My thoughts on Painting as a NEW HOBBY:
I personally think that anyone can learn to paint, at least come up with a final product that you can be proud of, and you also get a sense of accomplishment by CREATING SOMETHING. Many friends say “I can’t even draw a straight line” or “I have NO talent.”
Well, you will be surprised if you try!
There are some basic things to know up front and then there are many things you learn as you keep going.
Oil paints can be expensive but there are ways to get around that. I started by looking at “Offer Up”, Craigslist, or similar App and you can always find someone who has given it up as a hobby or perhaps someone has died and the survivors want to sell their supplies cheaply. When I started I found an ad for around 100 tubes of paint for $70. This kind of deal is fine for beginners.
I will always continue to learn and I watch YouTubes all the time. It’s fun to watch the processes and techniques of the various artists. They may vary widely and while there are definately some things “not to do”, you can choose how to go about creating your works the way you see fit and you will learn by making mistakes along the way. But it’s nothing to be afraid of. The thing with oils is that if you don’t like what you just did you can simply wipe it off, or if it’s dry you can paint over it. Acrylics and watercolors are less forgiving however. But we take consolation that every artist including the Masters had their failures along the way. Michelangelo’s other “Pieta” (not the famous one at the Vatican) was smashed by the artist himself because he didn’t like the result. (Fortunately it has been restored – and I saw this one in person ). Then there are many instances of canvases being painted over because the artists didn’t like them.
So we are in the same boat, so to speak. I have thought about destroying some of mine after the first stages because they didn’t apper to be going anywhere. But I have learned a valuable lesson. After setting them aside for awhile, then attacking them again, some have turned into my favorite pieces (the Venice Gondolier scene as an example.)
My current favorite YouTube artists, in case you are interested, are Samuel Earp – who paints landscapes in New Zealand (love the Kiwi accent), James Gurney – paints into his sketchbook using Gouache (an Opaque watercolor), and perhaps the most talented, in my opinion of these, is Cesar Santos, who trained at the prestigious Angel Academy in Florence. It you want to see some fantastic art that is inventive and incorporates some of the old Masters’ techniques, go to his website Cesarsantos.com.
Perhaps the best teaching show (strictly my opinion) for beginners is Jerry Yarnell on some PBS stations. Jerry is a teacher out of Oklahoma and he has a teaching web site that offers subscription based videos and DVDs. But his TV shows are very good in themselves. He has a logical way of explaining the techiques and encouraging students. Although he uses mainly acrylics, most of what he says can be applied to oils. A main difference is that you would have to wait for the underpainting and additional layers to dry between stages.
And then of course we have the old venerable Bob Ross. Many of us grew up watching him on PBS from 1983 to 1995. He had a calm, relaxing style that was entertaining to watch – and it still is to this day. You can find his shows on Netflix. So if you haven’t seen him, give it a try, If you are lucky you will see an episode where he has a baby squirrel in his pocket or a baby fox on the show. While I wouldn’t paint using his method I still watch him on occasion. He was valuable in bringing painting to the masses.
One other show I must mention is on YouTube. It’s called “Portrait Artist of the Year”. It’s not really a teaching show but it’s a British based reality show. Here both professional and amatuer artists are charged with painting portraits of celebrities but they have only four hours to do it. And the winners go on to the next round. To me it’s fun watching the different styles and how the paintings come together (or not!).
I must digress from the learning topic to also mention a movie that I highly enjoy. If you like Van Gogh’s style, you will most likely enjoy “Loving Vincent” (2017). This is an animated movie like no other…. each of the 65,000 frames is an original painting in itself, done in Vincent’s style, by 125 artists from around the globe, taking six years to make. A monumental task. But they pulled it off and it’s a fascinating flick. You can rent or purchase this on Amazon Prime. They also have a “making of” documentary.
The best Art periodical to study techniques in my opinion is International Artist magazine. They are based here in Scottsdale however the contributors are from all over the world and are of high quality.
So if you have any interest in this hobby, I say give it a try! And if you have any basic questions feel free to contact me. I don’t pretend to be an expert in any area but will be happy to relate my experiences to you.