Covered Bridgeby Barb Halvorson

Covered BridgeBy Barb Halvorson

Palette: DecoArt Americana AcrylicsBaby Blue #13042 Black Forest #13083Brilliant Red #13145 Driftwood #13171Heritage Brick #13219 Lamp Black #13067Slate Grey #13068 Soft Black #13155Traditional Burnt Umber #13221 Warm White #13239Wedgewood Blue #13038 Yellow Ochre #13008

Surface: Framed Board #62851

Misc. Supplies:DecoArt Multi-Purpose Sealer #87392DecoArt DuraClear Varnish – Matte #87395DecoArt Drying Time Extender #83131Tracing Paper Roll #83175Large Sanding Pad, Fine/Medium #70796Foam Brush, 1” – set of 4 #70171Tack Cloth #70104Palette Paper Pad #70560Gray Graphite Paper #70141JoSonja White Gesso #83101Paper Towels

Brushes: Papillon by the Artist’s ClubGlaze Wash, size ¾” #20102Shader, size 0 #20123; size 2 #20125; size 4 #20126; size 6 #20127; size 12 #20131; size 20 #20134Liner, size 0 #20146Loew-Cornell BrushesAngular Bristle, size ½” #27198Use the brushes that are suitable for the area in which you are painting.

Preparation: Sand and seal the wood piece with DecoArt MultiPurpose Sealer. Wipe away the dust with the Tack Cloth. Basecoat the front of the piece with two coats of Gesso. Sand lightly between coats. Dust again with the tack cloth. Basecoat the entire front of the wood piece with Baby Blue. If needed, paint a second coat. Transfer the pattern on carefully (especially the bridge and foundations) with graphite paper.

MEDIUM: Previously I painted with all oil paints and now I have been painting some projects with acrylics. I have had a hard time trying to keep my acrylic paints wet. I am learning to put a drop of DecoArt Drying Time Extender in each paint puddle before I start. 1

Painting Instructions:CLOUDS: Base the cloud formation in with a heavi-er application of Warm White paint using the side of a #20 Shader brush. While the paint is still wet, add a touch of Heritage Brick + Warm White. This gives a pinkish cast to the sky. Remember, the Baby Blue paint serves as a base foundation for the entire surface. Add a touch of Yellow Ochre + Warm White here and there just to warm the white up a bit.

BACKGROUD AND FORWARD PINE TREES: Study the worksheet carefully. Mix Wedgewood Blue + Warm White + a tiny touch of Traditional Burnt Um-ber for the background pine trees. Take a new #6 Shader with a good chisel edge, and starting from the top to bottom begin shaping the tree branches vertically. Keep them very thin at the top, wider at the bottom. I tell my students to keep them as thin as a toothpick, and it usually works. Using a liner put a point on the top of the tree. It is very easy to get pine trees very fat and then thin at the bottom. Then “Timber” they would of course fall down. Remember the background pine trees need to be lighter and faded out a bit, this will create depth to the painting when you start growing the large darker ones.

FORWARD PINE TREES: Do the same method for the darker pine trees with Black Forest + Lamp Black + Wedgewood Blue. For the highlight on the tree branches add shades of green by adding Warm White to Black Forest or if you prefer a blue cast, add Wedgewood Blue to the Warm White. Notice the highlights are mainly on the left side. Always add some to the center and over to the right side of the tree. This avoids making a sharp division line to the center of the tree or it will look as if you have divided it in half.

BACKGROUND BUSHES: Using the ½” Angular Bris-tle Brush, pick up a fair amount of paint and squish the paint evenly on the palette paper. Use the same blue used for the background pine trees. Pounce lightly to form the background bushes.

TREE LIMBS: Using the Blue Mix or Warm White make as many trees limbs as you want. Use a size 0 Liner and thin the paint to writing consistency us-ing water or Drying Time Extender.

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COVERED BRIDGE (Inside): The color of the inside boards are marked carefully for you on the worksheet. If you follow it you should not have a problem. Use small to medium sized Shader brushes to base the covered bridges in, small liners for detail. First, do the inside walls. Make sure you leave a space for the windows on the left hand side of the bridge unpainted. You should see whatever is outside the bridge through the windows. The wall foundation is Soft Black highlighted with a touch of Warm White. You see this on the left hand side and then it starts to fade until the inside wall is al-most black. Make the slight thin slanted boards showing through the window the same color. The boards holding up the mill are Traditional Burnt Umber highlighted with a touch of Warm White. Use the fl at side of the brush.

