"A Cold Morning" Step by Step

I've been a bit stressed out lately. While painting this piece I really released some of all the build up pressure and I realised just how much I love painting. I need to remember to paint even when I don't feel like it.

I'm still exploring the world of perspective and how to build up scenes. I feel like this is something that will be sticking around and help me evolve my personal style.

Painting a snowy scene was so much fun. This definitely won't be the last time I'm going to explore a winter wonderland. I've scanned my painting along the way so you can see how it has come to life.

I started with a sketch of the cabin in two-point-perspective and taped the edges with washi tape.

With liquid watercolour I painted a base with a light blue colour to represent both snow and the sky. Very roughly with gouache I shaped in the pine trees.

I then established some light and shadow on the trees to add shape to them.

Now it was time to paint the cabin. I first blocked in the sides of the cottage using gouache, this you can see on the right side of the little house. Afterwards I started to add some more details and corrected the colours. I experimented a little with the colours of the snow on the rooftop and really liked the outcome.

I added some pine tree shadows in the foreground to add some different colours to the snow.

For the finishing touches I painted snow on the trees. I used the light and shadow, I added to the pine trees early on, as guidelines for the change in colour in the snow.


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Gouache: Royal Talens
Liquid watercolour: Royal Talens

"The Journey" Step by Step

It's been a bit hard getting back in the game after Inktober. I've really been looking forward to trying many new things, things that I only scratched the surface of during Inktober. My body has been aching to get back to painting with gouache and using colours. But for some reason I've just been too drained of energy to pick up my brushes.

I've had an idea stirring for a while. A painting I wanted to paint for one of my dearest friends. I'm so glad I found the energy to get painting again. I've scanned the painting along the way so you can see the piece come to life.

I started with a light sketch and taped the edges with washi tape.

Using liquid watercolour I painted the base of the background.

With gouache I painted a delicate sunset and started to indicate where I wanted the clouds.

I had a bit of a discussion with myself at this point of the painting. I wasn't sure how detailed I wanted to paint the clouds. I knew I wanted it to rain in the scene, and that the raindrops would take a lot of focus, so I wouldn't want to have too many details in the background. I went back and forth and actually created some pretty interesting colours hidden in the clouds by doing this.

For the final step I added raindrops and small lights below.

I've never painted a painting like this before. I really like creating scenes with a bit of magic and I can't wait to explore it even more.


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Gouache: Royal Talens

Liquid watercolour: Royal Talens

One-Point Perspective

I've started to learn perspective drawing and I'm enjoying it so much. I feel like I'm receiving some tools that will make it easier for me to convert what I have inside my head to a piece of paper. I have so many magical places in my mind that I want to share with you and I think I'm one step closer to being able to do so.

I'm only just starting to get the hang of one-point perspective but I'm eager to learn more. I have an art book that has been really helpful. It's called 'The Art of Perspective: The Ultimate Guide For Artists in Every Medium' by Phil Metzger. This book takes you through many different aspects of perspective drawing. I haven't read the entire book yet but I really like the way it's put together. There are many illustrations that help describe the subjects that Phil Metzger are explaining and a what-have-we-learnt section after each chapter.

Two things I've found really helpful to keep in mind, when drawing with one-point perspective, is the eye level of your scene and the scene's vanishing point. When learning new things I want it to be kept simple. If I have to remember too many things at the same time I'll be sure to forget one of them or confuse myself more than necessary. 

Once you've established your eye level make a dot on that line to represent your vanishing point. Now all the lines in your drawing, except the vertical lines, has to meet at that vanishing point. Once I learnt this I thought that that couldn't be right. As it turns out, it is. 

I've tried to make some lines on top of one of my inktober, actually one of the very first drawings I've ever made with one-point perspective, to hopefully clarify the meaning of eye level and vanishing point and how to actually use them. 

The red line is my eye level. I've drawn the blue lines to show that all of my lines, the lines of the table, the lines of the shelves, all meet in the vanishing point. As this is one of the first drawings I've ever made using one-point perspective I'm sure there are some mistakes. For instance I don't think the eye level should have been quite that far up the page.

I would definitely recommend this art book if you're learning perspective drawing. I had no idea about what to do at first but after reading some chapters in this book I felt like I could take on the challenge. 

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Pages from the art book are copyright Phil Metzger

The art book: The Art of Perspective: The Ultimate Guide for Artists in Every Medium

"It Smells Like Autumn" Step by Step

I just started school again and suddenly all my time and energy has just vanished. It's a whole new place, with all new people and on top of all that I need to concentrate and learn new things. For me that's quite draining. Thankfully already after just one week I can feel some of my energy coming back.

