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Lesson Details
In this lesson, you’re going to learn how to use a simple painting technique to create a beautiful abstract painting that will look like this:
In the previous lesson, we went over how to use a simple acrylic painting technique to mix paint and create interesting effects. And now we are going to use that very same technique to create a complete abstract painting.
You can watch the last lesson here: Simple Acrylic Painting Technique For Creating Amazing Abstract Effects
Painting Materials
For this painting, we are going to be using:
– a 16 x 20 inch painting canvas
– some masking or painter’s tape
– a palette knife
– blue and red acrylic paint
– acrylic glazing medium
– and a couple of painting brushes
Step 1 – Prepare the Canvas
The first step is to divide the canvas into equal squares using the painter’s tape. You might have to do a little bit of math here to make sure that all the squares are the same size and that they are even placed.
For this canvas, I divided it into a 4 x 3 grid so we have 12 square in total.
Step 2 – Plan Out the Concept
Now that we have the canvas prepped, let’s talk about the concept for the painting. I made a rough sketch of the idea I had in my head and it look like this:
Because abstract art can be very vague and nebulous, it’s important to plan out what you are going to do so that you’re not running around once the paint is on the canvas.
For this painting, the idea is to create a “yin-yang” style merging of two colors, red and blue. The cool color (blue) will be on top and the warm color (red) will be on the bottom. The will come together and merge along the diagonal of the canvas.
That’s the idea anyway. Let’s see how the painting turns out 🙂
Step 3 – Establish the Red & Blue Corner
Ok, now it’s time to put brush to canvas. First I will establish the red corner.
I’ll use my palette knife to put some red paint in the lower right corner square. This will be where the red original from so we will make sure to angle the paint towards the center of the canvas.
Next, add some glaze medium to the mix and then lightly blend them out with the brush. Be sure to use a VERY light touch with the brush so that you don’t over blend the paint.
Then we’ll do that same for the blue corner.
Remember to use a clean brush when switching colors. We don’t want to two colors to mix just yet.
This time, I’ll use a more fluid brush stroke and use the sharp edge of the brush to create some thinner lines:
Step 4 – Adding Paint to the Other Squares
Now, we are going to go back and add red paints to the squares adjacent to the red corner.
The only difference is, now we are going to add more glaze medium to the mix to lighten the paint and make it spread more smoothly.
The idea is that the further we get from the source, the lighter the paint becomes.
Also, I will also be using my palette knife to blend the paint this time. I find that the palette knife actually makes for a great blending tool because it creates a nice texture, but doesn’t over blend the paint.
And once we’re done with the red side, we’ll repeat the process on the blue side:
Step 5 – Creating the Transition
To create the transition, I’m will use my palette knife and drag the paint into each other’s territory. So I’ll carry some of the red into the blue area and vice versa.
To finish it off, I’ll also add some tiny bit of white paint along the diagonal transition to add some visual interest.
And that’s it! Now let’s peal off the tape and see what it looks like:
Play around with your own idea and concept and see what you come up with.
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