Beauty is the most universal, self-expressing phenomenon that does not require words or language knowledge. It is present in all walks of life, but it becomes something extremely perceivable due to art.
As we rush our daily schedules and spend most of the time running, we might not notice the moment when a bud opens. The magic moment when the fragile petals unfold and when the sun and rain pour life into it. It becomes a mediator of beauty. Every smallest vein and line, every nuance of color is so unique. Beauty which breathes and is alive.
The biggest advantage of being able to create, draw and paint is the feeling of being a creator. We can do anything with the sheet of white paper in front of us. It’s our choice what goes on it. I choose the never-ending, personality enriching and mood uplifting divine features of the nature. It is a cheerful activity on its own. It is more than meditation, it is much more than immersion in oneself, it is the imperative life-continuing reveal of the underlying essence of life, and the essence of life is beauty.
Enjoy! Happy Mother’s Day! I know my mom will love these paintings.
Art is timeless, and for a reason. To remind us not to waste our time, but rather create. These, who do not create, can still support creativity by buying art and giving art as gift.
Many paintings to choose from
Looks beautiful and inviting
Taking break from teaching during holidays
It’s good to wrap up things and have the feeling of “I have done everything I could, and it is what it is”. It would be certainly even better to finish the year in more elevated mood, like “Was this ever fantastic!” It’s also good not to have any classes for a while because that allows getting back to my own preferences, not only classwork. Giving classes is a big responsibility and it takes a lot of energy, as well as time-consuming preparation work.
Finalizing steps, bits and pieces
I would like to move to my personal subjects and my personal visions in art, but unfinished paintings are standing in the way. You look at some, and it begs: hey, just add a few brushstrokes, just wash in more background. I end up spending a lot of time on finishing steps, It’s difficult to return to painting which was started many years ago. I have moved on, and it feels like catching up on some long time ago forgotten thought or idea.
Trying to be more disciplined
I will try to be more disciplined and not start that many new paintings, but then again, when I didn’t do demos on canvas, I suddenly painted a few great paintings … on messed up cardboard. The wavy texture shines through, and these paintings are not any good for display. It’s even impossible to take any picture of them. You never know with painting: something good can appear where we don’t expect it, and everything can go wrong when we have high expectations. There are so many forces and energies involved that it isn’t by far as simple as “just do it right or according to your plan”.
Prep work for art classes
Classes also put a lot of pressure on any teacher because teaching is also not that simple. I usually think and plan and sketch until I find the right image for a particular group. I also have to think about simplified ways how to put it on canvas or paper.
Red poppies, both are sold
Unfortunately, I don’t have any better picture of these red poppies, they were sold right away
Look at my gallery wall, most paintings are sold
Look at my gallery wall, most paintings are sold
Sunset over shore, sold
My solo shows at my own gallery
I had put up a beautiful show, those who came were really impressed, but I believe, my timing was a bit off. I will start to prepare the next show “Blooms and Leaves” fairly soon, and that might be ready by the end of April or by May. Anyway, there is not such a thing as lack of paintings for sale at my gallery. It’s always open and available to anybody over the internet. Just ask and you’ll make my day with a purchase.
Sticking to a plan is a key also in painting. Whatever we are doing, we need some kind of a draft in our head or some plan which we keep in mind. However, it is easier said than done. That especially refers to beginners in art. I have noticed that most people want to draw or paint without any plan and without any thinking.
Elements of a painting
Perhaps, when starting out, it is hard to know what parts or matters we should pay most attention to. There are lots of simple things which make the subject look multi-dimensional. By far, those are not only darker and stronger values. Strongly emphasized edges or absence thereof, strong dark areas behind the lighter ones also contribute significantly to the spatial perception, not to mention color if it is used.
Things to do and not to do
I was told that the darkest dark should meet the lightest light when I started painting about 50 years ago. It can be tough to implement, especially without real reference, when we have only a photography or a sketch. I am personally not excited about patterns which repeat in a regular rhythm such as petals or trees along the path, blooms on a branch and similar things which we unintentionally place on our canvas when there is no firm plan or sketch.
