Painting A Darling Sun Catcher In Acrylic & Ink On A Crackle Medium Base

There was a time when it was high fashion to use crackle medium on just about everything. Today, there is still room for it, but we use it much more sparingly. I show you how to use crackle medium in today's blog, using the cracked surface as a backdrop for yet another painting. I choose my colours carefully to reflect the warmth of the sun. Then I use acrylics and ink to paint a darling little girl who has caught the sun. This painting attempts to capture the delight of a child's warm embraces and unconditional love, that enters your life like the warmth of the sun.

I painted a masonite board with two coats of Dala Acrylic Gesso to prepare the surface to accept paint. You can read more about using gesso in another blog I've written by clicking here. The board measures 47 x 50,5 cm, making it almost a perfect square.

Once the gesso has dried, I painted the whole board with a bright red acrylic coating.

I waited for the red acrylic paint to dry before painting the whole board with the crackle medium. I would give this enough time to dry completely before carrying on with the project.

Here is a close-up view of the crackle medium I used.

As it was already late in the afternoon when I put the crackle medium on, I only returned to the project the next morning. I quickly painted a layer of yellow acrylic paint over the whole board before breakfast.

By the time I returned to the studio, which was roughly an hour later, the paint was dry and these lovely cracks had appeared all over. Where the yellow paint was applied thickly, the cracks were more prominent as you can see in the center of the board. The paint thinned out towards the edges and here the cracks are finer. Bear that in mind when you use the medium on your own projects.

I used a thick chisel point Posca Marker to draw my sun catcher on the board. My brother walked in at this stage and adamantly stated that the picture was done and needed no more paint. I had different ideas.

I started by painting the outline of the sun bright red.

Towards the middle I used an intense yellow.

The center was painted white.

The grass, the stems of the flowers and the leaves were painted in two shades of green.

The remainder of the picture was painted white as I did not want the background colours to interfere with the foreground colours.

I painted the flesh parts of the figure, the hair, the dress and the first lines of the pants and pocket. I also painted the centers of the flowers.

I then painted the pattern of the dress white and painted the petals of the flowers in three different colours.

I painted the ruffles on the neckline and the pocket, the pattern on the dress, the remaining stripes on the pants and pockets and then added highlights and shadows to the hair.

I used the same liner to redefine the original lines once the paint was dry.

Lastly, I added white highlights all over the painting. Don't you think the crackle technique makes for a beautiful backdrop of a sun-filled sky? I think it worked perfectly!

Painting this inspired me to write a poem about the ideas and emotions it evoked in me. I call it Sun Catcher.

The sun cracked up the sky
with laughter spilling red from its wide open mouth
Birds echoed its giggle
and swooped through its warm embrace

Somewhere a child was born
and its gurgles filled the hearts of the new parents with the same warmth
that the sun lavishly spilled onto the earth
The child lassoed the sun, roping it into their lives with warm fingers

Summer was never as warm as when the child came into their lives
Winter was never so absent
The child gave and gave and gave of its love
and the sun shone down on all who did, or did not, deserve it.

Contact Marietjie Uys if you are interested in purchasing this painting at uys.marietjie@gmail.com for R1420. Free delivery in Gauteng. Sun Catcher is acrylic and ink on board, measuring 47 x 50,5 cm, unframed. Artist: Miekie.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.

Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
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