Painting Book

Oil Painting Made Easy
Foreword
Many people are concerned so much about the so-called “rules of oil painting” that they
are put off before they ever even pick up a brush! But it doesn’t have to be that way, the
whole purpose of this eBook is to demystify oil painting, to free up any concerns you might
have so you can have fun and actually enjoy painting – so right off the bat I’m going to
insist that you don’t worry about anything at all – I’m going to take real good care of you -
This is going to be a fun learning experience!!!
Jason
Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 1

WHAT’S SO GREAT
ABOUT
OIL PAINTING?
You know over the years I have used many types of paints, from watercolours to acrylics
and oils, and I have always come back to oils as my preferred medium – why? Well
personally I found oils just suited my relaxed style so much more than any of the other
mediums, I like to paint at a fairly slow pace and I always felt that Acrylics and
Watercolours demanded that I rush.
Acrylics dry VERY quickly, if you don’t add things like slowing mediums to them, so I was
always rushing to finish a section before the paint on my palette or brush dried out. When
using watercolours, a lot of the success is about timing – to really get the best from
watercolours you need to do things like wet in to wet painting, where you apply paint in
to an already wet area. Do it too soon and the colours all just merge, do it too late and
you get all those nasty hard edges and cauliflower shapes appearing – personally Acrylics
and watercolours just weren’t for me.
Lots of people assume that oils are a very difficult medium to use, possibly the hardest,
“the old masters used oils after all” they reason. But it really couldn’t be further from the
truth. Oils have MANY advantages - Oils dry quite slowly, so you get lots of time to adjust
an area before it dries – if there is something you don’t like, you can just scrape it off, or
even better, just wait until it dries and paint right over the top. Now that is what I call a
forgiving medium!
Personally I think Oils are one of the easiest mediums to use, so let’s start by looking in
some detail at the basic equipment you will require.

EQUIPMENT
Now I know that talking about equipment and painting tools is not the most exciting thing in the world,
and that lots of people say “Oh boy! Not another instruction book going through the equipment thing
again” but if you are a complete beginner it really is essential that you know the basics about equipment
and it’s something you can refer to every now and then, plus where most technique books complicate the
equipment stage I will be simplifying it drastically by telling you exactly what I personally use ☺
So let’s dive straight in and cover the essential equipment you will require.
Work area
You can’t paint if you don’t have an area to sit down (although you may prefer to stand) and a little space
around you – but you don’t have to think huge studio here - You can make your work area as lavish or
simple as you wish and as room allows, from a small area on the kitchen table, to a full sized studio.
Easels
I find it easier to have the canvas held upright when I paint, though this can also be the cause of back pain
for some, so you will need to experiment a little until you find an easel and seating position that is
comfortable.
Easels are made in all sizes from small tabletop, to huge studio ones – the choice is yours. Choose one to
suit the size of paintings you can imagine yourself painting in say a year’s time.
Ideally the working area should be well lit, either by natural daylight or by using artificial lights. Daylight or
craft tubes / bulbs, will match natural daylight the best, (if natural light is not available) and are valuable if
you’re going to paint in the evenings or in a fairly dark area, but remember we’re not here to be bogged
down with details and worry about things – so if all you have is a small area in the kitchen, with a single

standard strip light illuminating the room, then that’s just fine! The important thing is we ARE going to
paint – there will be plenty of time for masterpieces later.
Painting outdoors / Plein Air
Perhaps you’re not even thinking of painting indoors at all. Perhaps you would rather paint outdoors, plein
air as we call it, then you could use a small travel easel or box or even a small Pochade box like the one I
have below, they are perfect for small studies.
Painting Surfaces – Canvas / Board / Oil paper

Oils are great because you can paint them on just about any surface.
All that is required is that the surface is primed so that the oils don’t
soak through, or in to the surface. This priming paint has a specific
name – it’s called Gesso, (pronounces Jesso). It’s usually white and
can be purchased cheaply from all art stores.
We’ll look at preparing the surface using Gesso in detail later on, but
for now let’s look at the other types of surfaces you can use.
Canvas boards
These are very common; basically they are compressed cardboard or
board, which has a canvas glued on to one side. Most of the time
they are already prepared (painted) with Gesso so you can just take
them straight out of the packet and paint on them – I told you oil painting was going to be simple didn’t I.
ha… they are also very cost effective and a great surface to practice upon.

Stretched Canvas
Stretched canvas, as the name implies, is canvas which has been stretched taught around a wooded frame
- everything I have said above for canvas board applies to stretched canvas, it’s just a different feel to paint
on, some people like the springy feel when a brush is pressed to a stretched canvas, others rather the
firmness of the board – again it is personal preference, you should try both and find out which you like for
yourself.
Paints
OK… let’s talk about the actual paints we are going to use, and I’m going to make this section VERY simple
because this is where complete beginners start to get concerned and also a little overwhelmed.
Oils / alkyds
There are two main types of oil paints I want to talk about – standard and Alkyd. Let’s have a look at
standard oil paints 1st.
Standard oil paints

There are lots of brands to pick from, the most famous is probably Winsor & Newton (there are many
others), and it’s stocked in almost all art stores. Now you need to be aware that there are two grades of
Winsor & Newton (W&N) oil paints – I know, I know…it’s starting to sound complicated, and I promised it
would be easy! But it really is – let’s continue –
There’s a student grade – called WINTON – which has a large range of colours to pick from and they are all
usually the same price across the range – approx £2.50 or $4-5 each per tube, the colours are nice and rich
and more than good enough for any beginner / novice. Then there is a Professional grade.
The Professional Grade – called Artists Oil Colour has a massive range of 110 + colours to choose from, and
the colours have more pigment, so in theory should be richer. The problem is that the cost of the paints
vary thought-out the 110 colours from inexpensive (similar to student grade price) to VERY expensive.
Personally I would go for the Student grade (Winton) for all beginners; I used it for years and found it great.
Alkyd Oil Paints

So you probably figured that I now use those professional paints myself right? Um…..no! And I don’t use
the student grade either! So what do I use? Well The paint I use is still made by Winsor and Newton (and
you can get it almost everywhere) it’s called an Alkyd paint, basically it’s standard oil paint with an additive
already in it that speeds up the drying of the paint, it means that I can finish a painting session and by the
next morning or evening, the paint is dry! It’s the best of both worlds, slow enough drying that I can work

on a painting for hours, but it also dries quickly enough for me to continue the next day if I want to, this
can drastically reduce the time it takes to complete a painting.
As mentioned It’s made by W&N and is called – Griffin Alkyd (you can buy other makes of Alkyd oils
though) – there are lots of colours in the range and they are almost the same price as the student grade –
personally it’s what I now use pretty much all of the time and I would advise anyone starting out in oil
painting to certainly use Alkyds – the choice really is yours – student grade / Professional grade or Griffin
Alkyd – me, I’d buy the Alkyds right away and be done with it.
Thinners
You will need some sort of thinners for two reasons – to wash your
brushes at the end of a painting session and also to thin the paints if
you want to reduce the consistency a lot to make the paint flow (come
off the brush) easier. Now many people like painting Turpentine, it’s
the classical thinners for oil painting, but I don’t like strong smells at all
– and turpentine (turps) is strong. Others really like the smell. So I use
what is called an odourless thinner. There are lots of types available
from art shops and once again it’s worth trying a couple out for
yourself, because some really are not odourless at all even though it
says so on the tin / bottle – but if you want to use what I use then get
some “Bob Ross” odourless thinners – I just find it’s the least smelly, in
fact there really isn’t much smell to it at all. It comes in a fairly large
plastic jack and lasts for absolute ages.
Now just because it doesn’t smell, doesn’t mean it’s as safe as water –
as with all solvents, you should have a well ventilated area – but the
way I paint (and I’ll show you later) uses VERY little thinners, in fact I
bet the Bob Ross jack lasts me 2 years or more! But just be cautious.

Oil Painting Mediums

A medium is what we add to oil paints when we want to make it thinner and flow
better, and a very simple one is 1 part artist’s Linseed oil and 1 part odourless thinners.
I just put mine in a very small jar (make sure it has a sealing lid or screw cap) and dip
the tip of my brush in it before adding to my paints – once again, we’ll cover it later.
Walnut Alkyd Medium

I found this painting medium relatively recently, but it soon became my personal
favourite. The Walnut oil portion of the medium gives the paint just enough slip to
make it flow nicely and the Alkyd portion means my paint mostly dries by the next
morning. And if I want my paint even thinner I just add a little odourless thinner to my
paint/ walnut medium mix.
Acrylic Paints
Ok, so as you are going to do oil painting why do you need acrylics? You may ask…
Well I use acrylics just to block in the basic dark areas of the painting - right at the
very beginning of the process, it dries real fast remember – which is exactly what
we want at that stage –– I’ll show you later. All will become clear, I Promise. Ha….
You don’t have to go out and buy lots of tubes of acrylic paint either – I use only
two colours – Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber.
Brushes
I remember when I started watercolour painting many years ago - I
started with some cheap paints and even cheaper brushes, boy did I
struggle to get good results, the reason was simple, the cheap brushes
just didn’t hold the water well and NEVER came to a nice point,
eventually I ended up with some real nice sable brushes that performed
great, BUT cost me an arm and a leg!!! Seriously, I have 1 brush that
cost approx £30 / $50!!! It brings a tear to my eye even now to think I
spent so much on a single brush!
Well here’s the good news – you might need fairly expensive brushes
for watercolour painting, but when it comes to oils then just about
anything works fine, in fact I haven’t paid over about £3 / $6 for a brush
in years, and most cost £1-2 / $2-4 each, just as well really because I
make them work real hard, and use them to destruction.
Now as you can imagine I’ve built up a big collection of brushes over the
years – mainly because I am too stingy to throw the worn out ones
away ha…. But all you really need to start painting are just a few
different sized / shaped ones.

Let’s take a look at a few of my favourites
Large Flat or Filbert Bristle brushes

These large brushes are generally the 1st ones I reach for when I start a new painting to block in the initial
shapes. The bristles are quite firm and take a lot of punishment. I use these when I want to scrub in a
colour, for instance a background etc. The filbert has rounded edges; the flat has 90’ edges, which give
more control.

Medium Flat or Filbert Bristle brushes

Similar application to the large brushes above but used when smaller areas are to be painted.
Large soft synthetic brush, flat or fan shaped

Sometimes you might want to paint a very soft, perhaps blurry background, and to achieve this effect I
would 1st scrub quite a lot of thick paint on to the canvas with a large bristle brush, then with a very light
touch I would go over the whole area with the soft flat synthetic brush, gently merging the paints together.
Medium / small synthetic Flat brushes

When the 2nd layer of a painting starts I generally switch to using medium / small synthetic brushes, these
tend to hold their shape better than the bristle brushes giving me more control over my painting marks.
Synthetic round brushes

Once again used for more detailed areas on subsequent layers to make small detailed marks.

Synthetic Rigger brush

A rigger is basically a round brush with very long bristles. This brush is used for things such as tree
branches, animal whiskers, long fine lines etc
Worn Brushes
As mentioned I very rarely throw worn brushes away as these can make many marks that new brushes just
can’t make, they are especially great for fur texture.
Brush Rest
During a painting session I generally have 4 or 5 brushes with paint on at a time, so I use a brush rest to
hold the ones I don’t have in my hand, you can either buy these cheaply in art stores or make one yourself
out of bent metal or even thick card with groves in.

Disposable palette
You’re going to need something to hold the paints
you squeeze out and we artists call it a palette, you
can use just about any surface as a palette, from
wooden palettes to glass surfaces, but I have found
disposable palettes suit my needs best, you can get
them from most, if not all art stores – basically it is
paper with a non stick surface on it, there’s also a
neat hole to poke your thumb through! When the
paint mixing area on the paper gets well used and
dirty, say after 3 paintings sessions, I just rip off the
dirty sheet and start again on a clean one.
THE BEGINNERS SHOPPING LIST

Well if you are a complete beginner, then you are going to need to get your art supplies before you can go
any further, so I thought it might be useful if I made a little shopping list right here – something you can
either take to the art shop or use when you are purchasing on the NET. I’m once again going to keep it easy
and write out what I personally would buy, e.g. Alkyd oils, but if you want you go ahead and buy student or
professional oils – the final choice is ultimately yours.
1. Small table top easel

2. Canvas boards – usually comes in packs of 3-5 (buy 1-2 packs).

3. Alkyd oil paints, Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson (optional), Winsor Red, Lamp
Black, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Orange, Winsor Yellow
Cerulean Blue (optional).
4. Acrylic Paints – Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber
5. Painting medium (I use Alkyd Walnut Medium).
6. Gesso – 1 pot (smooth grade – Winsor & Newton Galeria) – if boards not already primed
7. 1 jack of Bob Ross odourless thinners (it will last a LONG time!)
8. Small selection of brushes – dependant on the size of painting, but flat No 4, flat No2, round, No 4
and Round No 1 in either synthetic or Bristle or both will be a great start.
9. Paper palette - comes in a pack of 20 or so sheets, if you can’t find some just tape some
greaseproof kitchen paper onto a board, it will work the same ☺
10. A few standard pencils, H, HB, and B - eraser
11. Kitchen tissue for wiping brushes etc
12. 2 small jars – 1 to hold cleaning thinners (brush washing) approx coffee jar size, and a tiny one for
the painting medium – art stores sell things called dippers (small metal containers with a little
screw lid) you could use that if you want.
13. Transfer paper (not 100% necessary)
14. Winsor & Newton permanent spray fixative (to seal pencil or use acrylic paint instead).
BEFORE YOU START PAINTING

Preparing the canvas / painting surface
There might be times when you want to prime your own canvas / hardboard / MDF board etc and there
are a few ways to prepare different surfaces, the most in depth would be to prepare a completely new
surface such as unprimed canvas or MDF etc. In the case of MDF or a shiny flat surface I would treat/prime
as follows –
Unprimed MDF
• Roughen the surface up slightly with some medium roughness glass paper, and then wipe the dust off
to leave a clean surface.
• Using a wide synthetic brush (a regular medium quality house hold painting brush would do) or a small
painting roller, apply a coat of acrylic Gesso (available from all art stores – I use Winsor & Newton Galeria).
Allow it to dry completely; I’d leave for an hour or more.
• Using fine grade glass paper gently sand the surface of the newly painted gesso, don’t rub too fast or
you could start to melt the Gesso as you generate heat.
• Turn the MDF board over and put a coat of Gesso on the back – this just prevents the board from
warping which can occur if only one side of the board is painted with Gesso (you will not be painting on
this side so don’t worry about sanding).
• Do a second coat of Gesso as above, painting in the opposite direction.
• Allow to dry fully and give a 2nd gentle sanding with glass paper.
• If you want you can give a further gesso coat/sand to ensure the surface is fully primed.
Unprimed Canvas
Most canvases come primed these days, but there might be an instance when you would like to prime
some yourself, in which case I would treat the canvas as follows –

• There is no need to roughen one side of the canvas as above, just select a side and apply the 1st coat of
Gesso – leave to dry
• Sand the Gesso side very lightly if you want a smooth painting surface.
• Do not apply gesso to the other side
• Apply a 2nd coat of gesso over the 1st coat as above, sand gently once dry, for a smoother painting
surface.
Once the canvas has fully dried (I would leave it over night) it is ready to paint on, so you can either stretch
it yourself over stretcher bars (available from most art stores) or tape (masking tape) it to a rigid surface
and begin painting.
Most other surfaces e.g. paper can be primed just like the canvas above to make them suitable to take oil
paints.
Of course it’s much easier to purchase your painting surfaces already primed ☺
Transferring the Drawing
If your subject / drawing is quite detailed / complicated or you’re just not confident at drawing yet then
you could use transfer paper to minimise mistakes on your canvas.
The first stage is to complete the drawing on regular paper. I draw this at the size I want the painting to be
so there is no need to increase or decrease the scale. Then slip a sheet of graphite transfer paper (available
at art stores or online) on top of your canvas (graphite side down) then place your drawing on top of the
graphite paper. Now all you need to do is take a fairly sharp pencil or even a pen and draw back over your
original drawing.
When you have finished you can remove all the sheets and your drawing will now be transferred to the
canvas.
It is sometimes necessary to strengthen the drawing on the painting surface and fill in areas where the
tracing has not come out, the amount of detail you put in is entirely up to you, but remember that all of
this will eventually be covered up with paint, so there is no need to make the drawing a work of art in
itself.
Sealing the Drawing
Spray Fixative
Oil paint will rub off the graphite when you paint over it, so if you don’t want it to
smudge you will need to seal it before you begin painting. I give my drawings a quick
spray with some graphite / pastel permanent fixative, which is available from pretty
much all art stores. I like to spray outdoors for health reasons/safety reasons. I use
Winsor & Newton Non removable Artists Fixative.

Toning the Canvas
After sealing the drawing I usually like to use something like Burnt Umber to tone the canvas a nice warm
colour. This helps to remove the stark glare of the canvas. To tone the canvas just take a small amount of
acrylic Burnt Sienna paint on to a wide brush, synthetic or bristle would be fine, then add plenty of water
to make a wash, I mix the paint thoroughly with the brush in a saucer or similar bowl then lightly brush it
over the canvas. The wash will dry much lighter and the pencil will still be visible.
If you would like to learn some more about drawing I have covered the subject a little in my ebook –
Painting wildlife in oils, although there are many fantastic / in depth books specifically on drawing
available.
LEARNING TO SEE LIKE AN ARTIST

That must seem like a pretty strange title “does it mean artists have different vision?” you might ask. Well
believe it or not artists do kind of see things in a different way compared to most non-artists. But it is not a
special inborn gift. It’s one that develops the more you paint. You see now that you have begun the
journey to become an artist you will NEVER look at the world in exactly the same way again – and that’s a
good thing.
From now on you are going to start to notice the way light falls on a subject in an unusual or beautiful way,
all those beautiful colours in a sunset or sunrise etc it’s going to be an endless, very pleasurable
experience.
But now you are noticing all these wondrous things with you “NEW ARTISTS” vision, you are going to want
to paint them, and this is where you will need to teach yourself to “SEE” like an artist. At 1st observing the
subject you want to paint, then looking at your stark white canvas is going to seem a bit daunting “where
on earth do I start” you might think.

