Learn to Paint with Acrylics: Brushes and Basics

1. Introduction: Hi everyone and welcome to our learn to paint basics and brushes course. We are going to be making a painting of a landscape with acrylic paint. And throughout the process, we will be walking you through step-by-step, the different tools that you need, how to work with them, how the medium can best be utilized to create the images that you want to paint. This course is good for everyone from the beginner to more advanced artist. Going back to the basics is always a good thing. I know it's nice for me to go back and practice things that I haven't done it in awhile. And I think it would be good for someone that's never painted before versus someone that's a little bit more experienced. I have been creating art for as long as I can remember. Paul and I have known each other since we were in art school together and we have loved collaborating ever since. I've had a long career in the arts. It started when I was 14, when I started doing portraits for people that I knew. And it just grew from there. So I never really stopped doing portraits. I continued doing realistic portraits for galleries all across the country, mostly in LA. So I worked with a gallery and LA, but I've also showed my work across the world in Germany, the UK. I've been published in books and magazines. And just love creating whatever I can dream up. I love creating imaginative portraits. I also work as an art director for a large greeting card company and manage a team of illustrators. So I worked in several different arenas, a more commercial industry and a more fine art industry. I am also a painter. I worked primarily in oil. I have been painting my whole life really. I started taking lessons as a young kid and just fell in love with it and have been making art in one way or another every sense. But I did go to the same art school is Melissa. She said That's where we met and started collaborating back then on all different kinds of things, including mural projects and different sorts of commissions. And now we really love working together and teaching. But I have also displayed my artwork and galleries all around the world and they have collectors that live everywhere. My work has also been in books and magazines and art journals. So between the two of us, we have a lot of experience, but we also both have our own unique styles. So that's what I think is one of the benefits of this class. You get to see two professional artists who are approaching the same thing and you can pick and choose what you want from each of those. What's nice about being an artist and knowing a lot of different artists is everybody approach things a little bit differently. It's nice to learn different tips and tricks from everyone because you can learn what to incorporate into your own practice. Alright, let's get started, okay. 2. Project: Alright, let's take a look at the project that we are going to be making together. So let's start off by taking a look at the project that we are going to be making together. Here is my finished painting. Let's see years, Melissa. It's beautiful. So these are acrylic paintings on watercolor paper. So let's go through all of the materials that you will need for this project. The first thing you're going to need is acrylic paint, right? So I have basic colors here. I have red, blue, yellow. You'll probably also need some browns. So I would look into getting some burnt sienna, probably raw sienna. I have raw umber, raw sienna. Your basic earth tones, you're going to need those white and black. Obviously, a green would be helpful, but you can mix it. So if you have the basic colors, red, yellow, and blue, you can make almost anything you need, but you also need the black and white. So that's kinda the basic colors that you would need to have. And you'll need an assortment of different brushes. And that's part of the concept for this course. We want to show you how you can use different brushes for different things. So make sure you have some larger brushes and smaller detail brushes. They don't need to be expensive. Inexpensive brushes work great. We tend to prefer the software bristles, so give them the touch test when you're at the art store if you can, but really any brushes that you have laying around will be just fine. As long as they're not house painting brushes, you want specific art brushes that have a softer bristle to them. So that would work best. I have a palette knife because I like to use this to mix my paints. You wouldn't necessarily need a palette knife. You could use a popsicle stick. You could use anything you would use to stir. You could use a plastic spoon. I like these little plastic pallets. They have little wells in them that you can use to mix different colors, especially for acrylic. I like these. You could use a paper plate, you could use a piece of wax paper. You could use a disposable palette if you have one of those. I also like to use those as I'm working. I would get some masking tape. That's what you'll use to tape down the paper. And I have a little wooden board that I used for mine that you can tape it down too, but any smooth flat surface will be fine. And some watercolor paper. So Paul and I are both paying on watercolor paper today. I have this block which is already taped for you. And so you could get something like that. You can get a pad of watercolor paper or you can get single pieces of watercolor paper, whatever works for you. If you want to work on Canvas, that's also an option. And then last you'll just need some paper towels or rags to clean your brushes off with a cup of water. And I think that's it, Right? I think that's it. Alright, so go get all your stuff and then come back and let's get started. We'll see you soon. 3. Sketch With Brush: All right, everybody, let's get started. We are going to be sketching with paint today, so we're going to make a drawing with a brush. It's not gonna be scary. It's gonna be fun. Paul, Are you ready? I'm ready. Let's go. Let's get started. All right, Melissa, let's get started. So we are going to sketch this out on our paper. But instead of using a pencil, what are we using? We are using brushes. Today is all about using brushes and different kinds. So we're going to go through different steps throughout the painting process. Talk about which brushes to use and when. Exactly. So for this first one, I'll show them what I'm using. I'm just using this very small round brush. It's very nice and soft. I always like to do the field test and see if it feels soft before I start. What are you what are you painting with? I have something similar. So it's a round brush. It has a nice point at the end. It's not too small, but it's small enough for me to get a nice line when I'm painting. This is actually number five brush. Okay. Is it mine is a two. Wow. Yeah. I know. Alright, let's do this. So I'm gonna put out just some brown acrylic paint. I think you're using burnt sienna or burnt sienna acrylic. So mine is kinda like burnt sienna. You can use whatever color you want really, it doesn't make a bit of difference for this part. And we'll just start sketching now I like to dip my brush in the water and get it a little bit wet. It first, it makes the paint just a little easier to work with flight across the page. Definitely where you take the lead here, where should we start? Okay, let me get my water here. I got my paint. I'm going to dip my brush in my water. And you want your paint to flow fairly easily. And it's actually part of the reason why we have a soft brush as you want the brush to kind of glide across your paper. Usually as different brush will have a little bit more texture when you're painting. And that just means that it will leave a rougher line. It won't be as smooth. Hello, hello. Okay, So I have a little bit of paint on my brush. It's watered down, not too much, but enough that it will glide across my paper. So I'm going to start looking at my photo reference and I'm going to decide where my horizon line is and that is where I am going to start. So this one happens to be right in the middle of the paper. So I'm just going to kind of sketch a loose line because that's where I think that's gonna be. Since we're using acrylics, you can, it's okay to, you know, work in layers. You'll be able to cover up anything that you don't like. So don't worry too much about, like in watercolor, you have to use the white of the paper, so you have to be a little more cautious, but with acrylic, you can just keep building, so don't be intimidated, you can't hurt it. So I had my horizon line sketch and then I'm just going to sketch in those mountains in the background because it'll give me a nice line to do next. As far as my horizon line, it's gonna go above that. So just kind of gives me the next guideline. Then I'm going to put in here, there's a little bit of a smaller mountain and the far left-hand corner. Let me put that in. Don't worry if your drawing skills are not superb. That's why we picked a pretty simple image here. And if you get things little off or a little out of proportion, it will not make any difference. Right? And the nice thing about landscapes is every landscape is very organic, they're all different. You can be a little bit looser with how you're drawing this or how you're sketching this in and it's not really going to make a difference. It's still going to look like a tree in the end. Exactly. If we if all goes well. Yeah, hopefully. Alright. Yes, we believe in you, you can do it. Yeah. So I'm just making some indications are where the ground lines are, so there's some shadows. There are some changes from dirt