Our demonstration piece is an acrylic landscape of distant hills, rough grassland and foreground foliage.
5 Easy Techniques for Painting Plants with Acrylics
Creating an easy plant painting with acrylics can truly be a delight. The colors, the textures, and the sheer beauty of plants make them fantastic subjects for your artwork. With a bit of guidance, painting plants doesn’t have to be a daunting task. In this blog, we’ll dive into five simple yet effective techniques to help you bring your plant paintings to life. Let’s get started.
Choose Your Subject
Before you even pick up a brush, you need to decide on the plant you’ll be painting. The type of plant, its perspective, and the lighting conditions will all play a significant role in your easy plant painting process. Here’s how to go about it:
Identify Your Plant
First, you need to decide on a specific plant you’d like to paint. It could be a favorite houseplant, a beautiful tree in your local park, or a colorful flower from a botanical garden. There’s no right or wrong choice here—pick a plant that inspires you. Remember, the more familiar you are with the plant, the easier it will be to capture its essence in your painting.
Select The Perspective
Next, think about the perspective from which you’ll be painting your plant. Are you looking at it straight on, from above, or perhaps from a low angle? The perspective can dramatically change the feel of your painting. Play around with different angles until you find one that feels right and adds an interesting dimension to your subject.
Consider The Lighting
Finally, consider how light interacts with your plant. Note where the light source is coming from and how it casts shadows on the foliage. Observe how the plant’s colors change in different lighting conditions. This understanding will help add depth and realism to your easy plant painting.
Remember, choosing your subject is a crucial part of the painting process. Take your time, explore different options, and choose a plant, perspective, and lighting setup that spark your creativity.
Prepare Your Materials
Now that you’ve selected your subject, it’s time to gather your art supplies. Here’s what you need to do:
Select Your Acrylic Paints
Acrylic paints are great for plant painting due to their versatility and vibrant colors. Start with the basic colors — red, blue, yellow, white, and black. You can mix these to create any shade you need. Additionally, consider getting green and brown, as they are commonly used in plant paintings.
Choose Your Brushes
Having a variety of brushes at hand can help you achieve different textures and details in your painting. For instance, a flat brush can be used for more substantial areas, a round brush for general painting, and a detail brush for intricate parts of the plant. Remember, it’s not about having the most expensive brushes, but understanding how to use them effectively.
Ready Your Palette
Organize your palette by laying out your chosen acrylic paints. It’s recommended to arrange the colors in the order of the rainbow. This setup can make it easier to mix colors and create a harmonious easy plant painting. Additionally, have a cup of water for rinsing brushes and a rag for blotting excess paint.
Preparing your materials in advance not only saves time but also keeps you focused and organized during the painting process. It’s like the old saying goes: “Preparation is half the battle.”
Practising acrylic brush strokes: a step-by-step guide
Equipment
Mountboard or your choice of surface (acrylic paper, canvas, canvas board or panel) 14x13in. (36x33cm)
Large flat or filbert
Fan brush (optional)
Sword liner or Rigger
Sword liner or Rigger
As featured in the April 2021 issue of Leisure Painter magazine. Click here to buy your copy.
Colours
Practising acrylic brush strokes: a step-by-step guide
Practise making a variety of brush marks, acrylic colour mixing and painting an acrylic landscape in this guide to acrylic brush techniques by Jackie Garner.
In this guide, we’ll explore acrylic brush techniques and applying paint to the surface, as we paint an acrylic landscape.
Knowledge of how different paint brushes behave enables you to create different textures and liveliness in your work. First, we’re going to try an exercise in paint brush mark making then we’ll create a painting that uses a variety of brushes and brush marks.
Paint brush strokes
You can imagine that, a plate of food where every mouthful had the same texture would be rather bland – no variety of crunch, creaminess or firmness. The same applies to a painting: we need a variety of textures to enliven the image and create interest for the viewer.
Even if you only use a single brush, you can vary the brushstrokes to give different effects. You might use long even strokes to produce flat colour, very little paint to give a broken effect, or dab the tip of the brush against the support, a process known as stippling. Stippling works best with a fairly stiff-bristled brush. Learn more about the types of paint brushes for acrylics in this helpful guide.
