Tuscan Landscape – Acrylic Painting Tutorial By Julie Shoemaker

About Julie

I am a self taught artist who has been painting and interested in art all my life. My favorite medium is acrylic due to its versatility. One of my favorite things to do is teach painting to other people. I currently teach classes and we couldn’t have more fun if we tried. It’s just so gratifying to see the excitement on student’s faces when they see what they can accomplish with a little instruction and effort. When your ready to forget the theory and produce the art, visit http://www.IamPainting.org. Learn Painting Techniques and create your own remarkable portraits or landscapes.

Tuscan Landscape – Acrylic Painting Tutorial By Julie Shoemaker

Use whichever brush you feel comfortable with. I usually use a flat bristle brush for most of my work. And remember there is no right or wrong way to paint! If your painting doesn’t turn out like mine – then congratulations! You created a unique one of a kind painting.

Sky – First wet the sky area or top half of canvas with white gesso.

Then with a little yellow and a touch of orange added to the same brush, start at bottom of the sky area and work your way up. Use long horizontal strokes. Take the strokes right off the canvas while blending the yellows and orange into the white gesso as you work upward. Gently blend right up towards the top of canvas. Wipe the brush off with a paper towel.

Now add a touch of ultramarine blue and purple to the brush and start at the top of the canvas and work your way downward in the same fashion as you did the yellows.

The bottom part of the painting is under painted with any earth tone colors. Nothing fancy here!

Use sky colors (a mixture of white blue and purple) and paint in furthest hills – mountains. Notice how these hills show very little detail and are very soft looking.

Darken the mountain (sky) color and paint in next layer of hills. You want to make sure that you let some of the previous mountains show. Keep the tops interesting with some variations.

Add some earth tone to the very distant hills. You can use browns, tan, etc. Keep it dull though. Just add white to dull paint color. These are in the center of painting.

Add some hunter green and start dabbing or scrubbing in the bushes. This should be a dull green.

Landscapes typically get darker and more vivid as you work forward.

Lay in the foreground hills. (you will do the one the left first) Make this one lighter to look like sunlight is hitting it.

To do this start on the left of the painting and pull the paint brush into the center of the painting. Notice the slope of this hill. If you want you could add some rows of green for a field of crops look. (see next picture)

Now darken the mixture and add the hill on the right. Darken it with browns or tans. Too much green will make your picture look unnatural. This hill will be painted the same way but starting on the right side of the painting pulling the paint into the painting and overlapping the previous hill. Continue painting until the entire canvas is covered.

Don’t over blend! Let variations of color show.

Now start adding the tall trees.
If you are using a flat bristle brush, hold it on the side and dab on the paint in the shape of the tree.

In the background they will be duller – or lighter. The ones in the foreground are hunter green. Add purple to the paint to darken the side that will be in shadow.

Add some tree shadows to the ground.

Add one more foreground hill in the very front. The more layers – the more depth your painting will have

Add touches of reds or oranges for flowers, and some tiny shadows if you want to. Highlight the trees. (use yellow or light green and dab in brightness on the sun side of the trees)

You could easily be finished with your painting now, and let the dramatic tall tree shadows be the focus.

Or…Add some houses. Just draw in simple house shapes paint in the shapes with “dirty white “ and red for roofs. For shadows on the house, darken the roof color under the eaves. Dry brush in some white for highlights on the roof. Add a touch of orange for lights in the houses.

Add birds – Birds are just little v’s – Practice first and keep then dainty! and sign your painting….

Mixed Media Demonstration – Acrylic Paint and Collage

About Terry

Terry Honstead is an artist that enjoys using all kinds of media. Her favorite is acrylic collage, but watercolor collage and glass work are a close second! Feel free to check her work at: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/terry-honstead.html or email her at honstead@paulbunyan.net. She doesn’t have a website at this moment, but it is in the works. She lives and works as a full time artist in Bemidji, MN.

Acrylic Collage Demonstration

Step One

I am using Multimedia Artboard for this piece. I started out finding some pictures and papers that I wanted to use. The diamond pattern, the stripes, and the snake pattern came from tissue paper that I found. I added some musical notes from a music book with a copyright from the early 1900’s. The pictures were from some I found in the public domain. I cut what I wanted and “glued” them onto my 18 x 24 Artboard. I also use watercolor paper and canvas at times. Any of them will work. I glue the papers on with matte medium if they are very lightweight (like the tissue) or with soft gel gloss if they are heavier (like the paper with grass in it ). Then you need to let your paper dry. I usually dry mine over night so as to be sure it is very dry!

