WHAT IS A PAINTING: VISUAL POETRY & MUSIC
Introduction Composition is a complex topic and involves everything you need to know in
order to make a painting “work”. Many textbooks treat the subject too narrowly,
focusing on the small details of composition but at the same time missing the
“big picture”. The first big picture thing you need to understand is the difference
between the “poetry” and “music” of a painting. Most (but not all) great
paintings have both poetry and music.
Poetry The poetry of a painting is what the artist is trying to communicate to the viewer
through his or her painting, and the emotion that is elicited from the viewer. This
is the intellectual concept of the painting that arises from the illusion created by
the painting. The degree of representation of the subject and the illusion that is
created, varies from pure abstraction, in which the image bears no direct
resemblance to any recognizable subject, to pure naturalism in which the artist
has made the image as close as possible to the actual appearance of the subject.
To include a poetic element, a painting needs to:
1. represent, resemble, or at the very least suggest something, however abstract
that representation may be, and
2. focus that illusion into some idea or concept (often something to do with
human emotions).
Music The music of a painting is its sensuous, non-intellectual part. It derives from the
physiological pleasure the human brain gets from making visual order out of the
visual chaos of nature. The artist translates nature’s complexity into a rhythm of
simpler shapes, colors, and values and at the same time creates color harmony
from the kaleidoscope of often inharmonious colors that are found in nature.
This is done by selectively choosing what to paint and by using the appropriate
colors to achieve that harmony. The music works in two ways:
1. when the painting is seen from a far distance, and
2. when it is seen from a near distance. The near music derives from how the
paint has been applied to the painting and in the rhythm and shapes of the
brushwork.
Definition of painting You can therefore define a painting as visual poetry combined with visual music
and created using a painting process. One interesting use of this model of a
painting is to help place contemporary work and the great changes that painting
went through during the 20th century (from abstract art to photo realism, and
conceptual art) into a much broader and more understandable historical context.
Edition 2.0 www.VirtualArtAcademy.com ©2008 Barry John Raybould
Design & Composition Unit One 2
WHAT IS A PAINTING: VISUAL POETRY & MUSIC (CONTINUED)
Definition of painting
Diagram
The above diagram shows the four quadrants that make up the visual music and
poetry of a painting.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR LEARNING TIME
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR LEARNING TIME
Study versus
painting time
This is how I try to manage my own learning. During the week I will divide my
time into painting time and study time.
Painting time
In my painting time I do not think about what I am doing, but paint instinctively
and spontaneously (using my right brain). Usually I paint quickly, trying to
capture my feelings about what I am looking at on the canvas as quickly as I
can. I do not need to think during this time since I am using knowledge that I
have internalized during hours of past study. As a result, the paintings often turn
out to have expressive brushwork. In fact the very best paintings are usually the
ones that take the shortest amount of time. These paintings are, by the way,
almost impossible to repeat. I once heard that art forgers have the most difficulty
with copying expressive works that have loose brushwork, rather than the highly
refined techniques of painters such as the classic realists, whose work is much
easier to copy.
Study time
In my study time my goal is not to complete a painting, but to study some aspect
of nature. It might be to try to capture the color relationships on a particular
evening landscape scene, or on a bouquet of flowers in a still life setup. Some
other exercises I go through are:
♦ study the structure of a particular type of tree or a type of rock formation, or
any particular type of object.
♦ explore the notan (dark/light harmony) design possibilities in an intimate part
of a rocky cove, or the design of shadows on an old stone wall.
♦ improve my understanding of form by painting a still life.
♦ do some compositional studies from the old masters to explore how they used
particular organizational structures in their work, or how they created an interesting
composition out of the scene.
In all of these activities, my focus is on learning, not on producing a finished
painting. This takes the pressure (to do a “good” painting) off me and helps free
me up to be more adventurous. As a result I learn much faster. As one of my
teachers told me, the students who paint faster and looser, learn more quickly.
Dividing your time So how do you divide your time between painting time and study time. This is
up to you. Personally I spend 90% of my time as study time and 10% of my time
as painting time. This is partly because of my own personal drive to become a
better painter, but also, I suspect, because I’ve noticed that many of my “best”
paintings were produced during the study time. It seems likely that you do your
best work when the pressure is off, and you are more adventurous.
Study versus
painting time
This is how I try to manage my own learning. During the week I will divide my
time into painting time and study time.
Painting time
In my painting time I do not think about what I am doing, but paint instinctively
and spontaneously (using my right brain). Usually I paint quickly, trying to
capture my feelings about what I am looking at on the canvas as quickly as I
can. I do not need to think during this time since I am using knowledge that I
have internalized during hours of past study. As a result, the paintings often turn
out to have expressive brushwork. In fact the very best paintings are usually the
ones that take the shortest amount of time. These paintings are, by the way,
almost impossible to repeat. I once heard that art forgers have the most difficulty
with copying expressive works that have loose brushwork, rather than the highly
refined techniques of painters such as the classic realists, whose work is much
easier to copy.
Study time
In my study time my goal is not to complete a painting, but to study some aspect
of nature. It might be to try to capture the color relationships on a particular
evening landscape scene, or on a bouquet of flowers in a still life setup. Some
other exercises I go through are:
♦ study the structure of a particular type of tree or a type of rock formation, or
any particular type of object.
♦ explore the notan (dark/light harmony) design possibilities in an intimate part
of a rocky cove, or the design of shadows on an old stone wall.
♦ improve my understanding of form by painting a still life.
♦ do some compositional studies from the old masters to explore how they used
particular organizational structures in their work, or how they created an interesting
composition out of the scene.
In all of these activities, my focus is on learning, not on producing a finished
painting. This takes the pressure (to do a “good” painting) off me and helps free
me up to be more adventurous. As a result I learn much faster. As one of my
teachers told me, the students who paint faster and looser, learn more quickly.
