This scarecrow canvas painting includes a traceable of the scarecrow portrait as well as the crow! You may recognize this painting from my 2017 post “How To Paint A Scarecrow”.
That post originally did not have a video and was done on a larger 16″ x 20″ canvas. In 2018, I redid the painting to fit the 11″ x 14″ canvas so you can easily use the traceables for this.
This post only includes the video. If you would like to see my process step by step pictures including instructions for how to draw the scarecrow, you can see that post here.
I display my scarecrow painting next to the vintage truck painting! They look so nice next to each other. You can see the tutorial for the vintage truck painting here.
This post contains affiliate links to the products I used to create this painting!
Directions: Print traceables on 8.5″ x 11″ (standard size) computer paper. Trace the scarecrow on the upper right corner of the canvas. Trace the crow on the lower left hand corner (or in desired area where the crow sits on the shoulder). Download the PDF files here.
Directions:
This post only contains a video! If you want to see step by step process pictures, you can see my post from 2017 with this scarecrow design here.
Learn how to paint an easy Fall Birch Tree Landscape with a cute fox in the foreground. This step by step acrylic painting tutorial will guide you through each step. The painting was done an an 11″ x 14″ canvas with acrylic paints. The tutorial also includes a Fox Traceable so you don’t have to worry about drawing.If you’ve been itching to paint a Fall birch scene and not a fox, you can leave the painting as is! This design makes a simple yet gorgeous Fall Birch tree scene!
Acrylic Paint (I used Liquitex BASICS for this design. There’s quite a few colors in this! I like using my 48 Piece BASICS set for paintings that call for a lot of colors because they are all ready to go! Need to convert? Check out my evolving paint color conversion chart here.)
Cadmium Red Medium
Cadmium Orange Hue
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Brilliant Yellow Green
Deep Green Permanent
Burnt Umber
Phthalo Blue
Light Blue Permanent
Titanium White
Mars Black
Unbleached Titanium
Paint Brushes (*I used Royal & Langnickel Brushes)
*Note: I recommend getting the royal and langnickel zen brushes. They can be found on Amazon, Michaels and most Art Retailers.
Color Palette:
Traceable:
Directions: print on a standard 8.5″ x 11″ computer paper. Trace the fox in the lower right corner aligned on the canvas (or anywhere else if you’d like!). You can find a PDF version of this printable here.
The placement of this hill was about three finger widths high on the sides. Lightly draw this with a pencil.
2. Use the colors phthalo blue & titanium white an a 3/4″ flat brush to paint the entire sky above the hill.
Paint in all up and down strokes. Double load the brush in both the phthalo blue and the white but use mostly phthalo blue. The up and down strokes will blend on the canvas. If you see white streaks that is okay!
3. Paint the hill.
If you were like me and covered your hill, you’ll need to paint over the hill with white first to cover up the blue.
Then mix a “golden green color” by mixing: brilliant yellow green, cadmium yellow medium and burnt umber onto the palette.
Dip your 3/4″ flat brush in all three of those colors! Those colors mixed together create a “golden green”.
Paint the hill by doing all “X” style strokes. Let those colors blend together. It should create a “golden green” color. If it looks too dark, try using less burnt umber.
Fill the entire hill with this gold green color and “X” strokes. The goal is to get this “expressive” style on the hill and the texture here almost resembles grass.
Next load your brush with deep green permanent. This dark green will stand out against the gold green. Paint in more “X” strokes but don’t completely cover the gold green.
The deep green permanent is not mixed all the way with that gold green and the texture resembles grass.
4. Paint the birch trees with Titanium White & 1/4″ Flat Brush.
Ideally, that blue & green should be dry! If it’s not, you may want to take a break and come back. To paint the trees, use a 1/4″ flat brush. Paint each white line starting on the bottom and painting up.
The bottoms of each of the trees starts out a little thicker and then the line gets thinner towards the top. The line itself is also kind of “wobbly”.
Paint some trees thinner and some trees thicker. Some of the trees are more vertical and some are slightly slanted.
The bottoms of the trees do overlap that hill! Also the bottoms are kind of rounded.
You may need to add a few coats of this titanium white to make sure it’s nice and opaque!
4. Paint Branches on the Birch Trees.
To do the branches, use the tip of the 1/4″ flat brush on its side. Paint different diagonal lines going outwards. Only do this on the top area of the trunks.
Some diagonals are thicker and some thinner.
5. Paint black marks on the trees.
Use that 1/4″ flat brush (clean and dried) and the color mars black. Use the tip of the brush to paint thin uneven horizontal lines on the trees. You can even give some indication of “knots” on the trees by painting cat eye shapes.
Don’t worry about uniformity! Each tree is completely different! You can also use the full width of the brush and drag to create a different kind of black mark.
To get even more detailed, I switched to a 5/0 round brush and painted thinner black lines on the trunks and some of the branches.
6. Paint the fall leaves.
Load your palette with the colors: cadmium orange hue, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium red medium and titanium white.
Use a #8 round brush for this but keep it dry!
Double load the brush in titanium white and cadmium yellow medium. Since cadmium yellow medium is translucent, dipping it in the white will make it stand out.
Stamp each leaf with the #8 round brush by using the side and not necessarily the tip of the brush.
You don’t need to rinse the brush when switching to the next color. Simply grab the next color on your brush and continue to paint the leaves.
Continue on to load the brush with the cadmium orange hue and then the cadmium red medium. Notice how the shape of this “leaf line” forms an arc. That was done on purpose.
This is where you can stop if you’d like! This design makes for a beautiful fall birch landscape scene. You can paint some leaves on the bottom too! Continue on if you are doing the fox…
7. Trace the fox onto the canvas.
The printable is aligned on the lower right corner.
Place your graphite paper underneath the traceable and use a dull pencil to trace the design onto the canvas.
8. White out the top area of the fox’s head and tail.
I used a 1/4″ flat brush and the color titanium white. Fill in areas shown below with white first (doesn’t have to be solid). This helps cover anything in the background since orange is usually translucent.
Ideally, you want to wait for that white to dry (but I wasn’t patient and my orange turned white-orange at first). Paint over the white out area with the color cadmium orange hue. Use the 1/4″ flat brush for this step!
Try to get your strokes to contour with the shape of whatever you are painting in. For the tight areas, use your brush on it’s side.
Then add the color “cadmium red medium” to the canvas. Let it blend with the cadmium orange hue.
The point of this red is to make the orange look like a red-orange and not so much pure orange. If you don’t like this look, you can always do just orange!
9. Use the color unbleached titanium to paint inside of the ears, the rest of the face, the chest and tail tip.
Unbleached titanium was used in this area so that it would stand out against the white in the birch trees.
Since unbleached titanium is an opaque paint color, there is no need to “white out” these areas. With one or two coats, you should be able to cover the background.
For the tip of the tail, just estimate the zig-zags. You don’t have to fill them in like the traceable.
Next add titanium white to your brush before the unbleached titanium dries. You don’t need to mix it all the way with the unbleached titanium. Just lightly paint over some of the areas to give a little indication of fur.
Adding the white gives a little fir texture.
Next I whited out the areas of the fox’s legs. When you white out an area, it doesn’t need to be 100% solid.
While waiting for that to dry, I painted the fox’s “socks” mars black.
Then I painted the legs in. This time I double loaded my brush with both cadmium orange hue and cadmium red medium.
Also the very bottom between his legs was painted with unbleached titanium.
10. Paint the nose, mouth, tips of ears and eyes.
Use your tiny 5/0 brush for this. Paint the tips of the ears black. Also paint the nose and mouth.
Next paint the eyes with light blue permanent. (The only time this color shows up!)
11. Paint a shadow under the fox.
While waiting for that light blue in the eyes to dry, paint some dark shadow area under the fox. Use the color deep green permanent mixed with a little burnt umber. Paint the same style of strokes just under the fox.
12. Paint the inside of the eyes.
Make sure that blue is dry! Use the color mars black to paint a small oval in the inside of each eye. Then wait for that mars black to dry and paint two tiny white dots on each of the black ovals.
After doing the little white dots on the eyes, I decided to outline the bottom parts of the legs a bit to make them stand out. This is totally optional! And actually ended up muting that white a bit with some more orange because it was too bright!
13. Paint leaves on the ground.
Do this the same way you painted the top leaves! I painted leaves on the left and right of the fox and made them slightly curve the opposite way from the leaves at the top.
One final step – I added a tiny bit of black outline just under the fox’s tail and feet.
Finished!
I love Fall Birch Tree paintings! I think the fox is definitely a cute touch to this painting!