Step Two

After coming back to my painting, I first put on some acrylic glazes over the whole page. ( here I used Sap Green Hue, Quinacridone Crimson, and Quinacridone / Nickel Azo Gold) When the glazes were dry (you can dry them with a hair dryer), I added some thicker paint with a large piece of cork with the green (the cork is about 3 1/2 in. in diameter. I also used a small wine cork for the smaller circles. I applied Violet Oxide with a pallet knife on top of a piece of gridded plastic. and removed the plastic right away. Be sure to wash the plastic immediately after using it on one spot, and before you put it in another spot. You can use other found objects to stamp paint or use as a stencil. I often use things such as card board, bubble wrap, plastic wrap, gauze, etc. At this point, I decided to put some found objects on the papers to add more texture. I used gauze, skeleton leaves, and eyelash yarn. Again I let it dry over night

Step Three

I decided that I didn’t like the bright red colors (the Alizarin Crimson) of the painting so I put white gesso over some parts of the painting to tone it down. Once that was dry, I put a glaze over the whole painting with Quinacridone/ Nickle Azo Gold.

Step Four

Once the gold glaze was dry, I did add some spots of violet oxide with my pallet knife on various areas to bring out that color some more. Next I had to decide what the subject of my painting was going to be. I decided on a mother and baby giraffe. I tried to draw it on, but found I could not see the picture at all, so I drew it on with white paint instead. I also put in the black for the eyes and nostrils. When “drawing” this onto the painting, I used some of my found objects that were three dimensional, to use as parts of the drawing. (See the dark line of the mother’s mouth)

Step Five

Next, I used Titan Buff to tone down the white of the areas between the spots. Also begin to use Raw Umber along the outside of the animals so as to differentiate the animals from the background, fading it as you go further from the animals.

Step Six

Continue to darken the outside and build up the colors in the animals

Step Seven

I decided I needed to add some color to the background to help differentiate it. I put several glazes of Turquoise (Phthalo), while still continuing to add more details to the giraffes

Step Eight

Continue to darken and add details until you are satisfied with the result. Don’t forget to sign your painting.

Acrylic Painting Demonstration by Faith Puleston

About Faith

I was born and raised in Wales UK and studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London. I came to Germany to pursue an operatic career as a mezzo soprano and sang over 100 opera roles, including title roles such as Carmen, Joan of Arc and Oktavian in Der Rosenkavalier. Other professional occupations have include voice teacher, chorus director, language teacher and writer.

I have been writing stories plays and poetry, making music and painting for as long as I can remember. Most of my early poetry has been lost. Serious dedication to painting followed from the year 2000 to fill in the spiritual vacuum left from no longer working in the theatre. The empty canvas is like a stage. It’s up to the performer to give it life and light!

Paintings can be seen on my website at http://www.faithpuleston.net as well as numerous other online venues such as my blogs: http://faithart2010.blogspot.com , http://faithpuleston.blogspot.com/ (the main one) and http://fapj.blogspot.com/ (extra for writing).. Enjoy your visits to my online premises, but please remember that all my output is protected by copyright.

“Geometrics” painted in acrylics over collage in August 2009

This is my first attempt at recording how a painting came to life! It wasn’t really difficult, but by next week l might have forgotten! I have lots of paintings which I must have painted in some kind of trance state since do not remember what I did and when! No I wasn’t drugged or drunk! Another omission means that I do not always know exactly when I painted something or how long it took, but mainly because I paint a lot in oils and the drying processes are fairly long. This painting was done in 5 days between 19th and 23rd August. I don’t claim either that this is a guide to abstract painting or that this painting is a work of art! But it was fun and someone might like to read about the “journey”.

After being consigned to recycling and given a good scouring, the canvas (60×80cm) was first painted all over with a thin lemon wash (no photo).