Dividing your time So how do you divide your time between painting time and study time. This is
up to you. Personally I spend 90% of my time as study time and 10% of my time
as painting time. This is partly because of my own personal drive to become a
better painter, but also, I suspect, because I’ve noticed that many of my “best”
paintings were produced during the study time. It seems likely that you do your
best work when the pressure is off, and you are more adventurous.
HOW TO LEARN
HOW TO LEARN
Setting goals Set reasonable goals and do not expect too much of yourself or you will get
disappointed. If you are constantly disappointed with your progress, you will
eventually stop learning and stay at the same level for years. Remember that
mastery comes in stages.
“There was a time when Mr. Einstein was not quite sure what eight times
nine came to. He had to learn and he had to be taught.”
Jacques Barzon
If you improve just ten percent each year for five years, you will be twice as
good in five years’ time. Now ten percent does not sound like very much, but do
that each month and you will be amazed at how much progress you will make.
“No great thing is created suddenly any more than a bunch of grapes or a
fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be
time. Let it blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
Epictetus
If you cannot draw an ancient Tuscan hilltop village with all its complicated
angles and odd shaped buildings, learn to draw a single house with a regular
roof in perspective. If you cannot draw a single house with a roof, then learn to
draw a simple cube. If you cannot manage to draw a cube, then just learn to
draw a square in the correct proportions.
Doing versus
reading
“A man learns to skate by staggering around making a fool of himself:
indeed he progresses in all things by making a fool of himself.”
George Bernard Shaw
You only learn by “doing” and not by “reading.” You may feel you understand
something after reading it, but you will only understand it at a superficial level.
Once you have actually experienced it for yourself, however, you will
understand it at a much deeper level. That is why it is important to actually do
the assignments, and not just read the lecture notes! I have had many students
say they already know all the information in a particular course unit and do not
need to do the assignments, but on looking at their paintings it is clear that they
are not practicing what they think they know, or have not internalized the
knowledge fully. I have had many professional artists, after a long period of
frustration, finally get around to doing the assignments. After a month or two,
they always say they learned something new and valuable, and it showed in their
work in the following months
Setting goals Set reasonable goals and do not expect too much of yourself or you will get
disappointed. If you are constantly disappointed with your progress, you will
eventually stop learning and stay at the same level for years. Remember that
mastery comes in stages.
“There was a time when Mr. Einstein was not quite sure what eight times
nine came to. He had to learn and he had to be taught.”
Jacques Barzon
If you improve just ten percent each year for five years, you will be twice as
good in five years’ time. Now ten percent does not sound like very much, but do
that each month and you will be amazed at how much progress you will make.
“No great thing is created suddenly any more than a bunch of grapes or a
fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be
time. Let it blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
Epictetus
If you cannot draw an ancient Tuscan hilltop village with all its complicated
angles and odd shaped buildings, learn to draw a single house with a regular
roof in perspective. If you cannot draw a single house with a roof, then learn to
draw a simple cube. If you cannot manage to draw a cube, then just learn to
draw a square in the correct proportions.
Doing versus
reading
“A man learns to skate by staggering around making a fool of himself:
indeed he progresses in all things by making a fool of himself.”
George Bernard Shaw
You only learn by “doing” and not by “reading.” You may feel you understand
something after reading it, but you will only understand it at a superficial level.
Once you have actually experienced it for yourself, however, you will
understand it at a much deeper level. That is why it is important to actually do
the assignments, and not just read the lecture notes! I have had many students
say they already know all the information in a particular course unit and do not
need to do the assignments, but on looking at their paintings it is clear that they
are not practicing what they think they know, or have not internalized the
knowledge fully. I have had many professional artists, after a long period of
frustration, finally get around to doing the assignments. After a month or two,
they always say they learned something new and valuable, and it showed in their
work in the following months
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Oil Painting: Portraits
Oil Painting: Portraits
Using the Site
Art History
Aesthetics
Composition
Tonal Harmony
Color Harmony
Color Theory
Evaluating
Layered Painting
Dark Grounds
Light Grounds
Direct Painting
Glazing
Portraits
Landscapes
Still Life
Flowers
Life Studies
Supports
Grounds
Oils
Pigments
Brushes
Electronic Help
Art Courses
Online Courses
Art Holidays
Painting Trips
Framing
Selling Your Work
Exhibition and Workshop News
Painting Portraits: Principles
Portraits have been painted for many reasons, to:
1. Achieve a likeness of the sitter's features.
2. Preserve the identity of someone for future generations, particularly before the advent of photography.
3. Create a souvenir, a loyal remembrance of someone now absent or dead.
4. Establish a public image, emphasizing the sitter's status, fashionable looks or personal qualities.
5. Record the artist's response to the living presence of the subject.
6. Represent the essential dignity or nobility of the human subject.
7. Recreate in a contemporary setting the norms of classical portraiture.
8. Explore the personality, psychology or inward qualities of the sitter.
9. Develop or extend the necessary painting skills.
The aims are far from exclusive, and portrait paintings today will be balancing many of these aims against the fee and expectations of the client.
Painting a Portrait: Some General Advice
Most portrait artists begin with drawings of the sitter. These do not supersede photographs, but are generally preferred as the very act of drawing requires the artist to study and understand what he is seeing. Nonetheless, there can be problems. Some drawings will come off straight away, but many only after a great deal of effort, and on occasions nothing seems to give a likeness. For that reason, some painters, particularly the more experienced, begin immediately on the oil portrait. By moving from general appearance to telling details they avoid producing a photographically correct but facile/bland/unilluminating facsimile of the subject. Some general hints:
1. Use the appropriate medium in preliminary work: pencils for a small and/or detailed sketch, chalks or conté for the broader sketch.