to grass. I'm making some indications where those are. I think you can add in some clouds if you want. I would do a little quick light sketch lines to indicate where your clouds or if you want to do something like that. Once you get a good idea of where everything falls on your paper, I think you can start sketching in that tree. That's exciting. Something to pay attention to as you're sketching that tree is just where it falls, according to the different lines that you've already sketched. So where it falls according to that horizon line, where it falls according to those mountains, where it is within your composition. So it's kind of right in the middle is your painting. So if you want to change something about the composition, you can, if you want to make it, the tree is off center or crop it in some way. Feel free to use your own creativity with this to you. Remember, you're just sketching at this point, so you're just kinda making a guide for yourself. It can be very sketchy, it can just be loose lines. Mine is pretty loose at the moment. Are you being all loose and chill today? I am at the moment. I mean, I wouldn't expect it to stick around, but yeah, right now. Bullosa is not usually the most loose chill person. So yes. You think at the sketch stage you're kind of just working things out right here. You're making a guide for yourself later and you can choose to change things there or move things. This is just to give you an idea of where things are gonna go as you continue to work them out. Yeah. Well, I'm drawing trees. I like to start with the trunk and then work my way up to the branches and then the leaves kinda helps anchor it a bit. I am just working in line for right now. We're gonna go add some more value and depth as we continue to paint on this. So for now, just keep sketching in line indicating where things are gonna go. I wouldn't worry about details at all. That can be the thing with people doing the preliminary sketch. It can get to almost too detailed sometimes. And then when you go to paint your real nervous because you don't want to lose any of those details. So I find it better to just kinda get the main, main shapes, but we're figuring out the rest while I painted. You don't wanna be too like they call it like being too precious with your painting, like worrying about every Louisville detail. Yeah. It'll be more helpful for you later. Just kinda indicate where some of those value changes are. So where it gets a little bit darker versus where it gets a little bit lighter or, you know, where it changes from taller grass to lower grass or where those mountains come in. That's gonna be more helpful for you as you're painting. That is quite a sky. Very impressive. I'm just sketching in some of the shape, the outlines of some of the clouds now. So have a basis for that. And I'm looking at it. It's like, whoa, there's a lot happening. Yeah, I did very little with this guy. Just made some indications because I feel like a lot of that I'll do with color later. Yeah. Definitely. Mostly I'm working on designing where those darker areas, our shadow areas, which will help me as I'm painting later. Right? Okay. I've got mine. Are you ready? I think so. Alright. And if anybody wants and needs a little bit longer than please put this on pause, keep drawing. But remember you don't need to get every detail in there, just the basics. All right, Great job everybody. That was so much fun. We got a good start. The next lesson we're gonna go over is underpinning. Can't wait. Okay, let's go do it. 4. Underpainting: Hi everyone and welcome back. In this lesson, we are going to be diving right back into the painting and doing something called an underpainting. That's where we will cover the whole canvas with just one color and figure out the lights and darks. You're ready, Melissa? I am so ready, Paul. Today we are going to be doing an underpainting. And that just means kinda covering the whole painting first with one color so that we can see the different shades of light and dark. So I'm still using the same brown that I used for drawing the lines. And you don't need white or anything yet. We're using more of a watercolor. He approached, so I am just getting the brush really wet and loading it up with paint. And I'm going to start in the sky and just kinda start blocking in values where I see them. So you can make the paint darker or lighter just by how much water you put with it. You have any useful tips about this step of the process, Melissa? Yeah, I think one thing is if you're not sure how light your paint is gonna be once you mix water into it, you could test it on a piece of paper first to see if you are looking for because sometimes it's hard to tell. Hello. Yes, that is true. The advantage to working this way is that it lets you focus on the value first, which just means the light and darks in the image without getting caught up in color, which is a whole other thing we'll get there. But this way you get to isolate just the lights and darks and figure those out. I'm using a pretty big flat brush here. It's a size eight because I don't want to get too detailed. What size are you using moles. I have a flat brush. It says its size 12, So I am oh, you just you just had to go for the big one. Large to me, usually, I have a bigger one here. I have a three-quarter inch brush, but don't let Louis is niceness. Bull uses the most competitive person you will ever need it. One thing you might notice when you start this is, but it might feel like the values you're putting down or too dark. But I think a lot of times that can be an optical illusion because there's still so much white on the paper and value and color are very relatives. So try not to judge it too much until you get value everywhere. You can always adjust if you need to. Yeah, we'll definitely adjust once we start adding color and and other things on top. Yeah. So if you're not happy with this stage, that's okay. You can layer wet acrylic on top of other wet acrylic to increase the value two. So if you feel like you're putting something down, it doesn't feel dark enough yet. You can keep layering it. Yeah, it's almost better when you're painting this way to start a little bit lighter than you think it needs to be, because then you can just keep building it up. Very much like watercolor for this part. Yeah. So the more water, the lighter the paint will view, the more pigment or paint you've actually mixed in there, the thicker or darker it's gonna be. So for the Skype probably want more water. She'd be a one and a little bit lighter. You can see how the mountains get lighter as they are, like kinda approaching the tree. That's because the light that's coming through the clouds right up above them is shining down. So this is the time to really pay attention to things like that and see if you can start to get that feeling of the light in your painting. Stress about details. This is just like a starting point. Yeah, it can be very loose and very quick. In fact, I feel like it's better when it is because you're not getting yourself to locked in too quickly. You can still feel comfortable changing things if you don't like it. Once you go super detailed, it is very hard to convince yourself to redo something. All right, so I have my sky and my mountains done in the tree. So now I just have to do the ground. The ground is overall pretty dark. You can see how it does get a little bit lighter towards the very distal part of the horizon. So just just try to block in what you see. Big brush, no details. And Paul and I like to do what we call the squint test. So it can be really helpful as you're working is just just squint at your reference. Try not to see any details. Try to let things kind of blurred as you're looking at it and look at what you notice first. So look at what stands out. I think one thing you're really going to notice is that glow towards the middle and top left of the tree. That's how you want your painting to work. You want the interests to be in the same spot. So try squinting as your paint at your painting as you're working and see if the same area pops out at you first. That has become such a habit for me that I've seen videos of myself and my eyes are just squinted the whole time. Even when it's not necessarily like I'm painting just maybe like one whole area, solid color. Why do I need to square but it's just such a habit. Yeah. I've noticed you do it a lot, especially when you're painting alerts portrait or something. I see you squint. Yes, I really do. It's a great trick though. It helps you to not get caught up in things. You just look at the overall feeling of it. This is coming along beautifully. And if you're trying not to get too tight with your painting and try holding your brush further back? Yes. Especially at this early stage. I think I definitely recommend that yeah. To try holding it at the end of the handle instead of the, you know, more towards the bristles. So move your hand back a little bit. Then in the darker areas you can use more paint. So if you want to use more paint on your tree, I feel like it didn't get dark enough in your sketch. Feel free to do that. It's easy for people to get discouraged with their art sometimes when it doesn't look perfect right away, but don't let that stop you because it really is just a part of the process and you're constantly have to be looking at it and analyzing and seeing what's working, what isn't working. Yeah, Paul and I see a lot of our students get frustrated very early on because it's not looking right, right away. And I will tell you that pretty much every artist, it doesn't look good right away. Yeah. It's just