THE ART ESCAPE
  • Home
  • About
  • Artwork
    • Book Page Art
    • Custom Portraits
  • Find Me
  • Order
  • Classes
Picture

Halloween Raven Painting

10/18/2019

4 Comments

 
Picture
This painting is what I chose to mimic for my October Painted Canvas program at work. I run a "Painted Canvas" program once every quarter along with other monthly craft programs, but the Painted Canvas is, by far, people's favorite. With my other craft programs I usually always have empty seats even if the class had a full registration list but that is definitely not the case with Painted Canvas! The seats are always full! 

I wanted to do something "spooky" for this quarter's painting program especially since it's October. I had something else in mind originally but ended up picking this one! I followed the tutorial from "Painting with Jane" on Youtube, she's amazing! I didn't go about it exactly as she did. She used a gold metallic canvas (have never seen those before!!) and a paint/gel medium mixture to create translucent paint. I changed mine to just using a sponge on top of gold metallic paint. It's an "ok" effect, and one I think is easier for people in my class but maybe sometime I'll give the gel medium technique a shot!
Supplies:
  • Acrylic Paint: Gold, Silver, Brown, Orange, White, Black 
  • Paintbrushes - I used 3 different types
  • Sponge 
  • Canvas/Canvas Board 
  • Large circular object for tracing
  • Bird cutout for tracing if preferred 
  • Pencil
Picture
Picture
1. The first step is to trace your large circular object for your blood moon (I used a large plastic bowl). You want it to be nice and big to fill up your background. Paint this circle with your gold metallic paint (you should do 2 coats).
Picture
2. "Painting with Jane" recommended using translucent paint so that the colors do not get "muddy". I  understood what she meant when I started sponge painting the colors. It did seem to get muddy but I was ok with it overall once it was done. Like I said earlier, I would like to try the original artist's technique in the future. I used a dry sponge and dipped it slightly in the paint, do not saturated your sponge! I started with brown for the dark shadows on the moon, then went into orange, blending slightly, I went back through with more gold to still have the gold represented, it's too pretty not to!
Picture
Picture
Note: When you paint your moon, it is best that you go outside of the original circle. This is so you don't have an unnatural, harsh line showing through later. I did go over my line but I should have done even more because I feel I noticed where I didn't cover the areas well enough once it was finished. 
Picture
3. Before we are done with the moon, add some silver highlights with your sponge, you can add a dab of white too if you're feeling daring! 
Picture
Picture
4. Retrace the same object you used to reemphasize your circle. With a flat or angled brush, trace the outline of your moon with black paint. Take your time and be patient on this step. Paint the remaining white space black. I used two coats of black paint. As I put the second coat on, I also mixed in a bit of silver to make the background seem "shimmery". You don't have to do this part, it is a personal preference. You will notice this effect more in later photos. 
Picture
Picture
5. Trace your bird/branch template or free draw a bird if you feel comfortable. Paint this entire space black for a good base coat. I left a spot open for the raven's eye so that some of the gold shows through later. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
6. Now it's time for highlighting the raven's feathers. I mixed black with a little bit of white to get a charcoal grey. I used this color to lightly brush strokes of "feathers" throughout the bird, specifically accentuating the tail and wing. ​I did the same with the raven's face.
Picture
7.  In between painting feathers, I went in for the beak and tried to mimic the shape done in the video. 
Picture
8. I highlighted everything with white. I used my smallest/pointiest brush for this and went over the previous grey with light, quick strokes. 
Picture
9. The last step is to highlight the gnarly tree branch! To do this, I lightly added some silver in various spots then, again, lightly added some white to those same highlights in smaller strokes. 
Picture
Picture
That's really it! Sign your painting with your initials and you are good to go! Talk about an awesome addition to some holiday decor! (And let's all be honest here, this would look pretty good with some glitter too)
Picture
4 Comments
Jeanine McClure
10/16/2019 04:18:53 pm

Can anyone sign up for the classes or are they just for your library/coworkers? thanks, jeanine

Reply
Becca
10/16/2019 07:31:47 pm

Hey Jeanine! Anyone can sign up for these art classes! They are free and open to the public. However, people take them pretty seriously and want to get in. Registrations open a month ahead of time and fill within 5 minutes! So put the registration date on your calendar if you want to sign up :) cuyahogalibrary.org

Reply
Jeanine McClure
10/17/2019 07:32:38 am

ok thanks! i wil go sign up for alerts. is this class past or is it listed on the events? i tried looking for this month but didn't seem to find it.

