Thank you for attending our Liquid Shadow Seminar with Kerry Trout

TRANSCRIPT PAGE ONE

ViaVon: Good Evening Everyone! David and I, along with our Guest Speaker, Kerry Trout want to thank you for coming to our Seminar on Liquid Shadow!
PaulineT_AB: Yes but you said you were coming out west next fall, it will be cool here
ViaVon: Just to remind you again on what we expect from you this evening ...
ViaVon: Well lets begin tonite's seminar, shall we? If everyone will "take their seats" please and give me your attention. :-) *drumroll*
ViaVon: First, please refrain from speaking during Kerry's Presentation. She will let us know when she is ready for your Questions.
ViaVon: To put yourself in the queue for the Question and Answer session, please type ONLY an * asterisk. Nothing more.
ViaVon: Please test that now. Enter ONLY an * for yourself.
Dave: *
PaulineT-Can: *
DorisH: *
MaryW-FL: *
Sonja-Israel: *
MargaretB-WA: *
debirid: *
ALMAW-IN: *
SandyJ-CT: *
PattianneS-NJ: *
JoAnnC-Ky: **
PaulineT_AB: *
KerryCa: *
DarleneI-TX: *
June-NC: *
Mary_Ann_Mi: *
RebeccaR-NY: *
BrenH-Aust: *
Deb-AR: *
christineG_LA: *
Brenda-OK: *
ViaVon: WELL DONE!
ViaVon: Next then -- wait for your name to be called to ask your question. When Kerry has answered your question, she will ask you if your question is concluded. Please reply yes or finish asking your question.
ViaVon: This may sound a bit *stuffy* but it allows for everyone to have a turn asking and getting answers to their questions in a way that doesn't confuse both you, our guest and Kerry, our Guest Speaker. :-) Thanks for your cooperation!
ViaVon: David will be directing our Q&A Traffic so please watch for him to call your name when it's your turn. :-)
ViaVon: Kerry will be presenting a visual photo tour throughout her seminar. These pictures will require you to click on the url provided which will open in a new window. Some computer systems will require you to hold your CTRL key when clicking on the image's url to avoid getting booted out of the chat room.
ViaVon: You can test your "bootability" potential by testing that now. Click on this url: http://www.viavon.com We'll wait a few minutes for those booted to get back to the chat room. :-)
ViaVon: and this is why we test. :-(
ViaVon: Welcome back Alma and Pattiane!
Brenda-OK: what if nothing happens von?
ViaVon: Brenda, no new window ? Turn OFF your pop-up blocker!
MargaretB-WA: tried that and still not working
Brenda-OK: I don't know how to do that Von....shoot
KerryCa: mine either
ViaVon: TOOLS / POP-UP Blocker
ViaVon: For those with Win XT Operating System
PaulineT-Can: Am I on?
ViaVon: It appears so Pauline
PaulineT-Can: Oh yeah, I thought I lost you guys
ViaVon: Ok, let's give everyone a few seconds here to settle back in ...
KerryCa: I can go out when I hold down Ctrl then x it out to come back??
KerryCa: Is that correct?
DarleneI-TX: Will Kerry give us a different window than you did Von
ViaVon: Darlene, I'll be providing all the urls for the photos
DarleneI-TX: OK thanks
Dave: KerryCa, that is correct
ViaVon: Ok, before I forget ... IF you'd like a personal reminder to your email about our seminars, please set up a user account for yourself at our main website and subscribe to our Newsletter. :-)
PattianneS-NJ: are we permitted to print a photo
GinetteL-QC-CA: where do we see the pictures from the seminar?
June-NC: Will these photos be available after the chat?
ViaVon: Watch your task bar below too -- that will show you what windows you have open if you get lost. :-)
ViaVon: Yes June, all of the seminar, including photos and chat transcript will be available within a matter of days for everyone's review
DorisH: i'm already lost...lol
ViaVon: And now ... let's get on with the FUN!! **handing over microphone to Kerry** Remember please --- refrain from speaking during Kerry's Presentation and type an *asterisk* to put yourself into queue for Q&A at the end of her presentation
ViaVon: WELCOME KERRY TROUT !!

