I used to find that starting a painting was a daunting exercise. What paint should I use, what surface should I paint on and then seeing all that white space was quite scary – what would I cover it with; where should I start; and worse still what would I do if I made a mistake!! My aim here is to give you a brief overview of some of the tools and methodologies that I use and which I shall be blogging about in more detail in the future.
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Colour pallets

Other materials:
The easiest way to get rid of the “white” surface is to colour your canvas with an all over even tone. To do this take a little Burnt Umber mixed with solvent and then roughly paint it onto your canvas. Take a clean rag or paper towel and then rub the mixture all over the canvas till most of the mixture comes off leaving a faint stain of colour. It gets over the problem of painting on a brilliant white, scarily perfect surface. Let it dry and then you are ready to paint over it.
Starting Method 3
If you are feeling a bit more adventurous you could try a selective start point painting where you either observe the model/still life/or photograph very carefully and then start in a particular place and paint it as finely as you want e.g. an eye, a building, a flower. You work out from the chosen area finishing each part as you go along trying you best to finalise drafting, value and colour. Not perhaps a technique for the faint hearted or inexperienced but still worth experimenting with.
GO FOR IT!
Whatever method you use I urge you to “go for it”. Even if it goes wrong you may still like the effect, and you will have learnt what works and what doesn’t. Happy painting!
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