One thing that's certainly helping my energy get restored is the lovely cold autumn weather we've been having lately. Autumn is one of the best times of the year and I'm so happy it's upon us. In celebration of this amazing season, and that I found a spare couple of hours, I've painted a small autumn painting.

I'm sure it won't be the last autumn inspired piece I do in the nearest future.

I started off with a light sketch and taped the edges with washi tape.

Then using gouache I painted the bear. I probably could have been a bit more detailed with the fur but I just felt like doing a small and quick painting so I didn't want to spend too much time on it. 

Again using gouache I painted the little bird and the falling autumn leaves. 

With liquid watercolour I painted the background. I was trying not to add paint to the bear, bird and leaves but still get very close to their edges.

For the final touches I used liquid watercolour to add uncontrolled splashes to the painting. I then used pen to outline the bear, bird and leaves to make them pop. I also added some small details to the leaves using coloured pencil. 

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Gouache: Royal Talens

Liquid watercolour: Royal Talens
Pen: Micron
Coloured pencil: Faber-Castell

"Confetti from the Sky" Redraw

I've been in bit of an art rut lately. Many ideas have tried to form in my mind but I haven't been able to complete any of them. I thought it might do some good if I tried to recreate an older piece. This way I wouldn't have to come up with a new concept and it would be fun to see the improvement. These to pieces are almost a year apart.

"Confetti from the Sky" October 2016

"Confetti from the Sky" remake August 2017

I've learnt so much in just one year I can't wait to see what the next will bring. It might be fun to repaint this exact same artwork again in 2018. 

Now to the walkthrough of this painting. 

I always start with a light sketch. Then using gouache I painted the tiny bunny.

Painting the cap of the toadstools was one of the best parts of this painting. Blending the reds was just so lovely. I've found that some colours are more fun to blend then others when painting with gouache. Reds, oranges and yellows are some of the best colours while I find pink quite difficult. It might just be the paints I use so it could be fun to experiment and see if I feel the same with other brands.

The bottom part of the toadstools caused me a little more trouble but that might be due to a very fierce battle that was occurring in my audiobook. 

I then added all the small white dots to the toadstools and painted ladybugs on the bunny. Using masking fluid I protected some of the paper in raindrop shapes.

Now it was time for the background. I used liquid watercolour and tried my very best to avoid the bunny and the toadstools. 

Once the water colour layer had dried I once again used the liquid watercolour but this time to add splashes. With an eraser I removed the masking fluid and outlined the raindrops, the bunny and the toadstools with pen to make them pop. 

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Gouache: Royal Talens

Masking fluid: Schmincke

Liquid watercolour: Royal Talens

Pen: Pigma Micron

Yurmby Colour Wheel

I feel that art theory can be pretty confusing. You're trying to express your thoughts and feelings through a creation all while you try to remember some "rules" that you haven't quite grasped yet. That's how I feel nevertheless. However I've discovered a colour wheel I think will be a big help for me: the Yurmby colour wheel.

I painted this colour wheel myself and it's not spot on but it will definitely still be helpful. You might have noticed that this colour wheel isn't like the classic one. The so called primary and secondary colours aren't on their "right" places. This colour wheel therefore won't help you in the sense of colour mixing but it will help you create beautiful colour palettes for your paintings. 

The way to do this is by choosing some colours for your painting and with these limit your palette. I just choose some random colours and limited the colour wheel to see how it would look. 

Once you've decided on the part of the colour wheel you'll be using it's time to name some new primaries and secondaries. The corners of your limited area are now your primary colours and the colours opposite are now your secondaries. The colour in the very middle of your triangle is your neutral colour. Even though it might be a purple or green this colour will now look neutral in your painting.

You can use these limited palettes to create beautiful artworks with a simple colour range. Paintings with a simple colour combination are often more appealing than paintings that are too busy plus it's easier to handle. It's a win win.

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Gouache: Schmincke

"Another World" Step by Step

For this painting I started with a sketch and covered the orcas with masking fluid to protect them from paint. I used washi tape to make clean edges.

Then it was time for a wash. Using a lot of water I created a gradient with watercolour. I started from the top and worked my way down. When I was about halfway I put a piece of plastic wrap on the still wet water colour. I laid something heavy on top of it to hold it in place. I continued the gradient to the bottom and put another piece of plastic wrap on the wash. Doing this in steps is to make sure the paint dosen't dry. If it dries too much the plastic wrap won't have an effect.

I then painted the orcas with gouache.

Using coloured pencils I made the background colours more intense.

For the last touches I used liquid watercolour to make splashes and outlined the orcas with pen to make them pop.

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Masking fluid: Schmincke
Watercolour: Winsor & Newton
Gouache: Schmincke
Coloured pencil: Faber-Castell
Liquid watercolour: Royal Talens
Pen: Pigma Micron