Preview
131. SMALL BOATS
Small boats. The title says it all. This week we’re not painting any people but this beautiful collection of small boats floating in the harbour. I love painting boats as they present a different challenge for us. We have stunning reflections, which are not just mirror images of the boats, so look for the subtle changes in tone and shape as the water around them moves, ripples and bounces our sunlight towards us. This is a great intermediate piece but everyone can give this a go. Enjoy…
Read More130. TEXTING
This week we are painting ‘texting’. After our last few tutorials I thought it would be nice to do a simple beginners piece with just a single figure. This is the type of painting that I do at my in person workshops and is broken into a first wash and then three sections, the top background, the woman and then finally the foreground. The result is this beautiful painting with lots of retained highlights and a bright colourful main subject. Give it a go a few times as it’s only 50 minutes. Enjoy…
Read More129. CHECKING THE BILL
This week we are “Checking the bill” with this wonderfully busy cafe scene. We break it down into 3 sections, the top background, the people and finally the chairs and foreground, giving it a nice easy to follow structure. This is an intermediate to advanced painting but will be great fun as its a challenge to recreate accurately, but don’t try to repeat every line, use shapes and shadows to form your darks and keep those whites preserved. Enjoy…
Read More128. COUPLE’S SHADOW
This week were doing a great piece for our beginners and anyone wanting to practice their vibrant shadow work. This is a photo taken from an unusual perspective that casts shadows diagonally towards us so they’re important in our composition. We also use a ruler to create some very straight pavement (sidewalk) lines that go through our shadows but behind our subjects which finishes our painting using a new technique. You’ll enjoy this one and it is just over an hour so it is one you can do a few times.
Read More127. AFTERNOON BOWLS
Fancy a Great British tradition? Well today is your day, we’re going Bowling but this is Crown Green bowling and a photo taken mid afternoon to create a lovely, active photo for something that’s quite a calming activity. We have so many whites to preserve here but you have to keep some colours in here too to show our reflected greens and our blue top lady. This is a great painting if you’re at an intermediate level but is good for all to try, keep your lines sharp and your backgrounds soft. Enjoy…
Read More126. CASTING
After our advanced tutorial last time I thought we’d do something a little easy going this week, so I’ve chosen a subject I like to paint and is easy to repeat. ‘Casting’ is a great beginner/intermediate piece for our core skills, making sure our lights are preserved well and using a vibrant yellow to bring our main subject forward. The sky and foreground are great practice for blending colours to achieve some variation in the colours. Give this one a go a few times if you have some time. Enjoy…
Read More125. BUBBLES – PREVIEW
125! Yes it’s our 125th tutorial this week, so I saved a real favourite of mine for this one. This is “Bubbles” and it’s a photo of my nephews daughter taken a few years ago now. Perfect as a really interesting and advanced subject for you all to try, this is all about that cheeky face and the white, crisp bubble outlines that make this truly shine as a painting. Happy 125th tutorial everyone…
Read More124. WALKING ON THE BEACH – PREVIEW
This week’s tutorial is a reminder that summer is here (even though the UK isn’t really seeing it) and this is a great reminder of those lazy days just walking down the beach with the sea lapping at your feet. This is an intermediate level piece and relies on a loose touch to create some lovely movement and texture in our sea and sand with some nice sharp lines to define our figure. Enjoy…
Read More123. VENICE SCENE
This week it’s just one wash, yep you heard right, only one wash of all six colours directly onto a wet canvas to create this great Venice Gondola scene. We then use some lifting off to help enhance our highlights. This is one of our really simple paintings to really encourage our new members to give this painting a go several times to see your progress each time. You’ll really enjoy trying this and seeing your water and pigment controls improve as you go…
Read More122. THE LITTLE MAN – PREVIEW
This week we have something totally new, its two paintings in one. We do our first painting with a sea and sky background and then replace that background with a darker version based on our original photo. This is a great opportunity to see how just changing the background can transform your painting without touching our main subject at all. It’s a great exercise in knowing how to correct something using darker tones. This is fairly advanced but good for all levels to try if you can set aside a couple of hours to complete it. Enjoy…
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