Acrylic Painting Demonstration by Sandrine Pelissier

Acrylic artist Sandrine Pelissier shares a step-by-step for Acrylic Artist and artistsnetwork.com readers. Pelissier’s work spans a variety of genres and media, from watercolor portraits to acrylic and ink florals. When describing her work she says, “I find pleasure in exploring the in-between space where reality meets fantasy. My painting process will often consist of trying to make a figurative scene emerge from the randomness of an abstract background.”

The winter 2015 issue of Acrylic Artist features 11 additional paintings by Pelissier as well as a Step-by-Step demonstration. Get the issue at NorthLightShop.com and read the feature-length article and see more of her work that finds form in chaos.

Acrylic painting demonstration by Sandrine Pelissier

I asked my daughters to pose for me in the studio on an armchair because I wanted to make two similar paintings that would mix graphite and paint and would include lots of bright patterning. Juxtaposing areas of drawing and painting is something that I do often in my paintings. I like the contrast and energy it brings to the images. Before I began to paint, I worked on a few sketches with colored pencils to see how the idea could apply to both paintings. Each painting has some parts that are drawn and some parts that are painted. I tried on different patterns and different color schemes on those sketches.

Supplies: • HB, 4B and 6B pencils • Paper tortillions and cheese cloth • Krylon workable fixative • Opus Essential Fluid Acrylic Colours • Liquitex Soluvar varnish • Masquepen (masking fluid pen)

For the drawing part of the portrait I used and HB pencil to draw a light outline.

I used 4B and 6B pencils for the darker areas, blending the graphite on the canvas with paper tortillions. I also used cheesecloth to blend the graphite on some lighter areas of the skin.

To avoid any smudging, the graphite was fixed with Krylon workable fixative before I continued to the painting stage.

I mixed about six colors from my fluid acrylics and this will be my palette for the entire painting.

For the first pattern on the sweater, I start by outlining all the elements of the design with graphite.

I preserved some of the white on the canvas by using a masking fluid pen– this allows me to draw fine contouring lines easily with the masking fluid.

I paint the various areas of the pattern with fluid acrylic. Some contours around the stems and the circles are drawn with a dipping pen and fluid acrylic.

The last step for this pattern is to remove the masking fluid.

When I am not sure if a pattern will work or not, I make small samples on paper and tape them on the canvas, so I can see how they would look on the painting.

A dipping pen can work with fluid acrylic and is a very convenient and inexpensive way to add color design to your painting. Depending on the consistency, some fluid acrylics need to be mixed with water so they are liquid enough to work with the dipping pen. Here I am adding a lot of tiny circles on the pant’s pattern.

The armchair will also be covered in patterns. I start by painting a diluted layer of purple fluid acrylic.

I then work on a pattern of intricate leaves that I am drawing with the dipping pen and a bright pink mix of fluid acrylic and water. I try to have the patterns follow the shapes of the objects they are painted on to create the illusion of fabric covering a shape. I shade some areas on top of the painted patterns with graphite to add to the 3D feel.

I keep working on the various patterns of the painting altering layers of solid colors and drawn lines with dipping pen and fluid acrylic. For this pattern, I had to draw a grid with a ruler and graphite before drawing the flowers and circles. I am not trying to be precisely consistent and if you take a close look there is quite a bit of variation between each element of the patterns, but because they are painted on such a big surface, the overall effect is very symmetric.

When everything had time to dry, I varnish the painting with Liquitex Soluvar varnish, laying the painting horizontally on a table.

Acrylic painting demonstration by Sandrine Pelissier ‘Slice of Life I Louise’

Like what you're reading? signup for our newsletter.