HOW TO PAINT THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

ART IN THE MAKING

Jo found an old photograph of a truck that her great uncle had taken in the 1930s when he was mustering cattle in the Australian outback. I loved the picture at once it is so Australian. So to enhance the Aussie theme we added more gum trees and the ubiquitous farm chickens.

HOW TO PAINT THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

Jos Notes
The idea of these ebooks is to give instruction on subjects . This is my final painting and as you can see it is quite different to Barbs My board is bigger. I chose a bigger board because I dont have Barbs dexterity and I wanted half a chance at painting reasonable detail. Id never really given gum trees a go and as you can see, Ive gone and picked a completely different tree to Barb. This is because I had it in my head that I wanted chickens roosting in it.Thats for my amusement. On the next page your first instruction is to draw the scene. So draw it how you want. I have a lot of trees in the background. I did this because I wanted the practise. I also gave myself a chance to practice depth by putting a line of denser trees way up the back. We picked the background for its magnificent colours. Barbs is closer to the real colours. Ive gone a little nuts choosing to stick with the colours the photo had with assistance of a filter

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How to Paint The Australian Outback

WHAT THE ARTIST USED
Colours Titanium White Ultramarine Blue Yellow Ochre Cadmium Red (Hue) Lemon Yellow Cerulean Blue Cobalt

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Odourless Turpentine Support Canvas board 30 x 40 cm Brushes No.0 and 1 taklon round for fine lines No. 2 taklon round for distant hills No.4 taklon round for background No.2 fan bristle for foreground No. 4 and 10 flat bristle for large areas

Session 1: Draw the Scene

With a landscape or seascape, I always draw the horizon, even if it is not visible. With a perfectly horizontal line on which to work, it helps keep everything level. I use a HB pencil with a light touch. My rule of thumb for a nicely positioned focal point is to have the extremities of the focal area in equal distance from the side edges. The distance from the focal area to the top of the canvas should be greater than it is to the bottom. (In this painting I have incorporated the truck, gum tree and surrounding chooks as the focal area.)

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How to Paint The Australian Outback

ARTY FACT

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Session 2: Sky and Clouds

To add interest to the sky, we used two different colours Ultramarine Blue brushed across the top to about of the way then Cerulean Blue. Paint one colour at a time, making sure it lightens gradually towards the horizon.

If you look up at the sky on a clear blue day, you will notice it is bluer than if you look into the distance towards the horizon, where it becomes lighter and less blue. It is the same with clouds bigger and whiter up ahead whilst smaller and fainter towards the horizon.

Use a nice, soft round No.2 brush for your clouds. While the blue sky is still wet, dab on small amounts of white, feathering them off around the edges into the shapes desired. Clouds can be anything you imagine. We made ours soft and fluffy by spreading the white into directional lines across the canvas. Dont use too much white at this stage, as it will spread further than you want. Once your clouds are basically drawn in with the white paint, you can accentuate the whites where needed i.e. the tops of the clouds and down into the mid dle of some. Feather this off once again around the edges back into your cloud. Clouds are all about soft, feathery brushstrokes. You can further tease some of the white out into the blue sky with small circular movements for that hazy effect.

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Session 3: Background
I am a methodical painter; so I usually paint from top to bottom, back to front and from the left. So after the sky I started with the horizon, the furthest point. To give the painting depth I loosely painted in a line of trees along the horizon using Ultramarine Blue, a tiny bit of Cerulean and white. My aim is to be only 2 shades darker than the sky so that the trees look distant, almost blending into the sky. I painted in a second row of distant trees with the same mixture, only darker and adding a touch of Yellow Ochre for a bit more colour. Highlights for these distant trees are a soft pastel colour (Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre and white) using a round No.4 brush to gently feather off around the edges so there are no hard edges. Before any more trees were added I brushed on a thin layer of Yellow Ochre and white from the horizon down, gradually darkening the mix towards the bottom of the canvas. I say a thin layer because I will be going over the background again later.

ARTY FACT
Dont forget the thick on thin rule with oil paint; a thick layer of paint will dry slower than a thin layer. Consequently if reversed i.e. a thin layer of paint is painted over a thick layer that is not quite dry, the top layer will eventually crack. So, where to put some more trees? I painted in some random tree trunks first, trying not to be too uniform in size or height. I used a purpley-red mixture with a bit of white we still dont want any dark, hard edges because everything bar the focal point has soft edges and muted colours. Using the same soft brush, I gently dabbed in the leaves, firstly with a darker mixture of the Ultramarine Blue and Yellow Ochre, then gradually lightening the leaves (from the right and on the top) with a lighter mixture. Extra highlights can be added to the leaves of the trees that are closer with a light Yellow Ochre. To soften any hard edges on the top of the trees or on the left (shadow side) you could use a medium tone of Cerulean Blue with white. Use a mixture of white with a dot of red to highlight the right-hand side of the tree trunks (white alone can sometimes be too harsh for highlights). Make sure to dab some shadows on the trunks and branches especially under groups of leaves. These can be a purple mixture. Remember when painting all the shadow and highlights on all of your trees, that they will become slightly sharper, with more colour as they progress forward. Be careful not to be too neat or stylised mess up the leaves by dabbing back into the tree, making sure there are no hard edges. Some of my branches and trunks were a bit too dark and hard, so I toned them down with a light purpley-red mix.

