Painting Still Life Class One

1. Introduction : Hi everybody and welcome to today's class. My name is Beatrice a. J, and I am the artists, but I'll be taking you through the class today. This class is entitled painting still-life class one. And in this class we are going to be working on creating a still-life. Still life that we would have curated ourselves. We will be looking at the sketches that will create for us a very simple still-life. And also the different elements that we're going to bring into still life painting. Still-life painting for this class is going to basically be focused on, on that idea of familiarity of that space, that's your private space and how you would curate that for yourself. So we're gonna be using a canvas I have here, but you can use whatever substrate you have. Paper. And we're going to work on the sketch, and then we're going to paint for the class. So I'm going to show you the different ways that I approach. Starting out the sketch onto the actual substrate will be painting on. And there'll be different reasons why I use what I use to map app, map out the original artwork. But basically, we're going to get started on that work on the sketch details onto the substrate. Then once we've done that, we will go ahead and start the painting. So come along and join me as a very simple class. You will learn just how to layer and why we use the colors we're using and the different items there are in the still life, why I've used them, why they might look like the way that they look. And we're going to have some fun, keep it simple and create a really nice piece at the end of it. So I'll see you in the class. Come along and let's have some fun. 2. Class Approach : Hi everybody and welcome to my course here on Skillshare. My name is Beatrice a. J, and I'm the artist is gonna be taking you through the class today. There are a lot of different elements to this class that we're gonna be doing. We're going to be painting this still life here. And I've painted along the sides and the edges as well, just to show you actually still need to paint this awesome. But because it was standing on it, I couldn't do that. But yeah, in this class we're going to be painting this still life. And my aim for a class really is just to kind of touch on the approach of painting still life. You can personalize it to yourself. So there might not be some things I see as I'm going along trying to explain things, I might miss some things out. So if you have any questions, please send me a message on here on Skillshare. But basically, this is an example just to keep it simple, personalize it for yourself. You can do your own setups of still life and you can create artwork that's very simple. Puts your own elements, items that you're interested in. I just build on those layers and you start discovering all the different things that you can do to create your artwork and make it very simple. We are using acrylics in this class because I love acrylics, the drying time and then the effects when it's layering. You can take a lot of time on acrylics. You can do lots of layers if you really want to get it to oil. Oil paint kind of level. There are lots of mediums that can also assist you in getting a smooth result. But that's not why I'm going for, in this, I am going for that storytelling where your layers, a talent of your journey. And at the end of it, you can see where you've traveled. You can see all the decisions you've made and that can all help to give me memories as well. So yeah, it's about storytelling, is about layering. It's also about personalizing. The idea of still lives. This is a first-class, I'm hoping to do some more classes, so let's get started and work through my sketchbook, which is an old diary. To show you what kind of ideas I'm talking about. 3. Looking at sketches: Hi everyone. And here we have the diary that I was telling you about earlier on that I have been using for my sketches recently. But I will be sketching on this other piece of paper for what we'll do for the class. I thought I'd show you some examples of still lives that I've created. These are dynamic digitally. I've been going in between my digital and also my traditional mediums as well for painting. Setups that I've had in mind and with beams and ideas that are of interests. I don't have a cat, but I am interested in cats. I love the way that they move. I'm very interested in their whole persona. So different. This is more of a traditional one here and there just different details that I could go into explaining these still lives that I'm showing you just to the left of the screen there. But here we have my sketchbook that I was saying the diary, it's aligned one, but that doesn't deter me from sketching onto this diary. I love to have other things on the page before I do any artwork. So it's that idea of the blank canvas. And then already haven't elements that can help you start to anchor yourself onto a page. So here I have a whole variety of sketches that I've done for the past weeks. And I've really been interested in telling my story through these paintings and sketches that I've been doing recently. Started off very lightly of me trying to paint basis. For some reason. I like floral elements, I like all kinds of nature. So that's been pulling me into taking it into my spaces. And I think that idea of taking the nature and have it in MySpace is what has led to this point where I'm now creating still lives. So the visas started off as being the main focal point. Here. I'm showing you that I'm starting to bring in other elements. So this is a local feature where I live is a bandstand. And I've started putting that kind of idea of the local interests in my paintings, in paintings, in my paintings, which is quite funny, but bringing in that personal element of your locality as well. You can also bring in your own interests and put them into a still-life. Historically, still life seemed kind of like at arm's length, somewhere quite fancy, an upmarket. And so we have this idea that still lives or other space that we cannot access. That's the way I always felt about it. It's like somebody else's quite grand, private environment. But what I was trying to think of as I've been creating my own artwork is bringing your own ideas, your own elements, your life into that still live. Here again, just on the top left, I'm showing details of the hills around where I live or other features as well. We have a canal and there's a boat in this sketch. And it's kind of like an outdoor sketch that one you can do still lives that don't need to be in turn indoors as well. I feel you can do them. I feel gardens or you can mix up so many things and ideas here. He can bring your pets and you can bring things you use like umbrellas or bags. There's so many ideas of how you can create a still-life and personalize it to yourself. The sketch just to the bottom right there I've got like throws and all sorts of stuff cushions beside the cat. Here. I'm also showing you that. Yes, I don't want a cat. I'm emphasizing that, but also but I do own the chopping board just on the left there. And I do own a motor like for your ******, for pounding your ****** and making them a bit more pliable for cooking. So I've put different elements in here that I have interests or I own. I love lemons. And I'm still anchoring for lemon tea, which I had a long time ago in someone's house and I've never made it myself still because I keep thinking that I will not be able to get it exactly the way that the lemons were made. A personal thing that I started putting the loss of lemons in the first still lives that I was doing, still anchoring for that and then having a teapot which is linked to the lemon and the lemon tea, and then having my tea cup ready for that. So from the vases, like at this card example here, greeting card example I've got here. For digital piece. There's some thistles and this allows for Scotland is quite a big theme. So just showing variety in artwork. I used to do the cheers and with a thistle in a different way. And now I carve the top of the chair so you can change how you're approaching your whole sketching and painting. I'm traditions. As you go along, you don't have to be very stiff and the way that you produce your artwork so you can learn and adapt as you go along. So on the left I've got examples of local sightseeing sculptures. So these are the LPs. They are really huge, huge sculptures that are bigger than buildings, made out of some kind of metal of some sort. And so I've started bringing in these local elements and themes into my artwork and personalizing it. Things of interest. Just pull them in. And when you look at that still life, you will be linked to a TLB, anchored to a tool feel connected to it. So that is what the, the underlying theme of this class for me is, is to get you to understand that once you put those personal elements in, your approach to painting them is going to be slightly different. You're going to think of the mood, how you feel, or how you felt when you are interacting with those items or objects or environments. How is your home environment, or is it an office scene that you're painting? You can link bit indoors with the outdoors. Like I'm doing here with these local themes. I'm bringing them into that space. That's still life space. And it's a snippet of your life. So it'd be really cool to see your artwork showing your snippets of your local life as well, the interests of the local community. You can bring that in with the idea of putting them into paintings as well. I think that that's just a beautiful way of introducing it and very simple, but you don't have to have a busy background. I'm showing from these paintings on the left. You could always just have it plain and start off with something not too complicated, basically. So, yeah, it's just to enjoy yourself in this class and take it easy and not put too much stress on you. I've got a mirror and this one. And just different things that as soon as I started telling the story about myself and my interests, I started bringing in like little sidebar tables and all sorts of things that are in your environment. Even shoes, different kinds of treats that you give yourself. So cakes or whatever you want. Those things could be what you put on the table. And then taking notes and writing about the elements I could introduce into my paintings. I've got like carrots, salt and pepper shakers, little milk jugs on the left page there and just different things as scribbled down that I can add to my still life. You're planning, you're getting ideas that can be like the ladders or if you work with tools a lot. So you can put those tools in somehow. Toolbox. If you like rugs, you could introduce that slightly to the side. So it's that whole discussion here. I have my glasses on the table because I wear glasses. And then in this different elements I've added. I remembered recently I've also not eating the pineapple for ages, so there's a pineapple to the left of that sketch. I have a hat. It's been quite hot and sunny recently. You can bring that in. The sunflowers in a field in the background because of taking this table outside Elizabeth through patio doors. That's the idea. And this lower sketch, there is a chessboard. And I play chess with my son, so I've sketched that out. I'll do more detail. If I was painting it to make it more obvious. I like cheese cakes that's there. There's some glasses and a bottle. So ever drink you drink, you can put that there as well. Um, and then I've still got a vase and all of these paintings, what stimulated the initial approach of taking the outdoors in is still there. The vase is tying all of it together and you can put different plants in those ways is as well. So what do you have a favorite flower? Do you have a favorite plant? You can do that as well. So tell your story through still-life. So here I've got a mini example of a painting I've done before, and I love cupcakes. So I've added cupcakes here. And the tea tea pot is still there. The teacup. 4. Planning Sketch: So the arm of this ketal is slightly longer than it would be. An in fact, in my later paintings, they get longer and longer, really exaggerated as I can get into the flow of what I'm trying to build. I really like the yellow there against the whole muted greens. Then I'm looking at complementary colors. So the violet in there with the yellow or hints of orange and the red with the green. And then this piece, if I just turn it around, I have the greens like luminously coming out. This painting. The visa is supposed to be kind of mimicking a glass see-through green V's biscuits. I've got the tissue dispenser there, the umbrella. You can always change the colors in your artwork. You don't have to just stick with one color. You can repeat the same scene over and over again. I've got the background, the moon and different things here that in the background and a little cartilage as well. So you build interest into your, your piece and you tell your story. But you can change colors. You can pick the same painting again and add different results, different color palettes. It doesn't have to be what you've done the first time and that's what I'm exploring as well, is that repetitive aspect to paint in and doing it so many times that you get really used to what you're doing. So I'm still doing a lot of sketches at the moment trying to get myself to understand what story I'm trying to tell. Then by the time I'm going into the painting, there's a certain mood probably that I'm going to be setting because of all that repetitive painting. And then the shadows underneath the actual items on the table as well as the same colors I'm using repeatedly around the face and the little shadow under the teacup. Just trying to get the colors to be repeated through the painting. To carry the floor with the eyes and the hints of the blue and just different things less than the layers built up on the paintings. And that will make the whole painting really cohesive. So even for the edges of the paintings, I don't always change the colors that I've used along the way. Whenever I add new paint, I don't always get rid of the other paint that got before, for example, what I've noticed is that the underside of my paintings, I am not painting them over and over again. So they're becoming quiet, a character on the painting as well. So we're gonna go on now to creating the panels that we're going to sketch. The ideas we might have for this class. So it's a really good idea to form this kind of a habit. I've been using it as you can see my sketch book to really try and plan out or to hash out different ideas so that I can know what kind of a layout I want. So for these two panels, I am going to give an example of table settings that you can use. Recently, I have been creating tables that are kind of spheres or semi-circles, I should say. You could always do a straight one, which is usually there. Contemporary expectation of a lot of the still-life scenes. You can arch it. And also the third is to curb it into the corner so you can see the larger part of the semicircle. It's like cutting a semicircle and a half. That's that kind of idea. So these are the kind of approaches you can have for a table settings. It doesn't have to be just a straight line basically. Then when I'm now looking at this and I've been adding visas to my still life. So I am just giving you an example here of two different positions that you can put your still life. I'm also not still-life your vase. And also now I'm just adding different elements that are stylistic to me. I have a particular chair that I like to sketch in, and I don't know something I have in my head. In fact, later on in