Painting Articles

Article / Updated 10-18-2022

Chalk paint is all the rage. It’s a great product for all you motivated, do-it-yourselfers out there who want a new project. Dry brushing is a technique you can use with chalk paint to achieve a trendy distressed look that catches the eye. This technique uses a small amount of paint on a brush to achieve a unique depth on any surface area. The term dry brush has been coined because you remove paint from your paint brush to such a degree that you are essentially using a dry brush to apply your paint. Dry brushing is a fun way to refinish an old piece that creates shadow and generates new interest using only a few simple items. Supplies needed for dry brushing Before you get started, you will need to gather a few supplies. Make sure you have the following: Paintbrush: Often, a chip brush is recommended because of the coarse nature of the bristles, but any brush will do. Choose one that you prefer. Chalk paint: You can use any color. Neutral colors are good options for a toned down look or you may want a bright color to create an interesting discussion piece. Chalk paint can also be expensive. If you are looking to reduce costs, check here for tips on making your own chalk paint. Paper towels, piece of cardboard, or other dispensable material: You will need this for the offloading process. You can also use the paint can lid if you find yourself short of materials. Wax polish: This is optional. The wax polish is a protective layer for your project and is not always necessary. This, as with most do-it-yourself projects, is a matter of personal preference. One of the key elements in using the dry brush technique with chalk paint is offloading. Offloading is the process of wiping paint off of the brush after you have dipped it in paint. You can do this on a paper towel or other material to prepare your dry brush. One of the great things about chalk paint is that you don’t need to prime or sand your piece as you do with latex paint. Steps for the ideal weathered look To achieve that ideal weathered look without the use of sandpaper, just follow these simple steps: Gather your supplies and prepare your work area. Depending on what you are painting, this does not need to be a large area. However, it is always a good idea when painting to cover your work area with a protective layer. Clean the surface you intend to paint. You only need to use a cloth and water. If you have persistent issues with dirt or other unwanted substances, you can use soapy water. Other cleaning substances may keep your paint from adhering to your surface. Dip the tip of your paint brush into your paint. Be careful not to apply too much paint. You only need a very small amount. Next, run your brush over a paper towel or other dispensable material so that the wet portions of your paint offload and you are left with a relatively dry brush. Paint your project! You can paint your piece using different amounts of paint and various brush strokes to achieve the look you want. (Optional) Once your piece has finished, you can apply a layer of wax polish to provide a protective layer. Options for different effects Here are a few options for painting a piece to achieve the look you want: Cover the flat surfaces but leave the edges, joints, and grooves to show the surface beneath. You can see this dry brushing technique in action in this video tutorial. Use a light feathering over only the raised area of a project, which will leave you with a slightly distressed look while maintaining the color beneath. Check out this dry brush video tutorial for an example of the feathering technique. Vary your brush strokes for unique coloring effects. For example, using vertical strokes or horizontal strokes can alter the appearance of your project. The dry brush technique can be accomplished with or without layering. If you want the natural wood of a piece to show through, you can perform dry brushing without a base coat. Or you can choose to apply a base coat, as in the steps above, for a multi-color finish. Give it a try! You might surprise yourself with your own DIY handiwork.

Article / Updated 09-28-2022

Keep this wheel handy when you’re working on your oil painting to remind you which colors mix to make other colors and which hues are complementary. Mix the two colors on either side of the color you want to make that color. To make tints, you make pure versions of basic hues and then add white to them. You make shades by adding black or complementary hues to the pure hues. To those shade mixtures, you add white to make tones. As you add white, black, and complementary colors to your pure hues, you change their values and their intensities in very specific ways Complementary hues are directly across from each other on the color wheel. For example, the complement to orange is blue. Notice on the color wheel how the values and intensities change from ring to ring. The color wheel includes: The pure hues: Located on the outer ring of the wheel, are the brightest, most intense forms of a hue. Their values can run form very light, like the yellow, to very dark, like the blue and blue-violet. The shades: Found on the second ring these are always duller and darker than the pure hues but seem brighter to other colors. Shades are similar to the colors of autumn leaves. Tones: Found on the third ring, they’re the most versatile of colors with a wide range of values and intensities. Tones can range in value from dark to light and intensities can range from bright to dull. Most colors used in your palette will likely be tones. Tints: The inner ring of the color wheel, tints are always lighter in value than pure hues. They tend to be brighter and look like spring. The formula for them is pure hue plus white.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-24-2022

