Creating a Sketch on Stretched Canvas

Posted on November 23, 2010 by RandyCBrown

When painting on stretched canvas, it is very difficult to get an accurate sketch before the painting begins because of the stretch of the canvas itself. Here are a four tips to help eliminate some of the frustration of sketching on stretched canvas.

Layout the Dimensions of the Final Size

After I have cut the canvas to fit the stretcher frame I’m going to use for the painting, I always layout a rectangle on the unstretched canvas by centering the stretcher on the canvas and tracing around the outside of the stretcher on the primed Continue reading →

Posted in Preparation | 18 Comments

How to Create Shadows in a Wildlife Painting

Posted on November 20, 2010 by RandyCBrown

In order to create wildlife paintings with the realism that I desire, I can most accurately depict shadows in the scene using a technique that I refer to as shade mixing. Light and shadows create the shape of objects in the scene such as trees, rocks, and even the wildlife themselves. In this post, I will attempt to illustrate how I use a four-color technique to create the shadows that make any painting look lifelike.

In real life, shadows are formed when direct light falls on an object and is prevented from illuminating the entire surface of the object evenly Continue reading →

Posted in Acrylic Painting | 6 Comments

Conclusion to How I Begin A Wildlife Painting

Posted on November 19, 2010 by RandyCBrown

Art to me is more than just creating pictures. It is the journey from the design of the painting to that last brush stroke. It’s the thoughts and memories that are recalled during the process and the desire to create that drives me. It’s the wonder of color, the details elusively revealed in the shadows, and the brilliance of the highlights that move me when the brush touches the canvas.

So the next time you look at a painting, I hope you will see that there’s more to what you’re looking at than just paint and canvas. Hidden behind the paint Continue reading →

Posted in Preparation | Tagged art, Color, details, highlights, journey, revealed, shadows, stroke | 8 Comments

Selecting the Materials for a Wildlife Painting

Posted on November 18, 2010 by RandyCBrown

In the previous four articles, I’ve discussed the design of the location, the composition, the wildlife, and the color scheme for our wildlife painting. It’s now time to talk a little about the materials that I will use in the painting.

There are actually three materials that we have to decide on when creating a wildlife painting. These choices hold true for any type of painting but are especially important in wildlife art. The three basic materials are the type of paint, the type of medium, and the painting support.

The type of paint that I choose is basically determined by two factors. The first factor is the type of frame that I want the painting placed in. If I decide Continue reading →

Posted in Preparation | Tagged acrylic, damar, frame, glass, linseed, materials, oil, solvent, support, turpentine, varnish, water | 3 Comments

Selecting the Color Scheme for a Wildlife Painting

Posted on November 17, 2010 by RandyCBrown

In the last three articles, I’ve talked about the scene design, the composition, and the wildlife. Now its time to decide on a color scheme for the wildlife painting. The color scheme of the painting is largely determined by the three previous processes that I’ve used. Of the three previous steps, the composition plays less of a role in determining the color scheme than the other two elements.

The types of trees that I’ve selected for the scene will dictate that I have grays and browns. The time of year will determine the color of the foliage. Fall scenes call for more reds and oranges, spring calls for more light greens in the foliage. Summer requires Continue reading →

Posted in Preparation | Tagged Color, compliment, contrast, dark, foliage, light, realistic, scheme, summer, trees, vibrant | 34 Comments

Selecting the Wildlife for a Wildlife Painting

Posted on November 16, 2010 by RandyCBrown

In the first article of this series, I covered creating the location for a new painting and then in the second article I talked about the composition. In this article I will talk briefly about how I go about choosing what wildlife will appear in the new painting.

I generally favor painting waterfowl in the majority of my work. Usually I find myself drawn to mallard ducks. One reason I paint mallard ducks Continue reading →

Posted in Preparation | Tagged accurately, bird, deer, ducks, Gatlinburg, mallard, mergansers, scaups, swimming, Tennessee, turkey, waterfowl, wood duck | 2 Comments

Creating the Composition of a Wildlife Painting

Posted on November 15, 2010 by RandyCBrown

In the previous article of this series, I described how I go about creating the location for a new wildlife art painting. I told you how I used references from many different places to put together a scene that no one has ever seen before. In this article, I’ll show you how I take all those design elements and create the composition for the painting.

The composition of a painting is the way in which the artist takes all the elements of a painting and puts them in an order of placement that is both natural Continue reading →

Posted in Preparation | Tagged cirrus, composition, cumulus, reflection, rivers, rule of thirds, sky, streams | 4 Comments

Mallard duck painting entitled “Safely Home”

Posted on November 14, 2010 by RandyCBrown

On October 22 2010, I started a new painting entitled “Safely Home”. I completed the painting today and posted the images to the Acrylic Gallery on my website. The painting is a waterfowl painting and features a pair of mallard ducks returning to the spot in the old cypress lake where they always felt the most secure and call home year after year.

This painting is an original acrylic on stretched canvas with an image size of 24″ x 18″ and was modeled after an old cypress lake near my home in Continue reading →

Posted in Acrylic Painting | 17 Comments

Creating the Location for a Wildlife Painting

Posted on November 14, 2010 by RandyCBrown

In this first installment of “How I Begin a Wildlife Painting“, I will focus on creating the location for the painting. On the surface creating the location may seem like an easy task. However, in reality a lot of effort and planning must got into the design process for the painting to be truly successful. The location of the painting to me is similar to the framework of a building in that it is the support structure for the entire painting.

When I’m ready to start a new wildlife painting, I begin by thinking about the story I want to tell through the image. I think about the Continue reading →

Posted in Preparation | Tagged emotions, framework, location, photographs, planning, scene | 3 Comments

How I Begin A Wildlife Painting

Posted on November 14, 2010 by RandyCBrown

Over the years, as a wildlife artist and waterfowl artist, I’ve had people ask how I begin a wildlife painting, so I decided to start this month out with an article about the process I use to begin a new wildlife painting. As I began writing, I soon realized that the content was much too long for one session so I decided to break it up into six distinct parts. In this series I will begin by describing how I go about creating the location for the painting. I consider this the most important step in the process because it lays the groundwork for all the steps that follow. After all the design elements have been chosen for the painting, the next article Continue reading →