Well seeing like an artist means simplifying your subject, seeing the basic form / shape, the main colours
etc basically breaking the subject down in to easy to manage pieces, then step by step, piece by piece you
begin the journey to the completed painting. Remember that saying “every journey starts with the shortest
step?” well it’s the same with painting. If you just dive right in – especially when you’re a beginner – then it
can really be like information overload, and most beginners end up giving up.
Simplifying the Subject
Right, so as an example let’s break down in to small pieces exactly how I approach a new painting. Well as
most will already know I paint mainly wildlife subjects, and when the painting encompasses the animal’s
habitat as well the scene can be VERY complicated to say the least. But I always approach a painting in the
same way.
Tone / Contrast – The Most Important Lesson of All

Also See Contrast for more details later on
My 1st objective is to turn the subject in to its basic tones – i.e. its lightest and darkest parts. Now I know I
promised that everything would be fun and easy, but if you’re really going to enjoy painting to the point
that you feel quite confident in your ability to paint most things, then you will have to learn about tone.
But I will keep this lesson nice and easy – even painless. Ha…
OK let’s start – The only reason you can see an object is because light is falling upon it. That’s logical, right?
Well the intensity of the light gives the object it’s values i.e. its lightness and darkness – black being the
darkest dark and white being the lightest light. This in turn gives the object its form – its 3D effect. Now
you can see why TONE is SO important – so please stick with me on this, it’s going to be worth it.
As you can imagine there’s an endless amount of values in most scenes, think of a black and white
landscape photo for instance. So we need to simplify the scene, reducing its tones – or tonal value to just
the essentials, the major tones. Now you can pick say 10 tones, from light to dark or 7 tones or 5 or even as
few as 3! The important thing is that the tones are being reduced right down to the basics.
Now I expect most people have seen a tonal value scale at some point (below).
But probably only a few know how to use one and even fewer actually chose to use one. Needless to say
after years of painting I still have a value scale right by the side of my brushes on my painting table – as you
gain painting experience you will come to rely on it much less, but it’s still valuable when you come across
a subject that you are having difficulty with and just can’t put your finger on why – more often than not
assessing the subject with a value scale in hand it becomes instantly clear where the problem areas lie.
For beginner artists I would say that a value scale of some sort is as essential as your brushes and paints.

Now tonal value scales don’t look very exciting at all – granted – but when you master tone in your
paintings it will mean the difference between a mediocre painting and a great one. Take a look at the two
paintings below.
Lack of Tonal Range
Full Tonal Range
See the difference a full range of tones can make? I think beginning artists can be scarred to really put
punch in to their paintings; it’s also likely that the beginner doesn’t actually see the full range of tones as
their eyes are not really trained yet and that is precisely where the Tonal Range scale comes in to play.
It helps to isolate a tone, showing the true lightness and darkness, by eliminating the surrounding
distractions.
Le a r n to P a in t – w w w . ja s o n m o r ga n. c o . uk Page 16
It’s a simple tool to use, just hold the scale up to your scene / reference image etc to approximate the tone
/ darkness and lightness of an area, then look at the same scale as you paint, is you painting area lighter or
darker or just right? It’s as easy as that, it just gives you a comparison, simple but effective.
Eliminating all those distractions – Blur and Squint
When you view your subject, whether it’s a photograph your working from or a landscape in front of you
then you need to simplify the details and the best way I have found and one that has been used by artists
for very many years is to blur your vision or squint, if you are a spectacle wearer, trying taking them off ☺
This effectively reduces all the detail in the subject showing you just the important tones and blocks of
colour.
It’s a great way to start a painting and basically the painting develops from these initial colours and tonal
blocking in and gradually becomes more refined and detailed with each new layer. You can see that
starting the Tiger painting below I have massed in just the very basic tones / areas that I would have seen
whilst squinting.
The details on the finished painting (below right) are not relevant in the early stages and are just a
distraction.
COLOUR
Colour is such a massive topic, it’s something that beginners find difficult and frustrating and novices and
advanced artists study for the whole duration of their artistic careers.
But if you’re a beginner and you desire to paint realistically then you are going to have to learn how to mix
the colours you are seeing in your subjects in oil paints. Sounds obvious but how many painting books
actually show you how to closely match a colour? Very few, as it’s not really that easy to put in to words
and pictures.
To be able to complete a painting of your chosen subject it is not critical or even necessary that you match
the colour you see to the colour on your palette precisely, in fact you might not even want to. But you
should be in control of your paints not them in control of you.
So let’s start with the basics and slowly work our way through the process of mixing colours.
Just a Tiny Bit of Colour Theory

Before we move on to actually mixing colours, let me firstly explain briefly some of the terminology
relating to colour, now I’m not going to try to confuse you here, but by having a concise reference of the
terms you will have something to refer back to when you continue to study colour as you progress.
Terminology List
Hue (colour)
Hue basically means the colour i.e. Red, Yellow, Green etc
Tonal Value
This is the lightness or darkness of a colour
Tint
You will often see the word tint on a bought colour wheel. A tint is a colour made lighter by adding white.
Shade
Once again seen on colour wheels - it’s your colour made darker by adding black.
Tone
Is basically in the middle of Tint and Shade i.e. it’s the colour plus grey.
Intensity / Saturation or Chroma

This is the vibrancy or dullness of a colour.
The Colour Wheel Basics
OK a colour wheel is certainly not the most exciting looking thing in the
world, I agree, but if you can stick with me for just a few moments I’ll show
you how it will make colour mixing much easier for you.
The colour wheel has 3 PRIMARY colours; they are Red, Yellow and Blue.
By mixing a Primary together with its neighbour i.e. Red + Yellow a
SECONDARY colour is produced – Orange. These are the six basic colours
of the colour wheel
Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet

Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary
So now you can clearly see how just three Primary colours can mix a multitude of colour variations. The
colour wheel can also help to show us how to mute or reduce the intensity (Chroma) of a colour – essential
when trying to paint realistically – I’ll go in to more detail later.
So for the sake of a few £ / $ a colour wheel (found in virtually every art store) is a very good investment
and something worth keeping by your easel as you paint.
OK, enough theory for now; let’s get to the nuts and bolts of mixing colour.
I could give you pages and pages of colour mixes and formulations, telling you exactly how much of each
paint to mix together to get an exact colour match, just like a paint by numbers painting. But following
paint mixes like this would produce – you guessed it – paint by numbers looking results.
But with a basic understanding of the principles of colour you will learn how to mix them yourself!
Learning to See Colour
Just as you have learned to see tone (light and dark), you also have to learn to see colour – before it
becomes second nature – because you are not going to have the luxury of being able to buy a tube of paint
called “tiger at sunset”, or “beach sand at sunset”, it’s going to have to be mixed.
OK, so how do you mix those colours?
Well by asking yourself a few questions and following some general rules.
Becoming a Colour Detective
When I am about to mix a colour I always ask myself the following questions –
• What is the main colour I see? (Pick from your 6 on the colour wheel). Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange,
Green, Violet.
• What is the tonal Value? Remember this is the darkness and Lightness.
• What is the Intensity (Chroma) is it really Vibrant or Dull and Subdued.
They don’t always need to be asked in that order, but it’s a good start.
I will cover how computers can help find tricky colours later.
Some General Colour Mixing Tips
Lightening a Colour
To lighten a colour you can of course just add white, but this can and does very often give a washed out or
chalky appearance, think of a vibrant red apple for instance, adding white to the red will make it pink –
probably not the colour we are looking for.
So when lightening a colour I generally think in terms of our colour wheel again and reach instead for the
lighter colour next to it, in this case Yellow. By adding some yellow to the red I will of course make a rich
orange or Red / orange, which will look much more realistic. But what if I need the colour to be MUCH
lighter? Well I could add A LOT of White to the red, and then once again add a touch of Yellow – the lighter
colour above it on the colour wheel, bringing more life to the colour mix again.
Darkening a Colour
OK so we have a good idea of how to lighten a colour, so now we need to know how to darken one.
Well you could of course just add black to your colour mix, but this does tend to make the colour look very
lifeless and boring. So let’s follow a colour wheel principle again, but this time in reverse.
Let’s say you are painting grass; you’ve painted an area of mid tone green, now you need to paint a darker
area.
This time look below your colour on the colour wheel, so in the case of green add some dark blue for a
subtle change. Once again if you need to go darker you could add some black and to keep the colour alive
add a little blue as well.
Greying a colour
In nature most colours are somewhat subdued or greyed, from the orange of a Tigers fur to the Yellow of
sand; it is VERY rare that an object will be the same as a Primary or even a Secondary Colour. So most
colour mixes will need to be greyed down a bit.
So now you know how to make a colour lighter and also how to make it darker, but how on earth do you
grey it down?
Would you be surprised if I said we were going to visit the colour wheel again? Probably not – Ha.
To grey a colour you need to firstly approximate where it is on the colour wheel, then go directly opposite
it on the colour wheel, take some of that colour and mix it in – this will effectively grey your original colour.
Colour Mixing / Matching
As previously mentioned It’s pointless for me to give you colour mixes to match a specific colour like you
see in some books, because as soon as you try to paint something else you will need to mix a different
colour, you might as well do paint by numbers. But by learning how to think and approach mixing a colour
you will eventually learn to paint ANY subject / colour you see.
So let’s see this process in action, as I let you in on my thought process as I select each colour and adjust to
suit.
Matching a Green leaf colour.
Now I’m going to limit myself to just the 3

primary colours, Yellow, Red and Blue,
rather than reach for a tube green,
deliberately to show you the working
process of colour mixing.
When you are more advanced then you can

buy some tube greens if you wish, but
beginners can become reliant on tube
colours (especially greens) and never learn
to mix their own.
OK, so we all know from our school days that

