Acrylic Painting Demo Steps 1-6

Step 1. Start by painting your canvas (mine is textured) with a thin coat of a warm color. I usually use red oxide thinned with a little water and gloss medium. If you wish, you can extend the paint to cover the sides of your canvas. This finishes the edges nicely which is important if your painting will be displayed unframed.
Step 2. Plan your painting. Sketch and paint in the dark areas. Here I've used Liquitex burnt umber and hooker's green deep.
Step 3. Paint in the sky and creek area with a color of your choice. I wanted a fairly simple sky so I've used white with a little yellow ochre and phthalo blue. I allow the sky color to touch up to the edges of the darker color blending the areas with a damp paper towel.
Step 4. When this is dry I go over the edges of the trees with burnt umber and a little medium. I have very little paint on the brush and scummble on the paint. See detail below.
Step 5. I've added burnt umber to some of the areas of the bottom to represent darker patches of grass. I've also added another layer of color to the sky. This time I've used unbleached titanium applying the paint lightly over the burnt umber of the trees and and blending with a damp paper towel.

detail

Step 6. Mix up some greens to use. I've mixed up a dark, a middle and a light green. Add your dark green first, in sections where you want the grass to show some darks. Let some of the orange under painting show through in areas. This is a nice effect and I think makes the grass look more natural. Let this layer dry completely, then add the medium tone of green in sections. Let it dry and then do the same with the lightest green, where you feel the grass should be lighter. Repeat these steps twice to give the grassy areas depth. Also, brush over the light area of the creek with some of the darker green and burnt umber. Wipe away in the direction the water would flow. This is where you can really see the texture on you canvas, if you've used it.