Painting classes, lessons and books are not only about painting. They do if you take the time also teach you how to appreciate life and the natural world around you in a different light. To notice the crisp blue of a winter sky, diminutive wild flowers at your feet, the sun in sparkling rhythm with wind blown waves, northern maple, birch and poplar in season changing cloaks, the fall of light and shade in your walk through life each and every day. To be more aware of this is to experience life more fully.
The Poet Falls is a 72 x 36 inch painting. This step by step progression through this work is intended for advanced beginners and intermediate painters. This image took me six weeks to paint. This time in the studio does not include the time spent portaging and paddling into wild places such as this to capture the subject matter in just the right mood to paint. The step by step progression through this complex layering process of colour and texture will explain various ways of creating the parts of this work and putting them together as in a puzzle to complete a landscape painting.
The various steps will help you to figure out how to approach that favourite photograph from your holidays that you want to put to canvas. It will teach you the painting mantra, "patience, patience, patience." As it is a complex work it does require discipline. You need to accept that you cannot rush this work. You need to relax, accept that it will take time. Put your favourite tunes on. We are all different but I find that music with a good beat helps one to paint a little faster when you are tackling things like leaves and grass and branches They are tedious to paint but they are a necessary part of the whole.
If the energy is there in the beginning to only paint for an hour then paint for an hour. It is daunting in the beginning as the flow of energy is from you and into the artwork. You will find though that as the painting comes together after a few weeks of work that the flow of energy will be in the opposite direction. The painting will energize you as you feel that sense of accomplishment and your passion for a painting well done.
The first step of course is going to an art supply store and purchasing a pre-stretched canvas or the stretcher bar and canvas and stretching it onto the stretcher bar. When canvas is stretched as tightly as what it can be by hand it will relax. There are grooves in each corner of the stretcher bar to accommodate wedges that when tapped into the grooves will push the stretcher bar apart making the canvas taut.
Remember that how and what materials are used is only meant as a guideline for each individual painter's interpretation. Paints used to paint this image were Windsor Newton alkyds so when I reference a colour it will be the trade names used by this company. Alkyds dry more quickly then oils but not as fast as acrylic paints. If you paint a layer in the morning you should be able to overpaint by late afternoon. I prefer to mix the colours without linseed oil as it defeats the faster drying qualities of this type of oil paint.
I use a disposable paper palette. I use it in much the same fashion as a plastic or wooden palette in that I scrape the old paint off as much as possible and reuse it with fresh paints several times before disposing of it.
I am a left handed painter so I work from right to left to lessen the problem of dragging the heel of my hand through wet, freshly painted areas. If you are a right handed painter you may want to work left to right when painting.
The brushes I use to paint with are natural hair brushes. This is a personal choice but I have found that the natural fibers will keep their point much better. This is only important if you are a representational artist and wish to paint those wonderful long thin brush strokes of a tree limb or a birds feathered coat.
I use a mathematical formula when I am laying out the work in order to keep everything in perspective and relative to each other in size. For example if your photographic study is ten inches long on the horizontal and your canvas is seventy inches
than anything you paint should be seven times larger.
Read the instructions for each step carefully before touching paint to canvas. If you read and understand what you are dong them the work is much more satisfying. If you re tempted to rush you might very well be frustrated because your painting is not as you envisioned. Patience, patience, patience.
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Painting classes, lessons and books are not only about painting. They do if you take the time also teach you how to appreciate life and the natural world around you in a different light. To notice the crisp blue of a winter sky, diminutive wild flowers at your feet, the sun in sparkling rhythm with wind blown waves, northern maple, birch and poplar in season changing cloaks, the fall of light and shade in your walk through life each and every day. To be more aware of this is to experience life more fully.
The Poet Falls is a 72 x 36 inch painting. This step by step progression through this work is intended for advanced beginners and intermediate painters. This image took me six weeks to paint. This time in the studio does not include the time spent portaging and paddling into wild places such as this to capture the subject matter in just the right mood to paint. The step by step progression through this complex layering process of colour and texture will explain various ways of creating the parts of this work and putting them together as in a puzzle to complete a landscape painting.
The various steps will help you to figure out how to approach that favourite photograph from your holidays that you want to put to canvas. It will teach you the painting mantra, "patience, patience, patience." As it is a complex work it does require discipline. You need to accept that you cannot rush this work. You need to relax, accept that it will take time. Put your favourite tunes on. We are all different but I find that music with a good beat helps one to paint a little faster when you are tackling things like leaves and grass and branches They are tedious to paint but they are a necessary part of the whole.
If the energy is there in the beginning to only paint for an hour then paint for an hour. It is daunting in the beginning as the flow of energy is from you and into the artwork. You will find though that as the painting comes together after a few weeks of work that the flow of energy will be in the opposite direction. The painting will energize you as you feel that sense of accomplishment and your passion for a painting well done.
The first step of course is going to an art supply store and purchasing a pre-stretched canvas or the stretcher bar and canvas and stretching it onto the stretcher bar. When canvas is stretched as tightly as what it can be by hand it will relax. There are grooves in each corner of the stretcher bar to accommodate wedges that when tapped into the grooves will push the stretcher bar apart making the canvas taut.
Remember that how and what materials are used is only meant as a guideline for each individual painter's interpretation. Paints used to paint this image were Windsor Newton alkyds so when I reference a colour it will be the trade names used by this company. Alkyds dry more quickly then oils but not as fast as acrylic paints. If you paint a layer in the morning you should be able to overpaint by late afternoon. I prefer to mix the colours without linseed oil as it defeats the faster drying qualities of this type of oil paint.
I use a disposable paper palette. I use it in much the same fashion as a plastic or wooden palette in that I scrape the old paint off as much as possible and reuse it with fresh paints several times before disposing of it.
I am a left handed painter so I work from right to left to lessen the problem of dragging the heel of my hand through wet, freshly painted areas. If you are a right handed painter you may want to work left to right when painting.
The brushes I use to paint with are natural hair brushes. This is a personal choice but I have found that the natural fibers will keep their point much better. This is only important if you are a representational artist and wish to paint those wonderful long thin brush strokes of a tree limb or a birds feathered coat.
I use a mathematical formula when I am laying out the work in order to keep everything in perspective and relative to each other in size. For example if your photographic study is ten inches long on the horizontal and your canvas is seventy inches
than anything you paint should be seven times larger.
Read the instructions for each step carefully before touching paint to canvas. If you read and understand what you are dong them the work is much more satisfying. If you re tempted to rush you might very well be frustrated because your painting is not as you envisioned. Patience, patience, patience.