Welcome to this blog post! I am going to share my painting process and progress on my most recent painting. I have no formal training or art education, but I have watched several seasons of the Joy of Painting by Bob Ross.
Because Bob Ross did, I start with an 18x24 canvas. Once in a while I try different size canvases, but this size feels very natural after over a year of using 18x24 almost exclusively. Even though Canada uses the metric system the influence of our southern neighbour is felt here too, our art supply stores sell canvases that are measured in inches. In other parts of the world are canvases measured in centimeters? \
I prepared the canvas by attaching 2x6 wooden blocks to the back with screws. My easel has a lip on the top and bottom canvas gripping parts. If you use those to hold the canvas they block part of the top and bottom, which would leave unpainted space. You can try to balance the canvas on the top of the lips and it will stay put, unless you press on the canvas a bit. The method of painting I usually use includes some very firm pushes of the brush against the canvas, and if you had it balanced on the lips it would not stay in place. After considering many different ways to secure the canvas better I have landed (at least for now) on this method of adding depth to the back of the canvas and holding it steady - or at least steady-ish. \
Next I painted the canvas with black gesso, covering it and letting it dry.
Next I brushed on alizarin crimson in the center of the canvas and blended it out to cover. Then mixed a bit of phthalo blue onto the brush (without cleaning) I put that on the edges and corners. Blended some more. Looking at the canvas (and the next two images) you would wonder if I’d painted anything all. Both the alizarin crimson and the phthalo blue are somewhat transparent, so you see the black underneath.
A note about paint. I started out with Winsor & Newton: Winton Oil Colour - their student-grade paint and used it exclusively for around a year. I have begun to try different brands/lines of paint, but have not tested enough to come to any conclusion yet. The main Bob Ross requirement for oil paint for his method was that it must be thick. The knife technique he uses on mountains and rocks depends on a thick paint to break properly. If your oil paint is too thin, then try a large piece of cardboard as your palette, leave the paint on the cardboard for a while before you start and you should see that some oil has seeped out of the paint into the cardboard making the paint thicker. /
Next I loaded up a 1 inch boar/hog bristle brush with lots of titanium white paint and began making crisscross brush strokes on the canvas, starting in the center and moving outwards. Then with a two inch brush (pictured), I blended it, starting in the middle of the brightest area and working outward to preserve the bright area. You will notice the white mixing with the alizarin crimson underneath and making a pinkish colour.
Then I repeated the process, adding more white, and blending. More white and blending. Some white mixed with cadmium yellow hue added and blended. I wanted the right corner to be bluer, so I grabbed some phthalo blue there and blended. Then I blended, and blended, often with very light brush strokes. Also used my 2.5 inch brush for the blending, it does a lovely job.
Coming back to the canvas I decided to add some land! I used Vandyke brown and a bit of lamp black on a new round brush to add in the tree line. I like the shapes that the round brush makes, the marks on the canvas are around the same size as the one inch brush, but rounder. :) \
Putting the highlights on the trees/bushes was fun. I would not have said that last year! Adding wet paint on top of wet paint is a recipe to become what Bob Ross called a mud mixer. To avoid mud mixing your highlight colour needs to be loaded heavily onto the brush. Oh brushes. Good luck with this technique if you cannot find some boar bristle brushes - or at least synthetic boar. If the brush is too soft you get a mushy blob of paint instead of the nifty many little bits that evoke leaves. Also a bit of something to thin the paint can help here, you can use linseed oil or paint thinner. Only a small amount of thinning is needed for the tree highlights, if you thin the paint too much it will probably leave blob marks instead of the nice distinct leaves. I also used some quite thinned white for the water lines, and Vandyke brown for the bits of rock/earth, with a bit of brown lightened with white as the highlight on the rocks. Here’s where I left off.
I don’t think the painting is complete yet. My goal is to document the completion and do a part two blog post someday soon.