Yellow and Blue makes green. So in the
photo left I have mixed approx equal parts
of yellow and blue together to make a basic
green.
Now I look at the colour and think “is it too

vibrant?” – Yes it is. So we know from
greying a colour above that adding some of
the colour opposite Green on the colour
wheel (Red) should grey or subdue it.
I now look at the resulting, greyed Green

and ask myself, “is it too light or dark”? And
now it is too dark.
So I remember (from lightening a colour

(above) that adding some of the colour
ABOVE Green on the colour wheel will
lighten it without making it chalky. So I add a
little more Yellow.
Now the colour is quite a close match.
Let’s take a look at another example.
This time I will match the colour of a piece of

cardboard. Not a very interesting subject I
know, but one that can appear difficult at
first.
Well, although I could try to match this with

my 3 primaries we already have a tube paint
that looks similar.
So my 1st question to myself is “what colour

is near to the colour of the cardboard” and
the answer is Yellow Ochre.
So I put a little Yellow Ochre on the canvas.
As you can see, the colour is close, but at the

moment it is way too vibrant and rich in
colour.
As Yellow Ochre is basically a Yellow /

Orange colour I subdue / Grey it with Blue,
plus a tiny touch of Red seems to help too.
Never be afraid to go with your feelings and

just play with a colour, most of your mixing
will be on your palette so there is absolutely
nothing to lose even if you get it wrong.
I knew the colour was going to be too dark,

but let’s see what happens when I add a
little white to lighten it. (I used white this
time as I actually wanted the colour to go
opaque and chalky to match the cardboard).
As you can see the colour match is really

quite close.
Here is another example, using just the 3

primaries again.
This time I am matching an IPod case, which

is quite an unusual grey colour.
Now most might just reach for Black and

then add some white, but when you really
look at the colour of the case you will notice
that it is really not a pure Grey at all.
I think it has some Purple in it, and as we

know Red and Blue makes Purple, so I have
mixed approx equal parts of Red and Blue
together (left) as my start colour.
The resulting colour is so dark that I can’t

easily make out what colour it is, so I add a
tiny bit of White to lighten it and I can
immediately see it is too blue and vibrant.
So to Grey the colour I look at Purple on our

colour wheel and I see that Yellow is directly
opposite it, so in theory that should Grey it
down for us.
I add a little yellow, which does Grey it and a

little White lightens it a touch more, once
again giving us a good match.
These are the exact questions I ask myself no

matter what I am painting.
BEGINNING PAINTING
Making your 1st marks
Let’s start in the simplest way, let’s get some canvas board or oil painting paper from the art or craft store,
already primed (painted) with Gesso and ready to paint on.
Painting very simple shapes
It’s no good jumping in to your very 1st painting and expecting it to turn out great If you have never even
held a brush before, as all your going to get is frustrated, so I will very briefly show you how to hold your
brushed to make simple marks.
Scrubbing in
Generally when you start making your 1st marks on your canvas i.e.
your beginning your painting, you start by scrubbing in colour.
It’s no good going for detail at the beginning, what your after is just
general outlines and shapes and scrubbing in fits the bill nicely.
So hold the brush away from the shiny part (ferule) as holding it like
a pen doesn’t allow you to paint freely enough, dip your brush in
some paint, then add a little medium (the right amount will allow the
paints to flow easily on your canvas, too little and the paint will be
difficult to move around) and scrub.
There is really only one rule with brushes, don’t push forwards with
them as it will just damage the bristles.
Getting more detailed
When your rough shapes have been scrubbed in it’s time to begin to refine your painting a little and that is
the point at which I usually switch to a smaller round brush – obviously the subject matter will dictate
somewhat the brush you are going to use but in general,
More detail = smaller brush.
Here I am using a synthetic round brush. Notice that I am holding the

brush at the top of the ferrule this time, so I have more control over the
brush.
Once again I am using oil paint which has had a little painting medium
added to it. You use a round brush in a similar fashion to a pen, but
remember you are not pushing upwards when you paint, but always
coming down in the direction of your hand or side to side.
Painting Fine Detail
When painting very fine detail, for instance tree branches etc you will
most likely be using an even smaller round brush or Rigger and it will
now become more critical that the marks you make are in the exact place
you want them.
And to help to keep your hand perfectly steady I use a Mahl stick.
This is just a piece of baton/wood or plastic that is light enough to

hold. On the one end is a soft round surface, which rests against a dry
part of the painting as you rest your painting hand on the wood for
support. I made my own Mahl stick (you can buy them) years ago out
of some 1 ¼ x ¼ inch wood, approx 20in length. On the one end I
rolled around a small piece of T-shirt material, then some more over
the top just to hold it together. I then taped it with masking tape to the
wooden end.
It’s not pretty and was only meant as a temporary stick until I made a nice one out of wood and leather, but I
have now been using this one for about 10 years + ☺
Mahl Stick
Blocking in a shape
Now you have an idea regarding holding a brush let’s start by blocking in a shape.
Here I have just drawn a random line using a

standard pencil on my canvas. It could be a cloud,
grass whatever. The technique is the same.
Here I have taken a small flat synthetic brush,

some blue paint, and added just a dot of painting
medium to make it slip easily on the canvas. I am
also using my mahl stick to steady my hand. My
fingers are quite close to the ferrule so I have
plenty of control over the brush.
I’m moving across the canvas from left to right as I
am right handed.
With the detailed edge completed I then change

to a larger brush and begin to scrub the paint in,
working my way up to the detailed edge. If I had
tried to paint that edge with this large brush I
would never have stayed this side of the line.
Always select the right size brush for the section

your painting, but try to use the largest possible,
this will stop you getting too detailed too early in a
painting.
Here I have done exactly the same as the blue

layer but chose a different colour mix for the top
section.
The beauty of oil paint is that you can work paint

back in to an already wet area, this technique is
called wet in wet and is great for making a soft
area, clouds for example.
How to blend edges
There are no doubt occasions when you need a

blended edge, perhaps a background needs to look
out of focus, or the horizon where the sky meets the
sea is blurred. Well this technique will allow you to
blur an edge to any degree you require.
Here I am scrubbing in some Yellow Ochre using a

large bristle flat brush.
I switch to a smaller brush to bring the paint down to

my pencil line.
Now I have taken some Green and I am once again

using a scrubbing in motion to fill the area below the
line.
The big brush works fine in a scrubbing motion until

I get close to the line.
I then switch to a smaller brush and a sideward’s

motion to fill in the gap.
To blur or blend the two together I need to pull some

of each colour into the other and the easiest way to
do that is to use a light touch and a zigzag motion,
keeping my brush on the canvas all the time as I
move from left to right.
When the zigzag is completed I pick a clean brush

and gently brush from left to right 2 or 3 times to
blend completely. It’s as simple as that.
Painting a simple shape – Grape
Let’s put some of what we have

learnt so far in to practice and paint a
simple shape / object. Here I have
chosen a grape.
I’ve just sketched in the basic shape

directly on to a piece of canvas, I
haven’t bothered to seal it or
anything as it’s just an exercise, but if
this was a full blown painting then I
would have sealed the pencil with a
quick spray of permanent fixative,
before I began painting.
I begin by blocking in the middle

colour of the grape, i.e. the colour
that Is not the highlight or the dark
shadowy area; it’s the basic mid tone
of the grape.
I mix together some – Ultramarine

Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Naples
Yellow, and some Titanium White to
get the Green shown left. I scrub the
colour in using a small Bristle brush.
Here is the grape completely filled in

with the above green mix. Next I look
at my reference image for the darker
Green areas, and in this case some of
the top of the grape is dark – see
below.
To get the darker green I take some

of the above basic mix and add a little
Ultra marine Blue and a small
amount of Cadmium Red to dull it
down – remember Red is on the
opposite side of the colour wheel to
Green so will Grey / dull the colour.
I use a small bristle brush to sweep

this darker colour over the top of the
grape.
Here I am scrubbing in the basic

background colour – the mix is –
Titanium White + a small amount of

Naples Yellow. I scrub it right up to
the grape, following the grapes shape
as I get closer to it.
It does not matter if I go into the

grape with the background colour a
little; in fact I deliberately do it just to
soften the edge a little.
The basic colour for the shadow

under the grape is Cad Red +
Ultramarine Blue + Titanium white.
Once again scrubbed in, but this time

with a round bristle brush as the
shape lends itself more to the area
being filled in.
The highlight is what really makes the

grape look more three dimensional
and it is really just a reflection of the
sky on top of the shiny grape surface,
so in this instance the highlight is
Titanium white + a very small amount
of Ultramarine Blue.
You might find it easier to apply the

highlight using a synthetic brush if
you are painting on top of wet paint
as I am in this tutorial as the soft
hairs are less likely to lift the
underpainting.
I added a little more darkness to the