When you're ready to start your oil painting project, be sure to gather and organize all of the necessary supplies. If you're trying to decide on colors or want to mix your own colors, refer to the color wheel for help. Making and using a viewfinder will help you stay focused when painting a still life. And as with most things, a little maintenance love goes a long way: Your brushes will last longer if you clean and maintain them properly.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 11-12-2021

Watercolor painting lets you explore the world of color from a uniquely wet perspective, but, in the end, it’s mostly about the color. You have to become familiar with the color wheel and its primary and complementary colors. You need to be able to judge color values (light to dark, not cheap to expensive), and to need to choose water color paints and pigments according to their biases.

Article / Updated 11-12-2021

Typically, you paint on white watercolor paper. And ideally, you save the white of the paper to serve as the white in the painting. That is, you paint around the white areas, leaving the white paper to show. Although you can buy white watercolor paint, it looks a little chalky, and unless you're going for the unnatural look, you should avoid using it. Watercolor is very different from oil or acrylic painting where paint is applied for white areas. It's a good plan to paint light areas first and continue with successively darker colors. Work from light to dark. Use a white crayon or candle One trick to preserving the white of your paper is to use wax. Wax resists watercolor, so using a white crayon or a candle is a quick and easy way to save a bit of white when painting. Say you don't want to go to the effort of painting around an area for a tiny highlight in a flower. Just a touch of a crayon saves the dot, stays invisible, and keeps you from needing a steady hand to paint around that highlight. Any substance that prevents or resists paint is known as a resist, and wax is one type of resist. (Colored wax acts as a resist, as well, but it obviously leaves a colored area on the paper, so unless that's the effect you're going for, be sure to use white wax.) Steps to getting a wax resist To save white in a painting with a wax resist, follow these steps: 1. Find a white crayon or a white candle. 2. Draw on the watercolor paper using your crayon or candle. Your design will be hard to see — invisible in fact. But if you tip the paper, you can see by the matte finish where you applied the wax. In an actual painting, you'd put the wax anywhere you want to save a highlight, perhaps for a glint in an eye or a sunspot on a leaf. Just cover where you want white, but remember that the wax stays on the paper. If you want the paper clean later, use a masking fluid because it peels off after you've saved the white area. 3. Using a brush of your choice, paint over the top with a diluted paint of any color. Voilá! Your secret design is revealed. Preserving the white areas Keep these points in mind when you use wax to preserve white in your watercolors: The darker the paint you use over the wax, the more vivid your design will be. Smooth paper holds a better wax line. If your paper is really textured, the wax may not coat the paper entirely. If only the top surface of textured paper gets wax, the result is another spotty texture, which may be just the effect you're looking for. The wax stays on the paper because it's not removable. It's essentially invisible except for the waxy buildup. If used in small amounts, it may not be visible at all.

