2. Layering Cool and Warm
Colors:
Barn and Pasture
MATERIALS Needed TODAY:
• 5” X 7” Canvas Board *
• #8 Filbert brush,
•#10 Round Brush
• Palette paper
• Water
• No Medium Today!
COLOR PALETTE:
• Alizarin Crimson
• Thalo Blue
• Cadmium Red light
• Yellow Ochre
• Burnt Sienna
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Unbleached Titanium
• Titanium White
• Ivory Black

3. 1. To establish the cool toned
underpainting, use Alizarin Crimson
to paint a series of simplified
shapes:
• Large pasture in the foreground
• The side and face of a barn
surrounded by a group of trees
• A distant strip of land at the horizon
WAIT FIVE MINUTES
FOR THE PAINT TO DRY

4. Notice the pasture with its interesting patterns of yellow and
green with cool shadows.
A painter can get this effect several ways:
• Detailed brushwork
• Dry brush technique
• Broad patches of
color
• Underpaintings
• Different
combinations
of these techniques.
Underpaintings are used to create depth and interest with a minimum of
effort but a maximum of effect. It just takes a little planning.

5. With this particular painting we
are going to be painting:
•A cool colored underpainting (
Alizarin Crimson) with the warm
colors (the greens) of the grass.
•Cool colors with another warm
colors side by side.
Playing with warm and cool colors will help make your paintings ‘sing’.

6. COMPLIMENTARY COLORS

7. CLOSE UP
2
3*
3*
3*
3*
3*
2. Paint the face of the barn
with Cadmium Red Medium.
3. Use mixture of Burnt Sienna
and Cadmium Red Medium for
the long side of the barn and
the trees surrounding the barn.
THE TREES
WILL HAVE ANOTHER
FINAL LAYER***

8. CLOSE UP
Photo does not show this step*
At this stage, all of your shapes have
been painted with warm colors. In the
following steps, you will continue to
play with warm and cool color layering.
Be sure that the underpainting has had
time to dry completely so that the next
layers do not lift the paint from the
surface.
4. Paint the rooftop of the barn with a
mixture of Unbleached Titanium and
Mars Black.

9. 5*
5. Mix a cool green using Cadmium
Yellow Light and Thalo Blue. Apply this
to the foreground.
5* Mix a little more Cadmium Yellow
Light to make a warm green. Add some
of this mixture over the top of some of
the cool greens to create a grassy
texture. Refer to the photos below.
Drybrush technique…
Photo does not show this step*

10. 5*
OPTION: Over the
dry grasses
Drybrush some
cool and/or warm
flower patches…
these are not the
focal point so use
a small bristle
brush.

11. 7
6
Remember to allow a little of the warm
underpainting to show at the edges.
6. Add Unbleached Titanium to the cool
green mixture. Paint the triangular
patch of grass with this color.
7. Mix Mars Black with a little of the
Cadmium Yellow Light to make a dark
green for the trees near the barn.

12. 7
6
Remember to allow a little of the
underpainting to show at the
edges.
6. Add Unbleached Titanium to the cool
green. Paint the triangular patch of
grass with this color.
Cools recede back in the picture plane.
7. Mix Mars Black with a little of the
Cadmium Yellow Light to make a dark
green for the trees near the barn.

13. 9
10
8
8. Paint the hills in the distance with a
mixture of Ultramarine Blue and a
small amount of Thalo Green.
9. Mix Titanium White and Cerulean
Blue and use this color for the sky.
10. Clean up the clouds with Titanium
White…
Clouds should have soft and edges.

14. 11. Add details to barn (if you wish)
using the color mixtures on
your palette.

15. 12. Add subtle color changes to the
trees with a mixture of Cadmium Yellow
Light and Mars Black.