A Guide to Painting Your Feelings

Art is a wonderful way to express yourself; whether it be through landscapes, portraiture, or more abstract means; but sometimes it's hard to know where to start! There's so many options, mediums and possibilities that all start with a blank page- and often a blank face looking back at it! As someone who exclusively paints thoughts and feelings, here is a guide to painting your feelings;

1: IDEA GENERATION.

It's easiest to think of ideas when your mind is wandering, rather than when your brain is fried staring at a blank page. Try walking, or even staring out a window (especially on public transport) to get your brain jogging and explore how you genuinely feel. Let your brain go wild; how would your emotions and thoughts appear in the physical world? What kind of imagery and colours appear in your mind? This is your time- so enjoy the process and let your mind go wild!

It’s hard not to stare out the window daydreaming on public transport- the perfect place to develop ideas!

2: SKETCHING OUT IDEAS:

This is an optional step- you can go straight to creating your artwork- but I enjoy the process of gathering my thoughts together and creating a composition from them. In your sketch (which can be in any medium you like- I enjoy the permanence of a pen to force me to stick to my mistakes!) don't hesitate to use words, or even diagrams- whatever it takes to express your vision. Often this process leads you to realise something you might like to emphasize, or add- or something you just randomly sketched in and come to adore!

3: CREATING

This article is titled "painting" but don't let that convince you- you can create your artwork in any medium you like! DOn't base your choice of medium on what "looks best" nor your painting style- choose a style and medium that you enjoy, that you can work with in a passionate way, and that you truly love. Adore adding tiny details? Add tiny details. Enjoy thick, luscious spontaneous brush strokes? Go for it, and join the club! You can experiment until you find a style you really enjoy the process of, and then work away until the piece "feels right". I always think, you don't have to love your artwork straight away- but as you create more and more and your art becomes more "you" (not "better"!) you'll start to love it!

Remember, the key is to get in touch with yourself, and enjoy the process- and if someday, someone else loves your work too, you've created something that truly connects with people, and it's time for celebration!

Self Learning

I painted "Flights of Scares" shortly after leaving college a year early; I actually went to college for physics and maths (eh I know very different!). I realised it wasn't what I wanted to do quite quickly; but more importantly, I hated how it was still, like secondary school, about learning off things to regurgitate them on a page for an exam. I've always loved learning, and always hated this traditional system of learning; how does it benefit anyone? Where do all of those hours wasted on learning off paragraphs of text disappear to? It felt like an endless flight of stairs, and I never felt "good enough" for it.

Then, I left college... and I started learning things on my own. I don't think there's anything more fulfilling than self learning; you get to make mistakes freely (it doesn't affect your "grade"), and learn in such a natural, wonderful way. I'm completely self taught in art, asides a few painting classes, and I honestly never plan on going to art college because I know the joy of self direction in learning. If you're feeling down about being stuck in redundant education, why not try self learning?

Flights of Scares

Art Prints

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He might be able to climb the tree, but will the monkey get where he wants to go by doing well in the exam?

If you feel limited by textbooks and teachers and lecturers and classrooms, it's the perfect fit. I used to like school when I was in primary and secondary- I was relatively good at most subjects and I got to see friends, but I always hated the dread of learning entire pages of nonsense off by heart just to regurgitate them in the exam. I think I've always loved learning- but not studying, especially not for things that were of both no interest or benefit to me. I think nowadays people feel segmented by whether they did well at school or not. I've seen this picture several times floating about, and I think what people are missing here, is that even if you can "climb the tree" (do well on written tests etc), the school system might give you what you want, you might get into your first choice college course, but....

...It might not be what you want, and it's much harder to realize this.

I was keen on being an artist for probably 3 years straight before a last minute switch onto teaching physics and maths. When you're an all rounder you get pulled from all sides, and often the side that's telling you what you really want to do is a "waste of your brains" will win. And if you don't do what your brain wants to do- what's the point in doing good on all those tests in the first place so?

School only teaches us how to be other people's version of success. So, get that gunk about "success is being employed in a fancy job with a fancy car" out of your head, start asking yourself "what is my version of success", and start self learning to achieve that.

Mindscapes: What are they?

Since I was a child I've always been interested in the concept of "mindscapes", a term I've coined for the vast worlds that are in our heads. I used to think we were all stuck inside our own mindscapes, doomed to wander alone in it forever, and no hope of ever getting a glimpse of anyone else's.

While this does seem like catastrophic thinking for a young child, I was genuinely concerned by the idea of never truly connecting with people, as I saw no way of getting to see their "mindscapes", nor could they ever see mine.

