Tutorial - Painting the Cottage in Acrylic

This is a painting I've been itching to undertake for absolutely donkeys (well at least since I started painting in ernest), the source reference which I discovered inside a movie, called Ironclad, about a Templar Knight in England who rallies a few supporters to protect a maiden in her keep, a bit on the lines of the Magnificent 7 (but without the mexican villagers). About a third of the way into the movie, the knight and some of his followers seek the aid of a blacksmith, the scene just before they arrive, is of a beautiful white stone thatched blacksmiths cottage nestled amongst a tree line at the edge of a wood, fading off into a dusky misty morning. So with a bit of fiddling on the computer, I managed to freeze the scene I saw in the film and then I was able to print a copy off to use as my source reference.

Reference screen shot



SELECTING THE CANVAS
I rummaged around the wardrobe in my departed son's old bedroom (my temporary studio) where I keep my assorted blank stretched canvases nice and dry, until I found one that I thought will do the job nicely, It was an Arturo brand (24" x 17.5") and it still had it's cellophane wrapper on (a forgotten present off some family member perhaps?).



I then fished out my old trusty America tin to use for the palette, I love this tin, used it a few times now, it is really shallow, just the right size to mold the mess I was going to make and best of all it had a lid that was tighter than a Bank Manager in the loans section of my local bank! This tightness, I've found really helps the paints last longer, and stop[s them drying out especially when you have to stop painting to answer the phone, see who calling at the door and heaven forbid, have to go downstairs for dinner! Oh the trials and tribulations of the artist art work. I have also found (through trial and error) that it doesn't harm it to add a damp sponge that is cut to fit and then place a piece of old linen canvas, also cut to size on top, this is great, because the damp sponge helps the acrylic paint stay semi fluid and right up until the painting is finished, then you just lift out the canvas sheet to wash it clean under the tap.





STEP 1 (Sketching the cottage)
I first sketch out the basic outline onto the canvas (just enough to see where the trees, horizon and cottage will sit). I then use a Pilot Fineliner felt tip pen (black ink) to start drawing out the outline for the painting. I know your probably thinking why on earth use a felt pen on a stretched canvas, well there is a little bit of method in my madness...




*STEP 2 (Drawing in the outline)*
Once I've finished drawing in the scene with the Pilot felt tip, I'm now ready for the first coat to prime the canvas.



I read on the label that this canvas come pre-primed with a couple of coats of Gesso, but if you are anything like me, I like to add a coat myself, as this for me, is the breaking of the ice moment that heralds the beginning of my painting.


STEP 3 (Priming the canvas)


I start with a couple of pea size lumps of Titanium White and Cadmium Red, which I squeeze onto an old plastic tray, this tray I use as well as my tin palette as it's only going to by used to prime the canvas and give it my first few washes. So using a flat brush (I have a wonderfully expensive wash brush I bought specially for this reason, but you know me, I grabbed a flat brush first and watered down the titanium white and started applying it in quick strokes horizontally across the canvas, then down vertically from left to right.

I chose to use the Pilot Fineliner to draw in the outline of the painting instead of a permanent felt tip pen for the simple reason, as you apply paint over the Pilot felt tip, it slightly smudges the edges of your sketch, which I think looks far better than the hard lines you would still see through the paint if you used a permanent felt tip pen. I found out that these Pilot pens blend in nicely just below a few coats of paint, and are sufficiently visible to aid me in keep my perspectives and objects on a true course. It also a bit like painting by numbers, but without the numbers LOL.




STEP 4 (Painting in the sky


Once the canvas is dry, I now mix the remaining white wash with a little of the Red Cadmium, just to give it a hint of pinkness, this colour, I've decided, is going to be the base wash for my sky. I now use the same flat brush I primed the canvas with to paint in this white pink sky, it's best to do this in good light (daylight preferably) as the pink can be hard to see on the white, and you won't know if you've missed some patches until it dries. I am trying to get an even coat of a pink white sky all across the canvas, it doesn't matter if I go over the tree line as when I come to do the greens of the trees it will help them blend into the sky.