some of my other sketches has been changing that a little bit more because at home we have similar to yours but the actual wooden parts of it are a bit longer, so I'm trying to bring in more of my surroundings into the piece. For this class, we're focusing a lot on the idea of looking through a window and seeing somewhere else, trying to get a place, sense of place in the painting. So I'm going to sketch these ideas are layouts and you can do that for yourself. You can maybe look around in your own house or in your own environment, or someone's a friend's house. And think of the layout that you can use for your still lifes basically. Here now I'm adding another cheer and just building up the painting. Really look to your subjects and think ahead of time. What do you want to actually add into your painting? And then aside from that, is also thinking, right. What kind of story do I want to tell? The mood needs to be either cosy or cold, or mysterious or daunting. There's so many ways to look at what you're trying to tell through the scene that will be impacted also by the colors you use. By the way you position things as well, like accessibility. That's something I've been looking at, which is quite hilarious because I've not really thought initially when I was sketching things, I wasn't thinking too much about placement of items. But now it's like okay, if the, if this cupcake is here, then where's the tea cup? Then if the tea cup is here, where is the teapot? And then, but can you now reach over or beside the vase access what it is you're looking for. So if you can see there, I've got the chair beside the side that the teapot is the plant pot is not going to interrupt because then that would be a bit odd because then you would spill things and not workout. So I'm looking at functionality as well of the scene and trying to say that I can reach my teapot from my chair and my teacup and my cupcake. And you just keep adding and telling your own story. So when you're looking at the scene, you will know why you're doing things. And you can have a conversation with anyone else, who you are showing the work to or who asks you about certain things. So it's really good sometimes to have that story. It's not always that you have to have it, but it's good to have a little thought process of your own once you've started putting these things down. But as I say in initially, I was just getting the idea of this sketching things out painting, enjoying the feel of that paint, which we'll get to soon enough. So you can see I've got kind of stylized items that I've been added to my paintings. That one there's an avocado. So I've put the little, I'm circle in the middle to remind myself, a half sliced avocado. I have two lemons and there's other side as well, which for some reason I started doing lemons, as I said before, because I like lemons. So then I'm looking at the paneling and the layout of the the picture just on the right here because I want to add a painting on the wall. So I've been adding paintings and paintings of my environment, like I said earlier on. And I wanted to have space in this painting for that as well for this new painting. So I've moved the window over slightly more. So the one on the left, you can see it's kinda central. That Windows very central. But the one on the right, the windows slightly to the side so that, that space on the right I can use for a painting. And then I'm thinking about the designs that I might use, the patterns I might use on items and write in their polka dots, stripes. All sorts of different things that you can use to demarcate areas in your painting and demarcate different items in your painting. I mean, I could polka dots on the kettle, on the v's and stripes on the kettle on the vase. You don't have to have it on the cartoon or on the tablecloth only. Or as an idea, could be on the wall. It could be like a wallpaper ideas. So, so many things to be thinking about when you are looking at your scene and taking in the details of what you're trying to put across. All of these things will allow you to tell you a story in the best possible way. And then I decided to add a cat in the one just on the left and another one on the one on the right here. But they've got different positions. So once line down and one is kinda sitting on the window ledge as well instead of lying down on the window ledge. As I said before, I don't own cats, but I love to have them. They're very interesting as a shape in the painting. Here. I'm now adding the picture frame that's on the wall. And it's really interesting and I'm having a lot of fun adding all these different paintings, which are paintings inside of paintings as well. So I'll be doing a lot more of this going forward. So I'm just adding my kelp piece here. 5. Layout plan on Substrate: So as I'm sketching in these LPs, as I mentioned earlier on, is to use your local interests and add them to your pieces. Because I think that that makes it even more interesting, more unique to yourself. So it's a really fun thing to do. So as we're sketching this out and trying to decide what we want this final piece to look at. We will be thinking about the perspective, the interests, the story we're trying to tell, the items that are involved in telling these stories were replaced them. Then thinking about the colors we're going to use to create these pieces as well. So I'm now trying to decide here which one to do. And I'm definitely leaning towards the one with the kid LPs here. And just the way it looks, there's a lot of detail in there. I'd really love to do this piece. And that would be more interested in just fun for me right now, really. As I said, we're using whatever substrate we have. I'll be using a canvas, but you can use paper yourself and have it flat on your table or Pinto walls. So just relax and decide to take your time and enjoy yourself with this. My wet palette here. And it's really, really, it's, it's a really useful tool to have this wet palette. It's hard for me to get into it because it can have pinks back and hurts my Neil sometimes. But it's a really useful tool for keeping your paint moist. I have a spritz as well that I spritz to keep things moist as well. If I think that it's been open for awhile, but you can see it's a selection of paints I have here. You can limit your palette to just the primary colors of yellow, blue, and red mixed from that. But sometimes I want a variation of blues and yellows and reds. Mixing them takes a bit of time. Here, I've got my old kettle. I didn't actually use this kettle. I'm trying to remember if I got it from a thrift shop or a secondhand sharp as we call it here in the UK. I put my water in here for painting with I really should change that water up, but I'm just going to use it. Here. I have a tissue which is good to have and I was thinking I can just clip it here, but it's a bit fiddly, so but anyway, it's good to have your tissue so you can clean your brush and you can wipe excess paint off or you can have a cloth as well. It doesn't have to be tissues. So we've got this setup and with the easel, and then it's two. Now think about what brushes you can use as well. Have a selection of quite smaller brushes here that I liked. Some of them have more details on my round brushes, flat brushes. There are a lot of different detailed brushes here. This is probably the biggest one I have here. For added candidate, use the paint and more bigger spaces. If you're doing a lot of paint in an area, it's good to have a bigger brush. And then if you want to do details, obviously, I have a smaller brush, so it's just common sense, isn't it? Then? Now, as I'm looking at this, I'm thinking, how are we going to start to approach this canvas, this blank canvas. Sometimes I will use a pencil, as you can see, I've got here and sketch it. But other times you can also use a paintbrush as