Blending is a much trickier task with acrylic paint than with oil paint, because acrylic dries quickly and oil dries slowly. When you are painting this subject, in order to blend the lake with the sky you will need to mix your paint with water to slow down the drying time. Mixing the paint with water also thins the paints, making it easier to blend one color another.
Instructions
1. Using a thick paintbrush, paint the base color for the lake and sky, using the same shade of blue.
2. Dip your paintbrush in white paint and a little water, then mix it with the shade of blue you just painted the lake and sky. Move your paintbrush across the sky in horizontal strokes, gradually lightening the color of the sky as it approaches the edge of the lake. Continue to add white to the paintbrush as you move down.
3. Dip your paintbrush in a dark brown or green paint, and add a little water. Blend this color with the color you used for the sky, darkening the color slightly. Do not mix in too much dark paint--this will be the color of the lake with the reflections of the sky on top. Thus, it will be a dark green or brown with a light blue mixed in.
4. Brush your paintbrush across the lake (starting from the bottom), covering the base color with the now darker hue you mixed on your palette. Apply the paint to the canvas in horizontal strokes. Notice that your previous layers of paint will by now be gummy, or even dry. Add white paint to the brush as you move to the top of the lake, slowly lightening the color of the water as it approaches the line of the sky.
5. With a medium-sized paint brush, mix more brown or green into the paint used on the lake.
6. Use the medium-sized paint brush to break up the surface of the lake with small wavy lines over the water. They should get smaller as they get farther away.
7. Dip a small paintbrush in white paint and accent the top of the waves you just created in step 6 by lining the waves with white paint.
