Beginners Guide to Acrylic Painting

The acrylic painting medium is fairly new and has only been around since the 1950’s. Since then, it has continually been under development and refinement. Acrylic paint is highly favored amongst artists because of its versatility. It can be applied in a thick fashion as an impasto having rich texture or in washes mimicking the characteristics of watercolor. Another likable characteristic of acrylic paint is its permanence. Unlike oil paints, acrylic paint is not susceptible to yellowing or hardening with age. With acrylic paint, the artist does not need to be concerned with the order the paint is applied or other special techniques that ensure the paint film remains free from cracking.

So now that you know a bit more about the acrylic painting medium, I am sure you want to get started. This beginners guide to acrylic painting will provide you with all of the information and resources that you need to get started and improve your painting skills…

Follow this link to read the rest of this beginners guide to acrylic painting

Oil Painting Instructions – A Beginners Guide to Painting in Oils

So you are beginning your journey into the wonderful world of oil painting? It can be a confusing process for beginners if you do not have someone to help guide you through the first steps. This article will provide you with all the necessary information that you need to get started.

OIL PAINTING SUPPLIES

The first thing you are going to need are your supplies. This first step may seem simple, but many beginners are lost when they first step foot into an art supply store. There are so many different materials to choose from and if you are not familiar with what you need, you may spend too much on supplies you don’t need or wind up not buying enough.

Paints

If you ask five different artists about the colors they have on their palette, you will more than likely get five different answers. The truth of the matter is, there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to the colors on your palette, it really is a matter of preference. You will definitely develop those preferences over time. In the mean time, I can share with you the colors that I often use:

Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red Light
Cadmium Yellow Light
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Umber
Raw Umber
Cadmium Orange
Burnt Sienna
Thalo Blue
Cerulean Blue
Thalo Green
Thalo Yellow Green
Ivory Black
Titanium White

TIP: Whatever paint you decide to buy, try to stay away from paints that have the word “hue” on the label. These paints may be more economical, but they are of very low quality when compared to the real color. Hue paints are artificial pigments and they do not behave the same as the real pigment.

Palette

If you are not already familiar with a palette, it is basically the surface that you will use to lay out and mix your colors on. There are a variety of different palettes available. Everything from wood to glass are possible surfaces to use. My favorite surface to use as a palette is wood, but the surface is porous, so it will need to be sealed before you can use it. It is quite easy. All you need to do is coat the surface of the palette with mineral or linseed oil and wipe the excess off. It is then ready for your oil paints.

Brushes

Just like paints, an artists brush selection may differ from person to person. I personally use flats and filberts of varying sizes, but you may develop a preference for other shapes and sizes. My brush selection consists of #2, #5, and #10 Filberts, #2, #5, and #10 Flats – - all hog hair brushes. Hog hair brushes are strong, flexible and are great for use with oils.

Supports

There are a variety of painting surfaces, or “supports”, that you can use to paint on. Stretched canvas, canvas panels, canvas paper and even wood are all possibilities. I use canvas panels and paper for studies or practice and stretched canvas for my finished paintings. Again, this is just my preference and you are free to explore on your own.

Other Supplies

Some other supplies you will need are rags for wiping and cleaning, a palette knife for mixing your paints, a medium for thinning your paint and an easel.

Caring For Brushes

Learning how to properly care for your brushes is one of the most important aspects of oil painting. One popular approach is to use solvents like turpentine, but for some of us, this is not an attractive option as solvents can be dangerous to your health. I personally use mineral oil followed by a brush cleaner. I first wipe the brush as clean as possible with a rag. I then swish the brush around in mineral oil until most of the paint is removed. I then wash the brush with a product called MASTERS Brush Cleaner and Preserver.

TIP: Always clean your brushes immediately after you have finished a painting session and never leave your brushes soaking in anything! It will destroy them.

ORGANIZING YOUR STUDIO

I know not everyone has the luxury of a professional studio, but try and do your best to create a productive environment for painting. Try and find a space in your home that is free from noise and distraction.

Lighting

If at all possible, use a room or space that has plenty of natural sunlight. If natural sunlight is not possible, you will have to use artificial light. There are special lights or bulbs called “Full Spectrum”, that are made to emulate natural sunlight. They do a descent job, but nothing compares to natural sunlight.

