Before you paint, you will need… A greyscale canvas and guide image, along with the kit’s paints and brushes A workspace on which to paint A paint pallet or flat surface on which to mix paint An open-top jar of water and a paper towel

When you’re ready to paint… If you have never painted before, squeeze a bit of paint about the size of a nickel on your pallet and experiment a bit. Practice on any paper you choose. A paper plate can be both your pallet and practice paper! Use both brushes to get a feel for them. When you begin the actual painting, tape the canvas down with masking or painters tape. Replace the water often to prevent muddy colors.

You will need 5 basic skills: Skill 1: Thinning paint Skill 2: Mixing paint to make it darker Skill 3: Mixing paint to make it lighter Skill 4: Mixing two colors to make a third Skill 5: Wet on wet / Wet on dry

Skill 1: Thinning paint with water to make it more translucent Apply a small amount of paint to your pallet. Wet your brush and thoroughly mix a small amount of water from the brush in the paint. Blot with the paper towel if the brush seems too runny. The more water you add, the more translucent it becomes. A very thin background of color is called a wash.

Skill 2: Mixing paint to make a color darker Begin with the paint to be darkened. Then add a dot of black or any other similar dark color. Repeat as needed to get just the right darkness.

Skill 3: Mixing paint to make a color lighter For a lighter shade of a color, begin with white, then add a bit of the color. Repeat as needed to get just the right lightness.

Skill 4 : Mixing two colors to make a third Thankfully, having many tubes of paint means you don’t have to mix yellow and blue to make green. You already have several greens! Instead, for example, you may want a green that is a bit bluer. Begin by putting a dab of the color closest to the one you want on your pallet. Add a dot of the modifier color. Mix it in thoroughly and see if you like it. Experiment until you get what you want. Use a very small amount at first until you have a recipe you like. There is so much more you can learn about the color wheel and color theory, but this is all you need for now.

Skill 5: Painting wet over wet to blend and wet over dry to give a crisp edge To paint two colors side by side that blend together, paint them both while still wet. Use a clean dry brush where the two colors meet and blend gently back and forth just a little bit to force one color into the other. To paint two colors side by side where you need a crisp edge, wait for one color to dry before painting the other.

*It is probably best to practice first, but it is totally OK to simply dive in! The entire point is to just have fun.

Video instruction to accompany these instructions* can be found at twostickframes.com. Click on the menu at the top of the page and choose “videos.”

Value Exercise: Most artists use the term “value” to describe lightness or darkness of a color. You can read more elsewhere about value and color theory, but here is an exercise every beginning art class requires. Using the mixing techniques above, try to create a value scale with white and black paint. First, draw a set of 11 empty boxes side by side upon which to paint.

Your goal is to paint white, black, and 9 steps in between, gradually going from white to black. The end result will be a range of grays gradually going from lightest to darkest, each having a greater percentage of black and a lesser percentage of white.

Repeat the process again with one color of your choosing to create a monochromatic color scale going from lightest to darkest. The first square will be the lightest and the last will be the darkest value of that particular color. The middle square is painted straight from the tube without any white or black mixed in. Squares 1-5 will be created by mixing your color with white (skill3) and squares 7-11 will be made by mixing your color with black (Skill2). Your goal is to create a color value scale, that would match the first scale if you took a black and white photo of it. For this exercise, use a color that you think you’ll use the least so as not to waste too much paint. Remember a little paint goes a long way. You will want to preserve your white and black as much as possible.

Tips for Success

• Practice mixing your colors and values before you paint. Labeling your recipes can be helpful for when it comes time to make some more of a color.

• Work in layers. Your paint may seem too transparent at first, but as you add layers the colors will get deeper. One advantage of acrylic paint is that it dries quickly and once dry it is water resistant and can easily be painted over. Add layers of the same or similar colors when you want to make a color richer.

• Start by filling in the general shapes and colors on your canvas. This is called “Blocking in.” Work loosely from dark to light, using shadows as your guide. Don’t worry about your colors being too “perfect” or “accurate” during the phase.

• Blend and add details after your block in. If you begin with them, you’ll end up painting over top of them. Saving details for last allows the painting to come together beautifully.

• Acrylic paint dries quickly. If the colors on your pallet dry too fast, spritz a little water on them. • If you don’t like part of the painting, you can wait until it dries and paint that part again. It has

been said that an acrylic painting is never bad…just unfinished. • The internet has many resources for art instruction. If you want to learn more, we recommend

Acrylic Painting Techniques on Facebook and YouTube.

From the owner I think you will love this TwoStick Shadows kit. But remember, all painting sometimes tries our patience. If this happens to you, I recommend taking a break and listening to Harry Chapin’s Flowers are Red. Trust me, it speaks to painters. And you, even though you may not know it yet, are a painter! Thanks again for purchasing TwoSticks Shadows and helping to support the Bridge2Rwanda scholars program.