13 posts tagged “oil painting lessons”

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...

Read these oil paint color mixing lessons here.

Oil paint is an exciting medium to work with. One will never become bored while painting with oil paints. There are a variety of materials and other mediums at your fingertips and when you combine these materials and mediums with the versatility of oil paints, you have a variety of interesting ways to begin an oil painting. There are certain drawing and painting mediums that are compatible with oil paints and when utilized, will make your painting experience more interesting and enjoyable.

CHARCOAL

Charcoal works beautifully as a preliminary step to oil painting. There are three main forms of charcoal used most often by artist’s and they are compressed, willow and vine charcoal. Willow and Vine charcoal tend to be more highly favored for preliminary drawings as they leave a lighter mark and are easier to erase. Compressed charcoal, because it leaves a much darker line, is more difficult to remove and not as widely used to start an oil painting. Some helpful tools to use for working with charcoal are kneaded erasers, stiff bristle brushes, blenders and tortillions. Whatever type of charcoal drawing you create, make certain not to go overboard with your application. Charcoal is very forgiving with oil paints, but too much, and it can effect the paint in adverse ways.

PAINTING ON A TONED GROUND

Depending on the type of final picture you are working towards, sometimes the white of the canvas can be too bright or have too much contrast which makes starting a painting rather difficult. Using a uniform toned ground on your support, will make it much easier to judge the values in your painting. You are welcome to use any color you like to tone your canvas. Some of the more popular tones are warm reds, yellow and browns.

Toning your canvas is pretty straight forward and will not require that much time. Here is an example using one of my favorite tones. First create a thin wash using Yellow Ochre and Burn Umber. Apply the wash to your support generously. Use a large bristle brush to spread and cover the support entirely. Allow the wash to dry for a couple of minutes and then wipe off the excess with a cloth. You don’t have to use oils to tone your canvas. You can tone your canvas with any of the water mediums described below.

ACRYLIC PAINT

Acrylic paint is an excellent choice for starting an oil painting and one of my favorites. One of the most attractive features of acrylic paint is its fast drying time. This property of acrylic paint makes blocking in your underpainting very easy. Ideas can be worked out quickly on your canvas and instead of waiting days for your underpainting to dry, you are ready to paint in mere minutes. This really does depend on the type of acrylic paint you are using and how thickly you apply it. Not only is the fast drying time attractive, but as in other water based mediums, there is no need to thin the paint with dangerous substances like turpentine....

Read the rest of these oil painting tips here.

One of the biggest hurdles for beginner oil painters is learning how to keep colors pure. How many times have you started an oil painting only to quit from frustration because things just didn't look right. Your colors were muddy or they just lacked brilliance. This is a very common problem for artists just starting out with oil paints. Hopefully after reading this article, you will no longer have to put up with this frustration any longer and will finally be able to enjoy oil painting.

BE CLEAN AND ORGANIZED

I know for some of us, it can be very difficult to maintain a clean and organized painting environment. Sometimes we can get very caught up in our work and things can get sloppy. The last thing you want is to become a sloppy painter as your work will suffer. Break the habit early and try your hardest to develop clean and organized painting habits.

Your Palette

First, you should get into the habit of laying out your colors the same way every time you paint. This is just good practice and keeps the painting process flowing nicely. Arrange your colors along the edges of your palette leaving a lot of room in the center for mixing.

Don't be afraid to squeeze out a good amount of paint, especially your whites. You will be more productive if you aren't continuously stopping to squeeze out more paint.

Make certain to include all of the colors you think you will need to complete that session of painting. Again, this will make you more productive.

When adding paint to the palette, I have found that squeezing the paint out in long lines, as opposed to puddles, keeps my colors cleaner. When you have puddles of paint, they tend to get soiled by other colors when mixing. With a long line of paint, you can just take paint from the end as needed and not dirty the rest. Keep some rags or paper towels handy for wiping your palette knife clean.

