A child asked her father "what do you do at work every day, Daddy?” Her art teacher father replied… "I teach grown-ups to draw, darling."
Astonished, she asked "You mean they forget?"
Picasso said that he could paint like a master at 20 and that he then spent the rest of his life trying to learn how to paint like a child.
In the above two anecdotes, lies the secret to “how to draw and paint”.
Every person, and even some animals can paint and draw. What you're possibly asking is "how to draw and paint well?"
That, of course depends on your definition of what is good art.
Your definition… implies your expectations or aspirations or ideals. These are influenced by many factors, not least of which are the myriad images that flash across our eyes daily, including those of works by masters.
Herein lies the problem.
Unlike children, many people are afraid to play with materials which leave a permanent mark on a surface.
Oil Painting
It is such a rich medium and in many ways, the most malleable. An experienced oil painter can achieve almost any effect desired, from the thinnest wash to the heaviest impasto.
Most of the advice given for acrylic painting applies to oil painting as well. Select your colours carefully and persevere with them until you are comfortable with their qualities. Try to include some transparent pigments even from the start so as to enable you to play with washes. Try copying small, simple works or parts of larger paintings that you like.
Mix colours only two at a time.
It is easiest to start the painting with thinner paint or washes and then to build up the paint as the painting progresses. Avoid the temptation to use too much white. Work in a well ventilated area. Odour free solvents do not imply toxin free.Have one container with solvent (turps) for washing the brushes (after wiping the bulk of the paint onto a rag or tissue). Use another smaller container with either a solvent or an oil medium (or a mixture of both) to thin the paint and alter its drying rate.
Don't worry about making a wet-in-wet mess. For every mess you make, you will also trip over a beautiful accident and leave it in your painting. After very few paintings, the "wet-in-wet stress" will vanish and you will realize that you can lay paint from a loaded brush neatly over a drying underlying wash. You will learn that if you go over and over areas, they will mix into mud. It's just a matter of perseverance. Brush mileage!
Oils don't dry to a darker colour. They remain the colour you apply them. Some may dry less glossy. For those who prefer to allow one layer to dry completely, there are mediums (liquin, liquol) which shorten the drying time and enable most artists to tackle separate layers only hours apart (depending on the thickness of the paint). The use of stand oil or linseed oil will do the opposite, and slow the paint's drying.
Worried about cleaning up? Don’t be. Just wash your brushes in a solvent and later in warm soapy water or brush cleaner. Wash your hands not with turps but by using any cheap oil, such as baby oil or vegetable oil (it dissolves the paint). Wipe the oily mess off your hands onto tissues or rags then wash the film of oil off your hands with soap and water. Hey presto, you have clean moisturized hands!
For more information and inspiration, you can visit Manny's art blog, or talk to one of our friendly team at our store or by phone or email. Look over our great range of how-to books. Attend our twice monthly FREE in-store art demonstrations. Search our Art Classes page, since it’s an online noticeboard of available classes; the Online Art Classes will surprise you! Go to our links and look for assistance, information or guidance from our suppliers, manufacturers and friends.
Acrylic PaintingGETTING STARTEDFor the beginner, we suggest these first steps to ease the way.
Which Colours?So many teachers and books insist that people buy the colours they themselves have grown to like. Everybody has different taste and you can safely rely on the likelihood that your preferences will change as you walk your path. The fundamentals are these: There are three primary colours, from which all other colours can be made, however, there are no pure primary colour pigments so the statement is theoretical. We recommend beginners start with a “warm” (tending towards red on the colour spectrum) and a “cool” (toward blue) of each of the primary colours (eg. a lemon-yellow and a golden-yellow, a scarlet and a crimson for the reds, and a cerulean and an ultramarine for the blues). This will simplify your colour mixing enormously. Note that each manufacturer labels their colours slightly differently. Most use names that signify some property of the pigment or colour eg a cadmium red of a particular brand should be close to the cadmium red of another brand. Some colours and names are unique to some brands (eg. Australian red-gold of Art Spectrum) We recommend you also begin with some earth colours (burnt sienna, yellow ochre and raw umber) to save time making these ‘combination-colours’ from scratch; and because they’re used so liberally for most types of painting. Of course a white is important. Whites are either very opaque like titanium whites, or less opaque (semi opaque), like zinc or flake (lead) white. The more opaque, the less you need to whiten a colour. Titanium whites are best for large areas of white. The zinc whites are more of a mixing white. They will not white-out your pigments too strongly, and so your colours will go further. As for blacks, start out with one if you like, but the black you make from a dark green, dark red and a dark blue will have much more richness. What about all the other pretty colours? Glorious aren’t they? They’re like candy to us artists. We’re often tempted to play with new colours. Again, we recommend that you get familiar with your core colours and experiment or play with new ones a few at a time. This way, you’re more likely to best understand each particular pigment’s qualities. You will not be gambling with untried colours when a part of your work requires some exact hue. For more information see Manny’s art blog or talk to one of our team. |
About PaintAll paint is made up of two things; pigment particles and binders. Binders hold the pigment together and help hold the paint to the support. Watercolour uses gum arabic, Oils use linseed or safflower oils, Acrylics use synthetic or vinyl based binders, and encaustic uses wax etc. The other choice facing most beginners is student-grade versus artist quality or professional quality paint. The main differences between these are:
That's it. Those are the main facts. How To PaintIf you have been practicing your drawing for a while you will have gained a degree of confidence about making a mark. The only difference is that painting uses other materials and mediums and that colour is involved. Many of the philosophical issues above relate to painting as well. Don't buy gear that is so expensive you won't want to dirty it. Putting out pea sized dollops of paint is hardly conducive to free creative expression. Start with affordable paints at first, because you are practicing. Its unlikely many of your practice works will be sought for purchase. Even so, the quality of many of the student grade materials is very satisfactory. As you progress and have gained a degree of confidence and dexterity, you will want to expand and try some of the higher end materials. Again we suggest you buy a few at a time and get to know their advantages. |