[MY ART] Workshop on painting on clay

Today I'm sharing a small masterclass on painting on clay. Before I start, I want to make a short introduction, why on clay and not on some other material.

Probably, very few people know that in addition to paintings, I also draw on stones. I discovered this art for myself just before I came to Menorca. It fascinated me so much that in a couple of weeks I managed to draw on about 50 stones. Then I have an idea to commercialize this and decided that I would like to sell painted stones as souvenirs from Menorca. With ready-made examples, I confidently went to several locations around the city to negotiate on sales. To my surprise, my plan failed for one simple reason: it was necessary to provide proof that the stones were collected not on the beach, but bought from some organization. After some "investigations" it seemed to me that the solution to this issue was complex and quite risky because it is forbidden to collect any natural materials on the island. In order not to test the fate, which is very favorable to me, it was necessary to look for another way out.

I can not say that I was very persistent in the search for a new solution, the reason for that was that I was simply busy with other activities, and this issue was put to the background. One day a friend of mine, who knew the situation, brought me a bundle of clay from Malaga, the advantage of which was that it did not need to be burned in the oven. All that should be done was to form the necessary molds and leave them to dry for 5-6 days. I tried to make shapes of stones out of clay, and the result satisfied me. This was my way of choosing modelling clay.

The landscape I chose for the work I am describing now is one of the lighthouses of Menorca called Faro de Cavalleria, located in the north of the island.

The materials I used are the following:

"canvas" made out of clay
pencil
brushes
acrylic paints
lacquer-fixer

This is how the clay working surface formed by me looked like.

First, I sketched out the outline of the building and the landscape. True, it is worth saying that next time before drawing a sketch, I will thickly coat the clay with acrylic paint of white color. What for? Because the clay draws the paint in half a second, and because of this, it is difficult to create smooth transitions. An additional base layer can prevent this a little bit I hope.

I began to paint the sky, which initially did not satisfy me and which I remade. I know the colors of the drawing are much brighter than reality, but I like that reality is mixed up with fantasy.

Next — the main character of the composition — the lighthouse, which was drawn from the top to down. I remember how one artist once told me that there are practically no pure monochrome colors in nature, so the more shades, the better. My efforts I aimed in this direction: despite the size of the image, I wanted to create many shades.