# Another step by step



## dickhutchings

Here's what I've decided to try. It's another Ben Saber tutorial. I love his work. I got about 15 whole minutes into this including setting up my pallet.

My reference and my start. First thing I notice is canvas has the wrong dimensions. I'll have to crop Ben's painting.:vs_blush:


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## TerryCurley

Ooooo the reference picture you picked is beautiful. I'm going to enjoy seeing this develop. I've never seen one of Ben Saber's tutorials, I'll have to put it on my list to check out.


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## dickhutchings

Rather than crop, I resized/stretched his painting to fit my canvas. I don't think it makes much difference for this painting. Nothing looks distorted to me. What do you think?


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## TerryCurley

It looks fine stretched.


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## dickhutchings

Here's a couple hours worth of work. I think it's coming out pretty good. Maybe too many clouds and not enough sky. Maybe I can fix that.


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## dickhutchings

A little more.


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## TerryCurley

Your sky and clouds are awesome.


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## dickhutchings

Thanks Terry, I hope to start the water tomorrow morning. Got to go do some carpentry for my daughter tonight. 

There's a lot of detail in this painting. It'll probably take me a month to complete.


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## dickhutchings

I've come up with a new method for posting my WIP. It's a little extra work but I think it will be helpful to anyone trying to follow what I'm doing, including me. I've combined the reference, previous step and current images into one. I think anyone that has the time and a little photoshop experience can do this. Let's see if can start a trend:biggrin:


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## dickhutchings

Another hours work. I don't know if it's the photo or if I really have the horizon that far off. I'll have to wait til I get home to find out.


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## TerryCurley

It's coming together nicely.


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## dickhutchings

Thanks Terry. I wish I could scan it because the colors aren't close to the actual painting. I need some better lighting or maybe I should break out my Canon. I'm just too used to the convenience of instant uploads from my phone.


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## TerryCurley

I only use my cell phone for pictures. I don't know where my other camera is and my cell takes better pictures anyway. Lighting is everything when taking a picture. When the weather was warmer I always took my photos out doors in full daylight. 

Tell you true my paintings hardly ever end up the same tone as the reference picture. But as long as I'm happy with I don't think it's important.


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## dickhutchings

I usually paint after the sun goes done and before it comes up. There's very little sunlight coming through my north facing window in the morning. Maybe in the spring I'll take them out on the east facing porch and photograph them with some nice morning sunlight.


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## FanKi

I already like it 

You could give me what you have done and I'll be very happy with it >.<


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## Draelaw

I've been watching Ben Saber too. Some of his tutorials are full, but some are brief. I like him too. Can't seem to move on til I finish my dog painting, though. I try to fix the shading a little every day. I have the color mixing recipe book, and trying to match up my dogs strawberry blond fur, and then figure the shading color. Anybody been through this before?


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## dickhutchings

Thanks Franki. It's already changed, good or bad. I can start on it again tomorrow morning.


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## dickhutchings

My sister is going through the same thing with her goldendoodle right now. She's a beginner like me but I think it's coming out great.
You should post your work. I'd love to see it.


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## TerryCurley

Welcome to the forum Draelaw. Looking forward to seeing you painting. I never heard of Ben Saber, I will have to check him out. I love doing tutorials. All my best paintings are from tutorials with some personal modifications. I'm just not good at figuring out good compositions on my own.


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## dickhutchings

Doh! @Draelaw _is_ my sister. What a knucklehead I am. Welcome to the forum Donna. Please post your WIP.


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## dickhutchings

Did some more work this morning trying to blend the clouds a little better. I'm sure they need more bright orange and yellow now.

I'm giving up on the little collage feature. It's just too much work.


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## TerryCurley

If I were doing this I don't think I'd add any more yellow to the clouds. But if you want to you might think about making the surrounding sky a little warmer with a touch of dark yellow or orange. I know this is not in the reference but I often go rouge from the reference. 

It's coming along really nice Dick.


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## dickhutchings

Thanks Terry, I'll consider it. I'm in no hurry, I could play with the clouds and sky forever. This is fun and I'm learning how nice acrylics are to make changes to.


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## dickhutchings

Still haven't got to the yellows or red tints yet. I'm reshaping my clouds and playing with colors. I think I'll be working on the sky for a while, I still don't like some of the shapes and I'd like to have more sky showing.:biggrin:
Here's this mornings 1 hours work.