Pink spring magnolia blossoms is an acrylic painting on 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm canvas, Spring mood, light colors and feeling.
Reference is a guide
Why am I saying: pay attention to reference? Because most people don’t do that. When we are just beginning the painting, they would have a look at the reference image or set-up. After a while, I notice nobody looks any more at the reference. You have to! The only exception is when it is a completely abstract work which has been drafted in one’s imagination or when we paint from memory.
Painting or drawing from memory
Painting from memory takes practice, and beginning artists cannot handle that too well. Reference or value drawing (if you have created such) has all the answers: where to use dark color, where to make strong edge, where to wash out edges to lose them, where to place highlights and what exactly the shape of something is.
Preferred brushes
Knowing what values go where is extremely important, much more important than what brush to use. However, talking about brushes: always use the ones which you feel comfortable with and which suit the size of the area you are working on. Very simple. We can use no brush at all, but sponge or palette knife, that is a matter of preference and choice.
Try no rules, but use principles
I know how some art instructors want to make rules about everything. There are no rules in the use of tools. It is very obvious that using a very wide brush for tiny spot is simply difficult and vice versa. I know a lot of artists who create the entire painting with just one brush. I do that sometimes, too.
Pink rose, acrylic painting on canvas, 20 x 16 in or 51 x 41 cm, this painting is also a demonstration artwork for art class.
Real versus photo
So, the conclusion is: do not change things around dramatically or completely when the work is halfway through and always keep an eye on the reference. If something does not work at all, it is better to start over again. That’s why it is so rewarding to paint from real subjects, live is live and photo is just a photo. Live comes with smell, touch, very visible shape and very noticeable values.
Lovely purple pansy faces, acrylic painting on 20 x 16 in canvas. Bold color, large flowers
No pressure
Do not put pressure on yourself and painting: there are moments when we need to stop and make a decision about the next step. Paintings and drawings really hate when they are not treated with due respect. It is much better to allow everything to develop in a natural way. For illustration, I have attached the recent flower paintings. There are many more, but they just need finalizing touches. You know: painting is never done, right?
Is it even possible to create great art with little effort? Yes, and no. The most important part is probably wasting less time and materials. We need a plan to achieve that. A good plan for creation of a painting means a sketching, drawing or a value sketch. In my personal experience, it is pencil, pen and watercolor sketch which is the best preparation stage for a painting.
Not only result matters
When somebody wants to apply for classes I am usually told this: “I’d really like to paint”. Something like that. Points to some landscape or floral, or still life. Basically, everybody is interested in the result and not that much in the path which led me to it. I spend a lot of time practicing and exploring the subject from different perspectives.
Exploring art supplies
If you are one of those artists-to-be who jumped straight to brushes and did not take your time to explore the elements of an artwork, I can understand you. People usually think watercolor and sketching is for watercolor artists, who mask out white spots or those who get ideal washes just by swinging around the brush with some paint on it. However, there is a missing link between the idea of our art and it’s draft.
Seeing subject artistically
The real life shows that any potential artist and anybody, who does art as hobby, would have gotten much better paintings sooner if they considered sketching as an important step. That refers to painting with any medium: watercolor, pastel, acrylic or oil. The truth is, they all originate in one place: in our brain, through our eyes and senses. Therefore, we should exercise our visual abilities and our visual perception. I’m talking more about importance to learn seeing in my previous posts:
The problem with not well developing painting is not only the technique of applying paint. That usually works fairly well after a few attempts. The problem most often is in our eyes: we do not perceive values, shapes, proportions and potential composition; therefore, we cannot come up with a neat plan to make painting elements work.
This sketch became a large watercolor painting afterwards
Advantage of sketching
Sketch is done much faster than a painting. Sketching out objects or just values, putting them in a draft composition allows making a decision momentarily if that will or won’t work. Sketch isn’t the entire painting, but by doing it one learns much more about their subject. We find out that we need to look at it more carefully, more intensely, more accurately.
