Easy acrylic painting tutorial: Recreate this abstract painting step by step

If you're looking at a blank canvas wondering what to paint, this is a really good place to start.

This abstract piece looks layered and intentional when it's finished, but the actual process is incredibly simple. You create a soft burgundy base, add a few loose green marks with a palette knife, lighten some of those marks for depth, then finish with a small amount of white.

For this piece, we used the Forest Red palette from our Full Art Kit collection, working with burgundy, green and white on raw cotton canvas. And here's exactly how we made it.

 

What you'll need

For this easy acrylic painting, you will need these items from your Forest Red Art Kit:

• Framed raw cotton canvas
• Burgundy (919) acrylic paint
• Green (214) acrylic paint
• Titan buff (136) acrylic paint
  
• Palette knife
• Paintbrush
• + Water

You can follow the same idea with another one of our kits, and completely different colours too. The important part is the structure: one soft base colour, darker marks, lighter layered marks and a few final details.

 

Step 1: Create your paint wash

Start by mixing Burgundy acrylic paint with water. You want the paint loose enough to move easily across the canvas, almost like a thin wash rather than a heavy layer of colour.

Pour some of the watered paint directly onto the canvas, and don't worry about placing it perfectly. You're about to spread it across the whole surface anyway.

Using watered-down acrylic paint is a really simple way to create a softer base layer and let some of the natural canvas texture remain visible underneath.

 

Step 2: Cover the canvas

Use your hand to spread the Burgundy wash across the entire canvas. You can use a brush if you prefer, but using your hand makes this part quick, loose and much harder to overthink.

Push the paint across the surface until you have a soft, fairly even base colour. It doesn't need to be perfectly uniform. Small variations in tone and texture actually make the finished painting more interesting.

Then let the base dry.

 

Step 3: Add your first green marks

Once the Burgundy layer is dry, take your Green acrylic paint and the palette knife. Use the edge of the knife to create a mixture of diagonal marks across the canvas.

Some can be broader and more flowing, others can be thin, sharp or broken. Try not to repeat the exact same shape everywhere. The aim isn't to draw anything recognisable. You're simply creating movement across the canvas.

We placed our marks quite sparsely and let the Burgundy background do most of the work. That's worth remembering if you're new to abstract painting: you don't need to fill every space. Sometimes a few strong marks are enough.

 

Step 4: Layer in a lighter green

Next, mix your Green with your lighter paints to create a softer shade. Then add that lighter green to parts of the marks you've already made.

Don't completely cover the darker green. Leave some of the deeper colour visible underneath so the marks start to feel layered rather than flat. This is where the piece begins to develop more depth.

You can follow the same direction as the original green marks, add lighter paint alongside them or drag the palette knife through both shades slightly.

Step 5: Add the finishing marks

For the final step, switch to a brush, use a small amount of White and add a few light marks around the existing green areas. Keep this part minimal.

A couple of small white details are enough to break up the darker colours and give the artwork another layer of contrast.

Stop before you think you should. One of the easiest ways to overwork an abstract painting is to keep adding things because you feel like you should. If it feels balanced, leave it.

 

Why this is such a good painting for beginners

What makes this piece easy isn't that it looks basic. It's that almost every stage is forgiving.

• The Burgundy base doesn't need to be perfectly even
• The palette-knife marks don't need to match ours
• The lighter green doesn't have to sit in exactly the same places
• The white marks are intentionally loose

You're following a structure without following a template so closely that one different brushstroke feels like a mistake.

That's why step-by-step acrylic painting tutorials can be such a useful way to start if you're new to painting: they give you enough direction to get moving while still leaving room to make the finished piece your own. Beginner painting guides also commonly recommend limited palettes and simple, forgiving shapes because they reduce the pressure to get everything “right.”

 

You don't need to copy ours exactly

If you recreate this piece, use ours as a starting point.

Your Burgundy wash might come out lighter, your green marks might be much bigger, you might add fewer white details, or you could even change the palette completely.

Try a blue base with deep brown marks. Or a neutral base with red. Or green with pink.

The process stays the same. Base colour → darker marks → lighter layer → final details.

A simple abstract painting that feels high-end

There's sometimes a temptation to think that an easy painting needs more added to it before it becomes “good enough.” But simple compositions often work because they leave room to breathe.

This piece only uses a few colours and a handful of marks, but the contrast between the soft Burgundy background, the textured Green and the small areas of White gives it enough interest without making it busy.

And once it's framed, it feels high-end. That's really the point of these tutorials.

We want to show that painting for beginners doesn't have to mean making something you'd never actually put on your wall.

Make your own version

This piece was created using our Forest Red Framed Canvas Art Kit, which includes the canvas, acrylic paints, brushes, palette knife, tools and edge frame you need to create and finish your own artwork.

If you're nervous about where to start, follow the steps exactly or make it your own. Change the colours, or change the marks. Make them bigger, smaller, cleaner or messier. The structure is there to get you started. Where you take it after that is up to you.

You can find the Forest Red Art Kit here and make yours, or explore our other kits here if you want to create this in another colour palette. If you end up making this one, send us photos. We would love to see your version.

 

Emmi
Co-founder of Plan