My Beauty Best Teacher

Where can I Get Cheap Art Materials for Oils?

Inexpensive Oil Painting Rachel Shirley

Thankfully, times have changed since the days of the old masters and their exacting processes, and there have been many innovations, not least in how the oil paints have been manufactured. Nowadays artist oil paints, containing organic pigments, have a cheaper alternative in the form of student quality oils, which contain synthetic substitutes. Numerous oil pigments are not necessary. In fact, the only oil colours I use for all my painting are as follows:

• A large tube of titanium white.
• Cadmium yellow (pale).
• Lemon yellow.
• Ultramarine blue.
• Pthalo blue.
• Permanent rose.
• Cadmium red.
• Burnt sienna.
• Burnt umber.
• Viridian green: A much-maligned colour for its strength, but when mixed with other colours, provides beautiful greens.

Avoid purchasing preselected sets of oil tubes, as they often contain unnecessary colours, such as numerous earth colours or secondary colours. A one-off purchase of the aforementioned oil tubes will spread over dozens of medium-sized oil paintings, and will last years.

Beginner’s Set of Oil Brushes

Art brushes for oils are essentially divided into two types: stiff brushes, most often hog hair for rough impasto, and soft brushes, most often sables, for blending and detail. The artist may save money on art brushes by purchasing the stiff brushes from DIY stores. But it is worth investing money in good quality sables that last. Kolinsky is a well-established brand, but brushes containing a blend of synthetic and sable provide a cheaper alternative. Two or three different sizes of each will suffice the artist for many art techniques. The following starter kit of art brushes will not break the purse strings.

Sable brushes Sizes 3 and 6 rounds. (Rounds are brushes that converge to a point for fine lines).
Hog hair brushes sizes 6, 9 and 12 flat. (Flat brushes are brushes with a flat, blunt end for wide brushstrokes).

Where Can I Get Cheap Art Boards?

The purchase of canvases and art boards can make the cost of oil painting skyrocket, but preparing your own is simple and will save lots of money. Simply purchase a tin of acrylic polymer primer (sometimes labelled “gesso primer”), which is essentially a white acrylic, water-soluble paint that dries water resistant. Applying a coat or two of acrylic primer onto thick paper or card will provide a stable surface for oil sketches.

Textured paper, such as “not” watercolour paper will provide interesting effects for painting. MDF or hardboard can be used for larger oil paintings. But if stretched canvases are preferred, stationers will often stock them at the fraction of the art shop’s price.

What Art Mediums do I Need for Oil Painting?

The artist can get away with using only linseed oil and artist thinners. Linseed oil is essentially for thinning oil paint for glazes or detail. Artist’s solvents such as Sandador or Turpenoid are used for cleaning the brushes or applying washes. (Never use household or industrial solvents for oil painting as this will kill the art brushes and emit powerful odours). Used artists solvents can be made to last longer by allowing the paint residue to settle at the bottom of the jar and siphoning the clean solution from the top into a clean jar.


Tool box for art storage click to buy from Amazon

 

Any non-porous material can be used as an artist’s palette. A china plate, a piece of plastic or veneered wood would be ideal. I stretch a piece of cling film over a sturdy surface via bulldog clips. When I am finished, the used cling film can easily be disposed of.

• Advice on buying oil paints
• Advice on buying art brushes
• Types of gessoes for oil painting
• Preparing art boards
• Advice on buying art mediums
• Advice on buying artist easels
• Advice on buying pochade boxes
• Art materials shop

How to Make Art Brushes Last Longer

Durable Artist Brushes Rachel Shirley

• Constantly using a thin brush of size 6 or smaller to cover a large area of oil painting.
• Using a fine sable to apply paint onto a rough surface such as coarse canvas, dried impasto or a montage.
• Being heavy-handed with the fine art bristles such as when scumbling, scrubbing on paint or pressing too hard.
• Using cheap household turps or white spirits to clean the brushes.
• Not cleaning the paint brushes properly at the end of the painting session and allowing a residue of oil paint to dry near the ferrule (the metal collar where the bristles meet the handle) causing the bristles to splay.
• Allowing the paint brushes to dry bristle-end down, causing the hairs to lose their shape and damage the flags (the split ends on the bristles that allow the brush to hold more paint).
• Buying poor quality art brushes or brushes that are unsuitable for oil painting such as watercolour brushes, which are not designed for heavy paint.

How to Save Money on Oil Painting Brushes

To avoid art brushes from unnecessarily wearing out quickly, the following advice on care of the art brushes will double or even triple the life span of the bristles.

• Never use fine sables, such as kolinsky for impasto, rough paintwork or for covering large areas of a painting such as skies or water.
• Reserve such an art technique for hog hair brushes or similar stiff brushes. Impasto brushes need not be purchased from art shops, but DIY stores at the fraction of the price. Household brushes can be used for covering large areas of an oil painting or for glazing.
• Use sable brushes only for what they are designed for, which is fine detail, delicate oil washes and soft blending.
• Never use household turps to clean art brushes. Not only are the odours powerful, the brushes will lose their natural oils and become brittle. It is best to use Sansador, Turpenoid or similar artist white spirit.
• At the end of each painting session, clean the brushes thoroughly. Massage neat washing up liquid into the ferrule and run under a warm tap until the water runs clear.
• Once clean, massage a little Vaseline into the bristles and press the hairs back into shape; in the case of round sables or riggers, to a point. Other nourishing agents such as conditioner or olive oil can also be used.
• Store the brushes in a jar with the bristles pointing upwards.
• It is false economy to purchase cheap oil painting brushes. Recommended art brush manufacturers such as Daler Rowney and Winsor & Newton will last longer and are worth the investment.

