5th Lesson - Greek Steps

Well, we're continuing on down the steps using our palette knife and fine-tuning areas with a wide, flat brush.  You can see, even in the photo below, how thick the paint is.  It gives the painting depth and texture without you trying too hard!  I have gone around the cat with a brush so that the paint is thin on the edges.  If you leave a thick edge and try to paint over it, it may crack later when dry.

Finished - "Blewbury Cottage, UK"

I put in more darks in the garden near the front, just dabbing here and there to create pockets to give a bit more depth.  I used some new random colours for flowers to dot over any areas that were a bit boring.  All it needs now is a signature and a varnish (give it about 3 months to dry) and a frame!

4th Lesson - Greek Steps

I think the focal point of this painting is the colour and texture of the steps.  So as we move  forward into the foreground, I am going to use a palette knife.  Using the same colours, I scoop a knife-ful of premixed paint (dark colours first) and literally scrape the paint horizontally across the step.  One step at a time is a good idea at this stage.  Next I mix the colours on my palette very loosely, so that when I scrape the next shade (lighter colours) across the step, the colours aren't quite blended and appear patchy, which help to increase interesting detail on it's own.  Once that is done, you can use your wide flat brush to smooth out some parts, add a bit of an edge to the top of the step, or just blend in bits that you think might be too sharp at this stage.  Have fun!

3rd Lesson - Greek Steps

We are just continuing on down the steps, making them a little more detailed, a little more colourful and a little bit sharper!  We are also applying the paint thicker as the next lesson will involve using a palette knife, and we don't want the sudden jump from thin paint to impasto.

Keep That Second Cottage Out-Of-Focus

We finished painting the cottage on the right.  I painted in the whites first, then the timber so that they could be feathered off slightly while the paint is wet.  Remember to keep this cottage slightly out-of-focus, as it is not our centre of interest.  Next the paving was done in a light purple mix, blending it into the foliage at the back so there was no hard edge.  I roughly painted in the paving lines in a darker purple and feathered it off into the wet paint slightly with dark and light colours on my brush.  You don't want the cracks to be flat, so in places they are darker and the colour is varied.  I then painted in the bricks in front of the door, again slightly out-of-focus.  I loosely dabbed in the greens, then flowers and kept dabbing them in until it was nice and soft.

6th Lesson - Camels

I think the most important thing to remember when painting the camel's blankets is to make sure any stripes, tassels or lines are not straight.  They follow the curvature of the saddle underneath with kinks and folds, giving an impression of depth.  Use plenty of darks for shadow with contrasting highlights to make a sharp, clean edges.  I stippled on the paint with a small brush to give the texture of wool.   You can really use any colours you want here - I used Cadmium Red Deep for that lovely rich red.

2nd Lesson - Greek Steps

I have altered the steps at the top of my painting to virtually disappear around the corner.  This will help add depth.  For the steps I used Cobalt, Cadmium Red, Indian Red and Cadmium Yellow Deep.  There is not a lot of detail at this stage and I have feathered off any hard edges with a mix of Cobalt and Cadmium Red.  These 2 colours make a dirty purple which is what we want at this stage.  The Indian Red was used for the doorway and window shutters.  The main aim here is just to keep it very soft, adding more detail and colour as we proceed down the canvas.  Don't forget to keep darks dark even though we want them out-of-focus.

"Mull Of Kintyre"

Loved this photo we took whilst on the Mull of Kintyre last year.  A few of the ladies painted it with me on a Wednesday.

11th Lesson - Thatched Cottage

We gave the garden a break this week and painted the thatched roof on the right.  I wanted this roof to be out-of-focus so that the viewer looks past the roof and into the garden which is our focal point.  Soften the edge of the roof with a very light Tasman Blue mix.  After painting the roof with lots of darks and highlights you can gently smooth off any sharp edges by going over the whole roof with a dry, soft brush.

5th Lesson - Camels

Well today we finished painting the camels leaving their halters and blankets for later.  Remember to make the shadows on the camels quite dark where the blankets and tassels overlap before you start painting them next week.  Give this guy lots of texture by using thick paint and stippling or dabbing it on with a fine brush.