Been teaching myself how to paint

[Becky]

I mentioned in a previous topic that I have been teaching myself how to paint, and I thought you might like to take a look at some of the things I've done

I've never had any art tuition, but I've always been good at drawing. Haven't really done much since I was a teenager though! Painting was a totally alien concept, but I've been really enjoying it. To get started I found an art tuition site called Will Kemp Art School. It's brilliant, and although you have to pay for some of the courses, there is a lot of free content too.

All the below paintings were done using acrylic paints on canvas.

The first painting I did was after watching his Simple Cherry still life course (which was free), except I chose to paint red onions instead:

I was quite pleased with this, although regret the detail in the wood.

I decided to buy the Acrylic Still Life Painting Course, and here's how it turned out:

Moving away from the courses, I decided to have a go at doing a version of a piece I saw by Damien Hirst - it's called Sanctum Spire. I was very pleased with how it turned out, so decided to have it framed - it now resides in our lounge (well, currently it's on the floor in my 'studio' because we've been redecorating):

After that, I had an idea about doing a painting in the style of Van Gogh, so I decided to copy The Starry Night to see if I could get close:

It's actually darker in real life, and I haven't been able to recreate the impasto style of Van Gogh at all. Meh. Still like how it looks but I struggle with this style.

I did another online tutorial - this time the Still Life Masterclass which focuses on reflections. Here's my painting:

and a close up:

Pretty happy with how it turned out!

I joined a local art society recently and they run all sorts of workshops, which keeps me busy. It's nice to try different things, and they have regular portrait and life drawing classes which test my skills.

Anyhoo, there you go

 

[Taffycat]

Wow @Becky! Your paintings look very impressive and Imho you have such a lot of talent.

I was quite pleased with this, although regret the detail in the wood.

Before reading your caption, I was actually thinking how well you had captured the wooden table and was admiring your rendition of the detail/texture. So good - as are the onions.

Your still life paintings are so good (my personal favourite is the cup of tea, with milk jug and lemon) although I also like the others too. You seem to capture the china awfully well; excellent work. Hope you will share more of it with us.

Just out of interest - do you find painting to be relaxing? Before becoming "hooked" on the PC, I used to paint - oils mainly, but I also dabbled with watercolour and acrylics. I would get completely engrossed and found it to be such a great stress-reliever, lol.

 

[muckshifter]

wow ... I'm speechless ... they damn good.

 

[bootneck02]

They are brilliant Becky I really think you have a talent, they really are brilliant. The one that stands out for me is the still art with the oranges and the reflection in the table BRILLIANT.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Very impressed Becky, you have a gift for sure.

About five years ago I bought lots of painting equipment, paints (oils and watercolours), brushes, palette, easel, pad of large paper but as yet have never used them. I also bought a painting by numbers 'kit' just to get used to brushing the paints. Again, haven't got round to doing it yet.

All this stuff came from from one of those cheap supermarkets, probably Lidl, and didn't cost very much.

I've never been talented at music or painting, I tried for years to play the piano and guitar but eventually gave both up as a bad job after admitting to myself I just didn't have the ability. Same goes for Art, never could make a decent picture at school.

Still, my favourite musical artist, Captain Beefheart, quit music for painting in 1982 and made more money from his paintings than he ever made from music. His style is somewhat abstract and most folk wouldn't class him as gifted but his pictures, to me, have a certain something. So, inspired by the Captain I thought I'd have a go. I figured I'd just lay out a large sheet of paper and let my imagination run riot and see what happened. But so far I haven't.

I rather like your Van Gogh copy the best.

Edit: Here's a Google search of Captain Beefhearts' paintings: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=c...ved=0ahUKEwiiwrKVtbDOAhUKthQKHUMbCdoQ_AUIBigB

 

[nivrip]

I have been teaching myself how to paint,

Well, it's very simple really. Make sure you've sanded the wall down really well, and then get plenty of undercoat on before applying the gloss.

But, seriously, they are very good. You must have some innate talent there to turn out those paintings. You should feel very proud of them. As I said in another thread I taught myself to draw and was amazed how much I improved.

Keep it going, Becky, you may yet end up in the art galleries.

 

[TriplexDread]

Holy cr@p they are brill. Well done you

My favourite? Butterfly stained glass

 

[V_R]

Awesome stuff! They are really good!

I have bugger all artistic talent, can't even draw a stick man.

 

[Becky]

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone!

I've been trying to think of new projects... I quite enjoy doing still lifes, and I really want to get a skull to paint. I had an idea for cocktail themed still lifes - for example, mojito would be mint, limes etc, cosmopolitan would be fresh cranberries and oranges, and so on. I'd include the cocktail in the still life too. Also thought about doing 'perfume portraits' - ie the main ingredients of a particular perfume or aftershave. Could be interesting. Ian likes futurism so I want to have a go at that some day.

