Tire Swing

I completely forgot to post this up here last week. I love this composition. I had done a piece very similar to this a few years ago, and sold it. I always thought about it, and wanted to see it again in my house.

Step #1 Prisma Color

I used Prisma Color Pencils for the first layer. I used several different colors for the grass, trees and the kid on the tire swing. I never use one color for a section. For example the grass; I used tans, browns, several greens and some yellows. If you look outside, there is never a solid color in nature. If you look at your lawn you see the green grass, the new and old stalks of grass, the dead grass; and a single blade of grass is not a single color. The more you mix colors the richer your piece will look.

Step #2 Water Color.

I water colored the entire piece. I first painted the sky. I love the flexibility and how smooth watercolors are. After the sky was dry, I painted over everything else. This really does tie everything together and fills in spots that normally a pencil doesn't get.

Step #3 Gesso and Matt Medium Layer

After the watercolor was dry, I sprayed it with a fixative. I layered the matte medium and gesso of the piece to prep for the oil layer.

Step #4 Oil

The gesso and matte medium layer took about 5 hours to dry. (It depends on the thickness of the layer that you put down.) I used an umber oil wash for the most of the lower half. In the very top of the piece I put a burnt sienna color.

I love how warm the finished piece looks and am glad I redid it.