shadow in the photo above, this was
the same dark mix + a small amount
of Cad Yellow.
The stalk was just Burnt Umber.
Painting simple trees – Building upon dark layers
You just can’t paint something light (like a highlight) over an already light
area, it just won’t show up, you need a dark under layer 1st and that is a
fault I see many beginners make, so In this demo I will show you how I
paint simple evergreen trees.
After the drawing has been transferred to the canvas I began applying the
first layers of thinned paint. This can be monotone or coloured as in this
example. The underpainting is important as it gives an impression of the
finished painting at a very early stage, any major flaws are much easier to
fix at this stage.
Here I am using thicker paint and also being more careful with my colour
selections. I always complete the areas behind nearer objects so that I can
paint them a little larger than required, when I then paint the nearer
objects I can overlap the background giving a more realistic look.
Up until this stage I have been painting the dark layers, in other words the
dark shadows and inner areas of the foliage. As mentioned if these areas
are not dark enough then the highlights will not show up. The background
has been finished so I paint the evergreens a dark green colour in
preparation for the highlights.
After all my years painting I

sometimes underestimate just how
dark the dark areas are myself. But
it’s not a problem at all and I easily
darken areas some more. Each of
the evergreens (left) are at a
different stage of completion, the
right hand tree is almost finished,
the middle tree has mid and dark
tones completed and the far left
tree has a few darks added.
Here I am adding the highlights to

the middle tree using Winsor
Yellow; I am resting my hand on a
Mahl stick to keep my hand off the
wet paint and to steady the brush.
Here you can see the tree section

completed.
Cleaning brushes
Your brushes will need to be cleaned at the end of every painting session – especially as Alkyd paints/Alkyd
mediums go hard over night, ruining brushes, but it’s quick and easy to do, so should not be too much of a
chore.
All I do to clean my brushes is –
• Wipe excess paint from the brush with a paper towel (wipe forward in the directions of the bristles).
• I then give the brush a quick swish around in some odourless solvents (I keep some in an old coffee jar
especially for this job - I put some fresh in when the solvent gets VERY dirty).
I then take the brushes over to the sink, put a little washing up liquid in the palm of my hand, wet the
brush bristles with warm water, then gently rub the brush (with the lie of the hairs again) repeating the
process until the brush washes clean.
Glazing
No matter how much you know about colour theory and how many tubes of paint you own there will come
a time, especially if you like painting birds, flowers and other potentially vibrant colours when you just
can’t seem to mix the required colour no matter how many times you try, let’s take the iridescent
green/blue colour we see on a peacocks tail for instance, we know that viridian (green) and a little blue
(ultramarine) looks like it will give us the correct colour, but when we mix the paints we find that they are
both transparent (see through) so now what do we do? You can’t paint directly with see through colours
because – they are see-through ☺
Well it’s time to learn the basics of glazing, as this is really the only way to capture the vibrancy of colour
we are after.
True glazes can only be done using transparent or

semi transparent paints. In the photo left I have
painted some stripes going from top to bottom on a
piece of canvas. They were then allowed to dry fully
before I painted some horizontal stripes over the
top.
The top stripe is Alizarin Crimson, which is

transparent. The blue stripe is Ultramarine Blue,
also Transparent; the final stripe is Cadmium
Orange, a very opaque colour.
Notice how you can clearly see the vertical stripes in

the top 2 but not in the 3rd.
Unglazed
I painted Ultramarine Blue directly over the ball to

show how the transparent colour tones the ball but
detail is barely reduced
Glazes are also a great way of softening or toning down areas or even the whole of a painting. Here I have
used Raw Sienna plus some other colours to glaze over most of the Tiger, warming the white and softening
the fur texture in the same process.
Unglazed Glazed
The photos below are taken from my e-book “Painting Wildlife in Oils” and clearly show how a glaze of just
simple Raw Sienna can increase realism dramatically.
Unglazed Glazed
This example, also from my wildlife E-book clearly shows glazing in action in a full scale painting.
The red panda had a lovely orange glow to his

forehead fur that was going to be VERY difficult to
paint directly, so instead I painted the fur details
very light (white) knowing I would adjust them later
with a glaze or even 2.
Here I have painted the fur details in white over a

dry dark under layer; I then allowed this layer to dry
fully.
With the underlayer dry I painted a VERY thin layer

of alkyd painting medium over the area I am going
to apply the glaze, this was there purely to allow the
brush strokes to move easily over the painting, it
just gives it some slip.
Then I diluted my glaze with a little alkyd medium

too before brushing it over the Red Panda.
The photo left shows ½ of the glaze completed.
REMEMBER – to allow the underpainting to dry before applying a glaze over the top.
COMPOSITION
Along with Colour, Composition is another area both beginners and novices alike can find quite daunting.
So how do we start to unravel the mystery of composition?
Well, I think the main thing to do is to realize that no one is expecting you to learn everything about
composition in a week, in fact I doubt that any artist, no matter how vast their experience, would profess
to know EVERYTHING about composition. Like colour, composition is one of those areas that you will and
should continue to learn for as long as you continue to paint.
OK…. So you don’t need to know everything about composition to do a great painting (the pressure is off
☺) but a basic understanding of the fundamentals will give you the confidence to try different things, like
moving a tree or two to improve the composition – to not become a slave to your reference images and
subject matter.
So let’s cover a few composition ESSENTIALS 1st, you might even have heard of some before, others you
will probably know because they just felt right to you in your paintings or photographs.
The Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds sounds a bit mathematical, maybe even difficult to understand, but it’s not, it’s very easy
to grasp and something I always consider when composing my paintings.
Basically you divide your canvas up (in your mind or very lightly on your canvas or sketch) in to thirds.
The 4 points where the lines cross each other (yellow circles above) are good places to put your centre of
interest. I.e. your main focal point. Now the centre of interest doesn’t need to be exactly on one of the
spots, close by is near enough.
Let’s take a look at the rule of thirds in action on some of my paintings.
The Rule of 1/3 rds and Horizon Position
The Rule of 1/3 rds is also useful in finding the correct position for the horizon in landscape / seascape
paintings. For some reason lots of beginners start off their landscape and seascape paintings by grabbing a
ruler and drawing a nice straight horizon line right in the middle of the canvas, dividing the top and bottom
sections perfectly in half.
I think this is a subconscious thing where we as humans tend towards symmetry, we like things in pairs,
things cut in half, and we are symmetrical beings ourselves after all ☺
But an equal horizon generally makes a boring painting.
So this is what I do – I look at my landscape / seascape reference image and decide which is the most
important / interesting element. Is it a dramatic sky, or perhaps a more interesting / dramatic foreground
for instance? Let’s say in this example it’s the sky. Then as the most interesting it will usually also deserve
the most prominence – the largest portion of the canvas.
Here’s a typical example of how I would use the rule of 1/3 rds – I divide the canvas into 3, horizontally.
Then place my horizon, depending on the important elements, as discussed above, on or near one of the
horizontal lines.
With the horizon for the painting now in place, the 2 lines coming down the page (i.e. the rule of 3rd lines)
are a great help for placing the centre of interest subject (see below).
Centre of Interest
Before you start a new painting you need to consider what / where your centre of interest is going to be.
As the artist your centre of interest is where the component that excites and inspires you in the painting is
going to be. E.g. for my Tiger painting below the centre of interest was the Tiger’s face.
As a person looking at a completed painting the centre of interest is the place that will draw the eye to it, it
will be the place that demands attention and holds it. There will be areas that are also of interest, of
course, but the Centre of interest is the main one.
So as you can see, before beginning a painting you need to not only think as an artist, but also as the
person that will be looking at your painting. It is your job as the artist to ensure that the viewer
experiences what you want them to when looking at your painting.
Now there are a number of things you can do to make an area of the painting a centre of interest, so let
me start by listing some of the major ones, and then I will go through each in more detail.
1. Brighter / different colour

2. Hard edges / details
3. Increase in contrast / tone (Reduction)
4. Eyes of the subject
5. Adding a person
Let’s look at each a bit closer
Brighter / Different colour
This is a really obvious one that is probably best explained with a simple example. Let’s say you have an
area that is all different colour greens, the leaves of a tree for instance, and then you add a single, brightly
lit Red Robin in there. The Robin will instantly become the Centre of interest, due to its colour and
brightness being different from all the surrounding areas, especially if the colour is complimentary.
Hard Edges / Details
Now this one is subtler, but just

as important. I especially use this
technique in my wildlife and
animal paintings. The hardest
edges and most details are
reserved for the centre of
interest. So if we take my Lion
painting as an example, you will
see that the face has more crisp
edges and fur details, and the
details are reduced more and
more the further back in the
painting you go (look at the tail
tip).
This technique gives a more 3D

look to the painting. Now it
doesn’t mean that a paintings background always needs to be blurred, reminiscent of f2.8 on a camera for
it to be effective.
In the painting below the background is still in focus, but the edges have been softened slightly, when
compared to the sharp edges on my main centre of interest i.e. The Elephants head.
Increase in contrast / Tone
A painting that is a similar contrast everywhere is usually going to be very boring for the viewer (unless you
are after that effect – a foggy day perhaps).
African Elephants
Oil, 20 x 11in
This is the most common failing I see in beginner and novice paintings. By giving your centre of Interest the
most contrast it can really help to attract attention to it and make the whole painting much more
interesting to look at.
Reduction in contrast / Tone – Creating Recession
So from the above example it can be clearly seen how a full contrast range can create a more impressive
painting, but to have a full range of contrast then you must of course have some areas with low contrast to
play off the high contrast area against. Now it is interesting that low contrast in an area can also suggest
recession in a painting, particularly a landscape making the foreground area really pop and look much
more 3D. You can see this in many of my wildlife paintings; Notice how the mountain is shown as being in
the distance in my Kilimanjaro painting below. The viewer’s eyes immediately read the scene as -
Elephants and yellow grass – Foreground,

