Oil paintings on canvas flowers for beginners. Oil Painting: Landscape and Oil Paintings for Beginners

Oil painting. Basics. Bill Martin's lessons for beginners.

There are things you should know before you start painting in oils.
All paints are a mixture of dry pigment and liquid. In oil paints, the coloring pigment is mixed with linseed oil. Flaxseed oil is an oil that dries out through the process of oxidation with air. It absorbs oxygen from the air and crystallizes the paint pigment on a permanent basis. Once the oil dries, it cannot be removed.
Oil paints are thick. They are produced in tubes. The paints are squeezed onto the palette and mixed using a palette knife to obtain new shades. Then they are applied to a vertically positioned canvas with hard elastic brushes.
Oil paints dry very slowly. Typically you need to wait three days before adding the next layer. This long time drying is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The big advantage is that you will have time to comprehend what you have drawn. This is very useful when you make gradient transitions from one color to another. Or, if you are unhappy with how it turns out while the paint is still wet, you can scrape it off with a rag, palette knife or rubber scraper and repaint.
The disadvantage is that if you put two wet paints next to each other different colors, they may mix together inaccurately. The palette, brushes and damp canvas must be handled very carefully so as not to smear yourself, clothes, food and furniture.
You can work with paint for up to 12 hours at a time, then you must leave the work to dry for three days, after which you can continue working. When the paints have dried, you can apply new colors on top. There can be many layers to a work. Each subsequent layer must be the same in thickness or thicker than the previous one, otherwise cracks will occur.
After the work is completely dry (from three to six months), you need to apply protective layer Damara varnish.

DRAWING.

A complex design is quickly lost when applying oil paints, so it is better to label the design simple figures and contour lines. The drawing can be done directly on the canvas, or it can be prepared in advance and transferred to the canvas.
When applying a drawing directly to the canvas, it is better to use diluted paint. Since it's already paint, you won't have to seal it from subsequent layers.
You can also use coal. The charcoal fill will need to be isolated from subsequent layers with fixative. Soft coal Easier to fix with fixer than compressed charcoal.
The drawing can also be applied with a pencil to the canvas. Then also secure with fixative. The sharp tip of a pencil can make cracks in the primer layer, so you can additionally apply another transparent layer of primer. If you have applied another coat of primer, no fixer is required.

In the photo: a can of fixer, in the box there is carbon paper.
It is better to prepare a drawing for translation using carbon paper on thin tracing paper, then it will be easier to translate. Attach the drawing to the canvas. Translate it using carbon paper. Trace your drawing with carbon paper underneath. Take advantage of this ballpoint pen contrasting color to see which areas you have already translated and control the thickness of the lines. The applied pattern must also be secured with a fixer or a thin glaze layer of transparent primer.

TRANSITION ONE COLOR TO ANOTHER

Let's consider a graduated transition from one color to another. Oil paints, because they take time to dry, allow you to move them around the canvas while they are still wet. This is why it is much easier to create smooth gradations of color with oils than with other paints. This can be done with any brushes. But flat brushes are best, and round brushes are worst. The same principles apply for small and large stretch marks.


The paints are mixed on the palette and applied to their intended places on the canvas. The brush is then moved back and forth in a cross pattern between the two gradations of color until a satisfactory result is obtained. Then parallel strokes are carried out to finalize the area. Work with a clean brush from dark to medium, and then again with a clean brush from light to medium.


(A) In this example, the brush strokes are ALWAYS perpendicular to the highlight. Moving the brush in a circle, we try to make strokes perpendicular to the highlight, respectively, we get the shape of the strokes of a twisted brush.
(B) Depending on the location of the main colors of the stretch, an idea of ​​the plane in which the surface is located is created. Notice how the shades are arranged to represent a flat surface (left) and a curved surface (right).

WE CREATE FORMS

All shapes are created from five basic shapes. These shapes are: ball, cone, cylinder, cube and torus (donut, bagel). Parts of these forms form any objects that we see. Imagine half a cylinder on a cube - and you get the shape of an American mailbox. Half a ball and a cone will give you the shape of a teardrop, a Christmas tree is a cone, an oak tree is a hemisphere (half a ball), and a cylindrical mug usually has a handle in the shape of half a torus (donut).


Chiaroscuro creates form. Each of these forms has clearly defined locations of light and shadow. The sphere is characterized by a sickle and ovals. The cones have a triangular illuminated part and the rest is in shadow. Cubes and flat surfaces contain stretch marks (gradient transition of light into shadow).
The cylinders are made of strips. Thor - made of crescents and stripes.
Concave versions of these forms have the same chiaroscuro, but without reflections.
If you learn to draw these five shapes, you can draw anything.

