Tutorial: Acrylic Painting using Palette Knife | Girl on Balcony

Hello everyone! In this acrylic painting tutorial, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a wonderful landscape painting using a palette knife, inspired by the tutorial from the YouTube channel “Art of John Magne Lisondra (JMLisondra)”. In this video, John Magne Lisondra guides us through his experimental approach to painting a scene with a girl on a balcony, primarily using a palette knife. While we can’t provide actual screenshots here, we’ll describe each step so you can follow along.

Step 1: Gathering Your Acrylic Painting Materials

Before you begin, ensure you have all the necessary materials ready. As shown on the screen in the tutorial, you will need:

• Canvas: Your chosen canvas size.
• Palette Knife: Primarily a palette knife will be used for this painting.
• Brushes: A 1.5-inch flat brush for the underpainting and possibly some smaller brushes for finishing touches.
• Limited Color Palette: The artist uses a limited palette consisting of yellow, blue, white, red, and umber.
• Palette: For mixing your paints.

Acrylic Paint Colors:

Titanium white
Phthalo Blue / Ultramarine Blue / Primary Blue
Brilliant Red / Primary Red / Cadmium Red
Medium Yellow / Primary Yellow
Raw Umber / Burnt Umber / Burnt Sienna
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Brushes:

Number 1.5 inch Flat Brush
Palette knife

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Step 2: Creating the Underpainting

To begin, John uses a 1.5-inch flat brush to apply an underpainting. The purpose of the underpainting is to create a base that will be easier to cover with the palette knife later on.

• Mix yellow, blue, and white to create a general background color.
• Add some umber and blue to create darker areas.
• Incorporate a little bit of red to make some orange tones.
• Apply these colors to the canvas, creating a strong dark background with hints of a hazy effect. The artist mentions wanting to make it a little bit abstract at this stage.

Step 3: Sketching the Basic Shapes with a Palette Knife

Once the underpainting is done, the artist switches to a palette knife to sketch the main elements of the scene.

• Using raw umber, sketch the arc-shaped gate of a house on the side of the canvas. This arc is depicted as quite thick.
• Add more umber to define the thickness of the arc.
• On the side of the arc, still using umber, begin to outline the side of the house, indicating that it has a second floor.
• Sketch in a balcony on this part of the house. The artist does not emphasize details at this stage.

Step 4: Adding Initial Colors and Defining Forms

Now, the artist starts to introduce more colors using the palette knife.

• Mix yellow, red, and umber to create some initial tones. Add white and more yellow to lighten the mixture. Incorporate umber again to create darker variations.
• Apply these colors to suggest the walls of the house and the arc, creating a somewhat textured appearance due to the palette knife.
• Continue adding a grayish color by mixing umber and white. This can be challenging with a palette knife, as the artist mentions.

Step 5: Introducing Light and Highlights

The artist starts to consider the light source in the painting.

• Decide on the direction of the light source. In this case, the artist initially considers both left and right but ultimately decides to place the light source on the right side, meaning the highlights will generally appear on the left.
• Mix white, yellow, a bit of red, and umber to create a very light brown color.
• Use the palette knife to apply these light tones as highlights on the side of the house and the arc, following the direction of the light.
• Add more white and yellow with a touch of red and umber for further highlights.

Step 6: Adding Details: Plants, Shadows, and the Porch

With the basic structure and light established, the artist begins adding more details.

• On the top of the arc, use the palette knife to add suggestions of plants.
• Use a little bit of umber to put in a cast shadow.
• Define a porch-like area using a bit of a cooler tone.
• Introduce white and blue to suggest a stairway.

Step 7: Refining the Structure and Adding More Tones

The painting starts to become clearer as more tones and details are added.

• Use burnt umber and white to create darker grays and further define the forms of the house and the arc.
• Continue adding highlights with white, yellow, and red.

Step 8: Adding Cast Shadows and Emphasizing Light

The interplay of light and shadow is crucial in this painting.

• Mix blue, red, white, and a little bit of umber to create cast shadows on the side of the structures.
• Further emphasize the light by adding more highlights with white and yellow, making the light appear clear.

Step 9: Adding a Door and Window

Architectural details are introduced to give the scene more context.

• On the side of the house, add a door. The artist uses red, yellow, and umber to create a brown door.
• Include a door knob using a lighter tone.
• Add a window to the house using white for the frame.

Step 10: Introducing a Flower Pot and More Plants

Elements of life are added to the balcony.

• Create a flower pot using blue, red, umber, and white to achieve purplish tones, with lighter colors for highlights.
• Add suggestions of plants on the side and top using yellow and blue to create greens, sometimes with a touch of red or umber for variation. The artist uses the palette knife for applying these greens.
• Incorporate highlights on the plants using blue, yellow, and white.

Step 11: Adding a Figure (Girl on the Balcony)

To make the painting more unique and alive, the artist decides to add a person.

• Using umber, sketch the head of the person.
• Depict the person wearing a red garment.
• Use blue and red to create light purples for part of the figure.
• Mix light brown (yellow, umber, red) and white for the hair.
• Add a casted shadow for the figure using a darker tone.

Step 12: Finishing Touches with a Brush

Towards the end, the artist uses a brush for some finishing touches.

• Blur out the sides to create a cleaner look.
• Retouch any areas as needed using colors like raw umber and white.

Conclusion:

This experimental palette knife painting demonstrates how you can create an impressionistic landscape with a focus on light and shadow using a limited color palette. As John Magne Lisondra emphasizes, the key is to keep practicing and experimenting with your tools and colors. He hopes you found this step-by-step guide helpful and encourages you to try your own palette knife painting! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more tutorials!

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