THE PAINTING PROCESS

So how do you start a painting and what are the steps from the beginning to the end of an art piece? This is a question that I have been often asked by my students, as well as many people that are interested in the process of making art .

The painting process is difficult to explain in words, so I thought I share some pictures that I have taken while I was painting a small still life of strawberries. The images will show the different steps from the beginning to the finished work. usually start blocking in the dark colour first and works towards my lighter values. It is also better to block in the larger shapes and I leave the highlights and detail to the end . work After the paint dries for a few days I give the painting a spray retouch varnish before I sent it off or sell it in my studio.

Strawberries in old enamel plate

We picked the lovely strawberries on the Redberry Farm in George, which is a beautiful outing for young and old in the Garden Route .th Before the sweet strawberries were all eaten I decided to make a small 20 x 20 cm still life painting from them. I used oil pains and started to block the main shapes and darks in by using burnt sienna and a little french ultramarine. Thereafter I continued using alizarin crimson, cadmium red, and a cadmium yellow, as well as little viridian green. To adjust the values I used Titanium white.