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## TerryCurley

The picture I've been working on today kind of has a similar sky. Only I'm not putting blue in my sky because it's suppose to be almost night or almost morning I never know which. Just thought I'd show you what I was doing with the sky. I don't know if mine is realistic but I like the dramatic look to it. Of course this is nothing like your reference photo (or mine), but I wanted to share it with you for ideas since you are playing with the sky.


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## dickhutchings

It's gorgeous as was mine before I tried to fix it. As the Beatles once said, let it be.


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## dickhutchings

I feel like I totally ruined my work last night. In my efforts to lighten the tree line, I completely wiped out the space between the trees that should show the nice sunlight and pieces of clouds.:surprise: I didn't have the reference to look at while I was painting because my computer was busy installing windows10. I have a lot of fixing to do and I'm not sure how to go about it. I'm tempted to start over but what would I learn from that? I already know that I need a good printout of my reference hanging beside my canvas so I don't lose sight of it. I could just make this painting into my own but that's not what I started out to do.

Would it be easier to start over on a fresh canvas?

Your comments and input are welcome.


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## TerryCurley

I can't begin to tell you how many paintings I messed up by trying to fix them. It happens. Honestly I like the clouds much more now. It's just the tree line that got too thick.

It's counter intuitive but what I would do is treat the tree line as if it were just an underpainting. In a darker value (much darker from what is now there) with a very light touch go over the trees. Not completely covering, just a very light touch. They will look like silhouettes against the bright sky. But honestly I don't know if it would work or not, it would just be something I would try.


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## dickhutchings

Thanks Terry. Going with your idea of treating it like an under-painting, I may try to get some of the sky colors in before I repaint the trees. I really want the sky to show between the trees like it did before.

I finally made a color print-out of this scene to hang beside my painting so there will be no more hiccups.


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## dickhutchings

Thought I posted this already. Retry.


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## TerryCurley

I like the sky and the trees on the right side are great. Not too sure about the trees on the left, I'm guessing you are still working on them.


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## dickhutchings

Yeah, the ones on my left where my first attempt. I'll be painting over all of that. I think the trees on the right came out rather well myself. Thank you


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## dickhutchings

2 steps forward, one step back. I want to get this right.


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## TerryCurley

This looks really nice Dick. The fun is in the trying and when it comes out good ....WoooHooo Miller Time!


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## dickhutchings

Thanks Terry. I think I have the top portion as close as I can get it, Now let's see if I can paint the clouds without screwing them up and covering too much of the sky.


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## dickhutchings

Made some clouds this morning. I'll be adding more colors to them tomorrow.


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## TerryCurley

So far so good.:laugh:


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## dickhutchings

Another half hours painting this morning. I could have spent more time painting but I was having way too much fun watching someone else paint on YouTube.
Love this drag and drop feature.


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## dickhutchings

Used my new Princeton #4 filbert brush this morning. It's perfect for the clouds in this small canvas. I finally learned to wipe the excess of my brush before lightly dipping into my cloud colors. I got the blending I've been looking for! Yay!


Even though the colors don't match my reference, I'm going to stop there and start the tree line. You'll notice there are a lot of lumps, that's from my poor technique in many previous attempts. I'll live with it and move on. I've learned so much from this.


Anyway, here's this mornings before work effort. I could spend forever trying to get this perfect but I've had enough of it.:biggrin:


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## TerryCurley

Your sky is matching the reference very well. I like it.


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## dickhutchings

Got a couple of hours painting tonight, Woo hoo!


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## Susan Mulno

Wow Dick! That is looking great!


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## TerryCurley

This is really coming out good Dick. I love the water and the sky and the trees. This is really going to be something to be proud of.


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## dickhutchings

More changes this morning. I even made some to the sky and clouds. I didn't like the darkness and the clouds in the middle weren't sized right.


It sure has gotten lumpy. This one will look good from afar:biggrin:


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## dickhutchings

I originally thought these bumps were from not blending enough and over painting. Now I'm thinking it might be from too much water or not enough Gesso. If you look close, it looks like the threads are swollen.


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## dickhutchings

I won't be happy with this on my wall. I want to continue anyway just to gain the experience of painting that cool bridge and path.


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## TerryCurley

I've done some painting over old paintings I've done and it always comes out bumpy for me. I decided it just isn't worth doing. One I sold, but she knew it was bumpy before I sold it to her.


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## Susan Mulno

Maybe instead of bumpy they are 3D! :biggrin:


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## dickhutchings

I've been thinking about this and with what I've learned, I could start fresh on a larger canvas and get back to this stage in no time. I can still mess around with this one on splash night.


What do you think?


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## dickhutchings

I think the lumps were a figment of my imagination and I'm going to finish it up. I made some progress tonight.


