How to Paint a Tile

Tile painting
Sunflower

 

How to Paint a Tile

 

 

The photo above is an example of painting a tile.  All sizes of tiles can be painted for multiple uses - from coasters to small tables, etc.  The photo below shows the steps involved in painting a tile.  All tiles regardless of the size or use will be painted using the same method. 

 

 

 

Step 1:

Determine the design you would like on your tile and cut a piece of sketch paper the size of the tile.  Wash tile with warm soapy water to remove any residue that might prevent the paint from adhering to the surface of the tile.   Allow to dry.

 

Step 2:

Transfer the pattern to the tile.  If the tile is dark in color, rub the back of your pattern with white chalk.  If the tile is light in color, you can use transfer paper.   Using a pencil, trace the design onto the tile.   

 

Step 3:

Using acrylic paint, paint the design on your tile.  Allow to dry completely.

 

Step 4:

Spray with a clear sealant to prevent the paint from wearing off. 

 

The above steps can be used in painting any tiles.  Tiles make great coasters and well as decorative kitchen trivets. 

 

Use your creativity!

 

Happy Painting!

Karen





Beach Trail

Beach Trail
9" x 12"
A watercolor painting
by
Karen A. Cooke

Beach Trail

 
Temperatures are unusually warm in my part of the Unites States for this time of the year….these warmer temperatures make me think about the beach.  My watercolor painting, Beach Trail, was painted from a photo I took last year on vacation to Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.   The boardwalks over to the beach are usually always surrounded by sea oats and offer a glimpse of the ocean and the beach and hint of the fun to come!

Let’s get started with our painting!

 Materials required:

Watercolor paper – size of your choice.  I used a 9” x 12” piece of Arches 140 lb. cold pressed

 Paint brushes:   flat brush, round brush and liner brush for details (sizes of your choice)

Watercolor Paint:
Payne’s Gray
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Blue

Windsor Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Burnt Umber

Sepia
Yellow Ochre
Sap Green
Hunter Green Dark

Painting Instructions:

Prepare your paper for painting by taping the paper to your watercolor board with masking tape.

 Sketch in the painting using the painting above as a guide.  It is important to use a ruler as you will want straight lines for the rails and walkway deck.  Also, sketch in the horizon.  It is not necessary to sketch in the sea oats.  These can be painted in “free hand” or they can be sketched in lightly after the other parts of the picture have been painted. 

Sky:
The sky is painted first.  Wet the sky area with clean water.  Prepare the paint you plan to use for the sky.  Using the flat brush, start at the top and paint from top to bottom ending with the lightest color (almost white) where the sky meets the water.  While the sky is still wet, drop in some deeper intensity of the same color in various locations and use a tissue to remove some of the paint to create clouds.   Allow to dry.
 
Note:  The time of day and the weather conditions can be changed based on the paint colors used for the sky and for the water. 

 Water:

Paint the water by wetting the paper first with clean water.  Starting at the horizon paint using a mix of blue and green paint in various shades and work down to the beach allowing the color to become much lighter where the beach and the water meet.  While the paint is still wet, use a tissue and a Q-tip and remove the paint to create white tips on the waves and near the shore.    Allow to dry.

Beach:
Paint the sandy beach next using a pale wash of yellow ochre, add Payne’s Gray in the center section of the beach to indicate a tide line.  While the paint is still wet, drop in Sap Green and Burnt Umber in the area where the lower section of the sea oats are growing and are seen through the boardwalk rails.  Using another Q-tip, soften the beach area where it meets the water, removing enough paint to create the foam.  Be careful to now “scrub” the Q-tip across the paper with enough pressure to leave marks or rough up the paper.  Allow to dry. 

 Boardwalk:

Paint the Boardwalk using Payne’s Gray, Sepia and Yellow Ochre.  Paint one section at a time and allow to dry before painting an adjoining section so the colors do not run from one section to another.  First, apply clean water to a section and drop in the paint colors allowing the colors to be lighter and darker in various spots on the same board.  Allow to dry.  Details/wood grain will be added later.

Sea Oats:

If you feel more comfortable sketching in the sea oats before you paint, do so using a light pencil mark.  Do not  indent the paper.   Prepare a wash of yellow ochre, burnt umber, and Sap Green.  Using these colors alternate painting the stalks of various heights using a round brush or a liner brush.  Refer to the painting for placement.  Using the edge of a flat brush, tap in the “oat” portion of the sea oats varying the paint colors.  Drop in Sap Green mixed with ultramarine blue in the right lower section of the rail and using a small piece of credit card pull up the grasses.  Add some Burnt Umber to add variety to the color and indicate shadows. 