STEP 5 (Painting the distant horizon)


Now I'm starting to paint in the horizon starting from the left side of the canvas, to do this I mix more of the Cadmium Red into the white and then squeeze out a pea size lump of Permanent Magenta



I start mixing the white into the red and then down into a new mixing puddle with some of the Magenta, until I have a colour I want for the distance hills and background behind the trees.




STEP 6


I now transfer over to my tin palette and begin by squeezing out a few pea size lumps of Sap Green and Brilliant Yellow Green onto the damp canvas liner in the tin palette.



I now add a pea size quantity of Titanium White and using a small flat brush, start mixing in a little of the Yellow Green into a new mixing puddle coming from the White, I'm looking for a very pale white green colour which will not clash too much with the hues of the horizon. I then start painting that distant little patch of lime coloured field just below the magenta of the distance mountains.




STEP 7 (Painting in the middle ground)

Cleaning the narrow flat brush, I start mixing in the Yellow Green into a new mixing puddle coming from the Sap Green, and with a little water mixed in to give a a good fluidity, I start painting in the middle ground which is moving right to the middle of the scene. The darker, richer green blends in nicely with the earlier lime green I applied (which is still a wee bit damp) to give it a nice blend in between the two. To help this blend in, I pinch a few strokes from the white green I mixed earlier.


*STEP 8 (Starting the foreground)*


I now add a pea size quantity of Raw Umber ( a good earthy mixer) and begin a new mixing puddle with my still sap green lime tainted narrow brush, I love have lots of colours on one brush, it adds something unique to your strokes. Which I begin to add in the bottom left hand corner of the foreground, in very slap dash upward strokes, matching the direction of the long grasses in the foreground.




STEP 9 (Painting in the base grasses in the foreground)


I now add some Yellow Ochre to my palette another brush, and using both brushes )one after the other) I carry on with the foreground until I reach the middle ground where my strokes are smaller, as these grasses are starting to move away from the observer. These stroke are still very much in the earliest stages of the painting, some of you refer to this stage as the underpainting stage.





STEP 10 (Starting painting grasses into the foreground)

Now mixing the Yellow Ochre with some Titanium White, I start to use a clean flat brush to make some impressions of grasses onto the canvas, I'm just using the straight flat edge of the brush to make several diagonal lighter grass marks onto the middle foreground I have just painted



Here you can see the progression of how I use the flat narrow brush edge on as I work along the foreground area to paint in the grasses. I chose to use this size narrow flat brush, as it gives me consistent lengths of grasses in the foreground, to get slightly smaller grasses, I tilt the brush to the canvas slightly so as to press only about two thirds of the brush edge onto the canvas, it's a great way to paint paint long and medium grass lengths.



I realise, that I need to bring a bit more darkness into the middle of the foreground, so I quickly used the brush with the Sap green and Raw Umber to dab a few darker patches here and there to add some depth to the foreground, then back using the lighter flat brush to bring out a few more grasses, as I'm working wet on wet, the strokes and grasses are practically growing on the painting before my eyes! I love this kind of gardening, so much better than pushing a clapped out lawnmower across the garden LOL.




STEP 11 (Starting to paint in the tree line)


Now that I'm quite happy with the foreground grasses in the bottom left hand section of the painting, I've decided to start on the tree line. For the tree line, I wand a stronger green, a green I don't have yet, so I decided to add a couple of pea size quantities of Ultramarine Blue onto my palette. With this blue, I mix it into the Raw Umber/Sap Green puddle I already possess and mixing in the Blue, gives me a stronger duller green I'm seeking. Using a small filbert brush (the one that has an oval flat end as opposed to a flat or pointy end) I start painting in the tree line starting about six inches from the left hand side, using this darker green.


STEP 12 (Giving the centre trees some form and depth)


I need more darkness to the green (especially on the ground under the trees), I just add more blue to the puddle mix and paint a few daubs of darkness along the base of the tree line and into the first two taller trees sprouting in the centre of the scene. I using all the greens on my palette, I'm trying to sculpt the shapes of each tree starting from the smaller ones on the left of the tree line (those furthest away) to the two or three larger ones in the centre of the painting. These trees are important, as the observer will be looking between these and the cottage (I hope!).