The ball (sphere) is defined by crescents and ovals. Balls are painted with crescent-shaped and twisted brush strokes.


Cones are made up of triangles of light and shadow. Cones are painted with triangular brush strokes.


The cylinders consist of stripes of light and shadow. Cylinders are painted with parallel brush strokes.

Cubes and any flat surfaces follow the same rules. Graduated transition from light to shadow. If the depicted surface is parallel to the canvas, then it is depicted in one even tone. A cube is a combination of intersecting planes. Each side of the cube contains a chiaroscuro stretch. The cube is drawn with parallel brush strokes.

The Thor contains aspects of two other figures. It has stripes of light and shadow, like a cylinder, in the center, and crescents, like a sphere, at the edges. Thor is written using twisted strokes and crescent strokes.


Here you see that to convey the shape of an object you need to use light and shadow, not contour lines. Light can be confusing, so first try to see the shape of the object, and then how exactly the light falls on that shape.

COLOR MATCHING


The rainbow gives us examples of the pure colors that surround us in the world. The colors of the rainbow in order: red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue-violet, violet. When these colors are arranged in a circle, we get a “color wheel.” The color wheel is a must when comparing colors.


The circle is positioned so that yellow, the brightest light color, was at the top, and the purple, darkest one was at the bottom. From top to bottom, from the right, there are yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red and red-violet. These colors are called warm.
From top to bottom, on the left side, there are yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue and blue-violet. These colors are called cool.

Additional colors.


Any TWO colors located opposite each other in color wheel are called COMPLEMENTARY colors. Red and green are complementary colors to each other because they are located opposite each other on the color wheel. Yellow and purple are also complementary to each other. Yellow-green and red-violet are complementary colors. Complementary colors placed side by side on the canvas enhance each other. Complementary colors neutralize each other when mixed on the palette. On this plate, complementary colors are at opposite ends of the scale opposite each other. If we move toward the middle of this scale, we end up with a neutral gray color, the least saturated of all.

All colors have shades. The pure spectral colors in this picture are indicated by letters.
So how do we select colors keeping all of the above in mind?
We just need to answer these three questions.
1. What color will make the color we need, where is this color located on the color wheel? (meaning spectral color).
2. How intense is it? (the more additional color we add to the color, the less saturated the color we need becomes).
3. Hue (how dark or light it will be).

Here's how it all works.


The paints are arranged by color on the palette.


We select a color like a brown leaf.
The spectral color will be red-violet. White is added to match the shade. Yellow-green, complementary to red-violet, is added to reduce its saturation.


Select the color of the green leaf.
Spectral green. Cadmium green is ours base color. It contains a bit of yellow, so we tone it down with red-violet (quinacridone pink). Yellow-green and red-violet are complementary colors to each other.
We add white to clarify the shade.


Select the color of the silver electrical tape.
Spectral color blue. We add white to clarify the tonal saturation. Orange, complementary to blue, is added and we get gray.


Selecting the color of a three-dimensional object. A piece of soap.


First we select the middle. Spectral color – yellow-orange. We add a very small amount of additional blue-violet to reduce the intensity of the color. And a little bit of white.


To get light areas of our soap, we add white to the resulting color in the middle. To get the color of the shadow, add more blue-violet to the color of the middle.


So, the colors of the soap have been selected. Usually, to get the color of a shadow on an object, you need to add an additional color to the main color of the object. For darker shadows, use the base color of the subject, but with less white. In some cases, adding additional color doesn't darken the color enough, so that's when we add a little black.

SHADOWS

Shadows create light. Shadows are divided into three categories. The first is the shadowed part of the object, known simply as the SHADOW. The second is a falling shadow from an object, which is formed when the object obscures the light from the illumination source. The third category is the shadow of neighboring objects.


The shadow portion of an object is a darker, less saturated version of its base color.
Direct light produces dark shadows. Diffused light produces less intense, blurry shadows.
Reflected light in the shadow (reflex).


Light falling on an object from its surroundings is called reflected light or reflex. The color of the objects that surround our subject significantly affects the reflected light. See the green reflected light in the left ball? Notice the reflected red in the middle ball. The color of the environment is an integral part of all the shadows.


The light and shadow saturation of surrounding objects also affects the reflected light. The first ball just hangs in the air. The second ball also reflects the white surface. The third ball reflects the black surface. The light and shadow saturation of surrounding objects is also an integral part of shadows.