Kerry_Trout: Hi and welcome! My name is Kerry Trout, and I have been an artist all my life, and a professional artist for 20 years. I have written four North Light books, and contributed to several more. I also write magazine articles and do work for Scholastic Books.
Kerry_Trout: I have a studio on the Courthouse Square in Danville, Indiana, where I --along with my partner Judy-- paint murals, furniture, and hold acrylic painting classes. I have a studio on the Courthouse Square in Danville, Indiana, where I --along with my partner Judy-- paint murals, furniture, and hold acrylic painting classes.
Kerry_Trout: One day I was painting a cluster of fruit on a client’s kitchen wall. I was applying it on top of wallpaper that had a tiny print in it. I specialize in painting realistic objects, so I use a lot of shadowing and highlighting.
Kerry_Trout: When I went to paint the shadow of the fruit, I realized my paint was going to cover the print in the wallpaper. That wasn’t acceptable to me, because real shadows aren’t opaque. I needed to create a shadow, but not obliterate the pattern in the wallpaper.
Kerry_Trout: They say necessity is the mother of invention, so I went to work to develop a medium that would serve my purpose. I would take a few paints and mediums, mix up a concoction on my palette, and come up with something suitable.
Kerry_Trout: Great results-- but when the next job called for a shadow, I had to mix up the recipe again. Then it dawned on me that I needed to make enough to tide me over for a while. So I did so, and put it in an empty paint bottle. I used this mix when I was writing on of my books, and my editors dubbed this medium ‘Kerry’s liquid shadow.”
Kerry_Trout: Soon I was using this liquid shadow in my teaching, and all my students wanted a bottle of their own. They loved it, and someone said, “You need to bottle this, Kerry! Really bottle it!” So I did.
Kerry_Trout: My husband and I would spend hours at the studio filling small bottles with a turkey baster, believe it or not! And when more and more orders came in, I’d enlist the help of students and family members. We’d form an assembly line – filling, capping, labeling, boxing them up, and filling out shipping labels. What a huge job it was, and it took hours!
Kerry_Trout: But when I began getting orders for a thousand bottles at a time, I knew it was time to use a commercial bottler. Now Kerry’s Liquid Shadow Shading Medium professionally formulated, bottled and labeled, and I can once again spend my time painting.
Kerry_Trout: Liquid Shadow comes in a 2-oz bottle with a dispensing cap. You need put only a little on your palette at a time, because it goes a long way. Liquid Shadow was developed to apply with a “floating” technique. In fact its purpose is to eliminate floated shadows.

Kerry_Trout: I developed the medium with a neutral gray color, so it may be tinted with other colors. I’ll explain that later.
Kerry_Trout: To use Liquid Shadow correctly, and to achieve perfect, convincing shadows, you need two brushes: one to apply it, and a soft mop brush. A flat shader is ideal for applying it, and you should use one that is a little smaller in width than the shadows you need.
Kerry_Trout: I use a Bringle Blender mop brush. For larger shadowing I use a Loew-Cornell mop. I find it is best to apply Liquid Shadow after your painting is done, and a thin coat of water-based polyurethane (such as DecoArt’s DuraClear), has been applied.
Kerry_Trout: The reason for this is that acrylic paints dry flat, and they have a ‘tooth’, or rough surface, to them that grab any paints or mediums that are painted over them. Liquid Shadow needs to glide across your surface. Sealing your paint with poly makes the surface perfect for the shadowing process.
Kerry_Trout: For practice, you can start buy painting a simple circle. Now, for this circle to become a dimensional ball, it must have light and shadow. For general decorative painting and trompe l’oeil subjects, I always put the light source in the upper left. This means the shadows will fall on the lower right of all objects. Paint a circle:

Kerry_Trout: Determine your light source. Here I am using the upper left, indicated by the arrow.

Kerry_Trout: I have lighted penciled in the area where the cast shadow would naturally fall.

Kerry_Trout: With a flat shader, apply the Liquid Shadow. Try to do it in one smooth stroke.

Kerry_Trout: With the mop brush, lightly brush over the edges of the Liquid Shadow.

Kerry_Trout: Here is the finished ball with shadow.
Kerry_Trout: When shadowing an object that is round -- as this ball—you can carry the Liquid Shadow up onto the shaded part of the object. But is this was, for instance, a coin – which is round but flat – you wouldn’t do that. The shadow would only be painted against its background.
Kerry_Trout: Now we will use Liquid Shadow with another subject, in this case, a painted lemon.
Kerry_Trout: My background is beige, so I have added a touch of Burnt Umber to the Liquid Shadow. You can add color to the Liquid Shadow according to the color of your background. (I have already done the background under the leaf.)

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Kerry_Trout: Next I am applying Liquid Shadow to the lower right of the lemon with a small flat shader. Notice I apply a thin coat.
Kerry_Trout: I switch to my Bringle blender mop brush, and softly blend the Liquid Shadow.

Kerry_Trout: Use very light strokes when blending. See how soft the outer edge of the Liquid Shadow becomes after mopping?

Kerry_Trout: Remember, since this is a round object, you can blend the Liquid Shadow up onto the shaded side of the lemon, as I am doing here.

Kerry_Trout: Here is the lemon after shadowing. See how the Liquid Shadow seems to lift the lemon away from the background?

Kerry_Trout: Here is a pale blue background. I mixed Liquid Shadow with just a touch of Payne’s Grey, and then thinned that mix with clear glaze.

Kerry_Trout: Liquid Shadow won’t obscure your background. In this example, I painted grapes against a faux finish. Notice how the specks in the background still show through the shadows, as it should in nature.

Kerry_Trout: Here I added a touch of Burnt Sienna to the Liquid Shadow, and added glaze

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