EX

CLUSIVE

SIGNS OF SPRINGby Donna Hodson

2 | artistsclub.com

PALETTEDecoArt Americana AcrylicsBurgundy Wine #13022Burnt Umber #13064Cadmium Yellow #13010Camel #13191Graphite #13161Hauser Light Green #13131Hauser Medium Green #13132Heritage Brick #13219Lamp Black #13067Olive Green #13056Plantation Pine #13113Prussian Blue #13138Raw Sienna #13093Sapphire #13099Warm White #13239Winter Blue #13190Zinc #13539

SURFACELarge Tissue Box w/ Drawer #63203

MISC. SUPPLIESWhite Graphite Paper #70139Gray Graphite Paper #70141Metal Palette Knife #70194Pro Art Tracing Roll #83175 Stylus #70125Brush Basin #70174Royal Palette Paper #70560Multi Purpose Sealer #87392JoSonja Poly Matte Varnish #84104Basic painting supplies220 fi ne sandpaper3M – P320 fl exible sandpaper (home improvement store)

BRUSHESPapillon by the Artist’s ClubGlaze Wash size 1 inch #20103Shader size 4 #20126Shader size 8 #20129Angular Shader size 1/2 inch #20111Script Liner size 6/0 #20138Script Liner size 18/0 #20136

PREPARATION1. If needed, fi ll holes and then sand with the 220 sandpaper. Remove dust.

2. Mix Winter Blue + Multi Purpose Sealer about 1-1 and paint the entire box other than a few inside areas. I painted all of the drawer and the bottom section under the drawer. Dry. When dry sand lightly with the 3M-320 fl exible sandpaper to smooth and tack to remove residue.

3. Paint all areas again with Winter Blue without sealer.

4. When the paint has cured, brush one coat of var-nish over the sections of the drawer and the inside edges that will touch the painted parts of the box. This will prevent the drawer from sticking while you paint the design.

5. Make a tracing of the dogwood blossoms, the basic shape of the bird, and the branches. Leave off the lines on the blossoms, the centers, and the tail feath-ers. Transfer the tracing to the surface lightly with grey graphite. It helps to cut the pattern sections so that it will fi t fl at inside the spaces.

BasecoatRefer to the step by step illustrations for assistance• Dogwood petals: 2–3 coats of Warm White.• Leaves: Two coats of Hauser Medium Green.• Bluebird: I waited to base coat the bluebird until

after the dogwood was painted. Refer to step one on the step by step for assistance.

• Head, back, wings, & tail: One coat of Sapphire following the directions of the feathers.

• Breast & throat: Brush Warm White on the lower part of the breast. While wet add Raw Sienna and over stroke into the edge of the white. Continue to place a light coat of Raw Sienna at the throat area.

• Beak: Zinc. The feet will be added later.• Branches: Use the chisel edge of the size 4 shader

to paint a heavier wash of a mix of Burnt Umber + Graphite about 2-1.

Signs Of Springby Donna Hodson

*discontinued

artistsclub.com | 3

4 | artistsclub.com

artistsclub.com | 5

Branches1. Use a small amount of the base coat mix on the tip of your angle and shade the under sides of the branches and in the “V” shapes in a choppy manner. Shade under the Bluebird too.

2. Mix some Warm White with the above mix to create a medium light value and highlight along the top of the branches in a choppy manner.

Leaves1. Float Plantation Pine at the base of the leaves repeat-ing if needed. I pulled just a bit of this to separate the center veins on the “half leaves”.Refer to the step by steps

2. Float Hauser Light Green on the tips of the leaves and walk inward a little to highlight. Repeat if needed.

3. Thin Plantation Pine and load the 18/0 script liner to paint the veins on the leaves.

4. Add a few Olive Green Highlights to a few of the leaves in the area near the bird or those that come up-ward or forward in the design. Refer to the photo

Dogwood

PETALS1. Mix Camel + Hauser Light Green about 3-1 and fl oat on the petals at the centers and to separate one that falls in front of another. Keep these fl oats light.

2. Deepen around the centers a bit with Raw Sienna + Hauser Light Green about 1-1. Don’t carry out very far. Mix Warm White into the mix of Camel + Hauser Light Green in step one about 3-1. Thin this and using the

18/0 liner, paint the lines on the petals. Keep these thin and light. They begin at the bud end and curve with contour or the petals. Don’t carry these all the way to the centers.

3. Using the angle brush, fl oat Warm White over the top parts of the petals to tone the lines down a bit.

Wash a bit of Olive Green in the centers to brighten some.

CENTERS Refer to illustrations 5 & 6a. Smush some Plantation Pine in the center areas.

b. Using a liner, place clusters of dots over the centers with Plantation Pine. These aren’t perfect dots.

c. Place some Hauser Light Green dots over the Planta-tion Pine but don’t cover all of the Plantation Pine.

d. Place some Olive Green dots over the centers but leave the other values showing.

e. Add Cadmium Yellow dots to the centers to highlight.

Note: The centers on those that are tucked behind the bluebird or under another blossom don’t get the Olive green or Cadmium Yellow highlight dots.

