How to Paint
Wheatfield with Cypresses by Vincent Van Gogh
Difficulty: 2.5/5
Colours: Titanium white, phthalo blue, chromium oxide, yellow, red (just a bit!)
Brushes: Medium flat brush, small flat brush
Well wasn’t this a pleasure to study! I found it most approachable to think of Van Gogh’s painting as a sequence of tonal studies done in different hues: blue (sky) – green (middle ground foliage, cypresses) – ochre (wheat field) – green (foreground). Then it was a matter of finding 1–2 tints and 1–2 tones per hue to refine each section.
To get that Post-Impressionist, Van Gogh-style look, the trick was to resist all urges to blend tones together. I also needed to make sure my brush was always loaded with paint to avoid creating patchy, dry-looking strokes – I really wanted the strong, voluminous strokes to stand out!
