October 2023 – Realistic Acrylic Portrait School

Archive Monthly Archives: October 2023

30 Minute Acrylic Portrait: (Landscape Special) “Golden Fields under Crimson Trees”

Painting a landscape using the Alla Prima technique!

This is a special edition of the 30-minute acrylic portrait, where today I paint a landscape, using the same alla prima technique. The fall colors are gorgeous in Wisconsin, and I’m so blessed to be able to walk into my backyard, and see an expansive vista of trees and hills.

Vibrant reds, yellows and oranges are already beginning to frost the tips of the trees here. I decided to do a painting based on a photo I took. They complement the golden fields perfectly. Enjoy this half an hour of painting, I hope it inspires you to try your own!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to read this tutorial and watch the video. That means a lot to me. I hope you find it very helpful in your portrait painting.

Yours for Better Portraits,

P.S. Did you find this post helpful or encouraging? If so, send it in ahead! Let others know with the share buttons below. I’d love to hear your comments. Thank you so much! Also, do you have a question on acrylic portrait painting you’d like answered? Let me know, and I’d be happy to help!

How to Use Halation to Add Vibrancy and Realism in Acrylic

Which technique did you use to create your acrylic portrait?

Working on that painting of Moses, Aaron and Hur again (the 30 x 40 Amalekite/ Israelite battle scene) and I’m concentrating on the background. To take nondescript forms of soldiers in the distance and make them look realistic without over-detailing is tricky. And then adding sunlight to the mix is even more challenging.

What technique to use?

I use halation. Halation is a technique that was extensively employed by Wayne Thiebaud in his realism/abstraction paintings to add visual excitement, energy, and vibrancy to his paintings. It involves taking a saturated color mixture and painting it along the transition point between a light and dark value.

I’ll show you how to do it in this video!