Acrylic Painting a Landscape on Canvas

Creative people are never bored. In fact, we’re always searching for more time for our creative projects. So the extra time that I’ve had lately gave me an incentive to try some new projects. One of those projects was acrylic painting.

I’ve used acrylic paints before, but I’ve never painted anything on canvas. When I bought my easel, it came with a pack of art supplies, including a 14 x 18 canvas. I set that canvas aside for over a year before I got up the nerve to paint something.

I wanted something easy but pretty. Something I could hang on my wall. So, I searched for painting tutorials on YouTube and found an account called PriyA Art Studio.

Her video, Easy Waterfall Landscape Painting tutorial for beginners || Step by step Waterfall landscape Painting caught my eye. I knew that this would be perfect for my first attempt at acrylic painting.

Painting materials

I set up my easel by the window with my laptop nearby so that I could follow along. The video tutorial is about 10 minutes, but she works fast and knows what she’s doing. So, it took a lot of rewinding throughout my painting session.

The tutorial calls for:

• one 8×10 canvas
• four paint colors – blue, white, black, and pink
• three brushes – two flat and one round

I would also add:

• a palate for mixing colors
• extra brushes (as you can see I used about 21 of various shapes and sizes)
• paper towels
• a cup of water

Here are the paint colors that I used:

• Peacock blue – Craft Smart
• Mars black – Artist’s Loft
• Bright pink – Craft Smart
• Titanium white – Artist’s Loft
• Vanilla – Craft Smart

Painting on canvas for the first time

I poured my first two paint colors onto my palate and got to work. The tutorial used Prussian blue paint. I used a similar peacock blue which came out a little lighter. By the time I had finished, I ended up using about half of the bottle.

Canvas is a very strange texture. It takes a lot of paint, and with my cheap brushes, you can see every brush stroke. It helped to make only a downward stroke for the waterfall section of the painting and to keep the paint thick on the brush.

You also might want to buy better brushes than I did. I just bought a cheap multipack at Michaels, They had a hard time holding the paint, and the bristles often fell off and got caught on the canvas.

Creating the waterfall

The waterfall takes up about two thirds of the picture. So, the water at the bottom of the waterfall takes up the rest of the painting. This is created by making horizontal strokes across the bottom of the canvas using the same color. Just keep adding paint until the entire canvas is covered in blue.

Next, the tutorial shows to mix a little bit of white in with the blue. Then, dot the sides of the waterfall with color to create a mist effect. I had a hard time getting the right shade mixed.

One problem was that I started by using the vanilla paint which was too creamy-looking. The plain white looked a lot better.

Use just a tiny bit of white. I also noticed on the tutorial that the colors bled into each other much better. My paints seemed to just lay on top of each other without blending in very well.

Next it was time to take some white paint and go over the falls again. I used the same wide, flat brush and the same down stroke technique to create that strong, white water that falls off of the waterfall.

Mist and water effects

At the bottom of the falls, I took a round brush and used a dotting effect to create the mist at the bottom of the falls. This was probably the most fun part of the painting. It helped to sell the fact that it was a waterfall painting.

The water beyond the mist needed some white to help create some depth. This proved to be the trickiest part of the painting. I couldn’t quite replicate the technique on the tutorial. So, I really had to play around with it to get it looking somewhat decent. The result is a muddier version than the tutorial piece.

Painting the rocks

Next I added the rocks to the water. This was really simple. I just took a smaller, flat brush and painted them into rock shapes in the bottom left hand corner and about halfway up the right edge of the canvas. Then, I added little streaks of white to give them some depth and created a white mist around them to show the water lapping at the edge of the rock.

Painting a tree

Once the rocks were formed, I took a thin, round brush and created branches jutting out from the rock in the corner of the painting. Trees are one of the easiest objects to paint. However, since my brushes were not great at holding paint, the branches came out thicker than I intended because I had to keep adding paint to them.  But in the end, it still looks like a tree.

The idea to add pink to this painting really helped to add some brilliant color to the painting which is otherwise dominated by white and blue. I just used the bright pink color straight from the bottle and used a small, round brush to dot the area around the branches. This inspired me to add more branches so that I could add more pink to the painting.

Afterwards, I took some white and added a few dots within the pink dots to give the blossoms some depth. This gave the blossoms sharper look, making the tree the most eye-catching element of the piece.

Signing, drying, and hanging the painting

Finally, I signed the piece and allowed it to dry. The entire process took a little under two hours to complete.

The nails on my walls are pretty small. So, they were too small to hang the thick canvas on. So, I drilled a small hole in the back of the canvas and then was able to slide it into the nail on the wall.

Once the painting was hung, I realized that the sides were plain white. So, I took it down and then painted them a solid peacock blue. That made the painting look more complete hanging on the wall.

Overview

In the end, acrylic painting wasn’t as hard as I was making it out to be. You don’t have to fight with water like you do with water colors, and if you buy more quality materials, I bet it goes a lot smoother. It helped to start with such a simple yet eye-catching image.

Also, being able to hang it on the wall brightens your home, adds a change of scenery, and gives you a sense of accomplishment. So, I highly recommend acrylic painting for artists of all skill levels.

Just beware the fumes. Paint in a well-ventilated area to avoid headaches. But most of all, have fun!

Have you tried to learn any new artistic skills lately? If so, share your experiences in the comments below!

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