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How To Paint A Fox and Birch Trees
Yield: 11" x 14" Acrylic on Canvas
Active Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy, Medium
Learn to paint a super cute Fall Fox with Birch Trees in the background. This tutorial will guide you through each step!
Paint the hill a mixture of brilliant yellow green, cadmium yellow medium, burnt umber and deep green permanent.
Paint the birch trees with a 1/4" flat brush and titanium white. Paint vertical lines that are slightly thicker on the bottom and get thinner towards the top.
Paint the black marks on the birch trees with mars black.
Use a #8 round brush to paint the fall leaves with the colors: cadmium yellow medium, cadmium orange hue, cadmium red medium and titanium white.
Trace the fox onto the canvas then paint the orange areas of the fox in with cadmium orange hue and cadmium red medium.
Paint the lighter areas of the fox's fur with unbleached titanium and titanium white.
Paint the details of the eyes, the tips of the ears, the nose, mouth and shadow underneath the fox.
This cute Halloween Cat is perfect for a Halloween Painting Activity with the kids! You will be guided through the steps of how to paint this SUPER EASY Halloween Cat design.The style of this painting is like a coloring book and the steps are so easy that a video is not necessary! Also, no drawing skills are required because this one comes with a traceable.You may recognize this Halloween Cat. This design was originally done in 2017. You can check that out here if you’d like!I redid this painting to fit an 11″ x 14″ canvas as well as provide a traceable so you won’t have to draw the cat! I also think it makes a super easy kid friendly painting! My three year old son, who LOVES Pete The Cat, enjoyed watching me paint this. Enjoy!
This post contains affiliate links.
See Other Halloween Paintings:
Level/ Duration:
Level: Very Easy, Kid Friendly; Duration: 1-2 Hours
These colors are VERY flexible! You can customize your colors too. The style of this painting is “coloring book style” so not having the exact color mentioned will not affect the results.
Directions At A Glance:
Traceables:
These can be downloaded for free in my PDF printable library. Make sure when you print these out, you use the landscape mode. Also, use standard size 8.5″ x 11″ computer paper. The 11″ width will perfectly fit on your 11″ x 14″ canvas canvas.
Video How To Transfer The Design To Canvas:
Directions:
1. Transfer the Halloween cat to the canvas using graphite paper.
Trace the cat onto the canvas by placing a sheet of graphite paper in between the printout and the canvas.
Then outline the drawing with a black paint pen. This is especially helpful if you are painting with kids! The nice bold lines are easy to see and super friendly!
2. Paint the background area all around the cat and moon.
Use the color ultramarine blue (or a similar blue). Use a 1/4″ flat brush to paint. It helps to “cut in” on the edges first and then fill in the bigger areas. Try to make sure all your strokes are going in the same direction.
3. Paint the bottom of the cat, the cat’s tail and the moon.
Use that 1/4″ flat brush to paint the body of the cat in as well as his tail. I used the color Mars Black.
Leave the head blank for now.
Mix equal amounts of cadmium yellow light and titanium white.
Paint the moon this light yellow color. Use any brush to paint the moon in. To get the tiny corner, you may need a #5/0 brush.
4. Paint details on the cat’s face: the eyes, nose and inside of the ears.
For the ears I used a 1/4″ flat brush. Paint them the color “neutral gray value 5”.
The eyes were painted with a #0 round brush. Paint those “brilliant yellow green”.
The nose was also painted with a #0 round brush. Use the color portrait pink.
Also paint the black area of the pupils in with mars black (unless it’s already painted in with a paint pen).
5. Paint the top part of the cat’s head.
Use a 1/4″ flat brush and the color “mars black” to carefully paint the head in. Paint around the eyes, nose and outside border of the ears.
6. Use the color “titanium white” to paint whiskers and small highlight details.
You’ll need a #5/0 brush or the smallest round brush you have for this step! Read the directions closely and look at the image below.
Paint the whiskers titanium white.
Then Paint the inside line of the ear (far left on one ear and far right on the other ear).
Paint a little white dot inside the black pupil of the cat’s eyes.
Paint a white highlight on the very top of the eye.
Paint a white highlight on the left of the pink nose.
Paint the cat’s mouth.
7. Paint the pumpkin cadmium orange hue then paint some stars in the sky.
Use the color cadmium orange hue and a 1/4″ flat brush to paint the pumpkin.