2. Ensure the lighting helps to give strength, solidity and character to the face. It is very difficult to capture a full face likeness if the lighting and features are such that the features are not tightly organized by structure. Eyes and mouth that 'float' in a soft woman's face where you cannot put muscles, wrinkles and shadows are particularly difficult. Avoid full face if you can.
3. Never make the face full-size. Two-thirds is the normal limit and half-size is safer. Too large a paper or canvas size leaves wide spaces which are difficult to fill, and in which it is difficult to place features accurately.
4. Closeness to model is important. Many expressive details of eye folds and mouth are lost a few feet further out.
5. It's usually best to block in the broad tonal or structural masses and then follow in detail with the eyes and nose. The triangle between eyes and tip of nose is a useful reference.
Portraits: Painting on a Dark Ground
Solomon {5} suggests these steps for portrait painting:
1. Make an accurate sketch in charcoal. Ensure this is correct.
2. Model tones only in turps-thinned raw umber and white.
3. Repeat stage 2 several times until modeling is correct. Each attempt should completely but thinly cover the previous. Pay attention to hard and soft edges, skin over bone and pulpiness elsewhere. Tone should be appreciably lighter than intended result dark grounds tend to absorb mid-tones and darken with age.)
4. Dry thoroughly.
5. Paint shadows in a mixture of Indian red and black, highlights with stiff white, and intermediate tones with a mixture of these colors modified with a cobalt or a very little chromium oxide green.
6. Dry thoroughly.
7. Glaze and/or scumble this grisaille with red and yellow pigments, either in oil, or oil and glazes mixed.
Portraits: Painting on a Toned Ground
The following approach is more general, and emphasizes the need to a. work out everything in advance and b. undertake oil sketches to solves problems as they arise.
1. Prepare ground properly: absorbent if you are using much medium with paint, less absorbent if you're using glazing approach. Grays, greens, pinks, browns and buffs colors are best, all pale.
2. Decide composition beforehand, either by roughing out in charcoal or by tonal drawings.
3. Work out palette prior to painting anything, and decide in this order: skin tones, then hair, then clothes and finally background. Adjust tone/hue/purity of color in clothes as necessary. You may need to make many oil sketches to harmonize everything.
4. Use lateral frontal lighting. Shadow pattern should aid composition.
5. Ensure movement of body does not follow that of head.
6. Make background some neutral color, not necessarily darker than shadows of head.
Portraits in Oil: Specific Hints
There is no "correct" approach, but many authorities suggest something like this:
1. Paint shadows to define broad structure, starting with nose.
2. Lower value in lower half of lighted area to help highlights above.
3. Make muzzle area the same color as rest of flesh but cooler.
4. Add touch of color where shadow meets light.
5. Try Venetian red as alternative to raw sienna which loses intensity with white. Paint hands etc. with these two colors and white.
6. Use cadmium colors for fair complexions, and earth colors for swarthy.
7. Shadows should be similar to background colors.
8. Add background colors to flesh tones to make area recede.
9. Tonal range of hair (light to dark) is often that of eye (highlight to pupil).
10. Highlights pick up structures and have to end on them.
11. Start with shadow areas. Cadmiums with black/cobalt blue/ultramarine and umber make good shadows. Deepen shadows if face lacks structure.
12. Break the face into planes, assign tones of one hue to these planes and paint them simply.
13. Warm skin areas always have a little cool color, and vice versa. But keep the light areas and the shadows distinct.
14. Thick flesh areas are warm and bone areas are cool.
15. Bring cheeks and chin forward with warm colors
16. Create warm backgrounds by taking shadow color and both lighten its value and weaken its intensity/purity.
17. Create cool background by choosing the cooled gray color that will represent the turning planes of your object. Cool with raw or burnt umber or with a little cobalt blue.
18. Don't let backgrounds overpower subject: make them more neutral to make subject come forward.
Portraits: Palette
Many mixtures are recommended, but it's essential not to mix more than three pigments plus white if brilliancy is to be retained. A little blending is acceptable but much better is to apply patches of paint with flat or filbert brushes and leave alone. Remember that shadow areas are an extension of the lit side, so use the same ingredients but vary proportions slightly.
Abbreviations in the mixtures that follow are:
Titanium White = W Cad. Light Yellow = y Cad. Yellow = Y Cad. Light Red = r Cad. Deep Red = R Cobalt Blue = b Ultramarine = B Viridian = V Raw Sienna = s Burnt Sienna = S Raw Umber = u Burnt Umber = U Light Red = L Yellow Ochre = O Phalo Blue = P Permanent Rose = M Naples Yellow = N Venetian Red = E
These are some recommendations in books devoted to the art of portraiture.
Basic Oil Painting
General complexions: W + s + L + b
Softer general complexions: W + s + V + b
Children's complexions: W + N + L + V
Medium dark (yellow) complexions: W + O + S + B
Medium to dark complexions: W + s + M + b
Red hair: W + O + S + M + b
Dark brown hair: W + O + U + B
Black hair: B + M + U
Gray hair: W + u + b
Parramon
These are taken from Parramon's color schemes.
Warm Flesh Tints
Ordinary lit areas W + y + r + M + b
Lower lip & rosy areas W + y + r
Highlights W + r + y
Stubble W + P + Y + M
Blue-tinged shadows W + P Y + M
Basic shadow r + O + Y + P + W
Darker shadow r + O + Y + P M + W
Upper lip M + V
Eyebrows M + U + P V
Cold Flesh Tints
Ordinary lit areas W + y O + M + V
Lower lip & rosy areas W + y O + M + V
Light luminous flesh W + y O + V
Stubble W + y O + M + V
Blue-tinged shadows W + b + O + M + S
Basic shadow Y + O + V + M + W
Darker shadow V + W + M
Upper lip Y + O + V + W
Eyebrows M + V + P/S
Angela Gair
Some of these may apply better to watercolors. Experiment.
