Painting Large Scale for Beginners
I thought I’d share with you a seascape commission I have just completed in acrylics. It was a very big canvas, the largest one I have done as a commission, and it wouldn’t fit on my easel, so I had to paint it propped up, which was a challenge! I would have hung it on a wall to paint but my studio has shelves on all the walls. However, I thoroughly enjoyed creating it, especially the sky. I have learnt a lot from painting large scale over the years and, as I usually paint smaller works, I do find it a bit overwhelming as I am not used to this size. I often put off starting for this reason! Here are some pointers that help me though…
My 6 tips I have learnt when painting on a large scale
1. Use large decorators style brushes as the smaller brushes used for considerably smaller artworks just don’t create the right marks on a larger scale and will take you forever! I buy mine from my local hardwear store. They aren’t the cheap ones as these are too soft and the bristles fall out but a decent brand wide flat brushes.
2. Paint a watered-down background colour first all over. Then you feel like you’ve made good progress as a blank canvas can feel daunting. I used a candy pink paint for this painting. I applied the paint in all different directions as I knew that most of this layer wouldn’t show through on the finished piece. I constantly had to remix my paint colour, but I didn’t mind if the mix was a slightly different hue as this would add more interest anyway. I suppose you could use a few different colours if you wanted to. For example, an orange for the sky background and a pink for the land or sea background.
3. Have enough supplies! Don’t underestimate how much paint you’ll use and how many palettes you’ll need. You will be mixing a lot more paint so you might even ditch your traditional flat palette for a container that holds more paint for ease of mixing. It depends how you work but as I use some of my paint quite fluid, a few old ice cream tubs come in very handy!
4. Make sure you have enough room in your painting space to stand back to see the progress. The larger the artwork, the more room you need to view it. You need to constantly stand back to check the composition balance, tonal value and overall ‘journey’ your eye takes around the painting to see if the artwork looks successful from a distance as well as the close-up details.
5. Is your painting going to be framed? Research the size of frame you’ll need before you begin as often, even with bespoke cut frames, suppliers only go to a certain size. I found a tray frame moulding that I had cut to my size, but I had to assemble it myself with wood glue and right-angle flat back plates screwed in to the stretcher frame, but it worked fine and I saved a lot of money by doing most of the assembling myself. I used Lion Picture Framing Supplier in the UK for the moulding.
6. Transportation. How will you deliver the painting, and will it fit in your vehicle? You need to consider this before you even embark on the challenge. You might hire a van to deliver to your customer and include this in the price. Or search for couriers that take a larger size and are used to handling artworks before you offer your commissioned service. If you are delivering it yourself, make sure you have factored in the cost of fuel and your time. Packing up the painting for protection also takes a while, so allow extra time and money for this too.
As I mentioned, I don’t usually paint very large but the more I do, the more I want to do! There is something about the grandeur of a large piece that excites me. The oversize aspect has the ‘wow factor’ which makes me want to take on more larger pieces in the future. And I’m sure the more I do, the easier and less daunting It will become. Happy painting people!
