Tips for New Painters
These are my top five tips for beginner painters. Calling them tips for beginners is a bit misleading though - they apply equally to all painters. I certainly forget them often and need to pin them up on my easel. Have a look at them and see what you think. If you have any of your own tips why not leave a message in the forum.
1. Spend most of your time looking, and less time actually painting. Spend 60 percent of your time looking at the subject, 20 percent of your time looking at your painting and the remaining 20 percent of your time actually painting. Some beginners seem to spend more time looking at their painting than at the subject. Learn to look deeply at your subject. But don't worry if you seem to spend a lot of time gazing out of the window, thinking about painting. That's fine too - just enjoy it.
2. Don't be afraid of copying. Copy from the old masters, newspapers, magazines, or photos. It's great practice. But remember that copying from a two dimensional reproduction is no substitute for painting from the real three-dimensional subject.
3. Remember to paint just for practice and fun. Don't expect to paint a finished painting every time you start a new canvas. Be willing to spoil a few canvases. If you paint one good canvas for every three bad ones, you're doing very well indeed. Remember that good artists have always been very selective about the works they preserve - they will have thrown out lots of bad pictures for every work that hangs in an art gallery.
4. Develop your vision. Learn to see familiar things in different ways. Look for inspiration in the least likely places. Fleeting gestures, heavy industrial machinery, light through foliage, clouds, wet motorways at night are all equally valid sources of inspiration. Remember that you are never 'off duty' as an artist. Try to take a sketchbook wherever you go and use it make quick studies because sketching immerses you in the scene in front of you.
5. Finally, never listen to your inner critic. The little voice in your head that tells you that your paintings are rubbish, that no one will like them. We all hear that voice - so ignore it.