Spheres Tutorial

I've had a few requests to share how I did my "Spheres of Influence" painting. I'm certainly not the best at doing tutorials, but I'll do my best, and try to follow up if you have any questions. It really is pretty simple. If you have a little time and know how to use a pencil, you can do this. 

 So I have some opinions about materials, which I will share with you. I like to use acrylic paint, not the cheap craft store kind, but the tubes that you find in the artist section. They're thicker, more vibrant, and are closer to an oil paint look. They're a little more of an investment, but worth it if you think you'll use them. Plus, you don't have to use very much at all, so they last a while.

 I also have pretty strong opinions about the "canvas." I really don't like traditional canvases, because of the texture. I buy these primed wooden cradle boards at Michaels, although just a smooth piece of plywood would work just as well. These are nice because they work with or without a frame.

 Now with the brushes (again, in my opinion), you can go cheap. The two at the bottom that you see are more expensive ones that I've kept around for a while, and it's just really hard to keep them clean. Acrylic paint dries fast! You just want a good variety to work with, from small rounded tips for detail work to broader brushes for the background.

 I like to have Acrylic Gesso on hand, which is really just white paint. It's a little cheaper, and something that I use a lot. For this painting, you'll want to get "Matte Medium" too. It's a paint thinner, and is really useful for blending and layering.

 So, to get started, you just kind of go crazy, blending paint and getting used to it. You don't want the background to be one solid color, so just play around. Neutrals work best for the background- grays, browns, and muted colors. These cute models are our sister missionaries. They came over for their preparation day to paint with me, and we had a blast.

 Once you're satisfied with the background, use some of your Matte Medium and a little white Gesso (or a little brown paint) to glaze over the background. You can add more colors and more glazes as many times as you want. The more layers, the more depth it will appear to have.

Once you've got your background finished, break out the ruler, and start marking each inch with a soft pencil along the edges. Draw a grid, keeping it as exact as you can. 

Here's a piece of paper, showing the grid and first set of circles. The boards we were using were 8 inches square, so we ended up with 4 two-inch diameter circles down and across. I'm using a compass here to show where to start drawing the overlapping circles- at the intersection between the four circles. 

You can also trace a circle instead of using a compass, which might be a little easier. The overlapping circles are what make the almond shapes.

 Once you've got it all drawn out, you're ready to start mixing colors again and painting in the shapes you want.

Now you can start filling in the almond shapes with a small tipped brush. If you go outside the lines, it's not the end of the world. Just keep a paper towel on hand to wipe up any mistakes. Using dark colors, light colors and brights works best here.

I also paint the negative space around some of the blank shapes to add a little more depth. For these areas, I use the Matte Medium to thin the color a bit and blend it so it looks like part of the background.

When you're satisfied with how it looks, use your Matte Medium again to cover the whole painting. Adding a little brown to the finishing glaze will give it more of an aged look, kind of like this. 

I happen to really like this project because you can just have fun with it. If any of you do end up trying this, I'd love to see what you do!