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Message
Posted
Hi, just to introduce myself, my friends call the the painful painter, I am a chronic pain sufferer. I started painting 5 months ago, no previous knowledge or experience. Started with watercolour. Have been using acrylics for a few weeks and would like to also try oils. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time I am just going on instinct and feeling. I am also using palette knives although I’m not sure if I’m using them correctly. I’ve never been around art circles. Someone suggested this site to put my work on and get tips. I have had some encouraging comments. Thanks for reading.
Posted
I wrote an e-book (Oil Paint Basics) for people like you - Amazon Kindle store, if you fancy reading it. But if not - just ask any questions you have, and several of us will be able to help here. There's also a hard-copy AND digital form of Haidee-Jo Summers' book on oil painting. I've yet to find a book or even video that I could really recommend on acrylic painting - the best universal advice I could give about that is 'make sure you don't let paint dry in your brushes' (or trousers, soft furnishings, cat...). There are very many books and videos on watercolour - most of them are excellent; the number is high, because most leisure painters start out with watercolour. The artists Lois Davidson, and Alan Owen, offer YouTube videos of their watercolouring techniques, as do quite a few others.
Posted
Thanks to all. I did buy my first couple of books a couple of weeks ago. A basic one for watercolour and a basic one for acrylic. I didn't know anything about gesso or fixing the paint. I went straight out and bought a tub of gesso and a mat varnish. I think the acrylics can be quite difficult to move about the canvas and the brush sometimes get's a bit clogged. I have learned something very important, I make sure I wear an apron before I start now. I want to learn so much so my head feels a bit scrambled on what I should practice, so I just usually think to myself, well I want to learn to paint a tree, then do it. I don't have any structure or learning pattern. I paint for many hours because I have just fell in love with it. I am 55 and painting for me has come out of the blue all of a sudden and now I feel in a rush to do everything. Also last month the optician told me I had an astigmatism so my eyes don't focus together. So when I see my finished painting, I'm not sure if other's are seeing it the way I am seeing it. My family are shocked to see me painting because I have never been able to paint before. Mind you, I'm not saying I can paint now either.
Posted
Thanks, I do like landscape so I guess I should concentrate on just doing that for a while but I’m about to start a cityscape and ferry scene in the one picture which I’ve never done either but the scene is in my head to do. I have no idea how it will turn out, I usually just go for it. I have also found I am buying bigger and bigger canvases so I don’t feel restricted. Then I realise how inexperienced I am when I look at the rather large canvas I’ve bought that I’m about to paint. I usually paint for 9 hours solid without a break. I don’t seem to be able to leave the painting. I get lost in time and don’t really hear anything. I guess all painters are the same.
Posted
Yes, welcome ... it would be nice to have a name!
Well a nine hour painting session is certainly going some. I tend to work through the morning, starting around seven ish until midday, that’s generally me done - and a fair few coffee breaks in between.
Years ago at college, it was anything up to ten hours, but those wonderful days are over.
You’ll find plenty of help and encouragement on this site, so don’t hesitate to shout if you need help.