My family and I spend a lot of time in the Rocky Mountains where I’m always inspired by the canoes in the lakes and rivers. I always carry a small sketchbook and a pen wherever I go and try to sketch some of this inspiration as I prefer to work from sketches rather than photographs…it seems to allow me to work a little more loosely and to alter shapes as I go. I also grew up near the Churchill River in the boreal forest in northern Manitoba where we often found canoes resting along the river and were taught the skills of wilderness survival. Canoeing became a large part of my youth, from the enjoyment of time spent in the forest to fishing and travel. I saw a canoe being built and the beauty of that process never left me. Though I never learned that process myself, I feel as though I have been given the gift of capturing the beauty and mystery of this sacred vessel in my paintings.
Drawing: One of the most important things that I do as an artist is to draw every day. It never needs to be anything that could be considered ‘finished’ but keeping a small sketchbook on me at all times does give me a place to jot down ideas and keep inspiration for future projects. Drawing daily also helps to improve my skills. I begin to pay attention to distances between things (ie. Eyes are about halfway down a person’s skulls, the base of a nose between the eyes and chin, and lips between the nose and chin). Paying attention to details such as angles and distances, not literal but visual, helps to get the appearance of a 3-dimensional image in a 2-dimensional plane. I notice that whenever I don’t draw, my hand-eye coordination seems to struggle a bit. Occasionally I will also bring a small watercolour palette to play with to capture colours and shadows as well.
Drawing daily helps my eyes to really look and see what is in front of me…something that we often forget when we our eyes are bombarded with shapes and colours all day every day. My preference is a small 3x5 moleskine (which is available in most art supply and bookstores) and a pen or fine marker as I find that if I can’t erase lines, I don’t keep erasing until I get something ‘perfect’ (not possible for me) and the layers of lines add interest and contrast to my final sketch. These are just for me, in any case, to improve my drawing skills as well as to give me a starting point for new ideas. There are many wonderful drawing lessons available both online and in person, but I have found that constantly drawing is the best way to learn.
Supplies & Materials:
Stretched canvas, panel or paper
Acrylic paints
Acrylic ink (optional)
Acrylic spray paint & mask (optional)
Stencils
Variety of paint brushes
Water dish & spray bottle
Rag
Tips:
I used several different sizes of paint brushes for added interest.
A stencil brush and acrylic paint can be used instead of spray paint.
If using paper, coat with a layer of white gesso to add texture and substance to the surface.
Clean water dish regularly to keep paint colours vibrant.
Directions:
Using acrylic ink, a large paintbrush and plenty of water (a spray water bottle also works well), apply colour liberally on the canvas.
Allow to dry well in between layers in order to keep colours vibrant.
Using another colour of paint and the 1 inch brush, add a transparent colour in spots around the canvas (don’t cover all of the initial layer). Wet with plenty of water and allow the colour to spread and drip.
Once that layer has dried, take your stencils and spray paint to a well-ventilated area and begin adding patterns. Pay attention to repeating pattern and colour around the canvas in order to keep the image interesting and the viewer’s eye moving around the surface. Allow the paint to dry at least 24 hours.
Adding a Canoe:
Using a round paintbrush and liquid titanium white acrylic paint (if using a heavy body paint, you can thin with water and/or thinning mediums – craft paint can also work well), I loosely sketch the shape of a canoe that appeals to me. I will alter the shape to suit the shape of the canvas as I like to fill a large part of the surface with that image. I pay attention to the angles, trying to assure that the front and back of the canoe are even, along with any bars or seats inside the canoe. Keeping them at the same or similar angle ensures that the canoe is visually interesting. Drawing them often helps to keep my eyes and my hands working together well.
At this stage, I keep a rag and a spray bottle of water nearby so that I can ‘erase’ any lines I might be unhappy with…it helps to move away from the canvas throughout the drawing process in order to take a critical look at the shape. I also turn the canvas upside down or look at its reversed image in a mirror to see if I like the shape.
Once the white paint has dried, select a colour (or two) to paint around the canoe in order to make the image pop forward from the background. In order to keep the colours vibrant, I try to allow plenty of drying time between colours, or use complimentary colours (ie. Green & blue, orange & pink, etc.).
To further enhance the canoe, I select a transparent colour and using plenty of water on my brush, apply it to the body of the canoe. In this instance I used alizarin crimson. For the inside of the canoe, I used a darker pthalo blue that was also thinned slightly. I used the blue to add shadows to the underside, along the twine at the front and along the top edge of the canoe. I pay attention to wherever the shadows would naturally fall along any edges.
Finally, I added the pthalo blue underneath the canoe and allow the thinned paint to run down the canvas. I found that this grounded the canoe while separating it from the background even further. Stencilled patterns can also be added back in at this point if deemed necessary.