Article / Updated 11-11-2021

One of the endearing qualities of watercolor paint is that you can use a number of deceptively easy tricks to create some unexpected textures in your watercolor paintings. Not knowing the secrets, your audience will marvel at how difficult it was to complete your painting and how long it must have taken! Sprinkling salt A little table salt sprinkled on damp watercolor paint creates a delicate flower-like spot. Each crystal of salt chases away the pigment to make a lighter area beneath it. You can use this texture to create a field of flowers, snow, or leaves on a tree. It also creates interest in a background or foreground where not much else is going on. Salt doesn't always work the way you hope it will. It involves the right pigment at the correct dampness and speed that the paper and air dry. Sometimes you just can't predict what will happen, and that's half the fun. But if you use the following steps, you should get an interesting result from using salt: 1. Wet a piece of 5-x-7-inch watercolor paper with clear water. 2. Place the paper on a flat surface and paint the area where you want to use the salt. 3. Wait for the magic time when the paint is damp and shiny. If the paint is dry, this technique won't work. If the paper has puddles, pour them off or absorb the excess water with the corner of a paper towel. 4. Add the salt. Less is more. Take a pinch of salt in your fingers and sprinkle a few grains rather than dumping a whole shaker on your painting. 5. Let the painting dry without disturbing the salt. 6. Brush away the salt after the paint dries. If you apply the salt too thickly or add it when the paint is too wet, it tends to stick and not brush off when dry. The salt won't hurt the painting, but it will give it some real texture and a little crystal sparkle. Reusing plastic grocery bags Here's a great way to recycle all those plastic bags: dry cleaning bags, kitchen food wrap, newspaper sleeves, grocery bags, and so on. Basically, you crumple the plastic and push it into wet paint. After the paint dries, you remove the plastic, and it leaves behind lighter areas and a textural pattern. This technique makes great texture for rocks and mountains. To use plastic in your painting: 1. Tear or cut the plastic into a manageable piece and wad it up. About 6 inches square is a good size. 2. Wet your watercolor paper and paint some colors onto it with a half-inch flat brush. 3. Set the wadded plastic in damp paint on your paper. Remember that the paint must be damp to make this work. If the plastic won't stay in contact with the paper, set something like a can or bottle on it to weight it down. 4. Leave the plastic on the paper until the paint dries, then lift it off. The plastic leaves a shape behind wherever it touched the paper.

Article / Updated 11-11-2021

There are many characteristics of watercolor paper to consider when you're shopping for paper for your watercolor painting. Two important characteristics are weight and texture. Paper weight One characteristic of all paper, including paper meant for watercolor paintings, is its weight. The manufacturer weighs a ream of 500 sheets of paper in its uncut state and gives it a number to indicate the paper's weight. Weight indicates the quality (and usually the price) of the paper. Typical weights for watercolor paper are: 90-pound paper is a student grade and is rather thin. It buckles when wet and can't endure much scrubbing for changes. 140-pound paper is probably the most popular choice. It's fairly stout, can be stretched to avoid buckling when wet, dries quickly, and is medium-priced. 300-pound paper is like a board. It doesn't require stretching, costs twice what 140-pound paper costs, and takes longer to dry. You can judge the other weights available in comparison with these weights. Each paper weight has its advantages, and the weight you choose depends on what you want to accomplish. Beginners can get a good start with 140-pound cold-press, 100 percent cotton rag, acid-free paper in any brand. (For more on cold press and hot press, see the next section.) In addition to the various weights of paper, you can use watercolor board, which is paper adhered to illustration board. It doesn't buckle when wet and is available in 20-x-30-inch pieces or by the case. Touching on texture Texture describes the surface finish on paper. The type of paper you choose gives you different effects with the paint. You may want a smooth paper for lots of detail or a textured surface to make sparkling reflections on water. You can choose from three main surface textures: Hot press: This texture is even and smooth and makes a nice surface for prints and drawings. The paper has a slicker finish that you can use to create some interesting results. It's more difficult to make soft transitions when using this paper, so you may have more hard edges than you want. Cold press: This slightly bumpy texture is the most popular texture for watercolorists. The texture allows paint to settle into the texture pockets or sit on top and skip over the pockets, creating some different painting technique options. Rough: Rough texture has an even bumpier surface than cold press. This surface is good for exaggerated rough texture techniques. Sheets, Blocks, or Pads When you're buying paper for your watercolor creation, you don't want to skimp on paper quality. Cheap paper can't take the abuse required of watercolor. Good watercolor paper is made of 100 percent cotton rag, acid-free content. (Acid-free is important because it ensures your paper won't turn yellow.) It lasts a very long time — it's been found in Egyptian tombs in good condition! A ratty edge, called a deckle, is a sign of high-quality, handmade paper. Straight, even edges indicate machine-made paper. Handmade papers are really nice, but you can also find some nice machine-made papers. Just go with whatever you prefer or can afford. Watercolor paper is typically white, whether that's bright white or natural white. White provides the most reflected light though transparent color. You can get colored paper in tan, blue, gray, and pink that makes for an interesting background color. Individual sheets are a popular way to buy watercolor paper. Sheets of paper come in different sizes: Full sheet is 22 x 30 inches. Elephant is 29 x 41 inches. Double elephant is 40 x 60 inches. In addition to sheets, you can purchase paper in convenient pads and blocks: A pad is several sheets bound with a wire spiral or glue at one end. You can paint while the paper is still attached to the pad, or you can tear off one sheet at a time to use. The edge usually tears out pretty neatly. Paper in wire-bound pads usually has a perforated edge, so the tear-out is clean. You can use scissors to cut the paper to the size you need. If you end up framing the painting, a matte usually covers the edges, so how they look doesn't matter that much. A block contains a number of sheets and is glued on all four sides. You paint on the top sheet and then remove it with something dull (a plastic knife or credit card works great) when you're finished to reveal the next clean sheet. If you want to paint a mural, you can also buy rolls of paper, which are usually 44 to 56 inches wide by 10 yards long.