Wildebeest / Birds and green grass – midground
Mountains – background
Kilimanjaro
Oil, 38 x 26in
This is achieved partly by the elements getting bluer as they recede and also by the contrast reducing the
further back we look.
Eyes of the subject
Whether you are painting the portrait of a person or that of an animal, more often than not you will want
the eyes to be the centre of interest. Instinctively we always look in to the eyes of people when we meet
them, and we also do the same when we see portrait paintings. So unless your portrait is deliberately
trying to emphasize something other than the eyes it will make sense to place the eyes very close to one of
the rule of thirds intersecting lines, its 4 hotspots (probably the top right or left for standard portraits). It
will also be a good idea to emphasize the eyes with extra details too.
Baby Gorilla
Oil, 16 x 12in
Adding a person
Just as we are drawn to the eyes in a portrait, we are also naturally drawn to the human form in a
landscape, so if you are struggling for a centre of interest in perhaps a beach painting why not consider
adding a person or two walking in an area near one of the rule of third spots. Of course this could be
applied to other landscapes, the main lesson here is that we will automatically scan for a human form in a
painting, no matter how small it may be, and it will certainly become a point of interest, so this is a great
tool for a landscape that lacks interest, but also remember that you might not want a person to distract
from say a beautiful crashing wave, in which case you might then consider removing a person from the
scene – it works both ways.
Leading Lines
Leading a viewers eye not only in to a painting, but also around it should always be a goal. Sometimes a
centre positioned subject can work, but more often than not, a painting that leads the viewer’s eye around
is much more interesting, you will find that the viewer spends much more time looking at a painting which
has this movement than one that doesn’t.
So how do you lead a viewer around your canvas with leading lines? Well you could lead in with simple
things such as a road or path winding its way in to the canvas, then to move the viewer around the canvas
you could position a tree or even the shape of a Lion’s tail for example, thus bringing the viewer back in to
the painting etc
In the wild dog painting below the highest contrast, my lightest light, against my darkest dark is on the dog
on our left. His ears and also his foreleg are both very high contrast, so the viewer tends to look at that dog
1st, and then follow down the line of dogs resting on the one in the water.
Give a subject room to move in to
Sometimes keeping your

subject quite constrained in
the canvas can give just the
effect you’re after, for
instance painting an elephant,
even on a small canvas, with
part of it occurring outside the
canvas i.e. parts of the ears for
example, can give the feeling
that the subject is just too
large to be constrained within
the canvas, making it seem
even larger!
But it can also be the case (more often) that you will need to give your subject some room to breathe and
even move in to free space on the canvas. Generally if an animal / bird etc is moving across the horizontal
plain of the canvas then it is usually best to have a larger area of free space for the subject to walk / fly in
to than the space behind it.
Do not have any elements Kissing (touching)
Kissing elements are another thing that we need to be on the lookout for when we are composing our
paintings. Having an element just touch another causes tension and unease within a painting, for some
reason it just looks unnatural, so it is almost always better to either have the elements overlap one
another, which also has the added benefit of creating depth or to have the elements away from each
other. Kissing elements is something I see a lot in beginner and novice paintings, so always be on the
lookout for it, and this also relates to elements just touching the edges of the canvas too.
COMPOSITION
WHAT NOT TO PUT IN –MISTAKES AND PITFALLS
Sometimes what you don’t put in can be just as important as what you do, so here are some common
compositional mistakes – remember rules are sometimes meant to be broken, so you need to decide what
is / isn’t relevant on each of your paintings.
Object positioning.
It is almost always better for an object not to be placed equal distances from the edges of a painting, the
most extreme example of this would be a subject dead centre on the canvas (remember this sometimes
works though), but it also applies to a lesser extent to the other edges as well.
Competing objects
Most paintings work when there is one definite centre of interest. Imagine that you have completed a
landscape painting; in it there are two old gnarly trees with great character, both about the same size and
both about the same colour and darkness. When the viewer looks at the painting the eye will most likely
become confused “what should it look at 1st? Which should demand most interest”? Can you see how
confusing this could be for the observer? And when it becomes confusing it also creates tension, the
viewer will most likely know there is something wrong with the painting but might not be sure what.
So try to ensure the message is quite clear as to what is most important in your painting.
Odd numbers work better than even
Almost as a follow on to the Competing Objects section, it is usually better to have odd numbers of objects
in your paintings, for instance 1 or 3 trees not 2. It just seems more natural when objects are not grouped
in pairs etc, and this can go for trees, animals, clouds etc
Variety in everything
Nothing can seem more unnatural in a painting, especially a nature based painting than repetitive shapes
and brushstrokes. It’s one of the most easily visible things that separate an amateur painting from a
professional one. The human mind seems predisposed to attempt to place everything in order, take a look
at some beginners paintings and you will most likely see – grass strokes all going in the same direction, fur
texture going in the same direction, clouds all the same shape etc, basically lack of variety and one thing
nature gives us in abundance is variety.
Take a real good look at a tree and you will see that the branches are different lengths, different
thicknesses, different colour variations, the same for animal fur, it changes shape and direction as it
follows the contours of the animal’s body. The variety is endless, so concentrate on finding the variety in
your subjects and fight against your brains desire to organise and tidy everything up. As you improve as an
artist this will become much easier to accomplish.
Regular shaped objects – Funny Faces, X marks the Spot
This is found in backgrounds quite a bit, especially if they have been made up. And what I am describing is
things like branches shaped like an X, or clouds shaped like a dog etc get what I mean? It seems silly and
obvious, but it is once again the mind trying to make order out of disorder, so once you have started to put
in a blurry background, for instance, check it for odd shaped faces etc ☺
YOUR PAINTING IS FINISHED NOW WHAT DO YOU DO?

Varnishing
Well now that you have probably finished a painting or two you might be wondering what you need to do
with it. Well if you have been using the Alkyd Oils I recommended then after just a few days the painting
should be completely touch dry. If you used traditional oils then some colours might well take a week or
two to dry if you didn’t use the alkyd-painting medium.
So let’s assume your painting is now completely touch dry, in all likely hood
some of the darker colours on your painting are now a little matt and not as
vibrant / contrasty as they were when you 1st painted them, we called this
sunken colour and to bring it back to all its glory you will need to apply a
coat of varnish. Now just about every tin of varnish will state that the
painting should be allowed to dry for something like 6 months, but I don’t
know of many artists that could keep their clients waiting that long before
they got their painting, so just about everyone varnishes their paintings well
before that time.
If you have used quite thin paint and especially if you have used the fast
drying Alkyd paint or / and medium then I believe the painting can be
varnished substantially before that time. But the choice must be yours, as I
don’t want to be held responsible if anything goes wrong ☺
Over the years I have used many types of varnish, but currently I am using a
spray varnish with a satin finish – Winsor & Newton (removable).
Using a spray varnish makes application easy, but I always spray it outside
on a nice day with little to no breeze to eliminate breathing in the vapour.
After I have sprayed the varnish and allowed it to dry a little (2-3 minutes) I
take it back to my studio to eliminate dust being blown on it.
Framing Your Painting
Well the final thing you will need to do to your finished painting is to frame it. Now framing is a very
personal issue, some like the frame to match in with their décor, some like to have ornate frames etc so
the final choice will be yours or your clients. But here are some pointers on framing in different ways.
If you have painted on a rigid surface like a painting board or MDF panel then you simply need to select a
frame of the right size, remove the glass, if there is glass in it (oil paintings don’t need to be framed behind
glass like watercolours) and just slip in your painting and it’s completed.
If your painting is on stretched canvas then you can do exactly the same as above, but you will need to
select a deeper edged frame so that the painting fits all the way in.
If like me you have chosen to paint on unstretched canvas then you have two options, you can either try to
stretch the canvas onto stretcher bars yourself, or much easier, take the canvas to a picture framers and
ask them to do it for you (it’s quite inexpensive). Once stretched all you then need to do is find a deep
edged frame as above and slip the painting in. Of course you could ask the framer to build a special one
just for you at the time of stretching (that’s what I generally do). The photos below show the dramatic
effect a frame has on a painting.
MODERN DAY ART – USING THE COMPUTER AS AN AID

You may not have thought of it when you began to paint, but the computer can be a great aid in learning
about colour / composition / tone and much more.
Let me cover a few things that you might find of use
Blurring the reference Images.
Remember in the previous pages we covered that it is good to blur your eyes to reduce all those distracting
details in your reference? Well the computer can do that for you very easily, and you can also control the
level of the blur applied. Some people find squinting a bit of a strain on their eyes, so this can be a real
advantage for them – and it is so easy to do in just about all image software.
Here’s an example using Adobe Photoshop Elements’ a very reasonably priced piece of software.
Open up your photo in the software, then go –