A sheet of tissue paper was painted with the three main colours chosen for the painting: lemon yellow (primary), bordeaux red (secondary) and olive green (tertiary) , then the paper was cut freely into squares and other geometric forms. The pieces of coloured paper were stuck onto the canvas. Since canvas is flexible, you can’t stick too much heavy stuff on it. Cement will eventually crumble! A thin wash of bordeaux and green was added. Sorry I forgot to switch the flash off. It was too late to rephotograph by the time I realized that.

The original three colours were used to bring out some of the design elements.

The shading was modified to provide more contrast and further design elements were added. A light red was used to lighten some of the red areas .

Details were added to various elements.

Black was introduced to give more contrasts, unify the design and unite some of the elements. Some of the elements were tidied up.

Yet another new element was added (can you spot it below?) and adjustments made using all the colours used previously. White was not used in this painting.

Finally, I anchored the floating objects by adding spidery black lines touching the edges. I painted round the edges in very dark Bordeaux and corrected one or two passive areas on the perimeter of the painting. I did not use white in this painting. I think it’s finished now!

After more consideration I made a few more alterations to the painting, mainly smoothing out some of the surfaces. The absolutely final version is shown below! Well, maybe……….

Beginners Guide to Acrylic Painting

The acrylic painting medium is fairly new and has only been around since the 1950’s. Since then, it has continually been under development and refinement. Acrylic paint is highly favored amongst artists because of its versatility. It can be applied in a thick fashion as an impasto having rich texture or in washes mimicking the characteristics of watercolor. Another likable characteristic of acrylic paint is its permanence. Unlike oil paints, acrylic paint is not susceptible to yellowing or hardening with age. With acrylic paint, the artist does not need to be concerned with the order the paint is applied or other special techniques that ensure the paint film remains free from cracking.

So now that you know a bit more about the acrylic painting medium, I am sure you want to get started. This beginners guide to acrylic painting will provide you with all of the information and resources that you need to get started and improve your painting skills.

Acrylic Painting Supplies

The first thing you are going to need to get started is your painting supplies of course. With acrylics, there is no need to go overboard on supplies. All that is really needed is a good quality paint set, a few brushes and a canvas or other support. Since acrylic paint is a water based painting medium, there is no need for any special mediums. All you need to change the consistency of acrylic paints is plain old water. Clean up is a cinch as well. Your brushes can be cleaned with plain old soap and water.

Paints

I recommend the following paint set for beginners. The paints included in this set are of good quality and contain more than enough colors for beginners:

Liquitex Basics Value Series Acrylic Color Sets set of 36

Liquitex Basics Value Series Acrylic Color Sets offer great value to students and artists looking for dependable quality. The sets acquaint the artist with the essential color palette of the Basics line without having to invest in a large amount of space or money. The sets contain a variety of 22 ml tubes of color that are small enough to fit into compact, space efficient boxes while still providing the artist enough of the great quality, pigment rich acrylic paint to learn color theory or to complete virtually any work of art. Three sets are available – one with 12 colors, one with 24 colors, and one with 36 colors. Click on the camera icons for specific set contents.

Brushes

When choosing your paint brushes, do not buy cheap brushes! It is not worth it just to save a few bucks. Nothing compares to the control and feel of a good brush. I like to work with Robert Simmons brushes. I have been using them for several years now and they never let me down. If you take care of them, they will last for a long time. Below is a link to where you can buy them. These brushes are called ROBERT SIMMONS Simply Simmons Value Brush Sets and just like the name implies, these brushes are a great value. There are a variety of different sets below that cater to different needs and painting styles. Choose one or a few and enjoy!