ROCK FOUNDATION: The rock foundation on the inside of the bridge is based in with Slate Grey. Rocks are added with a fl at brush with Soft Black. The rock foundation on the outside is based in with Traditional Burnt Umber, high-lighted with Warm White, and then I lined ran-domly with Traditional Burnt Umber with a liner brush. I made the rocks with the side of the fl at brush but make sure you soften them in.

COVERED BRIDGE (Right Outside): Paint the right side of the bridge with Heritage Brick with a size 6 Shader brush. Make the suggestion of board lines with thinned down paint with Tradi-tional Burnt Umber + Lamp Black for the darker boards and Warm White + a touch of Heritage Brick for the lighter ones. Cover the inside windows this time with Lamp Black + Traditional Burnt Umber. Paint the little fence with Slate Grey, highlighted with Warm White. This is also shown on the worksheet. Paint the little red sug-gestion on the other side of the bridge with Heri-tage Brick. Basecoat the wreath on with Black Forest Green. Highlight with Warm White. Put the bow on with Heritage Brick, highlight with Brilliant Red. Use size 0 Liner brush.

COVERED BRIDGE (Left Outside): Paint the highlighted lighter side with Heritage Brick + Warm White and the board lines with Heritage Brick. Paint the overhang with Lamp Black.

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ICICLES ON ROOF AND ROCK FOUNDATIONS: Block the roof in with Warm White; use a size 20 Shader brush. While the roof is still wet add tree shadows with the same color as the pine tree above it. Watch the slant. Pull down a few icicles with the liner brush using Warm White. Make sure you pull the icicles straight down and that they are not all the same length and that you do not slant them. Make the icicles the same way on the rock foundations.

SNOW BEHIND THE TREE: Lay the snow in be-hind the tree with Warm White. Use the largest fl at brush you can handle. Watch slant direc-tion. Use the base color as the shadow for the snow but if you covered too much up with the Warm White just go back and add Baby Blue. Add the pinkish tone closest to the bridge with Warm White + a touch of Heritage Brick.

LARGE TREE (Right Side): Base in the tree trunk and main limbs using Traditional Burnt Umber + Lamp Black. Use a larger fl at brush. On the left side of the tree add a highlight with Baby Blue then add a touch toward the right side. Next, add snow by chopping in Warm White. There is a good example on the worksheet.

BUSHES BY THE TREE: With the same ½” Angu-lar Bristle brush used for the background foliage by the pine trees tap on bushes fi rst with Heri-tage Brick, then add a tiny highlight with a touch of Yellow Ochre + Heritage Brick. WATER: With downward strokes using a size 6 Shader brush start putting in the water using Wedgewood Blue + Lamp Black. Add a touch of Heritage Brick underneath the bridge. With a large brush gently stroke the water back and forth. Add water lines with a fl at brush with a good chisel edge with the Warm White on the bottom of the brush. Make sure the lines are not too large or in a row.

REST OF THE SNOW: Take a size 20 Shader brush vertically and put in the rest of the snow. This is very easy. Just watch the slant of the ground. Make sure you add a slight slant by the fence posts. While the snow is still wet, add shadows of Baby Blue here and there. Shadows of the snow should be near the fence posts, the

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rocks, and coming out of the covered bridge. Add tiny little bushes by the fence posts just like you did next to the tree.

FENCE POSTS: With a smaller fl at put in fence posts with a brush mix of Driftwood + Tradi-tional Burnt Umber. With a liner brush, thin the paint to writing consistency and line the wires.

ROCKS: Base the rocks in with Soft Black or Tra-ditional Burnt Umber. Highlight with a lighter shade by adding Warm White to the basecoat. Add another highlight if desired by adding Baby Blue and then put snow on top with Warm White. It is important to not make the rocks look like chocolate-covered cherries.

BUNNY: At the very end I decided to put a bunny next to my name. He is just Traditional Burnt Umber + Warm White, touched here and there with Baby Blue, a tiny little eye, nose and tail. The biggest challenge is not to make the bunny very detailed and to keep him soft or you will have to make this bunny perfect. I added a few bunny steps and signed my name.

Finishing:Finish with DecoArt DuraClear Varnish – Matte.

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Pattern at 100%

1” x 1”

To ensure your pattern is at 100%, this box should measure 1” x 1” when printed.

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Copyright 2015 by Barb Halvorson and Crafts Americana Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. #331954

No. *A331954*© Artist’s Club ®. All rights reserved. For private, non-commercial use only. Please see our web site for terms of use.