Pale complexions: W + O + M
Pinker complexions W + O + M + b
Pale orange-pink complexions W + O + M
Golden complexions W + S + O V
Mediterranean complexions: W + O + S + b
Brown complexions:- W + S + O + M
Chinese/ yellow complexions: W + O + V + S
Deeper brown complexions: W + U + S + P
Rich brown complexions W + S + b
Cold black complexions W + U + P
Warm black complexions W + U + P + M
References
Professional portrait painters develop their own approaches, but these will get you started:
1. Step by Step Art Schools: Portraits by Jack Buchan & Jonathan Baker. Hamlyn. 2001. Not for the professional or advanced amateur painter, but a good introduction portrait painting techniques.
2. How to Paint Portraits by José Parramon. Watson Guptill. 1988. Simple and practical.
3. Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color and Light in Oil, Pastel and Watercolor by Chris Saper. Northern Light Books. 2001.
4. Complete Portrait Painting Course by Angela Gair. Random House. 1990
5. The Practice of Oil Painting and Drawing. S.J. Solomon. Seeley. 1910.
Illustrations
14a. Self-Portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn. 1640. The National Gallery. London. The simplest of color schemes, but superb control of tones and great variety in texture, line and shapes.
14b. The Artist and his Wife in a Honeysuckle Bower by Peter Paul Rubens. 1609-10. Alte Pinakothek. Munich. Rubens' wedding portrait: a carefully finished piece with forms smoothly modelled in thin paint applied over dark underpainting. Colors subdued, indeed rather muddy.
14c. Insane Woman by Théodore Géricault. 1822-3. Musée des Beaux-Arts. Lyon. Another portrait of limited color range, but powerfully descriptive brushwork.
14d. Monsieur Bertin L'Aine by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. 1832. Musée du Louvre. Paris. Analogous red and red-orange throughout, but tone control, sinewy strength of lines and rhythmic repetitions make this a powerful work.
14e. The Day Dream by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 1880. Victoria and Albert Museum. London. A decorative piece built on red-green complementaries.
14f. Henry James by John Singer Sargent. 1913. National Portrait Gallery. London. Restricted palette and bravura brushwork.
14g. Somerset Maugham by Graham Sutherland. 1949. The Tate Gallery. London. A split analogous composition (blue-gray in trousers) with facial features repeated in jacket and scarf.
Using the Site
Art History
Aesthetics
Composition
Tonal Harmony
Color Harmony
Color Theory
Evaluating
Layered Painting
Dark Grounds
Light Grounds
Direct Painting
Glazing
Portraits
Landscapes
Still Life
Flowers
Life Studies
Supports
Grounds
Oils
Pigments
Brushes
Electronic Help
Art Courses
Online Courses
Art Holidays
Painting Trips
Framing
Selling Your Work
Exhibition and Workshop News
Painting Portraits: Principles
Portraits have been painted for many reasons, to:
1. Achieve a likeness of the sitter's features.
2. Preserve the identity of someone for future generations, particularly before the advent of photography.
3. Create a souvenir, a loyal remembrance of someone now absent or dead.
4. Establish a public image, emphasizing the sitter's status, fashionable looks or personal qualities.
5. Record the artist's response to the living presence of the subject.
6. Represent the essential dignity or nobility of the human subject.
7. Recreate in a contemporary setting the norms of classical portraiture.
8. Explore the personality, psychology or inward qualities of the sitter.
9. Develop or extend the necessary painting skills.
The aims are far from exclusive, and portrait paintings today will be balancing many of these aims against the fee and expectations of the client.
Painting a Portrait: Some General Advice
Most portrait artists begin with drawings of the sitter. These do not supersede photographs, but are generally preferred as the very act of drawing requires the artist to study and understand what he is seeing. Nonetheless, there can be problems. Some drawings will come off straight away, but many only after a great deal of effort, and on occasions nothing seems to give a likeness. For that reason, some painters, particularly the more experienced, begin immediately on the oil portrait. By moving from general appearance to telling details they avoid producing a photographically correct but facile/bland/unilluminating facsimile of the subject. Some general hints:
1. Use the appropriate medium in preliminary work: pencils for a small and/or detailed sketch, chalks or conté for the broader sketch.
2. Ensure the lighting helps to give strength, solidity and character to the face. It is very difficult to capture a full face likeness if the lighting and features are such that the features are not tightly organized by structure. Eyes and mouth that 'float' in a soft woman's face where you cannot put muscles, wrinkles and shadows are particularly difficult. Avoid full face if you can.
3. Never make the face full-size. Two-thirds is the normal limit and half-size is safer. Too large a paper or canvas size leaves wide spaces which are difficult to fill, and in which it is difficult to place features accurately.
4. Closeness to model is important. Many expressive details of eye folds and mouth are lost a few feet further out.
5. It's usually best to block in the broad tonal or structural masses and then follow in detail with the eyes and nose. The triangle between eyes and tip of nose is a useful reference.
Portraits: Painting on a Dark Ground
Solomon {5} suggests these steps for portrait painting:
1. Make an accurate sketch in charcoal. Ensure this is correct.
2. Model tones only in turps-thinned raw umber and white.
3. Repeat stage 2 several times until modeling is correct. Each attempt should completely but thinly cover the previous. Pay attention to hard and soft edges, skin over bone and pulpiness elsewhere. Tone should be appreciably lighter than intended result dark grounds tend to absorb mid-tones and darken with age.)
4. Dry thoroughly.
5. Paint shadows in a mixture of Indian red and black, highlights with stiff white, and intermediate tones with a mixture of these colors modified with a cobalt or a very little chromium oxide green.
6. Dry thoroughly.
7. Glaze and/or scumble this grisaille with red and yellow pigments, either in oil, or oil and glazes mixed.
Portraits: Painting on a Toned Ground
The following approach is more general, and emphasizes the need to a. work out everything in advance and b. undertake oil sketches to solves problems as they arise.
