How To Paint An Angel

Its autumn and I’m in a sucker’s paradise. Warm days with fresh air and chilly nights. I’m definitely in my happy place right now. In a few days, I have to visit my sister and mother, it would be nice to spend time with them. I love and miss you both very much. But THIS WEEK, I was inspired to draw angels. (Thanks Pinterest, lol) I found an incredible artist named “Rut”… look him/her on Pinterest, I love the inspiration and message of the pictures (I would say SHE). So I’ve been practicing with my own technique and so far have done 2 angel paintings on reclaimed wood. The first one was the HUGE and was sold before the paint dried. Last week, I whipped another one on a smaller piece of horse-cut fence. I really have all the ability to take pictures every step of the way, so I thought I would write a blog post “How to Draw an Angel”. ~ Enjoy! As mentioned, the reclaimed wood I’m using for this project comes from a horse farm. It was painted white a long time ago, so the paint was peeling and peeling… I wanted to get rid of it as much as possible so I could stain the wood and paint acrylics on it. Let me tell you… this is NOT FUN. I first removed the old nails and barbed wire, then cut the wood into pieces about 2′ long. As for the paint removal… UGH! I thought it would be as simple as using my electric sander… but no, this paint is stubborn. Then sand as much as I can, I use a paint removal gel. AGAIN AGAIN! That thing is silly and gross! I’ve scraped and scraped, but the paint doesn’t seem to come off. OK, read the instructions on the bottle… what did I do wrong? I almost started crying. In the end, I decided to just wash off the remaining gel on the wood with dish soap and a brush. Lo and behold! HAVE WORKED !!! I was finally able to remove most of the paint… whatever was left, I just let it be. After 5 hours of mess, I ended it. After the wood dries in the sun, I dye them, even on top of the remaining paint, and they turn out great. The next day, I was ready to draw. Read: how to draw angelsWhite, pastel green and metallic turquoise are painted directly onto the board at random This is a stained piece of wood, with some chipped paint left over that I can’t get rid of. In this photo, I show my first step in “whitewashing” the background. Since my angel will be mostly white, I have mixed 2 different shades of blue so that the background will have some contrast. In the next photo you can see how I swept paint all over the board to create the background for my angel.Scrape the paint onto the board with a piece of plastic or cardboard with a straight edge Read more: how to install a ladder on a bass boat I kept scraping and mixing the paint until I was satisfied with the result. In the end, the paint was quite thick and because it was a bit chilly in the house, it took a long time to dry, so I used a paper towel to wipe off the excess paint. I love this technique of scraping mixed paint colors to create an interesting background.Using a straight yellow, I drew “angel light” Instead of a halo, I wanted this angel to have “angel light”, so before painting her I applied some bright yellow to create the “crown” where I will be painting her head.Paint the head and neck By using vermilion and white, I mixed “skin tones” for my angel head and neck. I’m painting with a small chisel brush that really helps to create precise shapes. If it helps you to be able to lightly sketch the shapes with a pencil first, I was brave and just got my hands free. You’ll note that I used a straight earthy shade to cast shadows on her neck just below her chin as well as the contour of her head. Straight white finish to highlight skin in places. This will add dimension to your shape… PLEASE DON’T Apologize IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THE SIZE! You can always edit and fix as you paint the hair, the outfit and the wings… you can totally see where I got the paint smeared. I just fixed it later!Angel Dress… Drawing the dress was fun, with the neckline and arms being the challenging part. Again, I used a small chisel brush to outline the arms in light blue and kept blending it with white until I was satisfied with the result. I don’t know if you can tell in the picture, but when I first drew the arms, I drew them too short… so I had to redraw and start over. (you can see the shading of the first set of arms) I also used my flesh color paint for her hands. This is just the first coat of paint for the dress, then more details will follow.Different shades of gray and white to create wingsRead more: How to make a Shulker Shell in Minecraft | Top questions and prizes are also fun to draw and SO EASY! Using a combination of long and short strokes, your wings look like feathers. This is also a basic outline, more details have been added later… you will see!Now my angel needs some hair! Okay, promise me you’ll have fun with this one! Create a beautiful hairstyle for your angel! Pinterest can give you lots of ideas! The image I used as a guide is an angel with red and copper hair, mine doesn’t come out exactly… but I still love it! Be sure to start with darker colors (I used a dark brown, almost black) for low light and gradually add bands of lighter colors. Since I’m not too crazy about angel shoulders, I went ahead and painted my hair on them… it was just my choice. I’m especially proud of how her part came out… chisel brush! LOVE THEM! Lots of control! Drawing curls in her hair is fun and I love how each color continues to adorn the hair.Add color! Let your imagination free! Okay, everyone, now that all the “technical” paintings are out of the way… it’s time for you to have REAL FUN! I just love adding random colors to a picture like this. Yes, yes, angels are white…YAWN! We need some COLORS people! Starting with red, I added streaks around her bodice and underneath her skirt, then used different brushes to dot the red on top of her head. Next paint in royal blue, light blue, pink, purple and glitter. (Every angel needs sparkle!) And yes, I painted the dress and wings a little, but no big deal… you can always go back to these in white and gray, you just increasing in direction. You’ll note how I added more yellow and white “beams” to her glowing “crown” and the longer feathers on the tips of her wings. At this point, all you do is add a cherry to the cake. It would be nice to continue, but I’m running into a bit of deadline… so I stopped at this point and added a glossy sealant. If you try this paint project at home, please send me a photo, I would love to see how it goes! Read more: How to Bow – Success in 5 steps!