Organizing Your Palette

It is important to have a clean and organized palette during your painting sessions. This is done by laying your paints out the same way each time you paint. Lay your paint out on the edges of your palette leaving enough empty space in the center for mixing. Be sure to squeeze out a good amount of each of your colors before you start to paint. You will be more productive if you do not have to stop frequently to squeeze out more paint. When you are finished painting, be sure and clean the mixing area of your palette well, but do not fully clean the spots on your palette where you placed your colors. This way, you will be able to tell where to squeeze them out during future painting sessions.

YOUR FIRST PAINTING

So now that you have a general understanding of the supplies you will need as well as how to organize your studio, it’s time to starting thinking about your first painting.

Painting Ideas

Coming up with an idea for a painting can be a frustrating task and in order to find your painting “voice”, you need to find out what you are passionate about or what things in life influence you. Every artist has an influence, whether it be another artist, a place or thing. For instance, if you love nature and wildlife, spend time outdoors at the places that inspire you. Bring along a sketchpad or digital camera and record the scenes that catch your eye. If you have a particular artist that you admire, spend time studying his or her artwork. Try and reproduce their paintings.

Ralph Serpe is an artist and Founder of ArtInstructionBlog.com, which offers free lessons and resources on a variety of different mediums. For more information on how you can learn and master oil painting, visit us today!

Interview With Artist David Hunt

Artist Statement

The focus of my work is synonymously related to nature and landscape. It is an investigation of nature, its forms, its sublimate captivation and the paradigm of how we align our position, perceptions and reactions to them.

Predominantly my subjects derive from arboreal environments, which I record with photography, sketch making, and through the internalisation of personal experience. Hence, when we find ourselves in an environment where the realisation of aloneness becomes internalised, there can be various responses. Angst, vulnerability, fear, adrenaline, but paradoxically, these feelings can also be interpreted as vision, freedom, liberation, and excitement. They can be either comforting or discomforting and this to me is a reflection of our individuality…

Q: What medium or mediums do you work with?

A: Currently I am working with various mediums which include but are not limited to: ink, PVA, oil paint, digital imagery on paper, on canvas.

I feel that restricting oneself to a single particular medium denies the artist a degree of creativity which cannot exist without the unpredictable nature of mixing mediums. It is at those times when the medium seems to take over that the artists sense of loosing control is in fact the artist at the height of his creativity.

Q: How long have you been an artist? How did you get started?

A: My first response to your question is; always. I think that everyone in their early life is an artist, but only a few of these artists learn how to continue being an artist. For me, I knew that I was an artist during my school years and enrolled on as many arts related classes as possible. I finished school at the age of sixteen in 1984, but was discouraged from pursuing a career in art. I became distracted by money and work and became an electronics engineer.

After about six years I felt empty and tired. I tried to fill this emptiness by enrolling on an evening course for advanced level fine art painting in 1990. This helped me but financial commitments meant that I had to continue working in electronics. Another eight years later and I had had enough. I became too disenchanted to continue in electronics.
I knew then that I must explore my potential as an artist, and so 1998 was a turning point in becoming the artist that I am now.

Q: Do you have any formal training or are you self taught?

A: My formal training, I suppose, really began in senior school with ‘O’ level Fine Art, Technical Drawing, and Craft Design Technology. As previously mentioned I then later earned an ‘A’ Level in Fine Art Painting on an evening course at college, this is where I was introduced to oil paint.

After my ‘A’ level, any advancement of my knowledge was self taught. I read books but mostly I just experimented with oil paint by trial and error. I soon learned that it is the errors or mistakes that one makes which ultimately advances ones skill. I might have been happy to continue self educating myself, but the reality of the modern art market is that qualifications count when it comes to finding representation in high profile galleries. Some artists manage to carve out an arena of critical debate around their work from being self taught, but in most cases a Degree is beneficial or even essential too an artists career, and so I began my Bachelors Degree with honours in fine art painting and drawing at the University of Northampton in the UK. I am entering my final year and graduate in 2010. I plan on continuing my studies to go on and earn a Masters Degree the following year…

Read the rest of this artist interview here.

Landscape Drawing Lesson By Diane Wright

Start by just looking up.

Ever since a fellow artist challenged me to include a sky in one of my drawings, I have been keeping my mind in the clouds. I am continually amazed at the beauty of just looking up in the sky! Over the past couple of years, I have been learning the importance of toning the sky and adding clouds as part of overall compositional improvement in my landscapes. I think I could spend hours and hours fiddling with each puff of white!

