Artists Back to Basics - Issue 6 Volume 3 2016

painting to make sure I am creating

a sense of depth so the patterns will

work and the drawing reads well.

STEP TWO

I introduce Blue to the palette of acrylics

(I generally start a painting with only

the primary colours as this allows me

to see my three tonal values early,

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and Blue for my darks. These primary

colours will also show through and

give the painting depth as I don’t paint

over all the under-painting). Using Blue

introduces the darks to the painting; I

also use the Blues to redraw and adjust.

STEP THREE

I now arrange on a disposable palette

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and Ultramarine Blue, in other words

a warm and cool of the three primary

colours. For a medium I use Archival

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gives transparency and dries fast.

STEP FOUR

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a large flat brush; this must show the

correct atmosphere of the time of day

and the time of season as this is vital

for the overall feeling of the painting

and lays down the foundation for the

rest of the painting. In other words, the

sky needs to be quite cool in colour,

leaving spaces for the foliage. I then

rough in the tree foliage with a broad

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the greens varying from warm to cool

and still allowing the under-painting to

show through. At this stage I also need

to vary the tone from the left to the right

of the painting as the trees in the right

hand side are closer and the left hand

side needs to recede and be hazy.

STEP FIVE

Using a painting knife I gently blur

the sky and the foliage together.

I don’t finish an area until I have

Step Four Step Five

Step Six

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