Painting the Pileated Woodpecker in Acrylic (7)

Expanding Your Artistic Horizons Series

Painting Session 7, Final Session
Date: 06/29/2017
Subject: Pileated Woodpecker
Medium: Acrylic on Paper
Links to Prior Sessions: Session 1 - 3, Session 4, Session 5, Session 6

During this session, I finalized the details of the woodpecker and added details to the leaves. I am considering this painting complete.

The whole exercise was to try something new and to Expand My Artistic Horizons. Also, to explore a new medium or technique and try not to obsess over the outcome. Years ago, I did paint some with acrylic on canvas but never on paper.  So I thought it would be fun to try. I originally started out thinking I would use acrylic more watered down like watercolors and try to achieve a similar effect.  But I ended up just using the opaque properties of acrylic. Maybe later, I will paint with acrylic to mimic watercolor.

Below are observations of my painting with acrylic on paper. I am not experienced at using Acrylic, so part of what I might be experiencing may be normal for Acrylic, or there may be other techniques or mediums that can be used to overcome some of the issues I encountered. I do know that acrylic does dry fast and you cannot expect the paint to behave like oils. Some of the problems I experienced may be due to painting on paper and not on canvas. I have included photos from each session so you can see the progress in addition to my own critic of the final painting.

If you have experience painting with acrylic feel free to comment on your own experience using acrylic

Final Observation from Painting Session

1. Acrylic dries much quicker than I remember when I painted on canvas. Maybe due to the absorption of the water into the paper.
2  I did not see much difference in drying time with the Acrylic Retarder once the paint was applied as a thin layer on the paper. As a note, the paint did not dry as quick on the palette, so the retarder might work if you paint in thicker layers on the canvas.
3. It is almost impossible to achieve any blending of the paint. Again this may be partially due to painting on paper, and you might be able to accomplish some blending on canvas. Perhaps they are mediums that could be used to improve the blending properties.
4. There is a benefit to the drying time when applying the thin layers on paper. You don't have to wait very long before you can paint over the same area again.
5. The acrylic paint did not seem to flow off the brush like I wanted, maybe there is a medium that could be used.

Personnel Critique

1. I got carried away with the leaves. Especially with the sky as a background that was introduced in Session 5

2. I should not have put a blue sky background. I originally wanted backlit leaves, as shown in Sessions 1 - 4. I think I changed it because I thought there was to much green and I might not be able to achieve the backlit effect. 

3. I am pretty happy with the look of the woodpecker. I was hoping to make more realistic feathers but just could not get the values right and the blending issue seemed to hold me back

4. I painted over the leaves multiple times but never achieved the right results. It got to the point I was making no progress, so I had to be satisfied with the way they are.

5. I am happy with the tree, not sure about the orange highlights, but I liked the contrast with the woodpecker, so I left those in the painting.

Feel free to leave your own critique good or bad in the comments

Session 1 - 3

Session 4

Session 5

Session 6

Session 7