There are a LOT of ways to paint a portrait. I use several different methods (and sometimes combine them) depending on what I think is best at the time. Sometimes I even remember to take pictures of the process.

This portrait of Gwyneth (20%u2033x24%u2033, oil on linen) won the Certificate of Excellence at the Portrait Society of America's International Portrait Competition in Philadelphia this year (2008).

Follow this link to view the rest of this portrait painting tutorial...

I have a wonderful oil painting tutorial to share with you today by artist Karin Wells. Hopefully you remember Karin. I conducted an interview with her not long ago. If you did not have a chance to read that interview, I recommend you take some time to read it by clicking here and become better acquainted with Karin. She is a very talented artist and I am delighted to be featuring her work here again.

The following oil painting lesson will demonstrate Karin's oil painting technique for creating water drips on a vertical surface. This is part 1 of a 2 part series. The second part, "How to paint water drops on a horizontal surface in four easy steps", will be published next week.

Follow this link to learn oil painting techniques with Karin Wells...

The following oil painting lesson is part 2 of Karin's oil painting technique for creating water drips and drops.

This tutorial will focus on how to create water drops on a horizontal surface.

Click here to learn this oil painting technique...

About Aaron:

My formal training has been in the "Boston School" tradition, at the Studio of Peter Bougie and Brian Lewis (an Atelier), in the lineage of Richard Lack. While there, I was trained in portraiture, figurative, and still life painting methods, as well as a thorough study of academic drawing approaches. I studied with Mr Bougie and Mr. Lewis every day for five days a week, approximently 7-8 hours a day, for three and a half years. Ironically, it was while I was there that I came to love the landscape....

Click here to learn more about Aaron and to view his oil painting demonstration....

Richard Ancheta first began to paint at the age of 12 years old and took painting lessons with well known Filipino artist and illustrators. His devotion and vision as an artist are promising. He studied Multimedia Design at Montreal International Academy of Design. Richard works in various mediums: oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel and charcoal. His works have been featured in newspapers, magazines and books. He boast 20 years of experience in painting, illustration, advertising and graphic work.

Click here to view the oil painting instruction...

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....



Click here to view this oil painting tutorial by Dan Schultz...

Learn to Paint with Martha Saudek

Learn to paint water and rocks more skillfully in Oil with this talented painter and teacher. You will improve your oil painting skills as you watch and learn from this Creative Catalyst Oil Painting video/DVD workshop.

Sunlight on Oak Creek
An Oil Painting instructional video by Martha Saudek

Join Martha Saudek, CAC as she proceeds through a series of considerations to best achieve a balanced, cohesive landscape painting. Martha chooses a subject from her source material and selects a canvas shape to best fit it. She creates a series of thumbnail compositions based on the shape to determine a design with clarity and focus. After planning her layout, Martha chooses a dominant color temperature and explores her options for value distribution. Making these key decisions early in the process gives her constant points of reference and frees her to intuit smaller details in the painting.

Martha Saudek emphasizes drawing skill and color theory to keep her composition interesting and balanced. She measures key distances on her photo and canvas to maintain the integrity of her design. She establishes her focal point as early as possible and uses it to determine the balance and level of detail in the rest of the painting. She blocks in her lightest lights then begins work on the cool color scheme she planned at the beginning of the workshop. As she works she pauses to evaluate her composition and balance. The ongoing analysis helps her make revisions early and stay faithful to her design principles. Martha uses mid-sized brites by Grand Prix. Misc.: Odorless Turponiod, Safflower, Paper towels.

Click here for more information including pricing, reviews and a free video preview!

Oil painting assistant is a nice piece of software that helps you complete an oil painting and is an excellent tool for beginners.

Here is the description of the software taken from the authors website:

"Oil Painting Assistant helps you produce oil paintings of images from a scanner, digital camera, or the web. With Oil Painting Assistant, you load in a digital image, crop it to fit your canvas, and adjust coloration to suit your tastes. It also applies a grid to the image so you can more accurately sketch on your canvas. The assistant then displays an analysis of the image showing what paints would be useful for the painting's base coat. The analysis and grid-overlaid image can be displayed on your monitor while you paint, or printed on a color printer."

Oil painting assistant is free to download and try out, however the author does request that you register the software for a very reasonable fee. I feel it is definitely worth the price and you should consider registering the software if you find it useful.

Click here to reach the site

I love the dignity and grand style of classical realism. My work reflects the deep influence of the Old Masters in both method, style and use of light.

I enjoy working with traditional oil paint on linen canvas. The Old Masters take my breath away and when I look at what they have done with this traditional medium, it gives me endless inspiration to learn more.

Read the Interview...