Filter –
Blur –
Gaussian Blur –
Then click the slider and pull to the left / right to increase / decrease the level of blur you want. Then click
OK
It’s as simple as that, and almost all software does it the same way, Picassa is a great FREE program you
could use, (Adobe Photoshop is currently the industries standard). You can now easily print out a copy of
your reference photo and have it by the side of you for the start of your painting.
Computer Composition
Many times it is very beneficial to draw

little sketches (thumbnails) to try out
different ideas before you start a painting.
For instance you might be going to do a
seaside painting and would like to include
some figures. Now where should you
place them? By doing a few small
sketches you can easily try them out in
different areas until you find just the right
spot.
And by using a computer you can move
things like people / animals etc even more
easily.
The surfer in this photo I took is actually in a good position, but that might not always be the case. So it is
useful to know how to move elements in your photos. Now remember that all we are really interested in is
seeing examples / trying ideas and positions out, so it is not going to be as critical to get things looking
perfect as it would if you were adjusting a photograph to print out for your living room wall for instance.
The technique I will show you below can be accomplished almost identically in most image editing
programs.
The 1st thing you need to do after opening your reference photograph is to make sure it is a layer, so with
your photo open, make sure you can see the Layers window, you might have to click window – layers to
make it visible.
The image you opened will most likely say “background”. Double click it and make it a layer.
With that done we can start to move our subject. Select the magnetic lasso tool (see photo below) from
the tools palette. Then click on an area on the edge of the subject, near the foot would be good in this
example. You can now let go of the mouse button and trace the outline of the subjects, marching ants will
Follow your direction. If it’s a tricky area click the left mouse button to make an anchor point then continue
all around the subject. When you are back where you started double click to complete the selection, as I
have done below.
Now right click within the marching ants and select layer via cut, now select the standard selection tool
(the pointing arrow). When you now click the man and move him he has cut from the photograph. You can
place him anywhere, even enlarge or shrink him etc as he is now his own separate layer.
So when you have him positioned where you want him you will need to flatten your layers again. To do this
select Layer on the top bar, then flatten image.
It’s now a simple task to select the clone tool from the tools palette and fill in the gap the man was cut
from – there are MANY fantastic tutorials showing the clone stamp tool in action on the web. But basically
just select the tool, go to an area adjacent to the area you want to fill in, hold down the Alt key on the
keyboard and left click on the mouse, then let go of the Alt key, move the mouse over to the area to be
filled, hold down the left button on the mouse and begin to fill in. After VERY little practice you will start to
get the hang of it.
The image below shows my finished reference photo with the surfer moved and the hole roughly cloned in.
Finding and checking difficult colours
Now this is where I find computers to be of their most value! Let’s

assume you’re painting a snow scene and there is a big tiger with a
blue shadow being cast across the background snow. You know the
shadow is blue, you can see that quite easily, but no matter how
many times you mix the colour it just looks wrong on the canvas.
Well once again the computer can help to point you in the right
direction.
Here’s how you can find out the true colour of that shadow –
Open your reference image again in your

manipulation photo software.
Now look for the tool that looks like a little

eyedropper, select it and click it in the shadow
area of your photo.
As soon as you click the foreground-painting

colour in the tool box (see blue colour left) has
now changed to the exact shadow colour! And
believe me it is exact, even if it doesn’t look
right to you.
Now by simply selecting a painting brush (see

below) from the tools palette you can paint
that colour on a white part of the canvas, you
will probably be surprised at the true colour.
And it will now be MUCH easier to mix the
correct colour.
Levels (adjusting Tone and Contrast).
Adjusting the Levels of a photograph is a very simple thing to do, and it is one of the 1st things I do to most
of my photographs. But although it is simple it doesn’t mean it is not effective.
Let’s see it in action.

The Lion photo below is nice, I like the pose etc but it just lacks punch, so I will adjust the levels.
On the top bar of your image editing software (I’m using Photoshop here) click – Image – Adjustments –
Levels.
This brings up the histogram window below. Now under the dark mountain shape are very small triangles,
one black one that adjusts the darks, one grey for the mid tones and one clear for the Light areas
(highlights).
Now simply click and hold the black triangle and pull it until it touches the very start of the mountain base
on the left, then click the clear one and pull that one until it is pointing to the very start of the mountain
base on the right. Leave the middle one alone. You should now see a big difference in the contrast of the
photo, as I have with this Lion photo. It’s really brought it to life. Try this simple technique on all your
photos that lack punch.
How to Sharpen your Photos
Sharpening is another simple but essential technique to have in your armoury. The Lion photo is a little
blurred and although it is fine to paint from it would be nice to see all the fur detail making it much easier
to paint.
So to sharpen it I select Filter – Sharpen – Unsharp Mask. Now I know Unsharp sounds like we have
selected the exact opposite of what we want, but really it means Sharpen, it’s just named a bit strange.
Unsharp Mask
When the Unsharp Mask window opens you will see a box similar to the one below.
Now depending on the size of your photo you will need to select different amounts. But if the photo has
come straight from your digital camera then the figures here are standard ones suitable to most images. As
you adjust the sliders the preview pane will show you the full effect.
When you’re happy with the sharpness just click OK and you’re done.
Burning Away Cage Bars
This tip is real cool and like all my tips it’s simple to do.
There are not many occasions when you can visit a zoo or wildlife park without having to shoot your
photos through thick bars. Now there are some tips and things to do in your camera to help minimise the
bars, such as getting to within a few feet of the bars (if safe!) using as small an f number as you can and
having the subject a decent distance away from the bars.
But sometimes you just can’t avoid them. As you can see in my photo below. So try this technique to get
rid of the bars.
Select the burn tool from the tools palette, it will usually look like a curled up hand.
Select a brush size to match the bar size. Make sure it is set to shadows, and have the exposure about 16%
or so, try other percentages and see what works best.
Now you can burn /darken the area of the cage bars, making them MUCH less noticeable ☺ Just rub the
brush back and fore over the lighter bar areas and you will see them magically darken as if they are
disappearing – you will need a little practice to get things just right.
Here I have burnt some of the bars away, it took me less than a minute but you can see the difference is
dramatic. It’s certainly worth a little effort and practice.
THE DEMOS
Painting a Cob Horse
I photographed this beautiful Welsh Cob at a local horse show, and it just cried out to be painted.
Here is the initial drawing on canvas with my reference photo right next to it. The drawing was sealed with a
light spray of permanent fixative; I allowed it to dry for 1 hr before painting.
The colours (Alkyd oils) I will be using are –
Lamp Black
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna
Cadmium Orange
Ultramarine Blue
Winsor Yellow
Titanium White
Here I have just started to scrub in the darkest tones, using various combinations of –
Lamp Black
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna
Ultramarine Blue
Next I block in the mid tones, using the mix above +

More Burnt Sienna and Burnt umber to give a richer / warmer tone.
The Dark grey colours are the above mix +

Ultramarine Blue
Lamp Black
+ Titanium White.
I lightened the blue / black mix with some more white to create the even lighter grey tone. Then blended it
all together using a soft synthetic brush. Brushing in the direction of the fur growth and muscle shape all the
time.
I then scrubbed in a very simple background with just Ultramarine Blue and Titanium white. The horse is
the star of the painting so a simple sky suited it well.
I added some grass using Ultramarine Blue and Winsor Yellow just to keep him grounded. And the detailing
of the horses body was done using a small brush and the same colour mixes I used above.
All that was then left to do was the leatherwork, which was simply Lamp Black and white, in various
combinations.
Seascape demo
The photo above shows my reference photo on the left, my canvas with sketch finished on the right and my
tear off disposable palette below, my alkyd colours are – Titanium White, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue,
Winsor Red, Winsor Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Lamp Black and another Titanium White.
I sealed my sketch with a thin spray of W& N permanent fixative.
The blue of the sky was scrubbed in with Cerulean Blue and a little Ultramarine Blue added in the darker
Blue areas.
The white areas of the clouds were brushed in 1st, and then I added a little Red to my blue sky mix and
Titanium White to lighten it to make the shadow areas of the clouds.
Generally distant objects such as the headlands here have more Blue in them than closer objects, so I used
some of my sky Blue colour, added some Red and a little more Ultramarine to make the distant headland
colour, this was then blocked in with a small flat brush. The nearer headland was the same mix + more
Ultramarine Blue, a touch of Winsor Yellow + Red.
This next bit of headland would be the 1st to show some real detail, so I needed a dark under layer so that I
could paint the details on top. Ultramarine Blue + Red + Burnt Umber.
I painted the detail on top of the dark under layer whilst it was still wet using a small flat synthetic brush,
lightly touching the surface with quite thick paint. I added some black to the above mix to get some real
darks and the lighter Green details were various combinations of Winsor Yellow, Ultramarine Blue and
White. The pale blue of the cliff face was Cerulean Blue, White and some Black.
Here I have continued the same process Blocking in the base colours then adding more details on top,
working the canvas from left to right.
Now I have completed the headlands from left to right it’s time to work down the canvas. The small areas of
sand were Burnt Sienna + Winsor Yellow and Plenty of White. The reflections used the same colours as the
head lands, just slightly darker and mirrored. When the reflections were painted I used a soft flat brush and
very gently swept over the reflections twice from left to right, this blurred the reflection slightly.
The sea was Cerulean Blue and white. The foreground sand was Burnt Sienna, Winsor Yellow, and
Titanium White; in the darker areas I added some Burnt Umber and a tiny bit of Black.
All that was left to do was to add a little lighter sand (above sand mix + White + Yellow) and some foot
prints and debris which not only adds interest but also leads the eye in to the painting (Burnt Umber +
Ultramarine Blue + White).
Lion Cubs Demo
Wildlife art can seem terribly difficult for