Tips on Using Oil Painting Brushes



Hog hair brushes click to buy from Amazon

  Using just one or two brushes during a painting session will force the artist to frequently clean the bristles between colour mixing, causing unnecessary wear and tear. To avoid constant washing, use several brushes in one go. Reserve one brush for pales, another for darks and others for different colours. This will dispense with the need to constantly washing the brushes.


• Advice on buying art brushes
• Art brushes shop

What is the purpose of art? I'm not an art history or philosophy major, so I don't really know the answer to that, if there is truly one answer, but I can tell you this- I don't think the purpose of art is to promote the state's interests.

At one time, this was believed to be the purpose of art. Many regimes around the world felt that literature should serve the national interest or it had no inherent right to exist (source). These regimes felt that art should be used by a regime to promote their beliefs. In particular, these regimes felt that posters especially could be used as a way to blatantly present the beliefs of their political party party. These people felt that art should be used to convince the people of the beliefs of the state. The posters this regime wanted created were usually simple and got to the point, and it was intended to target the emotions of the people that looked at it (source).

Enough history. Today, Barack Obama is attempting to promote art that does the same thing. Recently a blogger writing at Big Hollywood was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to take part in a conference call that invited a group of rising artist and art community luminaries “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda - health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.”

The call was hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve. The call would include “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how the arts can be used for a positive change!” There were approximately 75 people participating, including many well respected street-artists, filmmakers, art galleries, music venues, musicians and music producers, writers, poets, actors, independent media outlets, marketers, and various other professionals from the creative community.

Backed by the full weight of President Barack Obama’s call to service and the institutional weight of the NEA, the conference call was billed as an opportunity for those in the art community to inspire service in four key categories, and at the top of the list were “health care” and “energy and environment.” The service was to be attached to the President’s United We Serve campaign, a nationwide federal initiative to make service a way of life for all Americans.

We were encouraged to bring the same sense of enthusiasm to these “focus areas” as we had brought to Obama’s presidential campaign, and we were encouraged to create art and art initiatives that brought awareness to these issues. Throughout the conversation, we were reminded of our ability as artists and art professionals to “shape the lives” of those around us. The now famous Obama “Hope” poster, created by artist Shepard Fairey and promoted by many of those on the phone call, and will.i.am’s “Yes We Can” song and music video were presented as shining examples of our group’s clear role in the election.

Obama has a strong arts agenda, we were told, and has been very supportive of both using and supporting the arts in creative ways to talk about the issues facing the country. We were “selected for a reason,” they told us. We had played a key role in the election and now Obama was putting out the call of service to help create change.

The machine that the NEA helped to create could potentially be wielded by the state to push policy. Through providing guidelines to the art community on what topics to discuss and providing them a step-by-step instruction to apply their art form to these issues, the “nation’s largest annual funder of the arts” is attempting to direct imagery, songs, films, and literature that could create the illusion of a national consensus. This is what Noam Chomsky calls “manufacturing consent.”

So, to summarize, our President, through a group called United We Stand, is organizing artists and giving them guidelines on what sort of art to produce. The art will promote the interests of the Democrats and try to persuade voters to support their views. This is propaganda, and as the group was informed, Obama regarded propaganda as very important, perhaps even calling it "a weapon of the first order".

This website has some good ideas on the sort of posters that Obama would like created. Check it out to get a taste of what is to come under an Obama administration. Oh, and if you haven't guessed it yet, you'll have to click on the links to find out what sort of regimes of the past saw art the same way that Obama does.

Art insurance is a must if expensive oil paintings are to yield compensation should damage or theft occur. Peace of mind is priceless whilst a valuable painting is in transit, hung in an exhibition or in storage. But what is the best way to get an oil painting insured?

Art Insurance for Artists

Dealing with Oils click to buy from Amazon

Insuring an oil painting could be a wise choice for various reasons, namely:

• Becoming an art collector and/or dealer makes art insurance crucial.
• An oil painting that has been in the family for years may not only have sentimental value, but monetary value. The rule often holds that the older an oil painting, the more valuable it is likely to become, particularly if the artist is of some note.
• An oil painting that has taken hours of painstaking work to achieve from the artist’s point may have personal value.
• An oil painting that has won prizes, received critical acclaim from official sources, and has been widely published, reviewed or recognised.
• An old oil painting may have been acquired from a house clearance, an auction or even (as in my case) from a car boot may have monetary value.

Insuring an Oil Painting

In the case of an old oil painting, a certificate of authenticity from an official antique dealer (a service that may also offered by a fine art insurance company) is vital. Specialised art insurance companies such as Loveart Insurance or Axa Art Insurance Limited might be the best option.

An oil painting that is not listed within Christie’s, Millers’ or Phillips’ books and schedules may only be worth the cost of the art materials to produce (the canvas, oil paint and the varnish). Thirty or forty pounds or so does not reflect the hours of labour to produce the painting. In such cases, a realistic appraisal of the oil painting’s value and itemising the artwork within the house contents schedule might be a better option.

Insuring Valuable Art

For costly art, extra diligence may be required. Photograph the artwork and keep copies within the insurance package. Record vital information about the painting, such as the dimensions, medium, style and the artist etc. Keep receipts, certificate of authenticity and any other paperwork pertaining to dealings with the artwork.

Very valuable oil paintings deserve as much insurance as possible. If the worst happens, and the painting is stolen, as least there is monetary compensation. Some is better than nothing, and the oil painting collector may use the cash to eek a little revenue from publicity, installing a security system or even offering a ransom for the painting’s return.

Cheap Art Insurance

Make Money from Art click to buy from Amazon

Read, read and read the insurance schedule. Ask questions and ensure that everything is covered. For instance, the schedule may insure the painting against theft, accidental damage, fire and flood, but what about the painting’s frame, which may also be valuable? Similarly, does the location of the painting have any bearing on the cover, such as damage in a public place? Omissions of the obvious can easily happen.