Robert Simmons Simply Simmons Value Brush Sets In Set

A versatile range of short handled brushes. Artist quality dark tipped synthetic filament with excellent spring, fine point, and sharp chisel edge. The Robert Simmons brush delivers the performance required for the most demanding projects. Individually hand-crafted from start to finish by brush-makers with generations of experience. The seamless brass and aluminum ferrules are permanently bonded to lacquer dipped hardwood handles for dependability. Special Effects Set–flat wash size 3/4, big foot stippler size 5/8, and filbert comb size 10. Bold and Beautiful Set–bristle bright size 3/4, 1/2, 1. Wash and Dry Set–scumbler size 8, filbert wash size 3/4, round wash size 26. Devilish Detail Set–liner size 10/0, flat shader size 4, filbert size 4, spotter size 5/0, script size 1. Work Horse Set–round size 5, flat shader size 12, filbert size 8, angle shader size 1/2. Comb Combo Set–flat comb size 3/4, filbert comb size 6, angle comb size 3/8.Mop-Up Set–oval mop size 1/2 and 3/4, flat wash size 1/2. Everything Set–flat shader size 2, round size 1, filbert size 6, liner size 1, flat shader size 10. Go-To set–liner 10/0, angle shader 1/4, round size 3, filbert size 4, flat shader size 8. Rake-It set–filbert comb size 8, round size 3, flat shader size 6, flat comb size 12. Different Strokes Set–big foot stippler size 1/2, angle shader size 3/8, round size 5, scumbler size 4. Creative Instinct Set–round size 0, big foot stippler size 3/8, angle comb size 1/4, flat shader size 8 and 4.

Caring For Brushes

Learning how to properly care for your brushes is one of the most important aspects of painting. You should clean your brushes thoroughly after each painting session and here is how.

Step 1 – Using a soft cloth, wipe off the excess paint. This is done by gently squeezing the brush from the top of the ferrule toward the end of the brush with your soft cloth. Do not pull too hard as you can remove hairs and damage your brush.

Step 2 – Once you have all of the excess paint removed, wash the brushes in a mild soap and water. You want to wash the brush until you remove as much paint as humanly possible. I recommend using MASTERS Brush Cleaner and Preserver. This is a wonderful product and is very popular amongst the art community. Not only does it thoroughly clean acrylic brushes, but it also helps preserve your brushes making them last longer. Below is a link to where you can purchase this cleaner online:

Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver

Saves time and trouble, as well as your brushes. Works on oil, acrylic, or watercolor brushes. Will not harm red sable or any type bristle. Will keep brushes like new. Also easily restores old, hardened brushes.

Step 3 – Once you are sure that you have removed as much paint as possible and any excess water, dip the brush into a tiny bit of the preserver and shape it back to its original form.

Step 4 – Let your brushes dry at room temperature and do not let them dry resting on the head of the brush. This will cause the brush to dry out of shape. I leave my brushes standing up with the heads facing the ceiling in a large empty coffee can.

Supports

A support is the surface that you paint on. Stretched canvas, canvas board, canvas paper and even wood can be used as supports. Whatever surface you decide to use, make certain that the surface is prepared to accept the acrylic paint. This preparation process is known as “sizing”. Sizing is when you apply a product like gesso or primer (otherwise known as a “ground”) which seals the surface making it less absorbent. Most supports that you will purchase will already be prepared for painting, so chances are you won’t have to do any preparation on your own. In the beginning when you are just experimenting, it is best to use a less expensive support until you become more experienced. Below are some excellent choices:

Discovery Economy Stretched Canvas

Good quality pure cotton canvas with medium texture, stretched on stretcher strips. The acrylic double primed surface can be used with oil, acrylic, and casein paints. All stretched canvases are 11/16 in. deep (except 5 in x 7 in. size which is 1/2 in. deep), and are individually shrink-packed.

Fredrix Archival Watercolor Canvas Board 8 in. x 10 in. ea.

Fredrix Watercolor Canvas Board is a revolutionary new watercolor media made of 100% cotton artist canvas. The unique texture of an all natural woven material in combination with a proprietary patented, specially formulated gesso for all water based paints, delivers a unique new watercolor painting experience and distinctive look that can only be captured on canvas. Will not buckle. Frame with or without glass. Won’t tear like paper so you can scratch it, scrape it, or staple it. Wet and rewet it and it will not damage the canvas. Mounted on rigid, non-warping hardboard core. Acid free.

Fredrix Canvas Pads 9 in. x 12 in. sheets pad of 10

Genuine artist canvas, acrylic primed for use with any medium. Pads contain 10 sheets.

