Free Guidebook – Oil Painting Supports
Beginners Oil Painting Info – Oil Painting Supports
A ground or support is any kind of surface you can paint on. The choice of ground is in quite important because it determines in part how your painting will be perceived by the viewer.
Your support must satisfy a minimum of conditions. It must accept the paint well without absorbing too much of the pigment.
The least expensive oil painting ground is treated paper. It is very useful for practice and even for doing certain commercial work. You can also buy canvas pads. These pads usually contain 10 sheets of medium tooth 5-oz cotton canvas that has been triple-primed with acrylic gesso. The tooth of paper or canvas is the degree of roughness or smoothness of the canvas. You can tape the oil paper or canvas pad paper to a drawing board. Make sure it is secure and does not shift when applying brushstrokes.
Next in line are the popular canvas boards or panels which are sheets of cardboard covered with inex-pensive white painted cloth. These panels are very popularity because they are inexpensive (particularly when bought in bulk), easy to store, and easy to carry outdoors. They are however not permanent, i.e., they will deteriorate over time.
Good results can also be obtained from un-tempered Masonite or 3-ply chipboard prepared with three coats of gesso on the front and one coat on the back to prevent warping.
You can also use so-called museum board which is on the order of good-quality mat board. This board is quit absorbent but is inexpensive to practice on.
The ultimate ground for oil painting is canvas stretched over a wooden frame. It has wonderful elasticity and resilience, and history has shown that it has very good permanence. Canvas is of course more expensive but when you’re ready this will be your ground of choice and you’ll never want to go back to anything else.
You can buy commercially pre-stretched canvas. In fact, there are plenty of brands, sizes, weights, and qualities to choose from. Only experience will teach you which type of canvas is best suited to your style and subject matter.
Canvas cloth is either cotton or linen. The finest canvas and most expensive is made of linen, which stretches better and has a better tooth. Cotton can be a bit difficult to prime.
Look for cloth with an even weave. The canvas tex-ture can be tightly woven and smooth to fairly coarse with an open weave. That means the tooth of the canvas can be fine or coarse and anything in-between.
If you paint a lot, even commercially pre-stretched canvas can become expensive. If so, you can buy rolls of primed or unprimed (raw) canvas. Then with stretcher bars you can create a support of a certain size. If you bought unprimed canvas, you still have to prime the canvas with an oil-based primer.
To save money you may be tempted to work on small canvases. This is not recommended. Unless you are an experienced artist, working on a small ground can easily result in tight, overly controlled paintings.
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Beginners Oil Painting Tips and Advice – One Basic Approach to Creating an Oil Painting
In this article I will give you an overview of my personal approach to the creation of an oil painting. There are of course many valid approaches to painting and with experience you will develop your own specific approach. But if you are a beginning painter you may want to try and practice the following approach.
The Drawing Phase – Usually I first execute a regular drawing on the canvas. This drawing can be anything from a few lines to a completely detailed map of all the forms. This may even include indications of where the lights and the darks are and what colors need to be used.
A good drawing tool for an oil painting is charcoal. Of course, the best tool is some neutral mixture of thinned paint and a brush. However, this takes some getting used to. Often, I actually use a graphite pencil and when the drawing is finished I spray the drawing with workable fixative.
The advantage of starting with a drawing is that many important decisions can be made up-front and that everything is in place by the time you finish the drawing. After that, all that is left is painting.
The Block-in Phase – This is the first painting phase. I use fairly thinned-out paint and a brush that feels a little large than it should be. Here you focus on the big shapes that you see in your drawing. Don’t pay attention to detail. What is important here is that you observe the colors of the shapes correctly and that you maintain the integrity of the drawing.
Usually I start out with the dark shapes. Then I proceed with the brightest colored shapes (i.e., those that stand out), always making sure the colors stay harmonized. Finally, I put in the more subtle colors many of which will be duller and more difficult to judge.
Again, in this phase hold back on painting details. Maintaining the correct geometry of the large shapes, their exact color (hue, intensity, and value), and their correct position within the composition is the task at hand. And don’t forget to include the background.
At the end of this phase my canvas is usually completely covered with paint, i.e., no white areas are left unpainted. This gives you a good idea of how all the colors look like relative to each other and if they harmonize without the influence of bright white areas.
