Christmas came and went, and so did the New Year. In the period between – the “Romjul” as we call it in Norwegian – I showed my mom how to paint with acrylics. Plus some general tips. She is no beginner, having painted for some years, first with watercolours before switching to oil as her preferred medium, but she was curious about how it was to paint with acrylics.
So what was more natural than painting together? We looked through a lot of photos she and my dad had taken and figured out which one would be best to paint. It wasn’t easy, as there were many interesting motives, but ended up with a detail from the coast.
Off we went, first priming the canvas with a dirty ochre colour. This not to let our eyes be fooled by the white canvas about how dark and light the colours really are. And it might give the painting a bit warmer feel, as a bonus. Depending of course on the thickness of the paint. Second, we divided a printout of the photo up in squares (8×8) and the same on the canvas. This makes it easier to place the elements in the picture where they should be. Two general tips she loved.
Then we painted. Well, mostly my mom, with me sitting beside her telling about the differences to oil as we went. But I did a bit, too. Some things were a bit too different from oil …
In the end, she finished it alone. It wasn’t quite as she had wanted it, had she painted it with oil paints, so she wasn’t sure what she thought about it, but it grew on her. And their friends have commented on how much they like it when they have visited, so I’d call it a success.
She still prefers oils, tho.
The image of you and your mother painting together warms my soul. What a lovely experience for the both of you. Thank you for sharing.