I've gotta leave this area here dark with the light on his back, so see, I'm gonna outline that like this. It brings his neck and shoulder forward, and I had a reference photo when I worked this up. They weren't laid out like that.

It was two separate photos, one swan in one photo and one in the other. I just put them together to make a painting out of it. They weren't in this configuration. I dreamt all that up, made my own composition out of it.

You can actually blend that with your finger a little bit too, just to soften that edge. Now see, I do have a little discrepancy here if we can pull in tight right here, you'll see that little white edge where I didn't quite trim exactly, just like I have here. I'll tighten that up. I'll mix up a blue-gray that's appropriate, and I will fix that.

I know some of you are out there looking and you're wondering, saying, "What's the old smart aleck gonna do with that?" Oh, I'll fix it. Now I'm gonna take a little more white. Notice he's got a wing here in the foreground. Make sure this edge blends away.

This is the blender God gave you. You got ten of them. Don't be afraid to use them once in a while. Okay, I'm gonna come right here.

Okay. I'm gonna feather this away too, down into the blue. See how much I'm utilizing that blue acrylic underneath. It's all the shadows, like I said before.

All we need to do is put on the highlights. It makes it real easy. Just make sure everything's nice and soft. He's looking round.

Now I need to mix up some of that blue, like I said, to come back and fix that other part. I'll do that after I get some of this other done, 'cause I'll probably need some on the other swan. This one is gonna go around like this, and see basically I'm just looking at that sample. You're gonna need a good reference to work from, whether it's this or you have your own photos that you work from.

A good reference is the key. Now see I'm just tapping and gonna fidget that edge away. See how much they come to life very easily? And this edge here comes right along and cuts in front of his neck, so I'm gonna try to leave that a little darker right in there.

Just enough so the pure white will show up. I can blend it with my finger and push some of that color back, so it's not quite so white. So then when I put this edge in front, it's gonna cut in front and be discernible as another plane. Like that.

See it's not really rocket science guys. It's pretty easy. I'm showing you all the nuts and bolts of what you need to do here. Don't be afraid to give it a try, and if you do, I'd love to see your version of it.

I get people sending me photos of their work everyday. It's always fun to see what people do with my projects, and even your own projects, just whatever you're working on. Now see the blue underneath is dry, so that's not picking up, but it's the clear medium on the top that makes it blendable over the top of the dried blue that makes that work. See that?

So it's not crudding down my white. It's just blending it, thinning out the veil of paint, so the blue shows through it a little bit. Now this one has a wing in front too, just like the other one did. I'm gonna take a little more white here.

Somehow I must have touched the blue background a little bit. My white's getting a little dirty, so I'm gonna start with some more fresh white again. I'm just gonna-, he's got a little tip on the tail right there, and there's a wing that comes up something like this. Now don't forget, the sketch that you transferred, you can always use that too to find the placement of these.

But it's handy to put it on with one brush and blend it with another, providing you don't let this brush hit your canvas over here like I did, but I can fix that. That's easy. No worries there. See I'm showing you what you shouldn't do.

See? Sometimes that's just as helpful, even more helpful. All right, this is starting to look pretty good. I do have some lighter blue in here.

Looks like reflected light off the water. That's coming too. I do need to repair those little areas I talked about with the trimming. See all I gotta do is come back with big daddy.

Notice I haven't washed big daddy yet. That's good, 'cause he's still got that same color on there. That's why I don't wash him, he's- you never know when you're gonna bring him in off the bench to make the next play. Okay, I've gotta touch that edge up a little bit, so I'm gonna take some of this bluish color that I've got on here.

I usually pull from some of the crud that I've already got on my pallet. I'm gonna take a little bit of blue into that. That's gonna be pretty close. I think it'll be close enough.

Let's try it. I just wanna get rid of that little white sliver where I didn't quite cut precisely. And just so you know, a good tight trimming job is worth the extra effort you put into it, so take your time when you're doing the trimming, and speaking of the trimming, a lot of people are skeptical and, you know, I work on these panels a lot, but I prefer panels. I do stretched canvas too, but the panels are more rigid.

They're easier to store. I can store three panels in the place of one stretched canvas, as far as storage in my studio goes, and they're a little more durable. You don't have to worry about puncturing them like a stretched canvas, but if you're gonna trim on stretched canvas, I do it all the time, just make sure your little craft knife is very sharp with a brand new blade. Our shop teacher in school always told us, "Boys, there's nothing more dangerous than a dull tool.

"Make sure your tools and chisels and what not are sharp," and he knew what he was talking about. If it's sharper, you don't have to press down as hard to cut and there's less chance of cutting through your canvas. Okay, I'm just refining those edges a little bit. Up underneath he had a nice dark shadow there, so I'm gonna take maybe some ultramarine blue, just a speck of the cad red light, which will give me kind of a grayish purple.

Maybe even a speck of black. I just wanna make sure it's dark enough. What you're shooting for is a dark bluish purple. I can roll that brush right to a point.

If this is too much brush for you, you could actually use the detail script liner. I want that nice cast shadow underneath. That sets that up and gives him a lot more three-dimensionality. Wipe it off and soften the edges a little bit.

What really brings him to life is when we paint those orange beaks. They're getting there. I'm gonna take white and a little bit of cerulean blue. Like I just mentioned a couple moments ago, notice there's some blue underneath.

