Acrylic decorative painting over linseed oil
Acrylic craft paint flows across a linseed oiled surface as if they were oil paints themselves. This allows easy blending, thin semi-transparent coloration, and a china-painting style of decoration.
Supplies:
1 1/4″ x 1 1/4′ x 3″ basswood block
bench knife
v-gouge
large round gouge
linseed oil
turpentine
disposable mixing pan
soft clean cloth
Acrylic craft paints:
King’s gold – golden yellow
Summer Sunset – pale burnt orange
Cardinal Crimson – red
Alizarin Crimson – maroon
Caterpillar – pale green
Wedgwood green – medium green
Sky blue – pale blue
Nutmeg brown – medium dark brown
titanium white
carbon black
1/2″ flat shader
#2 China Doll liner
Step 1: Carve your Whittle Fish body using the bench knife. Trace a small floral pattern on each side of the fish, tucking the flower into the gill area, using graphite paper. With your bench knife, v-gouge, and large round gouge create a simple rounded-over edged relief carving.
Step 2: Pretreat the carving by mixing 1 part linseed oil with 1 part turpentine in a disposable mixing pan. With a large brush, flood one coat of this mix over the entire fish body. Let the oil mix set for about 10 minutes then wipe any excess off using a dry, clean cloth. Repeat one time.
Step 3: Begin your painting steps as soon as you have finished the second oil wiping. On a palette place a small puddle of your yellow, orange, red, maroon, pale green, and medium green.
Step 4: Dampen your large shader in water, then blot any excess water from the bristles on a paper towel. Lightly load your brush with the golden yellow. Paint two light coats of yellow to the petals of the flowers. Your first coat will be thin and semi-transparent, the second coat will give it more solidity but you will still be able to see the grain lines of the wood.
Step 5: Load your brush with pale burnt orange, blot it once on a paper towel so that you are carrying a very small amount of paint. Apply the burnt orange to the low side of each petal to create a shadow. Brush over this a couple of times to blend the orange into the yellow areas. Repeat this step with the Cardinal red to deepen the shadow tones where one petal touches another.
Move on to the leaves using first the pale green then shading the leaves in the Wedgwood green where they touch the flower and along the center leaf vein.
Maroon is used to fill the flower centers. With your brush handle add small dots of maroon along the outer edge of the flower center and pull a few fold lines into each petal with a China Doll liner.
Step 6: I have used the large, 1/2″, shader to add a little sky blue coloring in the face area of the fish. This blue stops at the bottom edge of the gills but flows back into the flower area at the top of the head. A second coating along the outer edges of the gills deeps the blue.
Step 7: Mix a drop of nutmeg brown with the sky blue to make a muddy blue tone. Re-shade the facial area. Using my brush tip to create a ragged dot add small spots of nutmeg brown and carbon black to the lower sides of the gill. Paint the eye with carbon black and add a small outer ring of white with a soda straw. Fine white brush handles dots have been worked over the flower center, and a few China Doll fine lines added to the petals. To finish this painting I added small muddy blue leaves in the body background around the carved design.
Step 8: Let your fish dry overnight. You can leave him as he is as you don’t need to seal the wood because of the pre-treatment with the linseed oil mix. You can apply a new coating of the linseed oil mix, wipe after 10 minutes then allow to dry overnight, buff well the next morning. This technique can also be finished with two light coats of spray sealer.
Step 9: Cut, file, and insert your copper fins, he is ready to display.
- Wood Carving and Burning Painting Supplies
- Paint Kit Supplies
- Steps to Success
- General Techniques used in Wood Carving Painting
- Burnishing your Wood Carving
- Simple Blending with Acrylic Craft Paints
- Acrylics over a Primer
- Simple Dry Brushing
- Dry Brushed Acrylics over Oil Based Stains
- Marbling and Splatter Painting
- China Painting with Acrylics
- Vintage Painting with Acrylics
Fishing Lures Wood Carving Pattern Package by Lora S Irish is available at Art Designs Studio. Fishing Lures Pattern Package 38 fishing lures, fishing flies and bobbers are featured in this pattern package. This pack contains 2 large 3 piece designs, 5 lure and bobber string designs, and 5 full pages of fishing decoy lures. Great for Pyrography!