1. Prepare ground properly: absorbent if you are using much medium with paint, less absorbent if you're using glazing approach. Grays, greens, pinks, browns and buffs colors are best, all pale.
2. Decide composition beforehand, either by roughing out in charcoal or by tonal drawings.
3. Work out palette prior to painting anything, and decide in this order: skin tones, then hair, then clothes and finally background. Adjust tone/hue/purity of color in clothes as necessary. You may need to make many oil sketches to harmonize everything.
4. Use lateral frontal lighting. Shadow pattern should aid composition.
5. Ensure movement of body does not follow that of head.
6. Make background some neutral color, not necessarily darker than shadows of head.
Portraits in Oil: Specific Hints
There is no "correct" approach, but many authorities suggest something like this:
1. Paint shadows to define broad structure, starting with nose.
2. Lower value in lower half of lighted area to help highlights above.
3. Make muzzle area the same color as rest of flesh but cooler.
4. Add touch of color where shadow meets light.
5. Try Venetian red as alternative to raw sienna which loses intensity with white. Paint hands etc. with these two colors and white.
6. Use cadmium colors for fair complexions, and earth colors for swarthy.
7. Shadows should be similar to background colors.
8. Add background colors to flesh tones to make area recede.
9. Tonal range of hair (light to dark) is often that of eye (highlight to pupil).
10. Highlights pick up structures and have to end on them.
11. Start with shadow areas. Cadmiums with black/cobalt blue/ultramarine and umber make good shadows. Deepen shadows if face lacks structure.
12. Break the face into planes, assign tones of one hue to these planes and paint them simply.
13. Warm skin areas always have a little cool color, and vice versa. But keep the light areas and the shadows distinct.
14. Thick flesh areas are warm and bone areas are cool.
15. Bring cheeks and chin forward with warm colors
16. Create warm backgrounds by taking shadow color and both lighten its value and weaken its intensity/purity.
17. Create cool background by choosing the cooled gray color that will represent the turning planes of your object. Cool with raw or burnt umber or with a little cobalt blue.
18. Don't let backgrounds overpower subject: make them more neutral to make subject come forward.
Portraits: Palette
Many mixtures are recommended, but it's essential not to mix more than three pigments plus white if brilliancy is to be retained. A little blending is acceptable but much better is to apply patches of paint with flat or filbert brushes and leave alone. Remember that shadow areas are an extension of the lit side, so use the same ingredients but vary proportions slightly.
Abbreviations in the mixtures that follow are:
Titanium White = W Cad. Light Yellow = y Cad. Yellow = Y Cad. Light Red = r Cad. Deep Red = R Cobalt Blue = b Ultramarine = B Viridian = V Raw Sienna = s Burnt Sienna = S Raw Umber = u Burnt Umber = U Light Red = L Yellow Ochre = O Phalo Blue = P Permanent Rose = M Naples Yellow = N Venetian Red = E
These are some recommendations in books devoted to the art of portraiture.
Basic Oil Painting
General complexions: W + s + L + b
Softer general complexions: W + s + V + b
Children's complexions: W + N + L + V
Medium dark (yellow) complexions: W + O + S + B
Medium to dark complexions: W + s + M + b
Red hair: W + O + S + M + b
Dark brown hair: W + O + U + B
Black hair: B + M + U
Gray hair: W + u + b
Parramon
These are taken from Parramon's color schemes.
Warm Flesh Tints
Ordinary lit areas W + y + r + M + b
Lower lip & rosy areas W + y + r
Highlights W + r + y
Stubble W + P + Y + M
Blue-tinged shadows W + P Y + M
Basic shadow r + O + Y + P + W
Darker shadow r + O + Y + P M + W
Upper lip M + V
Eyebrows M + U + P V
Cold Flesh Tints
Ordinary lit areas W + y O + M + V
Lower lip & rosy areas W + y O + M + V
Light luminous flesh W + y O + V
Stubble W + y O + M + V
Blue-tinged shadows W + b + O + M + S
Basic shadow Y + O + V + M + W
Darker shadow V + W + M
Upper lip Y + O + V + W
Eyebrows M + V + P/S
Angela Gair
Some of these may apply better to watercolors. Experiment.
Pale complexions: W + O + M
Pinker complexions W + O + M + b
Pale orange-pink complexions W + O + M
Golden complexions W + S + O V
Mediterranean complexions: W + O + S + b
Brown complexions:- W + S + O + M
Chinese/ yellow complexions: W + O + V + S
Deeper brown complexions: W + U + S + P
Rich brown complexions W + S + b
Cold black complexions W + U + P
Warm black complexions W + U + P + M
References
Professional portrait painters develop their own approaches, but these will get you started:
1. Step by Step Art Schools: Portraits by Jack Buchan & Jonathan Baker. Hamlyn. 2001. Not for the professional or advanced amateur painter, but a good introduction portrait painting techniques.
2. How to Paint Portraits by José Parramon. Watson Guptill. 1988. Simple and practical.
3. Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color and Light in Oil, Pastel and Watercolor by Chris Saper. Northern Light Books. 2001.
4. Complete Portrait Painting Course by Angela Gair. Random House. 1990
5. The Practice of Oil Painting and Drawing. S.J. Solomon. Seeley. 1910.
Illustrations
14a. Self-Portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn. 1640. The National Gallery. London. The simplest of color schemes, but superb control of tones and great variety in texture, line and shapes.
14b. The Artist and his Wife in a Honeysuckle Bower by Peter Paul Rubens. 1609-10. Alte Pinakothek. Munich. Rubens' wedding portrait: a carefully finished piece with forms smoothly modelled in thin paint applied over dark underpainting. Colors subdued, indeed rather muddy.
14c. Insane Woman by Théodore Géricault. 1822-3. Musée des Beaux-Arts. Lyon. Another portrait of limited color range, but powerfully descriptive brushwork.
