think about painting water, you
might want to consider my DVD
“Water Fundamentals”. As a
special offer, Back to Basics
readers can have a discount on
our DVD tutorial 3 pack. Visit
http://www.explore-acrylic-painting.
com/AP-discount.html or see
our ad in this magazine.
This article is primarily about
brush technique, but as usual I like
to hide learning in some fun.
Before we start with our brushwork
exercises, the first thing is to
consider that the appearance of
water is made up of four elements:
- The Substrate (ie sand,
rocks etc) Colour of the
Water (what it’s carrying) - The Shapes of the Surface of
the Water (waves, ripples etc) - The Light
Again, before we start, I would like
to suggest that as impatient creatures
we tend to do our training on our
paintings. Its a great idea, while
building your confidence, to have a
few blank canvases around to test
things on. You can paint an aspect of
a painting on a separate canvas, so
you know what you are doing before
committing to a "serious" piece.Let’s get into our first exercise:
In one of the previous articles I
mentioned that one of the functions
of a paintbrush is to pick up large
amounts of paint and move it
around. This could be for blocking
in, or more subtle effects like
gradations of colour, as examples.
Using your paintbrush in the same
way you would use a house brush (that
is, good coverage), we are going to
prepare a small canvas, representing
shallow clear water on a sunny day.Colours:- Pthalo Blue
- Cadmium Yellow Light
- White
Fig 1. Gradation Fig 2. Rocks“Its a great idea,
while building
your confidence,
to have a few
blank canvases
around to test
things on. You can
paint an aspect
of a painting
on a separate
canvas, so you
know what you
are doing before
committing to a
"serious" piece.”