Oil Painting Lessons

Basic Method of Oil Painting:

• Study your subject matter
• Plan your composition & placement of objects; if outdoors, use a viewfinder; rearrange unpleasant still life or portrait sitters (optional: do several charcoal sketches on paper to resolve problems.)
• With a large brush and thin paint, make marks at top, bottom, and sides of canvas to mark outer boundaries of composition.
• Make the preliminary drawing with a small round brush dipped in a light color diluted with plenty of solvent
• Study the subject matter, looking for mass tones and value differences; don't paint brilliant colors at this stage; mass in the background tone first, it establishes the key tone to which all the other masses must be geared; cover the most important shapes with broad strokes of color; work to the foreground, to the bottom of the canvas, painting flat, unshaded tones covering the entire painting surface with color; use big brushes, save little brushes for details
• Develop the picture with color - work thin to thick, save thickest color for last stages; add complementary color shadows, objects become 3-dimensional; add lighter tones & highlights to illuminated sides, darker tones to shadowed sides.
• Work from loose to tight, start with broad strokes and big color areas.
• Plan color mixtures before touching brush to canvas.
• Correct and refine your drawing wherever you see weaknesses; work dark to light, background to foreground.
• Step away from the canvas at intervals, to return to the canvas with a fresh, critical eye; add details, continue to correct mistakes, make refinements.

© Copyright 2000-2010 Carol Santora