I usually don't ask my husband for advice on paintings. Mostly because he is not quite the perfectionist about art that I am. If I ask him if one of my paintings needs more refining, color, or detail, nine times out of ten, he doesn't give me that answer that I want to hear. Poor guy. He can't help it. He's an Air Force pilot so his head is filled with airplanes, not art. However, for my latest project, I was pretty glad to have him around! My husband's boss' wife asked me to do a watercolor painting of three different military aircraft for her husband as a gift. I thought it might be fun to branch out a little plus I would get to experiment with painting clouds, which I love! The first airplane of the series is the C-130. It's nicknamed "Hercules" to an Air Force guy but to me, it's a big, grey, plain plane. What's so hard about that? I figured I would have it knocked out in a week, tops.
First I sat down to do the sketch during my daughter's nap, like I always do. The main body of the plane wasn't that difficult but when it came time to draw the details, I found myself stumped. What the heck was I looking at? Was that black mark a shadow or part of the engine? What about all the initials everywhere? What if I painted the wrong letters in? Luckily, I just happen to be married to an Air Force pilot! That night, we sat down with the digital photograph and my sketch. My sweet, patient husband walked me through the details of good old Hercules. He explained that the landing gear was not actually called a "hoo-ha" and the wing flaps were not referred to as "do-hickies." Apparently, I have a lot to learn about aircraft terminology. Whatever. At least I knew what I was drawing now.
A week later, the drawing was perfect. Now I could actually get to the fun part of painting! I painted over the plane itself with masking fluid, a very stinky but very useful liquid that acts like masking tape. Then, I started painting in the blue of the sky. I always like to layer different shades of blue in for the sky because they sky is never just one shade in real life. Then I used white gouache over the blue watercolor for the clouds. Once I had the clouds and sky painted in, I peeled up the masking fluid so I could start on the actual airplane. It may sound strange, but I love peeling the masking fluid! Like when you were a kid and you would cover your entire hand with Elmer's glue and let it dry just to peel it off (don't act like you never did that!). It is especially satisfying when it comes off in one giant piece, like it did this time. FUN.
Next, I had to mix a color for the body of the airplane. Unfortunately, Windsor & Newton does not have a paint called "Air Force Gray" so I had to mix. I don't mind mixing but, as many people know, I am a perfectionist so I just kept picking it apart. Was the gray too gray? Was it more of a blue gray? Once again my handy airplane-advisor stepped in and told me I was on the right track. So useful, that one! Next I added shadows, which really made this bad boy start to pop!
Last came the details. A few years ago my lovely, intelligent, scientist sister gave me some art supplies as a gift which included two teeny, tiny paintbrushes. I remember looking at them and thinking, "I am never going to use paintbrushes this small!" Well, it turns out that I use them more than any other paintbrushes that I have! And they were absolutely perfect for the details of this plane. So thanks, sis! The lettering took much longer than I expected, mainly because the Air Force uses a very angular font. Oh, if I could only settle for mediocre! I finally got every angle as good as possible. Two weeks into the painting and I was almost done! The propellors were the only part I had left. These propellors were on my mind constantly. I seriously had no clue what to do with them. I tried watercolor paint, watercolor pencil, charcoal, regular pencil. I even experimented with my daughter's crayons. Nothing looked right. I always keep a practice sheet handy while I'm painting and it was full of propellors (and one tiger eye; see previous post.) Finally, I went back to my teeny, tiny brushes and just dove in with the white gouache. Once I stopped thinking about it so much, the propellors actually came to fruition. With those complete, I was DONE!!!
So what did I learn from a C-130? I learned that sometimes, I do need what I never thought I would. I would probably still be obsessing about this painting if it hadn't been for my husband. Plus, I used my teeny, tiny paintbrushes so much, I had to replace them! Stay tuned for something completely different!
