http://www.painters-online.co.uk artistMarch 2021 57
PRACTICAL
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My reference photo for this compositionDEMONSTRATION Roe Deer Skull
For this unusual still life I’ve chosen to paint an animal skull with a strong light
source, along with optimistically bright, cheery colours. I wanted to create the
mood of an arid landscape with the use of saturated hues of a blue sky and warm
colours that feel hot to the touch.p My palette, prepared in advance with colours. Make
sure you have enough paint so you don’t keep having
to stop and top up every few minutes. Once you are in
the flow of painting any distraction that breaks your
concentration can be a hindrance
t I re-use paper
to mix my colours;
they make swatches
of colour that
you can use for
later paintings or
matching colours
togetherI worked on a stretched canvas, primed with a mixture of cerulean blue and plenty
of white. A slightly more diluted mixture of paint was applied for the base. When
doing this, do make sure you have mixed up enough paint to cover the entire
canvas; you don’t want to have to mix more paint half-way through, with the risk
of not getting the same tone you mixed initially. Having enough paint to complete
the job also gives you an even and opaque base colour, which is important as you
may want your base colour to become part of the finished painting. My intention
was to expose the base colour and interesting background marks with strong
colour as part of the finished painting.MATERIALS
l Canvas, 16 3 20in
l Amsterdam Expert acrylics:
cadmium yellow medium, cadmium
yellow lemon, cadmium orange,
l Amsterdam Standard acrylics:
yellow ochre
l Daler-Rowney System 3 Original
acrylics: cerulean blue, deep violet,
titanium white, crimson
l Brushes: Liquitex freestyle, 2in flat;
Gerstaecker I Love Art No. 20 and
two No. 35
l Paper towel
l Spare paper for mixing colour
l Water potsNote: I have found that student-quality
yellows and oranges can be a bit weak,
especially when used neat over other colours
on canvas – they are often not strong enough
to dominate the colour underneath. This
encourages you to build up more layers to
obtain richness in the colour, but too much
build up with acrylics can look messy and even
dull. I suggest that you invest in artist-quality
paint for some of your warm hues. There are
many artist-quality paints on the market, but I
have found that the Amsterdam Expert range
is good and reasonably priced. Alternatively,
you could add white to your yellow student-
quality paint to make it more opaque but
remember too much white will take the edge
off the richness of the colour.t Study of a Deer’s Skull, acrylic on paper,
103 12in (25.5 3 30.5cm).
This study was painted with a naturalistic acrylic
palette using soft earthy tints and tone. It’s the
vibrant base colour of pink that creates the sense
of the unusual. Base colours are a long-held
tradition in painting but not necessarily with such
a vibrant ground. A difference such as this can be
what it takes to produce something innovative