Bill Alexander Painting Tips: Still Life In Vase pt 1

Each Saturday we will have tips and instructions from Bill himself as he walks you through “Still Life In Vase.”

Points To Consider:

  • Bill starts with a dry, black canvas. He primed it with flat, latex paint and let it dry overnight. (Do you know that black gesso is the same thing as flat, latex house paint?) Get it at the hardware store instead of the art store and save money!)
  • Bill doesn’t spend much time mixing colors on the palette. He prefers to mix on the canvas.
  • He applies a lot of paint with his brush first. This gives him the opportunity to add a lot of paint quickly.
  • He knows what the painting is going to look like before he paints his first stroke. He has decided where the light is coming from ahead of time so he can lay the colors on the canvas accordingly.
  • Notice how much Bill is moving his brush and how hard he is pressing the paint into the canvas. He wants to leave a lot of paint and because he is creating a background, he wants the paint to go deep into the canvas. This helps him later when he adds the next layer of paint.
  • Once he has the colors where he wants them, he uses his knife to add texture. He wants the background to look like he “struggled” when he really didn’t at all.
  • Notice how Bill is holding the knife. We slowed it down a bit for you because Bill had such a short time to paint, he had to move quickly.
  • Bill did not paint this fast in his own studio.

Stay tuned next week to see what Bill does next to his painting.






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