STEP 13 (Making the trees more bushy)


I initially just dab green hi-lights onto the bigger trees over the darker shading, trying to leave clumps of dark and lighter green showing through. As I work up the tree to their tops I have to leave more sky showing through, if as I have sometimes done, blocked out to much sky, I quickly give some sky back into the trees with a few purposeful dabs of pinky white. I have found it is also fun to mix a few richer dabs of richer Yellow Ochre/Sap Green and the brilliant Green Yellow mix into the foliage of the tree, anything that take away the uniformity of the colours I'm using. When it stops looking flat and more bushy, I know I'm succeeding with my trees.



These central trees, really need lots of love and care, especially around the top edges, slowly is the best way to go here, but eventually I am beginning to see real trees appearing on the canvas. Feeling quite pleased with myself, I use a touch of white and sap green to paint a couple of very small sheep far in the distant fields.




STEP 13 (Looking for more shades of green)


I now add some Hookers Green onto my palette, this is going to give me yet another shade of green, working this new shade into the central trees seems to help define the depth I'm looking for.


STEP 14 (Using black - very carefully!)


I now add a couple of pea size quantities of Black (Process Black) onto my palette, this, I'm going to carefully work into the body of the central trees, these central trees are more defined and need to appear darker in between the branches and bunches of leaves. I use a very small point brush to paint in my darker areas, this black is too dark!

So I tone it down a few notches with the Sap Green, there, that's better! Changing to a rigger brush (that long skinny brush end) I can paint in some tree trunks visible between the openings of the trees.




STEP15 (Painting in the path)


Making a few new mixing puddles, I mix blues, greens and white trying to get a few tones of grey, eventually I have the right colours for the underpainting of the path, and using a small filbert brush (that ovally flat ended one, remember?) I start defining the curvature of the path, and running in the centre of it to the bottom of the canvas is a small narrow verge of grasses (mostly green and short) this verge is split horizontally by a strip of track/mud? I also add a few scattered stones on the left of the track. This is also a good time to start defining the wooden post outside the cottage (looks like a hitching post of sorts), milky green post and a rigger of dark green down the centre does that nicely.




STEP 16 (Starting to work on the tall trees)

Using a medium size flat brush, I choose a dark green (near black) mix to start paining in the trees and darker areas on the right hand side. You can see that I'm just filling in, leaving a few openings of bare canvas here and there, as I get near the middle of these large trees, I start using the edge of the flat brush to give me some shape to the larger overhanging tree branches on the right of the scene. Then Using the same darker green brush, I pick out some brilliant yellow green on my palette and brush in some lighter bigger leaf branches, making sure that there are darker ares below the lighter branches. I carry on working up the tree.




STEP 17 (Painting the tops of the larger trees)


I'm using a narrow flat brush, to paint in the top branches and thicker top trunks in a very dark green almost black, I again use the edge of the flat brush to define more and more branches, not all of them mind you, only those with a bit of substance to them. For some of the very thick areas of the trunk, I use the full width of the flat brush, not to worried as I know this ugly part will soon be sprouting finer branches and leaves.



STEP 18 (Painting in the foliage to the large trees)


Now I'm attacking all that darkness (which I still need) with lighter shades of green, and using my long skinny rigger brush, start adding a few moire thinner branches between the thicker ones. As long as the darkness remains underneath the lightness the trees start miraculously appearing right in front of me, this is one of the stages I love about painting, how, if you just keep dibbling and dabbling with colours, light and dark, suddenly something quite amazing starts to happen on your canvas (hopefully).




STEP 19 (Starting the cottage gable end)
Here I'm starting to block in the straw heap outside the cottage, no need for detail, this is just the under painting, Yellow Ochre with a small brush works fine here. I also start experiment with the wicker fence using a ting brush to try a few graduated stipple strokes and longer upright strokes on the pieces of wicker behind the cow.



Now I'm just painting some Raw umber coming up from the wicker fence and under the left thatch roof edge.



I carry on from the thatch edge to try and block in some darker under-painting on the other thatch roof edge, and paint in the beginnings of a roof support. I then use a small round brush to start putting in some pale cream green stones in the gable end of the cottage. Sorry about the vague colour description, but my palette is now starting to look like a NASA photo of Jupiter's surface, and although my palette is a myriad of colours, streams and whirls, I'm now just selecting colours in my palette, I think will look best




STEP 20 (Underpainting the gable end of the cottage)
I start using lighter and darker tones of the creamy green with a few dabs of white, still trying to make each dab an individual stoner in the cottage wall, not uniform and regular, more random, with a few darker stones nearer the top. I also start the rudiments of blocking in around the cow to give me an idea of it's basic shape.

