Welcome back (or welcome, if you’re new here!), fellow artists.

Today, I’ve got an amazing, totally free painting workshop to share with you! And it’s all about practicing your acrylic paint blending technique. And, yes, I realize that that is quite a mouthful to say aloud… but, hey, we’re just here to make ourselves better painters!

This is very similar to the free color theory workshop I shared not too long ago, so be sure to check that workshop out, too, either before or after you take this one (it doesn’t matter which order you try them in). In all of our free workshops, though, we take things super slow and step-by-step, focusing on how we use our paints on the page.

This workshop comes with a free printable mini workbook, too, included below the video to help you practice during our “class”.

After all, practice makes perfect, and practicing is the best way to improve yourself as an artist… so, let’s get started.

The Free Paint Blending Workshop

Watch the video and follow along with the printable workbook. Note that the workbook is a two-page PDF document that you can print on any type of paper with any typical home or office printer. Note: if you can’t print the workbook, that’s okay—we go over ways to make your own workbook in the video, too.

This workshop class is going to take you through the process of making “values” with paint. And, basically, values are just areas of highlights and lowlights on the page. We also go in-depth in practicing our blending skills, especially when it comes to making smooth transitions in value across the page.

Join in to paint with me, your instructor, and everyone else in our little artistry community!

Materials Needed for the Workshop

You actually don’t need any materials at all to watch the workshop–you can totally just sit back, take notes, and learn a whole heck of a lot. But, if you’d like to practice all of the painting exercises alongside me, make sure you have some simple painting materials, like…

• Acrylic (or tempera) paints in:
  • White
  • At least one additional color (it doesn’t matter what color!)
• One small to medium paintbrush
• A mixing palette (or something like a paper plate to mix paint easily on)
• A paint mixing tool (such as a spatula, craft/popsicle sticks, or even a butter knife)
• A water cup (for brush cleaning)

The type, variation, and brands of paint you use do not matter! You just need to have one tube of white paint and at least one tube of “colored” paint for the workshop. I go over this in more detail in the video, but the colors you choose really do not matter today.

And remember: this is a practice workshop, so you don’t need any “fancy” or “professional” painting materials to get started. Dollar-store materials, as always, work totally fine.

Paint Blending Q&A

Now, let’s answer some questions you may have about blending paints and working with paint values, or any additional questions you may have about taking the workshop.

What kind of paper should I print my paint blending workbook on?

The type of paper you use to print your workbook pages on, if you can print them, doesn’t really matter. Anything from simple, 20 lb copy paper to high-grade canvas paper or watercolor paper will work.

That being said, regular printer paper can work, but it can also be flimsy and a little more difficult to work with than some other types of paper. For the workshop, I actually printed my workbook pages on some cheap cardstock paper, which is just slightly thicker than regular copy paper. If you really want to get fancy with it, you can also use some canvas paper or watercolor paper, cutting it down to fit through your printer.

How can I get the free workbook if I don’t have a printer?

If you don’t have the ability to print your workbook, don’t worry!

You can still follow along with the full workshop—just sketch out the “practice areas” that we have on the workbook pages. For this workshop specifically, the practice areas are just a couple of circles on the pages to paint in, so you may always trace/sketch your own practice circles on any spare sheet of paper you have laying around.

There are also a lot of blank spaces in the workbook for you to take notes, and you can always take notes on a separate piece of notebook paper if you can’t print the workbook.

What actually is “value” in terms of painting and why is it important?

Value in art refers to how light or dark an area in your painting, drawing, etc. is. This can also refer to “highlights” or “lowlights” in a painted image, which is what we practice creating in the workshop above.

Having different values of colors in your paintings can give it depth and therefore make it look more realistic. For example, you can look at a photograph and see if there are highlights and lowlights in the photo—I guarantee there will be. So, if you want to create photo-realistic paintings, or just paintings that feature objects that appear three-dimensional (3D), then implementing values will help you get it to that point.

I’m still struggling to blend my paints correctly. Help!

Oh, don’t worry, fellow artists—learning how to blend your paints on the page can take a lot of practice. That’s why I recommend taking the workshop class more than once to really get the hang of it.

And, here are some extra tips to keep in mind when you want to make blending easier for yourself…

• Always start with less paint on your brush than you think you need, and then go back for more as needed while you are blending. Oftentimes, we have a tendency to glob up paint on our brushes because we think it takes a lot of paint to perform blending—but, really, having too much paint on the brush will make blending take forever and feel impossible.
  
• Once you start blending with less paint on your brush, you might feel like your brush is too dry to do any blending. Resist the urge to go back immediately for more paint—you actually want a slightly dry brush to perform blending.
  
• If you get too much paint on the page, and blending does start to feel impossible—don’t fret, because this is fixable. Dab up some of the excess paint with a napkin and wipe off your brush, then try blending the area on your page again.

Are there other painting basics I should learn to improve my technique?

There’s more to making a great painting than just focusing on the blending and values in the painting. You can help yourself out even more by learning things like color theory and brushstroke techniques, too.

To learn even more about painting basics, check out this complete “Basics Painting Course” for beginners!

Even More Free Painting Classes

Like I said, practicing is the best way to improve your skills as a painter. That’s why I offer plenty more painting workshops and classes, so you can always have something to work on. You can even learn how to make certain professional-grade paintings with me, such as paintings of roses, butterflies, and more!

All of the free painting classes are part of my online learning platform for artists, called Canvas Academy. Canvas Academy is your guide to becoming the best artist you can be, giving you free resources, access to premium painting courses, and more—with new content added every month.

Check out all of the Canvas Academy classes and courses, any time, any where!

Now, I hope I get to paint with you all again very soon…

–Kari