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## PMMurphy

Hey i like this colorful painting. What i like most about it is you don't necesarily draw the reference photo exactly, you capture its esscence and make it your own. unless you plan to fully copy the painting then ill just sit back and watch (popcorn)


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## Susan Mulno

This is coming along nicely! You have made improvements just since you started this painting!


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## dickhutchings

PMMurphy said:


> Hey i like this colorful painting. What i like most about it is you don't necesarily draw the reference photo exactly, you capture its esscence and make it your own. unless you plan to fully copy the painting then ill just sit back and watch (popcorn)


Thanks, I couldn't copy it exactly if I tried. I'm just a beginner and I'm having fun trying to capture the essence as you say. 



Susan Mulno said:


> This is coming along nicely! You have made improvements just since you started this painting!


Thanks Susan
I have no where to go but up right? As a total beginner, everytime I touch brush to canvas, I'm learning something.


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## PMMurphy

I think one of the first struggles as a beginner artist is learning that your mind prevents so much. If you shake the idea of "idk if i can do this" to "i can do this" things start unraveling and you find out that its not as hard as it looks!

That is to say for any hobby really. Just believe you can do it put forth the work then do it. The way i look at things is, if i mess up its allllll in the styllleeee


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## TerryCurley

dickhutchings said:


> I've been thinking about this and with what I've learned, I could start fresh on a larger canvas and get back to this stage in no time. I can still mess around with this one on splash night.
> 
> 
> What do you think?


Usually the paintings I like most I do over on a larger canvas. I have an blank 30x40 canvas over my TV in the living room. Haven't decided yet what I'm going to put on it, but it might be a blown up version of the Rose Bush painting I'm currently working on.


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## TerryCurley

Dick this painting is coming out really good. This is amazing work for how new you are to painting!


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## Liz

Another faster learner, coming along great Dick!


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## dickhutchings

OK, here's the bridge. All I have left to do is reflections, bushes and lily pads.


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## Susan Mulno

I am impressed! Well done! :vs_cool::vs_clap:


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## dickhutchings

I think it's done. Now I have to find another scene that inspires me like this one did. And, start another thread. It's almost sad.


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## just

I think that you made some large strides quickly. May I suggest that you expand your repertoire. Maybe include animals in a landscape.


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## leighann

It's coming along nicely. Can't wait to see the end result.


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## dickhutchings

I may do just that Just.:biggrin: Now that you mention it, I have a nice photo of my dog and my sisters dog on the beach. I might have to make the beach a little more interesting though. I love these dogs so it has some meaning for me.


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## dickhutchings

leighann said:


> It's coming along nicely. Can't wait to see the end result.


Hey, that is the end result:surprise: Did you miss a post?


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## leighann

Yep, I sure did!!! My machinery must have burped :laugh:

Anyhoo...love the "end result" haha ...Very Nice! 

I have so much respect for you painters, I'm just not sure I have the patience.


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## PMMurphy

The ending looks great!!! I also like the dog and beach photo!


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## TerryCurley

Dick this painting came out wonderful. You amaze me how quickly you are able to produce such good work. No one would believe you have only done a few paintings to date.


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## FanKi

Wow Dickhutchings ._.
You are getting better, really ._.

Don't know why, but I love the sky. Looks so calmed :3

PS: Beautiful dogs!


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## ritabernardo

Looks great TerryCurley. I am ready to buy your paintins =)


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## Bushcraftonfire

Really turned out well Dick! Very impressive. Only thing I would do is add a bit of contrast to the left hand tree. It looks flat compared to the other one. Other than that.. the reflections are exquisite.. the sky ended up very nicely.. and the bridge is well done. It has all come together into a very cohesive painting! I might like to try this one In WC

As a side note.. it was interesting to watch you struggle! And in many ways it was inspirational as well. You hung in there.. and it paid off. Very well done!

D


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## dickhutchings

Thanks David. Very nice comments. I'm going to do this one again. My daughter wants one a little bigger.


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## Mel_Robertson

I love the orange sky dick


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## dickhutchings

Bushcraftonfire said:


> As a side note.. it was interesting to watch you struggle! And in many ways it was inspirational as well. You hung in there.. and it paid off. Very well done!
> 
> D


This made me chuckle. I sure was struggling with it. I can't believe you read the whole thread.:biggrin:


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## dickhutchings

meli said:


> I love the orange sky dick


Thanks Meli. I don't think I intended to put any orange in the sky, only the clouds. Maybe that's what you're seeing. It does stand out.


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