The following steps outline the basic process of painting with oils:
1.Start with a simple sketch.
Your initial marks on a canvas make up the drawing in a wash, a thin, fast-drying mixture of paint and solvent that’s easy to correct. During this stage of the painting, you can make changes to your drawing of the individual objects very easily. Each change in your sketch goes over the last until you have the proper sizes and placement of all elements on your canvas. Don’t ever try to erase or to clean marks off with solvent; it only makes a mess. Just wait until it dries a bit and paint over the area.
2.Plan your design.
After you sketch the image on the canvas with your wash, you can see the overall effect and predict how the painting will turn out. This all happens in the first 20 to 30 minutes of the painting. Our painting projects lead you through the assessment of your efforts and guide you on how to tell whether you have a good, solid design for your painting. At this early stage you can still make changes in the layout of the image and improve the overall design of the elements.
3.Apply the major colors.
After you have a good drawing and a solid design, you can start to block in the major colors. Apply the appropriate color to each form on your painting while making adjustments to the forms as you go. As you apply the color to each form on your canvas, it takes on a more fleshed out and substantial appearance. You also apply these colors in a thin mixture of paint and solvent.
4.Work in layers.
At this point you have the basic colors — the lights and darks — blocked in. Start to apply a heavier layer of paint to each of the forms. This layer may be exactly the same color as the first layer, or you may make subtle adjustments to the color, allowing the differences to peek through and add complexity to your painting. The painting process is fun and relaxing as you develop your painting layer by layer. We walk you though this process in detail in the first painting projects. In later projects, we introduce ways to make these layers work for you to create beautiful effects.
