Gouache Painting Tutorial : Samhain Blessings

I painted this still life "Samhain Blessings" on black paper and recorded the process. The original video is 40 minutes long but I shortened it to 4 minutes. I also took a photo of this and added animation in photoshop which you will see at the end.

With this painting I went slower. I was actually sort of rushing when I painted the cauldron but I stopped trying to meet some imaginary deadline for now. I started with the skull and slowly added on the layers. You can see me start with a light more watery base layer of creamy orange, and then I add on thicker and less watery layers of warm creamy orange and towards the end I added on shadows which were grey + creamy orange or black + creamy orange. When the layers of paint are thick enough I can blend them together with a slightly moistened paintbrush. The lighting is determined by where the light source it and what parts of the object it will hit when it travels in a straight line towards it. Parts of the object that catch the light create a shadow for areas that are blocked by it.

Then I move onto the selenite candle holder. This one has a lot of layers because selenite is semitransparent and there is a tea light candle inside of it. I happen to have this selenite candle holder at home so I use it as a reference often. It is something I can look at so much that I can memorize what it looks like. Once again I start with a base watery cream, then I add on alternating layers of very warm-orange-red and very creamy-white paint. At the end I add on highlights and darkest shadows. Selenite has lots of texture so the layering of many different colors creates the effect I am seeking.

The tea candles are little cream circles with warm orange tones and a flame in the center. Then I just randomly paint in the metal casing of the tea candle and add a little arbitrary light and shadow according to what should be brightest and darkest in the still life.

At the very end I add on some lighting on the floor with a light cream base and dark shadows.

The photoshop animation was fun to make also :)

Thank you for watching my video! Let me know if you have any art related questions.

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