These amazing and unique painting techniques teach your children how to begin painting on canvas to develop their cognitive and critical thinking skills.

1. Canvas art painting techniques
for children | Abrakadoodle

2. Techniques you can exploit
After a few practice sessions and after experimenting with what it
will be like to work with acrylic paints, focus on giving painting on
canvas a boost. There are a number of incredibly wonderful
techniques that ensure that no one ever gets bored. Take the
opportunity to experiment.
Here are a few techniques that will be of great help in turning your
child into a little master pretty quickly:

3. Techniques you can exploit
Technique 1 – Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in Italian means playing with ‘light-dark’ shadows. In
paintings the description refers to the clear tonal difference, offering
a significant contrast between the lighter and darker aspects of
what is depicted in a painting. You can add drama to a piece, by
bringing the subject right up front and into the foreground just by
varying the intensity of light, or create an illusion of 3D! You can
begin to perfect this technique by using a lamp focusing its light on
a single spot and start to work outwards from there. Rembrandt
and Caravaggio were masters of this technique. You can learn a
great deal just by studying their works.

4. Techniques you can exploit
Technique 2 – Scumbling
Beginners will find Scumbling an easy way to add texture by using
a dry, stiff brush and applying thin layers of paint over an already
existing layer of paint. It is something akin to applying a layer of
medium to the final coat of paint and then blending it in to soften
the look of the paint later. The result gives an awesome look and
feels to the painting. Instead of a smooth, and continuous finish,
there will be some parts of the underpainting showing through.
Turner was a big fan of Scumbling.

5. Techniques you can exploit
Technique 3 – Alla Prima
When pressed for time, you can switch to a welcome technique
called Alla Prima. This literally means painting layer over layer, and
not waiting for the earlier layer to fully dry. This technique is ideal
for beginners to focus on and practice as much as they can. The
biggest benefit of this technique is that it allows learners to closely
study and explore in detail almost every brush mark and colour
streak found within a painting. Using this technique, Van Gogh and
Monet could easily finish their masterpieces in just one sitting!

6. Techniques you can exploit
Technique 4 – Glazing
Glazing creates incredible effects by blending light and dark tones
and increasing the luminosity in a painting. It will be of great help
for beginners when they master this technique. By applying a thin,
transparent layer of paint over a denser opaque layer, you create a
glossier finish. It literally makes the painting glow with a bright
sheen. You will find this technique used with great effect in many of
Vermeer’s work, the most impactful being the painting titled “The
Girl with a Pearl Earring.”

7. Techniques you can exploit
Technique 5 – Underpainting
Nothing frightens a beginner more than a blank canvas, they are so
petrified that they hesitate to even apply colour. The aim of
Underpainting is to minimize and eventually remove this fear factor
completely. The idea is to ‘sketch’ the subject in a single layer of
paint and block out the entire background. Underpaintings is
usually monochromatic in nature and leave the artist with a choice
to define colour values later. The painter also knows where exactly
to apply the colour at a later stage of the creative process. This
technique is extensively used by Jan Van Eyck and Giotto.

8. Techniques you can exploit
Technique 6 – Impasto (Texturing)
Impasto technique is when you apply a thick layer of paint to give the
painting a textural dimension. Such layers have an imprint of a brush or
palette knife embedded in the paint. Impasto is also a great technique
as it helps the artist add an extra dimension to the painting. However
there is a problem artists confront when using this technique – the
outer layer dries out first while the inner layer of paint remains wet. To
overcome this, artists use a little trick that always works — they mix
sand or marble dust to their paint. When the sand is coarse, the
painting looks crumbly, while fine dust gives paint added elasticity.
Artists can create a streaky effect within the paint as they spread it
across with a palette knife.

9. Techniques you can exploit
Technique 7 – Grisaille (Monochrome)
In the Grisaille technique, the artist limits the palette to just one
colour such as grey and uses this shade to create a painting’s first
layer. The artist then develops the image further by adding
shadows, highlights and details to create the illusion of an object in
three-dimensional space. Once this Grisaille is ready, the artist
adds colour to it with bright transparent glazes. When done well,
the outcome is usually stunning. Take a close look at Vermeer‘s
masterpiece “Girl with a pearl earring.”

10. Conclusion:
This is the kind of process art learning experiences we use to inspire
children to think different, be innovative, and devise ways that teach
about interesting things found in the real world. Changing the way
children discover and imagine. Ignite their minds to think, play and learn
like never before.
If you like to enrol your child in our children art classes or participate in
cognitive learning activities, give Abrakadoodle a call. Or better still, make
an appointment with the head of a centre near you. Get a hands-on
exposure to an experience that will make you see art in a way that adds
value to life.

11. Thank You