I've also just started on a portrait tutorial in oils - I'm using the water-mixable ones though. Painting faces is hard, so I'm hoping to learn lots.

My art club has an exhibition this autumn and I'm hoping to be able to enter something this year.

I'll keep you all updated

Just out of interest - do you find painting to be relaxing? Before becoming "hooked" on the PC, I used to paint - oils mainly, but I also dabbled with watercolour and acrylics. I would get completely engrossed and found it to be such a great stress-reliever, lol.

Yep, totally. When I'm painting I find that time just disappears - similar to when I'm gaming. Consequently I only like to paint when I know I've got a good chuck of free time, which is why I'm struggling to find time for it nowadays. I've been reading a book which advocates painting little and often, which is a habit I'd like to get in to.

I never realised you used to paint! What kind of paintings did you do?

Here's a Google search of Captain Beefhearts' paintings

Interesting stuff, thanks for the link! I like that loose style, it's something I really struggle with myself. I spend too long trying to recreate exact detail, when it would be far more 'painterly' to just add quick flourishes. You should definitely give it a try - it's good fun, and given that you already have all the kit there's nothing to lose

Well, it's very simple really. Make sure you've sanded the wall down really well, and then get plenty of undercoat on before applying the gloss.

Haha! Actually one of the reasons I've not found much time recently for artistic painting is that I've been busy with painting walls and woodwork. I take aaages doing it because I like to be thorough Previous owner did an awful job, and the prep work takes far longer than the actual painting work.

My favourite? Butterfly stained glass

I'm glad you like it, it's my favourite too

 

[bootneck02]

Awesome stuff! They are really good!

I have bugger all artistic talent, can't even draw a stick man.

 

[Taffycat]

I love your ideas for cocktail and perfume themed painting projects, they sound very interesting. I look forward to following your artistic adventures, and feel sure that you are going to excel at them, going on what you have achieved so far.

I never realised you used to paint! What kind of paintings did you do?

Well I too, always enjoyed drawing and sketching quite a bit; faces always interested me a lot - particularly the ones with plenty of character. So, when I progressed to using oil-paints, it seemed natural to try my hand at portraits too. (One of my best efforts happened to be one that I did of my mum-in-law.)

Otherwise, I mainly enjoyed painting landscapes and seascapes. Oddly, I never tried still-life! (Right at this moment, I am feeling an extremely strong urge to actually give that a try!)

At one point, I decided to paint a Spitfire in flight (from a photo, of course.) On that occasion I used watercolours. I never found watercolour painting to be quite so relaxing as oils though; to me, it was always a slightly "trickier" medium to control.

 

[Becky]

Oddly, I never tried still-life! (Right at this moment, I am feeling an extremely strong urge to actually give that a try!)

Do it!

I know what you mean about watercolours. The best ones always seem to look effortless, and that is of course very hard to achieve. You can't undo mistakes, which is I think why it's not as relaxing as, say, oils.

You'd love the portrait evenings I go to - they run from September to April and every week we have a different sitter (all members of the society or their friends / family) so there is a good variety. They are mostly retired too, so have interesting faces. I hate it when we have to draw someone with smooth, wrinkle free skin!

 

[Taffycat]

You'd love the portrait evenings I go to - they run from September to April and every week we have a different sitter (all members of the society or their friends / family) so there is a good variety. They are mostly retired too, so have interesting faces. I hate it when we have to draw someone with smooth, wrinkle free skin!

That sounds like it would be a lot of fun and probably very interesting too, to be able to compare paintings afterwards. Ooh yes, and lived-in faces are certainly a little "easier" to capture, I think.

 

[Urmas]

Wow. Überwow.

 

[Becky]

Kiitos

 

[Urmas]

Ole hyvä. Being Finnish, I probably should have taken a tad more understating approach... like this:

If you were aiming for failure, it was an exercise in futility.

 

[Becky]

Been a while since I posted any updates here, so thought I'd show you what I've been working on today. I've been at a workshop, run by a guy called Anthony Barrow. We were doing figurative paintings with mixed media - starting off with a colourful acrylic background, then charcoal on top, building up layers and rubbing them back to develop the figure. Here's mine (my painting, not my figure!):

Quite pleased with how it turned out given that I've never really worked with charcoal before. Looking forward to having a play around with this technique at home!

Oh and if you're wondering, the scribbly lines are wax that was put over the acrylic paint before the charcoal, and later removed to reveal colour. I'm not mad keen on the effect, I think I'd leave it out from future attempts.

 

[V_R]

That's really good! i'd happily have that on my wall.

 

[Becky]

Thanks! That certainly is a complement

 

[Urmas]

I'm not mad keen on the effect...

Um... yeah. Like my late dad would've said, "a bow saw hanged on the parlour wall".

But the important stuff — skin, sinews, muscles, reflections... A-OK.