the beginner artist and often their first
question to me is - "everything looks so
complicated and detailed, I just don't
know where to start".
Well the first thing to do is to ignore all
those details, textures and colours and to
concentrate on just the raw essentials
(the basics).
Left is the beginnings of a small lion cub
Here I have blocked in just the basic
shapes with burnt Sienna (acrylics),
adding a little Ultramarine Blue to the
Sienna to paint the darks. I then wiped
some of the wet paint from the canvas for
the lighter areas. As you can see this
quick blocking in of tone has already
given me a solid base to work upon - the
canvas was then allowed to dry.
Now that the tones have been blocked in

with acrylics I can concentrate on adding
some colour in oils - once again I keep
things very simple by blocking in just the
basic colours. I start painting the
background elements and work my way
forward to the foreground, this allows me
to overlap the nearer objects thus
avoiding that cut out paint by numbers
look you can get if you try to butt each
edge up against another. Here I have
blocked in the background and the cub in
the shadows under the tree (did you
notice him?).
The cub in the background just needed to

be suggested (too much detail and he
would compete for attention with the
nearer cub) but the foreground cub
needed a different technique. To paint
subjects with lots of fur details, I generally
tone the under fur first with a dark
colour, as you can see on the shoulder
area, and then paint in the fur texture
with a much lighter paint, this allows the
fur texture to show up very easily. I don't
worry about the colour too much as this
will be corrected later with glazes.
Tip - to paint fur it is ESSENTIAL that your
brushstrokes are in the direction of fur
growth, remember it's the fur texture
that gives the body shape and form.
With all the fur texture painted in, I then

wait for the painting to dry before
applying glazes to colour the cat. For the
glaze, raw sienna plus other colours were
added to my painting medium to give a
transparent colour; this was then brushed
over the fur texture. When the glaze was
dry I went over some areas with even
more fur texture - this layering of texture
adds a real feeling of depth to the fur
(here you can see the second layer of
texture being painted on the head). The
sandy texture of the soil was achieved by
splattering paint from a toothbrush, some
small sticks and stones were also
suggested to add realism to the scene.
With all the areas of the canvas covered

with paint I could now concentrate of the
fine details and colours.
Left you can see how I have given the

painting much more contrast by
darkening the tree stump, I have also
toned down some areas with glazes and
lightened other areas, A few grasses here
and there also helped to direct the
viewer’s eye around the painting.
The finished painting

Oil on MDF board
Mill demo
This magnificent scene (two pictures

overlapped) shows not only the beauty
of the buildings, but for me, more
importantly, some spectacular lighting
effects.
I think it's important to show you

exactly what attracted me to this
scene so that you understand my
motivation. As you can see (left) the
bounced light from the white face of
the building really illuminates the
bricks. Also notice how the brightest
white areas are bleached of detail,
making the area appear even brighter.
In just a few minutes the scene had

become even more dramatic as the sky
darkened accentuating the brightness
of the sunlight striking the white areas.
My goal for this painting was to try to
capture and combine both of these
effects.
This is quite a detailed scene with lots

of perspective and angles which
needed to be correct for the painting
to look right, so first I drew the scene
at the size I wanted the painting to be
on a sheet of paper and then traced
and transferred it over to my Gessoed
MDF panel. This ensured that there
would be no major mistakes on the
canvas and no rubbing out!
As usual with my paintings I firstly

painted a tonal underpainting (left),
this tells me if the painting is going to
work and also allows me to
concentrate more on the colours
(hues) I need to apply, and less on the
tone as I just try to match it to my
underpainting. The underpainting was
quickly painted using burnt and raw
umber acrylics, and dried in an hour.
The first thing to paint was the sky as it

is farthest away; this allowed me to
overlap nearer objects. The sky is
completed in one go - wet in wet, I find
this the easiest way to get a natural
looking sky as it's much easier to blend
soft edges.
After the sky was allowed to dry over

night (this is not essential) I begin
blocking in some nearer objects, the
colours are not critical but I did try to
match the correct tone (shade).
Paint is applied to the water to begin

to get a feel for the reflection, and to
create some depth. The reflections are
applied wet in wet.
Here is a closer view of the centre of

attention for this painting - "the
reflected light".
When I am happy with the base

painting of the Mill, I began to add the
details like, windows etc. To make sure
that these details were in the correct
place, I overlay the tracing of my final
drawing on top of the dry painting and
traced through the details.
To paint any straight lines like those

found on the building in the centre I
used the edge of a mahl stick or rule to
rest the ferrule of the brush (Rigger)
against.
This detail shows the windows 1/2 way

to completion, reflections and
shadows are beginning to give a more
(glassy/reflective) realistic look. I have
also painted two figures beneath the
building on the right hand side; they
are simply suggested with a few
carefully selected brush strokes.
The water details, ripples etc. are

suggested with a few simple horizontal
strokes, the brighter the highlight the
thicker the paint used.
More detail was added - people in the

background (far right) with a white
railing in front. You can also just see
that I have painted the suggestion of
dark grasses in the foreground.
Over the dark grasses I painted lighter

ones; random strokes are required to
give a natural look with the odd leaf
and plant here and there. The grasses
are kept deliberately dark to make the
viewer look into the painting.
Here is the finished painting; I have

taken the photo in natural light to
prevent spotlights lightening certain
areas and to give a better
representation of the actual colours.
Even so the foreground is a little
darker than reality and other areas a
little light.
Here I have tried something a little

different. Using the PC I have taken the
colour back out of the image and given
it a Sepia cast so that I can easily
compare it with my original Tonal
painting.
Cat DEMO / more advanced Glazing
This demo is really more about glazing and adjusting a colour, rather than painting fur. The techniques of
painting fur are covered in LOTS of detail in my “learn to paint wildlife and on my easel eBooks”.
The photo above shows my basic fur painting technique in action. I firstly block in the darks areas of the
under fur, then when that area is dry I paint the fur detail on top, usually using a lighter tone than I will
ultimately end up with.
Here you can see that the whole of the cats face now has fur texture painted in. I continue this technique
over the whole cat.
This photo shows the fur completed and the fur looks much starker than I want it to be in the end. I leave
this stage to dry overnight (alkyd oils generally dry by the next day, standard oils will take a few days
longer) before I begin to adjust the colour and tones with glazes.
This photo clearly shows the start of my glazing technique. I have applied a VERY thin layer of Alkyd walnut
painting medium over the dry painting, and then also added some medium to Raw Sienna to create a
transparent glaze, I brushed the glaze on over most of the cat, the paint mix was adjusted where
necessary.
Here you can see that most of the cat has now been covered with the glaze and I will once again leave this
to dry overnight before continuing. A glaze starts to go tacky quite quickly and it is important not to keep
working in to it when you start to feel it tack. It is much better to allow the glaze to dry overnight and apply
further glazes the next day if necessary.
With the glaze now fully dry I added some more details where required to bring more texture and detail
out in various areas.
With the glazing completed and some more fur details applied on top all that was left to was to add a few
whiskers and some nose detailing.
Resources
My Art Tutorial Site www.jason@onlineartdemos.co.uk
Royalty Free Reference Photos – 100’s of photos taken from my own personal stock
www.jasonmorgan.co.uk
My online Art Gallery, Prints, Original paintings and more

www.onlineartdemos.co.uk
My Wildlife Art Blog

http://wildlifeart.wordpress.com/
Painting Brushes
I have used the following company for many, many years. The brushes are not only great value but excellent
quality
http://www.rosemaryandco.com/
Art Supplies
Most if not all of my art supplies other than brushes are bought from Ken Bromley art supplies UK
http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/

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Oil Painting Made Easy

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 1

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 2

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 3

Painting outdoors / Plein Air

Painting Surfaces – Canvas / Board / Oil paper

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 4

Standard oil paints

Alkyd Oil Paints

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 5

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 6

Oil Painting Mediums

Walnut Alkyd Medium

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 7

Let’s take a look at a few of my favourites

Large Flat or Filbert Bristle brushes

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 8

Medium Flat or Filbert Bristle brushes

Large soft synthetic brush, flat or fan shaped

Medium / small synthetic Flat brushes

Synthetic round brushes

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 9

Synthetic Rigger brush

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 10

THE BEGINNERS SHOPPING LIST

1. Small table top easel

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 11

BEFORE YOU START PAINTING

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 12

Transferring the Drawing

Sealing the Drawing

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 13

Toning the Canvas

LEARNING TO SEE LIKE AN ARTIST

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 14

Simplifying the Subject

Tone / Contrast – The Most Important Lesson of All

Lear n to Pa int – w ww. jaso nmor ga n.co. uk Page 15

Lack of Tonal Range

Full Tonal Range

Eliminating all those distractions – Blur and Squint

Just a Tiny Bit of Colour Theory

Intensity / Saturation or Chroma

The Colour Wheel Basics

Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet

Learning to See Colour

OK, so how do you mix those colours?

Becoming a Colour Detective

Some General Colour Mixing Tips

Colour Mixing / Matching

Matching a Green leaf colour.

Now I’m going to limit myself to just the 3

When you are more advanced then you can

OK, so we all know from our school days that

Now I look at the colour and think “is it too

I now look at the resulting, greyed Green

So I remember (from lightening a colour

Now the colour is quite a close match.