part of the process. You know, you just have to keep going. Keep adjusting. The more that you do, the more you realize that it's not such a scary thing when it is imperfect because you can, you know, that you can fix it if you just keep keep churning. Yeah, it just becomes part of the process. You just know that in the beginning it's not going to look pretty. Yeah. And in fact, she almost pat yourself on the back when you notice something like that because it means that you are thinking critically about your art and finding things to adjust. And that's, that's good. So you're supposed to do doesn't mean anything bad, right? Right. Yeah. It's just means you're learning. Yeah. It's okay. Anything else if you're doing a renovation project and your house so you know, it's not going to look Greg, look good right away. It's gonna look like total destruction for awhile. You can see some of those I have. And I know this it's not going to look pretty yep. You're just going to have to live with it because you know, and yeah, it'll be great. Yep. It's the same when you're painting. It's kinda like people, you know, we all have to go through your awkward years, right? Yes. Except for Melissa. I mean, she's always been perfect. Oh, please. Us mere mortals. Please. You obviously have never seen photos of me as a teenager. You were you were a model? Oh, no, I was not. You were a model for something I remember your mom showed me when I was a baby. Yeah, you see that count? Everybody's queue and their baby. Well, I don't know about that. Alright, I think I have my under painting just about finished. How are you doing? I'm feeling pretty good about this, Paul. Alright, well that's it for now. Great job everyone. Okay, in our next lesson, we are going to start blocking in the colors in the sky. See you then Melissa See you there. 5. Sky Color Blocking: Okay, we're ready to move on to the next thing. We're calling this color blocking. We're gonna get to use some color, finally, lands some color. Instead of just the underpainting, we're going to start with the sky. What do you think, Paul? I am so ready. Let's go. Let's do it. All right, so we're ready to go on to the next step. The next step involves color, which is great. This is the fun part, right? And I have a cat. I have a cat walking through. Who is going to help you? Hi buddy. Well that's wonderful. Great. Yeah, it's a great helper. Alright, so I have some paint, so I have, I have white, I have yellow, I have read, and I have blue. So I'm going to mix up some colors for the sky. We are going to block in some of the colors, right? And we're gonna do the sky because usually it's good to start in the background. Yes. Alright, so I'm just going to put a bunch of white in my palette here I have one of these little plastic pallets with the different little cups in it. So I'm going to use each one for a different color. So we got some white. I'm going to mix up like a yellowy orange. So I'm gonna do a little bit of white. I'm going to do a little bit of yellow, like one part white, one part yellow, and then a little bit of red. Just so it stays kind of a yellowy, bright orange. My lips, my red is pretty intense, so I'm just gonna put a little bit in here and see what I get. Yeah, a little bit of that'll go a long way. Yep. Nice thing about mixing colors as you can always add more, right? So let's start out with not a lot, and I'm just using a palette knife to stir my paint. You can use your brush if you want. You can use anything you want. Really cool. Your finger. You want to get your finger in there? I'm in. Go for it. Oh, that sounds fine. Whatever works. And I won't judge. Never. Your minds. A little bit too yellow and a little bit more red in there. Tiny bit. One thing about this, it can be overwhelming when you look at the photo and you see so many different colors then this guy. But that's kinda the beauty of working in this way with layers. You don't have to get them all at once. So just kinda go for the few basic color choices first. But Melissa is suggesting and then we will come back and add more detail later. Yeah. Okay. So I haven't orangey yellow here. I'm gonna do probably like a soft pink, some red, and some whites. I would say a little bit more white than red. Stir that up. If you get a little bit of the orange in there, It's not a big deal at all. Yeah. Yeah. For me, it's there's some other colors feel too bright. You can even drag it a little bit of a border, a little bit of the brown into it to turn it down? Yeah, definitely. Okay. My pink and then I'm going to do a soft purple. So I'm going to start with white. Usually a decent amount of white there. Because you really want to soften this purple. You don't want it to be too intense. Yeah. And then I'm going to add a little bit of red. You don't need a lot, a little tiny bit. And then caution when using the blue because you do not need any at all. Really like a tiny, tiny little bit. I'm just going to scrape them out with my palette knife here. And you just want, You want it to be a little bit more blue than nothing. You just mixed up. But you don't want it to get so blue that it feels so different than all the colors you've already mixed. You want it to be kind of a nice gradation from that white to the yellowy orange to the pink to the purple. So they should all feel about the same value, which just means they should one shouldn't be a lot darker than the other. Yeah. I think it's about time. Yes. Alright. Alright. I'm gonna use the same big brush that I just used for the under painting because I like that one. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. So this is more about blocking in which just means we're going to get the colors and the right places. So we're not going to worry too much about detail. And you couldn't start. You can start wherever you want. I'm going to start with a white just so I have that kind of as a starting point just because I feel like that's my most important part that I'm working around. So I'm just going to make sure that the center glow is pretty white and then I'm going to work out from there. So start with doing the exact opposite. Of course, you are starting with the purple because it's pretty for this layer. You're going to be a little bit more solid with the paint, a little bit less watery than the underpainting cover up the color that's there? Yes. Good tip, Paul. So you definitely want those to cover some of the underpinning that you've done. You know, I wouldn't worry about covering it all up. Although if you're doing this white glow, you do want it to be pretty white just so you have that glowing effect. But we are going to go back and add more detail on top of this. So this is just the first start of getting the colors in the right place. But yes, definitely want to paint more like it's thick lead than you have in the past? Yeah. I have some of my white in there. I'm just going to grab some of this yellow, orange. And I'm going to use that to kind of blend into the rest of the sky. Him a white in there. Just paying attention to where the lighter areas are in the sky. Looking at my reference as I'm working, I think that this will give you a really nice glow is your workout from that white in the center? That's what we want to glow. Yes, False Paul's goal in life. You try to paint every little thing just gets me. That's why it's called blocking it. You just give me the essence of it. Yeah. A little bit that orangey yellow. I'm going to work on the pink next. There's a whole lot going on up there. Sky's can be really complicated. There are a lot of color shifts and things going on that you, you know, you don't even pay attention to until you have to paint one and then it's like, Oh my gosh. Yeah, really? Well, I do, I do with this. But you can be, you can take your artistic license. Shapes that you like or, you know, doesn't have to be exact, right? Right. And use the sketch that you put in there and your underpainting as a guide. If you like parts of it and it feels right, like almost the burnt sienna feels like a good color for this guy. And I think it can blend in really nicely with some of the colors that we're using. Yeah. If what you've already done works, just add to it. To cover it up completely. Yeah. I like when I see some artists will do underpinnings and it's really wild colors and then leave little touches of that color showing through in-between spaces and things and it can be really neat touch. I think that's what you do, Paul. I think you're just talking to me about yourself. Maybe that's why. Sure. I stole it from somebody. Well, yeah. I mean, we didn't invent this. No, no, you might not have. I did. I am now copywriting. But the concept of painting. So if there's anything you don't like, talk to Paul. Oh, wait a minute. I didn't get that. Can't we just have a complaint department? Well, we could. Okay. I think that should be your job. I'm gonna give everybody your e-mail address for that. It's done. I just need to get some white and then yeah, so the last color I'm working on is the purple, which is what Paul started with. So FTO with what you want to start with and how you want to work. Yeah, That's why we like teaching this class together. So you can see that there's more than one way to do everything. Yeah. Yeah. There's not really a right way to art. You know, know, you, you are the way you want exactly. All of the techniques and tools and things that we share with you are just meant to be starting points. You have to take it and run with it and do your own thing eventually. Yeah. Yeah. Roles that are meant to be broken. My favorite kind has the only kind that Paul and I can