Adding valuable oil paintings to house insurance will often work out cheaper, particularly if the house has a good security system. Otherwise, using specialised antique insurance is worth paying out for if the oil painting is priceless, such as an old master.

Useful Links on Paintings

• Books on oil painting
• Oil painting materials
• Oil painting demonstrations
• Advice on using art materials

Teaching oil painting requires more thought than might first seem. An eminent oil painter does not necessarily make a good teacher, for a good art teacher must understand how students learn. This is where my book, How can I Inspire my painting Class? comes in.

A Book on How to Teach Art

Kindle Art Teaching Guide click to buy from Amazon

My book combines my experiences of oil painting and my experiences in teaching art. Having graduated from Kingston University, Surrey with a Bachelor of Arts Degree and attained a PCET qualification from Warwick University, I feel I have lots of useful information to share.

Within this book, the art teacher will find information on how to devise a scheme of work for oil painting, writing art objectives, managing a class, keeping students motivated and of course, ideas for oil painting lessons themselves. The book is divided into fourteen sections, from a beginner’s guide to oil painting, to assessing art work at the end of the course and health and safety. There is even a section on taking an art class on a field trip for plein air painting.

Learning Methods for Art

My book explains learning theories and how these can be utilised for art instruction. This includes the KOLB cycle, Ausubel’s Subsumption Theory and Bloom’s Classifications of Thought. Good understanding of how students learn will come in useful when faced with students who suffer low motivation, low self-esteem or the absolute beginner.

In many ways, a succesful art lesson course is one that concludes with every student producing artwork, evidencing creative development and finding inspiration to carry on painting.

Teaching Painting for the First Time

There are lesson plan ideas for around sixty oil painting sessons that cover subject matter from life painting, animal art and landscapes to still life and abstract art. Common problem areas are also covered, including colour mixing, perspectives and drawing ellipses. Lessons to underpin painting are also explained in detail, ensuring students do not stumble at the painting stage. Such lessons include Taking a Line for a Walk and a Tonal Study.

My book contains numerous colour illustrations and paintings. It is available on Kindle for the very competitive price of a few pounds (or dollars, depending on where you are).

Note: Hardcopies are available. You can either purchase the colour edition (containing colour images within) or for a fraction of the price, you can purchase the black and white edition. The print version’s statistics are: 46,000 words 90 images. 220 pages and measures 5.5inx8.5in (140mmx220mm).

Links to my other sites

Rachel Shirley paintings
Oil painting demonstrations

Click to buy kindle edition from Amazon

Inspired by this blog and my experience teaching art, this book is a compilation of difficulties artists and beginners often face when landscape painting. It has 115 photographs and illustrations, approximately 22,800 words and 190 pages. It is available on Amazon’s Kindle store, for a modest sum or $4 or £2.60, or from my Amazon estore. Click on the image link to take you to the Amazon page where the book is located.

I plan to add more to my oil painting medic series, which are: Why Can’t I Paint Ellipses? Why is My Oil Painting Cracking? Why do My Animal Portraits Look Stuffed? and How do I Paint Skin Tones? All will be out sometime in 2011 or 2012.

Art Solutions for Landscape Painting

Many suggested solutions for landscape art are suggested, including techniques for painting clouds, reflections in water and shadows. By simple strategies, the artist can avoid garish colours in flowers, washed out landscape colours and buildings that appear skewed. This book also forces the artist to look harder at the subject matter, making more sensitive observations regarding the colour of snow or skies, for example, and also the contours of shadows and trees.

Common Peeves with Landscape Art

My years of teaching have highlighted recurrent themes with creative processes, the causes of which are more often than not the dictatorial part of the brain that insists it knows better than what the eye actually sees. The secret to overcoming this dogma is to try out various painting and drawing exercises, outlined in this book. This will help avoid trees that resemble lollypops, mountains to look like cones topped with cream or of course, for clouds to look like cotton wool.

Colour of Landscapes

A section on colour theory is invaluable to the artist wishing to avoid bright green foliage, garish flowers, a washed out sky or tarnished sunsets. Dirty colour mixes can also be prevented with better understanding on how colours behave, particularly when trying to darken colours for shadows.

Art Exercises for Landscape Painting

Everything the landscape artist needs to know can be found within this book, including a section on the art materials required, descriptions of the key art techniques associated with landscape painting and art practices that will develop landscape painting technique. Special art exercises will help the artist overcome a childish rendering of a landscape painting, which could deter the artist in the future. In truth, such problems can easily be overcome with the right strategies and with a little persistence.

Acquiring an old oil painting or antique fine art may show signs of damage due to wear, tear and time. The temptation to do a DIY art restoration job may not be wise if the painting is valuable and could cause irreversible damage. What is the best course for getting the oil painting restored?

How to Care for Oil Paintings

Varnishing an Oil Painting Rachel Shirley

Like most things, time will age an object, and oil paintings are no exception. Lack of care, damp, heat and pollution can all contribute to damage. Prevention is better than cure, but the following practices may have caused an oil painting to age rather prematurely:

• Hanging the oil painting over a heat source such as a gas fire or radiator. The constant temperature changes and the drying effect could cause the paint layer to expand and contract, creating stresses. The result could be cracking.
• Placing the oil painting near a window under an intense light source could cause some of the pigments to fade or discolour.
• Storing the oil painting in a damp location could cause a fogging of the varnish layer due to condensation getting trapped between the painting and the varnish. Damp stains on the canvas may permeate onto the paint layer, causing tide marks or worse, the weave of the canvas to rot.

