TRY IT TUESDAY - April 7, 2020

When it comes to drawing or painting a scene or image sometimes starting is the most frustrating – you see what you want to draw/paint but when you try to put it to paper the relative sizing and perspectives get all goofed up.  Painter Grant Lounsbury offers a quick “cheat” that can help anyone show some success from the outset:

“So what I do sometimes when I want to get a certain size correct or a particular design – I photocopy a picture of what I want to paint, enlarging it to a size that will fit my paper or canvas.  Then I take soft charcoal and rub it all over the back of the photocopy.  Lay the photocopy onto your paper or canvas (face up) and trace the outlines of the scene/object with a pencil or pen, pressing hard enough to transfer the charcoal on the back of the photocopy onto what you’ll be working on. Then just paint like paint by numbers without the numbers. I think Rockwell and Vermeer did similar things.”

Grant is a fine artist from Canada, currently living in Geneva with his wife when he’s not teaching college classes in Nova Scotia.  With a background in animation, Grant has taught both children and adult classes for the Arts Center.  His “Painting from Drawings” class originally scheduled for this month will be rescheduled for later in the summer.  Watch the website, www.artscenteryatescounty.org for more information on that class – a very popular teacher, Grant’s classes fill up quickly!  See more of his work at https://glounsburyfineart.wixsite.com/grantlounsbury .

Did this tip work for you?  Send us a picture of what happens when you give it a try!