Then switch to your tiny #5/0 round brush to paint white spirals in the sky.
Use the color yellow as well. Paint little dots and asterisks for stars.
8. Finish the painting with some details.
To finish this painting with some details, I used the color cadmium red medium to paint some lines on the pumpkin.
Then I used the color titanium white to add more highlights in all the left areas of the cat. The left area of the body, the left area of the ears and the left area of the tail all have a white highlight line.
Finished!
Super easy! I know this one isn’t like my other tutorials but I was updating traceables and just HAD to make this one into a SUPER EASY kid’s lesson. If you enjoyed this, let me know! Share you results on the SBSP Facebook Page or on a Pinterest Pin!
Print This Painting Lesson:
How To Paint An Easy Halloween Cat - Great For Kids!
Yield: 11" x 14" Acrylic Painting On Canvas
Active Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Kid Friendly
This super easy design is perfect for painting with kids! This tutorial includes a traceable and easy to follow steps for painting the cat in.
It’s time to get crafty with this Halloween canvas painting! In this tutorial you will learn how to paint Witch Shoes, Witch Boots, Witch Feet or whatever you’d like to call them!You will also find in this tutorial a free printable that you can trace onto your canvas. No drawing required!
I used some “extra painting accessories” with this one including: Martha Stewart Foam Pouncers for the circles (Which I LOVE), black fine glitter, gel medium to hold the glitter (don’t let that scare you, it works like glue to hold the glitter) and a paint pen for the words and the spider.
To get the glitter to stick, you can either apply the glitter to wet paint (may not last as long) or use a gel gloss medium as a “glue” agent.These foam pouncers were used to stamp the polka dot circles in the background.
Feel free to customize the colors if you’d like or stick with the ones you see. Don’t forget to share your painting, I love to see all your work. Add it to a Pinterest Pin or the SBSP Facebook Page. Enjoy and Happy Halloween!
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Use a 3/4″ flat brush. Paint the background gold green and a touch of yellow.
Double load the brush with both colors and paint up and down. Leave about 2-3 inches of space on the bottom blank. That gold green is a bit transluscent so the background will look kind of “thin” at this point. That is okay!
2. Use a ruler to get a straight edge horizon line.
I used the ruler to “cut in” and get a straight edge. Just use your 3/4″ flat to paint titanium white to cover up the excess green. My spacing in this area was exactly 2.75″.
Next paint the rest of the bottom with a bit of titanium white and quinacridone magenta. I painted in short sort of expressive “x” strokes. The magenta and the white are not blended all the way and the bottom is a little bit darker than the top.
3. Use Foam Pouncers To Paint The Circles
I am in LOVE with these foam pouncers! All they are is a cylinder piece of foam in a plastic handle but the foam itself is very firm and “spongy”. I chose three different sizes for my circles.
On your palette, have primary yellow, titanium white and gold green ready.
Dip your pouncer in mostly titanium white. Then apply a little primary yellow and a little gold green to the sponge. Practice off to the side to create some circles before applying it to the canvas. This also helps the colors on the sponge mesh together.
When you sponge on the circles, press firmly and twist.
Apply multiple circles of that size. Then switch to two other sizes. You’ll notice some nice color variation when you lightly dip the sponge in some green and yellow. Just make sure you’re using mostly white so the white circles will stand out against the background.
I painted some circles overlapping the pink area but didn’t like it and ended up painting over them.
4. Wait for the painting to dry then trace the witch shoes onto the canvas.
Print the traceable on standard size computer paper. The position of the traceable is center but slightly to the left. The bottom of the paper lines up to the bottom of the canvas.
Use graphite paper to transfer the drawing to the canvas. Press firmly with a regular pencil so the drawing will transfer dark enough for you to see.
5. Use a #8 Round Brush and Carbon Black To Paint The Boots
Basically just paint in the shape of the boots solid black! For the smaller areas, I recommend using a tiny round brush, I used a #0.
For the reflection, I used a 1/4″ flat brush (bright) and painted left and right zig-zag strokes just under the boots. WATER down that black slightly so it’s not as bright as the boots. Apply the paint very slightly.
6. Paint the stockings white.
I used a 1/4″ flat brush and titanium white to paint the stockings. I did up and down strokes to make it easy. Don’t worry about the stripes yet.