It looks like light from the water reflecting back onto them. This is a different flavor, so I want more of this lighter blue. I'm gonna put a little bit right along the bottom edge of his body, or her body. I don't know which one's the his and which one's the her, but...

It's funny, some species all look different, like a male and female are totally different, like cardinals that are yellow and red depending on the gender. Chickadees all look alike. Swans all look alike. So then I just wiped the brush, and I'm gonna blend that a little bit.

I coulda used the number six flat too to blend with, like I've been doing, either or. All right. I got a little bit underneath his head there, right in here, which separates his head from his neck where his head is turned around. I got a little bit on this fellow over here too, right at the water's edge there, so it looks like the water is reflecting up a little bit.

It doesn't take much. Be subtle with it. Okay. That's coming together.

It's coming together, but see how much easier it is by having that under-painted with the blue acrylic. All I need to do is put on highlights. It makes it really easy. I'm gonna now take a little more ultramarine blue and a little bit of the red and go with a little bit darker purply gray.

I got just a couple spots here I wanna address. Right here, notice there's a really darker shadow, more defined, right on this side of his head, 'cause his head is turned right down the other way. I'm gonna bring that around like this. Be subtle with it.

Don't go too dark. I'll wipe this off, and soften it away. I'm gonna put a little bit right down this front of his neck, because it's kinda getting lost against the color of the water. Too close to the same value.

That'll help separate everything a little more cleanly. And I'll swish that out, and I'm gonna take a little bit of the cadmium red light and roll this to a nice little point. You could also use the detail script liner if you chose to. I'm gonna put a little bit of cad red light right on his beak.

Right now it's just white canvas with the clear on it. This is just colorizing it a little bit. This one's a little more yellowy, because of the way he's turned, the way the light was hitting it, so I'm gonna add a little touch of yellow with that. Brighten it up a little bit.

Okay, maybe even a little more yellow, and then I've got to get on to those reflections. For the reflections, I'm just gonna use pretty much the white and mimic the shape of the swan upside-down. Doesn't that sound easy? Well it's not too bad.

I got a little on the black here I'm gonna clean up. (cheerful guitar music) Don't be afraid to take the techniques that I've shown you today to dream up your own swan compositions. This is a painting I did a couple of years ago. This is only a paper printout, because the canvas has been sold, but it was on an oval canvas, and I used a dramatic sunset in behind it, which was pretty striking.

This one's an autumn scene, and just something different. Dream up your own composition. Use some different colors and different settings. It's fun!

Okay, I'm gonna take this same brush. I'm gonna take titanium white and matte this brush out, and I look at the swan, and I'm just gonna kinda do little dash lines like this. It's gonna look rough at first, but I've been telling you, blending fixes everything. You gotta think that the reflection is riding on the movement and the ripples of the water, so I'm not making it solid.

We're gonna blend it and just make some of it disappear. Now see, I'm picking up a lot of blue as I'm doing that, so I'm wiping the brush off. Doesn't have to be too exact, but you want it close to the shape, obviously. Blending is gonna help it immensely.

Maybe something like this. The more waves you have in your water, the more distorted your reflection can be, so if you're scared of doing this reflection, make your water even more... Give it more movement. Okay, something like this.

That was pretty easy, right? Now I gotta blend it yet. Hang with me. I'm gonna wipe that off.

I'm gonna take a little bit of black and where the black areas are, I'll just put a little smidgen. On his head. I almost dabbed into the green there. I was hurrying.

He'd a had a green face. He'd a been the green-faced swan. I don't think they're a native around here either. Okay now I'm gonna take a little bit of the red, for where the beaks were.

And just a hint of that is all we need. I'm actually gonna take a clean dry fan brush. I need to wash this out. I've still got green on it.

Make sure it's good and dry. I'm very lightly just gonna graze over this with the backside of the brush. Lightly, lightly, lightly. And the clock on the wall tells me I've got less than a minute to go.

But I think I'm in good shape here. And here where it dragged over a little farther, you can use a little more pressure. Just clean that up. Blend it up.

No big deal. If it needs a little extra, you can give it a little extra. And I'm so glad you tuned in for this. Give it a shot.

It's probably easier than you think. I hope you catch this series. I've got some other nice projects coming up for ya, and look back on some of the older series. So I appreciate you watching.

Until next time, stay creative and keep painting. (calm pop music) -

Narrator

Support for Painting with Wilson Bickford is provided by the J.M. McDonald Foundation, continuing the example modeled by J.M. McDonald by contributing to education, health, humanities and human services. Sharing since 1952.

Online at jmmcdonaldfoundation.org. (inspiring music) The View Center for Arts and Culture is an Adirondack exhibition and performance space featuring in-person and online classes for creatives of all ages and abilities. Open calls, events and class schedules online at viewarts.org. -

Narrator 2

All 13 episodes of Painting with Wilson Bickford Season 8 are now available on DVD or Blu-Ray in one box set for $35 plus $4.95 shipping and handling, or learn the techniques used to paint Sundown Beacon with the in-depth Paint Smart, Not Hard series of Wilson Bickford instructional DVDs. Additional titles available. Order online, or watch or download directly to your computer or mobile device. More information at wpbstv.org/painting.

(calm pop music)