Creating Our Composition
Drinks and paint brushes in hand, my painting group gathered at The Dane in Ballard for my 2nd annual Halloween themed workshop!
We all tried our hand at combining our chosen references into a composition on sticky notes. Jayson drew everyone's favorite which I used to instruct the class (Jayson's mockup shown in the middle)!
I usually like to mock up my compositions before I paint so I can further refine my idea(s). Sometimes I even make multiple mockups before I begin to paint.
5 Minute Challenge
Using the reference images above, or any photos and graphics that inspire you, make your own mockup composition!
Block In Your Shapes
The artists use yellow and red paint to rough in the shapes and then a red/orange to paint the background.
We painted a black strip at the top and bottom, then very carefully used 1-2 strokes to paint in red over the top, washed the brush, and repeated the process to create a loose gradient.
Pro Tip
Washing the brush every 1-2 strokes prevents your black paint from spreading into unwanted areas.
We used red in the neck of the bottle and purple for the potion base coat. We used black to accent edges and white to highlight.
With these very simple steps we created depth and light in our painting.
Embrace Your "Mistakes"
The bubbles could be made to look further away or closer to the viewer by either adding more red or white (accidentally...on purpose...who will ever know?).
Practice Strokes
To add more depth to our bubbles, I gave the option to practice using multiple colors of paint in one stroke to create an easy gradient!
First, dip the left side of your brush into red, then yellow.
Second, dip the right side of your brush into blue, then black.
Third, in one stroke, rotate your wrist in a half circle on your canvas.
Pro Tip
It's always a good idea to practice your technique before painting over your canvas. Paper plates are a great way to test it out and get a feel for how much paint is best for your brush size to achieve the desired effect.
Thank you to Katelyn, Teddy, Madison and Jayson for coming out and painting with me!
Subscribe to my newsletter (in website footer) for news on workshops, art meetups, new paintings, videos, pop up markets and more.