Painting with acrylics and oils

Today I am writing about a recent painting I finished of another Australian landscape.

I started this painting from the above reference photo, which I took while vacationing at snowy mountains very close to Thredbo, almost two years ago. This photo has very nice background mountains but the foreground is not that inspiring. However I decided to keep the basic shapes while modifying the colour scheme and adding gum trees to the foreground. Using charcoal I did a rough sketch of the main forms to define the background, middle and foreground. I added a farmhouse at the far end of the middle ground.

I started the painting by executing an underpainting with acrylic colours to establish the basic forms as well as the mood of the painting.

I decided to paint an early morning scene and so I chose a pallette of warm oranges and yellows and cool blues for the background. I then removing some trees and the road that was originally winding uphill in distance. The advantage of using an acrylic underpainting is that it dries very quickly although you can achieve the same result if you had to dilute oils with mineral spirit.

Next step was to go for a layer of oil colour to enforce the shadows and mid-tones in the painting. Colours used were titanium/zinc white, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cerulean blue, yellow ochre, cad orange, burnt sienna, Australian red gold, virmillion, burnt umber, sap green, viridian,cad yellow light.

The final stage was to add the details and highlights, using both brushes and pallette knives. The final product can be seen above.

Afternoon ride

This is an acrylic on loose canvas showing a horse rider on top of a hill. Using willow charcoal I did a rough sketch of the main elements of this painting.

A mixture of titanium white with rose madder and cobalt blue was used to underpaint the furthest hill. A second mixture was prepared consisting of ultramarine blue, vermillion and white for the other background hills, increasing blue and vermillion to darken the colour as I moved forward to the closer hills. The foreground including trees were painted with viridian and burnt umber mix. Trees in the mid-ground were blocked by adding cobalt blue mixture to the foreground mixture, increasing blue as I went to the background trees.

After drying I prepared a wash of naples yellow with white for the background using diagonal brush strokes. I added trees using the same background blue colour. I started to add more details to the trees using raw sienna and yellow ochre. Light is coming from the right hand side corner.

Using a mix of yellow ochre or Naples yellow ith white I continued adding highlights to the trees and as I approached the front part of the painting I starting adding washes of alizarin red, red gold and viridian. Warm colours like vermillion, touch of cad red medium, cad yellow and ultramarine blue were used for the front trees and grasses. Then I highlighted the horse with combination of burnt sienna, cad orange and yellow/white mix. 

Additional details were added such as tree trunks and pure colours for highlights.

Waterfall painting

This painting shows one of the waterfalls found on one of the tracks in Blue Mountains. My favorite bush walks are those deep in the rainforests surrounded by ferns and where light seldom reaches. Waterfalls, creek and small rock pools continue to enhance the landscape. This is what inspires me most, the effect of light, water and water reflections.

This painting is an acrylic on canvas. I used a technique which is more impressionistic since it lacks the fine details of realism. I light source is coming from the right upper corner. I started by a simple wash of the main colours as an underpainting, using titanium white and Naples yellow for the lighting. Cerulean blue and white was used for the distant rock underpainting adding raw sienna to it to create tints of green for the vegetation. A mix of ultramarine blue, white and vermilion was used for the underpainting of the main rock for the waterfall, adding more blue and red to darken it as I moved closer to the front. Using the same colours plus burnt sienna and burnt umber I pained the foreground using horizontal brush strokes.

After drying I added more layers of paint to the light source and to the background rocks by mixing white with touches of alizarin red and burnt sienna to create the rocks. I added more details and colour to the vegetation by using a mixture of Naples yellow, cerulean blue and olive green for the mid-tones. I added highlights with increasing amounts of white and Naples yellow, using a dabbing stroke of a flat brush.

With dry brush I scrubbled the mist below the vegetation using a mixture of white and cobalt blue.

The vegetation on the left hand corner was painted using a mixture of greens darkened by its complementary colour alizarin red.

Then I started adding details to the rock. Using a pallette knife as well as brush I started adding mid-tones using a mixture of white, alizarin red and burnt sienna. The closer to the front of the painting the more burnt sienna was used. After drying I started adding highlights using white and naples yellow to the rock. I also prepared a wash of phtalo green with raw sienna and Naples yellow and with very soft touches I started adding some green colour to the rocks. Using the same wash that I used for the mist, I added some mist to the back part of the rock.

Using the same mixes of greens and burnt sienna I strted adding reflections to the ground, using horizontal brush strokes. The water was done using dry brushes with mixtures of white plus cobalt blue. Highlights with white and Naples yellow using a very small (0) round brush and intermittent brush strokes.

A wash of white and cobalt blue was used to give the impression of water on the ground. I then added different greens a mixture of yellows and red gold to add some vegetation to the rocks especially to the front part of the painting.

Understanding Colour

When white light, coming from the sun or another light source, strikes an object it is then reflected back to our eyes by that object. Different surfaces absorb, reflect and mix light differently due to their structures and this is why we see different colours. So in painting, different pigments on the surface of the canvas are able to do the same. There are 3 different properties in colour: ​

1. Hue: or the colour itself eg. Blue, red, yellow

2. Value: or else the darkness or lightness of colour and this is what creates contrasts

3. Intensity or tone: pure colour comes from the tube but it is rarely used as pure and so it has to be mixed. 

 

Hue

​The above picture shows the colour wheel. There are 3 primary colours from which all the other colours can be mixed.....Yellow, red, blue.

Secondary colours are those mixed from two of the primaries eg: blue + yellow = green

Tertiary colours are those mixed from a secondary and a primary eg: orange + yellow

Colours are said to be either warm or cool. Red is warm while blue is cool.

However there are warm blues (eg: ultramarine blue) and cool blues such as cerulean, cobalt and phtalo blue. There are also warm reds such as the cadmiums and cool reds (alizarin red).

The earth colours such as raw sienna, raw umber, burnt sienna and burnt umber are located at the inner part of the wheel towards the orange side. ​

Using cool colours for early morning scenes as well as for winter scenes while warm colours are used for afternoon or summer/Autumn scenes.

Appropriate use of warm and cool colours in a painting will give you depth and perspective, that is using blues for distant objects such as distant mountains and warm colours for foreground objects.

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​Value

​​The darkness and lightness of colour will give contrast and hence also useful for perspective. White is the lightest colours while black is the darkest...however black is rarely used in a painting as it is too strong (use Payne's grey instead). The addition of white to a colour will create a tint. Always keep an abundant amout of white available to use. Colours are usually darkened with a grey to create a tone. The addition of white or greys will affect the intensity of the colour. Adding black will create shade.​​

Suggestions applicable for oil painting

Always use artist quality oil paints (these contain more pigment and so do not fade when mixing). Also it will be easier to create texture when using knife for painting. You cannot work well with runny colours.

If oil colours are too thick then thin them with gum turpentine or linseed oil, only to a creamy consistency. The more oil you add the more time it takes for the painting to dry. Gum turpentine is usually added to colours used for the underpainting for fast drying.

Add more oil to the top layers of a painting as these has to dry the last., this is known as FAT over LEAN. If upper layers dry before the lower ones then this can cause cracking. Always paint in adequate ventilation as oil colours are toxic even if they do not smell. When starting painting, start from very dark (usually monochrome) underpainting, just indicating the basic shapes and structures and light/dark areas. Always keep in mind that there is no light if there is no dark and so you have to create contrast by putting highlights over darker areas. I will give more details how to use colours when discussing landscape painting.