waterlilies, painting process

Thought I'd post a few photos of my painting process here---not that this is the best example painting to use (it's a bit too simple, I think, to perplex very many people as to how it was done), but it might just simplify and demystify the process for anyone thinking of picking up a brush and painting their own piece of artwork. So feel free to pick up your own brush and paint along!

Step one, fill up the canvas with paint. I usually just go with colors similar to the reference photo I'm painting but it doesn't matter much at this stage. This is acrylic paint, by the way, which dries pretty quick.

Step two, position everything where they need to be. I try to stick to a large brush as long as possible---this keeps me from putting down every precious detail only to have them be in the wrong place in the painting. Position everything first---doesn't matter how messy and imperfect everything is.

Step three, when you can't stand it anymore, go ahead and switch to a medium size brush (though some of this looks like brushstrokes from my smallest as well). In this step I will work on foreground objects as well as background, alternating as needed, to refine the shapes of things. In some ways I like how the painting was at this stage better than the finished product---maybe I should have left it more abstract like this.... Maybe next time.

And in the final stage. Detail work---though again, this is not a great example since I decided to leave the strictest details out of it entirely---and, as you can see, final color correction and alteration (I wanted more blue in the final piece).

waterlilies, 8x10", $75

Contact me to purchase this painting (as always, click above picture for larger view). Come back often to see more of my arwork. I'll be posting a new painting every day this month! Follow me on twitter to keep up-to-date on the day to day (@wessf) and if you aren't on my email newsletter list and would like to be, just contact me and tell me to add you! Thanks for stopping by!