1. It is a good idea to tint the board with a ground colour for various reasons: it brings harmony to the painting, it means you won’t have to fill the white gaps at the end, and it makes it easier to see light brushstrokes (as they wouldn’t show well on white). Here, I used a wash of raw sienna with a touch of cadmium red.

2. Draw the main shapes of the composition. I usually draw with paint but, in this case, I opted for a pencil to allow for more trial and error while painting from life. No need to go into detail at this stage; the aim is to simply map out the main shapes.

Work from dark to light and look first for the darkest tones in your subject.

Forget you are painting a vase, tablecloth or a leaf, simply look for those dark abstract shapes.

The shadows on the tablecloth are made from a mix of cerulean blue, cobalt blue and raw sienna, used in various quantities depending on the effect wanted.

The dark foliage in the vase is an ultramarine blue with raw sienna and cadmium yellow.

1. We are going up one key on our tonal scale and tackling the dark purples in the saucer and spoon. Because we are focusing on tones and colours, and continuously working across the whole painting, it makes sense to paint those two elements at the same time as they share the same colours and tone.

2. The tea is a mix of burnt umber and raw sienna. Dilute the top part of the cup to achieve a lighter colour and convey the feeling of transparency in the tea.

Slowly climbing up your tonal ladder, mix paint to depict the mid-tone areas of the cup and the green areas of the vase.

At this stage of the painting, the colours are all still very closely connected and muddy at the same time so it is a good idea to use the mixes from the previous steps and amend them accordingly.

The teacup colours are made from the purple mix with various quantities of titanium white, Naples yellow, raw sienna and cobalt blue, depending on the area of the cup.

The green vase is the same mix as the tablecloth with a touch of Naples yellow and phthalo green.

It’s time to address the flowers. Let’s look for the dark areas first and resist using our brightest pink straightaway.

The highlights of the flowers will only show if you manage to establish first dark, unsaturated colours.

The red mix here is cadmium red, permanent rose with a touch of cobalt blue or raw sienna.

Vary the mix to achieve a different colour temperature. Add more cobalt blue and white for the purples.

1. While all the previous steps have been focusing on dark, muddy tones, it’s time now to embrace bright colours and light. It’s important from now on to use clean brushes and clean paint mixes in order to achieve maximum vibrancy and saturation. For big impact and juicer brushstrokes, use thicker paint than in the previous steps.

2. The highlights in the flowers are a mix of cadmium red, permanent rose, titanium white and Naples yellow.

3. The light part of the cloth is cerulean blue, titanium white and Naples yellow.

4. Try not to paint such a large area with the exact same colour. Instead, observe subtle change of hues and adjust your mix, and look at the paint thickness and the direction of the brushstrokes in order to bring variety and interest to an otherwise dull area.

Now, this is the fun moment we’ve all been waiting for: painting the white highlights of the teacup.

Don’t be afraid to use a lot of paint and be bold in your brushmarks. The lightest part is titanium white with a touch of Naples yellow and cadmium yellow.

Add a small touch of raw sienna for a slightly darker tone. It makes sense to depict the highlights of the spoon at this stage, too, by using the same mix, but adding some cadmium yellow or cadmium red to depict the reflections of the cup and flowers. The whole painting has now been blocked in.

All it needs are the details.

Those pretty patterns on the cup are fun to paint, but don’t overdo them – less is more. Just a few brushstrokes with the paint you have on your palette will be enough to give the illusion of the details. Remember to use darker colours for the areas in the shadow. For the gold trim, a mix of raw sienna, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre and titanium white will do the trick.

You can leave the tablecloth in your painting as a plain colour or you might wish to depict the patterns loosely as I did here. Sometimes, if I feel the painting is already busy enough, I leave them out. In this case, I decided it would enhance the composition. Just like you did for the teacup details, keep it loose and simple. Anything too detailed will attract the eye to that area and distract from the focal points, which are the highlights on the teacup and flowers. As a final touch, I softened some edges by wiping them with my fingers – around the saucer and the vase – in an effort to make the strong edges around the focal points stand out even more.

The finished painting

Still life with Teacup, Artisan water-mixable oils on canvas board, (20x25.5cm)

Valérie is a Bath-based artist and member of the Bath Society of Artists and British Plein Air Painters. She is available for tutorials, demos and commissions, and her studio is open to visitors by appointment.

For information about her work, visit www.valeriepirlot.com

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