It's a good idea to continuously wipe your palette clean during the painting process. There is nothing more frustrating then trying to remove dried up oil paint. Keep some alcohol handy so that you can keep the mixing area of your palette clean.

If you don't want to fuss around with a regular palette, why not try a disposable one? They are basically paper with a plastic coating that prevents the paper from absorbing the oil. The beauty of the disposable palette, is that you can simply throw it in the trash when you are done. Using a disposable palette will definitely help keep your colors clean as you will be starting with a clean surface every time you start a new painting session.

When mixing your colors, use your palette knife and not your brush. A palette knife can be wiped completely clean so there is no chance of your colors becoming contaminated. Your brush is made for painting and not mixing and you can shorten the life span of your brush if you are continually mixing with it.

Brushes

I like to have a handful of clean brushes near by when I am painting. This way, I do not need to stop and clean my brushes when I am working with a different color and there is less risk of the wrong colors getting into the mix...

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Learning how to become a good oil painter is a difficult undertaking. In fact, it is more than likely one of the most difficult painting mediums to master. Things like color mixing & theory, perspective, techniques and materials can really intimidate a beginner artist.

So how do you get the most out of your oil painting and become a more accomplished artist?

You must make it a point to learn the fundamentals of oil painting, practice often and have an enormous amount of patience.

You must start with the fundamentals of oil painting first. You cannot expect to produce Rembrandt quality paintings in the beginning. In fact, the first paintings you produce will probably be a lot worse than you may have anticipated. Frustration will more than likely come into the picture (pun intended). They key is to learn from your mistakes and do not let them defeat you....

Please follow this link to view the rest of this story on oil painting for beginners

Learn oil painting step by step with the very talented Dan Schultz.

Dan Schultz was born in New Mexico in 1975 and soon began to take an interest in art. He enjoyed art classes through his primary and high school years, and studied commercial art at Pensacola Christian College in Florida. He received his degree with a focus on illustration and graphic design, but he never felt driven to pursue either as a career. After college, he continued to sharpen his drawing and painting skills by attending Cottonwood Artists’ School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and it was there that he realized for the first time his desire for a career in fine art.

He chooses to work in a classical style because he deeply connects with traditional works which aptly express reality. “Art should bring about a respect for life and God’s creation around us,” he says. “I want to do my best to faithfully render what is beautiful to me and hopefully others will find that beauty reflected in my work.”

West Wind - An Oil Painting Demonstration by Dan Schultz

For this studio painting I used Claessens double oil primed linen canvas, #15 (my usual painting surface). This painting, as with most of my larger paintings, was completed using a photograph as my reference. (My wife, Sarah, is the lovely lady in the photo. Somehow I doubt she would have been very excited to pose in the middle of a field long enough for me to do the painting from life.)

Click here to view the rest of this tutorial and learn oil painting today!

Hi All,

Just wanted to share a new step by step oil painting demonstration that was created by the very talented artist Jennifer Young. 

The title of the painting is "Vineyard Patterns"...

Jennifer Young is a professional artist from Richmond, Virginia, most known for her vibrant landscape paintings of France, Italy, and the American South. She is inspired by the beauty she observes on her frequent travels, and paints on location as often as possible.

Click here to view the oil painting lesson

Learn to oil paint with Artist Philip Howe. I am very excited to share this painting
demonstration with you. Philip was nice enough to allow me to publish the demo
of his painting "Caverna Magica" on my blog.

Click here to view the oil painting demonstration

Mixing your own flesh color for oil painting can be rather challenging in the beginning. Many beginner portrait painters struggle with mixing realistic flesh tones. The key to mixing flesh color is more than just the color of the paint that you use. The quantity of paint and proportions of the colors in your mixture, the location on the figure where you place your colors and how your flesh colors relate to the rest of your painting are really what you should be focusing on. It really is a matter of experimentation and practice. The more you work with paint, the easier it will become to mix realistic flesh tones. So don't give up and keep practicing.

Click here for free step by step portrait painting demonstrations.

