Welcome to the first episode of Smerdon Toast!
In this painting challenge, Australian artists Anne Smerdon and Seabastion Toast dive into the bold world of alla prima painting—also known as wet-on-wet painting.
The challenge? Complete an artwork in a single sitting, focusing on spontaneity, decisiveness, and expressive brushwork.
Whether you're a beginner painter or an experienced artist looking to push your creative limits, this episode is packed with art techniques, personal insights, and a few struggles along the way.
🖌️ What you'll learn in this episode:
🎨 The benefits of alla prima / wet-on-wet painting
🎨 How to loosen up your painting style
🎨 Overcoming fears and building confidence
🎨 Real-time painting insights from two working artists Spoiler alert: this challenge was seriously life-changing.
Watch to see how each artist approached the task, what worked, what didn’t, and how you can take on the same challenge in your own studio. ---------
Want to join the challenge? Share your work using #smerdontoast on Instagram, Tiktok or YouTube — we’d love to see it!
Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you never miss an episode of painting YouTubers in action!
Episode 2: Timed Studies
In this episode of Smerdon Toast, Australian artists Anne Smerdon and Seabastion Toast go head-to-head in a 20-minute painting challenge. When there’s no time to get caught up in details, you’re forced to focus on honest, intuitive painting and the results might just surprise you. We discuss: 🎨 why painting small studies with a time limit is an essential exercise for both beginners and experienced artists, 🎨 how painting timed studies can improve your painting techniques fast 🎨 how to push through when you think your painting is failing 🎨 chroma and the difficulty making high chroma colours lighter 🎨 why you should be careful posting everything you make on social media 🎨 why flipping your painting upside down is helpful Follow along as we share our results, what we struggled with, what we learned, and how these quick painting studies transformed our approach to making art. Spoiler alert: The results were life changing.