14d. Monsieur Bertin L'Aine by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. 1832. Musée du Louvre. Paris. Analogous red and red-orange throughout, but tone control, sinewy strength of lines and rhythmic repetitions make this a powerful work.
14e. The Day Dream by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 1880. Victoria and Albert Museum. London. A decorative piece built on red-green complementaries.
14f. Henry James by John Singer Sargent. 1913. National Portrait Gallery. London. Restricted palette and bravura brushwork.
14g. Somerset Maugham by Graham Sutherland. 1949. The Tate Gallery. London. A split analogous composition (blue-gray in trousers) with facial features repeated in jacket and scarf.
oil painting techniques
ethan semmels oil painting techniques .com
"Discover How To Oil Paint Anything at All
...Right From The Comfort of Your Own Home Without Going to Inconvenient Oil Painting Techniques Classes"
Are You Having Problems Beginning Your Oil Paintings?
Not to Mention Problems With Techniques and Procedures?
Then continue reading...
oil painting lesson pictures
"I have been studying art as a hobby for the past twenty years, now retired I am in my third year of a painting course with the "Open College of Art" (Part of the "Open University"). During that time I have never come across such practical information… Thanks for opening another door for me - it was a great package well worth reading again - and again."
Brian Clarke, United Kingdom
Dear beginner/intermediate oil painter,
Your search to get better at oil painting can get ridiculous at times, can’t it?
How do I begin? How to oil paint ? Am I doing it correctly?
Oh, those questions I’m sure you have asked yourself in the past or are still asking yourself today. I’m Ethan Semmel and I started out painting like those painters you see on public television.
The people who paint a landscape in 27 minutes or so.
The problem was, when I went to the museums, I saw the greatest painters in history. Renoir, Rembrandt, Titian, Raphael, Monet.
How did they paint the fantastic pictures they did?
Their paintings made mine look, frankly, silly. I could only paint a landscape. And, my landscapes looked like the cheesy kind selling for $17 in a shopping mall, not like their fantastic paintings.
I was frustrated. "How do I get the answers to my questions? How can I learn to paint the way I really want to?"
You can go through the years of frustration at art schools, like I did, to search for the answers. But, you’ll never get them there.
This is why I created this web page. I knew other people like yourself were sick and tired of that frustration that came with doing something you love.
I paint because I love it, not because I want to be frustrated.
I always knew there was a much better way for others to learn to oil paint. People like yourself who are genuinely interested in learning oilpainting techniques or improving need to get the help you want and need.
And believe it or not, there is much better help available for you to learn right in your home rather than in some crowded class that might cost $2000 and may meet at times that are inconvenient for you.
I decided to turn my years of experiences with the frustration of learning to oil paint into something positive that will benefit beginning and intermediate oil painters like you.
When you don’t get the results you want, many times you blame this on your lack of talent, but guess what?…
If You Get The Proper, Direct, instruction which is Easy To Understand…You Paint Better, Period
The Things Beginning and Intermediate Painters Never Hear
You can keep watching painters on tv who only paint landscapes, or flowers. Of course if you were satisfied with that, you probably wouldn’t still be reading.
You can buy many of the books out there.
Many books out there are not written by the artist. They have co-writers or editors who know nothing about painting. But they do know about writing.
They do know how to turn simple and direct talk into confusing babble that sounds impressive and fills many pages with information that could have been direct and simple.
Oil painting instruction doesn’t have to sound "mystical".
You can enroll in some expensive art school. The one I studied in, in New York City charges almost $6000 for one class for a year. But, when you do this, something happens that you never thought would...
The Problem With Oil Painting Classes
Many times the oil painting course instructors would arrive 15-30 minutes late to class and they would do the usual "thing" of going around the room and telling students, while looking at their painting…
"This is too dark", "This should be longer", etc…
Being the teachers assistant gave me a wonderful insight. I heard all of the students complaints.
"I’m not learning."
"How do you get this effect?"
"Why don’t they tell me exactly what I should do first?"
"What medium should I use?"
"What brush do you think I should use?
I heard it all.
I was confused myself.
I made it my job to get the answers to my questions on my own.
The thing they don’t tell you about art lessons: The teacher will come in to class twice a week and spend around 5-10 minutes each class with you. Many will paint right on your painting and will not give you information of much use.
How To Truly Learn The Secrets Of Painting Techniques
So, what is the best way to learn?
What works?
Oil painting involves a process that must be understood to be able to paint better. The process itself is not complicated. The problem is you probably have never been shown the real secrets of oilpainting techniques.
At least not in a step by step way that is easy to understand.
Following the process and using the techniques are easy. You simply follow step by step information. A system, a procedure, and watch how you will paint better than you ever have.
And, I mean the same secrets used by the greatest painters in history. They simply adjusted the techniques to fit their own personality and you will do the same.
When that happens, you will enjoy all the benefits of being a well respected painter.
The compliments
the pride of hanging your paintings on walls for all to see
selling your work
having people asking for your paintings
Winning awards in shows
The pure joy of creating something beautiful
Well, you get the picture
From Start To Finish Without Frustration
Just how do you really learn the techniques of oil painting? What would you need to know to be able to paint wonderful pictures from start to finish without frustration?
To really discover these secrets, you need someone who has the information to give it to you. And this is where I come in so...let me share with you what you really need learn so you can be painting the way you really dream about...
New Materials and Thinking Like An Oil Painter
The first and most important thing is that you need to learn the language of oil paint. I will explain..
You see, the material of oil paint has has certain physical characteristics...
It is a wet paste, it is applied with brushes, even just the fact that the paint is applied to a canvas, (instead of rubbing like you do with a pencil) at all is different than what you have been used to for your whole life.
In other words, it is not drawing.
