Graham Braddock’s painting method:-

Stage 1. Finding a subject

Many of my major paintings are produced in my studio. In this case I started with a photo. The scene is a rugged Taranaki landscape on a very still evening.

Stage 2. Altering Reality

The scene had a wonderful, “old world feeling”, but the composition needed improving. I did a 16cm layout on tracing paper in which I added trees to the left, curved the road back into the foreground, put a stream in the middle, and added a fictitious settler’s cottage on the right.

Stage 3. Drawing

I applied 2 coats of gesso to a hardboard panel, then made a loose charcoal sketch. To prevent smudging I gave the drawing several light coats of fixative.

Stage: 4 Double Click For Full Size.

Stage: 5 Double Click For Full Size.

Stage 4. Acrylic Washes

Using a large brush I applied transparent washes of acrylic paint. This is a good, quick way of establishing colours and values. Such washes also give opportunities for accidental effects to happen which, if I apply oils thinly, can give added interest to the finished painting.

Stage 5. Layers of Oil Paint

I usually start with the sky, then work forward from soft edged far distance, painting first the shadows then the lights. Shadows become progressively deeper, warmer and more transparent as I come nearer the foreground. Highlights also become progressively brighter and more sharp edged.

“Memories of Taranaki” oils on mixed media, 65 x 82cm, is ready for framing.

Click Here to return to main gallery page.
Click Here to find out more about Graham Braddock