Varnishing an Oil Painting

A less serious problem, an old oil painting may dull over time due to the accumulation of dirt, dust and smoke in the atmosphere on the varnish. One need not worry, for this is the purpose of the varnish. After ten or twenty years or so, the varnish is supposed to be removed with a special varnish remover along with all the pollutants, and a fresh coat of varnish applied. It is only when the painting has been restored in this way that the colours jump out once again, as though freshly painted.

The temptation to over-clean should be resisted as this could damage the painting. Similarly, never try removing the varnish with an industrial varnish remover, spirits or abrasive agent. Special varnish removers for fine art are worth the investment.

Fine Art Restoration Services

The type of restoration required depends upon the nature of the damage. A particularly old painting, of prior 19th century may well benefit from the restoration by experts. Contacting an art restorer who is a member of the British Association of Conservator Restorers (BAPCR) is a safer bet. The following common restoration services are available:

Oil Painting Varnish click to buy from Amazon

Oil Painting Cleaning: The most common and simplest of art restoration. The old oil painting varnish is removed by careful means and a fresh coat of varnish applied. An unvarnished oil painting may need cleaning via a different technique.

Canvas Repair: if there are holes, tears or scratches on the paint layer. In which case, the painting surface may need to be professionally patched.

Inpainting: a technique where damage to the paint layer due to peeling or cracking is restored. This entails building up the paint layer to its original state with carefully matched pigments and brushmarks. This is not repainting or over-painting, but replacing what is missing. Only specialist restorers should be commissioned to do such work, as matching pigments and the brushmarks of the original artist are painstaking.

Oil Painting Conservators

The best art restorers use minimum intervention to the oil painting, some using specialist in-house techniques such as micro-friction cleaning or composition lining. Micro friction is used for the removal of hard varnishes, where a controlled jet of small particles is propelled at the varnish to break it up for removal. All techniques used by a reputable art restorer should be reversible, meaning that the work can easily be removed by future restorers if required.

Information on Oil Painting Repair and Restoring

• How to varnish an oil painting
• Oil painting demonstrations
• Books on oil painting
• Oil painting materials

Producing still life art in oils may give the impression that a separate room, shed or studio with ambient lighting must be allocated to quarantine all the mess, odours and creative processes from the rest of the house. Further, a storeroom full of wild and exotic objects must also be a requisite for great still life art. But this need not be the case.

Advice for Still Life Artists

I have found that with the right planning, still life painting can be practiced in a study, a bedroom, corner of a living room or even the garden. Simple objects and minimal art equipment is often all that is required. But where should the artist begin?

Odourless Oil Painting

The still life artist is spoilt for choice when it comes to modern innovations in oil paint, designed to make it easier for painting in any situation. Low odour artist thinners, for example make high odours in a confined space a thing of the past. Sandador, Turpenoid or artist spirits, for example are kinder to the environment, the brushes and the olfactory senses. The artist may alternatively opt for water-soluble oils, such as Artisan, which can be thinned with water instead of spirits for glazing (or washes). Artisan provides a water-mixable counterpart to all the traditional oil painting materials, including linseed oil and impasto medium. At the end of the session, the paints need only be cleaned in warm soapy water rather than spirits.

Tailored Art Surfaces

Producing large still life as did Matisse and Cezanne is an immensely satisfying experience, as this allows expressive and loose brushwork. However, not all households have the facilities to permit the production of, or the storage of such large artwork, in which case, the artist may purchase, artboards, stretched canvases or oil painting pads in handy sizes from stationers or hobby shops. Dimensions are usually in imperial, and which will fit standard picture frames. Anything from 8”X 10” (203mm X 254mm) to 16”X 20” (406mm X 508mm) are ideal for quick still life sketches or paintings to spice any living room wall.

Setting up a Still Life Painting Station

Cleaning up the art equipment at the end of a painting session need not be a messy business if the artist uses a disposable palette. Simply stretch some cling film over a stiff surface via bulldog clips and affix onto a backing board along with the painting. This will keep the artist’s hands free for the painting. The cling film can be folded inwards and disposed of cleanly. Alternatively, the palette can be covered with a Tupperware lid and kept in a cool place. The oil paints will remain workable for up to three days or so.

The painting or backing board can be affixed onto a lightweight easel or tabletop easel, which provides an angled support for the painting. Some easels come with storage compartments for the art materials. The artist will surprised at how much can be stored in a small space, which could also be a tool box or art bin, ideal for the still life artist’s compact studio.

The still life setting needs only a stable surface and a good light source. Natural light from an adjacent kitchen window onto a tabletop cannot be beaten, but a mobile desk lamp or candles grants the artist complete control over where to place the light in relation to the objects. Blutac or small pieces of sticky putty can be used to affix unstable objects, such as spherical fruit onto the tabletop when arranging the composition.

Simple Materials for Still Life Painting

But the artist need not purchase everything mentioned to begin still life painting. I have often completed oil studies by the use of two brushes, three colours, a small canvas and no mediums. The artist may purchase additional materials as to requirement or to achieve a particular effect. This means still life oil painting remains a realistic pursuit regardless of the funds, storage capacity available and can be practiced cleanly.

Relevant Links

• Demonstration on how to paint strawberries
• Oil painting flowers wet into wet
• Oil painting advice for the beginner
• Books on how to paint flowers
• Art materials

The beginner in landscape painting may find it difficult to pick up a paintbrush and make a mark. A fear of failure fuelled by an inner art critic could cripple all creativity before it has a chance to express itself into a sky sketch or a seascape. How can the novice artist produce satisfactory landscape art for the first time?

Creative Blocks to Landscape Art

Experiments with Paint Rachel Shirley

Worrying about getting the first mark perfect could cause the artist to continuously false-start the painting in an effort to capture a particular green colour mix or realism in clouds. Unchecked, this inner perfectionist could sap all confidence from the artist, creating a negative learning experience. But there are easier ways of overcoming the transition between a non-painter to a landscape artist.