The Shaping Phase – Now you can begin to model the large shapes and refine them so they start to resemble the actual objects you are trying to paint. In this phase I use a thicker paint than in the Block-in Phase and also a somewhat smaller brush. Also, I refine the color relationships in terms of hue, intensity, and value as best as I can.
This phase usually requires the most time and effort. Still, do not be tempted to put in fine detail. At the end of this phase you should already have a very good idea of how the end product will look like.
The Detail Phase – This is the last phase. This is the time to indulge in the details. Details include things like small twigs, pupils and irises for the eyes, small lines and curves, and highlight, in other words, anything that cannot be done with a large brush. Some details require thin paint (best done over a dry underground) and others, such as highlights, often require lots of thick paint right out of the tube.
The above guidelines are admittedly not complete in detail but are a good starting point for any beginning oil painter.
For more tips in the neighbor area – read how to draw with pencil.
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Arts, Entertainment and Music | Comment (0)Get Helpful Advice – The Block-in Phase in Drawing
Beginners Oil Painting Tips – The Block-in Phase
This phase is the second phase of a basic approach to the creation of an oil painting. The first phase is the drawing phase and involves the drawing of the scene you wish to paint. So, at the start of the block-in phase we assume that we have a canvas with the drawing of our scene on it.
During the drawing phase we already resolved many problems and made many decisions about composition, light source, design, focus point, etc. This is a good situation because it is much better to correct mistakes up-front than it is when you have already a lot of paint on your canvas.
The block-in phase consists of establishing the large shapes of color as indicated by the drawing. The emphasis here is on correctly observing the color of these shapes and making sure you maintain the correct geometry.
In this stage you should not be concerned with painting any details. I use usually work with fairly thinned-out paint and a brush that feels a little too large than for the work I’m doing.
Start out with the darkest shapes. Make sure you do not misjudge these dark colors. You will rarely find anything that is totally black. Most dark colors have a certain bias such as blue, brown, or purple.
Next I fill in the brightest colored large shapes (i.e., those colors that stand out or leap at you). Observe and analyze the color according to hue, value, and intensity. Also, make sure the colors stay harmonized.
Finally, I put in the more subtle colors many of which will be duller and more difficult to judge. Note that these more muddled colors are just as important as the bright colors. In fact, they are part of the reason why the bright colors can shine as they do.
Only two things count in this phase:
1) The correct coloring of the big shapes. This requires careful observation, analysis, and color mixing. It is important to check and recheck and if you feel the color is not quite right you should take the time to correct it even if you have to scrape it off the canvas.
2) Duplicating the geometry of the drawing. There is often a tendency to grow things. For example, when painting the large areas of a flower we tend naturally to make the flower larger. So, be disciplined and keep looking at the drawing and stay within the lines. Keep everything in its position and its proper dimensions and don’t forget to paint the background if there is one.
At the end of this phase the canvas should be completely covered with paint. This way you have a good idea of how all the colors look like relative to each other without the presence of the harsh white canvas. You will also be in a good position to judge how well the overall color scheme harmonizes and if you need to make any corrections. And one more time, restrain yourself to add any details.
In this article we had a detailed look at the so-called block-in phase of the painting process. The end result is a fully colored canvas of large shapes all with the correct color in terms of hue, value, and intensity. During this phase we have also paid attention to the harmony of the colors.
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Arts, Entertainment and Music | Comment (0)Free Guidelines – Painting Supplies
Tips for Beginners Oil Painting – Supplies
Of course, before you can start a painting you have to have a number of art supplies. Here, we will list the most essential tools you need to create an oil painting, that is, at least the way I create such a painting. Here we go.
Brushes – Again, there are hundreds of kinds of brushes and many different brands. But to start, you really only need a few filbert brushes of fairly good quality.
1. One large no. 10 or 12
2. One or two no. 8’s
3. One or two no. 6’s
4. One small no. 2
The reason I suggest filbert brushes is that they more or less combine the capabilities of a round and a flat brush. Also, the main reason we need two brushes of the same size is that we can then use two colors at the same time. That means, less brush rinsing.
