Painting Lesson 3- Transparency

Bringing the information from Art and Color theory to life. The shimmer and metallic transparency of the dragonfly wings are easy to illustrate using the pearlescent white.

Creating an Impressionistic Background

The background for the dragonfly is vibrant and dynamic as it is juxtaposing cool and warm colors. This is very similar to how we worked in lesson 1 doing the leaves and the vines,

Making the Outline

I made myself a stencil to trace around- if you want to use the stencil it is under section 3:2.If you prefer to freehand the dragonfly, you should totally do so! I looked at several websites to get reference materials for this dragonfly. The free picture library, PixaBay.com has some good ones. However, when searching for dragonflies, I found that their resources do not distinguish between damselflies and dragonflies. The characteristics of a dragonfly is that its wings are always straight out from its body, and a damselfly, when resting, folds its wings in close to its body. Dragonflies’ bodies are also sturdier than the damselfly.

Bringing it all together.

Starting out by making highlights on the wings and grouping them for shimmering, adding a transparent layer using pearlescent white, adding more contrast to the lattice of the wings, and finally changing the color of the dragonfly’s body. The reference materials used are included at the very end.

Instagram Prompt

Take pictures of your painting as it progresses and post on Instagram using  #Progress and #paintingonheartsideofbrain.