Here's a great new demo by artist Elin Pendleton. The title of this oil painting lesson is "Painting Horses in Landscape with Figures". This painting lesson will show how Elin moves from an original idea, through the entire process as she paints an equine subject in her studio.

Click here to view this oil painting demonstration...

I just added a new oil painting demonstration along with a one on one interview with the very talented artist Jennifer Young.

This is a beautiful landscape painting that was inspired by her trip to Veritas Vineyards in Afton Virginia.

Click here to view the oil painting demonstration

Click here for the one on one interview with Jennifer Young

Learn oil painting with Craig Nelson

Learn new oil painting methods from nationally recognized master teacher Craig Nelson. This instructional oil painting DVD workshop is the perfect tool if you wish to improve your oil painting. In Quick Studies in Oil, Craig Nelson shows you the progression from line (the sketch) to form/mass and finally to texture and light. Learn a system to improve your painting ability quickly.

Quick Studies in Oil

Craig Nelson, CAC, demonstrates two quick studies: A still life and a figure, from a photo. You'll see how getting a lot of "brush mileage" provides the opportunity for experimenting and problem solving without investing days in a single painting.

Get a close-up view as Craig demonstrates brush work, pulling strokes and color mixing, selecting the right quantity and viscosity of paint for his brush. Gain confidence, overcome weaknesses and improve brush skills while learning how to edit out unimportant details.

Click here for more information including pricing, reviews, and a free preview!

I posted a new painting demonstration today on my blog. It is by the very talented artist Philip Howe.
Click here to view the demonstration.

I hope you enjoy.

One of the more important skills that a beginner oil painter should have is the ability to draw. I know that many beginners want to simply get right into the oil paint and skip the drawing process, but if you want to learn more about values, form and space, then you should take some time to learn more about drawing. You do not have to master drawing, as it is an art form all on its own, but try and devote some time to drawing and sketching your subjects before you work with color.

Did you know that in art schools, many years ago, students were not permitted to work with paint until they successfully spent at least a few years drawing first? They must have been quite impatient, but imagine how skilled they became before they ever lifted a brush.

Listed below are some recommended books on drawing from amazon.

Here are some tips for keeping a clean organized palette:

• Make certain you have the right type of palette for use with oil paints. The surface of your palette should be non-porous so that it does not absorb the oil.


• You may find it easier to work with a limited palette of colors if you are just starting out. If you work with too many, you may find yourself mixing too many different colors, which can result in a muddy painting. Start off slow in the beginning, then add more colors as you become more experienced.


• Get into the habit of laying out your colors the same way every time you paint. This is good practice and keeps the painting process organized. Arrange your colors along the edges of your palette leaving a lot of room in the center for mixing.


• Do not be worried about using too much paint. Squeeze out a good amount . 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 as well. Again, this will make you more productive.


• When adding paint to the palette, sqeeze the paint out in long lines, as opposed to puddles. 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.


• Keep some alcohol handy so that you can keep the mixing area of your palette clean. There is nothing more frustrating then trying to remove dried up oil paint.

Free step by step oil painting tutorial by the very talented artist Jim Thomas.

Click here to view the oil painting demonstration tutorial

Oil paint is an extremely versatile medium. It can be applied in thin transparent glazes or in thick rich impastos. 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 painting 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

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, 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 artist usually completes the picture in just one sitting. You are probably familiar with the artist Bob Ross, who made this painting method quite popular on his TV Show.

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

This type of painting method is very different from traditional brush painting. Painting with a knife feels similar to spreading butter on a piece of bread. Keep your painting at a butter or cream like consistency when working with painting knives. Do not use your palette knives to paint with. Painting knives have more flexibility 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

With glazing, 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. Each layer must be completely dry before applying subsequent layers.

Traditionally, 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 so that you won't be preoccupied with color. 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 for beginners be sure to visit Creative Spotlite today, a free online community for artists and crafters.

When I first began painting some 10 years ago, I recall how intimidating it all seemed. With all of the various colors, mediums, brushes and other tools available, it was enough to make my head spin.

While learning about the various brushes and mediums was a bit confusing, the biggest challenge for me was how to accurately depict nature and other real life objects on canvas using color.

How do I make a color lighter or darker? What about making realistic shadows or highlights? This article will shed some colorful light on the situation, and with practice, working with color in your oil paintings will become easier and more enjoyable.

Thank God for the beautiful Sun, for without it, we would not see color. Everything would appear dark and colorless.

Thankfully, the light from the Sun also travels in a straight line. If it didn't, we wouldn't have the wonderful variety of light and shadow that makes everything so enjoyable to paint.

