From the Artist: For my second attempt at knife painting (because I enjoyed the first one so much) I decided I wanted to create something original. Therefore I have named it "Seal in Water" (so you will know what it is).
For the black 'night' sky I laid the paint on with the knife, and then scraped it off again (to be authentic). Although I did like the look of the heavy black paint, I didn't want to have it compete with the seal for attention. I tried to achieve a wet slippery look for the seal and the water, with the moonlight shining on it. I found that the creation of detail is somewhat more difficult with the knife, such as with the eyes.
From the Painting Guide: To get details with a painting knife, you need one either with a sharp point or a knife that's small (and they can get quite tiny!). But it's also relative -- you can make something look detailed by the way you paint what's around it, by painting it with broader sweeps or strokes of color.
I'm not one for solid, dark backgrounds; I like there to be a suggestion of color variation, something to make it visually intriguing. If this were my painting I would've mixed some of the blue in with the black, to create subtle variations in it. Not so much that it'd compete for attention, just something to stop it being an area I take it at one glance.
For the black 'night' sky I laid the paint on with the knife, and then scraped it off again (to be authentic). Although I did like the look of the heavy black paint, I didn't want to have it compete with the seal for attention. I tried to achieve a wet slippery look for the seal and the water, with the moonlight shining on it. I found that the creation of detail is somewhat more difficult with the knife, such as with the eyes.
From the Painting Guide: To get details with a painting knife, you need one either with a sharp point or a knife that's small (and they can get quite tiny!). But it's also relative -- you can make something look detailed by the way you paint what's around it, by painting it with broader sweeps or strokes of color.
I'm not one for solid, dark backgrounds; I like there to be a suggestion of color variation, something to make it visually intriguing. If this were my painting I would've mixed some of the blue in with the black, to create subtle variations in it. Not so much that it'd compete for attention, just something to stop it being an area I take it at one glance.