well, which is what I do at the end of this. I'm just observing my image I've sketched and trying to plan it out. So once I've finished planning that out, I will get started looking at the placement, placement, trying to decide how I do that. So I'm going to use this brush to actually start off my sketch onto the canvas and I'm going to use paint. So I'm just putting some water on that brush to get it to be nice and moist and to help the paint flow. I am using acrylic in this class if I haven't mentioned that before. And so I'm just going to use the black paint and go over the canvas to draw out an outline of what we're going to be painting. This does many things anyway, is first of all, you can see what I'm doing a lot easier. Second of all, it adds a little bit of a shadow background for the painting that we're going to do it as well. Because as the layers are going on, you will still get a hint of that black in the painting. And yeah, let's get started. So the one I picked was the one with the curve. So we're just gonna go in and just sketch that out on the canvas. Here. I'm planning out the window. Then I'm remembering I need to have the edge for my other painting that will be on the wall, which I'm sketching out now and just trying to see if the size is big enough. If I think I need to move some of that over again, I will. So I'm probably thinking the Windows quite wide. So I will make it a bit smaller at some point. And sketching in my cats. When you are painting as well, one thing is to start from the furthest away points and to work your way in. Which helps with you plan and what you're doing and your layout and how the whole room feels in your mind. Because then you're just knowing where things are placed and the distancing and all that. So still planning as I'm going and trying to decide and take your time. You don't have to rush it. I kinda just get in there and get on with doing it. But It's taken time of understanding that there's going to be layers of paint and I shouldn't be scared to just feel free to flow on my actual canvas. And if there's an idea, I have, I tried it out. And if it doesn't work, then you can paint over it. So you have to be quite careful with your approach when it comes to painting because you can always paint over what is there. So I'm just quickly sketch in my copy here. And it's best not to think about what you're doing when you're doing it, just add the lines and you can adjust later on. So obviously as I'm going along, I'm telling myself a story here of what it is that I am trying to achieve. So I'm just adjusting this so that it's a bit closer for you to see. There's the cowpeas and the plant, the vase there, the cat and the windows sail the curtains, a chair. And then I'm trying to remind myself that's gonna be some shadow. I'm adding in my little tea cup there. That's the idea. You can take your time and really putting as much or as little detail as you want when you're creating your artwork, you really do not need to rush any of this. Because you need to enjoy yourself as well. You need to also get used to how the pink feels when you're using it on the canvas or your substrate. So all of that adds to the joy of painting, as well as then you're telling your story. And as I said, you can use different stock images to get items to the level you want to get them. I'm very rustic in the way that I do mind. As you can see. There's the handle I'm talking about. Look about exaggeration. I mean, I don't even know how you would manage a tea pot like that because that handle is so tall. Actually, have not even thought about how you would pour the tea from that. It would be very awkward. But we're telling the story. We're living in a slightly fantastical world while we're painting these as well. And we're inviting people to join us in it and to disbelieve that, that teapot will actually work when it comes to the time to use it. But oh my goodness, it would be quite a fiddle to use that tea tea pot. So I'm just going around making sure I have every item in the piece before we get on to adding more layers of paint. But also as well, it's good to let this layer dry if you want. Or what I do sometimes as I'm going in, I will start in an area that doesn't have any paint on it. While while the other area is drying, I can be working in another area. So you kinda get a feel for how long you've been using your paint. Which areas are wetter than others or dryer, or the different techniques you could do if just lightly brushing the color over something to blend it. There's a lot of details. But yeah, that's basically the sketch so far on the actual canvas or substrate. So let's get on to and in the next segment on layers onto this piece. And it's gonna be fun. I hope you're enjoying this. Let's just keep having fun. 6. First Paint Layers: So now we're going to add the colors. And as we're trying to decide what colors we're going to add, what I like to do is start with a lot of darker colors first f as possible, and then built lighter, lighter areas on top of that. So but then making sure that those areas dry, I mean, I used to be really impatient. In fact, use an acrylic is because of probably my lack of patients because it dries so fast and so many people find this an issue when they're wanting to use acrylics, they feel that it dries too fast, but the layering in acrylics, I think, is where it has its strength because you get those textures coming through. And so that's why I love using it. Because you can see the story it's telling you on the palette, on the substrate of actually where you've been with your paintings. So that kind of rustic look, I don't mind. And also you could get it to the level of where it's smoother. There are mediums to help you, but also you can take your time and really mix colors really close to each other in order to get that same effect. So you can see me here now using this dark rich deep red, which I am going to say here, if we're using the three primary colors that I've been talking about, you can mix with a really blue, red, brown in there. There's ways you can mix it to be this deep. I also like painting to the side. So you can see here where I'm adding the table detail to the edge of the painting where it's kind of an illusion thing that, so that if you're looking at it diagonally, you can kinda see the table. The whole painting is still feels like it's continuing on the side of it. It's very surreal. It's not always that it stays like that. It's not always as deliberate. Sometimes I might just change the color and it might change slightly on the side. But I've been finding with my still lifes that I really liked that look. Continuing on the side of the actual painting. So I've been doing that, so I'm just going around very drastically with this brush. It's not a very detailed brush, but it's a small brush going around each item. And just filling in this space, the negative space around the items. Trying to keep also areas that will remind me that I have to do something else to them. The shadows I've not actually painted over because I'm trying to remind myself that I wanted to use a different color in those areas. So once we have gotten this far, what we're gonna do is while we're letting that dry, I think we're gonna go to another area and paint. So it's just to keep on thinking about the colors you want to work together. And then just add in them. Because I've used this deep red on the table. I'm now thinking, okay, I'm going to use a contemporary, well, not contemporary complimentary color, but I'm mixing in some of that red in as well. So it's gonna be like a deep greeny brown color to go onto the next stage. So I'm just still going ahead and mixing it, trying to decide where I want to put the color. And then obviously I changed my mind there because it's now mainly green. I don't think I liked the idea of the dark brown. But