Start looking up to the sky and observe cloud formations. Take photos of clouds and you will be amazed at what you will start to “see”!

View the rest of this landscape drawing lesson here.

10 Watercolor Demonstrations to Spark Your Creativity

Over the years, we have accumulated a number of exceptional watercolor painting demonstrations both here at artinstructionblog.com and creativespotlite.com. I thought it would be a good idea to create a post that highlights some of the best demonstrations that have been submitted in the event you have not already viewed these during your stay here….

View these watercolour painting demonstrations here.

Learn and Master Painting – An Artist’s Review

There is a brand new home instruction course entitled Learn and Master Painting which is quite easily the best home instruction course available in teaching you how to paint with oils and acrylics.

Unlike most of the people promoting this course online, I am an artist and actually own this course, so rest assured you are getting an honest review..

The Learn and Master Painting course comes jam packed with 20 professionally produced DVD’s, 3 Music CD’s (you can listen to these while you are painting), a detailed lesson book with extra information, and a free support website.

Instructor Gaylee Levee will take you step by step through the process of becoming an accomplished painter. You will learn about perspective, how to organize your studio, how to care for your art materials, how to develop compositions….all of the foundational skills needed to become the artist you have always aspired to be.

I like to refer to Learn and Master Painting as an “Art School in a Box”, because it is quite literally like attending a professional Art School within the comfort of your own home, but at the fraction of the price. The folks over at Learn and Master Painting have made this course extremely affordable for any budget.

Not only is the course professional and affordable, but unlike attending an art school, you have the ability to watch these courses over and over again. So if something does not sink in right away, you can play the DVD’s again and practice something until it does. But the benefits do not stop there. Along with the 20 DVD’s and course book, you also have access to an entire community of artists who have also purchased the Learn and Master Painting Course. Here you will find support and encouragement from instructor Gaylee Levee as well as from other students from all over the world.

I recommend this course wholeheartedly to anyone wishing to learn how to become an accomplished artist. There is no other home study course in existence today of this caliber.

One last thing. Do not buy this course if you are not serious about devoting the time and energy into learning how to paint or if you do not have patience. Without patience and hard work, this course will do you no good.

Click here to Learn and Master Painting!

Oil Painting Color Mixing Lessons & Resources

One of the biggest challenges for artists just starting out with oil painting is mixing colors. Color is a powerful tool. If handled improperly, things can become quite messy. Improperly mixed colors lead to muddy or unbalanced paintings. The good news is, with practice, you will become more skilled at mastering color in your oil paintings. I have collected a number of color mixing tutorials below including links to articles, videos and books. I hope you find these oil painting color mixing resources helpful….

View these oil painting color mixing lessons here.

Composition Tips For Painters

Composition is one of the most important aspects of painting. A pleasing composition is one where shapes and colors in a painting are organized in such a way that there is a sense of balance. Creating a balanced and interesting composition is more challenging that it may appear. If something is out of place or wrong, the viewer is left confused or uninterested. The following tips should help steer you in the right direction….

Read the rest of this art lesson on composition here.

Landscape Drawing Tutorial – Drawing Rocks

Rock Drawing Tutorial by Diane Wright

While I haven’t had the opportunity to draw many rocks in my landscapes (yet), they can certainly add interest to any landscape. I consider them just one more opportunity to add a different texture to the scene.

There are different kinds of rock formations. From sandstone, shale, limestone, volcanic to boulders. Each one will hold different textures and ‘feel’ to them.

This lesson will be very specific and we are going to study the drawing of a close-up view of rocks. Our goal is two fold. 1) To understand the how to create the shape and depth of rocks, and 2) to learn how to create textured, realistic looking rocks.

Read the rest of this landscape drawing tutorial here.

Learn Oil Painting Techniques – Paint Like Monet

You Can Learn How to Paint Like Monet: His Techniques and Color Mixing Approach

Have you ever wondered how to paint like Monet or wanted to paint like he does?

When you see his works, like the huge water lily paintings in the Orangerie Museum in Paris, you know that he was truly a master colorist.

Those paintings made such an impression on me that to this day I’m still inspired to follow in his footsteps. I want to venture outdoors, see the natural world around me, and paint it the way that he did. It is an invigorating change from the studio painting approach I normally use.

Learning how to paint like Monet is easy. There are three aspects to keep in mind: how he mixed his colors, his technique of applying the paint, and his process for creating paintings….

Read the rest of this oil painting tutorial here.