Falling shadows.

A cast shadow is always characterized by being darkest and most focused at the source of the shadow (the subject). Falling shadows are painted in a darker, less intense color than the color of the surface on which they fall.


The color of the falling shadow always contains additional color to the color of the lighting and a complementary color to the color of the surface on which the shadow lies.
See a blue tint in the shadow of an object that is illuminated by orange light? And an orange tint in the shadow of an object lit in blue. In the shadow of an object illuminated by red light there is a shade of green. And notice the red-violet hue of the shadow cast by an object illuminated with yellow-green light.
Drop shadows are associated with shape and texture.


Falling shadows describe the surroundings of an object. On the left, the wall is defined by the falling shadow of the glass. The shadow on the right indicates the presence of a mound.


The edges of a shadow define the texture of the surface on which the shadow falls.
Grass on the left and dirt with rocks on the right.

Falling shadows in direct and diffuse light.




Direct light (left) usually comes from a single light source - for example, the sun or a spotlight. It produces high contrast and rich, dark cast shadows.
Diffuse light is usually obtained from several light sources. It produces low contrast and unclear cast shadows.


Objects with virtually no cast shadow are ALWAYS in diffuse light, where they appear flatter and less textured.

Shadows from neighboring objects.


These are the dark shadows we see in places where objects touch each other. A dark line around a closed door, a dark line under a mug of coffee, a dark line between tightly clenched fingers - this is the shadow of neighboring objects.
It is relatively independent of the direction of illumination. These shadows in the shadows are usually the darkest parts of the drawing.


A narrow dark stripe under the cylinder on the left tells us that the objects are separated. The cylinder on the right is connected to its base.

CONTRAST

Using light and shadows together.

Contrast is the ratio of the lightest and darkest parts of an object or its surroundings.

Tone scale.

On the left is high contrast, on the right is low contrast.

When objects have high contrast, they appear closer to us. When contrast is lower, objects appear further away from us. Those rocks in the distance seem further away from us, their contrast is lower than the contrast of the rock closest to us.


The gradual saturation of objects with contrast makes them visually closer to us.


By the contrast of the falling shadow and its surroundings, you can determine the distance.

Low contrast


Objects in diffuse light have the lowest contrast.


Objects without a cast shadow are always in diffuse light. If an object has a tonal gradation from medium to dark, it should have a cast shadow.


If an object has a tonal transition from medium to light, then it will appear as if in a haze or fog.

CONTRAST IS CREATED BY THE TYPE OF LIGHT. High contrast corresponds to bright lighting. Low contrast corresponds to diffuse lighting, distant distances, and haze.

TEXTURE

Texture helps define what exactly you are seeing.

The texture is best seen when light fades into shadow. On smooth objects, glare is a distorted reflection of the light source itself. The sharper the focus of this reflection, the smoother the surface of the object. Glass bottle has a smoother surface than aluminum, which in turn is smoother than candle wax. We know how these objects focus the glare on themselves.

On objects without bright highlights, texture is clearly visible and is determined by the transition from light to shadow.

These ten objects are arranged in order of their texture.
Notice where your eye immediately looks to appreciate the texture of an object.

We look at the transition of light to shadow to determine how textured an object is.

Texture in diffused light.

On the left is direct light, on the right is diffused light.

Objects in direct light appear more textured than objects in diffused light.
The log and towel appear softer and smoother in indirect lighting. Objects appear less textured in diffuse light because the transition from light to shadow takes longer.

GLAZING/LAYER LAYERS

Glazing layers are applied on top of the dried paint.

Transparent layers of oil paint are called glazing layers. Translucent are layers of glaze. To obtain glaze, the paint is diluted in a ratio of 1/3 Damara varnish, 1/3 turpentine and 1/3 linseed oil. Glaze is a thin transparent layer of paint, which is placed on another dried layer to obtain a shade of the third color. For example, if you put diluted quinacridone rose ( transparent color) to blue, you get purple. If you glaze the exact same color, you will enhance it. Falling shadows on complex textures are often covered with glaze. Glazing darkens the color slightly. (See the “Paints” lesson about transparency and matte).

This is glazing.

For example, the shell of a beetle needs to be greened.

The glazing liquid is mixed on a palette with cyan green (transparent color) until the required degree of transparency is achieved.

Then the mixture is applied with a core brush to the drawing in a horizontal position. Leave to dry overnight. When using glazing, you can change the color of the design without changing the direction of the paint strokes on the base layer.