Then, after years of creating art and hiding in my own feelings and thoughts, I came across the book "the power of vulnerability", and discovered the importance of empathy.

I realised that when I saw a piece of artwork that resonated with me it was because that was another person's mindscape, connected with my own. It was as if someone could see the world inside my head and put it on a canvas without even knowing me personally. It then occurred to me, that I could create images of my own mindscape, and share them with the world.

I think it's incredibly amazing to be able to see yourself in a piece of art created by someone you've never met before. There's something about this connection of mindscapes that reminds us that we're all more connected than we really think, and that we're never alone in our struggles, nor our triumphs. 

If you've ever connected with a piece of my art; thank you, for letting my work become a part of your mindscape, and I hope you know you're not alone in the world in your mind.

Why You Shouldn't Wait to Create Your Own Art

So, you've picked up something creative, whether it be painting, sculpture, drawing or so on. And you love the process, but you're always trying to make things in order to get better and create the art you really want to create. For years I thought I wasn't good enough to create the surreal, strange images that I would imagine, and so they never left my brain, and I just continued to make whatever I was "good at" at the time, waiting until I felt confident enough in my artistic skills to create the things I truly wanted to. Then I picked up oil painting, and about 40 paintings in (yes, it took a few months!) I created a piece as an "instagram challenge"; and funny coincidence, it resonated with me. From then, I started to create more of these strange images, and now I feel confident and amazing about creating them and showing them off. 

So, why aren't you creating your own art? 

You're Waiting Until your Painting Skills are Good Enough

The reality is, you can always do small studies on the side to try and improve your painting skills. It's your own art, so you are "good enough" just as is! It's also more satisfying to grow your art skills through creating something meaningful to you.

You Want your Art to be Perfect before you use your "Good Ideas"

And ideas are, in reality, quite fruitful, so there's no point in saving a painting idea until your skills are "enough". It's easy to think that you'll never have another idea as good, or better, than your current one; but the reality is, ideas are all around us (which is why keeping a notebook or making notes on your phone is a good idea!) so it's better to create more ideas than to have the first one turn out brilliant!

You Don't Want to Show Your Real Art to Others because it's too Personal

Sometimes, because our art feels very personal, we don't want to create it so it can't be seen by others. If this is the case for you, either question why you don't want your personal feelings to be seen by anyone, or make your art more mysterious so that the meaning can be interpreted in a number of ways, and grow from there. It is nerve wrecking to show your heart on a wall, but so very worth it!

You Think Other People Won't Like your Art

If this is the case, why are you creating art for other people? Even if this is a concern, there's always a niche that will truly "get" your art, and it's more important to connect with these niches than to be impressive to the masses. Hyper realistic celebrity portraits are something I see a lot of nowadays on social media, and as talented as these artists are, I wonder are they creating their own art, and how many people resonate on a deep level with these artworks, if any.

Paintings created before I started painting what I wanted to paint!

And here's why you SHOULD be creating your own art....

It'll Connect you with Others in a much more Significant Way

It's much more important to create art that connects you with people than to create art that looks the best to a critic. Art is a form of communication after all, and what's the point if you're not communicating with your true voice?

Your Art will Sing stronger to you (and to others)

Artworks that are created from passion are always more appealing in some unique way. Wouldn't you prefer to look at paintings created from genuine passion for the subject rather than from a desire for the art to be "appealing"?

It's a much more enjoyable process

Creating art is a lengthy process, so why not make it enjoyable and do what calls to you? I enjoy painting with vibrant underpaintings that peek out through the paint because it gives me a sense of delight. Why not try something crazy if it calls to you?

Life is short!!!

Enough said; carpe diem!

These are paintings created after I started creating what I wanted to; the one on the top right is the first one, and it inspired me to create more strange surrealist paintings!

So, if you're not creating your own (real!) art already, why not? 

Who cares if the first few don't turn out like masterpieces? 

Create. Your own. Goddamn. Art.

What kind of art are you going to start creating? Comment below!

Painting ideas: 6 painting ideas to improve your art

When you're teaching yourself how to paint, it can be tricky to know how to improve your skills further. Painting studies are useful to guide you on to how to improve your paintings, but how do you know what to start with? Here are a few ideas for studies to help you improve, as well as tips and tricks to help you come up with your own!

Colour-On-Colour Exercises

Getting colour subtleties right can be difficult without practice. By painting an object against a background of the same colour, you can practice varying tones and hues slightly. It helps to pay attention to the colour values and tonal values; sometimes things look like they're slightly lighter or darker when in reality, they're simply a slightly different hue. Try this exercise with varying objects of different colours, such as black, white, and a selection of other colours.

