Hey guys!
So phew… Christmas is over and we’re now starting the run toward New Year 🎄✨
As you know from my last post, I did manage to squeeze in a little painting on Christmas Day ... however I didn’t post the method, colours, or process at the time. So here it is… The Daily Painting.
🎄 The Painting
This little daily painting is a blue Christmas bauble, painted on a small square canvas panel. I’m currently working in acrylics, mostly because I don’t have a proper studio setup at the moment. Oils are just too challenging in this space.
Can I say though… this painting absolutely would have been easier in oils 😅
I love acrylics, but nothing quite beats oils for those slow, luxurious blends.
Process & Colours
Bauble base:
I started with a dark shape — originally black mixed with my new ultramarine (which is a very pretty blue). Once that layer was dry, I added another layer of pure ultramarine. Because ultramarine is transparent, it didn’t block the black — it glazed over it instead, creating a deeper, richer blue. Very pretty.
Background:
The background is a simple mix of:
- Ultramarine
- Cadmium Yellow Medium
- Raw Umber (to tone it down)
I struggled a bit with blending because the acrylic was drying so fast, so the last few layers are actually glazes. I mixed a single colour with medium and lightly scumbled it over the background.
This is a great technique and very handy if your colour has gone chalky — you need the lightness, but the chroma has disappeared. A thin glaze of transparent colour can do wonders. Just make sure there’s no white in the glaze (unless that’s the look you’re after).
Bauble modelling:
From there it was a simple mix of blue and white, with a touch of black. I didn’t use my usual burnt umber / dioxazine mix here. Again, a couple of very plain blue glazes helped build depth nicely.
Top & highlights:
The cap was finished with grey and white, then a few highlights and… done.
Baubles are great subjects because they’re shiny and reflective — they pick up bits of the room, and the reflections are often a little uneven, which helps keep things painterly.
The Reality
The only real issue is that my hand isn’t steady enough to get the outer edge perfectly round — and that does show a little. But again… daily painting, not polished studio work. About 1 hour all up, and that’s where it stops.
Today’s Top Tip
Look up glazes.
If you’ve never tried this technique, you really should. I used to do this a lot with oils:
- Create a near-perfect tonal underpainting
- Then build colour slowly using thin glazes
It’s beautiful, subtle, and incredibly effective.
I just don't have the room these days to fit it in.. i used to work on say 5 big paintings at once... now i can hardly work on two postage size ones at the same time.
Anyway, that’s the day that was.
It’s late at night here in Brisbane, Australia, the day after Boxing Day. We’re watching The Witcher and I’d better squeeze in another couple of episodes before bed — gym in the morning 😬💪
Happy creating everyone 💙
