Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is located in San Francisco, California. It's 2,737 meters long and 227 meters high. This is our first destination of our tour around the world... I hope you're not afraid of heights!

Hitting the road with a fresh piece of paper is the way to go. I cut this 9x12 inch piece of paper down to 5x7 inches to miniaturize this red giant.

The Sketch

You may be wondering why I chose to use pencil crayon instead of a lead pencil. I chose this so as I start painting overtop the sketch, I won't have to erase any pencil marks. With a normal school pencil, or even an artist pencil, the under drawing can be seen through the paint and may dull the paint colours. At

Jazzmatazz Creative Arts nothing dull happens!

Now to block things in

Now I have blocked in all the major elements of the painting. It isn't super neat yet, because right now the focus is just to get a sense of the colour schemes of the major components. I also left out the bridge (the most important part),since it is the embedded in the rocks and on the coastline, so that will go in later. Gotta save the best for last!

NOW FOR THE SECOND LAYER! ADDING HIGHLIGHTS AND CONTRAST.

Layering is key to a successful acrylic painting. Building depth and dimension makes a piece more captivating.

The Ugly Stage

Believe it or not this was the "ugly stage" of the Golden Gate Bridge painting. I couldn't get passed the imperfections of the water, sky, rocks, or bridge. I hated it all. So, what did I do? I left it for about a week until I was ready to conquer what seemed impossible.

NINE DAYS LATER...

It wasn't an easy task, but after a few YouTube videos I learned how to paint water more realistically. I also added highlights to the rocks and made the bridge a more vibrant red to bring this piece to completion.

Jazzing Up The World One Painting At A Time!