get behind. Yeah. All right. I think I'm just about finished blocking my name. Yeah. I think we're good here. Feel pretty good about that. Alright. Okay. All right, Great job everybody. We've got some color on that paper and we are ready to move on to the next step. Good Job, paul. Great. Let's go. 6. Sky Detail: Hi everyone and welcome back. Today we are going to be adding more details into the sky. You're ready, Melissa? I am so ready for details, Paul, that you are okay. Let's do it. Okay. We're gonna go right back into the sky now. And this time I am using some smaller brushes. I still have my big one that I used for the blocking it in, but I'm also going to use these two smaller brushes. They're also, they're both flat, flat brushes. One's a little bigger than the other. It's nice to have variety of sizes of brushes when you're working because different ones are better for different things. So this time I'm going to jump right back into that light area first and the middle because that's the part that I really want to stand out. So I'm just going to take my smaller brush and just kinda refine it. Create more of the smaller shapes that you see. Little patches of light and shadow that move through the clouds. Anything that you see in the image that looks interesting to you. Now's your chance to really just kinda bring that out in the sky, will use this whole video for that part. See how we're doing it, but do your own thing too. Yeah. Now as a chance to make that white either more opaque and even thicker, so it reflects light and creates more of that glow. That's what Paul and I are both going to focus on this video. The thicker you make the paint in, the highlights, the more that the paint watch the kinda catch the light in the room and feel more luminous. Look at you and your fancy words. I know I studied my vocabulary before this one. Well, let's, let's stick with me. They, I have so much I can teach. I hope. Maybe not about art, but no. That's okay. I can, I can use all the help I can get. Adulting is a lot harder than anybody ever told me. Oh, I know there needs to be a whole class just on that. I know. Right. Where's the where's it would be a good teacher. Where's the where's the Skillshare for adulting? Know? Yeah. Like a normal everyday life skills. Yeah. That's what I need. Alright. So I got the light in the center and now I'm just working my way out and blending it a little bit more into some of the darker colors in the sky. And just making the brush strokes feel a little bit more like they're mimicking the shapes that I see up there. Still not trying to paint everything, but just getting the the pieces that look interesting to me. Yeah. And it's okay if yours looks a little different from the reference, that's totally fine. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe yours will be better than the rest. Yes, that's a nice thing about using references. You can use it as a guide or inspiration. It doesn't have to be exact. It doesn't have to be a mirror, you know. Yeah, exactly. We already have the photos so we don't really need right. Another one of those, but you can add something even more interesting than what could be captured in the photo, right? Yeah. Kinda jumping all around now in the sky, just whatever area is calling to me. So working my way up here into the top part right now and bringing out more of this pink. I'm just kinda move around wherever area feels like it needs more attention and then you will bring the whole, the whole sky together at once that way. And if you want your paint to be a little bit thinner as you're working, you could use a similar technique to what we started with, where you add a little bit more water. And that will help you blend a little bit easier. We'll give you more of a washy loved, which could be good for the sky because you have a lot of blending and softer colors. So that could work well for you here. And if you feel like edges or if you feel like the colors you mix them that beginning aren't enough and you need more. Feel free to mix your own or add to it or, you know, whatever works for you. Yeah. What were you going to say? Probably, I think you're going to talk about the edges. Oh yeah, just the edges of things when you're painting. It's something that, you know, I know I didn't always think about, but I'm finding myself paying more attention to that now, when you have an edge that's a softer edge like the edges of the clouds, you want to make it blend a little bit into what's around it, even though it does, it is still. Defined edge, but if you make it look too sharp than it, it will flatten out and not feel very cloud-like. You can use that. You can do that by, you know, pushing colors together. Almost like you're blending colors on your paper instead of on your palate. Okay, mixing as you go, or you can use your brushstrokes to do that. Use more water in your paint and that will blend a little bit more softly. And don't be afraid to paint right into other things like you see how I just kinda painted the sky right into the tree. That's okay because you'll be painting the tree later. And it's usually better to just loved the brush strokes continue instead of stopping everything short of an edge like that. When it dries, sometimes you can see that and oh, it looks like a halo or something around the object. So I always try to just paint right into whatever is in front. Yeah, definitely. And that's usually why we paint the background first is you can paint over top of it later. So you have that start in the background and then everything you have that you paint sequentially afterward will fall on top of that. So you're not going back in your painting around things are, you know, making things more difficult for yourself? Yeah. You get just like a very natural layering kind of thing happening when you went that way. I love the colors in the sky. It's yes, it's very pretty. That yellow really makes things glow. Yeah, yeah, Just answer really nice effects. The pink is important as a nice transition color because if you go straight from yellows, two purples, it'll turn muddy because those are opposite, are complimentary colors. So the pink is kinda like the buffer in-between the two that makes it transition. Yeah. Yeah. I said it actually makes seeing a little bit of the white end with my pink to make it blend in and be a little bit more softer. And areas. The same thing. That works for you. You're never limited to just the colors on your palette that you've mixed already. I like to mix a lot of colors before I start, but then I always end up just needing to mix more on the fly as I go, like maybe a lighter version of a color, add more white to it. Or don't, just don't feel like you're stuck with only what you pre-mixed. You can always do more, right? Yeah, it's nice with acrylic to have something there to start with. It makes it a little bit faster and easier. Yeah, you definitely want to add to it as you go. Look at this beauty. Or just, I love playing with all the little shapes of the patches of light and the clouds. I mean, just think of it as fun. Interesting abstract shapes don't, don't get hung up in thinking I'm painting clouds right now. Just look at the shapes that you see and try to mimic those. Chances are it looks very different than what you would imagine in your head when you think of a cloud. So you don't want to rely on that mental image or the label. You want to really just look at what you see. And you're just going for a similar field. Don't feel like you have to get the shapes all in the same places or know all the colors and exactly where you're seeing, which would be very difficult because this is a very complicated sky. Who are doing those kinda quickly just to show you how to go about it. So don't focus on getting everything 100% the same as the photo reference. It's just you're going for a general feeling. Kind of similar colors. Does that mean that you're not painting every single detail moles? I cannot and it is killing me. Melissa. They very detail. Alright, I think I am finished with my sky. I think that looks great job everyone. In our next lesson, we are going to keep moving on down and work on the mountains. So I'll see you there. 