Composition Designed
This painting I thought would make a nice Christmas card, with this in mind I drew the lamp and arrange some Holly shapes to make an interesting composition.
Image traced and drawn in paint on canvas
After the drawing I traced the image onto a canvas and painted over the lines. I find this helps keep shapes required when underpainting.
Under painting with acrylic paint
I under painted the background with acrylic paint, roughly applying colour for the light source and shapes of the holly.
Blocking in with basic shapes and colour
I started blocking in with oil paints, the colour vibrancy of this medium is my favourite. I am not familiar with this type of composition and was learning about lights and darks as I went along. Adding more colour to the Holly, nothing too precise at this point.
Darks and lights added
I needed to make some changes, the light and dark in the painting was getting lost. I mixed some colour and added shapes of light and dark tones.
Adjustments required
I needed to add this photo to show you where I went wrong with the painting. Looking at it, I felt the Holly had lost its shape and the tones looked flat and there was no sense of depth to them. Changes needed to be made.
Jon Painting
Here you can see me painting, at this point I was happier with the composition and the tones of colour.
Painting completed
Here you can see the painting completed, this has been an interesting and learning
from composition. I hope you enjoyed the process and the finished painting.