Here’s a white on white and black on black study I created a while ago.

Studies to Improve Weaker Subjects of Painting

If you want to paint in a certain style, but you know you're lacking in a specific area of what you want to achieve, it can be helpful to focus on creating studies purely for that area. Before I started painting, I knew I wanted to create psychological portraits, so I started out with plain portraits to help me get off my feet. Determine what kind of paintings you want to create, and what your weaknesses are, and use that knowledge to your advantage! You don't even have to just create studies for this; I've recently been creating more nature-based paintings and incorporating flowers, man-made geometrical objects, and some landscapes into my regular style of paintings (which are all quite a weakness of mine) so I can improve as I'm creating work I love!

A section of a nature-based painting that I incorporated into my normal style of painting.

Create Paintings with more or less layers than you would normally use.

Only ever do alla prima paintings? Give glazing a go. Or if you usually need 3-5 layers to complete a piece, try only one or two layers! It's important to vary up your painting method to ensure that your process is the most enjoyable for you!

A painting with 4 layers as opposed to my normal 2 or 3 layers!

Create Paintings with a limited number of brushstrokes

This is a bit of a tricky one; take a simple object, and set a limit for the number of brushstrokes to use. This makes it easy to pay careful attention to where you're applying paint and will improve the blocking in stage of your painting. Try doing several studies of the one object with different amounts of brush strokes -I find it easiest to start with higher amounts of brushstrokes and reduce the amount with each proceeding painting.

Use a limited number of brushstrokes to help aid you in the “blocking in” stage of painting.

Use a limited palette

Try using various limited palettes (palettes with only a few colours) to create paintings; you could try the Zorn palette for portraits, the basic primary colours, or even a cyan-magenta-yellow palette! Limited palettes can help to achieve colour harmony, and if you use one already, why not try another?

A Zorn palette I painted a while ago, showing all of the colours you can create with just red, yellow, black and white!

Paint the same object over different coloured grounds

Different coloured bases can completely change a painting as well as the approach to painting. Try painting the same object over several different grounds; lighter, darker, and different colours, perhaps?

You can experiment with crazy colour bases even, such as blue and yellow!

Studies can help to improve our basic skills beyond what we can do with our normal painting routines, so it's important to set aside time to try something new now and again! Which painting study will you be trying first? Comment below!

Oil Painting vs Watercolor: Which is Best for Beginners?

Have you been looking to start painting, and find yourself wondering what's the best artistic medium for learning to paint? It's hard for us to know what to start with when there's so much available on the market, and it's easy to find yourself spoilt for choice. I started off with watercolors and was painting with them for years, but now that I'm an avid oil painter I'm not so sure it was the best choice for learning to paint. Watercolors are more frequently used in schools and beginner's classes for teaching painting, but are they really the best for starting out? Here are a few reasons why you might be inclined to pick oil paints (or, depending on your tastes and style, might not be!):

Mistakes are easily reversible with Oil Paints.

With watercolors, as I'm sure you know, mistakes are tricky to get rid of, especially without damaging the paper. With oil paints, thankfully, it's a much easier process; you can simply scrape back the paint with a palette knife (or, if the paint layer is thin, wipe it off with a rag) and paint over it. Because oil paints are more opaque, it's much easier to paint over mistakes, even if you're painting white onto a dark color.

Vibrant colors are more difficult to achieve with Watercolors.

Oil paints are much more vibrant and pigmented than most watercolors. Depending on what effect you want, it might be easier to achieve high amounts of colour with oils! Saying that, if you don't want to compromise on colour but you prefer working with watercolours, you should try gouache paints; they're far more opaque than watercolour which also means it's slightly easier to get rid of mistakes!

Watercolors dry much, much faster

This is both a blessing and a curse, alike to acrylic's fast drying time; with oils, it's much easier to push around paints after you've placed them down for hours or even days, while everything is near permanent as soon as you place it down with watercolours. It's also good if you want to layer up your watercolours, so it's somewhat of a blessing also!

Oil Paints make it easy to add deeper shadows and brighter highlights.

Oil paints are slightly translucent, which means you can use underpaintings and glazing to create deeper shadows and brighter highlights in your works. Watercolours are slightly too transparent to create the same depth of colour, in my opinion (feel free to prove me wrong!).

Watercolors are easier to clean

While it's harder to get rid of mistakes, watercolours are no doubt easier to get off of surfaces, clothes, et cetera; since they're water-based, they're removable from most surfaces with water or by going through a wash (although some pigments can stain; magenta is always one I've noticed being particularly bad for this). Oil colours, however, have to be removed near immediately with either solvents or a baby wipe from surfaces and are near impossible to get off of clothes (although I've noticed small stains might be improved by scrubbing with a baby wipe while the paint is fresh).