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STEP 21 (Adding stronger darker stones to the cottage gable end)
I now purposefully start adding darker strokes (still in a stone wall pattern) coming from the outer right edge of the cottage gable end and under the left thatched roof edge.



I carry on with the darkening of this wall, but here and there start add darker greener cream stones amongst the dark stones. It is a bit of trial and error, as sometimes I'm adding lighter stones on darker then think I need more darker stones over lighter. I'm just doing what I think is enough, not too much and not too little (I suppose this is the artist in me deciding where I go with the effect I want to achieve). I end up carrying a bit of Yellow Ochre (yup ! I can still see a puddle of it on my palette!) to show where the wicker reeds are below the cow.



Now I decide to add some grays into the gable end, around the cow and wicker reeds.
I also feel like adding a smidgen of very pale green to the wicker fence and the rocks at it's base (probably underpainting as the colours may change again. I also start underpainting the right side thatched roof edge with a mix of yellow ochre/sap green from one of the beautiful green puddles on my palette. I also find a lovely cream green for the cows back (must be a diary cow I'm thinking, yes! definitely)



I start to darken the green thatched roof edge trying to blend it into the shades of the wall and also darken the other roof edge and stones. I also use the smallest brush to start painting darker areas round a few specific stones near the edge of the cottage wall. Moving away from the edge, I concentrate on the area underneath the cow up to the wicker fencing and start adding more green and yellow ochre.



I'm still not happy with the left hand roof edge and decide to add a few lighter and darker stokes. I then turn to a fine rigger brush to start picking out the vertical reeds in the whicker fence and try and show the lattice effect of the fence with a few lighter and darker horizontal strokes. I also under paint the corner and side of the wicker fence and start painting in slightly darker strokes on the straw heap outside the cottage.



STEP 22 (Painting the thatched roof)
Well that's enough work on the cable end of the cottage, now for that beautiful thatch roof, I decide (as green is the predominant tone of this painting) to start painting it a mix of sap green/white, making sure the strokes are going in the direction of the thatching (I suppose it's bit like when I sketch animals, and try to sketch in the direction of the fur), will it matter? maybe not, but I do feel it is looking satisfyingly better for for doing it, I think.



Once completed under painted, I start added darker feathery green strokes to the lower edge of the thatch roof, and then add a few darker horizontal strokes (not too many) across the width of the roof, these are the shadow of the end rows of thatching. I also add some real darker strokers near the top, as I can see there are some on the reference, and if you know anything about me, I tend to sketch or paint what I see (that's the 30 years as a Police artist in me).



Using the Rigger brush again, I use some light cream greens in strokes going in the direction of the thatch, a few strokes being really thin (almost no paint on the end of the rigger brush) to go through the darker horizontal strokes I painted in earlier. A big smile grows on my face, as this thatch is really starting to look like an old rough thatch roof you'd expect to find in medieval times (where the reference was supposed to depict). I take a moment using white to start showing smoke coming the chimney.



I carry on with the diagonal stokes on the thatch roof, pushing back those dark horizontal strokes. I also want to try some work on the sunny side of the cottage wall but using a palette knife (well why not? I think the effect could be fun). I pick my smallest palette knife and dab it onto the peaks of the white and grays in my palette tin and then start dabbing the knife onto the sunny side of the wall (hmm not very sunny looking now?)


To rectify this, I start dabbing more white with the palette knife onto the wall, and mix it more into the wall. I end up using a small brush to just dab here and there (this is quite contagious, all the different effects I'm getting using different combinations - this is what makes art fun for me).



I then add very small dabs of white onto the wall, add darker shadows into the window and straw heap.




