A clean, empty, white canvas or paper can seem terribly daunting - so let’s make it less terrifying by covering the whole area first. Using one of the larger flat brushes, use a little water to dilute the vermillion orange and spread it about. Small areas of bright colour will pop through the darker tones and warm them up nicely. Use a hairdryer to speed the drying if you wish. 

Using a medium flat square brush and mix the yellow and blue together, to make a mid-green. The colours are very pure on their own, so once you start to mix them together, they become more muted and naturalistic, depending on your needs. Darwi's colours mix beautifully, and you’ll notice how subtle and natural they become when blended. Compare this mix with the tube of green paint, which appears much more saturated.

Add some of the yellow ochre colour (a very useful colour, rather like sand) to the green to make a nice warmish mid-green. Experiment until you find a shade you like.  Use this and the square brush to block out the shape of the cup and saucer, leaving enough room to add the clock and some foliage. Block in the shape of the clock with dark brown, then switch to the magenta and throw in some heart-shaped leaves above and to the left. These colours block in well without losing intensity, even in early layers. 

Don’t worry if it looks untidy and peculiar at this stage - we are just blocking in the main tones for now.  All you have to do is check that the shapes are about the size you want them and that you are happy with their location.

Using the dark brown, mix it with magenta pink - the result is a luscious dark purple!  Use this to block in more leaves, maybe adding some behind those you have already put in.  You can try this colour on the face of the clock, to mark out that dark square shadow. The depth Darwi paints provide even with small amounts of pigment is impressive, and their creamy consistency makes layering effortless. 

Wash out and dry your brush or try swapping to another to find out what it can do for you. Using ivory, mark in the chrome front of the clock, the wall in the back right corner, and around the cup and saucer in the left bottom corner. Immediately you will find that the shapes now start to pop out. This is where Darwi paints really shine—literally! Once dry, they offer a subtle gloss that enhances dimension. 

Try the fine-tipped round brush for the clock numbers. The brush quality pairs perfectly with Darwi’s smooth paint flow. 

If the paint on your green cup isn’t quite dry yet, try brushing in some ivory gently into the left-hand side, where the light is hitting it.  You might find this helps to give it more of a rounded shape.  Yellow ochre would also work nicely here.  With the green on your brush, you might like to drop a little into the background top, where there is a hint of green wallpaper. 

Try the smaller of the round brushes, they have a nice fine tip which can be used to draw out the clock numbers in ivory - go for the edges first then add the numbers - make for 12 and 6 first, then 3 and 9 to help you position the rest.

Returning to the dark brown, start to put more details in. Using a round brush, paint some dark stars into the centre of the plant’s leaves and some decoration on the cup. The pattern has been simplified to three diamonds. At this point, also strengthen the dark shadow on the clock face, between the numbers and the shiny chrome square. Create some shadows into the inner reaches of the plant. Experiment with shape and remember that quite random, abstract blobs of paint will give a good result.  Letting the paint down with a little water, I created a shadow underneath the clock to help suggest that the light is coming from the left. Darwi paints dilute well with water, allowing you to create transparent glazes or soft shadows. The brush control and colour strength here let you go bold or subtle, depending on how much water you use.

It isn’t often you get to use so much pink in a painting so make the most of it! Mix magenta with a little ivory – for a shade which can be used to pick out the lightest areas on the plant’s leaves. You might also like to drop dashes of this around other areas, like the teacup or the clock - you’ll be amazed what you can get away with so have fun! With Darwi, colours mix easily without turning muddy, and the layering potential means you can apply soft highlights over darker areas with great success.

Time to start tidying up! Most of the main shapes are now in position, and you have more than enough to fill this modest painting. Acrylic paints tend to work best in multiple layers - some colours are quite transparent and can therefore seem rather disappointing when first applied. Simply leave them to dry, then add more layers, shaping and refining your painting as you go along. The Darwi paints are quite shiny once dry, so will give your painting a lovely sheen, especially with layers. You will also be able to start building up lovely textures as the paint becomes thicker on your work.   

To finish; re-mix the vermillion with a little ivory to re-colour the background, neatened the edges of the pink leaves, and added a few splashes of colour on the metal clock trim to suggest a reflection.   

Beginner tip: This is a good place to stop and return later to see if you want to make more changes - anything is possible! 

You may notice that this project doesn’t use either the black or white paints. If you find your painting lacks punch, you still have these two colours in your arsenal. You can add a few white highlights which should really sparkle or use the black to set your shadows even deeper, if necessary.