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How to Paint The Australian Outback

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Jos Notes
The first thing youll notice with mine is Im a little indecisive with what part of the sky I want to appear dark or light. I wrestled with this the whole painting due to this initial indecisiveness. Have a real think about what you want the end result to be. I really liked the look of our outback photo which accentuated the colours and I wanted to reflect that in my painting. I also knew I wanted the clouds to be very similar, so again I should have worked harder on that idea or made the decisions earlier, but anyway its early and I do get a good result at the end. Just saying, learn from my mistake

Jos Session 3
We started to place the trees. The photo had the bush in the foreground which thickened to a denser area of bush at the back. In the session we made a few stand alones, I tried to make it appear the same . Working with a small round brush, I rolled the circles of bushes in light green and then put in darker centres. Along the bottom, I have made it quite blue. This immediately give the tree line depth and distance. With the trees that were closer, I actually found it more productive to paint from the base up and to branch out. It felt like I was making the tree grow just how it might in nature. As I wasnt actually trying to make my trees look exactly the same as the ones in the photo, I didnt feel the need to hold myself to any shape. Real trees dont do that.

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How to Paint The Australian Outback

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Session 4: The Truck

The old truck appeared to have a handmade tray made out of wood. We decided to paint the metal parts of the truck first so that we could concentrate on the rusty colours. The darks were filled in first using Cadmium Red and Ultramarine. The rest of the metal bits were then painted with the red and Yellow Ochre. These two colours mixed together produced a lovely orangey-rust colour. I then dabbed in some blues, both dark and light, to break up the orange and give it a metallic shine here and there. Details, as in the dark lines, were dabbed in with our dark red and Ultramarine mix. Highlights were dabbed in with a light orange (red, Yellow Ochre and white). By adding some light purple to this mix and a bit more white, extra shine was dabbed onto the top of the bonnet and steering wheel.

ARTY FACT
Where the light hits a hard edge, the shadow is darker with more colour then gradates into the lighter area. We need our rusty metal colour again to paint in the metal brackets holding the wood together and the metal rail for the seat. I detailed these rusty parts with dabs of Cobalt and red. Highlights were added with a mix of Cadmium Red, Lemon Yellow and white. Before continuing I used leftover Cobalt and red to make a thin turpsy wash and brushed this under the car and out to create that large shadow. I also brushed in any leftover greys and blues to cover the gum tree. The idea was to eliminate any white canvas, making it easier to decide on further colour schemes for the grass etc.

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How to Paint The Australian Outback

Jos Notes

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Jos Notes
What I can see now is Barb has made definitive patches of colour. This is a difficult concept to grasp. As soon as I make a patch, I feel the need to sort it. So you can see, I have some colour, but Ive smoothed it out and blended it where Barb has left it sitting there. When Barb comes back later and paints over these areas, these colours can then come through without muddying up!

Where did we get the colours for our rusty car? As you have seen, we had a very old picture, it was so old it was sepia, so we improvised. Barb spotted a couple of old rusty wrecks and took some photos. They were perfect. We even changed the car a little to include a more complete wheel assembly on the back to make it more interesting.

Now for the wooden tray. Brush the wood horizontally as if you were actually painting old timber sleepers. We mixed Cobalt and red with a touch of Lemon Yellow to get that old grey colour. As usual, the darks were painted in first and then streaked through with a lighter grey. (Darks should be underneath and in cracks.) To break up the grey colour we added some browns and oranges. Using your fine brush, detail the tray with a dark mix of Cobalt and red for fine lines, holes and cracks in the wood grain. Then with a very light grey, streak again above the cracks and through the wood. Lastly, use your white for added highlights on the top and back of the tray.