Other Tools & Supplies

Palette

A Palette is a surface that you use to lay out your colors for mixing and application. There are a wide variety of palettes for acrylic paints. Everything from glass to plastic can be used. My favorite palette to use by far is the Masterson Sta-Wet Painters Pal Palette. This palette solves a major problem with acrylic paints and that is their very fast drying time. On a normal palette your paints can begin to dry within minutes and whatever extra paint you have on your palette at the end of a painting session is wasted. With the Masterson Sta-Wet Palette, your paints will stay moist on the open palette for hours. Once you cover the palette with the included lid, your paints will stay moist and workable for days , possibly weeks. I have included a link below to where you can learn more about and purchase the Masterson Sta-Wet Palette:

Masterson Sta-Wet Painters Pal Palette no. 912 Sta-Wet Painters Pal

No more wasted paint… Masterson’s patented process keeps acrylics and other waterbased paints moist on the open palette for hours. Once the lid is closed, the paints will stay in workable condition for days, even weeks. A wet sponge and special permeable palette paper provide the paint with a constant source of moisture. Paints will not dry out. Simply soak the palette in water until it is fully saturated. Saturate the sponge and place it in the tray. Lay the palette paper on top of the sponge, wipe off excess water from the paper, and put your paints on the wet paper. The paints will slowly absorb moisture as needed without changing the consistency or color value. You can mix paints on the wet paper without tearing it. Sta-Wet Painters Pal contains five sheets of Sta-Wet acrylic palette paper, cellulose sponge, palette tray and lid, five paint cups and detachable lids, one solvent cup with attached lid, storage area beneath removable cup holder tray, complete instructions for preparation and use. Overall container size is 13 in. x 12 in. x 1 1/2 in. Palette size is 9 in. x 12 in. Storage cups fits inside Sta-Wet Painter’s Pal for temporary paint storage or use separately for holding various craft items. 1 3/4 in. diameter x 1 in. depth; 3/4 oz. capacity. Solvent cups fits inside Sta-Wet Painter’s or use separately as dripless storage containers for turpentine, brush cleaner, extensors, and other liquid media. 1 1/2 in. diameter x 3/4 in. depth; 1/2 oz. capacity.

Painting & Palette Knives

You may also wish to purchase other supplies to experiment with as you become more experienced with acrylic paint. Brushes are not the only tool that you can use to manipulate the paint around your support. Painting knives, while traditionally used with oil paints, can also be used with acrylics. Palette knives are made specifically for mixing paint on the palette where painting knives are used for moving paint around on your support. You may run into a problem using a painting knife with acrylic paint. Not all acrylic paints are ideal for working with a knife. Some have a thick, stiff and buttery consistency, while others are more runny. If you are using a runnier acrylic paint, and you are interested in working with painting knives, then you will need to use a special medium that will give your paint more body.

Atomizer

An atomizer is basically a spray bottle that you fill with water. You can use an atomizer to spray a very fine mist of water over your palette or canvas to keep your paints moist and workable.

Sponges

Sponges are handy little tools to have available during your painting sessions. You can use sponges to spread out your paint over a large area or to create interesting effects with paint.

Acrylic Painting Lessons & Techniques

So you now have a better understanding of the supplies you are going to need to get started. Let’s put those supplies to good use by learning how to paint with acrylics! As stated in the beginning of this guide, acrylic paints are quite versatile opening the door to many exciting and interesting techniques.

Instead of trying to recreate the wheel so to speak, and discuss acrylic painting lessons and techniques in this post, I thought it would be much easier to just direct you to the many great lessons that are posted here on this blog and my other website Creativespotlite.com:

Acrylic Painting Techniques

A Direct Approach to Acrylic Painting by Greg Biolchini

After Monet – Acrylic Painting Demonstration By Brian Rice

Painting a Mural For a Church By Julie Lamons

Acrylic Painting Demonstration & Tips By Lesly Finn

At The Dock – An Acrylic Painting Demonstration by Brian Rice

Learn Acrylic Painting – Painting Demo by Lorraine Vatcher

Acrylic painting tutorial By Harmony Steel

7-STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL PAINTING

Acrylic Painting Tips & Techniques

Jim Pescott’s Dottalism Process

Acrylic Painting Demonstration – Mystic Past

Animal Portrait Demonstration – Stanley

Follow this link for free acrylic painting video lessons

Acrylic Painting Tips & Techniques For Beginners

Acrylic paint, when compared with other mediums like oil paint, is a fairly new addition to the world of painting. It has only been around since the 1950’s . It has been continually under development and refinement since that time. Just because acrylic paint has not been around as long as oils, does not make these paints less important or enjoyable.