7. Mountains: Okay, Welcome back everybody. We are ready to move on to the next step. And the next step is painting some mountains. So let's get some mountains in there and ready, Paul. Well, let's go. So we are going to get into those mountains, start painting those. And the first thing we're gonna do is mix up a new color because we have a little bit more of a blue color on the edges of those mountains. So obviously, Mr. were some blue and some white. The blue I have is pretty bright. So I think once I mix this up is actually going to be too bright for what we are painting. So I'm going to add a little bit of, I have some Payne's gray here. If you don't have Payne's gray, you could use a little bit of raw umber. You could use a little bit of ivory black. Whatever black, dark brown you have. You would not want to use anything that has a lot of red in it. So if you have burnt number, that is probably going to be to read. Hello. I wouldn't suggest that. I would suggest something that's a little bit cooler. Okay. So I have my blue and my white here. I just put a little bit of Payne's gray on my little disposable palette here. So I can grab a little bit as I need it. I'm going to mix it in a little bit of this Payne's gray. You might also need a little bit of red, a little bit purpley. You could also add a little bit of yellow to just tone it down a little bit. Mixing such a fun experiments. Yeah, so I am just putting some things on my little disposable palette here that I can grab a little bit of each and mix them in and see what I get. Because I do want to make this more of a grayish blue or more of a neutral blue. My Payne's gray that's been torn down a little bit. Grab a tiny bit of my red. Let me go a little bit more purple. You know what I am using basic color theory here when I, when I'm mixing, just thinking about how I wanted to change this color. So I wanted to be a little bit more purple. So I'm grabbing my red, which obviously blue and red is purple. And then if I want it to be a little bit more neutral or a little bit more gray. I would add a little bit of the yellow because yellow is a compliment to purple, so it's going to make it a little bit more gray once you mix in that yellow. Is my thinking there. All right. I'm ready to paint. All right. Would you start with the faraway mountains, that little orange with him at this stage? Yeah, I think so. I would start there on it. All right. I got my color here. I'm going to grab a smaller, rounded pointed brush. Just because I'm painting something a little bit smaller. I'm still using my small flat brush, but whatever feels right to you, It's good to experiment with different brushes and see see what works. Yeah. And that faraway mountains kind of like a soft orangey pink color. So I think you could use some of the colors we already mixed. When we were painting the sky. I mixed a little bit of the orange color and the pink color that I had already on my palette. To get something kind of soft. You want it to blend into the background a little bit. You know, you don't want it to be too obvious. And that's what will make it look far away. Yeah, pretty solid source of luck in that color. Get that in there first. Big mountains, right? So exciting. Mini mountain done. Okay. So for the larger mountain, if you want to use a larger flatter brush, you can, I think I'm going to shift to one of my flat brushes here. This is a size 12. I also have this one's an H, So you could probably use either one. It's minds and eight. Oh, okay. So we have this glow in the middle here. And then towards the side, it gets much bluer and a little bit darker. So I'm actually going to start with the glow in the center. I don't know if Paul is going to do the same thing. Paul did. The officer opposite pole is doing the opposite. Are we surprised? No. So in the center there, that color is, It's a little bit hard to figure out what that color is. It's a little weird. And I think that's because there's a lot of colors in there. It's not a straight color. So I'm going to mix a little bit of my yellowy orange with my purple. So I kinda get this like neutrally yellow color. I'm going to start with that in the center. Nice thing about acrylic is as you lay these colors down, you can almost immediately lay another color next to it and blend it fairly easily. So, you know, this color put in here. If the first color dries before you're able to blend into it, you know, you can always add a little bit more of that back in and use it because it really is easier to blend when the paint is wet on both sides? Yes, definitely. And you know, I'm just going to paint right into my tree. I will go back and paint the rest of that tree later so it doesn't really matter if I cover it up. All right, and then as I go, I'm going to mix a little bit of that bluish color that I mixed up in the beginning with this weird purply yellow color. Just going to paint right into that color that I already have on my painting. To just blend the two together. I like to use long strokes when I'm blending. Yeah. Yeah, The goal is to kinda does camouflage the brush strokes. What's up? You just see the creation of the colon. And using these flat brushes, they do a nice job of that. That's why Paul and I suggested using that here. Yeah, you don't need very expensive brushes, honestly, these are super cheap. Yeah, they don't want us to a whole long time, but they are good while they while they are working. Yeah. I actually don't like the expensive brushes as much as I liked the cheap brushes. I can't tell you why. You know, I guess I just don't I'm the same. I don't feel like they really perform all that better. They don't hold up the longer. I don't think. Maybe it's just the way I treat my brushes. I don't know, but I really haven't noticed a difference. So yeah. Me too. When you're buying brushes, I would encourage you to go someplace where you can actually see them. And more importantly, feel the bristles. Because after you've done some painting, you have a sense of what kind of brush you need for whatever it is you're doing. Sometimes I like a really soft brush. If I'm doing a lot of blending, sometimes I like a stiffer brush if I'm wanting more texture. So different brushes are good for different things and that you need to really be able to feel them to know what's going to work for you, right? Right. I'm just about finished with my mountain. Yeah. Putting them in my color is a little bolder than yours. I like to dance the corner. Little was like, Oh, that's okay. You know, the mountains should just be darker than your sky in order for them to stand out from the background. So that will be the only thing I would suggest. But they can definitely be brighter in color as Paul suggests. You know, the more important thing really is the value. Yeah, so much though, the hue or the color that you're working with, you can make anything believable if the values make sense. Yeah. If you wanna get that glow now that you said that i'm I'm catching myself squinting constantly for no reason. Your technique if you work at so funny, I see you do all the time. Yeah. I really do T's to have it, I guess. Yeah. I can picture you doing it. Yeah. Okay. Mountains. All right. Good job, everybody. We've got some mountains in there. We got some sky. We are ready to move on to the next step. Paul, are you with me? I am with you. Let's do it. Okay. 8. Ground Color Blocking: Welcome back everyone. Today we are going to be playing in the dirt and debris blocking in the colors on the ground. Are you ready, Melissa? I am so ready. Take it away. Oh, I'm taking it away. Start by mixing some colors for the ground. And in this lesson we're gonna get the grounds is blocked in with real simple shapes and colors. I had put out some dark green that I had. If you don't have green, you can mix it with blue and yellow. I put out a brown. It's kind of a burnt sienna color. This one's called yellow ocher or yellow Oxide, a mustard, yellow, some red, some black and some white. We're not trying to get every little color that we see in there. We're just going to mix a few different ones for blocking it in. So I'm going to start by making the green. So this green is very blue. So I'm just going to add a little bit of the yellow ocher in the brown to it to kinda take that real strong Jewish edge. It depends what kind of green you have. Yours might be good to go as it is. Yeah. I just wanted to not feel like, you know, primary or not preliminary bit like a pure green right out of the tube? Yeah. I would say the green in the photo we're looking at is very warm. So probably has a little bit more yellow in it. You could turn it down with a little bit of red to make it a little bit more of an olive color, which today is in certain areas is a good way to describe it. And then once you have it mixed, if it's kinda dark, That's good because there's dark. But I'm going to take some of that aside and mix a slightly lighter version for highlights. So I was at a little bit of weight. You don't need too much in a little bit of the yellow ocher. Let's see what that oh yeah, that's a good highlight. Grassy color. I like to have different different value versions of the same colors mix. Sometimes it just makes it easier. Then let's just make 11 color for the ground. So I'll use my brown. I'm going to add a little red to it and a little black to darken it. More red. It's a lot of red in the in this photo. Yeah. Okay. Then the other color that I see that I want to be able to get to right away. Is that yellow ocher that's kinda right in the back by the horizon. So I'm going to take some of my yellow and just tone it down as submitted by adding a little brown to it. Don't need much. This should be enough. This should be good for the base coat. And then when we go back and to do more detail, we might need to mix some other colors, but let's jump in. I'm going to use my big brush again to block it in. And then when we do the next, the next video with more detail, we might go jump down to the smaller one. I'm going to start in the back. I'm gonna do that yellow tone that I see back there. Kinda in the space behind where the tree is. So all the way up to the horizon. So let me get that blocked in. And blocking in just means you're kind of just filling in the whole section. You're not stressing over all the little details of just getting some color in there. It's kind of like the paint-by-numbers stage. Yeah. And your underpainting should serve you well here, it should do a lot of the work for you really because that burnt sienna is really a good base color for a lot of what we'll be painting in this section. Definitely. Alright, and then just work your way down. I'm kinda looking at it as just kinda horizontal stripes of color. And i'm, I'm not painting it like super sharp edged or anything, but I'm definitely just kinda working one little, grow at a time. And don't worry if you put down a color and it doesn't look like the right color, that's okay. That's just telling you you need to make an adjustment and then try to figure out, well, why doesn't it look