I'd Like To Try To Paint

Painting is a very broad topic. Learning to paint can be approached a lot of different ways. I can probably get you started in a direction that will work for you, but I don't want to do it on the public forum where everyone can pick apart what we're working on.

Otherwise, check out You-Tube, search the "How to paint a [fill in the blank]" and you'll find a lot of free online tutorials, many of which will work for beginners.

Sarah, my best advice would be to start sketching. Nothing complicated, just apples or a vase. When you feel like you have that down enough, then possibly look into a few local painting classes. Good luck!

I'd start with watercolors, it's the cheapest and easiest cleanup.

Going back to drawing is actually, IMO, a good place to start.

Many artists and teachers of art agree that a good foundation in drawing is a great help to advancing your painting efforts.

It's also inexpensive and easy to carry around so you can do it almost anywhere.

And remember the old adage, Sarah, no matter which medium you choose...practice, practice, practice! Oh and don't forget to have fun. :-))

Bill Tomsa

http://billtomsa.blogspot.com/

Thank you everyone for your tips and advice.

i usually go to homedepot...


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

If you want to get good at it follow Bill Tomsa's advice and first learn to draw. The first year I got into art all I did was carry around a small sketchbook and pencil and drew whatever struck my fancy. Like Sean says watercolor is cheap, (actually it can be as expensive as you want it to be) and simple to clean up, probably the most convenient painting medium, but it's also the most difficult to get even adequate in let alone master. Dry (soft) pastel is a messy medium but I think it's the easiest to learn with, especially if you take the time to learn to draw first, it's an easier transition to painting since you don't have to mix paint or use a brush. My preferred medium is acrylic. It's fairly easy to clean up assuming you don't let the paint dry on your brush. It's a very forgiving medium, no rules to remember and adhere to that oils require such as "dark to light" or "thin to thick" or "fat over lean", you can ignore all that with acrylics. Also with acrylics everything is an underpainting until you decide it's not. The fast drying time of acrylics can be a challenge, I just adjusted my style and technique to make it an advantage.

If you buy only one art instruction book I highly recommend "Your Artist's Brain" by Carl Purcell. He explains basic, foundational principles for both drawing and painting in a very simple way that anybody can understand.

Draw. Draw. Draw. Then purchase a small set... One of those small boxes you can buy with brushes, small tubes etc....

You may hate it

Practice painting, and study color.

- Work on composition.

Drawing makes a great foundation for painting. I drew exclusively for years before touching a paint brush.

Composition, shading, and understanding shapes are easier to grasp in grey-scale. Start with drawing first.

Know your subjects backwards and forwards.

I always create value sketches or thumbnail sketches before I paint.

So much easier to paint when you understand your subject.

One who can draw can paint. Not always true the other way around.

When you are ready to paint, it is another world of understanding color and color mixing. Watercolor works from light to dark. Oil is the reverse. Acrylic is a bit of both. Each media has its challenges. Watercolor dries fast and oil dries slowly. Acrylic can look like oils or watercolor depending on how you paint with it. You have to layer watercolor to make it less transparent or opaque and it isn't easy to keep washes clean and transparent.

And finally, among other things, it took me forever to figure these things out:
permanent white watercolor is only opaque unless you brush it or spatter it onto dry paper and there is more paint than water in your brush.
It takes far too much patience to wait for the paper to dry so use a blow dryer.
Drawing with watercolor pencils into wet paint creates a fabulous texture and the color glides out like butter. It does not work if you draw with them first and then wet them. That is why for years I only used them as colored pencils.

Listen to what she's asking. She wants to paint. She wants to do it for fun.

Sarah, just get some cheap watercolors, and get some cheap watercolor paper, and paint.

Done.

Was listening, but not smart to just go paint with cheap paint without knowing how to draw. Without knowing composition or how to shade. The paint will end up never being used due to frustration. I see that happen all the time.
Cheap paint looks cheap and doesn't paint well. Cheap watercolor paper buckles the moment it gets wet. I recommend spending a tad bit more than cheap. It won't break the bank to go a level above student grade.