BUD ENDS AND PINK ACCENTS Illustration 6a. Mix Heritage Brick + Burnt Umber about 2-1. Use just the tip of your angle with a scant amount of paint to fl oat the bud ends. This is a tiny fl oat holding the brush from the inside of the blossom.

b. Create a light wash of Burgundy Wine and fl oat on the outer edges of the petals. Go light and repeat if you want a darker accent.

6 | artistsclub.com

artistsclub.com | 7

Blue Bird Refer to the step by step illustrations

STEP 1: See page 6 illustration for basecoat

STEP 2:a. Blue part: To shade, fl oat Prussian next to the beak, inside the eye socket area, behind the neck and upper back, the tail at the top where it falls under the wing.

b. Breast & throat: Along the top of the throat area, fl oat a mix of Heritage Brick + Burnt Umber about 1-1 along the top and walk down a bit to under the top part of the wing.

Float Zinc along the bottom of the breast and under the lower part of the wing next to the tail.

STEP 3: Using white graphite, transfer the eye, wing, and tail sections.a. Re-shade all the same areas again as needed with Prussian Blue. Float a scant wash of Prussian Blue over the top section of the throat.

b. Deepen the Zinc under the wing and along the lower breast.

c. Eye: Paint the eye with Lamp Black.

d. Shade lightly to separate the wing feather sections and the tail.

e. Shade the beak with a little black on the under part. Float next to the head and add a dot for his nostril.

f. Use a liner to paint the feet over the branch with Zinc.

8 | artistsclub.com

STEP 4:a. Use a liner with Zinc to paint a circle around the sides and lower eye. Place a white shine mark in the up-per left portion of the eye. Shade again next to the Zinc line with a little more Prussian Blue if needed.

b. Mix Zinc + Warm White and highlight the beak with a liner to separate the upper beak and place a little around the nostril. This isn’t a really bright highlight.

c. Float Sapphire on the top of his head, cheek area and the upper wing. If you have spaces where the background shows through you can paint over the wing sections and tail also.

d. Use the 18/0 liner with thinned Prussian Blue to separate the wing feathers and the tail if needed. These aren’t really detailed or precise.

e. Shade the right side of the feet with Graphite.

STEP 5: Adding feathering. Use either the 18/0 or the 6/0 liner with thinned paint. You will add feathering to the breast, head, etc. These feathers are short overlap-ping strokes. Be careful not to have them appear to be in rows.a. Over the lower part under the wing, mix thinned Warm White + Zinc and add short overlapping lines in the direction the feathers grow. Have these come off the edge a little to create a fuzzy appearance. The value is just a bit lighter than the fl oated area.

b. Using Warm White, add strokes over the breast area and carry them into the light grey area and up into the Raw Sienna area.

c. Using Raw Sienna + Warm White, continue to add

artistsclub.com | 9

feather strokes switching to just straight Raw Sienna when you get to the throat area.

d. Using a mix of Heritage Brick + Raw Sienna about 1-2, paint strokes at the top of the throat. Pull a few really short ones under the beak.

e. Blue areas: Mix Sapphire + just a little Warm White and paint feathers over the top of the head and cheek area. Adjust all of the value so that they are just a little lighter than the area you are working on. In the shaded areas use Sapphire or Sapphire + Prus-sian Blue. Shade under the feather sections on the wing again with a little Prussian Blue if needed.

STEP 6:a. Pull some feathery strokes over the top front of the wing with Raw Sienna + Warm White.

b. Add more feathering on the breast and throat.

c. Float Warm White over the breast area to soften the feathers. Use a fl oated wash of Raw Sienna + Warm White and Raw Sienna over the upper breast and throat area to soften.

d. Add some short lighter feather strokes under the beak.

e. Use Sapphire + a little Warm White to highlight a few of the wing feathers.

f. Add the dark accents to the wing feathers and separate some more with Lamp Black + Prussian Blue. Add these accents to the tail also.

g. Highlight the tops of the feet with Zinc + Warm White.

FINISHINGa. Add additional fl oats of Warm White over the breast if needed. Add any other shading or high-lighting as needed.

b. Check the dogwood blossoms to see if you want more Burgundy Wine accents.

c. Erase any graphite lines that may be showing and clean up around any rough edges on the dogwood blossoms or leaves with fl oats of Winter Blue.

d. Mix Winter Blue + Sapphire about 1-1 and paint the edges of the box and the feet. Mix enough to give this two coats.

e. Allow the paint to cure a few days and varnish as you desire. Be sure the varnish is well cured before leaving the drawer in the box.

I hope you have enjoyed painting this design. Contact me with

questions or comments at dhodpaints@gmail.com

10 | artistsclub.com

artistsclub.com | 11

Pattern at 100%1" x 1"

To ensure yourpattern is at 100%,

this box should measure 1" x 1" when printed.

12 | artistsclub.com

artistsclub.com | 13

Pattern at 100%1" x 1"

To ensure yourpattern is at 100%,

this box should measure 1" x 1" when printed.

14 | artistsclub.com

artistsclub.com | 15

Pattern at 100%1" x 1"

To ensure yourpattern is at 100%,

this box should measure 1" x 1" when printed.

Copyright 2019 by Donna Hodson and Crafts Group, LLC.All Rights Reserved. #332468

No. *A332468*© Artist’s Club®. All rights reserved. For private, non-commercial use only.

Please see our web site for terms of use.