Painting a First Landscape

Learning a new skill often entails being lenient and landscape painting is no different. This means learning to accept that mistakes will be made, some of which may turn out to be “happy accidents.” Unintended marks may add interest to the landscape painting and could be used to enhance future artworks. Alternatively, every mistake is a learning process.

Starting Out in Landscape Painting

Begin with mark making on a primed piece of card. Use each brush and try out each colour in turn. Aim to cover the painting surface with different marks. Use paint neat, dry, runny or thick. Mix two colours, then three. Try blending two colours into one another to create gradations. Lighten a colour by adding white, then try darkening it by adding the colour’s opposing colour (in the case of red, this will be green.)

Experiment with how colours look when placed against different backgrounds. The artist will discover that a dark colour will appear pale when painted on a darker colour, and a pale colour will appear dark when placed on a pale colour. This is good practice when gauging the tonal key of a landscape painting, such as painting clouds on a blue sky, or shadows over water.

Expressive Landscape Painting

Try out different brushes, palette knives, old combs, toothbrushes or sponges. View oil painting like a child learning a new skill. Above all, have fun and experiment.

When producing a first landscape painting, keep it simple with manageable goals. Experiment in private if need be and bear in mind that if the painting does not work out, it does not matter for this is all part of learning.

Begin by using a limited palette of three primary colours and white. Use a small painting surface of approximately A4 in size. Copy a photograph consisting of simple elements. This might be a sky, a tree, a river or a cottage. The aim is not perfection, but simply to complete a painting.

Tips for Beginners in Art

Resist the temptation to compare oneself with landscape art as seen in fine art books, such as those produced by the Impressionists or the Classists. Such comparisons will be unfair and could nurture an inner despair. Artists such as Constable and Monet could only reach the pinnacles they had by intensive practice fuelled by a passion for painting. Even they at some point would have produced an unsatisfactory landscape painting and made mistakes. Of course, fine art books continue to show only their best works.

Expressive Oil Painting Landscapes

Create Colourful Paintings click to buy from Amazon

Try not to agonise over every aspect of the painting in an effort to get it right. Landscape oil painting often means letting go. Allow imperfections to remain, which might be brush marks, streaks of colour or irregular lines. Oil Painting is often about suggestion rather than illustrating every object in full. Cloud sketches and lake paintings for example, often contain broken glazes and thick impasto, which adds atmosphere and expression to the painting.

Improving an Oil Painting

Completing one’s first landscape painting is a big first step and may spark the inspiration to embark on a series of others. A painting that does not go to plan can be put to one side and another one begun. But learning to paint involves learning to accept mistakes will happen, and with the right view, provides the path to improvement, whether it is to capture reflections in water or snow caps on mountains.

Links on Painting Landscapes

• Books on oil painting landscapes
• Oil painting materials
• Demonstration on painting a stone circle
• How to paint greens
• Primary colours in art
• How to mix oil paint

Embarking upon a painting featuring lots of elements regarding textures, patterns and colour shifts may overwhelm the artist wishing to try something challenging. Striations on seashells, embroidery on curtains or layers within red cabbage may cause visual overload where the artist does not know where to begin. What is the simplest technique for painting detail without compromising the quality of the finished artwork?

Problems with Painting Detail

Applying Detail in Oils Rachel Shirley

The idea of embarking upon a painting with lots of detail is often appealing. The reward of completing an exacting work of art that catches the eye and entices the viewer to take a closer look may cause the artist to go in with both feet with such a project. However, once faced with the reality of emulating a multitude of patterns and textures, the artist may experience the wind go out of the creative sails. The following may cause an unsatisfactory painting with detail.

Trying to complete the painting in one go and with increased haste towards the end due to fatigue. This will be reflected in wobbly lines, patchy colour mixes and uneven paint layers.

Spending too much energy on preparing the project, collating visual resources, completing an accurate and detailed drawing, and setting up the workstation. When the time actually comes to paint, the artist may become lacklustre and run out of steam. An uncompleted painting is the likely result.

Using inferior art materials for exacting processes, such as cheap brushes and pigments with poor tinting strength will create difficulties for the artist and an unsatisfactory painting of detail.

How to Paint Detail

The artist must think realistically about how the project is to be completed. The following tips may help.

Accept that a large detailed painting will never be completed in one day. Plan what to do first and how much per session. Be realistic about how much time the painting will take. This will keep the painting manageable.

Create small goals. If the painting features several objects, complete one object per day. Alternatively, if two or three objects contain similar hues, such as maroon striations in a red cabbage and textures on a beetroot skin, complete those objects containing that particular hue together.

Begin the painting session with the most challenging detail when feeling most up to it. The easier parts can be completed at the end of the session.

Take regular breaks from the painting. Time easily slips away whilst engrossed in painting each layer of an onion. Don’t push too hard. Beware of discomfort when sitting too long. Move about periodically.

Try not to think about the whole painting whilst painting a small aspect of it. Relegate all other objects as invisible. Imagine the painting is in fact several paintings in one. This will make the artist feel that the painting is moving forward.

Essential Art Materials for Detailled Painting

The artist must never guesswork detail, or the painting may fail to convince. For this reason, excellent visual resources and good lighting are vital. This means photographs of a high resolution or subject matter that is up to standard. Good lighting conditions may comprise a north-facing skylight, or adjacent window. Painting in dull lighting may give the artist a false impression of the painting’s quality until viewed under bright conditions.

Excellent quality fine sable brushes are vital. Kolinsky sables provide fine points, softness and springiness. When it comes to sharp detail, rounds sizes 0, 1, 3 and 6 will suit most purposes. A selection of filberts or fans will create smooth blends.

