Discover the Unique Beauty of Aboriginal Ethno Painting from Australia

Hello, my dear followers!

Here is my new free painting lesson online. Today we will look for the inspiration in the Australian aborigines` art. Thousands of expressive spots, mind-bending rhythms, unusual pictures, amazing coloration, mesmerizing ornaments… All these epithets are only a small part of how the Australian aborigines` art can be described. In order not to leave it unfounded, I will attach the photos of several works created by incredibly talented and heartfelt artists – the aborigines from Australia.

These bright, interesting and incredibly harmonious paintings were created by people who didn`t know anything about coloristics or composition.

So if you are interested in our today`s unusual painting art lesson, let`s come over to the practice.

You will need the canvas (this time you can also use the canvas on cardboard) for this work. I have used the 50х60 cm canvas. But I think you can also use much smaller format as well as the very big one. The main thing is that you should have a lot of patience to fill in the whole surface with the beautiful spots.

Today we are going to paint with acrylic paints. In order to create the same picture as it is shown in the lesson,

you will need the following paints:

• Black;
• Titanium White;
• Red;
• Van-Dyke Brown;
• Ceruleum Blue;
• Prussian Blue;
• Violet;
• Naples Yellow;

decorative acrylic paints:

• gold;
• chameleon;
• graphite.

And as usually you will need the airbrush, bottle of water, brushes (big chisel brush and thin round brush №2-3) and wadding sticks.

Today I will only offer you the new interesting and quite simple painting art ideas. Also I would like to ask you not to make the exact copy of my painting. Today you can let your imagination run free and not be afraid to fail or to do something wrong. Take some idea as the basis and develop it in your own way, use your colors, change the picture…

In this basis the list of the above mentioned paints loses its significance a bit, so you can use those paints and colors which are suitable exactly for you. If you are afraid to make the painting too varicolored – narrow the color grade or choose several harmonious colors.

At last let`s start our painting lesson.

1. First of all I would like to offer you to make the background: cover the canvas with quite dense layer of paint so that it is not transparent. The background can be filled in with the one color or there can be some bands or spots of similar color grade (for example: red, orange, yellow, brown; or blue, violet, light blue…).

The background paint can be applied quite «harshly» with the quick brush strokes using the big flat paint bristle brush. You can stump the traces of the brush strokes or leave them as they are. Everything depends on your own idea.

2. After the background paint has been applied, sketch out the picture with the graphite pencil. I have sketched out a kind of endless oval around which the two lizards are running. I have found the similar picture in the Internet.

3. Then take the thin round brush №2 and gently outline the contours of the basic objects. I have outlined the counters of lizards with Naples Yellow and used the light blue (Black, White and Prussian Blue) for the counters of ovals where the lizards are moving. There can be several lines coming one after another and indicating the counters of the objects.

4. Set the color differing from the background for our animals, other one piece figures and objects. My lizards are painted inside the counters in the mix of Red Cochineal and Van-Dyke Brown (1/1). The ovals are filled in with: Ceruleum Blue and White; Prussian Blue and White; and Violet.

5. After all the colors are chosen, take the wadding sticks and use them as if they are the fully-featured artistic tools. Fill in our objects with the multicolored spots. This is a very simple and useful canvas painting technique.

I have tried to draw these spots with the thin brush and the wadding sticks. Frankly speaking, making the spots with the sticks is much quicker and more convenient. In order to make it even quicker and more convenient, it is better to make the spots of the one color and then come over to other one and so on. If there is lack of some spots, you can always add them.

If you have chosen the picture with the geometric pattern where there are no images of the animals and there are only certain lines, rhythms, visibility of pattern – first of all you should sketch out these lines with the graphite pencil. Then you should fill in the rest space between these lines with the spots but you should not forget about the one whole rhythm in each of the small particles of the picture.

6. When everything is almost ready and all the objects of your canvas are filled in with spots and lines – add a little gloss to your work:

I have painted the nails and the tongues of the lizards with the «gold» decorative acrylic paint and it has embellished the painting a bit. The patterns of the central oval are painted with the addition of «chameleon» decorative paint. Also I have covered the dark background with the wavy lines using the «graphite» paint and then rubbed up them a bit so that they do not strike the eye.

As for me the shades under the lizards` figures is very good artistic device. I have outlined the translucent shade-line under the lizards with the Prussian Blue diluted with water using the thin synthetic brush. This shade has given our quite flat work a bit more volume – the lizards have moved up over the ovals around which they are moving.

That is all! I hope you have liked this drawing art lesson!

I like my work very much although I am almost sure that many of you will create more mesmerizing and interesting painting.

I wish you good luck and new success in your creative work!