Glaze is created by using a diluted matte color over the dried color of another paint. The glaze layer does not change color and is a translucent layer.

The paint is also mixed on the palette with the glazing mixture and applied to the horizontal surface with a core brush.

Have you long dreamed of trying to paint with oil paints, but don’t know what you need for this? We have collected 28 tips to help beginners understand this matter. We wish you inspiration!

1. The main set of oil paints consists of the following colors: alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow, yellow ocher, titanium white, cadmium red, ultramarine blue, Martian black. From these shades it is possible to create any other color.

2. Buy white with a reserve. When mixing paints it will be used up very quickly.

3. For a pleasant drawing experience, spare no expense on quality oil paints and tools.

4. For your first painting experience, it’s enough to buy a couple of brushes different types. For example, you can purchase round, flat and bristle brushes in different sizes.

5. You can use old rags and cans to clean your brushes.

6. It is not necessary to buy a palette for paint; it is enough to use a board or cardboard.

7. When painting with oil paints there is a rule: thick to thin. For the first layer, buy a solvent. Apply a thick layer over it.

8. Draw in a place well lit with natural light. Otherwise, the colors may then differ from what they appeared to be in a specific light.

9. The easel is adjusted according to your height and position so that you can sit without discomfort or difficulty.

10. Oil paints are difficult to remove from fabric. Therefore, wear things that you don’t mind.

11. To begin, place a sketch in pencil or charcoal on the canvas. Build a composition.

12. To make the drawing more realistic, determine where the light source will be. This way you can easily depict darkened and illuminated areas, shadows, penumbra, and highlights.

13. Light color is obtained by adding white, shadow - by adding black.

14. To prevent the paint from being so thick, mix it with turpentine or linseed oil. Add them to the paint little by little to get exactly the consistency you need.

15. Take your time to apply the second coat. Let the paint dry. Usually this is 3 days.

16. Learn to mix paints. Add layers of paint so that adjacent paints can be mixed with a flat brush. The stroke should go in the direction of mixing.

17. To make the glaze, you will need 1/3 linseed oil, turpentine and oil varnish. Mix them together and you'll get a clear color that can be mixed with other paints to create a glaze.

18. To create the effect of a more transparent figure, you can use a brush with natural bristles. Apply dots onto the canvas with a brush at a 90 degree angle.

19. Use a palette knife to create a thick layer of paint. Smear the paint onto the canvas with a knife. This the best remedy for conveying movement and drawing landscapes.

20. Paints dry for about 3 days. Take this time to critically evaluate the drawing. You can correct the picture or completely erase the details.

22. Clean your brushes with turpentine and an old rag. Scrub the paint until the water running off the brush becomes clear. If the paint dries on the brush, the tool is unlikely to save anything.

23. Paintings take 3 or more months to dry. Until then, leave your creation in a well-ventilated place where the painting will not be disturbed.

24. After your painting has dried, it should be varnished. You will protect your picture and colors from fading.

25. Try not to use the color “Black Ivory” for background coatings, because it takes a very long time to dry.

26. Flaxseed oil is not used for light colors. Otherwise they will turn yellow.

27. To remove oil paint from your hands, use another oil (baby oil or olive oil). Wipe off the paint with a rag and don’t wash your hands until you’ve completely scrubbed it off.

28. Apply paints to the intended areas, and then use a brush to mix them until you get a gradation that satisfies you.

Most people choose needlework or other options as a hobby. artistic creativity. Moreover, due to the same mass-produced goods, the demand for handmade things increases. Photos or computer images are printed multiple times. You can make a unique thing by learning how to paint oil paintings. Even a beginner can understand this painting technique.

Even if you try to perfectly repeat your plot twice, you still cannot make an exact copy. This is what creates the uniqueness of works of art.

Materials required for work:

• Host.
• Different colors.
• Brushes.
• Solvent and a small container for it.
• Special palette for mixing.

Masters also use palette knives- special metal elastic shovels with wooden handles, which are used to apply paint to the base. It is important for a beginner to master brushes.

In addition, masters paint paintings on easel or a high-quality sketchbook if they go to work in nature to depict oil paintings from life.

Landscapes for beginners are a complex subject. It is better to create pictures using your imagination or using photographs. This will make it easier to depict the landscape.

According to professionals, working on an easel is easier, since it’s easier to step away and inspect the result of the work. At first, you can try to practice on the surface of the table, but it is better to take some kind of board and place it on your chair at a certain angle. You will get an overview of your work and you will be able to evaluate its quality well and notice your shortcomings in time.