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Session 5: The Gum Tree

The first step to painting a eucalyptus (or gum) tree is to make it appear round. Dont worry about any detail just yet. I w anted my tree to be a creamy colour with grey peeling bark. I painted in the creamy colour first then the greys. The creamy colour was made with a mix of Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Red with a touch of Ultramarine and white. I dabbed this in where I wanted the creamy patches. Next step was to fill in the rest of the tree with a mid-tone grey of Ultramarine, Cadmium Red and a touch of Lemon Yellow. This was all then feathered off lightly with a soft brush to give a nice smooth round tree. Once smooth and round, the tree is then ready for shadow, highlights and detail. Darks should be painted approximately 2/3 of the width of the tree, continuing down the middle allowing for the highlights to be painted on the right side. I did one colour at a time starting with the dark grey in the shadow section then onto the dark creams through the shadow section. Now for the highlights on the right. Again I started with the grey colour, which was nearly white, then the creamy colour that was also nearly white.

Barbs Tip
Reflective light is very useful in giving colour and contrast to shadow areas. It is fun to use but be careful not to overdo it. It is stronger in hue (colour) and usually reflects the surrounding background.

Jos Notes
Ive got the base coat on. My tree has a different kind of bark on it and its peeling away differently, but the basic colours underneath will be the same. I may need to change my colouring a little so it doesnt blend in too much with all the other rusty browns of the car.

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Session 5: The Gum Tree

So, back to the shadow area of the tree. As our light source is emanating from the right, there only remains some reflective light on the left of the tree. Dont go crazy but a lovely clean mix of Ultramarine Blue and white on the left edge dabbing in a little to emphasise an edge here and there, gives the tree solidity. Making that bark peel! The idea is that the creamy patches of gum are smooth, while the peeling grey bark is rough and textured i.e. it has hard edges. I added oranges and browns to the peeling bark and feathered them off slightly into the wet grey colour. I did this by mixing Yellow Ochre and red with a touch of the Ultramarine into the grey areas and then elongating some of them into strips of bark. I then added some highlights to the end of these strips with a light orange. To give the impression of peeling bark, shadows were dabbed in underneath with a purple, feathering off slightly down into the light. Lastly, extra highlights were added by using pure white dabbed onto the right side of the tree into the wet paint.

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Session 6: Chickens
After much deliberation, we decided on the colour of our chickens. We didnt want them to blend in too much with the background or in the dark foreground shadows. So, the first chook we decided to paint was the one closest to us. White seemed the best colour here as it was bright and would stand out from the shadowy background. The white chicken: Dont worry about any detail at first. The aim here is to firstly give the chook body and depth by using your tones (midtones, shadows and highlights) and separating the wing from the body. So pure white was applied first across the birds back, the top of the wing, right-hand side of the tail and right side of the legs. Thats the highlights done. Next are the mid-tones made with a very light purple and feathered off gently into the white highlights. Remember, the chicken is white so shadows are very light. Shadows are next made with a slightly darker purple and brushing down towards the bottom of the wing, underneath the bird, front of the neck and left side of the legs. Now details can be added with a fine brush.

ARTY FACT White reflects surrounding colours.

Jos Chicken

Highlights reflecting the sky can be a cool blue. So any areas that are facing the sky can be brushed through with fine strokes of very light Ultramarine Blue. When brushing colours through your wet paint, imagine you are actually painting the feathers by softly stroking in the direction of feather growth. Slightly darker oranges and pinks can similarly be stroked through the shadow areas indicating reflected light from the surrounding grasses. (These will be areas that are facing downwards.) With a clean, fine brush, reapply areas with pure white to redefine highlights and tone down any areas that you may have made a little too dark or colourful. We still want a white chicken! Lastly, dab in the red comb and legs in a dark red made with Cadmium Red and a dot of Ultramarine. Dabbing into the left side of the legs again will darken them further. At the same time brush this dark colour from under the body and down the legs slightly to push the legs back under the body. Also the feet can be in the same dark red, as they will later be covered with grass and ultimately be in shadow anyway. Dot highlights of very light pink on the top and right side of the red comb, finishing with a fine line of white for the beak.

The black chicken: We thought that a black chicken would stand out better in the sunlight than in a shady
area. I had to move my bird further into the sunny area behind and to the left of the big gum tree in order for it to stand out. I seldom use black paint, as it tends to be flat and lifeless. Instead my darks are generally made from Cadmium Red and Ultramarine with a dot of Lemon. I painted in the darkest areas first. When you add white to this dark mix it will give a clearer indication of the colour and may need to be adjusted. I Jos Chicken didnt want a purple chook so I added a bit more Lemon and white to the mix and painted in the rest of the chicken. Remembering my light source I brushed in the top of the head, wing and leg and his chest. As with the white chicken, we can still add colour by giving him blue highlights on upward facing planes and fairly dark oranges and pinks to downward facing planes. The comb was painted in the same way as the white chickens comb (dark red). Dab in the highlights using a very fine brush. Lastly, treat the legs in the same way as the previous chicken using your dark red for shadow and light pink for highlights.

