Painting Dogwoods & Queen Anne's Lace

For Dogwoods:

Materials:
architectural fragment
Folk Art floating medium
Folk Art crackle medium
Folk Art blending gel
Folk Art acrylic artists pigments:
- Hauser green light
- olive green dark
- Payne's gray
- true burgundy
Folk Art acrylic paints:
- bayberry
- wicker white
- French vanilla
Loew-Cornell series 7300 flat brushes sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
Loew-Cornell series 3750 liner brush, size 1
Loew-Cornell series 7500 filbert brush, size 4
Masterson Sta-Wet palette
palette knife
tracing paper
gray graphite paper
fine-grade sandpaper or sanding disk
piece of brown paper bag with no printing
water-based varnish

1. To prepare the architectural fragment, wipe with a cloth. Following directions on the bottle, apply crackle medium in four or five select areas.

2. Apply a coat of French vanilla paint and watch it crackle. Let dry (figure A).

3. To make the piece look aged, sand in several areas and around the edges.

4. Draw the pattern onto the wood, or trace a dogwood from a book or clip art and transfer the drawing using graphite paper (figures B). Dogwood petals are just like hearts with flat bottoms instead of points.

5. To paint the stems and leaves: Undercoat with two coats of bayberry and let dry.

6. Shade stems and leaves at base and on left side with a float of olive green dark (figure C).

7. Outline the left side of the stems using the liner brush and thinned burnt umber.

8. Float true burgundy at the tips of some leaves.

9. Highlight the right side of the stems using the liner brush and thinned Hauser green light. Let dry.

10. To paint the dogwoods: Undercoat each petal with two coats of wicker white using the filbert brush (figure D).

11. Dab the centers with olive green dark and let dry.

12. Add dots of thinned Hauser green light to the centers (figure E).

13. Shade the base of each petal with a float of olive green dark and let dry (figure F).

14. Using a liner brush filled with thinned wicker white, outline each petal. Pull three or four curved lines, following the shape of the petal, from the center out. Let dry.

15. Highlight the tips of the petals with a float of wicker white and let dry.

16. Paint a V-shaped accent on the tips of the petals with a float of true burgundy and let dry.

17. Soften with a wash of wicker white and let dry.

18. To shade the background, apply blending gel around the outside of the flower and leaves.

19. Using a float of burnt umber, start next to the flower and fade out from there in each direction.

20. Apply blending gel to each corner and then apply a float of burnt umber and let dry.

21. Varnish the entire piece with two or more coats of water-based varnish and let dry. Rub with a piece of brown paper bag (with no printing on it) to smooth the raised surface and apply a final coat of varnish.

Materials:

Folk Art acrylic artist pigments:
- Hauser green light
- Hauser green dark
- Hauser green medium
- olive green dark
- warm white
- yellow citron
- titanium white
twig basket with rusted-tin lid
Masterson Sta-Wet palette
Folk Art acrylic paint: clover
Folk Art floating medium
Loew-Cornell Series 7300 flat brush, size 4
Loew-Cornell Series 3750 liner brush, size 1
utility palette
stylus
pencil
25-35 thin rubber bands
tracing paper
white chalk or white graphite paper
water-based varnish

1. To make a rubber band brush: Gather 25 to 35 thin rubber bands into a clump. Make sure all the bands are lined up evenly. Wrap a rubber band tightly around the clump of rubber bands approximately 1/2-inch from one end. At the opposite end, cut the loops to form a tassel-like brush (figure G).

2. Wipe rusty tin with a damp rag and let dry.

3. Using white chalk or white graphite paper, transfer the traced design to the tin lid. Transfer a general outline for the flowers. Note: It is important to trace all the little stems in the flower cluster.

4. To paint the leaves: Undercoat the stems and leaves with two coats of clover and let dry thoroughly.

5. Shade the leaves with a float of Hauser green dark and let dry. Deepen the float with olive green dark if needed.

6. To paint the flowers: Using very little thinned warm white paint, dab on the flowers using a scruffy brush or a rubber band brush (figure H).

7. If desired, use a liner brush with thinned titanium white to paint a few four-petal flowers here and there. Let dry.

8. Wash on a tiny bit of yellow citron to create a little yellow-green shading.

9. Paint the curlicues with a liner brush filled with thinned Hauser green light paint.

10. Go over the curlicues a second time with Hauser green medium and let Dry.

11. Apply two or more coats of water-based varnish to seal and let dry.