Lesson - How To Begin An Oil Painting

It is very hard for many painters and students to initially begin making a new painting. Your canvas or panel (depending what you use) is blank! and this blankness is very intimidating, especially when you do not have a procedure for beginning

The thing you are painting is sitting there all complete and you have to start from scratch - blank canvas.

Yes, the first step usually is the hardest and biggest, and the first step is - "How do I begin?"

Let us say, for this example, you are painting a still-life that you have set up.

Maybe some apples in a bowl with flowers in back of them. And, let's assume all of this is against a background of dark green cloth. That will be your subject to paint.

You have red apples, colorful flowers, a green background, maybe on a wooden table. All of these colors and objects that you see before you, yet, when you turn to look at your painting surface, it is blank!

How do you begin to put what you see in front of you, on your canvas or panel? The problem is that you see a finished product and you are painting on something totally blank.

Well, let me cover first, what should be going on in your mind. When you have a process, you don't feel overwhelmed and you can focus on 1 thing at a time. The mind works at it's most efficient when it is concentrating on 1 thing at a time.

Going on in your mind should be..."What I see before me will act as a "model" that I can use to reconstruct what I see before me in terms of paint."

You should not be thinking "I have to make my painting look exactly like that."

It is important to change your thinking. I must get you to change your thought process. My instruction always goes into that...your pre-conceived ideas you have about painting - as far as techniques, and how you are supposed to paint your picture is hurting your progress.

Let me ask you something? If you keep going along, with the same thought processes you currently have when you paint your pictures, do you expect things to ever change? They won't.

Have you ever seen a fit young amateur golfer try to drive a golf ball further? They just take a club and swing harder and harder and they get nowhere. They are lucky if 1 out of 10 drives is any father than their normal drive.

And then some 65 year old woman comes along who has learned the proper way to swing a club ( the proper techniques, what to think about, etc) and she drives the ball 40 yards farther then the strong young man. And can do it over and over again.

Do you think the young guy will someone magically drive the gold ball as far as the older woman if he keeps doing what he is currently doing? Or would it be smarter to learn the procedures and techniques and thinking processes the older owman uses?

Ok, back to beginning your painting.

Of course you have prepared your surface properly, haven't you? This is of the utmost importance! Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, Monet, Ingres, Corot, I can go on and on with names...all prepared their surface correctly. This means, they prepared their surface so that it would HELP them achieve the effect they were after...

...And you should do the same to really jumpstart your way to better techniques and better paintings.

Now, I can't go into exactly how to prepare your surface in this article, but let me just give as a short example: if you want your paint to be a little glossy, it would be of advantage to prepare your surface differently than if you wanted your paint to dry matte - with a more pastel type of a look.

I hope you have not decided to just buy a canvas from your local art supply store, rip open the packaging, and begin.

If you have done this, you are only making things SO MUCH harder for you.

Proper preparation of your painting surface is SO important I cannot begin to tell you.

If you are painting on a store bought canvas, you might as well paint on a sponge, it is almost the same effect! Yes this is how bad these surfaces are to paint on.

Remember, everything we do is done to make the process of painting easier!

Ok...So the main way to begin is - we must start with some type of drawing.

This acts as your base or skeleton. It is your foundation for the paint that will come later. But, this "drawing"  is only a foundation!

You are not painting by numbers. You are not carefully filling in your lines of a completed drawing. You are making a foundation for the layers of paint that will follow.

This goes back to changing your thinking. Most people think - "I will draw in everything carefully and just fill it in" and then do you know what you get? A colored drawing...

With hard edges, very cold looking, it looks like a paint by number picture.

Let me show you something...

Here is a close up of a painting of a head.

You can see all of the detail. The eyes, the highlights on the nose, the patches of reflected light in the eye sockets. But, this is not at all how this painting looked when it was started. Would you believe it looked something like the image you see below?

This is a painting in it's beginning stages. Not much detail is there?

There are indications of the eyes, and nose, but this is only put there so I have a foundation to work with. Like the word says, these are only indications...not final eyes, nose, mouth etc.

This is the purpose of your "drawing". You can do this drawing with other materials as well. You do not have to use paint straight away like I do. I am comfortable using paint, so I use it. You may be more comfortable using charcoal, pencil or even india ink.

All are fine. But be sure to "fix" your drawing with fixative so it does not smudge when you begin to add paint over it.

What I have just covered is just a very beginning introduction as to how to begin a painting. But this is knowledge that you can use for every painting you make from now on.

Proper preparation of your painting surface - the most underrated part that not many beginners pay ANY attention to.

Changing your mindset to not think "drawing", but instead to think "skeleton", "foundation" or "base". Similar in the way a house is constructed.

There will be some people that read this article and think "I already know this" or "You didn't tell me what brush to use or what paint to use"

If you already know this...are you sure you are actually doing it?

And as far as telling you which brush to use - that does not matter if you are not thinking the right way when you begin. If you want a formula and are looking for information such as, when you begin you take your number 2 brush and dip into burnt umber - then my info is not for you.

You can buy a paint by numbers set for that.

If you do not begin your painting properly, you are only adding to your chances of becoming frustrated and confused while you go along in the painting process. And frankly, you do not have much of a chance at making a good finished painting.

If the foundation of a house is not prepared correctly, is it more likely the house will be built correctly or that it will fall over during the building process?

For a complete oil painting system including going into detail about "How to begin" - in your own home - check out my home study course - The Insider Guide to the Secrets of Oil Painting that will cover the complete process of begining your painting as well as a step by step system you can use to paint every picture.