Remember that paints are used up quickly, so you need to purchase them separately and in large quantities. The release form comes in different sizes. White paint disappears the fastest, but black paint is consumed in very small quantities. First you need to decide plot, and then buy paints of appropriate colors and shades.

In order to draw autumn bouquet you will need one set, but for a summer bouquet a completely different one. In order not to waste your budget on unnecessary colors, it is better to take only the necessary ones in approximately the required quantity. All colors and shades can be obtained with only three main colors(yellow, red, blue), as well as white and black.

Gallery: oil painting (25 photos)

Creating and selecting a base

If you want to make drawing easier for yourself, buy from specialized stores ready-made basics for work on which you can immediately apply paint. They cost a decent amount of money, but they are just right for a beginner, as they greatly simplify the work.

Another great option is use of fiberboard. Every man's household contains scraps of this material, which remains after repairs. It is easy to find it by asking friends, relatives or a loved one. Surely someone has used it and has leftovers of this stuff in their garage.

The shape of the fiberboard sides is different, one looks very smooth, and the other is quite rough, vaguely similar to a woven structure. Both forms can be used, but it is worth applying to a rough surface. more parts and layers of primer, otherwise the color may become dull, since the paint will sink a little into the structure of such a product.

If you decide to try painting a landscape in oil for the first time, you can take a ready-made fiberboard base with a primer already applied. You need to take a small sheet, no larger than a landscape one.

If you want to make a DPV base with your own hands, an easy and inexpensive way is use of simple gelatin, you can add PVA glue to it to make the color white. This primer must be applied in several layers, allowing it to dry first. Three times will be enough. You should feel that the surface has changed. After preparing the base, you can proceed to creating the picture.

Master class oil painting

After creating the foundation and preparing the materials, we begin work in stages:

• Make it on canvas line drawing by using a simple pencil or paint.
• Focus on the distribution of shadows and highlights (where there will be bright and dark areas).
• Create the background and any large objects.
• Start drawing small shapes and details.

Sometimes move away from the picture to evaluate the results of your activities. As you draw, mix different shades of colors on your palette. The last step is to frame the painting.

Master class on oil painting for beginners

In this master class we will draw the sea!

Description of drawing step by step:

First of all, you need to prepare the picture with which you are going to paint the sea. Place the canvas on the easel. Create the first strokes on the canvas, making the main background. Wait a little until it dries completely. If you follow the advice of the master class, then you will be able to paint a picture with oil paints of the sea. After finishing drawing, you need to decide on a name, most importantly, do not forget to leave your initials on the work. Authorship is very important because it makes your work stand out.

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Hello, friends! Today in the gallery I decided to post it free lesson creating a bouquet of flowers with oil paints. Or in other words: master class how to paint flowers in oil.

Before us is the final picture with spring flowers in a vase, that is, what we should get at the end of the lesson.

So let's get started. Let's take a canvas.

IN in this case I used canvas that was not stretched on a stretcher. But this does not affect the result at all. So it doesn’t matter whether the canvas is stretched on a stretcher or not - the main thing is not to look for excuses, but to take on painting a vase with flowers with oil paints without fear.

The picture shows that I took a brush and without thinking, painted the entire canvas with oil paint. Moreover, oil paint should be well diluted in thinner or white spirit.

In the next picture, I decided to finalize the background spot of our future floral masterpiece and added oil paint. You can see for yourself what happened.

Then I made a rough outline of our future vase and roughly drew the location of the green leaves of our bouquet of flowers. This is an approximate location - so you can safely experiment in this place.

This picture is not much different from the previous one. However, if we take a closer look, we will see that a highlight has appeared on the vase (a light spot in the upper part of the vase). A shadow from the vase also appeared. This created a pleasant impression that the vase “stands” on the plane of the table. I also decided to add the dark end of our table, on which the vase is installed (at the very bottom of the picture).

The image of our future flower painting in a blue vase is already beginning to emerge. However, we do not stop there, we continue our free master class: How to draw a Bouquet of flowers in oil.

What kind of flower picture can there be without the flowers themselves - you say. And then the flowers begin to appear.

Moreover, before applying our flowers to the canvas, we first remove excess paint in those places. As you can see in the picture, we are removing part of the foliage. And we apply our future beautiful flowers.

In this picture of our master class we have everything primary flowers. And the picture already looks very nice :-)

But we don’t stop there and continue to draw our bouquet of flowers in a blue vase.

This picture shows me starting to add the green leaves to our flower bouquet.