Going straight to paint is putting the cart before the horse. You have to learn how to walk before you run.
Drawing is a key skill to have. It is also a good place to learn how to edit.
Why wouldn't it be fun to learn to draw before learning how to paint? It actually is very rewarding and fun to do it that way. It does take more time, but a tenacious person can learn quickly. Especially, if the used to draw back in the day.
Sarah, you drew as a kid. It will come back to you, but not at first. Drawing skills can get rusty.

lol

Buy a canvas or a board and a few tubes of acrylic paint and go for it. Use your own photographs as a subject matter. Use a palette knife or fingers or a paint roller if you want. If you decide you enjoy it you can invest in more expensive tools and brushes. If you want to start with a drawing do that, if not just get some paint on the canvas.

Hello Sarah

painting and drawing in my view is both enjoyable and therapeutic
I started to draw back in 1978 and as the years progressed i started to use watercolour charcoal and pastels
today all my art is created digitally using a graphic tablet and pen

Do. Or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

if you wanted to paint and for stress relief do abstract painting: for $50 you can spent on some acrylic paints and canvas, some large house painting brushes and rollers. You can mix the acrylic paints with lots of water use as watercolor, splash, pour your paint mixture on to the canvas. after it dried then rework with the brush or roller.
the main thing is fun, fun playing with paints.

All these academic pieces of advice sound rather uppity. Do what anyone does when moved by the curiosity of anything: simply open your eyes to it, pick it up, move paints around instinctively, create spontaneous images, review your development, and follow through again, and again, and again. No, I never viewed painting as "fun," but it is rewarding, soul-cleansing and intellectually challenging. To relax is to sit with a beer and watch a ballgame. To have fun is to watch a comedy show. Painting can be hard work. Best advice is to buy inexpensive materials, hardware paint and brushes if cheaper, modest canvas (even synthetics can be effective and save money), and proceed. See where it takes you. Don't get wrapped up into the academic mindset that says you must only buy "good" (meaning expensive) materials. The fact is so much of art hanging in museums and preserved in books was created with the most inexpensive of materials--to be sure, artists historically are light on money. After 40 years of painting, I still rely on cheap slop brushes--I burn trough them fast--and have found no benefit from$90 Vermillion Red Paint. Keep the costs down and good luck!

I didn't read all the replies, but I'm going to guess no one suggested casein paints. Why caseins? Well, why NOT other options.

1. Oils. Oils are actually the best way to paint and to learn to paint. Oils are forgiving. You can paint over, scrape out, make mistakes, correct them, and make them again. Oils stay wet, so you can reuse colors you've already mixed on your palette to create new colors. This gives your color composition a cohesiveness not easily achieved with acrylics. However, oils are messy, smelly and expensive. In addition to pigment you also have to buy drying oils (like linseed oil) and volatile oils (like turpentine) to extend your paint.
2. Acrylics. Acrylics seem like a good substitute for oils, but I just don't like them. I don't like how they feel on the brush, I don't like how they break on the canvas, the colors are dull and lifeless. On the other hand, they thin and clean up with water, so there's that.
3. Watercolors. Watercolor is the simplest technique to learn and the hardest to master. Watercolors are absolutely unforgiving. One mistake and your painting is history. When you see a framed watercolor on the wall at the gallery, you should assume there are ten not-up-to-par ones in the artist's closet. I have the greatest respect for watercolor painters, but the Zen mastery required to make even a credible watercolor are far beyond the gifts of an amateur. You may think you're doing a nice watercolor, but take my word for it, you're not.
4. Gouache. Gouache is opaque watercolor. You're basically duplicating the acrylic technique, except you don't have the option of painting transparently.

Which brings us to casein.

Casein paints are milk-based. They have an odd smell, but nowhere near as strong as oils. Caseins are very brittle when dry, so they must be painted on a solid support. Caseins thin and clean up with water.

Why casein? Caseins feel just like oils on the brush. If you want to find out what's like to paint in oils without actually investing in oils, try casein. Casein is a painterly medium, unlike the other water-based media (including acrylics, again in my opinion). It dries too fast for my tastes or I'd use it more. It is a fine substitute for oils or acrylics.