7. Add some detail in the boots.
I used the back of my paint brush handle to stamp on three dots of titanium white. Then I used a #0 brush to paint three lines.
I also added some highlight with the titanium white. Make sure you are using a very small brush for this step!
8. Paint the stripes with dioxazine purple and 1/4″ flat brush.
Use a 1 /4″ flat brush and dioxazine purple to paint the stripes over the white. Just create one stroke with the width of the full brush.
9. Draw a broom with chalk.
Then I used a piece of chalk to draw out the broom. You can erase chalk with just water if you mess up! Start by drawing a line for the handle. Then sketch out the bottom part of the bristles.
10. Paint the handle with carbon black and white.
I used a #8 round brush to paint the handle. I double loaded the brush in both black and white and let the colors blend to make gray.
Then I painted the bristles with a 1/4″ flat brush. Start with raw sienna and paint the first layer of the bristles. Use the side of the brush to create sort of sharp jagged strokes.
Then go back to your round brush and black. Add some details at the end of the handle and on the bristles. See the picture below where I applied black.
Then I used that black to add some dark bristle lines.
Then I added some white in the bristles. I also painted some more broom bristles to make it look like it was slightly behind the boots.
Paint the reflection the same way you did the reflection under the boots.
11. Use a fan brush to paint the tutu.
Start with titanium white. Use a dry fan brush on its side to paint the first layer of the tutu. Very important, keep the brush dry! Don’t add water to the white at all. These strokes should be “whispy”, “light” and “see through”.
The first layer of the tutu is titanium white. This was all done with the fan brush. Use the brush on its side to create those sharp pointed lines on the bottom of the tutu. You can also use the full width of the fan brush.
On your palette mix dioxazine purple and white (about equal amounts) to create a light purple.
Paint the next layer on the tutu with this light purple. The goal is to not cover all the white but simply apply another “see through” layer with the fan brush.
Rinse the brush and pat DRY. Next add a final layer of dioxazine purple unmixed. Again, this will be see through. At this point you should see the white, the light purple and the dark purple.
12. Apply Glitter to the Tutu
You could try to sprinkle glitter on wet paint but it may not last very long. I used a gloss gel medium to affix the glitter to the canvas and it worked WELL! That glitter is stuck and it’s not coming off anytime soon. Also, this gloss medium dries clear.
I also used onyx ultra fine glitter. I found the best way to apply ultra fine glitter is to simply use your fingers and sprinkle it on.
To apply the gel, I used a fan brush to paint a layer over the tutu. Work fast so the gel doesn’t dry.
Then sprinkle the glitter onto the tutu over the gloss gel.
Repeat this process for the boots. I applied gloss gel and glitter to the entire boot! I did carefully go around the white details on the boot.
13. Use chalk to write out your words!
I never feel confident when doing letters! I practiced first even before the chalk. Then I used the chalk to write the letters until I was happy with the placement.
Use a black paint pen to trace the letters.
Last but not least, paint a cute spider with the paint pen! I used white acrylic paint for the eyes and dotted on the back eyes with the paint pen.
Finished!!
I don’t know about you, but I love cutesy Halloween stuff! I don’t really care for the dark and “scary” stuff. These witch feet look adorable in our living room and compliment our Halloween decor well!
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Did you Paint this? Please Share!
Share your art! I love seeing your paintings. You can upload a photo on the Pinterest Pin. Or upload a photo to the SBSP Facebook page and I will see it right away! You can also direct message me on Facebook.
Learn how to paint a bright, cheerful yellow sunflower! This acrylic painting tutorial is for the beginner and I will direct you through each step. Painting sunflowers can seem kind of hard. It’s all about layering colors and using some different stroke techniques. The center, for example, was done using “stippling”. The petals were done with “double loading” two colors on the brush. I used two different shades of yellow as well as brown and white. This painting demonstration was done on an 11″ x 14″ canvas. I also did it on an 8″ x 10″ canvas. The design itself is very versatile and can easily be done on a larger scale. If you are inching to paint on a large canvas then this is a great tutorial to do that on! I chose ultramarine blue for the background because I love how the yellow pops with it! You can choose a different background color if you’d like and even omit the spirals. Also, painting the sides of this canvas will give the sunflower painting a beautiful 3D effect of the petals extending around the canvas. I hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it helpful! Please share when you’re done painting!
