Mermaid Princess MirrorJill Macfarlane

Jmacfar134@aol.com 

Decoart Americana Acrylic Paints 

Warm BeigeBurnt SiennaTitanium WhiteBlackRoyal FuchsiaBluegrass GreenBlue HarborTrue RedDeep Midnight BlueLemon YellowDark ChocolateBanana CreamPayne’s GrayAlizarin CrimsonBright Yellow

Extender Medium

DuraClear Varnish 

Misc. Supplies

Wooden based MirrorLarge Flat BrushMedium Mop Brush½” Angle BrushLiner BrushSmall Paint RollerGrey Graphite paperTransfer paperStylusWater ContainerPaper TowelsPalette Paper

I use a paint roller to basecoat the mirror with Warm Beige. You would be wise to paint four coats of Warm Beige. Sand the board lightly.

Transfer the line pattern with gray graphite. Lightly line the facial features and the peripheral oval of the face with Burnt Sienna. Don’t forget the ear. Use your best liner.

We are going to use a large flat or angle brush and begin to shadow the face and its’ features. Pick up Burnt Sienna on the hard edge of the brush. The hard edge is the end of brush that carries the paint. Work the brush well on the palette. To begin place a wash of water across the eyes and upper nose, float a flip flop of Burnt Sienna across this area. Use a mop to soften the color.I know my little sketch looks odd but you must paint this float to set the eyes.  With your loaded brush float down the side of face and under the hair line on the forehead. Please float across the base of the nose.Float a bit of Burnt Sienna in the ear.Float numerous times under the chin with the Burnt Sienna.Staying with the same color and reducing to a smaller brush, float against the eyelids.On the left eye, float the eyelid and then float under the eyebrow and chisel the brush floating along the edge of the nose.Darken the eyebrows with Dark Chocolate. Feather the stroke towards the outer edges of the

Load a large brush with True Red and work it well on the palette. Well enough to see it is very light on the brush.Blush the cheeks with water, with a large loaded brush, walk the color from the edge of the face towards the nose. Using a mop, mop from the lightest area to the darkest. View this method at You tube Jill Macfarlane's Mopping Method.

Paint the eye sockets with White. Paint the iris with DeepMidnight Blue plus White, plus a dot of Burnt Sienna. Allow to dry. Float Payne’s Gray under the lash line on the eye socket, this is the shadow from the lashes. This float sets the eye into its’ socket.  Paint the pupil with Black. Line the outer edge of the iris with Black.

 Place a comma stroke of the base color plus White from 9 to 6. This is the reflected light.The lashes are Black and the highlight is White.

 

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Transfer the line pattern with gray graphite. Lightly line the facial features and the peripheral oval of the face with Burnt Sienna. Don’t forget the ear. Use your best liner.

We are going to use a large flat or angle brush and begin to shadow the face and its’ features. Pick up Burnt Sienna on the hard edge of the brush. The hard edge is the end of brush that carries the paint. Work the brush well on the palette. To begin place a wash of water across the eyes and upper nose, float a flip flop of Burnt Sienna across this area. Use a mop to soften the color.I know my little sketch looks odd but you must paint this float to set the eyes.  With your loaded brush float down the side of face and under the hair line on the forehead. Please float across the base of the nose.Float a bit of Burnt Sienna in the ear.Float numerous times under the chin with the Burnt Sienna.Staying with the same color and reducing to a smaller brush, float against the eyelids.On the left eye, float the eyelid and then float under the eyebrow and chisel the brush floating along the edge of the nose.Darken the eyebrows with Dark Chocolate. Feather the stroke towards the outer edges of the

 

Paint the upper lip with a mixture of True Red, Warm Beige and a touch of Burnt Sienna. Paint the lower lip with the mixture and add a little Warm Beige to lighten the color. The lower lip is always lighter than the upper. Paint the inner mouth with a tiny bit of mixed dirty White.Before painting the hair, paint the whole mirror, except the face with Blue Harbor plus White.

Begin painting the hair with Burst Sienna. The first layer should be loose and establishing direction. Use a 1/2” angle brush and a good liner. Float against the face with Dark Chocolate. The second loose color for the hair is Banana Cream. Draw a line with Dark Chocolate through the hair to place the beads and shells.

Continue with the hair adding more strokes with a liner using Banana Cream plus White. Float Payne’s Gray around the hair.Base the starfish, scallop and sand dollar with Royal Fuchsia plus White. Shade the shells with Alizarin Crimson. Add round circles of White for pearls. Line them with Payne’s Gray, Bluegrass Green and Deep Midnight Blue. Highlight with a touch of White plus Bright Yellow. Add little stroke leaves with Bluegrass Green and White.

Paint the handle by pulling long lines of grass with Bluegrass Green. Float a bit of Bluegrass Green behind where the conch will lie.Transfer the conch and paint it Royal Fuchsia plus White, line and shade with Alizarin Crimson. Paint the curl of the shell area with Warm Beige plus White. Float Payne’s Gray around the shell.

Stencil circles of white for bubbles. Once you’ve stenciled, touch your finger to the bubble to make it transparent. Line the lower edge and add a dot for a highlight. This method is used on the back side as well. The only difference is that the scallop shell is added to the bottom. The scallop is painted as the conch was painted.

Add highlights to finish the face. I brush a tiny amount of Extender Medium into my brush and brush it across the following areas, the forehead, between the eyebrow and eyelid, down the nose, the upper cheeks, the lower lip, the chin, and just below the eyes. Sideload your brush with White. First paint a small amount across the forehead, using a mop blend it out a little. Paint an exclamation mark down the right side of the nose. Be careful not to pull the vertical line into the ball of the face. Paint a dot of White into the outer areas of the cheeks and mop only once so that you don’t remove it. Paint a line of White across the bottom lip under the highlight of the nose. Float a little in the center of the chin, mop ever so lightly. Float a tiny bit under the eyes. Allow to dry very well and then varnish both sides with your favorite Decoart Varnish. Please Enjoy!!!!