Flanders Field. Painting #89. Somber Beauty
Date Painted: December 5, 2019
Size/Surface: 16 x 20 stretched canvas
The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die. We shall not sleep, though poppies grow. In Flanders fields.
Note: It has been a long time since I’ve written a new blog post. This post will be published over a year after this painting was completed. I have been spending a lot of time tweaking my site and rewriting old blog posts to make them more interesting and readable. Go back to read about my first nine paintings completely rewritten with more substantial content to include inspiration, process, and tips and tricks. https://happypaintingsbycraig.com/2018/06/
Let’s Get Started
This post is about my Flanders Field black and white painting. First, I’ll talk about the inspiration for this painting. When I talk about inspiration in this blog, it will normally be why I chose a certain subject or Bob Ross or other artist tutorial to follow. Then, I will go over the colors and equipment I used and that you will need if you want to try your hand at it or something similar. Next, I will expound a bit about my process. Finally, I’ll wrap up with some lessons that I learned from painting this picture and things I could have done better or wished I had known. So join me on this trip down memory lane as I recap my 89th painting.
The Inspiration for Flanders Field
Flanders Field was a commission from someone who has seen my work before. They liked my black and white style with the touch of color. Being a veteran, they wanted something to commemorate the monumental, deadly event. Like all of my black and white paintings, it is painted entirely with acrylics.
Materials Needed
Mediums
Colors
Equipment
You’ll never believe what you need to paint something like this. You don’t need much at all. I simply used
A large foam brush
The large stiff bristle brush from this multi brush pack
The Round Brush from a Crayola brush pack.
Techniques
The sky was a fun happy accident.. I can’t explain how I did it exactly other than I used the gessoes mixed because they are a bit thinner than the acrylic paint. The sky just sort of unfolded the way it did. I just made sure to taper the value off as I got lower down the canvas. I used a large foam brush with varying values. The foam brush aided in the overall effect of the sky. One reason it did that is because it’s a large surface and acrylics dry so fast. There’s no medium such as liquid white to help blend the color and lighten it towards the horizon. Use a bit of water to thin it or use an acrylic medium.
For far side grass, I used the value and just added some indications of grass with the stiff bristle brush. The foreground grass was done in a similar way. I used the dark color for shadow with light grass. Stiff bristle brushes are great for this.
The tree line was painted with the large round brush with the medium one used to do the highlights.
The mist trick along the barbed wire fence line is done by adding a touch of titanium white. It adds an eerie effect to sore of step back in time to Flanders Field. I learned the trick from Bob in Rays of Sunshine.
Final Thoughts
Though you don’t need a lot of materials, these black and white acrylic paintings take a bit of time. These are layers upon layers so you need to let each layer dry before adding the next. Now, acrylic paint doesn’t take long to dry but it still takes patience.
I enjoy doing these monochrome acrylic paintings. They’re fun. I love playing with values. With acrylics, it’s easy. You can easily paint over a layer once it’s dry if you’re not happy with the value you’ve achieved.
I hope you enjoy this painting. Have a question? Comment below. Subscribe to my blog to stay up to date and be notified when a new post is live and learn more about the Bob Ross method and how far it can take you as a new artist. Don’t forget to check out my Art Store or Etsy shop. You can also follow me on all my social media sites.