I did this left handed. I tried a brush, then a much stiffer bristled brush and just wasn’t getting the texture down right, so I used my fingers and also a palette knife for the rocks and to get the grass details in. I’ve been sitting on this photograph for about 4 years to do a painting of. I couldn’t work out how I was going to do it, suddenly I just went OH JUST DO IT AVRIL and I did.
I worked upside down, though. Less daunting. I painted in the lights and darks first then worked my way to the mid tones. It’s all about the darks. Painting upside down means you don’t overthink things, it’s about getting in the basic shapes and tones. I wanted this one to be not overly detailed, about the energy of the scene. It worked.
I painted this one over another painting – a really lame attempt at a big Elizabethan house scene that I knew i was never going to do. I under painted it it reds/browns/some blues, and had it sitting on my easel looking awful for months until i was ready.
You can see the details of my fingers in the paint if you look at some close ups!
My friend Rosenbaum pointed out finger-painting with oils is a bit dangerous : “Dude, heavy metal poisoning is no fun!” She has a point. Next time I will glove up. Will be less messy too. 🙂