this is a thing it's like even for myself. Unfortunately, I'm having to do a voice-over because at the time I recorded this, my kids are home and the house is a lot noisier, so this is the way I have to adapt to it. I have to go afterwards and add the voice-over, but yeah, I explain it. It's really interested in watching what I've done as well and seeing what my decision-making was in the green is still connected to that aspect of contemporary complimentary colors. I will get that right. As you can see initially, I wanted to use the green and then I tried to dull it down with some other red and I didn't like probably how dark that was gonna go. So I've now gone back in with this green and the white color is starting to slowly become a less lesser feature. And I'm just using colors here. The end of the day that I think are fun and that they go together. And as I said, you can paint over these layers. It doesn't have to all stay this way. So unfortunately for this, I should have probably tilted this a bit more for you to see what colors I'm mixing, but I think I've mixed a yellow or some sort into the original Green. And this is one of the things that I've been doing where I've been mixing certain colors because I want them to harmonize. So the green I was using before, if I've mixed it with a yellow, then I've now gotten this new green, which still works with it, but is different. And I'm carrying it through everything and I don't care that it's mixing with the red, which obviously it's still it's still wet. Because I want it to be harmonize them, added a bit more yellow into that. And I'm going into the lemons and just playing around with it. So every time you could just see the layers of the other colors coming through, it's very light, it's bright. And when I'm looking at the rest of the actual painting, this can be a way that you go when you look back at something, when you've created it, if you're filming, it's always a good idea to do that. To be honest. You can see where maybe you liked it at a certain stage and when you're painting the next time, you can stay there and then you can add whatever you like next. So it's a very good way of studying what you're doing, filming yourself painting as well. You do learn from it. So at this stage, I love the luminosity of the window. I love the luminosity of the flowers and the vase. And just does that light, that light green, yellow light just going through everything. I love it. So this is still adding paint onto the first layer is because it is that thing of like coloring and you're going over and over things and trying to start building the layers. So I'm not working on the wall and trying to get this in view for you. Really loved the green that I've got. There's a gray green. And you can see the way it feels. This is this little areas of so white canvas still come in through because not every area has been painted in. I've kept that green on there and touch some black and the cat is ended up slightly gray. And even though the brushes thick, I'm still using that for the tail. I mean, it's just playing and playing and playing as much as you want. Basically. The lower part of the window, I'm bringing in that shadow. And yeah, I mean, look so different already. So if you're thinking now from the sketch that we created to then actually sketching it with the paint onto the canvas. To now add in the colors onto the canvas. And then it's just going back and forth from there and continuing to build the layers. And that's how we end up getting a painting and sharing the story. There's still life that we're creating. So a lot of fun. Yeah, it's very wet right now through the whole canvas. You could use a dryer of some sort to actually dry off your paint as you're working so that you can actually work on it quicker. But I'm trying to learn to be patient to certain levels. So I am once I fill in like a layer like this, I usually will do something else and let that dry and then I can get back to it. That's a different point. So yeah, I mean, this is the painting so far. And it's really, really, I just loved the way it looks. This point is so light and airy and I really want to know whether cats looking at. 7. Second Paint Layer: Keep on adding to your artwork, keep on adding to the piece. As I said, remembering the narrative, the story you want to tell on your substrate, and looking at the details. Looking at areas of light, looking at areas that are in the shadow, bringing in colors that you've used elsewhere so that it can build other parts of the painting as well. So here I'm trying to show the light reflection of the kettle, of the teapot against the background. But we're gonna be adding so many layers. There's different techniques when it comes to acrylics, you can either wait for the paint to dry and add the next layer that you want to add. And you'll get a different effect from where the paint underneath doesn't move. So it's going to allow for that kind of peaking result where you see hints of that color underneath because it's dry and it's with a wet surface against the dry. Another aspect is when it's wet and actually working with wet on wet so you can blend the paint, you can add lighter colors, are different colors and help them blend into each other. So that's kinda the two different approaches that I'm using here and back and forth. I'm trying to add another cat on the table here. And as I'm doing this, I'm looking at the way the other items on the table. Look, I'm looking at the perspective. Is it going to be okay? And so some of these ideas I get in the paintings, I am trying something out. If it doesn't work, we will paint over it. So here I'm adding another tray because I'm thinking that space, I might use it for something else. And just add an elements that I think are interesting to me trying to fill that table and not to let it maybe look so with so much space also empty. But I come to the conclusion that no, none of that is working for me. So I will get rid of all of this. I'm starting to add the next layer of color that I think I want to add. Because I'm trying to take it into a pink tablecloth. I'm idea. I'm trying it out and see how it goes. And then if I didn't like it against the background, then I go ahead and change it. So some artists will actually start with a color palette, but they think they want to do straight away. I could do that. Sometimes I do get colors that I'm like, Oh, that'd be nice to put those colors together. But sometimes it's like, no, I'm just going to paint because I want to paint and I'll see what colors kind of inspired me on my palette. I'll see when I put a color down, I'll decide if that color has sparked off another color I might want to put beside it. So here you can see that these colors like this still the green on my brush. And because of that it's mixing in some areas are not as pink. They're more of a grayish pink because of that green on my brush. But I love the way that it's looking because it's showing the movement of my brush. It's showing the journey, the travel, the story. Now, once this dries, you can put another layer and then it's like it's going to peek through that. Because you also need to think about your shadows and all sorts of details. It's just so much fun to go through this. But as I'm saying, if you're just painting and just going with the basic narrative, it doesn't get that complicated as an orange shouldn't. It's when you start either in your real details of what you're trying to tell in your story that it can get more complicated. But it's just to keep simple shapes. I think that's the overall advice. As I'm doing the cat, some of the areas are still great, lighter gray and I'm leaving it like that. You can see me painting the cat's tail here and I'm not caring about the fact that it's going over the teapot because that's what's happening here. Because I'm