Canvas – A bunch of canvases. At this time I suggest you buy pre-stretched canvases so you can start to paint immediately. Good standard starting sizes are 16″ x 12″ or 18″x24″. You can also use canvas panels which might sometimes be cheaper depending on where you buy them.
Easel – You need an easel to put your canvas on. Try to buy a sturdy easel. In fact, you could even make your own easel out of wood if you are a bit handy.
Palette – I prefer to a paper palette of at least 16″x20″. I actually use an 18″x24″ which gives me even more room. These palette sheets come in pads of 50 sheets and are not very expensive. You use them to mix your paints on.
Paints – Yes, you do need paints! Try to buy tubes containing at least 37 ml of paint. Some brands have tubes of 200 ml and for certain colors (such as white) they may even offer larger containers. The totality of tube colors you use is also called a palette. As a starting palette I suggest the following colors.
1. Lemon Yellow
2. Cadmium Yellow
3. Cadmium Red
4. Permanent Rose
5. French Ultramarine
6. Phthalo Blue (Red Shade)
7. Titanium White
8. Ivory Black
Of course, as you get more experience, you can add some tube colors. However, when you start out it is probably best to use as few colors aspossible. The above colors let you produce very clean secondary colors and all sorts of tertiary ones as well. Secondary colors are colors that are made with two colors and tertiary ones are colors that are made with three colors.
Turpentine – If you use real oil paints then you need at least a quart of turpentine or a substitute. If you use water soluble oil paints then all you need is regular water.
Odds and Ends – If you use real oil paints you need a small container of linseed oil. You could also get a can of retouch varnish spray. And finally, also a few rolls of paper towel.
This is about the minimum you need to start oil painting. As stated before, there are many more tools to be had. I suggest going to a few art stores and see what they have. You can even check out some of the Internet stores and maybe purchase some of the tools that particularly useful to you.
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Fun Stuff | Comment (0)Free Guide – Thinking While Painting
Beginners Oil Painting Tips and Advice – Thinking While Painting
Oil painting is a mainly right brain activity but the left brain is by no means idle. What sort of brain activity goes not the act of painting?
Here are some answers:
The Drawing Phase – In this phase you create a drawing on your canvas. During this effort you should be preoccupied with all the technical issues that make a good drawing.
You ask yourself questions like: Is this shape right? Is this angle too shallow? Is this object in the right place? Is this line too short or too long? Is this what I intend to convey to my audience? In other words, be preoccupied with concepts such as accuracy, seeing, comparing, judging, etc.
You must learn to draw well so you don’t get constantly distracted by your lack of skill.
The Block-in Phase – This is the phase where you color the large shapes in your drawing. Here you must keep in mind not to deform, enlarge (this is particularly easy to do), or crimp these shapes which were already correctly established in the Drawing Phase.
Be busy judging colors in terms of hue, value, and intensity. At the same time, think about how you will mix these colors on your palette. Which tube colors will you use? To do this well, you need to learn a few things about color mixing. During this phase, I recommend using fairly thin paint.
In all this, squinting is a great help, particularly for discerning values. To identify hues, avoid staring at them for too long. It’s better to have a quick look, preferably with your peripheral vision. Also, restrain yourself from painting details.
The Shaping Phase – This phase involves the modeling of the shapes so they look like the real objects. Here you should revert back to the drawing mode. That is, think angles, lengths, curves, and position.
Also, refine the values, hues, and intensities. Force yourself to observe and to compare. Stand back regularly and judge your work from a distance. Also, in this phase we use thicker paint.
Keep in mind that at the end of this phase your painting should be more or less finished.
The Detail Phase – This is the final phase where you add in the details. This is the icing on the cake phase where you can dream and let your individual talent come to the fore.
Be in a delicate and soft mood. Think of hints, lost edges, accents, etc. Use thin paint for delicate lines or thick paint for highlights. Be discrete and measured. Don’t overdo it.
The purpose of this article was to give you an idea of the sort of thinking patterns that go into the painting process. Painting is a mentally demanding activity and requires very much a multi-tasking approach. For many people, this takes some getting used to. At first, you may want to write lists of the various things to keep in mind while creating your masterpiece. Later on, all this will become second nature.
Oh yes, and above all, don’t forget to sign your painting!
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