Oil paint is one of the most versatile and adaptable painting mediums in existence today. There are many techniques and effects possible with oil paint. Oil paint can be applied in thin transparent glazes or washes, or the paint can be mixed to a thick buttery consistency and applied using a painting knife. There really appears to be no end to the wonderful ways you can create art with this amazing painting medium. This article will talk about some of the many ways you can use oil paint.

Dry brush

The dry brush technique involves using a small amount of oil paint straight from the tube. It is then brushed thinly onto your support with a bristle brush. This technique works particularly well with a rough surface. The raised parts of your surface pick up the paint, while the dips or valleys in your support do not. This creates a broken color effect where the color of your canvas shows through.

Painting On A Toned Ground

The white of a canvas can sometimes be too bright or have too much contrast which makes starting a painting a bit difficult. When you cover your support with a uniform toned ground, it makes it much easier to judge the values in your painting. You can use any color you like to tone your ground really, but the more popular approach is to use warm tones of red, yellows and browns, which provide a wonderful richness to the finished work.

Here is an example of how to paint on a toned ground using Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre. First you create the wash by mixing the Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre together with a paint thinner (use turpentine, or if you are like me, and are allergic to turpentine, use a water soluble oil paint). Apply the mixture generously to your support and completely cover it with a large bristle brush. Let this mixture stand for a couple of minutes and then wipe off the excess wash with a cloth.

Alla Prima Painting

Alla Prima painting , also known as "direct painting", is a technique of oil painting where the work is usually finished in just one sitting. You are probably familiar with the artist Bob Ross, who made this painting method quite popular on his TV Show. I am sure like me, you watched Bob paint in amazement as he completed a beautiful painting in under 30 mintues.

The paint is applied wet onto wet directly onto the canvas usually with no underpainting or sketches. It might be a good idea in the beginning to lay down a sketch with some thinned down oil paint. This way you will have a general idea where your colors will be placed. You must be careful using this technique as your painting can become quite muddy if you do not apply the colors correctly on your canvas. It takes practice, so don't be discouraged if your first, second or even third painting does not come out the way you anticipated. Keep practicing and let your imagination run wild. As Bob used to say, "It's Your World".

Working With Painting Knives

If you have never worked with painting knives, then it is highly recommended that you give them a try. This type of painting method is very different from traditional brush painting and when you lay down your first stroke of paint with a painting knife, you will immediately see why. Painting with a knife can be best described as spreading butter on a piece of bread and you should keep your painting at a butter or cream like consistency when using painting knives. Do not use your palette knives to paint with. They have a different construction and are not made for painting. Painting knives have more flexibility to them and come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. You can manipulate paint in a variety of different ways with a knife just by changing your hand position on the handle. You can hold your hand down low on the handle to smear the paint over your support. Move your hand up to the top of the handle and you can use your finger to gently push the blade into the paint to create small dabs of color. You can also turn your knife blade on its side for scraping away paint or for creating hard lines.

Glazing

If you never produced a painting using the glazing technique, then you should definitely give this a try as well. Your painting will have a different appearance then if you were to complete a painting using traditional color mixing techniques. Glazing tends to give colors more luminescence. The colors are not mixed together first before applying, rather, they are mixed optically using single transparent layers of color. For instance, if you wanted to create the color green using glazes, you would not mix yellow and blue together on your palette first. You would first apply a thin glaze of blue, wait until it dries, then apply a thin glaze of yellow, which would then create your green. Each layer must be completely dry before applying subsequent layers. Usually, the first step in using the glazing technique is to create a monochromatic (different values of the same color) underpainting of the subject. Using only one color will help you to focus on form and tone first, rather than being too preoccupied with color at this stage. Wait until your under painting is dry to begin applying your first layer of color. This technique is tricky and does require practice, but it is not as difficult as some may lead you to believe.

For more online oil painting tutorials and techniques be sure to visit Creative Spotlite today, a free online community for artists and crafters. It is also recommended that you visit the Creative Spotlite Art Instruction Blog, where you will find more painting lessons including step by step painting videos. �

Oil painting brushes come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes and this can sometimes overwhelm a beginner. This article will provide you with an overview of the various oil painting brushes available and help you decide what kind of brushes you should invest in.

