96/100 tiny painting challenge for 2025 (Patreon)

Bokeh for 96! Trust the process with this one. The layers are built up over time and there are a lot of weird stages. Make sure most of the painting is out of focus so that the bokeh makes sense as out of focus lights in the background. Bring your branch and berries in focus by waiting for everything to dry so that the lines you paint are hard and crisp. There are a few ways to lift the paint off the paper to create the bokeh effect that I go over in the video, but if you are struggling to lift it out, you can always use a light wash of white paint over the top to get a soft bokeh. I can't wait to see how you do with this one! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Paper: arches 140 lb cotton 9X12" paper that I've cut into 3X3" pieces, giving me 12 pieces per page.

Paint: The palette I'm using today is the split primary palette by letter sparrow: cad yellow deep, lemon yellow, cad red, magenta, ultramarine blue, cerulean(probably closer to phthalo blue), indigo and sap green. I don't use all the colors, but I will name them as I mix them. Feel free to use pre mixed convenience colors as well.

Brushes: round 4 & 10- Princeton brand.

Private youtube link to watch if you need captions or translation: https://youtu.be/wnqKeNHAeq4