Some of the wonderful benefits of using acrylic paints are their versatility, permanence and ease of use. These paints can be applied thickly as an impasto or in thin washes similar to watercolor. Acrylic paint does not yellow or harden with age like oils.

Another reason artists love to work with acrylics is their fast drying time. Since acrylic paint dries so quickly, colors can be applied and layered quicker than oil paints. But with this fast drying time comes a few disadvantages:

1) The paint will not remain workable for very long, so you have to work fast.

2) Brushes can be ruined if you do not clean them right away.

3) If you plan to paint outdoors, then acrylic paint is probably not the best medium to use, especially on a hot sunny day. When you lay out your colors on a palette or other surface, they will begin to dry quickly forming skins on the surface, making them quite difficult to work with.

Acrylic Painting Techniques

Watercolor Effects

Many artists like to use acrylics in a fluid state, similar to watercolor. There is a notable difference though. With acrylics, washes can be layered on top of one another without fear of disturbing the colors underneath. You must wait for one layer to dry completely before applying another of course. Once each layer dries it becomes insoluble in water. One disadvantage to using acrylics as a watercolor medium is the difficulty in modifying the color. Once acrylic paint begins to dry it becomes very difficult to modify and washes can sometime dry with unwanted hard edges. You can avoid this problem in one of two ways. You can either dampen the paper before the paint is applied or you can use an additional brush dampened with water. Use one brush to apply the paint and immediately soften the edge with the other brush that has been dampened with the water.

Pouring & Dripping Technique

This technique was made popular by the master painter Jackson Pollock in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. You use a very fluid acrylic paint for this technique. You can pour it directly on the canvas or dip a brush into the paint and let it drip down onto the canvas. You can create some very interesting effects with this technique. Check out Jackson Pollocks work to see this technique in action.

Sgraffito Technique

Sgraffito is a scratching technique. It got its name from the Italian word graffiare which literally means to scratch. Just as the name implies it involves scratching into the surface of the wet paint which reveals either the ground or layer of dry color underneath. There are a number of different tools that can be used for this technique. Tools like screwdrivers or the sharpened end of an old paintbrush handle can work.

Using a Squeegee

A regular squeegee that you can buy at any hardware or auto store has the ability to create some interesting effects. First squeeze out some paint blobs directly along one edge of your support. You can layout whatever colors you wish. Then with one fluid motion drag the paint across the surface with your squeegee smearing and mixing the paint as you go.

Acrylic Painting Tips

Variety

One of the things that makes a painting interesting is variety. Use a variety of different brushstrokes, techniques and values in your paintings. Change the direction of your brushstrokes or mix different techniques in the same painting.

Don’t Copy

Don’t copy other artists. Allow other artists to influence you and paint your own impression of what you see from your heart and soul. This is how your inner creativity shines on the canvas. It is what set painters like Vincent van Gogh and Salvador Dali apart from the rest. They each injected their own style and heart into their work.

Observe Your Surroundings

Spend time observing and studying your subjects and surroundings. Landscape artists spend a great deal of time outdoors studying nature. Figure and portrait artists spend a great deal of time studying the human anatomy. If you aren’t spending enough time observing the subjects that you wish to paint, then you won’t have the necessary knowledge to paint them.

Art Supplies

Are you using quality acrylic painting supplies? In the beginning when you are experimenting, it is ok to use cheaper supplies, but as you become more experienced, you may want to consider investing in better quality. When it comes to fine art supplies, you usually get what you pay for. If you buy cheap brushes, they will more than likely begin to fall apart. The ferrule of the brush can loosen and the hairs can fall out. If you use cheap paint, you will get cheap looking results. The colors will not have the same brilliance or the right consistency.

Don’t Be Afraid To Use Your Paint

Lets face it, good paint does not come cheap, so in an effort to conserve our paint, some artists will use as little paint as possible. This is a reasonable concern, but the truth however, is that your paintings will be more interesting if you lay down the brush stroke, leave it alone, and then reload your brush. Don’t try and scrub the paint into the canvas, otherwise you are just staining, and not painting.

Don’t Over Think

Don’t overly criticize or judge your own work while you are painting. This will discourage and frustrate you. Just relax and let go. Trust yourself and your abilities.

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