Once I have the base color of the design in place I find a coordinating, darker color to add shadows. I mix this color with the Golden glass bead medium and apply to the larger shadow areas. This adds shadow and texture all at the same time. In this painting, because the base color was orange I mixed red with a touch of the orange to create the deeper orange shadow color.
I let that dry for a few minutes so I'm able to go back over it without moving the glass beads around. Once it is stable I drybrush over the beaded area with the base coat. By just brushing the tips of the raised area with the orange, it gives another layer of dimension and depth. Because of the flash it might be hard to see the difference. But trust me, it makes a big difference. By brushing the orange over the reddish orange areas it blends the two together.
The next step is to go in with a lighter yellow in the highlight areas. This gives the piece a more dimensional, rounder feel to the branches.
And finally I go back in with a 3/0 round brush (very tiny) and lay in some white high highlights. This adds that extra pop to the piece.
After that I go back over the piece with a fine tooth comb looking for any areas that need a bit more highlight or shadow and finally sign the piece.
One thing to keep in mind, is that any frame will cover the outside edge of the piece by 1/4 of an inch. So don't sign your piece in the very corner. You want people to see the artist's name after it's framed. Don't be afraid to bring your sig up and in a bit to accommodate for that 1/4 of an inch.
So there you have it. My complete process for creating a painting. My drawings are very similar but with different materials. Maybe I'll document that process when I start working on drawings again. This is kind of fun. :-)Thanks for your interest. Have a happy day.
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