Thin and thick black pen and watercolor for creation of perspective sketch, 1-point perspectiveRough black pen and watercolor wash sketch to use as reference for larger acrylic painting
Skills are based on knowledge
I can compare creating art with writing. When people say “I don’t want to sketch and I don’t want to know anything about drawing”, it is like somebody who intends to write a novel would say “I don’t want to know anything about spelling and grammar. I just want to write a novel, so give me the idea and off we go”. The entertaining painting events also do a bad service: not only the entire idea does not allow anybody to really learn anything about creation of art, but the approach is just so wrong and materials are so bad that many people get a wrong idea.
White birches, recent class demo, 20 x 24 inches, painting is sold
Art is more than moving paint around canvas
When somebody is just moving paint around the canvas in hopes that it miraculously will take the right shape and become the right color, I must say, it won’t. Painting is a summary of things we put in it. It is also the energy we put in it. Therefore, the sooner one learns about values, relationship between light and dark areas, values, softness or roughness of edges, proportion and compositional layout, the faster their paintings take shape and have volume. The missing link between our idea and its incorporation into artwork is the value sketch. Creating value sketch and color sketch is not a waste of time and paint.
I’d love to share some acrylic painting tips. I hope these painting tips allow to achieve more and paint better.
Giving up before seeing potential
I feel sad when some students discontinue classes just after one month. I can see the potential in attempts, but people with little experience in drawing and art usually don’t. All it takes is usually adding a few dark and light spots, adjustment of edges and straightening out a few shapes. In fact, any acrylic painting can be whatever the artist expects it to be if we keep working on it and don’t stop prematurely.
If you know how to, you can improve anything
I’ve said that before: nobody becomes master within a few hours. Nobody. I also do not want students comparing their first attempts in art: this makes absolutely no sense. There was a reason artists used to cover up their art with a cloth and show it to nobody until the artwork was considered ready and finished. There are easy adjustments which can change the painted image to a great extent. We add tiny bit of sparkling light, sharp edge of very deep dark area, and everything improves.
Patience and ability to take risks
Patience and ability to take risks are two very necessary features for anybody who’d like to enjoy creating visual art. I have told this before: time-lapse demos make people believe that this is exactly the way one paints: one, two, three and here we go. In reality, we sometimes need to go over and over one spot for many times. With acrylic paint, there are no limitations of adding layers. We need to apply many layers to achieve volume and visually attractive effect.
Once you know what principles are applied to creating a painting, just follow the steps and use layers and painting comes to life.
Applying color versus building it up
Smearing on paint in one color is not the same as building it up. I have quite often seen transparent trees and flat buildings, not to mention flowers without any volume. That means, there was no dark color blocked in underneath and the light color was used only in 2 tones. That cannot make a structure or subject look like it is having dimensions.
Think layers
Many people have difficulties thinking in layers: the most distant, underneath it all layer, the middle value layer, the defining layer and the highlighting and detailing layer. It is in the human nature to try getting it right away. I’ve observed how students sometimes start with details which should be implemented at the end. This approach is fairly essential in acrylic painting because we have to work from dark to light and from distant to close: that’s how the image evolves.
Demo painting for garden landscape, basic layers
Keep the color on
The other problematic issue is holding color on the spot we need it to be. We are practicing painting on a spot techniques. Quite often artist gets carried away and keeps blending and moving paint around until it results in everything being the same color. It is very important to learn using brush for painting on a spot which is like running on a spot: brush it on, but don’t move all around the canvas.
Brush must be clean
Finally, as I’m washing brushes after classes, I can immediately tell which brushes were used by me and which by students. My brushes are almost clean or have the last color in it. Students’ brushes are usually full of many colors, quite often dark colors which we applied at the beginning of the class. That means, the brush wasn’t cleaned during painting. That results in muddy and dirty colors which don’t shine and lack brilliance. We must clean our brushes frequently!
We go layer by layer until the painting takes shape
Painting is easy and extremely rewarding
We must have patience and allow for some time to get where we want to be. It depends also on what our goal is. Any painting is nice and great if we do not expect it to become a top art just after a few classes or painting attempts. We can notice fear and indecisiveness in brush strokes which lack confidence. Therefore, taking risks and experimenting is very important, especially, in visual art. We have to be persistent and even stubborn. I hope my painting tips help you!