going to paint the two-port, the teapot handle over that again. And then you just build it over and over and over again and they become a repetitive in the way that you're doing things. So eventually you're just going to be doing them. I'm even going to be thinking about what you're doing. Now. I'm trying to do the window sill of where the cat. And the reason I'm going into the window is because I'm trying to let the table dry. So this is what I'm saying is that you start to understand how your paint works and you just really start getting on with it and painting the seam through the window. I added some of that green into that scene in the window. And I really like this brown I'm using because it's like a reddish brown or yellow. Yellowish, reddish brown. Probably more yellow. And it's kind of, I think, complimentary and complimenting the colors in the scene behind the window. It's really interesting because I think when I've been looking at these still lives, just that idea of me setting the painting like this has been given the idea that our brain just goes, that's a window. And then we're filling in what that scene as on the other side of it because I've put like continuous color that yellow is like a block of color going down, but then you know that it's the outside it's supposed to be. And so your brain is just written a whole lot of things going into that. And there's some trees outside, obviously are some plants. And then you're seeing the silhouette of the cat against that. So it's just really interested in how painting marks and then having different tones of the same color really adds movement as well. So the browns just below the cat are slightly different. This hints of gray from what's been there before. And as I'm looking at it, I'm thinking right, okay, I might add some more detail, like try and make the window look more like a window with these kind of light gray spirit strikes diagonal against it. Then now I'm doing something else and it's like it just offshoots to something else. The more you do, you end up starting to understand what you want in the painting. So let me pull us all back again. So it started with a sketch and then we have ended up sketching with paint on this substrate canvas or paper. Now we can see how we've built to this with layer after layer and that yellow background. Now, I'm now adding some skyline into it. And that is that interests behind the other side of the window. So obviously, if you get to a certain point that starts to take control of the whole scene. So you need to now pull yourself back and start to work on the other elements in the painting to kind of bring the whole thing together and add that perspective. Because that is supposed to be further back and it's not supposed to be like something that is necessarily right at the front. So now I'm coming and working at the forefront, building those details in building the layers and trying to start putting in details of light and dark. And sharpening up those different items that are on the table so that they get their own place. What I do with this when it comes to the light and dark is what I'm doing with the shadows on the table or the shades on the table that are there, shadows here. I'm really enjoying using the blue. And because I now probably introduce this blue is why it goes in the direction it does because I started out in the blue in different ways. And you can see that just that introduction of it has changed the whole look again already. So it's now trying to pull all the colors together, all the different items together and unifying them. And I really love it when the paint underneath is dry and you can just drag that new color across the actual substrate and there's no movement. You can see it peak through and different layers depending how dry it you have it on your brush. Trying to add some purple in there with the yellow and build the shadow around them. Which gives interests. It's just fun because I love color. And when I'm using these colors in the shadows is just made the whole idea for me of still life so exciting because I can play with this color and I can make the piece really, really a part of my own conversation and my own language. And so those shadows, I just really love how that's working. The blue and the purple and the lighter blue there in that corner. So I'm adding some of that blue that's still on my brush to my cat. The other side. I'm just realizing that that's me, the cat look like it's facing us for some reason. But I go over it again, I think with a little bit more color or it blends in a little bit. So I'm just checking there that the curtain is actually dry and we're gonna go ahead and work on those other areas. 8. Adding more Value Layers: So we're going to go ahead and paint in the current in that area. And I've got this terracotta color that I've mixed, which is kinda like red. And probably, maybe an old car is a pink of some sort. Anyway, peachy pink color, which I'm sure is like a yellow ocher with some kind of a red and maybe some white as well to mix it in to get this. So I'm painting in the sides and I'm trying to remember that I wanted to feed over into the curtains. But this stage, I'm just painting the side. But obviously this side I've just realized there's not make any sense because the current is further in, But I am filling the edges now and possibly thinking that I want to keep them a bit similar. So that's why I'm painting this terracotta color and to the sides. So it's leaving a kinda interests on the edge of the painting. You can see what it looks like altogether now. It's kind of coming together. There's the terracotta is going to go onto the cartoons as well. So that will tie it all in together. And there's different patches of color because on the brush, There's maybe some leftover color from before. And it's all just build it in and add into the piece. And also doing the top here as well. I'm listening this area of the easel, the mini easel, and trying to make sure I'm being thorough in painting every site that needs to be done and doing it now saves me from later on trying to think of what color I use and repaint those areas. And as you can see, I didn't paint underneath the canvas because it's sitting on the actual easel and that would become a bit messy. So to get back into the painting, I'm now just going to continue adding this terracotta color to the cartons. And I'm using a very, very dry brush, dry brush because I want some of that green to possibly peek through. Still. At this stage anyway, if later on I thought no, I don't like it. You can always paint it over. I think I added a lighter color in here and it's made that terracotta get a bit more paler. But I'm just loosely painting around the mugs or the tea cup on the table. The plan I have slightly to the side. I really like at this stage the way that the plant looks in the veins is very light and very airy. I change it later on, but I actually prefer this stage. As we said, as you're painting your piece and you are working through your narrative and your story is to basically just relax, enjoy the experience. And as you can see here, the layering that is now starting to give texture and movement and interests. Because of all that has gone before. So that I've done that curtain is to try and let that dry. And then I'll come back to that later on. Now is to start adding other items and the elements and bringing them forward as well. I think partly why I did what I did with the curtains was to push that back so that it's not so saturated with the green. Now I think I'm looking for a smaller brush so that I can start adding some more details. Or it could be actually thinking of painting over the tablecloth again because I didn't change that soon. But I'm going to work on the next area that I think will bring this out. And it's probably more of the detail now