Art Techniques for Painting Detail

Oil painting in glazes enables the artist to work over the painting in layers to achieve an ever higher and sharper-detailed finish. This entails the application of the paint in thin translucent layers, most often thinned with linseed oil. Each artist will have personal preference, but the following describes how I typically complete a detailed painting:

Apply an imprimatura of an earth colour, usually thinned burnt sienna or burnt umber acrylic paint. This will kill the overpowering white layer of the canvas.

Sketch the composition on top with a fine chalk pencil. Detail is not essential as the drawing will be concealed by the overlying paint.

Select an object in the painting; in this example, an onion. Apply the base colour thinly, which might be cream or beige Express shifts in tone and brush away unwanted marks. Apply the detail with slightly thicker paint. The onion layers can be suggested by applying thinned paint via a rigger or thin sable. Even out unwanted brush marks, accepting the object will not be perfect at this stage.

Allow to dry. In the meantime, the artist may embark upon another object if feeling up to it. Return to the onion another day once touch-dry, applying a second glaze. This glaze can be used to modify or improve upon the lower layer. Sharpen up detail and smooth out unwanted brush marks. The artist may notice the object appears sharper, more intense and closer to the desired effect. A third layer can be applied if desired, although only select areas may need attention.

Related Articles on Oil Painting Techniques

• Oil painting in glazes
• Wet into wet art technique
• Books on oil painting
• Oil painting materials

Looking for art books on Kindle? Below you will find a summary of oil painting instruction books by Rachel Shirley. A multitude of subject matter are tackled in each field, be it landscape painting or still life.

A diversity of oil painting techniques are also explored in depth in each book. Click on any book cover on the right to purchase a kindle art book from Amazon for just a few pounds (or dollars depending where you are), although my books are also available as print copy.

Briefly I have practiced oil painting from the age of six, achieving a BA Hons in Fine Art from Kingston, Surrey, as well as a PCET teaching qualification from Warwick. I also write children's picture books, details of which can be found at the bottom.

Why do My Clouds Look Like Cotton Wool? Plus 25 Solutions to Other Landscape Painting Peeves

Comprehensive troubleshooting advice on painting landscapes, including issues such as painting plein air, perspective and mixing greens. Chapters including ‘my skies are bland and empty,’ ‘my greens are artificial, and ‘how do I erase a mistake from my painting?’ tackles each issue indepth.

Book’s statistics: 24,000 words, over 100 colour illustrations and 20 diagrams, available as Kindle and hard copy.

Read more about this book.

Why do My Ellipses look Like Doughnuts? Plus 25 Solutions to Other Still Life Painting Peeves

Comprehensive troubleshooting advice on painting still life including issues such as ellipses, perspectives and textures. ‘Why do my flowers look wishy washy?’, or ‘the food in my still life resemble plastic toys?’ are just two chapters that tackle common issues related to still life art. An introductory chapter on oil painting materials enables the beginner to embark upon still life painting with minimal fuss, mess and expense, as well as a step by step demonstration at the back.

Book’s statistics: 24,000 words, over 100 colour illustrations and 20 diagrams. Available as Kindle and hard copy.

Read more about this book

Landscape Painting in Oils: Twenty Step by Step Guides

This oil painting instruction book contains 20 step by step landscape painting demonstrations on various landscape scenes including a coast, a castle and a desert. With preparatory chapters, troubleshooting tips and full instructions on how each painting was completed the project is likely to yield satisfactory results. Book’s statistics: 19,000 words and 187 colour images.

Read more about this book.

How Can I Inspire my Painting Class? (Lesson Plan Ideas for Oil Painting in Post Compulsory Education)

A guide book for art teachers offering lesson plan ideas for oil painting, including a section on a guide to oil painting materials, classroom management, learning styles and conducting assessments. The main section of the book gives lesson plan ideas for beginners, a course in still life, landscape art, plein air painting and lots of others. This book has 45,000 words and has over 100 colour images and diagrams. A must for any teacher of oil painting. Note, for those wishing to purchase a hardcopy, a colour version and a black and white version (for cheaper cost) are available.

Read more about this book.

Oil Paintings From your Garden

(Hard copy only) An invaluable oil painting book for artists wishing to find inspiration in the garden. Sections include a beginner’s guide to oil painting materials, finding inspiration in the garden and pointers to painting the various subject matter including flowers, figures and skies. My book is 172 pages long. Available as hardcopy only. Published by the Guild of Master Craftsman Publications (2002) Limited

Read more about this book or purchase a signed copy  from Ebay.

Oil Paintings From the Landscape

(Hard copy only) A guide to painting the landscape, including a section on plein air painting, oil painting on a budget, and issues surrounding painting various subject matter in the landscape. This invaluable art book for landscape artists is available as hard copy only. Published by the Guild of Master Craftsman Publications (2003).

Read more about this book.

Children’s picture books

Ben’s Little Big Adventure

Ben’s Little Big Adventure describes a small boy’s quest for a midnight snack. Only trouble is, everything in his room seems to have scaled up to the proportions of the earth’s great wonders, including the furniture and even his cat. If only Ben’s toy helicopters, cranes and hot air balloon had real engines, for they would make his quest a little easier. With so much to climb and navigate, will Ben ever find his way to his prized biscuits and jam?

Print book’s statistics: 8x10in, 1000 words approx and 32 pages full of colour illustrations.

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Katie’s Magic Teapot and the Cosmic Pandas

An educational picture book for children with full colour images completed in oils, Katie’s Magic Teapot and the Cosmic Pandas takes the reader into a journey through the universe to discover planets, moons, galaxies and other oddities within our cosmos. The journey takes place rather bizarrely within a magic teapot. See sample pages of Katie’s cosmic journey or purchase.

Print book’s statistics: 8x10in, 1000 words approx and 32 pages full of colour illustrations.

Read more about this book.

