I never knew painting a beautiful 30 by 40-inch acrylic and oil painting in one day was possible. But I did it recently. I am sharing my step-by-step process with you here.
Hurricane Ian devastated my hometown in South West Florida. I felt led by the Spirit to do a series of paintings of the iconic landscapes in those towns for auction to benefit hurricane relief.
First, I did some google image searches. This photo of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse caught my eye. I felt my creative sparkle flying. So the following day, after dropping my children off at school, I went straight to my studio and started painting.
Here is my painting process:
1 I used the direct painting method. That is, I drew an outline putting down the basic placements of the elements, then I painted directly on the canvas.
I chose the 30 inches by 40 inches canvas because I felt only a larger-sized ground could express the breathtaking beauty of the lighthouse and the island.
2 I picked out several shades of blue. I put down a thin layer of the blue sky first, then worked my way down to the house and beach scene.
3 After the first acrylic base coat of the background sky dried (acrylic paints dry fast), I put down the second layer with more attention to detail.
4 Using a ruler, I painted the lighthouse”s metal structure. I made sure the perspective was accurate.
5 Time to paint the foreground, and that’s the fun part. I love using loose strokes to paint the sand, grasses, and palm tree leaves. The process was exhilarating!
6 The last layer added highlights, like the orange sunlight on the clouds, with oil paint. Oil paint is more saturated and intense than acrylic paint, so it is perfect for doing those highlights in this painting.
I finished the whole painting just in time to pick my children up from school. Sometimes with the right frame of mind plus a little luck, you will get the best workflow in your creative process.
If you need some help with landscape painting, try my free tool — grid and greyscale, on my website. It will help you with composition and finding the accurate value of your reference photo.
Just click here https://yingmclane.com/image-converter/
See you soon!
Ying
I did not know that you can paint with oil on top of acrylic. I guess you do so once the acrylic is dry?
Yes, that’s exactly what I did. Artists usually prime canvases with gesso and that’s acrylic. You can paint oil on top of acrylic but not the other way around. Because Oil dries at a much slower rate. and it will crack the surface if You put acrylic over oil.