because I could just seen that I've got a detailed brush there. So I'm gonna go ahead and start working on my teapot. So as I said, I'm bringing a lighter color here so that I can see the actual teapot handle against that backdrop. And they can see that there are greens. There were other colors before. There are still following that flow and that journey of that teapot. So now what I'm doing, all this, you can see some of the hints of colors behind that were there before. I'm painting over this outline. It's like kicking see that deep red that was there before. It's still peeking through. And I just love all that. Thinking about light and reflections and that teapot could be ceramic, it could be metallic. It's an allows for reflection and I like looking at my pieces and that way, as I said, using the color through the painting. And that helps to bring all of the, the whole painting together. Once you have that use of similar color all the way through. I'm going in here to my painting in the background. The green and the walls are different. Green. If you look at that closely. So maybe bringing that green into the actual painting is fine because it's a very detailed and subtle way of carrying the color through the whole painting. Here, I'm now trying to use a light color, not pure white, but it's still got some of that green in it to create a frame around the painting because the painting, the wall might be quite light, but still, you can have a lighter frame against that. So that's the idea I'm going with here and scratching into that with the back of my brush to get some texture into it. So now I'm trying to think right, what else do I want to add to this piece? What other areas do I want to enhance? So I am looking at bat. So the tablecloth still drawing, the curtains drying but the drain quickly. What else can I add here to tie this in? But it's just already quite an interesting piece as we're looking at it. So I've decided that I'm going to make the pattern on the keratin, which is why I thought I was doing. And I've mixed a kind of a pink there and I'm now working that into the carton. I've been there interest going on there. So now, like I'm saying, if it's still wet on a surface with acrylic, it's good to just do a very quick taps attached to the actual surface. So when I'm adding these patterns onto this and being very quick, I'm not like repeatedly going back and forth with my brush because it will dull the color of the pink. I want that pink to stick out because it's just supposed to give it that interests. But if I wanted it to blend in with the background, I would rub it back and forth a bit more and that would make it blend a bit more. Now you can see how the design is kinda going over the edges. So seeing a painting initially, we can just think, right, that we know what the processes, but there's so many layers that can be involved in creating something. So it's fun to see this process as well. And to, like I said, record it for yourself so that you can see how you go through your journey. 9. Final Colour Adjustments : So this is a stage we've gotten to and now I'm going to pull this chair in the background, they're out because it's kind of blended them with the different layers. You can still see some of the green in there and the black that I initially used to create the chair. So I decided that I was gonna go with red. I do change that later on because I realized that it blends into much with the background. But as I said, the layers were there and it's fun to experiment. And if I was patient enough and I wasn't thinking about the time aspect of things. I would take more time to build more layers, read, and take my time to figure out what red would probably work best there because I'm sure I can have a red chair against a slightly pink, peachy background. But it's the patients to wait for building those layers and I wanted it to be very, very visible as well. So that is another reality. So yeah, I do go over that later on with some black as well. But yeah, so it's trying to now bring the other elements in the painting together. And I'm not really happy with the way that the tablecloth is going, so I will change that soon. I'm still trying to think what color I want to use for that at this stage. Painting that red was making me think if that was maybe the issue. But as I said, it's great to go back and forth trying out things. I'm trying to remember what story I'm telling. And that cozy feel. I want for this scene where it's like I would love to be in that room. I actually liked the way it looks right now in the fact that the colors are so subtle together and it's very blended. But I do come in now with this bright, brilliant blue because I wanted to tablecloth to be a bit more visible. So I'm trying to go lightly over it and not cover up everything. As you're working with your brush sometimes like here, when I'm cleaning that away, the brush can get away from you and you end up putting slightly more paint than you wanted to. You could always wash it off with a little Spitzer and come back to it again. But you do need to understand that you can't get every single bit of that paint out. So it's trying to see how you can go back and go over something again and to take your time. Because it's not like you have to rush when you're doing your own painting. So I've been trying to tell myself that as well, not to think about deadlines at this stage in time when I'm painting and exploring a new series of paintings, of artwork. If I think of deadlines, if I give myself an endpoint, I wouldn't have the opportunity to explore and enjoy and familiarize myself with what I'm doing. So I am trying to take my time so that I can really build a whole collection of beautiful experiments with a new collection. And you can do this for yourself. You can have an idea of what kind of painting you want to do. And you can take your time. Maybe tell yourself, right, I want to paint at least ten of these. And I want to take my time. I'll do the sketches. And I will try and accurately emulate my sketches and have the patients to make each sketch become that story, a narrative, and feel that I actually want it to be. I've gone ahead and added the chair here. I added, actually it's a purple, really deep dark purple, violet or purple that I added to the chair. They're not even black, which is another thing I've been working on. Actually. Use a pure black is not necessarily be answered for some things, so I just added some shadow there. But it's not necessarily answer. You can use darker colors that look like they're black, or you can mix in colors with black to make it slightly more brown, more red, more orange, but really deep rich color. And you can use that instead of using just pure black. And it gives it an extra element, an element of interests. So even with my horses in the background there that look like they're black, there were purples and to look at them closely, you would see the difference that there's just something a little bit more detailed about them through the use of color. They don't have to be black. And also with the whites as well. The same idea. Adding a slight tint in your white so that you have a light, but it's either a slight yellow white or a slight orange white or blue white. If you want it cooler. And I'm just going over the line there. Actual table to show where it ends. I'm saying now you can make some really dark color. It could be a deep brown, it could be a deep blue. And it doesn't have to be a pure black that you do that with. So yeah, just trying to make the items mounts than out. I really loved the blue against that color there. So it's changed a lot as I was saying. And I always go back to this of from where we started with our sketch. We selected which sketch to do and you can select the other sketch if you want to do that one as well in your next project. And