Look at the depth of color in the grass and buildings.
Farm scenes are great to paint because they often are very picturesque and can contain buildings, vehicles, animals and people. Whether you're using oil, acrylic, watercolors or pastels, you can create a realistic and serene farm scene by thinking about basic composition and framing. Depending on your preference, the farm can be seen from close up or as part of a landscape scene. As long as you take time and care over your composition, you should be able to produce something to make you proud.
Instructions
1. Choose your image. If you're at a farm looking for a subject matter, have a walk around and take in the visuals. Think about what you want to feature in your painting. You might be more interested in showing animal and plant life, or you might focus on the farmers and their machinery. There is no right or wrong, but you need to isolate the subject of your farm scene.
2. Take pictures. If you are painting from home, you will need photographs to refer to when you create your image, and even if you are painting at the scene, taking pictures will allow you to experiment with different framing. Think about how your picture looks as a whole and if there is anything that would improve the effect. Make sure important objects stand out by putting them in the foreground and slightly to the left (because we read from left to right, our eyes are initially drawn to images on the left-hand side). This can change depending on your preference, however, and you should consider the overall effect you want the picture to have.
3. Make a sketch. Before you apply paint, you should sketch out the scene. You may prefer to practice before you sketch onto your canvas. Study the scene in front of you or the image you are trying to replicate, and sketch the key components of the image. You don't need to add too much detail, but there should be enough to get an idea of how the scene will appear on the canvas.
4. Think about light sources and shadows. This affects which colors you need to include on your painting. Use darker and lighter tones to account for different contrasts across the picture. If you show light and shadow realistically, your paintings can come alive.
5. Begin to add color to your painting. It is important to think about depth of color here. If you look properly at the world, how we classify color is a simplification. To paint the grass, you don't just use green. Adding bits of brown with a thinner brush gives depth and realism to your grass. Think about all the colors in this way. A single color tone isn't enough to capture most things.
6. Stand back and take stock of your painting. Look at it critically, and see if there any areas which require more detail, or any large empty spaces that should be used. You don't want to overload the picture with detail, but there must be enough to create a full sense of your scene.
