$70 Tip...For Free!

I signed up for a beginning acrylics class this spring, thinking that I might be missing something since I never had painting lessons.  Well, it was a little more basic than I thought, but I did come away with one helpful tip for my $70, and I'll share it with you for free!  Acrylic paint tends to be translucent, so if you're painting a flower it can get frustrating adding layer after layer of paint right out of the tube, and it still dries too see-through.  Here's the tip: white paint is opaque.  Always add a tiny bit of white to any color you need to be opaque, and viola!  No more see-through flower petals!  There, I just saved you $70!

Final Step!

I thought I was finished after the last step, but after sending my client a photo of the painting, she decided she'd like me to add one more thing.  She wanted another villa in the distance, on the hillside.  So here you can see where I added some more trees and bushes, and the house.  And now it's done!  You can see the finished painting on the upper right.  By the way, I have 18 x 12 prints of this piece available.  Check my website at cottagerosestudio.etsy.com.

Step Seven!

I added poppies and little yellow flowers to the fields.  I also used a fan brush to add grass.  In the photo of this step, you can also see a better close-up of the vineyard and trees.

Step Six!

Here I added more trees, painted the grape vines in the vineyard, and added more color to the villa.  For the grapes, just dab on shades of green to show light and shadow.  There's nothing complicated here!  I added more golden tones to the villas, because I thought they needed more color.  Also, I decided to change the bottom part of the painting, and remove the bridge.  My client had mentioned the idea of a bridge, but it just didn't seem to fit with what I envisioned.  So I gessoed over that part, turning it into hills.  That's the beauty of acrylics!

Step Five!

I started adding cypress trees, around the villa and on the hills.  Don't forget to add shadows!  I made the trees look rounded by making the left side lighter, and the right side away from the sun darker.   I also added darker stripes to the area where the vineyard will be.  This will create shadows under the rows of grapes.

Step Four!

Here's where the refining begins!  I added another layer to the hills to soften them and add more highlights.  Then added a layer to the houses of creamy tan, and some cool grey-blue shadows.  I added highlights and shadows to the roofs also.

Step Three!

The important thing here is to cover the entire canvas.  This isn't the finshed painting, but it's the under-layer that we'll build on later.  I covered the slopes with green, brown in the vineyard, and started the houses.  I filled in the walls with tan, and made the roofs dark red.

Step Two!

Start adding the distant hills using soft purple and blue.  As you move toward the front, brighten the colors with more green and gold.  Add some lighter areas to show sunlight, keeping the direction of the sun in mind.  In this painting, the sun is shining from the left, so I highlighted the left slopes of the hills.  Have fun with color!  Tuscany has wheat fields, poppies, vineyards, so make those hills colorful!

First Project: A Tuscan Landscape

This is a comissioned piece I recently did.  It's a very large 24 x 36, but you could do it on a smaller canvas.  Start by brushing on a layer of gesso where your sky will be, then paint on your blue using a large brush.  Try to keep it more saturated at the top, letting the color fade toward the horizon.  Let dry, then add clouds, however you want.  I like to underpaint a layer of muted grey, tan and peach, so there's some color showing behind the white.  The main tip to painting realistic clouds is lots of blending!  You don't want any sharp edges, except maybe at the top.  Add dabs of pure white to highlight.  Let your sky dry, then get ready for step two!