The main green leaves are drawn. Also, a few leaves fell on the table near our blue vase with a bouquet.

And finally the final stage. This is the finishing image of our flower bouquet in a blue vase. As you can see, I decided to add a few more flowers to our bouquet. Namely 2 medium-sized yellow flowers and many small blue flowers. This caused more petals to fall on the table. I had to show them too :-)

It seems that our master class today has come to an end: .

I want to add one more image for you to illustrate:

This is an enlarged fragment of our bouquet of flowers, or rather yellow flower. As you can see, oil paint is not something you should skimp on when creating a painting.

And if I haven’t already tired you too much with my master class, then I’ll show you my working palette.

This is what my palette looked like when we completed our master class: How to draw a Bouquet of flowers in oil.

Thanks for your interest in my lesson!

I hope to see you at my next painting master class.

A week ago, Yulia Skripnik, editor of the MYTH.Creativity platform, sent me a message: “Nastya, hello! Can you do an article next week with an exercise in Classical Painting Lessons?” I answered that I would, and a thousand and one fears of a creative person began to swirl in my head:

“I don’t know how to paint in oils. I'm in last time I picked up oil paints several years ago, and I can’t say that this experience was successful. “What if I can’t do anything at all and I’ll just ruin the canvas.”

Putting aside my fears, I began to study the book. Of course, in paper form, simply because its smell itself is inspiring.

The book is divided into 4 chapters and each of them has several lessons. My plan was to read the book until the last page and then choose which lesson I would do. However, there was so much new knowledge and inspiration that already on page 48 I took oil paints and thinner out of the box and climbed into the wardrobe in search of an old, outdated T-shirt. What does this have to do with the T-shirt? Read on 😉

Lesson 2, which we will study with you, is devoted to imprimatura with wiping. I also didn’t know what it was until I started reading the book, and that’s okay.

Imprimatura(from Italian imprimatura - first layer of paint) - a term used in painting: color tinting of the surface of a ready-made white primer.

You've probably seen work done using this technique.

Materials:

• Drawing materials- paper and pencil, or charcoal if you are going to draw directly on the surface
• Primed surface - wooden surface or canvas
• Palette
• Oil paint natural umber. You can use natural sienna or earthy green - experiment with colors
• Titanium white or quick-drying, such as alkyd. They are convenient because they dry overnight
• Linseed oil(optional)
• Cotton rag- a torn T-shirt will do (it is not recommended to use paper napkins)
• Large bristle brush

Above I have listed the materials recommended by the author of “Lessons in Classical Painting” - Juliet Aristide. I didn't follow all of these recommendations. The “same” material may not always be at hand; you shouldn’t give up creative experiments because of this.

First stage: staging a still life

Then it's time to start drawing. I did it directly on canvas with a pencil, however, the author recommends doing it on paper first and then transferring it using tracing paper. And this good advice, because trying to use an eraser on the canvas risks creating “dirt.” I also didn’t focus on the drawing because the goal of this lesson is tonal underpainting.

Before you begin to imprimatura with wiping, it is worth checking how the surface of the canvas or wood panel absorbs paint. Some types of cheap acrylic primer hold paint well; it will be difficult to wipe it off until the color of the surface is achieved. If you come across such a soil, you can first coat the entire surface with a very thin layer of linseed oil.

Now comes the fun part! You need to cover the canvas with a thin layer, intensively blending the paint with a hard, fairly large bristled brush. The author recommends not to be afraid of too dark a color and not to dilute the paint, because otherwise the layer will come out too thin, but I thought that my paints had been lying idle for a long time and had thickened, so I added a solvent, and this really was a mistake.

Advice from the book: If the picture is too large and complex to complete in one session, the process can be divided into stages (for example, the first half in one day, and the second in another)

Let's start wiping. The outline of the design shows through the layer of oil, so it’s not difficult. You need to constantly change the rag to use clean parts. For large areas it is convenient to wipe off the paint index finger, and for small elements I wrapped a rag around an orange stick.

The wipe-off underpainting can be completed after stage 4, but adding dark and light accents gives the piece a more finished look. Therefore, using the glaze method, I added white and dark color deepened the shadows.

The work is ready! Several obvious mistakes were made, the jeans were stained with paint, but the main thing was that I got incredible pleasure from conquering my fears.

I used to be afraid of books about classical painting, it seemed to me that they were created at least for students of specialized universities, but it turned out that this is not at all the case.

I urge you not to be afraid either! Try something new, go beyond the usual materials and techniques.