acryl van gogh finalVG-sketch    
     
  1. Cover the whole canvas with a coat of light ochre don't worry if there are streaks it's just to give a background colour - dry
  2. Sketch composition with pencil roughly. Don't over draw.
  3. Prepare colours: we used, titanium white, prussian blue, light ochre, azo lemon yellow, viridian and a very small amount of cadmium red
  4. We also used Structure Paste or Gel to get an impasto effect (the paint should look thick and structure should follow the shapes of the clouds). You can leave some of the background ochre coat uncovered
  5. Use water only to clean the brush from time to time. Water will thin the paint and you won't get an impasto effect. On the other hand don't let too much paint build up and dry in the base of the brush without washing
  6. Start with the sky - dip brush into white, blue and gel (don't mix you want several different tones) use short strokes following the cloud shapes from the outside working inwards. Add in Viridian (be careful it's a very strong colour - use mostly white. Continue to follow cloud shapes. Make sure the sky next to the dark cliff is white. Counterchange.
  7. The mountains (Alpilles) are painted with vertical strokes. paint the top edge with pure blue, then add white, ochre and very small areas of red. There should be an indistinct blue outline. Paint in sections so that you can blend the paint on the canvas before it dries
  8. We put in the olive tree trunks next so that we could see where they were (mixture of blue, ochre + red) You should be able to get a dark colour if you don't add water. Paint tress in groups that are irregularly spaced
  9. The pale yellow colour under the trees is painted with ochre and lemon yellow + white use short rough strokes going in different directions
  10. Paint in the foreground with long sweeping curves of blue green and ochre
  11. The olives trees are painted with short curved strokes. these are not circles try 3 strokes on way and 3 strokes in the opposite direction. Use lighter colours on the tops and darker colours underneath.