You need more materials to start painting with oils

Watercolour materials are easy to source, and they're even easy to bring on the go if you have water brushes. Oils, however, generally require a larger amount of supplies and aren't so easy to make a travel kit for. If you're looking for something on the go without the hassle, watercolours are definitely the better go-to.

It's easier to mix colors beforehand with oil paints

Some watercolours can separate after a while of mixing, and it's also hard to mix large amounts of watercolour shades at once. Because watercolours are flat, they also take up a lot of space on the palette, while oil paints are viscous and hold their shape, so you can fit a lot of colours on a palette. It's also easier to slightly change the colours you have mixed without losing the original colour, whileas there's a risk of corrupting the original colour with watercolours because the pigment flows through the water so easily. And, of course, if you like to hold your palette at a slight angle, watercolours will be your biggest nightmare as they'll likely drip into each other and mix together!

You can layer up oil paints more

Of course, you can do layers of watercolours, but there's often a limit to what the paper can actually handle. This makes oil paints better for underpainting and glazing effects, which would be trickier to do with watercolours due to the paper's ability to hold and the transparency of it.

It's easier to get a natural effortless "messy" look with watercolors

It's easy to splat watercolours around to get a pretty "messy" effect. It's much more difficult to achieve messy effects that look appealing with oil paints, unless you're going for thick impasto painting... then go for oils!!

Oil Paints are glossy, watercolors are matte

This might play a big part in how your painting appears after it's dry. Of course, with oil paints, you can get matte varnish if you want them to be less glossy, but it's difficult to make watercolour paints appear glossy. This can be easier to take photos of, however!

Oil Paints come across as more 3-Dimensional

Because of the transparency of the layers, it's easier to create depth in oil paints through glazing and underpainting for shadows and highlights. This makes it easier to achieve more hyperrealistic effects with oils rather than watercolours.

Watercolor Paper is much cheaper than canvases or panels

Even if you're painting on a cheap surface such as MDF, watercolour paper is likely cheaper per painting. However, if you want a cheap solution for now and you're set on oils, try priming thick paper with gesso; it's better than it sounds, but perhaps not the best for archival quality.

Oil Paints can seem intimidating, but if you're looking to get a more realistic effect from your paintings, it's often the better choice. If you like a beautiful natural "messy" look (why not go mad with washes and splotches of paint?) and want an easy "pick up and go" material, watercolors might just be your best bet. Which are you going to choose, and why? Comment below!

And if you're interested in learning more about oil painting, why not check out my article on oil painting for beginners?

Oil Painting at Home: Everything you Need to Know

Are you keen to start oil painting the comfort of your own home, but not sure about how to start? Oil painting at home can be a bit daunting, what with the toxicity of certain pigments and mediums, and the abundance of materials often required for painting. I used to be quite careless with materials when I first started out, but over the years I've been educating myself on how to keep safe, cleaner standards in your home when oil painting. Here's a selection of tips and tricks to help you when starting out!

Keep your area well ventilated

It's always a good idea to keep your area well ventilated, especially if you're using a strong solvent such as turpentine. Keeping a window open slightly during and a bit after painting can help keep you from choking on the fumes of these strong solvents!

Use low odor solvents; or none at all!

I use odorless mineral spirits such as Gamsol to avoid heavy fumes in the room. It's far less toxic than turpentine, and no real difference! I use it to keep my brushes clean after painting (I wipe with a rag during painting) and keep a tiny bit in a small jar that I reuse several times. That way, I only need to open it once every painting session for a small time, so there are as few fumes as possible and it lasts me ages! Alternatively, a bar of soap works brilliantly as a brush cleaner, no spirits required! You can also paint without solvent-based mediums, such as Gamblin's solvent free mediums and with oils (though it's worth keeping in mind the fat over lean rule if you're working in many layers!). Something I like about Gamblin is that they have all of the safety data sheets (SDS) available on their website, so you can compare between mediums and see what's the lowest risk!

Use less toxic pigments!

Although it's a much talked about color, here's a fun fact; I don't use cadmium paints. Or other toxic pigments, such as lead white. At all. I don't keenly use paints with a high level of toxicity as I probably don't ventilate my room as well as I should sometimes, and exposure to cadmium through inhalation can be toxic. This is worth noting especially if you plan on mixing your own paints, as the powdered pigment would be a lot riskier than the paints themselves for inhalation. The inhalation risks are often based on industrial working conditions, so if you're insistent on keeping cadmium on your palette, simply make sure your area is well ventilated and maybe just buy a tube of it as opposed to mixing it on your own!

