Phil & Vicki Bishop Painting Techniques
1. Wash the carving with 2 to 3 drops of soap in a cup of water with a denture brush or an equivalent. Scrub briskly and rinse off being careful not to soak the carving. Let dry over night if possible. It can be painted wet, also. Carve off any dirty marks the soap left. Clean up any “fuzzies”.
2. We use Delta Ceramcoat mostly and sometimes DecoArt Americana paints in mostly earthtones. Start with the skin-2 drops of Medium Flesh and 1 drop of Caucasian Flesh in one teaspoon of water. Reverse this mixture for darker skinned people. The highlight color for skin is Tomato Spice. Use about 1/2 teaspoon water and just touch your brush in the lid of the paint and mix this color until you have a very subtle blush. This is not a tried and true formula so play with it. Use this highlight color to give the face color and to shadow the wrinkles in the skin, the nose, cheeks, tops of ears, between the fingers, knuckles, and any skin exposed by a hole in the clothing. When finished with this step, darken the Tomato Spice color and paint the lips and the lower lid and eyebag.
3. The following is a list of standard mixtures we use for clothing, hair, hats, leather, guns, belt buckles, etc. (these are mixed in the standard 1 teaspoon water. We use the bubble trays):
--Faded denim-4 drops Bonnie Blue
--Chamois leather-3 drops Pigskin
--Dark leather-2 to 3 drops Burnt Sienna
--Hats-1 to 2 drops Black Green or 2 drops Brown Iron Oxide
--Hair-1 drop Black, 2 drops Brown Iron Oxide, 3 drops Pigskin, 2 drops Burnt Orange
--Santa beards (or anything white)-Mix mostly White to very little water. If White is to
thin it will look dirty when the finish is applied
--Guns-Metallic Pewter-straight out of the bottle
--Belt buckles-Bronze or Silver-straight out of the bottle
2. We use Delta Ceramcoat mostly and sometimes DecoArt Americana paints in mostly earthtones. Start with the skin-2 drops of Medium Flesh and 1 drop of Caucasian Flesh in one teaspoon of water. Reverse this mixture for darker skinned people. The highlight color for skin is Tomato Spice. Use about 1/2 teaspoon water and just touch your brush in the lid of the paint and mix this color until you have a very subtle blush. This is not a tried and true formula so play with it. Use this highlight color to give the face color and to shadow the wrinkles in the skin, the nose, cheeks, tops of ears, between the fingers, knuckles, and any skin exposed by a hole in the clothing. When finished with this step, darken the Tomato Spice color and paint the lips and the lower lid and eyebag.
3. The following is a list of standard mixtures we use for clothing, hair, hats, leather, guns, belt buckles, etc. (these are mixed in the standard 1 teaspoon water. We use the bubble trays):
--Faded denim-4 drops Bonnie Blue
--Chamois leather-3 drops Pigskin
--Dark leather-2 to 3 drops Burnt Sienna
--Hats-1 to 2 drops Black Green or 2 drops Brown Iron Oxide
--Hair-1 drop Black, 2 drops Brown Iron Oxide, 3 drops Pigskin, 2 drops Burnt Orange
--Santa beards (or anything white)-Mix mostly White to very little water. If White is to
thin it will look dirty when the finish is applied
--Guns-Metallic Pewter-straight out of the bottle
--Belt buckles-Bronze or Silver-straight out of the bottle
Paint the clothing then rub the tops of the wrinkles with a wet rag (old tee shirts work well). Then add Black to your paint mixture (being very cautious with the Black) to darken the color and paint all the valleys of the wrinkles. You can also use this darkened color to shade around belts, seams, anywhere there is shadow.
4. The brushes are very important. We use Leow-Cornell synthetic #5 or #6 rounds to paint the piece and 8/0 liners to paint the eyes.
5. We will paint straight out of the bottle to paint eyes, teeth, and buttons. Paint a black line at the top of the eyeball avoiding the eyelid. Dry with a hairdryer between steps. Next paint the eyeball white leaving a thin line of black at the top of the eye. Paint a solid semicircle of black on top of the white. Paint blue (Blue Heaven or Salem Blue) on top of the black leaving a thin line of black around the blue. Paint a small circle of black on top of the blue for a pupil. Finally dot white on the eyeball where the blue and black pupil meet on parallel sides of the eyes.
6. Allow carving to dry, usually over night. Mix 1 quart of Boiled Linseed Oil and about 1/8 of an inch (squeezed out of the large tube) of Burnt Sienna artist oil paint. Coat the entire carving well being careful to cover it generously. Let carving set for 5 to 10 minutes, then blot with a cloth or paper towel.
4. The brushes are very important. We use Leow-Cornell synthetic #5 or #6 rounds to paint the piece and 8/0 liners to paint the eyes.
5. We will paint straight out of the bottle to paint eyes, teeth, and buttons. Paint a black line at the top of the eyeball avoiding the eyelid. Dry with a hairdryer between steps. Next paint the eyeball white leaving a thin line of black at the top of the eye. Paint a solid semicircle of black on top of the white. Paint blue (Blue Heaven or Salem Blue) on top of the black leaving a thin line of black around the blue. Paint a small circle of black on top of the blue for a pupil. Finally dot white on the eyeball where the blue and black pupil meet on parallel sides of the eyes.
6. Allow carving to dry, usually over night. Mix 1 quart of Boiled Linseed Oil and about 1/8 of an inch (squeezed out of the large tube) of Burnt Sienna artist oil paint. Coat the entire carving well being careful to cover it generously. Let carving set for 5 to 10 minutes, then blot with a cloth or paper towel.
BOILED LINSEED OIL IS HIGHLY COMBUSTIBLE. DISPOSE OF RAGS VERY CAREFULLY!!!
Phil & Vicki Bishop. http://www.johnsworldofcarving.com
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