right? Is it too dark? Because the two whites, is it to gray? Is too bright. And then you can go back and adjust it and mix other colors with it until it becomes what you, what you want. You can always tell what something's going to look like until you get it on their true. Yeah. You can test colors on, on pieces of paper as you're working if you feel like that's helpful for you. Oh, yes. Acrylic is so easy to paint over it, you know. Imagine I'll just test it on your painting and see what happens. Yeah. You just cover it up. Yeah. Well, I do know is that just another row? The kinda yellow color right underneath that. Before we get into the grasses. I like working from the back to the front with landscapes, but just to me helps me to really be able to imagine the depth, the space. But you can also work, you know, bottom to top or left to right or her whatever feels right to you. All right. Next strike is the lighter of the two greens. A little more brown because mine feels a little too bright still. Can you believe that I'm actually neutralizing some, you know, what is happening right now, Then a bad influence. So look what I've done. Introduced me to neutral colors. I didn't even know. Paula neutrality just doesn't go together. No. Okay. Then I'm going to use the darker color because you see on the bottom are the kinda underside of the grass gets darker because the light doesn't reach down, down there. So That's why I mix two different greens to start with. One thing I did was just overlay that yellow ocher color over a lot of the background because there is this kind of yellow ocher glow from the sky that I'm going back and adding some migraines on top. And I think that will give a nice tone down version of your green. You are mixing the two and just give you a nice glow. So something to think about as you're going like that idea. It's always good when you can take a color that appears in one area of your painting and then, you know, incorporated in other areas. It just makes everything feel more unified. Okay, now I'm gonna do another row of the grassy stuff with the lighter ones. First. You can start thinking about the texture. But I'm not doing a whole lot with like making brushy or a grassy brushstrokes yet. But I am just occasionally moving my brush up and down a little bit just to start to suggest the texture. But when we go back to do details, that's when really make the, the textures of the different areas during the dark on the last patch of green and then the only thing left will be all that dirt in the front. I love how once you start adding the color, even in this blocky style, you immediately start to really see the depth of the image. It opens it up. Yeah, definitely Cool. All right, now I'm just going to block in my brown color down here. Not worrying about details or anything to us getting it covered. So cute. It's coming together. Is I used Melissa's trick. I'm putting a little of that yellow ocher in there to lighten good. The brown and warm it up a bit. Yeah. Makes it blends really nicely to the different patches of color. If you want to start suggesting some of the shadows you see in the dirt, you can I'm doing a few just on the sides here, but we'll do more later. Yeah, plenty of time for that. And the detail is more brushstrokes and then I'll be a little bit of dark in here. Fly away, splatter paint. I did that on purpose so I could show them how to correct it. Right. Right. Right. I would never say that you made a mistake. No, no. No. All right. Awesome job, everyone. Okay. We're not done playing in the mud yet. In our next lesson, we are going to be going back to the ground and adding some more detail moles. I know that will make you very happy. I am so happy. Thank you. Ready? Let's go. 9. Ground Detail Part 1: Okay, we've got some color blocked and we are ready to do the detail on that ground. I cannot wait. I am so excited for the detail and to get this painting almost wrapped up who we are almost at the end, I can't believe it. It's going so fast. I know it's been so much fun. Yeah. Alright, let's get started. Okay. We have all of our colors mixed up right? From our last step. So what we're gonna do, we're just going to go back in here and we're going to add some detail. So I'm going to start in the far background. So where you see those first hills and those trees, tiny, tiny trees. I'm just going to add some more detail there. So I kinda have some blocked in color here. I'm going to make it a little bit darker. I have some of my olive green tone that I mixed up. I'm going to start, I love this part because that's when you can really start to see things come to life when you go back and yeah, yeah, this is the fun part. So I have probably go for the brush I have right? Because that's their whole point would be helpful. Yeah. I have a round brush. It's a size five. It comes to a nice point. And I am using that to kind of just go in and add some finer detail. I like to use the round brushes for that. I just feel like the nice point on the end is really helpful when you're doing something more detailed. And I tend to hold the brush a little bit closer to the bristles when I'm doing that. Because it gives me a little bit more control. You like control. I love it. I'm just making that a little bit darker towards the edges. Again, everything in this photo reference gets a little bit of a brighter glow towards the center, based on that sky is in the background. So I'm gonna make sure my edges are a little bit darker and my center is a little bit lighter. And then I'll just add to the overall lighting and you're painting the overall facts. I can't say I did a whole lot of that as I was blocking in because I was doing it kinda quickly just to get some color down there. So I'm going to focus on that a little bit more now. You can first code is kinda like you're just laying the foundation and then you go back and make it all work. You can even pull in some of those sky colors if you still have those mixed on your palette. Just to give it a little bit of a brighter blow towards the center. There's not a whole lot of texture in the background yet because it is so far away. It's all pretty smooth. I'm just going to focus on getting those colors where I want them right now. And you know, similar to how we've painted everything up to this point, I'm not going to worry too much about that tree you are painting over top of the tree. Yeah. We'll focus on next. Yeah. We'll focus on you later. Little tree here. Your time is coming. Yeah, That's wait your turn. You are the star, but not quite yet. It's hard for a star to wait in the wings. I know, right? Pauls had to learn this lesson many times. Yes, I, I, an expert on that one. There are some little detailed trees back there, so some tiny trees if you want to add some of those would be the time. Again, I would use just a small pointed brush. If you have a brush that you've had for awhile and it doesn't come to a nice point anymore. I would consider replacing that because really the point of having a nice round brushes the point on the end. And that's how it's going to serve you best, is if it has a nice 0.1 thing that definitely does not help with maintaining that point is leaving your brush sitting in your water for too long. So I've made that mistake. Yes, I have to. I like the smaller brushes, obviously, I love detail. That's my thing. Over time, that point will definitely fray or the end of your brush will begin to curve. And you will not have that fine point anymore, which will make things like painting these tiny trees very difficult. So definitely invest in new brushes if you don't have that point on your round brush anymore, because it's just very important. Like, like we were saying, you don't they don't have to be expensive. These brushes that I'm using, I know we're just like a couple of books. Yeah, minds you a very cheap I think I just bought a kit of them for teaching courses because they knew I was going to be using them a lot, especially with acrylic. So you can definitely buy something similar. I like the ones with the white bristles or the light brown bristles. Those are just my favorite. Thanks to be softer and a little bit easier to use. Especially for acrylic, our watercolor, even with oil, I tend to use the software bristles too. Yeah, me too. Just like them. Better. They tend to flow a little bit easier. Yeah. But like we were saying, it's a very personal thing and it's good for you to try out different brushes to see what works for you. Yeah. So people love like the really stiff, almost like wire ie brushes for certain things for it, they can be good for creating interesting textures. But whenever you want softer, look with more blending, I definitely prefer this type of brush to you. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. It depends what kind of look you're going for. So if you want something that's a little bit rougher or has a more texture than you probably would want to look into the bristle brushes and see if you like using those. But if you're going for a more blended, softer, maybe a more realistic look than you probably would want something a little bit softer. I would at least want to give it a shot. You can always mix it up to, you know, maybe some of the background areas. You would want something a little bit softer because you blend it and want it to fade into the background. But in the foreground you would want something a little bit more textured. Yeah. He used the same brush for the whole painting. Everything can start to look too much like switching it up can help with how they also take you forever. Right? Unless you're using a really big brush, I mean, work, uh, but, you know, you might you might not get any areas of detail or might be more difficult. Again, like Paul said, it might all start feeling the same. Yeah. It doesn't have enough variety in it or, you know, just wouldn't have as much interests maybe. Right? Yeah. Well, I'm just I'm down to that first row of the green grass and just being able to go on top of it and make other brush strokes and bring out the texture really makes a difference. Yeah, definitely. I'm still kind of in that, in that background. And that last section of grass. Just kind of getting those colors right? That Paul has always been faster than me. Yes. But Melissa has always been a little more tuned into the details that you can see both of those sites, but that really is a benefit to this class for you to be able to see two artists. How they, how we approach the same. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I know and art school, whatever Paul and I would take classes is that you focus on the way the instructor wants you to paint and less on how you want to paint. Which I, you know in the beginning is fine because you're, you're learning. You're not quite sure how you want to paint yet or you know what your style is. But it's also possible to kinda learn along the way that there are different ways of going about it. Yeah. Because it's the concepts that mattered, what you are thinking about as you're working and all these ideas about perspective and depth and color. But you can use those in any way that works for you as an artist. Alright, well, I think that's good for this round. What do you think? Okay. Sounds good. Already ready. We got some detail in there. We are ready to move on. I think we need a little bit more work on that ground, Paul, What do you think? Okay. Fine. One more or less than of the ground. I will. Thank you. Thank you for my details. So welcome. See you then. Okay. See you soon. 10. Ground Detail Part 2: Okay, Welcome back everyone. We are going back and adding even more detailed to the ground. So get your supplies ready, Melissa, you rated paint? I am right. Uh, give me the details. Alright. Let's do it. Alright, let's continue with the ground so you can see this is where I'm at. I just kind of started working on this first row of the grasses. So we're going to continue working our way on down to the front. So wherever you're at, just keep on going and look closely at the photo and pay attention to any details that you see that you want to bring out that will make it feel more believable. This is the time to do that. You have the basic colors blocked in and now this is your chance to go back in and just add more detail, make it feel more believable. You don t have to repaint over everything though. Use what's there already to your advantage. Just enhance it with this pen. I'm using a brush probably similar to what Melissa was using this as a Let's see what science is this number four. And it's one of these round brushes. There's different ways you can create texture. You can use the very tip of it. You can squish the side of it down like, like what I'm doing here. I like to hold the brush in different ways so that you get a little bit more of an organic look to the markets and they don't all feel the same. Too much repetition will make it feel kinda unnatural. Yeah, it's nice to use your brushstrokes wherever you can to help help you kind of define what your painting. Yeah. So if the grass is going in a certain direction, make sure your brush strokes are going in that direction. It will only help you in the end. Yeah, it keeps you focused too and really thinking about the texture of different areas that you are painting. What would this feel like if I was going to touch it in each section of this landscape would feel differently. So that helps you to decide what type of brushstrokes and even what brush you want to use them to this last row of the grass. Now, you can see how they're whiter on top. That's because of the way that the light from the size is coming down. So once you get towards the underside there it's darker. The light can't get into there as easily. So bringing that out in the painting helps it to feel more believable, three-dimensional. I think generally, Paul and I like to say, you know, choose the brush for whatever whatever part you need. So if you're doing something more detailed, you probably want to choose something a little bit smaller, probably something with a nice point to it. If you're painting something larger, you probably want to use a larger brush. But generally, I do like the flat brushes for larger spaces just because you can get a lot of different shapes with them. Yeah. You know, it doesn't have to just be a rectangular shape because it is a rectangular shaped brush. You can get into a lot of different edge types, like a softer edge, a harder edge. You can get a lot of different effects. You can get a nice soft edge if you want to. Just experiment with that. So as you're using each brush throughout this painting, see what different effects you can get with it. So try a few different things to see. If you can get a different look. You know, what do you need that brush to do for you? Kind of experiment With ways you can hold it are ways you can use it to get it to work for you? Depending on whatever you're painting. Yeah. Okay. I just kind of do a little bit more in the shadows on this last row, grass. And then I'm going to be ready to jump down into the dirt. Jumping that dirt off. Never really had the desire to jump in? No, I don't imagine that you have. Yeah, not so much. I mean, I did grow up in the country though. Melissa, you saw you, did you you grew up inside? Not outside. The country, was out there. I was allergic to it. Didn't really see much of it. Looked out my window. So you poor thing you are allergic to everything. I was I was a kid. Okay, just getting a few of these grassy textures. And then third time, the dirt will be kinda easy because it's just a few variations of that same color and a couple of little brush strokes to add texture. So it's not going to be too, too much. Not too scary. Hopefully. No grass can deal a little with a little scary just because there's so much going on, but I think you can use your brushes to work for you. Yes. It helps that the grass and this one is kinda farther into the background so you wouldn't show as much detail they are anyway, right? Right. Alright. So I'm going in and pulling out, See that little patch of dirt that's between the two rows of grass and starting with that and brightening it a little because I liked that reddish brown color next to the green means I want to emphasize that. Okay, now I'm going to go back to a little bit bigger brush for this foreground. Me my biggest. And just create some more textures and variations in their areas where the light can hit the ground a little more. Some areas with more shadow. I'm leaving a lot of what's already there. Just just enhancing it. Yeah. Just work on what you what you already have and use that as a base for the details. So that's reservoir details you're supposed to be, right? Yeah. It does. It's not like repainting the whole thing. It's just now on top of what's there. You just enhancing what you already have. The base code is kinda just like the foundation of the piece and then needed to enhance it. One thing I'm doing as I paint this is letting the brush strokes go all the way off. Championing like right onto the tape that way. Similar to how we were doing with the tree. You don't want the brushstrokes to feel like they're stopping at the edge. You want it to, you want to give the feeling that this scene continues beyond where we're able to see here. So just kinda paint with that idea in mind that you're just take your, take your brush strokes on the side all the way over. Almost like you're you're looking out a window into what year you're painting? Yeah. Yeah, That is a great way to think of it because the edge of your paper is kinda just like the window frame. But you know, there's more to this scene. I went a little dark with the ground at first, which is kinda nice now because I can, as I'm adding this detail on top, It's like adding in little layers of highlights that I like going from dark, building up from dark to light like the yeah, that is a really good way to, to give it some depth in a really good way to work in acrylic, I think it yeah, this medium, That's a very effective way for adding depth. Yeah. Acrylic can be a little tricky to get it to feel like it's blending. But I feel, I think this approach and kinda doing some thinner layers that are almost like glazes or washes that that helps to get more of softness and blending going on. Yeah, definitely. Alright, so I basically have all my little lumps and bumps in the ground. And so now I'm just going to take a smaller brush again and add in some little dark spots where it looks like there's just irregularities or who knows what all is going on in there, but just breaking it up a bit. Yeah. And I think this is something where you can kind of use your brush and drag it across the surface and it will work for you. You could also experiment with a little bit of a dry brush look, which can bring out the texture of the paper more. So if you don't use much water and you just do a little brush strokes, you can see, you can kinda see the roughness of the paper showing up inside of those. That can be nice in painting. Something with texture like this. I'm just about done with my rocks. I'm going to do a few more and then we will call this one. So I'm excited to get back there and paint that tree. I