Disposable palettes are handy for quick studies

Disposable palettes are great for when you're looking to do an alla prima painting, or alternatively if you're working in one section of a painting at a time. It's a lot handier for quick paintings to just chuck out the old palette and use a fresh surface rather than scraping off the leftover paint!

Glass palettes are easiest to clean

Glass palettes are much easier to keep than wood because you don't have to clean off the paint before it dries (though if the paint isn't dry, baby wipes work wonders on glass palettes!). You can simply let it dry and scrape it off with a glass scraper. Handy dandy!

Make sure of your local disposal laws for oil paints and solvents

When you're disposing of oil paints, make sure of the correct local practice for it. Ask artists in your area, and check online to see what's best to do with the leftovers.

Cover up your surface or easel to keep it paint free

Covering up your surface or easel before painting can help to keep both your surface and painting clean. My easel is covered in old dry paint which flakes off easily; if you're having the same problem, you can simply stretch some cling film over the area you're going to place your painting to protect these old paint flakes from sticking to it.

Keep old clothes exclusively for painting around

Because I'm such a messy painter, instead of getting paint on my clothes all the time I've taken to using old clothes (uniforms from old jobs, old pyjamas, you name it!) to paint in. It's especially handy if you have ones big enough that they fit over your normal clothes if you want to easily slip in and out of them! As much as I adore my apron, it doesn't protect me from paint all the time, and I somehow even have paint on the inside of it, so this tip proves very useful if you're as messy as I am!

Keep old rags or towels

Old tea towels and face cloths are useful for cleaning brushes between colours and keeping your painting area clean. It's always a good idea to wipe most of the paint off your brushes before cleaning them, as this speeds up the process of cleaning.

Clean your brushes immediately after painting...

If you're painting with exceptionally fast drying solvents and not going to paint again anytime soon, this is probably your best bet to avoid paint drying on your brushes. Make sure to give your brushes some love after you're finished painting and wash them straight after!

...or use this handy hack and leave it a couple days

Alternatively, if you're not using a very fast drying medium and you plan on painting in the next couple of days, put your brushes in a freezer bag, push out the air and seal shut (I like to add an extra layer of sealing with tape). Make sure to still wash your brushes over the next 3 days, as the paint can still dry slightly this way. Test this out with old brushes to see what suits your preferred medium best!

Painting at home is a very fulfilling practice, as it's much easier to get started whenever you feel like it! If you're just starting out with oil paints, why not also check out my oil painting for beginners blog?

Oil Painting Mediums: The Complete Guide to Drying Times

Oil painting is an information-heavy enough subject, but trying to learn about all of the different medium types and their usage and drying times can feel hopeless. It's hard to know which ones to try, and how they react with eachother; and worse still, how fast each dries so you can use the fat over lean rule (this means each layer should be slower drying than the last; oil paintings can crack if layers on top dry faster than the layers on the bottom). I've tried each and found my favourites; now's the time for you to, too! Depending on whether you want to paint numerous layers or paint all into one layer, you'll want a faster or slower drying time of your paint, which can be helped using mediums. I've compiled a list of different mediums, and their rough drying times (it can vary slightly depending on humidity and how much of the medium you use) to help you find your way!

Fast Drying Mediums

Personally, I adore fast drying mediums. It allows my process to be quickened, as I'm not waiting for each layer to dry for days on end. For underpaintings, I use Gamblin's Galkyd Gel, with probably about 2 parts gel and 1 part paint to really speed up the drying process and make the paint slightly translucent. This can dry within 8 hours, and be ready for the next layer, which I adore! I wouldn't recommend using so much medium in your paint for further layers, however. Other fast drying mediums include Windsor and Newton's Liquin original/fine detail, and Gamblin's Galkyd Lite, which fasten up the speed of drying the more paint you add, probably about 1-2 days depending. And, of course, painting in much thicker layers will require more drying time, so although Liquin Impasto is a fast drying medium, it'll probably take a few days more than the rest to dry if you're using it for impasto work.

Normal Drying Mediums

If you'll want to work into the painting over a few sessions, you're much better off going for medium drying times; not too fast, and not too slow. With mediums such as refined linseed oil, you can work into the paint for a few days after laying down the initial layer. When using drying oils on their own, be careful not to use too much oil in the paint. For initial oil based layers, I might add about 1 part oil to 4 parts paint, and increase the amount slightly for proceeding layers. Note that while it might only take 3-5 days for refined linseed oil to dry when mixed in these proportions, as you increase the amount it may take longer, so if you're planning on doing a lot of layers, you may want to use a fast drying medium (and remember to use these first; let's not forget the fat over lean rule!). Cold-pressed linseed oil takes a little longer than refined linseed oil to dry, so make sure to note which type you buy!

