Painting

Get ready for some swashbuckling mark-making by getting yourself a sword. A sword brush that is...

• Intro to Brush Shapes

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"We know that learning to draw, like learning to read, is not dependent on something called 'talent', and that, given proper instruction, every person is able to learn the skill. Furthermore ... people can transfer the basic perceptual components... to general thinking."

Betty Edwards, in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a classic and recently came out in its fourth edition. For an art book to be in print for more than 30 years is an achievement in itself, nevermind its influence in terms of right/left brain thinking and creativity. Though I don't imagine the battle against the "it takes talent" reasoning will ever be won, never let it stop you from moving from thinking you'd like to paint into giving it a go.

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

A mother and a daughter walk into an art museum... it sounds rather like the lead-in for a joke, doesn't it? But it's an article by on the subject of modern art passing people by. How you have to work hard to "get" so much art on display in galleries, and thus is it really doing its job as art? Read My Mother Versus Modern Art by Elizabeth Charlotte Grant (a writer married to an artist).

I remember having a painting in the Metropolitan Museum explained to me, that its "big deal" was that it wasn't on a square or rectangular canvas, but "squashed". Revolutionary in its time, part of minimalism, that I got, but I couldn't help but wonder whether the point could've been made equally successfully on a canvas that wasn't so huge. The kind of thought to get you labeled as an art heretic if you're not careful.

The painting was Blue Panel by Ellsworth Kelly. I notice there's no description on the Met's website about it, but I'm trying not to read anything into that...

Art Jokes:
• You Must Be An Artist If...
• 10 Ways to Create Art Even If You've No Talent

While it's cheaper per milliliter (or fluid ounce) to buy paint in big tubes rather than small, I find I frequently squeeze out more than I need from a large tube. I think it's because I judge the quantity by the length of the 'sausage' that's squeezed out, forgetting the diameter is wider.

Maybe the solution is to have all the tubes big ones? The other answer is, of course, to pay more attention to what I'm doing, but often I'm "just quickly" grabbing another bit of paint and my focus is on the painting not the paint.

• Share Your Tips on How to Save Money on Art Materials
• Art Materials on a Budget

^{Image © 2012 Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.}

I've put together a step-by-step demo of one of the two painting ideas I mentioned last week. It has its origins in a stand of tall trees, and ends up as a painting inspired by landscape rather than a landscape painting. Take a look...

See Also: All my articles on painting trees

^{Image © 2012 Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.}

Derwent's current competition is to win one of 30 special edition Union Jack tins containing 12 soft graphite pencils. Be great for sketching and mixed media! Enter competition here...

• About.com Contests & Sweepstakes

There's always impatient anticipation waiting for a new model to turn up at a life-painting session. What will they be like? What type of poses will they propose? Pencils out, paper ready...

See Also:
• Tips on Working with Life Models
• Quotes From Artists On Their Models
• What Makes a Life Model a Good One?

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

What's going on there is that it's a seascape being painted on a red colored ground. I've been wiping excess paint from the brush in the "sea area" as I've painted the sky. I do this instead of wiping it on a cloth or piece of paper towel to avoid wasting it. I'll ultimately want blue in the sea, so why not use this now already, even though I'm focusing on the sky?

Be sure that the mark making is relevant to whatever will ultimately be painted in that area though, otherwise you'll end up fighting against it. Another option is to wipe your brush on a blank canvas, to create a colored ground on that.

See Also:
• What is Meant by Mark Making in a Painting
• Advantages of Painting on a Colored Ground Rather Than White

^{Image © 2012 Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.}

"Starting a painting is like embracing someone, you just fall into it."

-- Art historian and tutor Patrick Oates

This was the answer given by the tutor during the expressive-landscape workshop I was on last week when someone asked how you decide where to start a painting. His solution: don't overthink it, you start doing it somewhere, anywhere, and respond to the doing thereof. Like when you have a conversation, you set off in a particular direction but don't know everything that's going to be said in advance.

It got me thinking: sometimes conversations are awkward, and so some paintings will be in their making. Even with a stranger (think: new subject or style), you'll generally at least say hello, then take it from there. Over time you'll likely develop a favorite point for starting (think: "How are you?" or "Lovely weather today"), such as the eyes in a portrait or background hills in a landscape. There isn't a right or a wrong point, only a starting point, and you get on with it from there.

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

The basic color theory rule of blue combined with yellow gives green is only the first step when it comes to mixing greens. There are several other things to explore in the quest for the perfect green, including one which doesn't involve blue at all, which I've set out in my new article: How to Mix Greens.

• Have Your Say: Recipes for Green

^{Image © 2012 Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.}