As a beginning painter in acrylics, I’m learning from square one. I Absorb huge amounts of Youtube videos. Yes, practice makes perfect, but watching youtube accelerates learning. as a beginner I wouldn’t dare use and waste a canvas. I use sketching paper.

I took this picture of a trail the other day. It will be my second attempt at a landscape painting. I’m studying values which is the dark and light colors. Paint the dark first then light. I’ve sketched out the composition and I blocked out the dark portions then moved into the dark greens. I’m finishing up on some light green areas.

Lessons learned as you study a scene. What is the lightest area? Sky always. Beginning with dark first I painted the blacktop trail. But looking closer the trail is not black at all but gray. I tossed that first effort. To get an understanding of values I printed out a black and white image of the scene.

Anyway, just following instructions; dark to light.