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painting laces.

Discussion in 'Painting Techniques' started by megroot, Jan 5, 2020.

  1. megroot A Fixture

    Country:
    Netherlands
    I hope somebody could help me.
    At the moment I'm painting this guy.
    b2b_PEG_75-123_1.jpg
    I try four times now with the gold laces, but I cannot get them right. The difficult part is the small circles beside the great golden triangles.
    This is mine: picture isn't good, but it can give you a idea where iám.
    IMG_2366.JPG
    Is there anybody who can help me with some tips and tricks to paint it sharp. I know I'm not Cartacci, but as close as it goes with his work :)

    Marc
    Mike Stevens likes this.
  2. DaddyO A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Looks like it's in oils Marc? :unsure:
    I use acrylics and I've found that adding a spot of glazing medium helps the paint flow better for fine details. I'll also mix a similar colour with the metallic paint (such as yellow ochre and gold 50/50) for the first layer with makes it a bit more opaque and cover better for those important first brush strokes. You can also spot the centre on the circles with the background colour afterwards rather than try to paint tiny circles (much easier to paint a 'circular blob' and then add a smaller one to the centre after)
    Hope that helps
    Paul
    ps -I'm afraid that others will have to add suggestions for painting in oils.
    Chris Oldfield and Mike Stevens like this.
  3. Tecumsea PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    The best tip l was ever given for painting lace and other raised areas on figures is to use the edge of the brush not the point, especially with oils, l also have a brush nearby which has been dipped in solvent ready to remove any paint which has strayed onto an already painted area. Make sure that other colours are dry before doing this.

    Sorry if this is obvious to you all but for me about 12 years ago it was a revelation.

    Keith
  4. megroot A Fixture

    Country:
    Netherlands
    Thanks Paul.
    Keith: Thanks for the information, but this is how I do it at the moment. And for me it doesn't work.
    Any other solutions, beside skills and patience. :D

    Marc
    Mike Stevens likes this.
  5. Kimmo A Fixture

    Adding to what Paul said, don't worry about being too neat with the gold. Apply very thin washes of black/dark blue afterwards and they should sharpen the edges, or run water/thinner over the gold and just touch the colour to the edge and capillary action will take care of the work then brush in the blue. A moistened cotton bud can be used to clean the gold up. This should work with acrylics and oils. I'm afraid there's no easy way to get that sort of detail to stand out nicely other than lots of time and patience.

    Kimmo
    Mike Stevens and Tecumsea like this.
  6. fogie A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    A little trick you might try is to apply a thin wash of dark colour over the lace area - if your using oils add a touch
    of red to the same of dark green and thin it with turps or whatever solvent you use to a fluid consistency. This will
    flood the area, settle into the crevices and thus sort of outline the structure of the lace. You must let this dry before
    you attempt to paint the lace itself. When everything's ready apply the gold mixture a little dry - that is to say wipe
    off the excess from your brush and gently 'stroke' on the gold. As Marc says, I'm afraid there is no easy quick fix to
    replace brush skills here - just keep at it and be prepared to clean off everything, start over and don't let the paint
    build up and clog the detail. Remember Cartacci himself stared where you are..............

    Mike
    Jaybo, Mike Stevens and MattMcK. like this.
  7. megroot A Fixture

    Country:
    Netherlands
    Thanks Guys,
    Gonna try something out of your advices.

    marc
  8. Mike Stevens PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    United-States
    Marc,

    I will normally build up the lace. I base coat the lace in a brown color. Then I build up with warmer gold tones. Final highlights are normally a shade of the highest gold tone and ivory. This are how I paint them with acrylics but would assume the same method applies for oils. That looks like a Daniel Cartachi painting in the photo and that is the technique he describes in his book. He also outlines the lace and uses cross hatching on the wider parts of the lace with the highest highlight color.

    I would also use the flat side of my brush over the area you describe and clean up afterward. Outline in dark Blue+Black and also use that same color to fill in the dots.
    MattMcK. likes this.
  9. megroot A Fixture

    Country:
    Netherlands
    Thanks Mike,
    On what page of the book he describes it??
    The big lace is not the problem, it are smallest parts beside the big lace on his leg and arms. The very small and very thin cast circels.
    I first coated with burn umber and then build it up with gold....and then it went wrong.

    Marc
    Mike Stevens likes this.
  10. Luis R. Active Member

    Country:
    Spain
    I have read that a light source (a flashlight will do) set very close (5-10 cms) to the figure and at a shallow angle helps to better seeing the sculpted lace, which allows for a better paint placement.
  11. Bob Orr Active Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Try painting the "gold" with a light acrylic, say yellow ochre. Let it dry then just float a thin layer of your gold metallic paint on top. Neaten up with base colour of trousers as previously noted above. I keep a seperate set of brushes for metallics and clean out my water pots and pallete after using them otherwise you end up with little flakes of metallic turning up everywhere! Bob
    Chris Oldfield likes this.
  12. megroot A Fixture

    Country:
    Netherlands
    thanks Luis en bob.

    Marc
  13. Ronaldo A Fixture

    You could try this Marc . Gold Ink " solvent based as you paint in oils " add burnt umber and chrome yellow for the base mix . highlight with Naples yellow .
    I use a fine gold powder with a little turps instead of gold ink , the above mixture is an Ipperti formula .
    As already mentioned ,if the braid or lace is in raised relief . Use the flat of a round brush and glide over : almost like dry brushing with a very light touch , pick out the extremes with the point .

    Tip : Naples yellow on its own is a nightmare! but a tiny bit added to a lot of colours will add life to them ( but maybe not Blue ):rolleyes:
  14. malc PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    In oils

    Blue its self is a pian sometimes along with some greens.
  15. theBaron A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Yes, I do the same thing. It's basically dry-brushing. For lace patterns like this, where there are small loops of lace framing a broader band of lace, it works well. Though it might be necessary to go back and put a drop of the background cloth color in the center of the loop, to adjust. I run into this with figures of hussar officers in the Imperial Germany army.

    Prost!
    Brad
    malc likes this.
  16. Ronaldo A Fixture


    It is strange ; some painters find blue difficult others green and of course there is the dreaded reds and whites and painting black horses the list is endless :rolleyes:
    I find the real deep blue of the French Marshalls and old Garde difficult to nail down along with the deep green of Lassalls jacket which everyone seems to show in a much lighter shade
    malc likes this.
  17. malc PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    I often find umbers help with blues and to an extent the greens.

    Not to much just a little so as not to change the colour.

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