Katie and the Cosmic Pandas’ Deep Sea Voyage

Forming the sequel to Katie’s Magic Teapot and the Cosmic Pandas, this educational picture book for young children, describe Katie’s quest for treasure as she and her troupe venture in the deep oceans within Katie’s magic teapot. Along the way, Katie learns about coral reefs, oceanic mammals and creatures of the deep. But will Katie find any treasure to bring back to her mummy and daddy? See sample pages of Katie’s marine journey here or make a purchase.

Print book’s statistics: 8x10in, 1000 words approx and 32 pages full of colour illustrations.

Read more about this book

How can I Complete My First Oil Painting Guide Step by Step? This art instruction book by Rachel Shirley outlining twenty oil painting demonstrations on landscape art might help.

My book on landscape painting provides twenty highly instructive step by step demonstrations, supported by images-in-progress. A variety of landscape scenes provides choice and interest. Each demonstration possesses: image of the finished painting presenting a challenge; between six and ten step-by-step images of the painting in-progress; highly-directive instructions corresponding with each image, outlining the pigments used, the brushes and the technique; a list of art materials required for each project and tips along the way.
A preliminary section outlines the art materials required for the demonstrations, which amount to just ten oil colours, six brush types, artboards and a few mediums, making the projects achievable whatever your ability or budget. A section on underglazing will prove invaluable for artists wishing to avoid wishy-washy colours or tonal imbalances in the painting, making satisfactory results more likely.

Kindle Oil Painting Book

Available on Kindle as well as print version, this ebook on oil painting also offers troubleshooting suggestions if the painting does not work out. Various oil painting techniques are explored, including: alla prima, wet-into-wet, scumbling, glazing, limited palette and working dark to light. As can be seen, many different effects can be achieved with just minimal oil painting materials as described within.

Oil Painting Ebook

Subject matter to be found within this art book are: a river, a cornfield, a stone circle, a castle, a lake, a sunset, a coast, a desert scene, lightning, snow, Toronto, Kilimanjaro and others. Each demonstration is allocated a level according to complexity with four levels in all. The artist however, might find a demonstration in level 4 easier than level 1, as each level describe complexity rather than difficulty, as more techniques and various mediums are explored in the higher levels.

Learn Oil Painting on Kindle

Book’s statistics: 19,000 words, 23 demonstrations (each averaging 8 images each) with around 187 colour images in total. A preliminary section outlines the art materials required and preparatory methods. The main body of the book covers the oil painting demonstrations themselves. The final section gives troubleshooting suggestions for problems, as well as a glossary. At around £2.20 (or $3.50), this kindle book on oil painting is a bargain.

The landscape artist may feel in awe of a particular landscape scene, but the drama fails to convey to the oil painting; mountains look flat, waterfalls resemble a trickle and mighty firs look more like Bonsai trees. How can the artist produce a landscape painting with depth and drama?

Problems with Dramatic Landscape Art

Dramatic Landscape Art Rachel Shirley

Sitting too close to a painting, misleading the artist on the importance of each brush mark as it is viewed close up. Fine detail may not be so visible from ten feet away, resulting in a painting filled with insipid brush marks that lack punch or expression.

Painting onto a white canvas which may also mislead the artist to the true tonal value of each colour mixture, as even pale ones will appear dark. The result is a landscape painting that looks washed out.

Over-mixing the paint and applying it onto the artwork rather like one would to emulsion a wall. Similarly, anguishing over every brushstroke and smoothing over imperfections. The result is a painting that looks overworked and lifeless.

How to Paint a Dramatic Landscape

Adding a sense of depth and drama to a landscape painting is mostly dependent upon the visual resources at hand, whether this is photos or sketches. Painting from memory must be avoided, or it will spoil the effect. The following tips will help create a landscape that has depth and drama.

Fine Art Photography

If panorama is desired, select an image that contains distant objects and near objects. The contrast in proximity will enhance the sense of distance, whether the scene depicts a Scottish Highland or Yellowstone Park. Using wide angled photography provides further opportunities for exploring big skies and vistas adding a real sense of space. Be aware of the horizon line. A high horizon will enhance the land; a low horizon will enhance the sky.

Furthermore, don’t clutter the landscape with lots of elements. Less can often be more when it comes to creating a grand scale.

Look for and create contrasts within the landscape scene: Big and small; sunlight and shadow or near and far. A small cottage will make a thundering waterfall appear more impressive. A lone poplar set against distant mountains will create a chasm effect. A streak of sunlight hitting a snow cap against a sombre scene will create a tonal focal point.

Painting Dramatic Skies


Landscape Perspective Rachel Shirley

Beware of empty skies that exhibit a lacklustre blue or grey. If a photograph features such a sky, another sky can be substituted so long as the lighting, angle and the time of day are consistent. Great skies to use might be altocumulus, anvil clouds or frontal cirrus. Further drama can be added if clouds are obliquely lit by a low sun, bringing bizarre colours and textures.
An ordinary landscape can be transformed by different weather conditions. Castlerigg Stone Circle in Cumbria, for instance has twice the drama when snow-caps festoon the surrounding mountains. Consider returning to the same setting another day or time of year.


Tips for Landscape Art click to buy from Amazon

A landscape even when empty adheres to the rules of perspective which can be used to add depth to a painting. Imagine for instance, that the landscape is the floor and the sky is the ceiling to a huge room. If both exhibited a grid, the squares would appear to flatten and get smaller with distance until the grid converges to a vanishing point. Clouds and grass echo this pattern, in that each formation would appear to flatten and get smaller.