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How to Paint The Australian Outback

Barbs Tip
Very dark areas and objects still need lots of colour dabbed through to break them up. The orange chicken: I think by now you could probably paint a chicken blindfolded. I made this chicken a dark orangey-red to make it stand out from the light creamy background. Darks were painted in first and then the highlights. After blocking him in with the two tones of shadow and highlight, I streaked the colours back through the wet paint with a fine brush to give him his feathery look. As this bird is sitting on the truck I needed to create a shadow underneath him. I mixed a dark purple and brushed it under his feathers where they overlapped the wooden tray of the truck. By adding a little white I could then brush it softly down the side of the tray. My two-tone chicken: I really couldnt decide on the colour of this chicken as white would have been too purple against the wooden truck and dark red too similar to my rusty wheel. Of course black would have finished up looking like a black blob in the shadows. So I used all the colours. I cheated a bit. To make my chook stand out from the truck, I placed light colours next to dark areas of the truck and vice versa. Of course it really depends on where you place your chicken. Now that you know how to paint a chicken, it was really a matter of following the same techniques as before. Remember that this chicken is in the shadow area, so highlights need to be muted by adding a bit of a purple mix to them. So, as you can see, I have made his back a very yellow orange to help it stand out from the dark area of the truck. Similarly the tail is very dark against the lighter areas of the truck. Feet can be quite dark, as grass will be painted up over them later.

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Session 6: Chickens

Jos Chickens

Jos Notes
From an orange, to a tree, to a chicken, everything is about giving the impression of shape and shading. How do you make a chicken look like a chicken? Dont be afraid to have more than one attempt. I have 5 chickens in my painting. That gave me 5 opportunities to make the shape and put the texture in. My chickens are larger, my elements are not as refined, but they look like chickens and now I have orders so...
Jos Chicken

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Session 7: The Grass

The foreground grass will be our final step. So I went back to the horizon and further blurred out the distant line of trees with a light rub of white and Yellow Ochre. I re-wet the ground with this mix, so that I could introduce some shadows from under the trees. With a purple mix, I roughly dabbed out from the tree trunks, following my light source. Start with fine lines and as you come forward, widen them slightly, allowing for the intimation of leafy shadows. With a clean light Yellow Ochre, I then feathered off the ends of the shadows, always brushing in the direction of our light source. Now for some warmth. As we proceed down the canvas we need to add some warmer colours to our shadows in the background. I mixed some Cadmium Red and Yellow Ochre with a dot of Lemon and brushed this over the shadows from the trees and feathered them off yet again into the wet paint. I also brushed this colour up into the bottom of the tree trunks to further blend them into the background, as well as to add some reflective light into the left side of the trunks. We are only painting down to the sides of the gum tree and truck at this stage. Well deal with the foreground in the next stage. So lets start messing up the grass. We dont want to look like weve just mowed the lawn! Using the corner of a flat No.4 brush, I roughly streaked through the grass, including the shadows with a very light mix of Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Red. In the same way, I went through the grass with a darker mix. Dab randomly throughout the grass especially into any flat spots to further break up the tones. My painting needed some more oranges so I added some lemon to my mix and proceeded to break up the grassy areas yet again.

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Session 8: The Foreground

We are painting from dark to light now. Strengthen the large shadow under the truck and gum with a mix of Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red and Ultramarine Blue. The shadow should be darker directly underneath the truck gradually lightening as it emerges into the light. Dont forget so me shadow under the chooks that are in the sunlight. With this colour still on the brush, lightly dab a little behind the truck and tree to indicate shadow from the overhead leaves. From hereon I used the fan brush, continually changing colours and tones and streaking through the wet paint with the corner of the brush. I used lovely oranges, yellows and white for highlights. Before grabbing more paint on the brush I just brushed these colours up behind the truck softly to unify the colours into the background. Critique Ok, time to stand back and evaluate. Check List The centre of interest should be the only star in the painting. Are there too many fighting for attention? If you have a spot stealing attention from the focal point, tone it down. Too busy? You can delete elements to strengthen your painting. If theres no place to rest your eyes, you should eliminate or subdue one or more of the objects in the painting. Style or idea should be consistent throughout. In this painting we do have a lot of movement and the focal point is quite large and busy. I decided to go back into the background and further tone it down so that the background appeared more peaceful and distant. Just go over some of your darker tones with a lighter tone of the same colour if you need to tone it down. Other than that I think it works. Hope you had as much fun as I did painting this scene. Just remember that it is fun, and if you get stuck at all just give me an email so that I might be able to help.

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Jos Notes:
I had a lot of fun with the texture of the grass, it hid the white chickens legs, which I wasnt happy with. My chickens arent exactly proportionate, but I can live with that, I started to get the hang of the gum trees by the end,

I just kept adding texture. I discovered if I made the gum leaves a light grey the third time I went over it, it gave texture and gave the gum tree more volume.

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