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Once I have my painting planned out it’s time to get my ideas onto canvas. But wait! Is the canvas ready? Canvas must have a layer of Gesso (artists primer) on them before you paint.  The canvases I buy come pre-gessoed but I prefer a smoother canvas and so I will usually add an extra layer or two of Gesso to my canvas to help smooth it out. I have my own secret mixture that I use to thicken my gesso to help fill in the texture of the canvas.

Most people apply gesso with a brush this lets you add different brush textures right from the beginning. When painting detail, or you want your canvas to glow though, the smoother the better. I like to trowel mine on with an extra-large palette knife or scraper.  It makes for a much smoother surface. The smooth surface is very important when you are painting anything with high levels of detail. While my backgrounds are getting looser, I still like to keep my critters faces with a good level of accuracy and most importantly, character.

Once the gesso is dry, I will draw a simple grid on the canvas using a tape measure and a T-square. This helps to make sure I get the proportions right. If I have trouble with a specific area, I can add more squares but usually just a few are needed.

For my smaller paintings up to about 20x20 I usually draw the main lines of my composition in free hand (no grid) using chalk. It’s easy to erase and as such doesn’t leave unwanted marks in the painting. For my larger paintings I will usually use a grid pattern to make sure I keep my proportions correct. I then paint over my lines to finalize them.

I then apply a layer of thinned paint. Any colour will do but I usually use burnt sienna (an orangy brown) or a red for a mostly green painting. This layer is called imprimatura. It serves two purposes. The first is filling in any divets in the canvas with colour to avoid nasty white specks. The second is it tones the canvas to a medium value which allows you to judge values (lightness and darkness of a colour) better as you paint. Many artists also use it to compliment the final painting, deliberately leaving bits of it showing. I usually cover the entire canvas with the finished painting. It’s just my style.

Now the fun begins! I absolutely love starting a new painting. The first layer of paint strokes lay down the base colours of each part of the painting. I start with the darkest darks and move on to the midtones, then lights. I can be very free and relaxed with this stage; it doesn’t matter if I go outside the lines or get any colours wrong. This stage is finished only when I have covered the entire canvas. At this point I judge the strength of my composition. Any necessary changes can be made easily. 

This is usually followed by a rest period where I pick up another painting and work on it for a while. I often have about four paintings on the go at once. I will switch between them at different stages allowing layers of paint to fully dry before moving on.

When I start getting close to the finish, I use smaller and smaller brushes until the painting is complete. I will fiddle around making some darks darker and highlights darker. Then it will sit for a day. When I come back to it, I usually have one or two fixes and then I can call it done. Ahhh, sweet satisfaction.

** Before varnish goes on, I get photos for promotion and future cards or prints. Varnishing and final prep will be covered in a future blog post.

*** Discussing process can be a bit boring but for those who are curious, it’s now all here. You can read the parts you are curious about and skip the rest.  😊