If you take an apple for instance, and put it outside in the grass in the sunlight, you will notice several different values that the light creates when shining on the apple.

You have the main overall tone of the apple, the shadow on the apple, the cast shadow, reflection from nearby objects like the green grass and the sky, and highlights. Our job as painters is to accurately depict these values on canvas using color.

There are so many different oil colors on the market today. All of these different colors come from the six colors that make up the spectrum - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.

Colors have four main properties - value, intensity, temperature and hue. The value of a color refers to how light or dark a color is. The intensity of a color refers to how bright or dull it is - also known as a colors saturation or purity. If you used yellow straight from the tube, it would have a higher intensity then if you mixed it with white. The temperature refers to how warm or cool a color is. Colors range in temperature from warm yellows and oranges to cool blues and violets. Finally, the hue is just another word for color. An apple and a cherry are both hues of red.

Color mixing is not an exact science. Artists have different formulas and methods for mixing and applying paint, so the following tips are general guidelines and not necessarily rules that must be followed.

When mixing colors don't over mix. Over mixing a color will take the life out of it.

To create highlights in your paintings, use white with a touch of the objects complimentary color. There are some exceptions however. When painting highlights on certain objects like brass for instance, which can be depicted on canvas using yellow, making a lighter yellow tinted with white can create a convincing highlight.

Cast shadows of objects are complimentary to the color that the shadow is cast upon. For instance, the cast shadow of a red apple on a blue tablecloth would be orange.

To get any desired color, try to mix as few colors as possible.

Try to keep the theme of your painting either all warm or all cool in temperature.

Again, color mixing is not an exact science. If you survey 10 artists and ask them various questions about mixing oil paint, you will likely get many different answers. My advice is to keep painting and practicing until you develop your own formulas and techniques that you are comfortable with. Happy Painting and God Bless!
For more articles on color and oil painting tips, be sure to visit our main site:

http://www.creativespotlite.com

Much research and experimentation has been done on color and how it can effect a persons mood and behavior. Certain colors can calm a person, while others can stimulate excitement or cheerfulness. That being said, you may want to think carefully on the type of color scheme you choose for your next painting. This article will talk about five different color schemes you can use to plan out your next painting. The tips in this article can be applied to any painting medium.

Painting is all about harmony. Harmony in a painting is when the arrangement of colors and objects are pleasing to the viewers eyes. As a painter you can either put too much into a painting or not enough. If your painting is too chaotic you may scare the viewer away. On the other hand, if your painting lacks something, it may be perceived as boring, and your viewer will not be engaged, so it's important to have balance in your color arrangements.

ANALOGOUS COLOR SCHEME

This color scheme uses colors that are next to one another on the color wheel. With an analogous color scheme, one color is usually the dominant one, while the others serve as an accent to the dominant color. You are limited in colors when using this scheme but that does not mean your paintings have to be boring. Just vary the intensity (how dull or bright a color is) and value (how light or dark a color is) to make your painting more interesting and pleasing to the eye. An example of three colors next to each other on the color wheel, that can be used in an analogous color scheme are orange, yellow and yellow-orange. Use only a few different colors with the analogous color scheme. If you add too many, you may destroy the harmony in your painting.

COMPLEMENTARY COLOR SCHEME

The complimentary color scheme is a good choice if you want strong contrast in your painting. Complimentary colors are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Examples of complementary color schemes are reds with greens, oranges with blues and violets with yellows. You shouldn't feel limited when using this color scheme. For instance, instead of using plain orange, you could use colors on either side like red-orange and yellow orange. Instead of using plain blue, you could use combinations like blue-violet or blue green. You could also vary the intensity and values as well. It can be difficult to create balance with this color scheme. To avoid ruining harmony, choose one dominant color and use the complimentary color as accents. For instance in a yellow and violet complementary color scheme, you could make the main subject and background violets and accent remaining parts of the painting in yellows.

TRIADIC COLOR SCHEME

The triadic color scheme uses three colors that are evenly spaced or equidistant from one another on the color wheel. This scheme produces strong contrast but still retains harmony. This color combination is more challenging for beginners. You can get carried away by making all three colors too intense thereby destroying the balance in your painting. You should allow one color to dominate and use the two other colors to accent the rest of the painting.

MONOCHROMATIC COLOR SCHEME

This color scheme is probably the easiest for beginners to work with. The monochromatic color scheme uses variations in value and intensity of only one color. Beginners like this color scheme because they only need to create a value plan using one color, which makes things a lot easier. Your painting will not be as exciting as other schemes that utilize more than one color, but your painting will produce a peaceful and soothing effect.

SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY COLOR SCHEME

The split-complimentary color scheme uses three colors and is a twist on the complimentary color scheme. Instead of using the colors compliment, you will use the two colors adjacent to its compliment on the color wheel. For instance, Red, Yellow-Green and Blue-Green could be a split complimentary color scheme.

Don't let color theory intimidate or discourage you. Working with color in your paintings takes some getting used to. With time and practice you will begin to develop the eye of a good painter. A great way to learn more about the use of color in paintings is to view the art of experienced painters. Make some plans to head out to a museum or visit an online gallery. God Bless and Happy painting!

Do you want to learn how to paint ? You can start today! Visit http://www.creativespotlite.com/art-instruction.htm today for free lessons and tips on a variety of different painting mediums including step by step painting demonstrations from professional artists!

I put together an ebook not too long ago with the help of 6 very talented artists. This ebook contains 6 step by step art demonstrations with illustrations.

If you are a beginner artist interested in seeing how a work of art is completed, or if you are simply a lover of fine art, then I am sure this book will be a nice treat.


Please click here for more information on downloading this free ebook.

Oil painting is a wonderful medium all on its own, but there are modifiers that you can add to the oil paint that can change its behavior. This article will give you an overview of some of the more popular oil painting mediums available to today's oil painters. The use of oil painting mediums is really a matter of taste and not a requirement. Many artists do not use any mediums at all other then a bit of oil to make the paint more workable, as some paints are quite thick straight from the tube. Other artists swear by certain mediums. It should also be noted that artists differ on opinion when it comes to the effectiveness and quality of oil painting mediums, so you should experiment on your own and form your own opinion. Make sure before using any oil painting medium that you read all warning labels and always work in a well ventilated area. It is also recommended that you work with gloves to protect your skin.

LINSEED OIL

Linseed oil is made from the seed of the flax plant. During its early history, linseed oil had a different role then it has today. Originally it was used as a final varnish for paintings that were created using the egg tempera medium. Linseed oil is used as binder in today's oil paints. Linseed oil dries thoroughly and forms a strong paint film. Because linseed oil dries slowly, the paint remains in a workable state, enabling the artist to continue working on the painting for some time. When linseed oil ages, it does tend to yellow unfortunately. Many painters avoid using linseed oil with lighter colors like whites and yellows. Below are a few varieties of linseed oils that are available to today's oil painters.

COLD PRESSED LINSEED OIL

Cold pressed linseed oil is made by extracting the oils from the raw flaxseed. The oil is extracted by using pressure and not heat, thereby creating a linseed oil in its purist form. Cold pressed linseed oil can be used as a binder in oil paints, but can also be used as a medium to thin oil paints, heighten gloss and transparency, and reduce the visibility of brush strokes. Many painters and manufacturers alike feel cold pressed linseed oil is superior in quality to other linseed oils because there is no refinement made to the oil. Cold pressed linseed oil results in a low yield, so this oil does carry a heftier price tag.

STEAM PRESSED OR REFINED LINSEED OIL

When the flaxseed is steam heated and then pressed it yields more oil, thereby making refined linseed oil a more affordable medium for artists and for use as a binder in oil paints. The process of steam heating the flax seeds produces more waste, so this waste has to be removed through a refinement process. The oil is treated with an acid which removes the waste materials. The acid is then neutralized with an alkali solution. Refined linseed oil can be used to thin oil paint and increase brilliance and transparency.

SUN THICKENED LINSEED OIL

Sun thickened linseed oil is a thick bodied medium that is produced using the heat of the sun. An equal amount of both linseed oil and water are mixed together in a container and left in sunlight for several weeks or longer. The water and linseed oil eventually separate resulting in a thicker oil with a honey like consistency. Sun thickened linseed oil is not used as a binder in oil paints but as an independent medium that improves flow and increases gloss. Sun thickened linseed oil has less of a tendency to yellow and speeds drying.

STAND OIL

Stand oil is also a thick bodied medium like sun thickened linseed oil. Linseed oil is heated at a high steady temperature, in an air tight container, which results in a very thick honey like consistency. Stand oil is useful as a glazing medium when mixed with turpentine and damar varnish. Stand oil helps improve the flow and has good resistance to yellowing. Stand oil is a slow drying medium that produces a strong enamel like paint film.

POPPY SEED OIL

Because linseed oil has a tendency to yellow as it ages, other oils have come onto the market. Amongst these oils are poppy seed and safflower oil. Poppy seed oil is extracted from the seeds of the opium poppy. Poppy seed oil is a pale slower drying oil and is less likely to yellow when compared with linseed oil. It is often used with whites, blues and pale colors.

SAFFLOWER OIL

Safflower oil is similar to poppy