Painting Techniques for Dramatic Art

Stand back from the painting to prevent working too close up. Working on a toned ground as opposed to a white surface will help the artist judge tones more accurately. I endeavour to use all tonal values from pale to very dark within my landscapes. Don’t be afraid to use paint neat from the tube and to contrast art techniques, from impasto skies to blending mists. Palette knives, old combs or sponges are great for creating a diversity of marks for a dramatic landscape. Lastly, don’t fret over every imperfection. Allow streaks of colour and brush marks to remain. Doing so will retain freshness, vibrancy and energy to the painting.

Links on Landscape Painting

• Books on landscape painting
• Art materials
• How to paint lightning
• How to paint deserts
• How to paint sunsets
• How to paint Kilimanjaro
• Painting mist and fog

The artist trying to convey metallic effects with oil paint may be disappointed if brass ornaments or gold jewellery resembles dollops of mustard in the still life painting. How can the artist get gold effects in painting?

Problems with Painting Gold Jewellery

How to Paint Gold

A still life setting featuring gold objects such as jewellery may appear tarnished or plastic-like due to misconceptions about the colour gold, causing the artist to use a lot of yellow, orange or ochres. Such idealistic concepts about the colour gold may be indicative by the following notions and practices.

• Having the subconscious idea that all gold is basically yellow, yellow-orange or ochre.
• Reaching for any yellow pigment at hand for mixing gold colours.
• Darkening yellow with black or dark brown to achieve dark tones in gold.
• Mixing white with yellow to represent highlights in gold.
• Giving sharp outlines to gold objects with the aim of making them stand out, resulting in a cutout appearance.
• Using bright colours throughout the gold object such as yellows, oranges and ochres with the aim of conveying brilliance.
• Going overboard with white highlights to imply sheen.
• Applying gold metallic paint designed for gilt onto the gold objects in the still life.

Oil Painting Techniques for Gold

In order to make gold look authentic, the artist must forget about gold’s ‘local’ colour (yellow-brown), and instead think about how gold actually looks. A bright-coloured object does not necessary exclusively comprise bright colours. In fact, the secret to recreating the brilliance of gold lies in juxtaposing bright colours against sombre hues. Gold can contain such dour colours as dark green, dark grey or midnight blue.

Try not to get visually railroaded by bright colours, particularly yellow. Seek out neutrals and sombre colours within the gold objects. Highlights in gold seldom contain yellow, but cool pales such as powder-blue, eggshell or light grey. Only the smallest amounts of neat white (or yellow, if it can be perceived) are often needed to illustrate highlights in gold.

Look for opposing colours in the gold object; in the case of yellow or orange this will be any colour in the blue spectrum; violet, azure or indigo. Similarly, look for cool neutrals.

Look for unlikely colours in the gold object. I have often seen olive green, mauve and indigo in gold objects. Under certain lighting conditions, gold objects may exhibit no yellow, orange or ochre whatsoever. Believe what the eye sees as opposed to reaching for yellow, orange or ochre by automation.

Mixing Gold Colours in Oils

Prior to embarking upon a painting featuring bright objects such as gold, apply a neutral-coloured underglaze onto the art surface. Applying a bright or light colour straight onto a white art surface will make the colour appear darker than it actually is.

Before applying the bright colours or highlights, look for sombre colours in gold. This means neutrals, greys blue-greys and blue-greens. Similarly, look for cool colours within the highlights.

Look for definite hues in darks, such as blues and violets. Don’t darken the colour of gold by a mixture of yellow/orange and black, as this will result in dirty colours.

Don’t overdo it with bright colours, for yellows, oranges and ochres will often exhibit a modest ratio of the gold object. Even the smallest flecks of bright colours and highlights will provide great focal points for the gold object.

Apply the highlights and the brightest colours last. I will apply the paint thickly in these areas to make the highlights stand out from the art surface.

What Colour is Gold?

The following colour mixtures are ideal for capturing gold jewellery, ornaments or artifacts, although other colours can be seen. Remember to keep looking.

• Warm highlights: white with a dab of burnt sienna. A smidgen of cadmium yellow can be added if a yellowish hue is apparent.
• Cool highlights: white with a dab of ultramarine and burnt umber.
• Warm mid-tones: burnt sienna, a little cadmium red and white.
• Cool mid-tones: burnt umber, a little ultramarine and white.
• Warm darks: burnt sienna and ultramarine. A little cadmium yellow can be added for an additional yellow cast.
• Cool darks: Burnt umber and ultramarine. For extra depth, a little pthalo blue and permanent rose can be added.

Art Techniques for Painting Gold

Glazing is an ideal art technique for achieving smooth, metallic effects in oil paint. Glazing entails applying a thin, translucent layer of oil paint and working on top once the glaze is dry. Soft sable brushes and any oil medium, such as linseed oil or Liquin can be used to thin the paint into glazes. Once mixed into a translucent consistency, apply the paint for an effect like tinted glass.

Strategic use of impasto can also be used to make highlights stand out literally from the art surface. I do this by applying white neat from the tube.

Working dark to light will increase visual awareness of tones and bright colours found in gold. Sketch the composition via chalk onto a black art surface which has been overlaid with black acrylic paint (or a very dark colour). Apply the dark tones first off, working to the mid-tones, then to the light tones and finally the highlights.

How to Paint Gold Objects in Oils

Rendering gold objects convincingly entails discarding preconceived notions that gold contains lots of yellow and plenty of highlights. Using gold paint will only give a dirty yellow appearance if there are not reflections. Gold in fact can contain lots of sombre hues, even in highlights, which can be blues, greys, ochres and violets. Use bright colours sparingly and don’t overdo the highlights. Dong so will only make the gold object look more like costume jewellery. The secret is to pay extra notice to neutrals and sombre hues before the bright colours and highlights.

Tips on Oil Painting Techniques

How to make glass look like glass
My silver objects look like lead
Why are my colour mixes dirty?
All about oil painting mediums
Glechniques in oils
Demonstration on painting toys