Here is a quick insight into one of my recent paintings, Ted’s Farm, oil on canvas, 14x16 inches.
It is based on a photograph I took over a year ago whilst camping at my friend’s (Ted) farm in Queensland, Australia. If you are ever stuck for painting inspiration, take some time to go through your old photographs. More often than not you will find some forgotten photographs to paint.
I really wanted to capture the typical Australian colors in this painting with those dry greens, yellows and a touch of red. This is contrast against the rich greens of the waterlilies in the bottom right.
If you are trying to capture that ‘dry’ outback feel, yellow ochre will do you wonders. Mix it in with some blue and gray and you have a very dry green. Or just use yellow ochre with white to paint the dry grass.
One tool I pulled out for this painting which I have not used in a long time is the fan brush. I actually made a conscious decision a while ago to paint without the fan brush whilst I was learning how to paint, as I wanted to get a better feel for the other types of brushes. Whilst the fan brush is extremely useful in certain situations, it can easily become a ‘fallback’ brush used for every bit of grass, trees, water, rock highlight, etc.
If you take the fan brush out of your arsenal for a while, you are forced to experiment with the other brushes. This may seem difficult at first but it will make you a more well rounded artist once you get a hang of it.
One thing to note from this painting is how the level of detail decreases as you recede into the background. This helps you focus on the foreground and creates variance in your painting.
All up this painting took around 2 hours of painting.
Let me know what you think.
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Regards
Dan Scott
drawpaintacademy.com