Simple Canvas Art tutorial

It was Saturday night and my son  slept early(yay!)….I would normally use such precious lone time being a perfect couch potato but for some reason that day I felt an urge to paint something.I had bought a canvas from Michael’s long time back…during my 2nd trimester…yes so long ago and never had the time or the mood to make any art out of it.Initially I wanted to create something for Thejas’s playroom/family lounge area /study  aka our Loft which is bursting at it seams these days trying to multitask,but then I  was in the mood to create something simple,serene and breezy like these yellow jasmine vines here and here.I also felt having some bright blooms in the loft would also usher in summer and so that  was my inspiration for this artwork and  after I googled some beautiful images of the yellow jasmine…I took out my paint supplies and got to work.I am not an artist,I just love art and painting is my hobby. The light blue paired with the bright yellow made me smile…it’s not perfect,but I love it .If you like it,you can scroll down to the easy step by step instructions I’ve put together

All you need :

  1. Paint canvas-mine was 2×3
  2. A palette to mix paint colors-I used an old ceramic plate that i had-easy to clean
  3. Paint colors-water based Acrylic paints,you will find at any craft store
  4. Brushes,I basically use 4 of them .I don’t have the exact numbers,these are quite old but I used a broad brush for the background fill,a medium one for branches,leaves,a thin one for the finer details,twigs etc.
  5. A clean rag
  6. A plastic cup of water to clean the brushes in between colors

First I did a free hand drawing of the branches,leaves,flowers spacing them the way I wanted .Next I used sap green and brown diluted to get the various hues.Once I had the colors mixed,I used the tiny brush and some black+brown mixture to give the branches and leaves some texture .

I wanted the flowers to look delicate so I colored the petals first  in cadmium yellow+ a tint of ochre slightly varying the hues at different places….trust me it comes out with ease when you draw visualising an actual flower swaying in the breeze .

I wanted the background to complement the blooms and decided on sky blue. I used the flat brush and diluted blue with lots of white+water and gave broad vertical strokes on the surrounding white canvas making sure the strokes were all in the same direction-to make it look like the blue skies

Its always a good idea to start from top to bottom,that will give you room to paint without having to worry about your palms/wrist smudging the wet paint.I gave at least 15-20mins drying time at every stage i.e. before I painted the twigs,branches  and moved on to leaves and then to petals .Finally use the thinner brushes to add fine details to the the flowers .Make sure you dip the brushes in clean water and pat them dry before you change a color and

I hope you like my yellow jasmines.love to hear from you guys .I hope the tutorial will come handy for anyone who wants to try similar art on canvas.

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