January 2nd-8th 2025 painting – Sligo Oil Painting

Stages will be posted here 2pm daily during the above dates

Step 1(a) Landscape Selection

This is the photograph I have decided we should have a go at. It’s Benwisken Mountain viewed from Ballintrillick. It’s near the entrance to the Gleniff Horseshoe. I chose this particular one for it’s very interesting light and shadows.

If you are new to painting and wish to participate in this 6-day project, you will need some basic equipment to start. I will keep the list as short as possible. These stages will remain up for a few weeks so you will have plenty of time to get your colours, canvas, etc ready.

PLEASE PRINT THIS PICTURE OR HAVE IT DEVELOPED AT YOUR LOCAL PHARMACY OR PHOTO SHOP

LIST OF ESSENTIAL COLOURS
38mm tubes
Essential colours

Cadmium Red
Cadmium Yellow
Coeruleum Blue
French Ultramarine Blue
Sap Green
Burnt Umber
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Sienna
Crimson Alizaron
Paynes Grey
Small Titanium White

EXTRA COLOURS (not essential)
Raw Sienna
Cobalt Blue
Naples Yellow
Van Dyke Brown
Purple
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BASIC EQUIPMENT

4B,5B or 6B Pencil

50 cm Ruler
White Spirit
Jam Jar with lid
Disposable Palettes (Reeves 9″x12″)40 plastic sheets, (NOT the greaseproof ones)
Light Linseed Oil
Old Clothes, Baby Wipes, Kitchen Roll.
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BRUSHES AND PALETTE KNIVE

Hog Hair Brushes (Round and Flat)

Sable Hair Brushes (Round and Flat)

Set of Economy Blue Brushes (Staff will advise you)

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CANVAS

The canvas we will be using will be 20″ x 16″ (50cm x 40cm)

I recommend the art shop below (SG Education) for all of your art supplies. If you need advice, You will find the staff at SG Education to be very helpful.

SG Education, (Behind Feehilys Flower Shop)
Unit 8a,
Old Dublin Road Business Park,
Ballisodare Road, Carraroe,
Sligo, Ireland, F91 WN80

T: +353 (0)71 9153810
F: +353 (0)71 9153819

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Step 1b Canvas and Preparation

Recommended Canvas and Size

This is the canvas I am using. It’s brand name is ‘Elements’ This is my own personal favourite but you can use whatever brand you like as long as it’s pre-primed (It’ll say on the brand but rest assured, most of them are) Size for this project is 50cm x 40cm.

Step 1c. Preparing our Canvas drawing aid.

We are using a 50cm x 40cm canvas so I have divided this into workable areas. 50cm x 40cm means that we divide by 5 on top and 4 on sides. (so each of these 20 areas will measure 10cm x 10cm). You will find that this makes the drawing much easier. If you feel confident, you can divide this without a ruler, but please use your ruler if you’d prefer.

Step 1d. Preparing your Picture

Again, as we are using a 50x40cm canvas, we do likewise with our picture. (TIP) If you’d prefer, you can print this picture as it is, It’ll save you from having to divide it out.

Step 1e Starting the Drawing

There will be certain parts of a picture that may need a little more attention. When this occurs just ‘sub-divide’ (free-hand) the areas in question (I’ve picked these two) and repeat on the same areas your canvas (see below)

The sub-divided areas make it much easier for tackling the house, awkward angles, disappearing points etc

Note the selected sub-divided areas on canvas

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Drawing complete. I hope you didn’t find this too difficult. Stage 2 (Painting the Sky) will be posted tomorrow afternoon (Friday January 3rd) at 2pm. See you then.

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Updated Thursday January 2nd at 3.15pm

Step 2.. Painting the Sky.

2a Preparing your palette.

Take some White, and some Coeruleum Blue and mix with a few drops of Linseed oil. Please do not over use the Linseed oil as this is used to make the paint a little more flexible. It’s best to use sparingly in most cases

Mix White to a little Coeruleum Blue to make a light blue . This will be your ‘basecoat’ Spread your basecoat all over the sky area. Again, be careful about the amount of paint you apply.

Light Blue basecoat applied.

2b Toning your Sky

When painting sky, generally (though not always) you will find it darker at the top and brighter lower down. So the next step is to tone your sky. This is done ‘wet on wet’ This task is easier to do with our oil paint as oil stays wet for longer than acrylic. Apply pure Coeruleum Blue to the top and gradually tone it infrom top to bottom. Clean your brush regularly as you tone. Always use a round head brush when painting sky as we don’t want to see line shapes (if a flat brush used)

Toning the sky

2c Adding a little French Ultramarine to the Coeruleum Blue

One more small but effective touch at this stage would be to add a little French Ultramarine Blue to the very top. Gently tone in the French Ultramarine to the Coeruleum Blue with a ‘tapping’ brush stroke, then similarly, the Coeruleum Blue to the basecoat. (see above) White clouds will be added at a later stage preferbly when sky is dry.

Step 3: Mountain to the Middle Background and Trees

3a Separating the light areas from the dark

From the picture above you will notice that the light is coming from the left hand side so it is important that you define where these boundaries are. I have separated them along with adding roughly where the snow and frost lines are.

3b Mountain Basecoat

Use Yellow Ochre mixed with a little White and a little Cadmium Yellow as your basecoat. No Linseed oil need to be applied here as it’s important that paint stays solid for texture purposes.

3c Applying your Darker Colours on the Shaded Areas

Please use a small flat brush for this stage. I have used French Ultramarine Blue with a tiny bit of Paynes Grey for the small darker areas at the very top of the mountain. You will notice when applying the French Ultramarine Blue to the wet Yellow Ochre basecoat that it will bring up a perfect greenish colour. This will depend on the quantity of the French Ultramarine Blue you apply.

The snow lines are White with a little French Ultramarine Blue. When applying this, do not dwell or overwork this colour or you could lose it through the wet paints. Apply the snow with deft strokes, the least amount of brush strokes the better.

3d Progress so far

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Step 4: Middleground on right with house and some road

Lots of colours here but I’ve chosen a yellow basecoat to work on for these trees. Sap Green and some Burnt Sienna applied with a tap stroke using a small flat brush. Keep some tissue close by to wipe your brush clean in between colour changes.

Paint in the house next, so as to surround it with the colours to the side and front,

4b Progress so far

Not a lot of progress today either I’m afraid. (Apologies, dosed with a cold) I do hope to finish this tomorrow tomorrow though (Thursday 9th).

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So much for Thursday 9th eh? Back now again today. (Monday 13th) for the start of Step 5

I used Sap Green and Cadmium Yellow plus a little White for the tops of the trees in the middleground as this is where they will be brightest. Some Sap Green and French Ultramarine Blue plus a little Raw Umber for the more hidden areas , mainly found at the lower parts of the trees. Lots of Burnt Sienna / Cadmium Yellow touches as well as some Yellow Ochres used not only throughout the brighter areas, but in some of the darker areas too

Where the sunshine hits the greens, increase your Cadmium Yellows with the Sap Green, Use a little White also with the Cadmium Yellow to give it that ‘kick’

I have used a light Blue/ Grey basecoat on the road which we will be concentrating on next. This is probably the most interesting part of this painting as it will highlight the all-important shadows.

Updated on Monday January 13th at 5.15pm

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