know. Right. Finally the tree has its moment. Yes. A little tree, right? That's it for this one. Okay. Great job everyone. This painting is really starting to come to life, but there's one very important detail that's missing. In our next lesson. We're going to paint the tree. You ready for that, Melissa? Yes, Paul, I'm ready. Okay. Let's go. 11. Painting the Tree: Okay, Welcome back everyone. We are ready for the final stage of this painting. We're ready to get that tree in there. I'm so excited. This is going to bring everything together and it's going to look beautiful. Paul, are you ready to paint the tree? I'm ready. Let's do it. Okay, let's go. So I have my, I believe this is raw umber here. I also have a little bit of black. You could use some burnt umber. There's, there's actually a lot of warm tones in this tree as well as everything else. So I'm gonna put you in a burnt umber out so I can use that. Okay. I want to mix it a little bit of my black with my number as I'm working here. I like to get my brush a little bit wet. When I'm starting with the acrylic brush, are we using for this part? I will show you here. I have this is a number three. It is a round brush. It has a nice point on it. So I like this one because it's not so small that it won't carry a lot of paint, but it's a decent size that will come to a nice point. So I can get a very thin line with this. I can also get a slightly thicker line. So that's perfect. If you're a little bit more new to painting and not used to using a pointed brush like this, you might want to use something a little bit smaller, especially for those tiny detail branches. But I'm going to use this because I'm pretty comfortable with this brush. I feel like I can get the line quality and the line size that I'm looking for. I'm just going to start working on this tree and I'm going to start with the trunk. And I'm just going to start defining that with this dark color that I have. You're first starting in the same place. Looked at those. I know. We agree on something. Imagine that. That's no fun. Yeah. So as you're working, if you feel like you're not getting the wine quality that you want or the brush feels a little bit too big. You can't get a nice points. Switch to something smaller. If you have something smaller, you know, I will use when I'm painting a really detailed painting, I will use like a triple zero brush if I need to. So if that's something that works for you, you can definitely do that. It's gonna take you awhile. What does it have? Just like one or two bristles. Tiny. It's tiny. It's probably not going to last very long. Like I've noticed the small brushes, they were out pretty quickly. Yeah. One thing that helps me when doing detailed, kinda funny things like this is to get a little bit more water on there, you don't want it so so runny that it's going to bleed all over the place. But if you get it a little bit wet, it does make it glide across the paper a little bit easier, doesn't it? You don't get like, although it doesn't, sometimes when the brush is too dry, it gets stuck. End up with weird gloves and things. Yeah. Definitely. I think that mixing a little bit of water in there whenever you mix your acrylic paint will definitely help. You don't. So one thing to watch out for, and I found this a lot when I work on paintings with small brushes. Sometimes you will get a drip of water that will settle right at the edge of the metal part of your brush. So right before it hits your bristles and then when you go to paint, that drip of water, it gets onto your brush and it drips right onto your painting. So I have been there and I'm glad you thought to say that because I've never would have remembered that. There's a thing that happens. Yes. It happens to me all the time. And now whenever I wash off my brush and I'm going to use it and it's a little bit wet still. I will wipe that metal ring off with my finger on a paper towel or something before I start painting because I have had a lot of issues with that. Yeah. Yeah. So I have learned learned from my experience. Everybody in don't do that. So are you just kinda getting all the branches in first and then go back and do leaves us with another technique. What are you doing here? Does this tree have leaves? Oh, well, I can't tell if those are leaves are just like a whole bunch of branches. I didn't think there was a bunch of branches, but I mean, if you want to put leaves on it, my name is definitely do that. I was focusing on the branches because that's all I saw was branches. My mind that in my mind it can turn into many other things. Yes. So I, I like to focus on the larger branches first and then go out from there, build the smaller branches. So the, only, the only branches that are really feel like are important to get right are the ones that are really obvious. So the ones that are kinda coming off the tree that are a little bit more visual like there's the one going off to the right, the little smaller one. There's one coming off the main trunk. So I will focus on those first. And then I feel like a lot of the little smaller ones, I just start painting lines on top of lines and don't worry as much about how they all connect. Because I think once you get some texture in there, it's going to look like a tree, you know. Yeah, that's exactly in fact, if you make everything to, you know, if every branch looks very obvious and deliberate, it will start to actually make it feel less realistic. That's just not what things, that's not how we perceive things, right? You could focus on some of the denser areas, filling those in. Some cars cross lines are some more solid shapes and then build out from there. Yeah, that's what I'm doing. I got the main branches in and nine, just kinda blocking in some more random shapes. Yeah, definitely. This is another way you can just use the brush to your advantage. So I'm using this point or brush still, but I'm using the side of it like this and just kinda dabbing. You see how it's creating that texture and it looks like a whole bunch of little branches in there, but I'm not actually happening to paint each one. So I'm a big fan of that. Yeah, definitely. I think in these denser areas, you can just do a lot of tinier brush strokes to fill it in and then go back and add some detail branches to make it look more tree-like. Yes. I'm using a little bit warmer colors up in the top left of the tree since that feels like the light is kinda coming through, enlightening those branches a bit. Yeah. I still have some of my underpainting here, some of that visible. So it's really helping to add some depth to the tree and some warmth. Nice. Yeah, you don't want to just do all black because if you look closely at the reference, there's a lot going on in there. Hello, this is gonna be so beautiful. Little glowing tree. Love it. I think even some of the areas where you painted over the sketch lines will help add some depth because some of those branches will look like they're in the background. Yeah. I would definitely leave some of those of you who still have some of that going on. I think painting trees is always an exercise in using your brush strokes to help you define or imitate something without painting every single detail. Yes. You can also go back in-between branches. And if you mix up a little bit of the sky color, if you want to bring out some of those negative spaces, especially over here on the left where there's a lot of light coming through the tree. I'm just going right back in and brightening some of those little dots and patches. And that also adds to the effects. Can't believe we're almost finished with this, right? Yeah. I want to see everybody's paintings. You all Be sure to post them for us. So fun to see what everybody's doing. I might go back and add a little bit of detail towards the bottom, there are some darker areas right around the tree just to kind of grounded a little bit. Spreading that dark around a little bit. If you haven't done that already, we will really help. Just to name a few. We're almost there. I know, right? Okay. That's a tree. All right, Great job everybody. This painting is looking beautiful. The tree is painted, the ground was painted, the sky is painted. We are almost done. Wow. I guess all this length is taking off the tape, which I have to say is my favorite part. I know it is so satisfying, Let's do it. 12. Closing Thoughts: Awesome work everyone, this has been such a fun class. I'm so glad that you all hung in there with us and painted right along with us. Now, are you ready for the most fun part of all, Melissa? I am so ready, Paul, let's remove that tape. Alright, be very careful when you take the tape off. You want to just do a little bit at a time. Don't rush it. You don't want to tear the paper or disturb the painted part. So just go slow and wait until you see that beautiful crisp white edge. Yes, and so nice to see that. It really helps if you peel the tape away from the painting. So kinda peel it the opposite way that you painted and make sure it comes off really clean and it will be beautiful in the end, we hope you enjoyed this course. Please, please share your work with us. We would love to see it. Also. Be sure to come take some other classes with us. We have so many courses. Melissa just comes up with new ideas all the time. So we have a lot to share with all of you. You can follow us, you can send us a review of the course. We'd love to hear your thoughts about it. And most importantly, keep painting. Connie loves seeing everything you're working on and we love creating little community. Please come join us for other classes. We cannot wait to get started. See you then.