"Old Boots" is an original, signed acrylic painting on canvas by Citrus County Florida Artist Michael Arnold.

I set out to paint from start to finish a work that copied how the old masters used to paint. They would first paint the entire painting in grisaille (black and white) and then layer thin glazes of paint over the top. Interestingly, many painters had their students do a lot of the grunt work on the grisaille portion and the masters would come along and lay down the color.

I began with a layer of sap green, then added burnt sienna in some areas. I then switched to cobalt blue to deepen the shadows. I worked some Hooker's green into the shadows as well and then came back with some yellow ochre and more burnt sienna. I added more blue and greens into the shoes on the right to get them to black, while I tried to get the shoes on the left to brown.