You Can Paint!

 Hello again,

So many people have told me that they can’t paint and they wish they could.  My answer is Yes you can paint you just need to start.  So I’ve decided to show all you beginners and doubters how to do it.  It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.... 3 paints, 3 brushes and 3 steps.  Just follow my lead.

For the purpose of this demonstration I will use acrylic paints, but I will be using them like oils.  That is virtually straight from the tube with minimum water.  It’s easier using acrylics because you only need water to mix and they dry quicker than oils (sometimes too quickly!).

To prepare the basics you will need are:-

3 paints:  Ultramarine Blue; Alizarin Crimson and Raw Sienna   (We will also be using Titanium White And  our Hero colour, Cadmium Yellow - use sparingly, this is the colour that will give our painting oomph!)

3 brushes: Large, Medium and small

3 steps: Draw; Block in; Refine.

Two jars of water... one for mixing and one for brush washing.

A palette for mixing (or an old white plate)

Kitchen roll

A small spray bottle of water is also useful to spray the paints on your palette every so often to stop them drying out.

Canvas (or something to paint on board or heavy duty paper 350gsm)

Now to begin!

Subject:  Today the subject we will paint is a landscape.  It’s a view of the Italian landscape in Calabria.

There will be mountains in the background, trees in the foreground and a beautiful building in the mid ground.  I have also included a little pathway to lead into our point of interest, the building.  To further lead the eye to the point of interest I have included some fence posts pointing in the direction.

Step 1 Drawing

Here you will see I have diluted the paint (ultramarine blue) to draw in the main large shapes.  So for this stage you will need the paint to be quite watery, possibly consistency of ink but not too runny that it runs down the canvas as it has in my example lol 😂.  If it does run, no problem all this will be covered by the paint later.  It’s just to give you a framework on which to work.

Step 2 Block in

With block in you are literally blocking in the large shapes, so try to simplify what you are seeing into large shapes no detail at this point.

Think about the colours you are using.  Blue or purple will always recede so we have used that on the distant mountains.  Warmer tones, like reds will always come forward so use in the foreground.

I have used a pale mix of white with a little ultramarine blue for the sky, changing to a mix of white and yellow ochre (or raw sienna) as you paint nearer the horizon.  This will hopefully give a glow in the sky when we finish.  

The mountains in the background are a mix of ultramarine blue with a little alizarin crimson.  Similar colour on mid ground but lightened with a little white.

In the foreground I have used alizarin crimson with a little ultramarine blue and as I’ve moved around the foreground I have added a little yellow ochre (or raw sienna) to add interest.

The pathway I have blocked in with yellow ochre and a little white.

Step 3 Refine

Now I am refining by adding the colours that I want for the final painting.  For the roof of the building a mix of alizarin crimson and white with just a touch of yellow ochre to dull the colour a little.  The walls of the building are white with a tiny bit of yellow ochre and because the under painting was a pale mix of ultramarine blue, this will show through adding to the shadow areas.

*Now I’m going to take a break and I will return tomorrow to finish the painting.   Sorry folks, got held up with finishing the painting...  you know how life sometimes gets in the way ...... stay tuned, I will complete  and post next stage of this by the weekend!  Promise!