One last thing. With the exception of watercolors and gouache, where you won't be damaging your brushes TOO much, it is absolutely essential that you clean your brushes thoroughly every time you paint. Oily brushes can sit for a few hours, but brushes with acrylics or casein in them must be suspended in water immediately. If the oil, acrylic or casein paint dries in the brush, it is ruined. Even if you leave the tiniest speck of pigment in your brush, each time you use it additional pigment will adhere to the pigment already stuck to the brush, building up with each successive use until the brush is utterly useless. For oils, squeeze out excess paint, rinse in turp and squeeze it out again. (I've been told that gasoline is the best cleaning fluid for oil paint, that the pigment just drops right out of the brush when you clean, but I've never had the nerve to try it.) You can then thoroughly clean the brush with soap and water. For all brushes, never use hot water (it melts the glue that holds the bristles in the ferrule). Work up a soapy lather and work it all the way down to the ferrule to make sure you get every last bit of pigment out of your brush. Repeat until you are absolutely certain your brush is clean. Then do it one more time.

Do what Alfred said and utube.

The desire to render something should be a natural instinct for most artists IMHO. I remember as a very young boy, tracing outlines of objects such as furniture with my finger in mid air, for no reason except a conceptual premise in my own mind. The next step was to transfer that concept to paper as a drawing. Later for variety and to satisfy my curiosity, it was ink drawing. Then painting with oil, acrylic, and watercolor. I found myself inspired by paintings, drawings, and various artworks by other artists.

I would go through the Sunday paper and after it was discarded, I would cut out and save certain images that called to me to be rendered. I started collecting magazines such as National Geographic, Look, Calendars, etc, with images that I wanted to eventually draw or paint. I bought the large "How To" artist books with step by step examples.

Eventually I started taking photographs of things I also wanted to paint, all the while picking up tidbits of information that were good for drawing, painting, AND photography, and training your eye for composition.

All this to say... You don't really need anyone to tell you how to start doing this kind of thing. You are either drawn to it (no pun intended), or you aren't.

It's a wonderful thing to do. Many never know it's joys.

Amazing how many different and conflicting recommendations here. Are you confused yet. Join the club.

Talent some have more than others. It's common as dirt so don't be intimidated by someone better than yourself. It's not about that. It's about you, your personal growth, enjoyment, study. Be unafraid. Dive in. It's the most enjoyable and most difficult thing you will ever do. You don't need to be serious about it but it can get under your skin in unexpected ways.

I truly believe anyone can learn to draw given a little focus and practice. I comes more easily to some than others. It's a base from which you can do many other things.
Have fun.

What about paint by numbers?
http://www.amazon.com/oil-painting-Romantic-16-20/dp/B00KQFOE24/ref=sr_1_2/188-3388177-0784516?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1443809905&sr=1-2

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses. I love that there are so many talented and passionate souls here.
I had heard that colouring books for adults were becoming popular, due to how it relieved stress, or was meditative... I teach pre school, and even though they don't know what they're doing, we do give them paint and a brush. They can gain some sensory input and figure out different things though experimentation. They are only 2 and 3 years old...and I thought, if colouring is a good stress relief, I bet painting could be too. So I know I'll suck at it, but that's okay :)

Hiya Sarah,

I teach painting in two different classes every week. I have been teaching some students that never painted before taking my classes. So far, this year, these students took 2 first place, 2 second place and one honorable mention in two different art shows. One of my students took first place with a painting that was only the third painting she had ever painted. The best way to learn how to paint is painting landscapes. This way you don't have to learn how to draw first and you will be working with a variety of colors. All my classes are acrylic classes. Happy painting Sarah.

Learning to draw is huge but I think you were asking more about painting. Also you never said you had a drawing problem just that you wanted to learn to paint. Harold's suggestion to paint landscapes is a good one or even abstract where you are just trying to get a feel for the paint. Personally I would suggest starting with acrylics since the clean up is easy, they are easy to come by and can be had at reasonable prices. Think in layers more than just a paint by number fill in mentality. Look at works by various masters see how they worked. Acrylics dry fast so I would start by looking at the impressionist, mostly have fun!