How I Painted a Folk Inspired Lake Scene, Time Lapse Step by Step!
Watch how to paint this bright, colorful acrylic painting of a lakeside scene with flowers. This step by step time lapse video shows the painting process, techniques and mark making, that I used to create this delightful landscape painting. I hope you enjoy seeing this painting come to life from start to finish !!
'Seaside Tree & Tulips'' landscape was created with acrylic paint on a 14x 18 stretched canvas.
This is a wonderfully bright and airy original painting that I sold a while back. The imagery for this painting is entirely from my imagination. It's a landscape that has some of my fav elements, lake, trees, flowers and clouds and the feeling of wind.
THE COMPOSITION.....
Part of the fun of creating this piece (or any piece) is working out the composition. In this painting the first thing a viewer notices is the tree and the flowers, then your attention goes to the distant cottages and the lake.
By changing the scale of the elements you change the order in which the view's attention in guided. For this piece I wanted the composition to feel balanced but not symmetrical. Each element and colour has visual weight, the key in composition is to offset the weight of each element with the others. While the tree trunk is in the centre the top bulk weight leans mostly towards the right, but is balance by the cottages on the left. The wind is pushing the tree and flowers towards the right, but the farm field rows in the distance go towards the left to counterbalance the direction. The row of tulips on the bottom vary by colour, you eye first sees the white ones first then pink then purple in order of brightness.
ABOUT PAINTING....
After I work out the composition as a thumbnail sketch, I draw it on the canvas. This painting was created using acrylic paint on stretched canvas. I start with an orange base as it makes the colors I put on top brighter, plus and any gaps between strokes will show orange instead of white. This is how I usually start all my acrylic paintings. You may notice part way through I've turned it upside down so my hand come in from the top lol. I like turning paintings as work on them to give me a fresh perspective so I can see anything that looks out of whack, and to see the composition without worrying about the subject.
The thing to remember when painting landscapes, is to keep in mind where the light source is, as it dictates what happens with the shadows. The shadows give a landscape scene a sense of depth and makes the objects within the composition a feeling of volume. Shadows and highlights also create contrast which adds visual interest to the piece. The light in the piece is coming from above and to the right. You may also notice a crow in the drawing disappears in the painting phase.
(Note: after I completed this painting I added the crow back in (plus 2 more lol)... just goes to show you a painting is never truly finished until it leaves the studio)
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS...
If you have any questions about my process, materials or artwork be sure to ask! Please enjoy the journey as I create this painting, and I hope you learn something new about making art!!!
Cheers, Cathy : )
***P.S. If you like this video please don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to my channel, I'd really appreciate it!!