Ok, now as far as thinking like an oil painter, this gets really interesting...
An oil painter must see the world differently than most people and this is the first thing that you must learn.
One of the biggest problems people have is that they see a subject like a vase of flowers, or a person...meaning they see the end product...and then they want to take those flowers or that person and just plop them on canvas.
They don't know how to go about building the picture. The steps to get to the end product.
Which brings us to...
You Must Change Your Thinking
You see, you must change your thinking. And it starts with the most basic of concepts.
You only have oil paint and you must represent your subject (flowers, a person, a landscape, or whatever it is) in paint.
The things you want to paint are real, but all you have is paint.
Knowing how to do this is the process of translating what you see into paint.
I'll let you in on a little secrets they will never tell you in an oil painting class..
Discover how to do this, and you are halfway there. When you know this, you can paint anything at all.
Not just landscapes or people, but anything at all. It’s the biggest secret there is.
I will show you how to do this with the information here.
The Process Step By Step
Next you must learn the process of oil painting. From beginning to end.
Imagine knowing what to do in a step by step manner.
Never again saying to yourself "what do I do now?"
Never becoming lost or confused again while painting your paintings.
And this is no different than learning a procedure to anything else...for example:
I think you would agree that a surgeon knows the procedure to perform an operation. A carpenter knows the procedure for building a cabinet.
Well, you need to know a procedure for making a painting of whatever you it is that you want to paint.
When you begin your painting, which of these steps should you do?
Do you draw on the canvas or panel right away?
Do you draw on paper first?
Do you draw with pencil on the canvas or panel?
The answer is you can do any of these things, However, you should be able to choose the method that best suits you.
Of course the very beginning is just one step. Then you will need to know the other steps in the process that you. This involves things like…
underpainting
painting over dried paint - how to layer your paint
glazing and veiling
how to handle edges
Checking your composition
Translating nature into a simple tone value system
and more.
You see, when you know exactly what these procedures and techniques are you choose which ones will help you to paint the picture you are working on.
You have learned how to think like an oil painter.
You have learned how to translate what you see into the language of paint.
And now, you will have learned the techniques to use so you can use your materials and put it all together in a wonderful oil painting.
Will it benefit you to use a monochrome underpainting? If it will, you use one. If it won’t, you don’t use one. How to layer your paint, When and how to glaze. You can only do this when you know all the secrets of oil painting techniques.
Now to get this information, you may think you can enroll in a painting class, and hope the instructor will teach you all of this vital information.
I have been through many art teachers myself, and I must say, I was not taught this vital information in a painting class. I learned all of this information on my own from more than 15 years research in museums and trial and error.
And, I want to make my research, knowledge and expertise available to you, but first let me just let you know why you should listen to me...
Backing Up That This Info is The Real Deal
You can be sure this information I am going to share will work for you.
The first time I taught a class at Pace University was a great experience.
Let me tell you one important thing about myself, nothing scares me more than speaking in front of a large number of people, like a classroom.
I get very nervous
I sometime stutter, which gets horrible when I am nervous and speaking in front of an audience
I was panicked the night before my first class
But I was talking about oil painting. After I got over my initial nervousness and I saw the students actually get excited because they were truly learning.
I discovered I had a real knack for teaching oil painting. For teaching things that would make students think "Wow, I really learned something and it works!"
Students would ask me to teach them privately. And I swore I would not teach the same way as the teachers that I had. I knew there was a better way to teach.
With the internet I can now teach people all over the world. I could teach them in a way that would not frustrate them and so they would actually learn from the very first lesson.
artist magazine website of the month** Artists Magazine website of the month sept 2002
The Artists Magazine contacted us, own their own, and wanted to use this website as their website of the month in September 2002 for the Artists Magazine.
** Many Awards.
Besides teaching private art lessons, I have won many prizes and scholarships including
The first recipient of The Newington-Cropsey Foundation Art Grant as well as their traveling Scholarship through The National Academy Of Design. You can verify this for yourself by calling them or writing them.
The Valerie Delacorte Scholarship and The Ernest and Helen Adams Scholarship both from The National Academy Of Design in New York City.
I have won numerous first place prizes in shows for portraiture and landscapes. I have had many exhibits. My last exhibition was in Florence Italy.
I have paintings in private collections of people that live on both sides of the atlantic ocean.
I have been commissioned many times to paint all types of subject matter, samples of which can be found here. I do not tell you this to brag, but only to show you that I know my stuff. I also enjoy teaching very much.
And, you can view samples of my painting here (opens in a new window)
And of course, what shows my improvement better than "before and after" pictures (opens in a new window)
Yes, This Will Work For You…
You may be concerned that the information I am going to offer you will not work for you., but let me reassure you...yes this information will work for you...
If you have never taken oil painting lessons, you have no bad habits to break.
If you have taken oil painting lessons in the past (perhaps you are "starting over" and wish to do it the right way) and would like to learn to oil paint or improve your current painting.
If you paint landscapes or nature and would like to try people, or vice versa, it is not as difficult as you think with simple, direct, and easy to understand instruction.
If you currently paint following the painters on public television and want to move beyond that way of painting.
If you don’t paint very often, or not as often as you want to be…most of the time from the frustration of not knowing how to begin and other step by step instruction you can easily understand.
With the information I have for you, you can join the thousands of people from over 23 countries throughout the world who have gotten the instruction they desired and needed to reach their full potential as an oil painter.
I’d hate it if you fall into one of the categories above and didn’t achieve your full potential as an oil painter, because you thought it was impossible.
This is why I want you to have all of my experience. Over 15 years worth of experience and personal notes in my home study course "The Insider Guide To The Secrets Of Oil Painting".
Using this information you’ll finally have the easy to understand information that will have you understanding more immediately - not months or years from now.
With this course, here is what is possible…
Imagine knowing step by step, how to paint your picture from beginning to end.
