Let's Start with Art

 

You will need

14x16in. canvas covered board

Oil colours

• Ultramarine blue
• Cerulean blue
• Alizarin crimson
• Light red
• Raw sienna
• Yellow ochre
• Cadmium yellow
• Naples yellow
• Burnt Sienna

 

Notes on Techniques

1 To achieve a better grip for the oils and help drying time, I normally coat my board with a mix of white acrylic primer into which is mixed some plaster of Paris or powdered Polyfilla. Roughly brushed on, this gives an excellent base for the oil painting.

2 To give me that autumnal atmosphere, I first use a base mix of acrylic colours – in this instance a mixture of light red and yellow ochre. I more often than not colour my board or canvas in colours to suit the atmosphere I am seeking, usually with acrylic paint but sometimes with oil paint. It is important to apply the paint thinly to allow the white backing to ‘grin’ through. I allow it to dry before commencing the painting.

3 I am not a great fan of laboured and overworked paintings and, in most of my work, I usually leave some areas undone. I believe that the reason for the painting gets lost the more you work on it. The pleasure of painting for me comes in the initial set up and probably the first two or possibly three stages. From then on, my mind is on the next painting. The pleasure is in the doing – and not the final product!

 

Step 1

1 Using a small No. 4 flat bristle brush, loosely draw the subject and, with the use of a minimum amount of odourless thinner or turps, block in some of the drawing using the colours you intend to finish with.

2 Add a minimal amount of white to the sky and water areas to offset against the purer dark colours to come. This will give you some idea of your final tones.

 

Step 2

1 Continue as before by laying in loose colours.  Paint with quite neat colours, using just enough thinner in place to make the paint move.

TIP
Notice how I move across the whole of the painting and never paint just in one area. This will help you judge tones better and stop you over-painting - the ruination of us all!

 

 

Step 3

1 Using a Rigger brush and a dark colour mix, redraw the subject. Using more thinner at this stage will help achieve more structure to the work.

2 Add more colour to the entire painting (as in Step 2), all the while making the paint slightly thicker and lighter in tone.

TIP
Use more white in the sky colour mixes than in the foreground at this stage

 

 

Step 4

Finally, look at the painting as a whole and attempt to fix any problem areas. When satisfied, put in the finished larger areas - define the foreground a bit more, for example, make the final marks, and then finish with the detail.

TIP
Don't paint large areas of dark over light; keep details to a minimum; and retain your thoughts as to what the painting was all about!

 

 

 

Demonstration extracted from Leisure Painter October 2007 issue