painting tutorials, courses, tips & techniques

It seems a little far-fetched doesn’t it?

That your white paint could be ruining your paintings.

It’s often the first tube of paint you buy and definitely the most used on your palette … yet it can be the most overlooked paint in your collection.

You can become transfixed by the Quinacridones, save up for the expensive Cadmium, but little old Titanium white stays the same.

Choosing the ‘right’ white for the type of painting you’re creating is a critical step in mastering painting with acrylics.

So what is the right white to use?

“Painting is drawing with the added complication of colour and tone”
Harold Speed – The Practice & Science of Drawing

In this light and shadow series, we look at the theory, drawing and painting of a simple form focusing on shadow, light and edges.

Part 1 we looked at the theory of light and shadow.

Part 2 we put pencil to paper and looked at practical drawing techniques with a simple pencil drawing of an apple.

This week, we’re returning to the studio to create the illusion of form with acrylic paint. I wanted to develop our sketch into a finished painting, using the same principles of light logic but having a more contemporary feel through the choice of colours, composition and context.

For Part 3, I’ve created a free video tutorial so you can watch every step and follow along at home…

New Small Glass Study Acrylic Video Course

Merry Christmas class!

The new mini-course where I paint a coloured glass and festive oranges is now available! Whoo ho! ho! ho!

It’s the perfect addition to the Masterclass Acrylics Course or a great little introduction to the more complex subject of reflections and glass.

If you have ever tried to paint glass and it looked flat and unconvincing or ended up with super bright white highlights that look stuck on, then you may be interested in discovering how to achieve a lifelike glass effect with acrylics – yet still keeping a painterly feel.

3 Downloadable Video Lessons  –  1 Small Glass Study

Over 1 1/2 hours of video instruction, alongside a Quick Start PDF guide and Downloadable images of each stage of the process, which includes your materials lists and tools of the trade.

The lessons are available online to download so you have access to the course forever.

The course is now available, you can learn more and join the course by just clicking this link. 

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a Creative Year

Cheers,

Will

New Still Life Acrylic Masterclass Course

Morning class!  The Still Life Masterclass in Acrylics course is now available,whoo hoo!

Have you ever asked yourself  “How do I make my paintings look more professional?‘

At some point in every artist’s development, you get to a stage where your paintings are looking pretty good, you can see your improvement from where you first began, but some tricky subjects still elude you.

You’ve got a basic understanding of colour mixing, paint application and your drawing’s sound, but you want to take your work to the next level.

I’ve created this Classical Still Life Masterclass with acrylics to help aspiring artists bring their paintings to a more professional finish.

We deal with the more complex subject of reflective surfaces such as Silver, Ceramic & Mahogany using an extended palette and multi-layered glazing techniques.

Here’s a brief video intro to the course:

In Part 1 we looked at how to master the basic features of your digital camera, so you can emulate how your eyes see things in nature to give you fantastic reference photographs for your still life painting.

In Part 2 we saw how small incremental changes in your composition and lighting can instantly create a more dramatic and pleasing image for a painting.

So for Part 3, we’re on to the painting…

Will Kemp, Still Life with Figs, Photograph, 2012

Have you ever got out your digital camera to take a shot of your still life set up and been sorely disappointed with the results?

Your photo looks washed out, or too dark or the flash had popped up and flattened the whole scene.

You’re not alone in the quest for a simple formula to create great reference photographs for your paintings.

You might have tried turning the dial to the ‘manual’ mode, fired off a few shots, got disheartened, only to return to the safe haven of the ‘flower setting’ or ‘Auto’ on the dial.

Understanding the manual functions of your digital camera can be a liberating experience and can greatly improve the framing of your paintings.

Or maybe you’ve never used your camera to help with your paintings but you’d like to learn how…