Boardwalk Details:
Using a flat brush with the bristles spread, dry brush the wood grain using Payne’s Gray and Burnt Umber.  Add knot holes and other details with a liner brush. 

Sand Detail:

Cover with a paper towel all sections of the painting except for the beach.  Using a wash of Payne’s Gray and a flat brush, spatter the paint to add details to the sand.

Check your painting for any additional details you would like to add.  When satisfied, sign your painting!

Happy Painting!
Karen

Mountain Magic

Mountain Magic
Acrylic Painting
by
Karen A. Cooke

Mountain Magic

Some of my favorite painting subjects are landscapes from the mountains; either scenes with cabins or barns or simply the mountains themselves.    The painting above is an acrylic painted from a photo I snapped from one of the many overlooks in the park.    Before I start with my painting instructions, below is a little information regarding the park. 

 The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a range of the Appalachian Mountains; this range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains.  The name is commonly shortened to the “Smokies.”  The Smokies are best known as the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which protects most of the range. The park was established in 1934; and with over 9 million visits per year, it is the most-visited national park in the United States.

 The name "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that often hangs over the mountains and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance. This fog is caused by the vegetation exhaling volatile organic compounds, chemicals that have a high vapor pressure and easily form vapors at normal temperature and pressure.

The “smoke” or “mountain magic” as I call it is shown in my painting above.  Depending on the weather and time of day, the tallest mountains can be mostly hidden in the fog.  When painting on location in the Smokies, I have seen puffs of this smoke rising from various areas in the part. 

Let’s get started with our painting!

Materials required:

Canvas panel,  I used a 6” x 12” stretched canvas
Paint brushes:   flat brush, round brush and liner brush for details (sizes of your choice)
Palette knife
Paint:
White
Black
Payne’s Gray
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Burnt Umber
Yellow Ochre
Sap Green
Crimson

Painting Instructions:

Lightly sketch in the horizon, the basic shapes of the mountain peaks and the rocky section of the foreground.  Do not make your sketch detailed and do not sketch in the trees. 

Painting the Sky:
Using Cerulean Blue and white and a flat brush paint the sky lightening the sky as it touches the tops of the mountains.   Add clouds with a palette knife scattered across the sky. 

Painting the Mountains:

Add Ultramarine Blue and Crimson to the Cerulean Blue and White used for the sky to paint the mountains.  Note that the mountains farther away will be lighter than the ones in the foreground.  Deepen the color of the paint used as you move forward.  Add Sap Green to the shade for the foreground mountains.  Deepen the color to paint shadows and valleys.   

Painting the trees:
Using the edge of a flat brush paint in the shapes of the trees with a mix of Sap Green and Ultramarine Blue.  Vary the tree heights and allow the background color to show through the branches.    Make the trees further away darker.   Using Yellow Ocher and Sap Green add highlights to some of the tree branches.   Deepen the area at the bottom of the trees. 

 Foreground/Rocks:

Using a mix of Payne’s Gray, Burnt Umber and White, paint the foreground.  Vary the intensity and color to add shape and shadows.  Refer to the photo above. 

Painting the Foreground Scrub:

Using a round brush, dab in the shrub.  Allow the foreground to show through.  Add Yellow Ochre highlights.  Using the liner brush and brunt umber, add branches to the shrub. 

 Painting the Mist:

Using a mix of mostly white with a touch of Payne’s Gray and a palette knife, add the mist in various spots on the mountains. 

Review your painting for any details you would like to add.  Allow to dry and sign your painting!

Happy Painting!

Karen

 

 

Red Barn on a Winter Morn

Red Barn on a Winter Morn
9" x 12" Watercolor
by
Karen A. Cooke

Red Barn on a Winter Morn

I love painting barns and there was just something special about this one that stood out and begged to be painted.    I think the contrast with the white snow and the light blue sky makes this winter scene a cheerful one. 

 The most difficult part of this painting is the perspective.  With the many roof angles, getting the perspective correct is one of the most important components of your painting. 

How comfortable are you with your drawing skills?    If you feel as though you may require using an eraser multiple times to get the perspective correct, then I would suggest drawing the barn on a piece of sketch paper cut to the same size as the watercolor paper.    Multiple erasures and lines can damage watercolor paper and when paint is applied, it will pool in any indentations on the paper.   Multiple erasures may also “rough up” the paper which will show in the finished painting. 

 

Materials required:

Watercolor paper, size of your choice.  I used 9” x 12” paper. 

