Art may be a very simple expression of your feelings or thoughts and created with one layer of paint or sketch at once. However, if you would like to plan and create a more detailed picture with elements which require some more preparation and building of colour intensity it’s the best to work with layers. Using layers in art is a very common and natural process where you move through individual layers in order to achieve the picture that you’re imagining of. The first layer is usually your sketch. The more detailed sketch will result in a more beautiful picture.

One of our Art Classes at the beginning of the Spring Season was all about layers in art. We worked on it ever since as it is a big part of our regular projects.

We started our landscape with a cactus sketch. Then the kids painted the light but bright blue sky, a light beige hill at the back and a golden brown hill at the front. The bottom part of the canvas was an ombre of darker brown with some black and creamy colours. The third layer was a darker blue sky at the top of the canvas, the second coat of the same colours on the hills and some shading at the bottom of the canvas. The fourth layer was the clouds in the sky, some imitation of stones on the lighter coloured hill and green vegetation. The golden hill got a lighter strip at the top representing sunshine bouncing off of it. The bottom of the canvas got the first coat of beautiful cacti. The fifth layer included further white highlights of the clouds, touch-ups of each hill, especially at the horizon line to make sure that all lines are polished out. Now, all of the cacti were in reached with colours and flowers.

Wow! Five layers, the kids did an amazing job. It is not easy using layers in art, especially when you are a beginner artist. Of course, a spontaneous creation with one layer can be wonderful too, but the skill of layering in art is something which can take a young artist and their creation to the next level.