Painting Old Wood

Old and weathered wood is the background for this painting and takes up the majority of the painting while acting as a subtle backdrop for the old lock.

Painting old wood is easy to do using a mix of different muted colors.

Here's how:

Wet the wood area with clean water and apply a place wash of yellow ochre, Payne's gray, and sepia. Drop in the colors in various locations. Some areas can even remain without color. Since the area was wet before the paint was applied, the color will run and blend.

Let this dry. Using a 1/2 inch flat brush with the bristles fanned out slight, dry brush in wavy grain lines with a wash of Sepia and Payne's gray.

Let this dry and use a fine liner brush or a watercolor pen and draw in a few lines to further indicate the wood grain.

Don't forget to deepen the color in the shadows under the lock.

The example above shows the first step in painting the weathered wood background showing one section left unpainted. Note in the painting at the beginning of the blog, the direction of the wood grain showing the door in the center and the siding on the left, which is running horizontal rather than vertical like the door.

Next time, the lock!! Until then...

Happy Painting!
Karen