Reply
Becca
10/18/2019 10:05:55 am

So this was actually last night's class! it's under "evening art". I do one of these every 3rd thursday of the month :)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Rebecca Myers 

    Hey there, I'm Becca, or Rebecca, but not Becky, never Becky, unless you're my family from down south! I'm a simply modern librarian by day and an artist by night. My pursuit is for a simple, happy, healthy, and more fulfilling life! I hope I inspire you to get crafty!

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018

    Categories

    All
    45
    Acorn
    Acrylic
    Adults
    Altered
    Altered Book
    Animal
    Anniversary
    Apple
    Art
    Artificial
    Autumn
    Bag
    Banner
    Beach
    Beads
    Bike
    Black
    Blackbird
    Blog
    Bohemian
    Book
    Book Pages
    Bow
    Box
    Butterflies
    Buttons
    Can
    Candle
    Cardboard
    Cards
    Cat
    Change
    Christmas
    Clipboard
    Clothespin
    Clover
    Coasters
    Coffee Can
    Cold
    Cookie Sheet
    Cork
    Corks
    Coronavirus
    Craft
    Crafts
    Creepy
    CriCut
    Crow
    Daisy
    Decal
    Decor
    Decorate
    Decoration
    Decorations
    Decoupage
    Dictionary
    Diy
    Dog
    Dream Catcher
    Dreams
    Embellishment
    Embellishments
    Etching Cream
    Fabric
    Fabric Paint
    Fairy
    Fake Flowers
    Fall
    Feather
    Floral
    Flower
    Flowers
    Fluff
    Frame
    Fringe
    Future
    Galaxy
    Game
    Garland
    Gift
    Glitter
    Glow
    Glue
    Gnome
    Gold
    Grass
    Grow
    Halloween
    Handmade
    Hanging
    Harry Potter
    Hat
    Hippie
    Holiday
    Hot Glue
    Iron
    Jar
    Jean
    Jeans
    Jewelry
    Jewels
    Journal
    Junk
    Keepsake
    Keys
    Kids
    Knob
    Lantern
    Librarian
    Life
    Lights
    Light Up
    Luminary
    Magnets
    Mason Jar
    Matt
    Memo
    Memories
    Mermaid
    Mini
    Mirror
    ModPodge
    Mod Podge
    Moon
    Moss
    Music
    Native American
    Netting
    Nightlight
    Notes
    Ollivander's
    Ornament
    Outdoor
    Paint
    Paper
    Party
    Peanut Butter
    Pet Portrait
    Photo
    Pieces
    Pine
    Pins
    Pointsettia
    Pom Pom
    Pop
    Portrait
    Postcard
    Post It
    Posts
    Pumpkin
    Quick
    Quote
    Raven
    Realistic
    Record
    Recycled
    Repurposed
    Reuse
    Reused
    Ribbon
    Rice
    Runner
    Scrap
    Scrapbook
    Scraps
    Seashells
    Seeds
    Seniors
    Sheet Music
    Sheets
    Shirt
    Sleep
    Slice
    Small
    Smash Book
    Snow
    Snowman
    Sock
    Soul
    Soup
    Space
    Sparkly
    Spell Book
    Spells
    Splatter
    Spooky
    Starfish
    Stars
    Stencil
    Sticker
    Stickers
    Stitch
    Strawberry
    Stuffing
    Summer
    Surprise
    Tea
    Tealight
    Template
    Thread
    Thrift Store
    Tin Can
    Toole
    Tophat
    Tote
    Towel
    Tree
    Trinket
    Tshirt
    Twine
    Upcycled
    Update
    Vase
    Velvet
    Vino
    Vintage
    Vinyl
    Wand
    Wedding
    Wildflowers
    Wine
    Winter
    Wood
    Wreath
    Yarn

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Artwork
    • Book Page Art
    • Custom Portraits
  • Find Me
  • Order
  • Classes