BRUSH TEXTURES

Oil painting brushes come in two different textures basically, and they are classified as hard and soft. Hard brushes are generally referred to as “bristle brushes” and they are quite resilient. Hard brushes are made from hog's hair and they are strong and stiff. They will hold a good amount of paint and can handle the oil painting medium quite well. I personally prefer working with bristle brushes exclusively as I tend to paint rather rough and direct.

Soft oil painting brushes are made from softer hairs that come from animals like sable, squirrel, or mongoose. Softer brushes will generally give your painting a softer smoother appearance and are more often used for finishing or detailed work. Sable brushes are the most expensive usually but there are synthetic brushes made of nylon that are very good substitutes for sable. They are more resilient and cheaper than sable.

BRUSH SHAPES

There are five shapes to brushes that are generally used and each is meant to have its own function. I prefer to paint with flats, brights and fliberts of various sizes, and only occasionally make use of the other shapes. This is my preference and you will certainly develop your own the longer you paint with oils.

Flats

Flat oil painting brushes have a wide square end with medium to long hairs. Flat brushes generally have a lot of spring to them and can hold a lot of paint. You can use these brushes for broad sweeping strokes or you can turn the brush on its edge to create fine lines. Flat brushes are great for earlier stages of a painting when you are blocking in large areas.

Brights

Bright oil painting brushes are similar in shape to flat brushes but the hairs are shorter. They are best used for making shorter controlled strokes. They do not hold nearly as much paint as a flat brush.

Filberts

The filbert is also similar to the flat brush only the edge of the brush comes to a rounded shape. The hairs of the filbert are medium to long in length. This rounded shape will give you more control then a bright. The filbert is great for blending and figurative work.

Rounds

A round oil painting brush has a round or pointed tip. They hold a nice amount of paint and are great for making thin or thick lines. Use this brush for dabbing on dots or blotches of color. Round brushes are also good for washes, fills and detailed work. They are not suited for creating hard straight edges.

Fans

The fan oil painting brush is a flat fan shaped brush. The fan brush is a specialized brush. It is either used very often by the artist or not at all. It really depends on your style of painting. This brush is not suited for holding paint. It is used more often for blending colors and you should keep this brush clean and dry if you plan to do a lot of blending during a session. The brush will begin to lose its effectiveness when it becomes filled with paint. You may want to keep a few extras on hand.

BRUSH SIZE

Oil painting brushes come in a variety of sizes indicated by numbers as in 1,2,4,6,8,10; size 1 being the smallest and 10 the largest in this example.

BRUSH MANUFACTURERS

Oil painting brushes are made by a number of different manufacturers. A few of the more popular brands are Winsor & Newton, Silver Brush and Robert Simmons. Some artists prefer one brand over another. Other artists like to have an assortment of different brands available. The only way you will know what you like best is by working with the brushes yourself.

CARING FOR YOUR BRUSHES

No matter what brush you buy, whether they are top of the line expensive brushes, or cheaper ones, you will definitely get more life out of them if you care for them properly. There seems to be a difference of opinion when it comes to brush care, especially when it comes to drying your brushes. I personally have two products on hand for cleaning and conditioning my brushes: Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver and Mona Lisa Pink Brush Soap. I have found that the Masters Brush Cleaner works great on brushes that are deeply stained and hardened with paint, that I would have otherwise thrown out. I use the Mona Lisa Pink Brush Soap to clean my brushes right after a painting session. These cleaners will also help condition your brushes.

After washing my brushes with either of these cleaners, I then attach a clothes pin to the handle of the brush and rest the clothes pin on the edge of a counter or table so that the brush is hanging with the bristles pointing toward the floor. Gravity then pulls the moisture from the brush so that it does not collect in the ferrule, which can damage a brush over time.

I hope this article has helped. Best of luck and happy painting!�

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