The best guide is within you.
I am giving lessons to some of my grandchildren. My main aim is to teach them brush techniques and composition.
Beyond that it has to come from inside. When I plan a painting I might spend several days looking at photographs, other paintings, and then visualising 'a plan' of what I want to do. I tend to let that 'cook' for a while in my head, then I sit down and do the entire background. Yep that means some of it will be lost later, but that is the best way to get it right.
I may then do a pencil sketch on paper, but often ignore that because when I can see the background I find I can place into it, the image I have in my head. So the only thing to do is to use a pencil to draw the basic outline in stages. I then fill these in with pale grey so I have a kind of 'ghost' image. From there it is a matter of filling in the details and adding extra.
I may have to alter some of the background that has now become the 'foreground' so it fits to the subject, but usually that is minimal if you have visualised it correctly.
Beyond learning the basics and tecniques of putting paint onto the canvas can be helpful. Beyond that it has to be YOU that does the work. And by that I mean the inner you. Nobody can teach you that. I can tell you. Your oil painting instructor can tell you. But only YOU can find it Jim.
I would suggest you stop looking around for 'guides' and trust yourself. If you cant trust your own vision and feeling for the subject, you will never be able to paint successfully. You must have confidence in 'Jim' to put things on the canvas, not a guide. You have eyes, you can see things as you drive around, and those sights form the pictures in you mind, that are often referred too as 'perspective'.
Your eyes will tell you if the perspective is right. If a shade is too dark or too light. For a guide I look out the window at the world around me. That reminds my brain of the way shadow falls on bushes due to the layout of the leaves. How the sky adopts various shades depending on the presence of the sun, moon, or stars.
Clouds are best observed, not learnt in a guide. Sit and watch the ocean for its moods. If you cant personally see a certain type of scenery, then watch TV programs and movies, but watch the background. I tend to see the background more than the characters…!
Its all a matter of what satisfies you Jim. I did not paint for many years and people ask me how come I was so late into the work I now do. The reason was a lack of personal confidence. As a child I had two older brothers who were very talented. When I did things, my mother always compared their work with my childish efforts and I was quite convinced I was not as good as I was.
Many years later my wife, who was aware of my potential, sort of tricked me into doing a painting by purchasing all the materials, taking up the hobby herself, and then asking me to help her finish a canvas. I took over and she quietly let me go. People admired the work, so I did a few more. But by now I had decided I had to do them 'my way' and my wife encouraged that.
My confidence grew and now, a couple of decades later, I get quite a few commissions. People comment very favourably on my Oceans and vibrant colours, but they come from my head, not a guide.
Jim. Take your brushes and your canvas, sit down, tell yourself YOU CAN DO THIS….and get on with it. If you cannot do that, give up.
If the first few efforts of trusting Jim, dont come out to your satisfaction, trust yourself that you have absorbed where you went wrong and will correct it next time. Jim is doing that work, not the painting instructor, not me, not anyone else. Keep reminding yourself of that.
Oh and dont listen to the people in berets, who will rave on about what is 'real art' and what is not. REAL ART is what YOU decide is real art. Dont listen to the crap about true artists not using photographs. That is a load of bull.
If there is no other reference source, photographs are necessary. A landscape artist can sit and paint from life. Historical artists cannot.
Paint. Jim, dont let anyone tell you that certain paints or styles are not correct. Again, the worth of a work of art, is the skill you put into it. That also includes using everything you can to achieve the right effect.
I started on oils. These days I used Acrylics exclusively. They dry more quickly, (I like to get on with the work) they have a brightness of colour I like, and if you use them correctly, you can get plenty of depth of field. I even use some techniques of my own to get an 'oil' effect. I was told by a beret wearing 'artist' who has never sold a work in his life, it could not be done. I've done it. I sell lots of paintings. I was also told by a couple of beret wearers, that a 'true artist' is not concerned with selling, and that some of the biggest commercially successful ones, were not TRUE artists.
Rubbish. We paint to please ourselves and to please others. If others like our work thats great. If we can appeal to a wide audience and they like our work enough to buy it, or order it via commission, then that to me is a sign of success. I'd rather paint some things that people want to buy. Why do something that some beret head calls a 'true' work of art, but the general public dont like enough to purchase.
Jim…..be yourself. Trust in yourself….dump the painting instructor and the guides…..and get on with it. Its all inside you….so I wish you the best of luck with bringing it out.
Regards
Mal.Wright.
finds out what happens when Elves go bad...