Article / Updated 11-11-2021

Oil paint developed in the early 15th century in northern Europe. Until that time, artists primarily used tempera, an egg-yolk-based paint. Artists "discovered" oil paints when they began adding linseed oil to the egg tempera to make the colors transparent. This discovery was a great leap forward for artists. The linseed oil allowed for a buildup of transparent layers of paint to create subtle and glowing colors. Oil paint has been the epitome of painting ever since. Today, the paint you purchase in the store is a blend of pigment (the material that gives paint its color) and binder (which "glues" the pigment to the support). In the case of oil paint, the binder is linseed oil. When you buy a tube of paint, the proportion of pigment to binder, the quality of the pigments used, and the way these two substances are mixed together determine the quality of the paint. You have the benefit of centuries of experimentation at your disposal. You have so many grades, colors, and types of paint to pick from, and almost all are top-quality paints. In years past, artists were subject to unstable paints that changed color over time, as well as some very toxic pigments! The popularity of oil painting and the good work of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) have provided you with the assurance that your paints are tested and safe. Some toxic colors are still available. They have unique qualities that can't be perfectly substituted with safer materials. Artists who use materials such as lead white (or flake white) and Naples yellow (or antimony yellow) must be aware of the dangers of the materials and take precautions. You have no reason to expose yourself to toxic materials to pursue oil painting. Oil paint is safe and easy to work with if you always look for the ASTM seal on the tubes of paint that you purchase and if you handle the paint in the appropriate manner. The ASTM D 4236 seal assures you that the product is properly labeled for health hazards. You can also take precautions as you work. (And no matter what you see van Gogh do in a movie, don't eat your paint!) Here are some precautions to take as you work with oil paints: Don't eat anything while you're painting. Don't drink anything while you're painting. Don't smoke while you're painting. Use adequate ventilation. Never sand an oil painting; the dust particles from the pigments are particularly dangerous. Don't paint with your fingers. The first three activities in this list may seem harmless to you, but they all increase the chances of paint accidentally getting into your mouth.