Slow Drying Mediums

Slow drying mediums are great for if you'll want to work into the paint for a much longer time (say you want to work on a layer for a little each night for a week; this might be the one for you). They're also better used in final layers, or sparingly, as you'll have to be careful to make sure the layers underneath don't dry faster than the topmost layer. Walnut oil and poppy seed oil are slower drying than linseed oil, so they're optimal for final layers or working alla prima over a long period.

It's worth noting that a lot of people add 1 part solvent into 1 part oil when using a drying oil as a medium; this can quicken drying times and make for a nicer textured medium depending on what you're looking for, but it's also fine to use just the oil as a medium (although remember to go incredibly sparingly at the start if you're planning on building up layers). Using the pure oil makes it easier to push paint around on the canvas, and gives a much glossier effect.

I hope this guide will come in useful to you, and if you're new to painting, why not check out my article on oil painting techniques for beginners?

What's your favorite medium? Tell me in the comments below!

Oil on Canvas: Oil Painting Techniques for Beginners

Do you find all of the knowledge out there about oil painting a bit intimidating? It can be hard to know where to start, especially when there's so many different techniques and methods of painting. When I started out I had no idea what I was doing, and was fairly aimless in my approach to painting. Once I found my feet, however, I was flying, and once you learn about the basic techniques, you will be too!

The Fat Over Lean Rule

Just in case you haven't heard this very important note already; when painting with mediums, always paint with your faster drying mediums first (or less of your slow drying medium), and transition to more fatty, slow drying mediums to avoid the paint cracking. For example, if you're painting with linseed oil, use less linseed oil in the paints of earlier layers, and add a little more for each consecutive layer. Or, if you're using different mediums, such as liquin and linseed oil, go from the fastest drying to the slowest drying; in this case it would be liquin, then linseed oil. This is why it's a good idea to use a fast drying medium for underpaintings if you're doing one, such as Gamblin's galkyd gel.

Oil Painting “Alla Prima”

Alla prima, also known as wet-on-wet or direct painting, is when you apply wet paint- you guessed it- directly onto wet paint. This method is best for if you want a fast approach to painting, without having to wait for drying times, and you can get some nice effects and blending techniques from it. For blending a flawless gradient with wet paints, I strongly reccomend a goat's mop brush; the soft bristles and rounded shape make this brush excellent for seamless color transitions. The good thing about direct painting is that you don't have to concern yourself with the fat over lean rule if it's all painted in one layer.

Underpainting and Colored Grounds

An underpainting is a great aid for your overall painting; it helps to inform you of shadows, highlights and structure. Basically, you choose one color to paint the rough shapes, shadows and highlights of your subject, and you can then use this as a guide for your painting. Better still, the shadows and highlights can shine through if your paint is a bit thinned out, and you can use that as a natural looking shadow in itself. It's a good idea to do this on a coloured ground/base (the same color you want to do the underpainting with, thinned out and rubbed into the canvas so it's a bit lighter than the paint itself) as it looks more natural, and you can easily rub away mistakes with a rag. I personally still use a white ground, with a blue underpainting; it's harder to fix mistakes but it makes the paintings really glow!

Using a Grisaille 

A grisaille is a monochrome painting, often black and white but you can also tint this to have a slightly burnt umber hue. They make for brilliant underpaintings, as you can wash thinner layers of color over them to let the natural shadows and highlights shine out, and paint details over them. The painting below was done using a very basic acrylic grisaille (for quicker drying times, although you can use oil paints for this also. I suggest using either Liquin or Gamblin's Galkyd mediums for quicker drying times) and thin layers of paint on top.

Color Theory Trick for Shadows

If you're new to color theory, you might not have heard of this little gem of a fact; if you mix a color with its complimentary (or the color at the opposite end of the color wheel), you get a natural looking shadow for that color. For example, on the second orange circle below, I mixed some blue and orange (and even put some straight blue into the wet orange paint!) and it comes out looking like a natural shadow!

Try painting impasto with a palette knife

When you're starting out, it's good to try all sorts of things to get to know what you enjoy. Try doing some impasto (thick paint) painting, and see how you enjoy it! If you want the paint to dry faster after using this painting technique, try using Liquin impasto or Gamblin's Galkyd gel as your medium!

Basic color mixing in Oil Painting

Mixing out your colors with a palette knife beforehand is incredibly helpful, as it saves your brushes a lot of wear and tear and helps you to get accurate colors in your painting. Reference your subject by putting the palette knife with the color on it at the same eye level as your subject; if the color is looking a bit too bright and you want a duller shade, add some complimentary to it. Try to look for different tones in your colors; ask yourself questions such as, is it really just a blue, or is it a slightly reddish blue? If you're worried about which colors you might need, start off with an ultramarine blue, yellow lake, scarlet lake, burnt umber, yellow ochre, titanium white, cerulean blue (or manganese blue hue from Windsor and Newton if you're looking for a much cheaper artist's grade version; I frequently substitute it for cerulean and notice little difference), and permanent alizarin crimson. This palette is fairly unlimited; the only thing I have extreme trouble mixing is a rich magenta, which is near impossible; so if you're planning on painting with magenta a lot, I recommend getting a tube of quinacridone magenta also. Try using less paint than you think you'll need when squeezing onto your palette; I use a small pea-sized amount of paint of each color (with the exception of titanium white, which I'd squeeze out a bigger bit of) to start with.

Mix your own black

Fun fact; you can mix black out of colors! Mix a bit of alizarin crimson with ultramarine blue to get a really dark (almost black) purple, then add some yellow to make it a true black! Adding linseed oil can deepen the richness of this black, as can layering it up. Check out how it looks below!

Oil paint is a wonderfully versatile medium, and whether you want to paint wild abstract landscapes or hyper realistic portraits, it lets you do exactly what you want (presuming you know how!). Play around with the medium and see what suits you best; you might think you want to paint in thick impasto, but maybe you actually enjoy the effects that carefully planned thin layers of paint gives you more!

What technique are you excited to try using, and why? 

How to Read more Books (Even if you're Short on Time!)

I love reading, but sometimes it's really hard to fit in the time to read, especially with the constant distractions of technology. I tend to go on 'book binges', where I'll read five or so books in a row, followed by reading nothing for the next year or so. Recently, however, as I've counted it as an important habit, I've found some easy ways to fit reading into my lifestyle, and embraced the use of technology in doing so. Here are a few tips on how to fit more pages into your day!

Listen to Audiobooks for less Tired eyes

Reading books before going to sleep is not only a good way to help you read more, but also makes getting to sleep just that bit easier! Personally, I find it pretty hard to read books by the end of the day, as it's a pretty big strain on tired eyes, especially if you're at a computer all day. I've recently gotten into the habit of listening to audiobooks just before bed. The Audible app thankfully has a timer setting, so that you can set it to stop a set amount of time from when you start listening automatically, so I don't even have to pause it before I go to sleep, which is pretty rad!

Read Kindle books from Anywhere

For a while, I was stuck in a pretty brain-dead call centre job where the biggest dilemma was trying to figure out what to do with my free time. As soon as I figured out that there was a kindle reader for the internet browser, I was set to go. The good thing about Kindle books is you don't need a kindle reader or even a tablet; you can get the app for your smartphone even and continue reading from any other device connected to the same account. As someone who forever has had to reread pages of books to figure out where I last picked it up, this proved itself pretty handy.

Audiobooks for Multitasking

Whenever I'm painting or drawing I'm either listening to music or an audiobook. There are loads of different activities that you could combine audiobooks with that would prove a major pain to try to combine a traditional book with, such as household chores, cooking, walking and so on. Audiobooks are perfect for multitasking so if you've got a busy lifestyle they're bound to prove useful.

Small, inspiring books for quick, inspiring reads

If you're going to bring books with you for when you have a free moment, it's easier to bring around smaller books that pack a punch than large books that often take a lot of time investment. Choose books that you can pick up for five minutes and really get something out of, and preferably in a size that fits your bag of choice!

Don't force yourself to read books you're not enjoying.

Just move on to another book. You might even come back to the not so enjoyable ones at a later time and find that they're actually not bad. But there's no point in wasting time on books you aren't into; life is too short! If you have a tendency to start books and leave them aside, I'd recommend a service such as Scribd, which is a monthly payment for all of the books in their library (including some audiobooks, too!), rather than potentially wasting your money on books you can't sink yourself into.

Reading can be great to build on knowledge, and even our way of thinking in our day to day life; and the more we read, the more well rounded we are as both people and creatives. I hope you find these tips helpful for getting through all those books on your 'to read' list... Happy reading!

How to Clean your Oil Painting Brushes without Turpentine (For Cheap!)

Cleaning your brushes can either be a pretty toxic process (think fumes from turps) or a costly one; environmentally friendly brush cleaners are expensive! It's a necessary evil for artists, however, especially us oil painters. Luckily, there's a cheap (and easy!) process for cleaning your brushes that won't have you in a coughing fit nor break the bank.... let me introduce to you, your new best friend....

Brh-duh-daaah! Soap to the rescue!

SOAP!

Yes, that's right. Not some secret magical product. Not special soap especially for oil paint. I personally just use Palmolive's bar soap, which I can get 4 bars of at my local shop for €1.50 (about $1.70).

BEST METHOD

Before cleaning, I'll generally wipe the brush on a rag or paper towel to get as much paint as I can off the brush before I start. I swirl the brush around the bar under warm water to get the paint out, rinsing the brush after a few swirls once it's full of soap. I repeat this a few times until no colour comes out on the soap when I'm swirling it. Then, on the bar of soap I gently brush the bristles back into place so that the brush is in perfect shape again, rinse off and leave to dry; I use an instant coffee jar to keep them upright, bristles facing up. I find this method not only leaves my brushes perfectly clean, but also helps the brushes keep their shape (ever had a brush go a bit wonky after leaving it bristles-down in turpentine?) because the soap is great for reshaping the brush after cleaning. It's also handy and takes less than a minute per brush, depending on how much paint is on them. Check out the quality of my two favourite brushes after about half a year of painting (plus a few times of forgetting to clean them for a day or two after painting- nobody's perfect!):

My beauties fresh after cleaning

Notably, other bars of soap will do the trick, I just generally go for the cheaper option that's readily available to me, and I encourage you to do the same. It's also worth noting that I use golden synthetic brushes, but if you use expensive brushes with delicate bristles (such as sable hair) and you're concerned about harsher soaps affecting the bristle quality, you can use a soap that's designed to be more mild on the skin and unscented, or a gentle shampoo (such as baby shampoo) and swirl it on your hand.

Keeping your brushes clean can be an annoyance, but this method saves it from being an annoyance to your wallet and health at least! Happy painting!

Art Studio Hacks for Small Spaces

It can be hard to find space to create sometimes, especially if you live in a small space. However, if creating is an important endeavour to you, whether you're an aspiring artist or simply a passionate hobbyist, working with your space is a must, so here's some hacks I've developed over the past year of working from a tiny space.

A Sketch Easel is great for portability and storage

If you're stuck for space but still want the ease of an easel, a sketch easel is perfect; just fold it up and put it away when you're done! Sketch easels are intended for portability, so they're also great for saving storage space when they're not in use. Alternatively, if you have a desk, you can use a desktop easel, many of which have built in storage such as this one.

This small trolley is great for moving around art supplies and a small desktop easel!

Have an "Art Cart" for both storage and drying

Having a small trolley, depending on the size of your space, can be handy for not only organising your supplies, but also for drying your paintings. Simply lay smaller paintings over the shelves, and you can dry several paintings at once. If you want to bring it a step further, simply put a desktop easel on the top shelf, and voila: you've got yourself an all-in-one art studio.

Keep your art supplies organised with beautiful containers!

Use old instant coffee containers to stay organised

Staying organised is a must if you only have a small space, and using old containers is a cheap (and sometimes funky!) alternative to buying storage accessories. I personally use these Nescafe Azera containers, because they're perfect for holding brushes, turps, water, or whatever you might need, plus they come in beautiful designs and I'm addicted to the coffee!

Take the time to tidy your space 

This is probably the most important one on this list; even if you organise a beautiful tiny art studio, if you don't tidy it regularly, it can turn into an absolute mess. I'd recommend doing a small tidy after every session or so, to keep everything as neat as it can be.

Make sure everything has its place

If you're struggling to find things in your studio, perhaps it's time to rethink your setup! Organise things in such a way so that everything has its own space. This can be a fun process; don't be afraid to use sticky notes, stickers, labels, and get creative. Just make sure it's easy to tell where everything goes!

Use a storage box as a handy table

A cheap storage box with a lid doubles up brilliantly as a table; you can use this to keep your palette, brushes and whatever else you need on, and store things you won't need as you're painting inside, such as extra canvases, sketch pads, and so on.

Brush rolls are a beautiful and convenient way to keep your favourites handy!

Use a brush roll to keep your most-used beauties handy

If you're not a fan of keeping your brushes in old containers and would rather a more portable alternative, brush rolls are your best bet. They're convenient, can hold a variety of supplies should you need it (including palette knives!) and also they're pretty beautiful. It's lovely to open up the roll and see your favourite brushes laying there, just waiting to be used.

Although organising a space for your creative process can be difficult, it's incredibly fulfilling and time saving once you have; not having to dig out the paints from packed drawers and find a spot to paint makes making art hassle free. I hope it helps your creative juices flow!