then you can go ahead and create an art piece also of your own, making up your own still-life, of your own environment, your own narrative, and tell your own story. So I'm coming in, adding the details. I'm adding some pinks and my cupcake and building the layers. So when that dries, I can add another color over there. And when it goes to my cupcakes, I liked them really to look really rich and delicious because that's how I imagined cupcakes to be in my head. I'm like, these things are created but really creative people. They're really artistic. And I want it to be like the most luxurious cupcake. Or when I'm doing the lemons, I'm like, if you saw lemons, these would be the best lemons in the world. There'll be just perfectly lemony, whatever that means. So as you can see, I'm not washing off my brush. I'm using it through other details. If it was more patient, that would be using a thinner brush and I would maybe put more water in there to make it more fluid to flow a bit better. Then I'm adding it into my teapot. So this carrying the colors everywhere, making the whole painting saying, with this introduction of each item, sharing whatever is unique to them. And I'm going in now to where the kelp horses are adding some more of that pink in there. And I can say, and I'm carrying the story into every area of this painting and trying to unify them. Trying to say that this room is a room that is curated in a very cozy way. And I'm hoping to go forward with projects where the seam through the window or that of winter. So there'll be snow in the actual window. So I can't wait to do those ones. But you can do that for yourself. There can be different themes of weather, but you try and emulate through your window. Seen this, I mean, this endless, what you can do with this. And I brought in some orange there again, and you can see the orange in the plant pot. Then I think I'm now trying to carry some of that into what would be considered the branches and the plant pot. Then this is where I think I overdo these plants. I like them as they are now, but because I'm like, Okay, I should try, I should try. I go in and I add some darker greens because I feel probably that they are this plant is too similar to the background. I like it when I'm looking at it again, I actually do like it, but I wanted to try adding darker leaves for that idea that some leaves are in shadow. That's the reality. So I go in and I did some of that, but I'm looking at it now. It's like I would probably have pulled some of that back. I still can do I could go back to my painting and work on it again. So you decide when you finish your painting, to be honest. So never think that it's the end when you stop with a painting. So this look in here, I'm adding the details on this little teapot and just enjoy the feel of the paints. Another, this has dried a little bit. I'm adding that cherry on top of my little cupcake and it just looks so cute. It looks so edible. I think what I'm getting really irritated about when I'm doing these paintings is that I can't actually eat the cupcake. I think that's what's giving me the heart ache when I'm doing these still lives and the food, when I'm creating the cakes, I'm like, I really want to eat that cake. So it's thinking about deliciousness that you would love for yourself and sharing that with people. 10. Final Shadow and contrast : For this, like the shadows over here. And then more of the darker blue, purple around these to get these to shine a bit more. Let's just use an app a little bit. Play in. But yeah. So if I wanted this plan to stick out a bit more than you put more layers of green in. So before there was the darker green. Now I can go in and still kinda add to give that contrast on this wall. And try it, take my time, it's probably best to get a better contrast. And on this as well. Though. Some water because it's getting a bit dry. But yes, so can work on the plan. This is very subtle. I'm trying to think. We can add something of a bit of the pink, lighter pink on it to make this tear stick out a little bit and say it's the light shining on it. So yeah. Just see some of that pink and then we'll go on in these areas here. Should I make it lighter? Like a lot of details, but here, the cat's tail is still down here somewhere. So let's do some more with that. And you could do a lot with the background, as I say, if this were a lot more of the background, if you wanted to kinda get this to tie in a little bit with this green, build up some trees and things in the background and all sorts of stuff going on. I'm there. I'm trying to think of anything else on this, but I think that's mostly it will just be overworking it, doing some more. I mean, you can make this lighter again. You could do another layer once this is dry because right now it's not. The shadows. Look great. And yeah, I think this one should be done. I'm not going to touch it again. But as I said, I worked the painting around the sides. Also, even on the top. Well, there has been painted side. So just underneath though it needs to be kind of painted as well. So this side is planar. And that is from our sketch, which I'll put up just here. We can see that the details, so then you can use this sketch over and over again. You can paint different color combinations. I didn't want to go as bright as I did in this one. It's just a brighter color that we've just done. Loved writer with a cat. You can see this is where I'm saying that we can make the table lighter. Can use a lighter blue on this if we wanted. Instead of just that blue, the curtains could be what was yellow instead of the background? This plan, I've made yellow. I've carried across a little bit. So yeah, I will give you sketch for the class like apart from these styles candies to n. And you can do that. And I will have another collapse, I think for these still lives so that you can practice a different layout with a different theme and different items to play with and things. But go ahead and have fun creating your own and put a little kitty in their FEV1 or a little dog. Whatever you feel inspired to do, or you could do it just the way I've done it. The 11, so I could have put more green in there and other detailed colors. There's so much you can do. I said, also like the patterns on the actual cartons so you can put patterns on the tablecloth as well so it doesn't have to be clean. This one, I was deliberately tried to mute my colors and then have this as a bright thing playing around with the different kind of ways I could do this. And you can see that this one is a lot lower down that I did the handle, but for some reason it's gotten taller and taller. And each one I've done since then, my calf cakes, cupcakes have gotten even more delicious as we've gone along. I mean, this is a delicious cupcake. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Look at it. So have fun. And I will see you in the next class for another still-life or another point. And I've really enjoyed this. I hope you do too and have fun. Relaxed. Acrylic paints are quite good because they do dry it quite quickly. Just in the next hour or be able to add more layers and really take my time with this with my thinner brush and really go in. But I like the whole layering because there's elements of where it shows up. The colors underneath before. So remember this was pink underneath before and that's all peeking through. I'm on the canvas so I will see you in the next class. Please feel free to share your actual painting once you do it, because that'd be awesome to see that you can use your own local landmarks or tourist interests. And it'll be really interesting to share what those are. And we can read up about each other's tourists, local kinda scenery or local history as well. So I think that'd be quite cool. So I will speak to you in the next one. Enjoy yourself. Bye for now.