Sketch paper, same size of your watercolor paper, if needed

Paint brushes:   flat brush, round brush and liner brush for details

Paint:

• Payne’s Gray
• Cerulean Blue
• Cobalt Blue
• Burnt Umber
• VanDyke Brown
• Yellow Ochre
• Sap Green
• Crimson

Small piece of plastic credit card
Masking fluid and old brush

Painting Instructions:

Drawn the barn on the watercolor paper or your sketch paper.  Do not prepare a detailed drawing; simply get the perspective correct and placement on your paper.   If you prepared a sketch first, transfer your sketch to the watercolor paper. 

How to transfer a sketch:

2 methods:

1.     Graphite transfer paper:  Place a piece of transfer paper between the drawing and the blank watercolor paper.  Lightly trace along the lines of your drawing.  Do not press hard enough to leave indentations in the watercolor paper. 

2.     The sketch:  Turn the sketch over and rub the back of the drawing with a pencil leaving dark pencil spaces along the lines of the drawing.  When all of the lines have been covered with heavy pencil marks, place the sketch on top of the watercolor paper with the pencil marks facing the watercolor paper. (You have made your own graphite paper.)   Lightly trace along the lines of your drawing on the front side of your sketch.  Do not press hard enough to leave indentations in the watercolor paper. 

Lightly sketch in the windows and doors.  Drawn the fence and lightly sketch the shape of the tree.  Do not draw individual limbs; these will be painted in.  Sketch in the horizon. 

In order to retain the white trim around the windows, doors and the fence, use the masking fluid and an old brush, apply the masking fluid and allow to dry. 

Painting the Sky and Background Trees:

Prepare a light wash of Cerulean Blue for the sky.   Working around the barn, wet the area down to the horizon.  The light sky color can be painted in the area where the tree will be painted in another step.  Apply the sky color using a flat brush.    Using a tissue remove some of the paint for cloud shapes.    Before the sky dries, drop in the trees at the horizon using   VanDyke Brown and Sap Green.   Let the colors diffuse.    Allow to dry.

Painting the Barn:

I painted the sides of the barn first; however, the roof can be painted first if you prefer.  Prepare a wash of Crimson with a small amount of VanDyke Brown and/or Brunt Umber to deepen the red.  Addition brown will be added for shadows as shown in the photo above.  When the primary color of the barn has dried, use a dry, flat brush with the bristles spread, and paint the wood grain and board lines of the barn with a deep shade of Crimson and VanDyke Brown.   Paint any broken areas of the wood with this same color (see bottom edge of right side of the barn). 

Using VanDyke Brown and Paynes’s Gray,  paint the open door showing the shadows inside the barn. 

Prepare a wash of Payne’s Gray for the inside of the windows.  This is where using the masking fluid definitely makes life easier!    Allow to dry and remove the masking fluid.    Add a light wash of Payne's Gray in various locations on the white window time for detail and shadows. 

Referring to the photo of the painting, paint the roof using a mix of Cerulean Blue along with a light wash of Payne’s Gray.  Either a flat brush or a round brush can be used.    Deepen the paint around the edge of the room and at the roof angles.  Using a wash of Payne’s Gray, paint the underside of the roof on the left side of the barn.    Allow to dry.

Painting the Fence:

Remove the masking fluid.  Although the fence is white, adding shadows to the fence will give it a more realistic look.  Refer to the photo above to see where to apply the gray paint.  Allow to dry.

Painting the tree:

Using a wash of VanDyke Brown and Burnt Umber, paint the trunk of the tree.  Wet the tree trunk before painting and deepen the color in places.   This is not detailed.  Using the same color paint and a round brush,  paint in the branches tapering from large to small.  Use a liner brush to pull in the smallest branches.    

Painting the Snow:

Wet the snow and using a pale wash of Payne’s Gray,  drop in the shadows.    Deepen the snow under the fence and around the posts.  Be certain to paint the shadows in the background at the tree line.  Allow this to dry.

Painting in the Grasses at the Fence:

Wet the area with clean water.  While still wet, drop in Brunt Umber and Yellow Ochre at the base of the plants and using the small piece of credit card, pull the paint up into the shape of the grasses.  Allow to dry.    Add a few springs of grass at the bottom of fence post with a liner brush. 

Painting the background fence:

Using the same paint as the tree, paint in the fence rails using a liner brush. 

Paint the road:

Using a pale wash of yellow ochre and Payne’s Gray, paint in the road.  Paint darker areas to indicate tire tracks. 

Review your painting for any details you would like to add.  Allow to dry and sign your painting!

 

Happy Painting!

Karen