Follow the development of an abstraction painting called Heat 1 from the initial blocking in of the base color to the finished painting. It was done in acrylics using a limited palette of oranges and yellows, plus titanium buff and titanium white, on an unusually tall and narrow canvas.

I set out knowing it was going to be an abstraction, rather than a realistic painting, with colors that reflected the intense heat and dryness of the area where these trees grow. I did a few thumbnail sketches with the shape of my canvas in mind, then picked my favorite and got painting. Go to Step 1...

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This week's painting tip is from J.B. and is about a 'trick' used to create a more painterly or looser style. Read this week's painting tip...

Got a great painting tip to share? Use this form to submit it.

See Also:
• 10 Tips for Loosening Up Your Painting Style
• 5 Ways to Ruin a Painting

^{Image: © Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc}

Broken color refers to a technique 'invented' by the Impressionists that is still used today by some artists. Contemporary Impressionist Jerry Fresia explains what broken color is and how to paint using broken color in his article Techniques of the Impressionists: Broken Color.

Jerry says: "Technically speaking, it goes like this: suppose I have an index card that is a permanent light green color. You can see it from across the room easily enough. Yup. That is green alright. Now we take an index card that is half, say, cerulean blue, and half cadmium yellow light. I put a hole in the middle of the card and I spin it like crazy. In principle, from across the room you will see a similar green but this time the green has more energy. It is alive. It mixes optically at a distance. That is what broken color is suppose to achieve – the actual sensation of light itself." Read more about using broken color in a painting...

^{Photo: © Jerry Fresia}

The Tate Britain art gallery in London is inviting you to write your own label for a painting in its collection, with a chance it may get used in the gallery. There are 39 paintings (divided into pre- and post-1900) to select from, or you can pick a favorite. Find out more about writing a label for the Tate...

Which is my favorite painting in the Tate Britain? Hard choice, but whenever I get a chance to visit the gallery, I do try to see Richard Dadd's The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke if it's on display. It a relatively small painting compared to many others in the gallery, but in terms of imagery per inch probably unbeatable.

See Also:
• Best Art Materials Shops in London
• Top Ten Free Things to Do in London (From About.com's Guide to London Travel)

"Although [his] early drawings are amateurish, spidery things, they had finally moved Vincent, at the age of twenty-seven, to a decision. He would be an artist. He had never so much as picked up a brush, and knew he was badly in need of instruction.

"He tried a little in Brussels, and had discussed art with a Protestant minister in the Borinage, but preferred to teach himself, buying a few books on perspective, making a little frame with cross hairs to help, and then going back to Brabant to live at home and make another attempt at drawing. This time he had much more success..."

-- Simon Schama, in the Van Gogh chapter of his book Power of Art, p302

The ending of the Van Gogh story is very familiar -- tortured genius who produced oodles of paintings in no time at all. The beginning of his journey as an artist is less familiar yet ought to be equally familiar as it's an inspiration to anyone who desires to be an artist yet can't get to art college for whatever reason.

Even if you do get to art college, it may not be what you envisaged, as that now-famous Impressionist Monet discovered ... he dropped out from art academy while still in drawing class, he never got as far as the painting class. And it's not as if Gleyre's studio didn't have a good reputation; on the contrary, it's why Monet's father agreed to it. Monet just got bored with the traditional approach, focused on the ideal of the perfect figure.

With determination, persistence, and hard work, you can teach yourself. Going to art college isn't the only path, it's merely the fast-track. Don't give up on the dream of being an artist because you can't get to art college. Make time in every day (or more days than not in a week) to paint, to work at it. So what if it takes you 10 or 15 years or however long, it's better than looking back in 10 years and wishing you'd started already. And, remember, Van Gogh went from "want to be an artist" to achieve all he did in 10 years, dying before he was 38.

See Also:
• Van Gogh's Palette and Techniques
• Quiz on Van Gogh's Life
• Gallery from the Van Gogh Painting Project

^{Image: © Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc}

Follow Australian wildlife artist Leigh Rust step by step as he paints an orangutan using pastels. Leigh says: "The first stage is the layout. Using composition lines and pastel pencils, I get a feel for the work and mark in the key features. This essentially allows me to 'color in' until I've completed the image." Note the word "essentially" ... this is not the kind of coloring-in a five-year-old does (not even a gifted one). Take a look at the orangutan step-by-step painting demo...

See Also:
• Leigh's Painting Video Demo: Creating Wrinkles on an Elephant
• Wildlife Painting Step-by-Step: Zebra

^{Image: © Leigh Rust}

If something's not quite right in a painting, check the tones you've used in the areas of light and the areas of shadow. Do you have shadows that are lighter in tone than the darkest light you've used? Or put the other way, do you have areas of light that are darker than some of your shadows?

Check if you've balanced your lights and darks accurately according to tone. And remember that tone is relative to what's around it. Find out why tone is so crucial to a painting...

See Also:
• What Colors are Shadows?
• Cast Shadows and Form Shadows

This week's painting tip is from Rich North and is about how to get ideas, how to paint without photographs as sole reference. Read this week's painting tip...

Got a great painting tip to share? Use this form to submit it.

See Also:
• More Tips on Artistic Creativity
• 12 Tips for Beating Artist's Block

^{Image: © Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc}

You've probably noticed already that the Flower Portrait Project will be running for both April and May (closing date for submissions is 25 May 2008). There are a handful of reasons why, including ensuring no-one says they didn't have time to paint a real flower from life rather than a photo!

Another has to do with my traveling long distances with my laptop in May and not knowing exactly where or when I'll have Internet access. If you send me an email, please be patient, I will reply (and add your painting to the project gallery) the first opportunity I get. Okay, perhaps the second opportunity if the views are as irresistibly sketchable as I hope.

See Also:
• What is Plein-Air Painting?
• Photo Gallery: A Plein Air Easel

^{Image: © 2008 Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc}