In this modern era, you should paint at least once in your life, but first, you need some painting ideas before you can start your painting activity. So, how to find a good idea for a DIY painting, and what do you need before you paint? If you want to make a beautiful painting, you can start to find an idea from your daily life and the world around you.
Paint What You Like Most
As your painting ideas canvas style, you can ask yourself the question of what kind of thing make you feel interested the most. That thing can be human, plants, trees, flowers, animals, rains, clouds, and much other stuff around you. You can draw anything you like, and you can choose to draw it in a modern art style or an abstract art one. Many famous paintings in this era made by these kinds of painting styles, and you can try it.
Find A Quiet Place
Then, after you get an idea, you will need a painting canvas, a set of painting oil, and paintbrushes to start your painting. You will need a tranquille space to draw your picture and concentrate on what you are painting. This is what people called as a passionate attempt that will bring you more fun. But, if you only do the painting stuff for fun, you can relax and avoid any kind of distress.
Consider a painting is a fun activity; you need to take it easy for your modern painting and realize that you have to enjoy this activity. But, you still need to focus and finish your painting. Never cheat or copycat any painter’s picture. In this way, you can make yours a unique artwork even if you only drew a flower painting. Well, it does not have to be a flower. You can find more inspiration for painted canvas ideas in Pinterest collections, for instance.
Lighting
Good lighting is an essential element in an effective art studio. Traditionally, the best lighting for artwork is plentiful natural light coming from the north. This shows color and values in their most authentic forms, prevents rays of light from falling directly on the work, and reduces eyestrain for the artist. An ideal studio features large, high north-facing windows.
Artists who don’t have the option of north light or who work at night must use artificial lighting to illuminate their workspaces. There are myriad possibilities for lighting a studio; ultimately, personal preference will guide the way. Below are a few points to remember when setting up your studio lighting:
Temperature: The light in your studio should be neutral in color, so avoid a setup that leans too cool or too warm. Some artists use a combination of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, while others rely solely on daylight simulation bulbs.
Direction: Most professional studios feature general overhead lighting and task lighting, focusing on a smaller workspace. Position both types of lighting in a way that avoids creating shadows of your hand across your work.
Oil Paints
Paint is made from pigment (or color such as cobalt blue) and a binder. Manufacturers offer various grades of paint – from student to professional quality. The designations – AA, A, B, and C, refer to the grade’s purity and permanence. Less expensive grades have a higher proportion of fillers. Student-quality paints are fine if you’re a beginner or experimenting with oils as a new medium.
This basic palette enables you to mix every possible color and shade:
- Alizarin Crimson
- Cadmium Red Medium
- Cadmium Yellow Light
- Cadmium Yellow Medium
- Cadmium Yellow Deep
- Yellow Ocher
- Burnt Sienna
- Burnt Umber
- Raw Umber
- Cadmium Orange
- Ultramarine Blue
- Phthalo Blue
- Ivory Black
- Flake White
- Titanium White
- Zinc White
- Optional colors
- Cobalt Green
- Chromium Oxide Green
- Phthalo Green
- Cobalt Violet
- Yellow Ocher Light
- Red Ocher
- Lamp Black
- Madder Lake Deep
- Madder Lake Deep
- Chinese Vermillion
Basic Colors, Highlights, and Shades
Basic Color Mixing: The keys to mixing pigments and achieving precisely the color you wanted are dependent on having a basic knowledge of color theory and experience – regardless of the medium you use for painting.
Here are some tips for mixing basic colors:
Red: Cadmium Red Medium is the most practical of the warm, vermilion-related reds. Its yellowish-red hue makes it an ideal base, with a warm yellow such as Cadmium Yellow Medium or Light, for oranges.
Alizarin crimson is a bluish, or cool, red. Its low brilliance and high transparency make it ideal for glazing – an overall glaze will tie your painting elements together and add depth. Mix with linseed oil or copal glazing medium to create a thin glaze. In your artwork, paint directly on a clean, white area – overpainting on any other color will change its appearance to achieve a pure alizarin crimson in your artwork. Use caution when adding even a white touch to alizarin crimson unless you try to create a pink color.
Yellow: Yellow ocher is a versatile earth color with medium opacity, creating the ideal overall wash and warm, golden light. Use burnt sienna as a wash for underpainting portraits and as the first layer in developing flesh tones.
Orange: Cadmium Red Medium can be mixed with Cadmium Yellows to produce a mellow orange – an optional color available in the tube as Cadmium Orange.
Blue: French Ultramarine, when mixed with a touch of white, has a slight violet tint.
Pthalo Blue is ideal for sky tones, cooling warm colors, and for overall glazing techniques. Another alternative color for skies and water is Cobalt Blue. Use an overall glaze for a cool, bluish effect.
Violet: Mix Ultramarine Blue and Cobalt Violet for a true violet. The better alternative for shadows is a brownish violet – use Pthalo Blue and Cobalt Violet. Alternatively, you can create your violet using either Pthalo or Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson, and a touch of white.
Green: Hansa or Golden Yellow and Pthalo Green will produce a true green but a brownish-green, made from Cadmium Yellow Medium and Ultramarine Blue, is ideal for landscapes.
Brown: Experiment with mixing reds and greens to discover how many shades of brown you can create. Adding a touch of blue or black to burnt sienna will give you a reasonable raw sienna – and blue, black, or green added to burnt or raw sienna will create burnt umber.
Black: Ivory Black will tone down any color to which it is added.
White: Flake white is the preferred pigment by many traditionalists because of its excellent opacity. Zinc White is a very transparent pigment – you’ll need to add more zinc white to lighten a color when mixing a tint.
Zinc white is a faster drying pigment and is often applied as an overcoat on areas painted in flake white after the area has dried to ensure that those areas retained their pure, white appearance. Titanium White is the most permanent white available and will not darken or yellow with age.
Drying Times
The differences in drying times, varying from 2-12 days, occur because each pigment reacts differently when mixed with oil. Modern paints are formulated to optimize overall drying rates, decreasing the problem of slow-drying underlayers.
Useful Resources
- A Manual of Oil Painting (Pdf)
- 40 + Free Oil Painting Tutorials For Beginners
- How to paint still life step by step: oil painting techniques
- Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice (pdf)
- Photoshop for Traditional Artists
- Oil Painting Guide – From Beginner to Professional
- The Artists Handbook of Materials & Techniques
- WikiArt.org – Visual Art Encyclopedia
- Google Arts & Culture
