Insight Into How Steve Barton Starts And Finishes A Painting And How You Can Too!

Aug 12, 2024

INSIGHT INTO HOW STEVE BARTON STARTS AND FINISHES A PAINTING AND HOW YOU CAN TOO!

“If you’re willing to do something that might not work, you’re closer to being an artist.”.
– Seth Godin

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall in a painter’s studio while they work away on their next piece? In this sit down with Steve Barton, that’s exactly what you get to be. I’ll do my best to reiterate the key points in his process of completing a piece from start to finish. (Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. When you make a purchase using the links in this post we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

Steve’s studio is light, bright, and full of color! He makes himself comfortable at his easel in an adjustable chair with back support and that rolls so he can maneuver around his larger pieces with ease. When this is your full time gig, I can imagine making the job more comfortable is important.
Steve is so generous with the information he shares. On this particular sit down he started with a traditional flat canvas, although he is well known for his wavy canvas and frames. He chose to do a landscape orientation and decided on a tropical scene from memory.

Sketching: I asked Steve some questions as he went along that I thought might be of help to someone just starting off or just curious about his opinion on the matter. When beginning a painting Barton always starts with what he calls a “loose sketch”. He points out this is just his mental markers for where elements will be, but nothing is set in stone, and can always be changed later. He also shares that none of his pencils have erasers, to him it doesn’t make sense to erase a line when you will just be painting over it anyway.

Brushes: Steve uses a handful of different brushes when working on one piece. His favorite set is actually a set he sells in his store, which you can find HERE. He loves them for the stability and smooth finish they have in hand. He also will use house painting brushes when he needs to cover bigger surface areas. When it comes down to it, Steve says it really is personal preference. What do you like working with? You’ll know the more you paint!

Paints: I asked Steve a question I’ve often wondered, are all paints created equal? I had my thoughts on the matter since the price of paints can range so widely. He confirmed that not all paints are equal. What makes them different is often the opacity level (the coverage) they provide. For that reason Steve prefers a thicker, more coverage, high quality paint. In his words “it gets me to my ideas faster”. He loves the brand DaVinci and has drawers full of colored tubes, a painter’s dream. In Fact he just recently became an affiliate of the company so, if you would like to check out their paint selection HERE.

Pallet: When making color pallet decisions it comes down to, you guessed it… personal preference. Steve was feeling inspired and wanted to relate the painting he started to the day outside, bright blue skies and sun shining. Making sure to have his key colors, whites and darker shades to add highlights and shadows throughout. He talks about the importance of getting rid of the white of the canvas, and wants to make sure that you know there is no right or wrong way to do that.

When working through the initial stages of getting paint on the canvas, Barton speaks to the need to create depth in the work. He says “look outside, You’ll see there isn’t as much detail in the hill across the canyon as there is in the landscape closer to me. So you create more detail up front of your canvas with foreground, and with distance/background you want to do less detail.”

One of my favorite moments of our time together was when Steve said to me, “I would love to tell you that I have a plan and that I plan this all out in advance, and it’s a technical thing… but for me, It’s all instinctual”. He mixes dark purples and browns to add depth to his work, and he explains how he wont even rinse his brush in between colors because he feels like to not do so ties the colors together.

Light Source: The source of light in the painting, even if it’s not visible, is the key to knowing where all your shadows and highlights will go. It brings the balance of light to the work and helps establish the correct placement of the two.

“I’m an Intuitive painter” Steve shares, “ I don’t know why I’m using this blue with this turquoise and that white, or why the way I blend it. I can’t tell you why. I just know that it looks right to me”. As we chatted more about that comment, the conclusion was just this: when you sit down in front of a canvas, don’t look at why other people do things the way they do. Look inside yourself and figure out what you feel called to do. Art is an inward expression, not right or wrong.
Barton had some wise words regarding the process. He says “as long as you don’t get frustrated and enjoy the process that’s the point”. It’s the repetition of painting the same things that has allowed him the ability to paint so effortlessly over time. Not everyone starts off making it look easy. Just like with anything it takes time to develop a skill. Sure maybe some or more natural at things, but with time and practice you do develop the ease of skills.
With the full piece based in and taking shape. Steve took a short coffee break to let his initial layer dry a bit. When he came back to the canvas he mentioned reestablishing his light source, so he could be sure to make proper placement of his shadows and highlights on this next phase of the painting. This was the phase where the magic unfolded before my eyes, each brush stroke created more and more vibrancy.
I personally love that Steve mentioned how it was particularly hard for him to talk about his process while he was working on it, because he just gets sucked in. For instance he dropped shadows of a palm tree without having the tree in place that was casting the shadow. He advises to have the tree in place first to know the correct direction. For him he already knows what he will be doing with the tree so he placed the shadow in first. Steve also shares that sometimes when working off a photo reference (which he will also do) you might want to exaggerate a shadow to make the picture a prettier painting. He says “at a certain point you’re just trying to create something you like looking at”.
As Steve started working on the finishing touches of his painting, he kept bringing back the light source to help keep the shadows in check. It was so inspiring to watch the layers build up to form the foreground, the palm trees, the flowers, the hut. It was not surprising that someone with 40+ years of painting under the belt would make it look so easy. He worked the right side of the canvas and then went in with more foliage and palms to the left. The way he played with the placement of all the elements he included was incredible, it created a perspective that invited you right into the painting. Everything was pointing you towards the center of the piece in such an easy flowing way.

In the last touches of the brush to canvas Steve said “this is the fun part for me, I love just putting the paint down… for me right now, it’s stop thinking, stop talking, and just feel it”.

There is something so special about watching a painting unfold before your eyes. I highly recommend it actually. This process was also captured on video and the experience is available in the Barton shop. If you haven’t had the opportunity to be in
proximity to a painter before, or maybe you have but you would like to try and paint along with Steve as he works through his process, visit the shop and begin your immersive journey with Steve as he starts and completes a piece before your eyes!