Painting this for the Fall? See my other Fall Paintings:
Level/ Duration:
Level: Easy-Medium, Duration 1-2 Hours
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Materials
Canvas11″ x 14″ or any size you’d like. This works great on 16″ x 20″ too!
Cadmium Yellow Hue (this is slightly darker than primary yellow and if you’re substituting, it’s very similar to cadmium yellow medium. Honestly if you need help deciding because you’re substituting, just select two different shades of yellow for this – a darker one and a lighter one)
#8 Round (doesn’t have to be #8, it could be any medium size round brush with a nice point to it)
Easel, Jar of Water, Protected Work space & Paper Towel
Note: The cadmium yellow medium is actually labeled cadmium yellow hue if you’re using DecoArt Americana Premium.
Directions At A Glance:
Video:
Step By Step Pictures
1. Trace a 6″ circle on the lower left area of your canvas.
I found a plate that was 6″ in diameter. You can do the same and find a circle that is relatively the same size. If you are working on a larger or smaller canvas, you will need to adjust the size of your circle. I used a pencil to trace.
2. Paint the circle burnt umber.
My 1/2″ filbert brush.
Using any brush (I used a filbert brush), paint the entire circle a solid coat of burnt umber. You don’t need to worry about stroke direction here, it is only an under layer color.
3. Use a #8 round brush to draw the petals all out with cadmium yellow hue.
For the petals I used a #8 round brush and the color cadmium yellow hue.
I started each petal at the base where the circle is and overlapped it slightly over the circle.
Then I drew each petal out. The tip of all the petals went almost all the way to the edge of the canvas. The petals themselves are wider in the middle and come to a point.
Because that burnt umber (brown) is not dry yet, you may end up dragging it with the yellow. That is okay and actually I purposely let it do that so my yellow would look more like a sunflower yellow.
Each petal is slightly different, none of them are exactly uniform. Also, I didn’t really worry about overlapping at this point. I just painted them as if they were all side by side.
Also remember that the petals on the left will go off the canvas so we don’t see the tips. You’ll need to just estimate how they would look.
4. Paint the bottom parts of the petals with cadmium yellow hue double loaded with a tiny bit of burnt umber.
Using that #8 round brush, I double loaded it with a tiny bit of burnt umber and more cadmium yellow hue. Double loading means to load your brush with more than one color.
Then I painted the bottom part of each of the petals. My strokes went in the direction of the petal.
When you reload the brush, make sure you add more cadmium yellow hue and not so much burnt umber. This area should look like a dark, unmixed yellow and not brown. Paint just the bottom of all the petals.
5. Paint the rest of the petals with cadmium yellow hue double loaded with primary yellow.
Use a filbert brush.
Double load the filbert in both cadmium yellow hue and primary yellow (about equal amounts). Paint the petals in with your strokes going in the direction of the petals. Those two yellows will blend to create an uneven yellow on the petals. Try to get that darker part to blend with the yellows as well so it has a nice sooth transition from dark to light.
6. Paint the back petals with burnt umber mixed with cadmium yellow hue.
For the back petals, I mixed on my palette burnt umber and cadmium yellow hue. I did not mix it all the way. Use about 2 parts burnt umber and 4 parts cadmium yellow hue.
Use the #8 round brush to draw out all the back petals and then fill them in. This should look like a golden yellow, not too dark but darker than the front petals.
Also, paint the little white spaces around the circle in between all the petals where the back petals are attached.
Paint the back petals in between all the front petals and all around the sunflower. On the left you don’t see the back petals as much but perhaps see them in between where some of the white space is still showing.
7. Double load the filbert brush with primary yellow and white to paint a top layer on all the front petals.
Go back to your filbert brush (clean). Load it with both primary yellow and titanium white (about equal amounts).
Paint a layer on just the front petals. When you do the strokes, allow that white to blend with the yellow creating soft texture on the petal. Use the tip of the brush on its side to paint a lot of thin strokes to get soft white lines blended with yellow.
Let the paint mix on the canvas and do its thing. Let the strokes blend and contour with the shape of each of the petals. Pay attention to any overlapping petals at this point.
The white and primary yellow will really brighten those front petals up!
8. Use a #8 round brush to “stipple” black in the center of the circle.
Switch back to a clean #8 round brush and add carbon black to your palette.
Use the tip of that round brush to dot a circle of dense black dots in the center. Form a circle with those dots. The circle was about 3″ diameter.
