I need opinions on brick finish

[aurajane]

I am working on bricking the outside of the school in the Greenleaf Village. I started out with red, decided it looked terrible, and decided brick was the best way to go. I made bricks out of polymer clay and baked them. I glued them to the side and painted white, then red, then brown with acrylic medium. I have only finished one side so far. I am wondering if I should add some more colors, such as yellows and darker browns or blacks, or if it looks ok as is. What does everyone think? (I appreciate honesty and constructive critisism).

[justmesue]

I like it the way it is. I like red brick. My first school house had red brick like this on it.

[lmgervais]

I would suggest one of Tracy's 'dirty washes'. The bricks look fine, but the spaces between them look too white to me. The dirty wash may help to blend everything together.

Just a suggestion, though, as I'm no expert.

[LPCullen]

I think just red looks great!

[grynche]

I know this would entail a trip to the hobby store , but in the Patio Paint colors are four brick reds and ochres that when sponged on look very convincing. I like your bricks, they look timeworn, but they need some smudges of dirt here and there. And they need some chalk smudges where the kids would clean erasers.

[katethesape]

I like the red, but if you want a more 'worn' look, I would try sponging on another color. (lighter)

[CindyLee]

I agree with some of the other comments. Maybe you could make the morter color darker, its too white now. And then drybrush some other shades of colors over the bricks.

[Esther]

I like the red too, but a darker color between, if possible.

[kellee]

I think it looks great. I am going to brick The Franklin!! I wanted to make each brick from clay or something but I think it would make the house way too heavy and be very time consuming.!! but Yours looks great.!!

I think maybe a dark grey for the grout.. or something to make it look older unless you want it to look new..

Kellee

[Corwin]

i would add another collor by flecking the brush with just a little bit of paint and a finger.

[havanaholly]

You could take a smidge of yellow ochre and dilute it down with a little water, and do the same with white & burnt umber, and take a cotton ball (or Qtip) and lightly pat the washes randomly on the bricks, then dilute the burnt umber some more and"wash" the building with it to tint the grout to age it, if that is your pleasure. Another thought would be to grate some yellow ochre & dark brown chalk pastels and randomly brush them onto your bricks and then wipe them down with dry cottonballs. I do like the way it looks now, like a brandnew, bright red brick schoolhouse. It really depends on what floats YOUR boat.

[WyckedWood]

You sure did a lot of work on this,baking each brick! Wow! As for the paint,it just depends on how new or old you want it to look. Real bricks are unique,never look exactly the same. When Im painting bricks I put my palette together,red,black,dk.orange,whatever you want, then make them all different by mixing the colors. If you dont want to do that since its already painted,a dirty wash or antiquing would add some realism. My personal preference is mixing Van Dyke Brown with antiquing medium or Easy Float. Short of that a simple black or brown mixed with water wash can work nicely too. I like to use a wet sea sponge for dirty washes

[Alamom]

First off, your bricks look great! I also like the red, very time worn but does need something to age a little. Great Job!

[aurajane]

Thank you to everyone for all your feedback. I am going to the majority advice and add some darker shades in there and darken the grout. I really appreciate all the different techniques everyone shared. I will post some pics when I finish the walls.