Once you get down one color of burnt umber paint and a canvas board in step two, the next step is to also add white paint.  So that's two tubes of paint, one white and one brown (or sepia colored).  You can still work on  a canvas board.

First you lay down a pile of white on the left, and a pile of brown on the right, leaving space in between for three more piles.  In the middle, you mix a pile of 50/50 to the best of your ability, half burnt umber and half white.  Then you do the same between the white and the 50/50, and the burnt umber and the 50/50, do a mix of the two of each together with the 50/50 for a total of five different 'values' of paint. 

"Belly Up To The Campfire" circa 2007. 

This was not the first painting that I used this method on, however it is the oldest one I can find right now in my files.  I am sure I still have the one I did in class at home, and will take a picture of it which if you ask I will send it to you privately but due to copyright I only used it for the class, not to post anywhere.  In contrast, this is a friend of mine and I took the original reference photo.  When I did images during class they were chosen from the teacher's files, which were filled with calendar and magazine images, which are copyright protected.

Again, put your reference image into black and white, if you wish also put it upside down, then do the darkest areas dark, the extreme highlights white, and the rest will be split between the remaining three 'values' of paint on your pallete.

You can also do this with black and white if you want to.  

With the focus on Covid so much the past few years I've been trying to distract myself.  One of the ways I have done that is by looking at other peoples ranch photos.  It is no secret that I love painting cows, so in the past I limited myself to reference images I could photograph myself.  It seems there is a scarcity in my area of Highland cows.  But, not in other places, like Finland for example, home of Ratia Ranch.

They have graciously said that I can use some of their images as painting reference, and this painting is from one of them.

15 x 30   Highland Cow in a Field

I love how this turned out!  One of my favorite pieces so far.

Please let me know if you like it too in the comments below!