This series will show you how to create fun studies of plants in acrylics using a simple bold palette.
This lesson will cover the second stage – laying in the major colours in the painting as flat shapes.
You can download the reference image here: http://drawandpaint4free.artcoursework.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/P1090720-scaled.jpg
Materials:
- Your drawing from the first lesson
- Acrylic paints: White, Bright Yellow, Bright Blue and Earth Red
- Water cups and water
- Palette
- Paper towel
- Medium sized flat acrylic brush
- Begin by mixing up a dark, neutral tone.
- The easiest way to do this is by adding your blue to the earth red, and keep mixing until it looks like a colour in between blue and red. This is as close to neutral as you will get.
- It will also be the darkest colour you can mix with this limited palette and serve as your black.
- Lay this dark tone into all the darkest parts of the image (referring to the reference)
- You may need to add a little bit of water to help the paint flow, but try to avoid making it too washy.
- Once you’ve laid in the darkest tonal masses, you can start adding patches of green for the leaves.
- To mix a cool green, add some yellow and white to the dark base colour.
- If this feels too warm, adjust the green with some extra blue.
- Then you can add the brightest highlights on the leaves, this colour can be mixed by adding a lot of white to your green.
- You want it to be a very pale, light green.
- Finally, mix a warmer, redder tone for the plant pot (use more earth red and yellow rather than blue).
- Then use pure white add the highlights on the pot as well.
- That’s it for now! The next lesson will be focused on neatening up this rough block-in.