Article / Updated 11-11-2021

One of the advantages of painting in oil is that you can work in layers of color. The big overall term for this technique is glazing, in which you can see two distinct colors at the same time. In the following sections, you can explore some interesting properties of oil paint. Because oil painting owes a lot of its knowledge to the Renaissance artists, you get to discover some fancy Italian painting terms as well. Bringing out the undertones: Imprimatura Imprimatura refers to starting with a colored surface instead of a white ground. Use it to establish the undertones. To achieve imprimatura with a pre-made canvas, stain it with a fast-drying coat of paint. You can leave a uniform field of color or wipe some color off in a pattern for your initial drawing of your image. Allow the paint to dry just a little bit, and then take a rag or a clean, dry paintbrush and wipe away some of the paint to establish the light areas of your image. Let it dry completely before continuing with the painting. Scumbling and sgraffito Scumbling is a thin or transparent layer of paint that's rubbed or scraped off. Start with an area of your painting that's dry and apply a thin, wet layer of oil paint. Then rub or scrape off enough so that only a residue is left behind. This technique works well with opaque colors, especially a light color over a dark color. Sgraffito is similar to scumbling, but you scratch off the paint to make definite marks, lines, or textures. Trying the dry brush technique Dry brush is the application of a stiff, dried paint with a dry brush on a dry surface. The effect is small specks of paint that stand up on the surface. Use a light touch and a stiff, dry brush as you drag the brush over the painting. Hold the brush at a shallow angle in relation to the canvas. The paint sticks only to the parts of the painting that are prominent. A rough-textured surface is more effective than a smooth canvas, and it produces more specks. This technique works best when applied with a slightly hard brush over a textured surface. Adding texture with impasto Impasto is painting with thick paint to add texture to an image. You can apply impasto with a painting knife or with brushes. Use the paint right out of the tube or make it heavier and stiffer by adding purchased impasto mediums to the paint. You can also dry the oil paint before application by first mixing the approximate color that you want to use and then leaving the paint to sit until it becomes firmer. After an hour or two, transfer the paint to your palette and apply it with a brush or a knife to the canvas. Impasto painting sticks up above the surface and adds dimension to the painting. It creates an expressive and fragmented dramatic quality in the work.

Article / Updated 11-11-2021

You already know famous painters like Leonardo da Vinci, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Claude Monet; well, here are four well-known artists that you may not be so familiar with. Look them all up and don't pass over any just because you don't like to paint the same subject matter. Be like a sponge and soak up what they can teach you. Rene Magritte (1898–1967) Belgian artist Rene Magritte (ma-GREET) was a Surrealist like Salvador Dalí. Dalí painted eerie landscapes with melting clocks. On the other hand, Magritte combined unrelated objects and ideas in creative, unusual ways. Locomotives emerge from living room fireplaces; cloned men in bowler hats seem to rain from the sky. He created mysterious paintings that seem like dream images. Magritte's paintings are imaginative and innovative. He used color masterfully to make solid, realistic forms and establish moods that range from fun and lighthearted to dark and sinister. Looking at how he combined images in creative ways can help you boost your own creative abilities. Mary Cassatt (1844–1926) Mary Cassatt (ca-SAHT) was an American painter associated with the French Impressionists. Because she was female, she didn't have the same freedoms to move about as her male colleagues did, so she painted scenes of home life. Her paintings are peopled with members of her family going about their daily routines. She's especially known for the tender manner in which she painted children. When you look at her work, pay particular attention to her colors. Look at the overall color composition. Also look at the colors she used in light and shadowed areas of flesh tones or in the folds of fabrics. Jan Vermeer (1632–1675) Jan Vermeer (ver-MEER) lived and worked in the same era as his more-famous colleague, Rembrandt van Rijn. Dutch painters of that time specialized in painting specific kinds of images, called genres. Vermeer specialized in domestic scenes, but he painted a couple of beautiful landscapes as well. Vermeer is interesting because of the patterns of light and dark in his paintings and his use of color to create mood. The patterns in his paintings are so strong that you could reduce many of his paintings to just pattern and still have beautiful, abstract artworks. Wolf Kahn (b. 1927) Wolf Kahn is a German-born American who paints landscapes that straddle the line between realism and abstraction. They look like landscapes, but they emphasize fields of color rather than details. He studied under Hans Hoffman, whose ideas about color have guided many contemporary artists. The colors in Kahn's paintings relate to the natural colors in the environment, but they're much stronger than the colors you see when you actually look at the environment. For example, subtle violet shadows become strikingly electric under his hand. When you look at Kahn's work, examine the shape and color choices he made. His shapes are similar to those you might make if you were working from general to specific but stopped before you developed the specifics. He keeps his colors fresh and immediate without overworking or muting them too much.