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Virtual Art Night with

Fred Miller

Join us on a Virtual Art Night!
 

Fred, an Alabama Deaf artist, will walk you through how to use acrylic to make a Father’s Day themed masterpiece!

 

Suggested materials:

-Any size of Canvas (best size would be between 4x4 to 12x16)
-Paint brushes and any kind paint you prefer but suggested pain is acrylic
-DecoArt® Fluid Art Ready-to-Pour Acrylic™ Lagoon

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Afterward, send your completed art piece to info@adjacentspace.org! Adjacent Space will post (anonymously if you wish) everyones masterpieces!

Instruction Video Transcript:

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Hey! 

This is Fred Miller! Welcome to this art event. Thanks for watching! Our theme is “Father’s Day”. You’ll see two attachments - one with a father and son, and one with a father and daughter. Let me show you! ID: Fred shows a pleasant, smiling cartoon outline of a father and daughter, and then shows a similarly styled picture of a father and son.

Of course, you can be creative with you’re drawing! Not all people have straight hair, some people have curly hair! Some people may want to draw a smile with teeth, or a smile without! Some people may want to add a cochlear implant or a hearing aid. It doesn’t matter; it’s completely up to you!

 

We have the outline ready for you - you can make additions or modify the drawing as you like. It’s up to you!

 

I’m starting with my canvas here. (ID: Fred shows a small canvas with the drawing of the father and son taped on with blue painters tape) 

The canvas can be a small one, or it could be a 12 by 12, or an 11 by 16. It’s up to you. And when you print the picture, you can adjust the size to match your canvas. O, you can free-hand draw your image on your canvas, and match the size. 

 

I am using a small one, because I like smaller activities. Before you start, if you’re not confident in free-hand drawing, I have some options. 

You can use graphite paper - you can find it at Michael’s for around 3 dollars. Or you can look for carbon paper. They both work in the same way. Before we move on, you’ll tape your papers to your canvas. Oh - if you’re using graphite paper, it’s important to take a look at the two shades - one side is cloudy, and one side is solid black. You’ll want to put the solid black side on the canvas. (ID: Fred shows the canvas with the drawing on the top, and the graphite paper between the drawing and the canvas. The solid side is face-down, touching the canvas. All three pages are taped down with blue painter’s tape) 

 

Your printed picture (or your drawn picture), will go on top of the graphite paper. Next, (ID: Fred picks up a pencil) - get any sharpened utensil. It could be a metal pin, or a pencil.  Pens are alright, but pencils are best. 

 

Then, you’ll follow the lines of the drawing. Remember, you can make modifications if you want! Then, you’ll see the lines show through! I’ll show you 

ID: the video runs at fast forward speed as Fred outlines the drawing.) 

ID: Fred stops, and the video resumes normal speed)

Now, lets see the drawing - the results after that.

ID: Fred removes the graphite paper and the printed image to reveal the canvas with a faint outline of father and son imprinted on it). 

The outline will help you paint your canvas. Now, I’ll show you the next step!

 

So, for this part, you have two options - you can go ahead and paint the canvas. You can use regular paint. You could use the arteza brand of paint. Or it could be regular paint like this, or this (ID: Fred holds a “BASIC” brand tube of acrylic paint and then a box of arteza brand paints) 

It can be any color you like, you can be creative, whatever you want! You can match the hair you your hair color, your father’s hair color, or something different and wild! Whatever you decide. Then you can paint away. 

 

Or, the other option - you can cover the picture and do a paint pour. 

 

Most important for the painting, is that you outline the picture with black ink to make your picture stand out. I’ll start with outlining the picture with black lines, and fill in between the lines. Whatever you prefer. 

(ID: The video speeds up again, and Fred outlines the painting, paints the father and son, and adds the facial features. The finished product shows a white father and son with blue shirts and brown hair. The child has a bright orange hearing aid) 

 

So now we’re done with the painting! You’ll notice an orange color here. That’s because my childhood hearing aid was orange - bright orange! Because we keep losing the hearing aids - they would fall in the grass, and the orange color made it very easy to find! Before, I had a green hearing aid, and I completely lost it. Whoops! So after that, we switched to orange. 

 

Anyways, the painting is finished! I’ll let it dry, and after that, we’ll do the paint pour!

 

ID: the scene changes so now we see Fred’s painting resting on four glass jars, The painting is covered with a circular piece of paper, but the surrounding area of the canvas is exposed. Fred shows four tubes of paint - yellow, green, red, and orange. Fred is pointing at the tubes of paint and wearing black rubber gloves. 

ID: scene shifts to show Fred signing. His gloves have pink splotches on them ) 

 

You’ll pour 5 different colors. See how I have paint here? It will be messy! Keep that in mind. 

 

ID: Fred shows all the different colors in a styrofoam cup. The colors are not mixed together, we still see clear streaks and blobs of red, orange, and yellow. Fred begins signing again. ) 

 

I’ll set up the camera so you can watch as I pour the paint in different ways, to give you ideas of what you’d like to do. 

 

ID: we see the canvas with the paper covering the father and son. Fred pours the cup of red, orange, yellow paint around the circle so that the paint flows slowly on the canvas and off the sides, like lava. 

 

After you pour the paint, you’ll give it time to dry for one day. Let me show you how it looks after one day. 

 

ID: We see the painting with the Father and Son brightly in the middle of swirling red, yellow, and orange paint.) 

 

That’s mine! I’m looking forward to seeing your work! I will do FB live to answer any questions, go more in depth, discuss more ideas to help y’all get started! Hope to see you soon and look forward to your work! 

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