The hippies wanted to the Vietnam War to end.
The 1960s were a time of radical change, where rebellion became the norm. The sixties were a high point for the civil rights and the feminist movement, with the Vietnam War as its backdrop. With this radicalism, youths called "hippies" grew their hair long and dropped out of normal society. Part of their counterculture movement was demonstrated in hippie art, with psychedelic patterns and symbolism. Make your own hippie art by capturing the essence of the 1960s with bright colors and "free love" motifs or symbols.
Instructions
1. The peace sign is the quintessential hippie sign.
Draw a preliminary sketch on your prepared canvas with charcoal. Before you paint, compose the painting with the charcoal. Be sure to add hippie symbols such as peace signs and nature symbolism, such as daisies and birds. Add large swirls to create psychedelic patterns and colors.
2. Squeeze acrylic paint from your set onto a palette. Acrylic paint dries quickly so only add walnut-sized amounts to start. Use bright colors for your hippie painting. Decide on the colors for each element of your hippie painting before applying the paint.
3. Dip your paintbrush into your paint to start. For example, if you have a sun in the painting, use yellow paint. Give your entire paint an overall layer of paint and add details later.
4. Paint rays of light or a rainbow somewhere on your painting. Many hippie artists used rainbows or rays as part of the optimism of the period.
5. Blue and orange are complementary colors.
Repeat images or symbolism over the entire painting. Much of hippie art uses patterns, which are a repetition of images. For example, if you paint a simple bird, repeat the bird over different parts of the canvas. Paint some of them with the same color and then use its complementary color on the others, which is its color on the opposite side of the color wheel.
6. Step back from your painting to observe your progress. While painting, always look at the overall picture and the details of specific areas.
7. Add tones, or highlights and shadows, to your painting. Most hippie art tends to be flat, which means it doesn't add tonal gradations. They have many large areas with bright colors, but add some tones for variation. For example, if you paint flowers, add some darker paint around the sides of the petals for shadows.
8. Allow your painting to dry completely before hanging.
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