9. Add white to the not rinsed brush and stipple a white ring around the black circle.
After your circle is dense and for the most part filled in with dots, load the not rinsed brush with titanium white.
Dot a dense ring around that black circle. The white will naturally turn gray. let it do this. When you reload, just add white to your brush. Let that color be inconsistent throughout that ring.
10. Rinse brush and then add burnt umber and black.
Continue stippling the outer part of that gray ring you created. Work your way to the outer edge of the circle but don’t fill it in solid. In the next step, I added some orange to my brush so leave some room for the orange.
11. Load the “not rinsed” brush with cadmium orange and stipple on some orange dots on the outer parts of the circle.
As you work your way to the edge of that circle, add cadmium orange medium to your not rinsed brush. Paint little dots of orange. Continue loading the brush with a little orange, a little black and a little burnt umber. Work your way all the way to the edge of that circle. I overlapped some of the dots over the bottom of some petals as well.
Some of the dots overlapped the bottom of the petals. If you think about it, the entire middle circle has dimension and is not completely flat. Therefore some of it might be overlapping the bottom petals slightly.
Basically the middle is darkest with all black dots. The ring is white and black. The outer part of the circle is brown, orange and black (with some dots slightly overlapping the bottom of the petals).
12. Rinse brush completely and add pure titanium white. Stipple on some white dots sparingly in the very center and around the rest of the circle.
Add just pure white to your round brush. Make little bright white dots in the center (just a few), the ring and sparingly on the outer parts of the circle. This give some highlight and nice color dimension.
Now we are done with the sunflower! The hard part is over and next you get to decide how you would like to do the background. White does look lovely, but I decided to paint the background ultramarine blue!
13. Paint the background ultramarine blue using a 1/4″ flat brush.
The flat brush really helps to cut in on those petals especially when you turn it on its side to use the straight edge of the tip.
The background was painted in a solid two coats of ultramarine blue. I ended up having to do two coats because the paint I was using was a bit translucent.
To get into some of the tight corners, use that 5/0 round brush or the smallest brush you have.
Wait for the blue to dry if you are going to do the white spiral designs in the background.
14. Paint the sides of the canvas.
I don’t give much detail when I paint the sides. I just use a solid coat or two of the color that is directly next to it as if the design is stretching on the sides.
To paint the petals on the sides, I only used cadmium yellow hue and did not worry about the shading or anything.
The left side of the canvas was pretty much all cadmium yellow hue.
A view of the top after it was complete. The right side of the canvas (not pictured) is solid blue and the bottom is similar to the top.
15. Let the ultramarine blue dry then paint some spiral designs with titanium white.
I started with the petal tips and painted little dots.
Then I painted little spirals.
The background was pretty much filled with spirals! I may have went a bit overboard but they were just too addicting to paint!
Finished!
So pretty and cheerful!
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The painting was done an an 11″ x 14″ canvas with acrylic paints. The tutorial also includes a Fox Traceable so you don’t have to worry about drawing.
If you’ve been itching to paint a Fall birch scene and not a fox, you can leave the painting as is! This design makes a simple yet gorgeous Fall Birch tree scene! 
This cute Halloween Cat is perfect for a Halloween Painting Activity with the kids! You will be guided through the steps of how to paint this SUPER EASY Halloween Cat design.
It’s time to get crafty with this Halloween canvas painting! In this tutorial you will learn how to paint Witch Shoes, Witch Boots, Witch Feet or whatever you’d like to call them!
You will also find in this tutorial a free printable that you can trace onto your canvas. No drawing required!
Learn how to paint a bright, cheerful yellow sunflower! This acrylic painting tutorial is for the beginner and I will direct you through each step. 
Painting sunflowers can seem kind of hard. It’s all about layering colors and using some different stroke techniques. The center, for example, was done using “stippling”. The petals were done with “double loading” two colors on the brush. I used two different shades of yellow as well as brown and white. 
I chose ultramarine blue for the background because I love how the yellow pops with it! You can choose a different background color if you’d like and even omit the spirals. 
Also, painting the sides of this canvas will give the sunflower painting a beautiful 3D effect of the petals extending around the canvas. 
I hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it helpful! Please share when you’re done painting!
Continue loading the brush with a little orange, a little black and a little burnt umber. Work your way all the way to the edge of that circle. I overlapped some of the dots over the bottom of some petals as well.