STEP 23 (Painting in the cow)
Using a fresh puddle mix of Red Oxide and Magenta, I decide to start painting the cows body. The colour is really striking, this is exactly, this is what I wanted in this landscape of green, some red to attract the eye, it's going to be a brave statement, hope it works! (be patient and wait and see, I keep telling myself)



I add darker deep reds and brown to the cow with lighter strokes to show the cows tail and feet (this is starting to look like a very contented cow indeed!). I also start adding some hookers green to the corners of the cottage, to represent a bit of moss growth and carry on this growth along the edges of the thatch and along the bottom of the of the cottage, where it meets the grass. I also ad a bit more body to the smoke (that blacksmith inside must be stoking that fire of his loads!



I start adding more yellow green to the grass under the wicker fence blending it into darker patches. I also decide that the thatch roof needs a few extra lighter (white) hi-lights of thatch along the edges and the corners. I also add some extra white smaller stones to the sunny side wall of the cottage, still seem to be tinkering on with this cottage wall, probably the perfectionist part of me! I also start on that duller green wicker fence to the right of the cow under the branches of the trees on the right hand side of the canvas. Just like I had already done with the smaller lighter wicker fence, I repeat the process but working with shades of hooker green and yellow green. Well that's the cottage just about finished for now I decide.



Animation of painting the cottage




STEP 24 (Adding detail to the foreground grasses and lane)
Remember how I used the edge of a flat brush to initially start painting in the grasses, well I start with the fairly large flat brush and using a light cream green to start picking out the lighter clumps of lighter strokes, with a few deliberate longer grasses, these I achieve by taking my time withe lightly pressing the flat brush onto the canvas, and moving the brush up the mark, I press another section just as lightly as the first, some times adding a third section to a piece of grass (looks quite interesting to keep to only a few here and there. You can see these longer grasses best in the bottom left side of the scene.



Now I'm adding darker brown grasses to foreground, trying to make sure they are in clumps, I want that overgrown marsh field look, which will help tit to blend in with the rough wagon trail lane. I then use a milky green white wash to give a slight wash to the middle ground, pushing back those darker horizontal darker tufts of grass back into the misty morning (hmm may want to pul them back out - I'll wait and see). I also add more grass stokes to the grasses in the middle of the lane (in-between the wheel tracks). I then add some light mini washes to the sap green middle ground in small waves.



I now decide it's time to add some (even more!) grasses, well you can never have too much of a grassy field l can you? Again I'm selective about where I'm putting these lighter grass strokes, they have to be painted in places where they belong, if I was to just add these grass strokes willy nilly, the field would look a right mess, neither marsh or turf. I also decide to add some lighter stones and darker patches of earth to the left of that lonely post as well as adding a few finer details to the foreground lane area. Funnily enough, I've decided now to bring those horizontal clumps of grass in the middle ground back, and use a wonderful puddle mix of sap green and hookers green to achieve this. This happens a lot with me, I push back one thing in my painting with a wash, then progress a few steps and end up bringing it back! I suppose it's a learning process within painting we all go through.



Using this wonderful puddle mix (sap green/hookers green) I decide a few slightly darker patches of this colour with a dry hog hair brush, just random interspaced amongst the clumps, looks good, so I'll keep it in.



Using a puddle mix of some yellow ochre and white, I add a few light clumps (more blurred splodges)  to the grasses near the stones as well as a few dabs near the centre foreground. I can almost hear the birds and crickets!



Animation of adding detail to the grasses




STEP 25 Adding detail to the grasses on the bottom right foreground)
Here I'm just adding more lighter green grass shapes to the lower right hand side foreground, adding some raw umber mixed in with some richer hookers green, up to that wicker fencing underneath the trees.



Using my large flat brush, I start adding a few lighter grasses with a few selected longer grasses like I did on the left hand side of the lane. This side of the the lane is somewhat darker than the other side, this is where the brown greens and grays live. I also start bringing the darker gray down from the top of the lane. I'm getting a wonderful contrast between lighter rich green turk and darker grasses.



As I add more detail, I start to add more grass to the left side of the lane (which I demonstrated earlier in STEP 24).


That wicker fence is far to high I decide (yup one of those - I gotta change moments!) so using a puddle mix of sap/hookers green and black I paint in the fence lower, improving the perspective line towards the cottage, looks so much better now I think.




Animation of adding details to the grasses in the right foreground



Well I do believe it is finished



Hope you have enjoyed this Tutorial as much as I have had in writing it.

Thank you, now get painting!

Jan