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To accurately convey your feelings about the subject you are painting, you should learn and understand the fundamentals of oil painting like drawing, color theory, value and composition. I hope to give you a better understanding of these fundamentals in this article. This article is meant to be an introduction. You should study these topics further on your own when you have time.

DRAWING

Learning to draw, as a foundation for oil painting, is one of the most valuable skills a beginner oil painter can have. Many new artists usually frown upon the idea of drawing first. They would rather jump right into painting, as most beginners do. Nothing is more rewarding for a painter, than working with color, but if you want to gain experience working with values, form, and space, then drawing is something you should consider learning. This is not to say that you should master drawing, as it is an art form all in itself, but do spend time drawing and sketching your subjects before you work with color. Did you know that in art schools, many years ago, students were not permitted to work with paint until they successfully spent at least a few years drawing first? They must have been very restless, but imagine how skilled they became before they ever lifted a brush. You should at the very least have a basic understanding of drawing techniques before you begin. Check out Amazon.com for some great beginner drawing books that will give you a well rounded introduction to drawing and techniques. A book that is highly recommended by artists is: “The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards”.

COLOR AND VALUE

Color is probably the single most exciting part of oil painting. It is truly amazing how an artist can take a two dimensional surface and create the illusion of depth and distance using color. To accurately depict a three dimensional scene using color requires much practice and an understanding of color theory and how to mix colors. The basics of color are value, hue, saturation and temperature. The value of a color is how light or dark it is. The hue refers to the color itself as it appears on the spectrum of colors. The saturation is the strength or purity of the color. The temperature of a color is how cool or warm a color is. For instance a cool color is blue and a warm is red. Artists can use temperature to give the illusion of distance. Cooler colors tend to recede into the distance, as in a distant mountain range, and warmer colors tend to advance closer toward the front of a picture. Color theory is a very broad topic, one that deserves more thorough attention. A great book on color theory and mixing is “Color Mixing the Van Wyk Way: A Manual for Oil Painters”.

COMPOSITION

Have you ever visited an art museum and a particular painting just grabbed your attention and drew you in? Something in that painting kept you there looking and studying it. One element the artist successfully used in that painting was composition. The artist laid out the shapes and divided the space in the painting in such away that appealed to your senses. Here are some points to consider when developing your composition:

1) Avoid putting the main focus of interest in the center of your painting.

2) The areas of your canvas should be divided into parts of different sizes. For instance, if you are creating a landscape painting, do not put the horizon right in the center of your painting.

3) Do not place all the interesting parts of your composition on the left side of your painting. People read from left to right so they will have no reason to continue viewing the rest of your painting.

4) Avoid placing an interesting or important element of the painting too close to the edge of the canvas.

There are other elements that contribute to good design in an oil painting. Here is another good book to study if you would like to learn more about this fascinating aspect of painting: “The Simple Secret to Better Painting: How to Immediately Improve Your Work with the One Rule of Composition by Greg Albert”

I know all this information seems overwhelming at first. Oil painting can be very challenging in the beginning, but don’t let that intimidate you. The most important thing to remember is to never give up and keep painting. You will learn from your mistakes and grow as a painter. Everything will come together in time. Happy Painting!

Artist Lin Fengmian Oil Painting Appreciation — Drama Character

Painting Style: Person Oil Painting

Art Theme: Drama Character

Artist: Lin Fengmian

Media: Oil on Linen

Size: unknown

* About Artist LinFengmian:

 Lin Fengmian (1900-1991), famous Chinese modern artist and art educator.

Formerly known as Lin Fengmin, was born in Mei County, Guangdong Province, who became enjoyed with painting in his childhood.

Had been to France for a work-study program in 19-year-old, and took a further education of Western painting in the Beattie School of Fine Arts, and later transferred to the National Higher School of Fine Arts in Paris to take up a advanced studies.
After returnning homeland in 1925 he took up the post as the Chancellor and Peking Professor of the Yuanpei College of Arts in 1927.

Invited by Cai Yuanpei Mr. Lin went to Hangzhou city and creat the National Art Academy(Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts later) in 1927 and acted as the president.
After the liberation Mr Lin was acted as the office of Shanghai Chinese Painting Institute Artist.

Lin Fengmian was settled in Hong Kong since 70s, in 1979 he held a individual painting exhibition in Paris, which achieved a great success.

Representive Works of Lin Fengmian there are “Clear Spring”, “Riverside”, “Lady”, “Landscape”, “Still Life” and so on. He had finished book “New Theory of Chinese Painting”, and published “Lin Fengmian Artbook” and so on.

Lin Fengmian was good at describing lady figures, opera characters, the fishing village customs & sceneries and female bodies, as well as various types of still life paintings and landscape oil paintings within houses.

As viewed from the contents of his works the style of desolate, lonely, open and , lyrical styles are typical; From forms one is a sort of square composition, and the other is no title, with distinct characteristics, people can understand his paintings once see it. He tried to attempt to break the boundaries of the Western art and Chinese art, thus to create a common language of art.

Mr. Lin is a worthy enough a significant Master of Arts full with innovations, and his works has produced far-reaching influences on many offspring artists. Lin Fengmian is the spiritual leader of the Chinese arts in the whole 20th century.

Most of us like to draw and paint. Some of us are born artist while some of us are just fun painters. Now days one can find different types of painting books in the market. These painting books provide you with steps by steps guidelines to improve your drawing and painting skills. One of such types of painting book is Oil painting book.

If you wish to learn or polish the art of oil painting why not try an Oil Painting book. Today one can find different types of painting books in the market. Some of these painting books are more instructional while some are very informative. Any of these oil painting books is going to be a super score and will only help your cause to learn the art.

Oil Painting books are of different types. If you are a beginner then you need to purchase an oil painting book for beginners. This book can help you with step by step guidance on painting. There are lessons on color and basic techniques. Each lesson is different and explains you different unconventional painting approaches. Also, there are many demonstrations and instructions given in the painting book that should be followed while creating beautiful and original painting.

Not only that, you will be exploring more new methods and, thus will automatically learn to paint still life, landscapes, and many more artistic things. Many books come with advice that will help you choose appropriate tools and equipment’s, like a proper kind of brush, knife, canvas, pigments, etc.

These painting books serve as a complete guide that will fully help you understand the whole process involved in oil painting. The book will make you learn most of the dark secrets of oil painting. You will learn how to start your painting, proper preparation, proper timings of pauses and breaks, when to let dry, why so much time is taken, and many such important things.

Additionally, oil painting book also provides knowledge about money wasters, what brush should be used, etc. It also provides useful tips on your palettes, tube oil paints, medium effects, panels, canvas, etc.

Isabella Rodrigues writes for painting-books.info,
offering the latest information on painting books, visit them today and get
the latest information on painting.

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