People always say they are not creative, but I don't believe that at all. Everyone is creative and has a beautiful spark in themselves that is urging to get out. I met a couple of wonderful ladies at my winter painting class that had never painted before. They jumped into painting with all their hearts and it came out wonderful. It does not have to be Monet quality to be the best painting in your house. Most of the paintings hanging in my house are not my best but they have some feeling that is captured in the paint itself that can never be recreated. For those out there who want to paint but are unsure how to make the first step, I am going to explain how my paintings develop, step by step.
My favorite thing about painting with oil paint is that it is very forgiving. If you touch the brush somewhere it does not belong, you can wipe it away with a paper towel or a clean brush. If you start and half way through you don't like it, you can take a towel or paper towel and wipe the canvas clean and start over. I don't recommend wiping it away, you should try to fix it or keep going. But I understand if you do. My mom is a watercolor painter and one of the things she would do is take her paper out into the yard and spray it with a hose. Sometimes it makes you feel better :)
First thing is to set up your work space. you want everything you will ever need because if you have to stop in the middle of painting to get something you will lose that smooth flow to your painting. Place your paints according to color. I start with red and end with brown (I love red and use it most and I hate brown) but it depends on you. With a water color pencil sketch out your painting.
If you are a bad drawer, it does not matter. Draw a grid on your canvas and a corresponding grid on your photo.
Draw everything as light as you possibly can! Then you start by putting in the large colors and shapes with a big brush. Keep an eye out for the things you want to emphasize. In this photo, I darkened the sky colors and lightened the orange in the grass.
Don't worry about the details, like the grass and plants, until later. Put in the large areas.
It is your painting, don't worry. I think one of the two most important things to remember is to be patient and relax. I often listen to soft calm music to distract me from everything going on around me. One of the good things about oil paint is that it takes a while to dry, so if you need to go back and change something you already laid down. You can.
