Graham Thompson explores the use of acrylic paints in woodcarving
‘Sacrilege! Why?’
I’m all for showing each species of wood’s unique grain structure to best effect, but let’s face it, the default carver’s favourite, i.e. lime, is somewhat bland in appearance, notwithstanding its excellence in combining strength with ease of carving. So why not add some colour to enhance your brilliantly executed, but perhaps a bit lacking in detail and effect, piece and really let the work stand out from the crowd?
I have found that stain can be useful but its tendency to bleed into surrounding areas can result in untidy boundary lines – usually where you don’t want it to. Also, end-grain absorbs much more colour, creating distracting darker patches. Acrylic paints though are quick drying and have none of these problems and they can be layered, painted over and even sanded or scraped away.
Painting the ape
Regular readers may recall my article on carving a gorilla’s head. Well, here is a startling transformation into something more realistic. While I admit that I am somewhat conflicted by the almost complete distraction from the material, I feel that the result justifies the means.
Even though, to the casual observer, the piece could be made from any material – even moulded plastic – it would still need a sculpted master from which the work can be cast. So carved wood could still be involved. And, more importantly, it will still have that – unique to wood – warm feel. At exhibitions my Winston Churchill portrait often elicits a response of ‘is it really wood?’ until I suggest they touch it, then they understand.
Perception is all
Colour plays a major role in how we recognise things. The great sculptors of antiquity understood this and, despite creating very realistic – and usually idealised – statues, they still expected to cover all of their work with coloured paint. That’s why the faces often have blank eyeballs – so the details can be brought to life with colour. They just didn’t know, at the time, that the paint wouldn’t last forever. Even today I have to remind woodcarving exhibition visitors that what they are looking at is not the subject but merely a representation in a largely monochrome material. So perception of natural woodcarvings has to be created exclusively through form, line and shadow. Adding colour is but a natural and normal extension to the process.
What type of paint?
I can only assume I was lucky, but the first type of paint I tried is the one I have stayed with. Ordinary artist’s acrylic is cheap, quick-drying and brushes clean with cold water. I haven’t tried but I would think that leftover emulsion paint could also work as a free alternative. Emulsion paint certainly has been used as an indoor undercoat so could be worth a try as an overall base layer.
How much to paint?
- Highlight detail – use a tiny spot of brilliant white (or silver) for that eye ref lection
- Increase recognition – a dark colour for the pupil and light colour for ‘whites of eyes’
- Just enough to cover up or disguise a fault in the material
- Go faux – imitate another material, e.g. bronze
- Go for realism – think duck decoys and bird carvings
Application techniques
- Stipple – try varying amounts of paint on the very end of the bristles then lightly tap the surface with brush at right angles to the wood
- Nearly ‘dry’ brush
- Make a cloth pad and dab it on to give a mottled effect
- Trim the brush bristles to create various effects
- Too much paint – if it’s dry, try light sanding or even filing. If it’s still wet, try scraping the convex areas leaving the darker paint to emulate shadows
When not to paint
Quite often a carving made from a beautiful species such as elm can add appreciably to the aesthetics of the piece. Adding any artificial colour could be seen as step too far or ‘gilding the lily’.
Finishing
I recommend that you first coat the surface with shellac sealer before picking up the brush and applying your chosen colours. Then to get a bit of shine from your acrylics – try burnishing with any hard material, such as bamboo cane.
Cut the cane so that each end is halfway through a joint. Then shape the ends so that they are smooth enough to allow gentle rubbing over the surface, including crevices and curves. Alternatively, find an old teaspoon and rub the surface with the back and the handle. Finally, treat the wood to an application or two of wax polish – possibly just on the areas that would naturally be shiny.
Above all experiment and have fun!
Handy tips
- Try different colour combinations
- Experiment with a mix of techniques
- Mix just like a painter and try on-line for achieving (say) flesh tones
- Dab or stipple layers – lighter colours first
- Get the bronze look with dark green followed by black with some wood showing through