Imagine… Knowing everything you need to do to use the same procedures that the greatest oil painters in history used.
Imagine knowing everything about your supplies so that they will become your best friends, as you know exactly what supply (mediums, brushes, canvases, etc.) to use to make oil painting easier.
Having no confusion because you know you are doing it the right way.
Imagine learning the next time you pick up your brush because you have direct and easy to understand information that works for whatever you like to paint - still-life, portraits, landscapes or whatever you wish to paint.
Imagine knowing a step by step procedure to mix any color you want or need. Saying goodbye to muddy color as you know what colors to use before you pick up your brushes.
Which Of These Oil Painting Secrets Could You Use To Learn To Oil Paint…Or Improve Your Current Paintings?
The information you will learn covers the secrets of oil painting techniques. Here are just some of the most important ones…
Starting your painting.
You will never have to again ask, "How do I start a painting?" How to transfer your drawing onto your painting surface and other procedures.
About proper preparation. Properly preparing your canvas or panel so it will help you to paint better, and help you with your oilpainting techniques. This includes one thing you must do or you will never paint with the ease the old masters did.
When to stop painting and let the paint dry before you continue.
Learn why painting is harder than drawing and why so many people have such a devil of a time painting well when they can draw well.
Why medium is so important.
The difference in acrylic primed and oil primed canvases and how to apply gesso to your raw canvas or panel.
What is the difference between "new " painting like the impressionists and the "old" painters commonly known as the old masters.
Lighting your subject - Why 1 source of light? How it makes it easier!
On Thinking differently to improve.
The steps you should take so you will think differently.
How to translate everything into a "tone system" you can use to paint everything.
If you just remember two tips on thinking differently, you have made painting so much easier.
A 5 stage thinking process to follow.
Why the big shapes are more important than the details.
Why painting is similar to building something, like a house.
How to "see" in the language of paint, learning to think differently.
Why you must understand what detail really is, it’s not just an eyelash!
How to paint from a drawing as your model, without the live model.
What is the maximum amount of time you should paint outdoors and why.
What is "oiling out" and why is it so important?
What really is glazing?
Understand Your Oil Painting Supplies and Save Money While Doing it!
You will learn the knowledge of improving your techniques, but…What good is that, if you don’t have great knowledge of your supplies?
Oil Painting is done with many supplies. Some can be very confusing. Many times you will waste money, sometimes $100’s of dollars buying useless supplies. It’s time that you put this money back into YOUR pocket. You’ll get that knowledge as well.
No more wasting from $50 and up every time you visit your art store.
Which oil paints are a waste of money. How to walk into an art supply store and not get taken by a salesperson who tries to sell you supplies you do not need.
What are the minimum amount of art supplies that you need?
Why learning your supplies is one of the main keys to improving and why the materials decide how your painting will look.
About your brushes
What are the differences between all the paint-brushes in the art stores.
What brushes you should never buy.
Answers to questions like, "What is the best brush to use?"
When to use bristle brushes and when to use soft hair brushes.
What is a good starting set of brushes to buy.
How to properly clean your brushes.
A great tip on removing old paint from brushes.
How to use the right brushes to take brush marks out of your painting.
About your palette
How to make sure your palette isn’t making things harder for you.
What is the right palette for you?
What color palette you should use and why this is of the utmost importance!
Explanations about how I use my palettes to make things easier for me.
About Oil Paint in tubes.
How to NOT get confused when looking at all the paint tubes in an art supply store.
Understanding exactly how oil paint is made.
What is the difference in student grade and artist grade oil paint.
Why do paints from different companies, with the same names, look like different colors?
How to make your own oil paint and put it in an empty tube.
About mediums
How to mix your own medium for the effect you want.
Example of WHY I use the medium I do!
What are good pre-mixed mediums that are sold in art supply stores?
What are the good and bad qualities of the oils, varnishes, etc. that you can buy.
How to make your own painting varnish.
What turpentine must be used for, and when can you use an odorless substitute.
What medium should you use?
About Canvases, panels, etc.
Why you shouldn’t use the pre-stretched canvas you can buy in the stores and how this is only making it much harder for you.
How to stretch your own canvas.
How to make the materials for preparing your canvas or panels.
Explanations of the painting knives you should have.
How to steady your hand to paint details.
Become Your Own Best Teacher
Painters have had questions since painting began. Rembrandt, Monet, all of them, had painting problems they had to solve…They did!
Their answers are hanging in the art museums of the world. A museum or gallery will always be your best painting class…If you know what to look for. That is covered here as well.
What to look for in paintings in the museums.
Learn to understand how paintings that you see in the museums looked like when the artist began to paint.
Unusual places to look at paintings to see how they were created.
What paintings in museums have an entire painting lesson right in front of you!
How to see more than the average museum visitor sees.
What is the problem with the conventional way of teaching art?
Take a fantasy tour of an old masters studio, What would you have seen and learned? How would his studio have worked?
Here are just some of the reviews I’ve received
He received the secrets he wanted since college…
"Your information is like a passenger reading it to land a plane! All the pilots secrets are in there. it brings back those college days, where you we’re suppose to KNOW instinctively how to master the different medium. Boy, do you hit home."
Bill Hegarty, Virginia
She says universities don’t teach this stuff…
"I have gotten a tremendous amount of information. Although I have been painting for 35 years, along with achieving a MFA in painting & drawing, your information lays out the fine details and techniques which are rarely taught in today’s universities. It is great for teaching, as well as for use in one’s own studio."
Jenny L. Lasswell, Lasswell Studios, Texas
Hasn’t seen anything like it in 20 years…
"I have been studying art as a hobby for the past twenty years, now retired I am in my third year of a painting course with the "Open College of Art" (Part of the "Open University"). During that time I have never come across such practical information… Thanks for opening another door for me - it was a great package well worth reading again - and again."
Brian Clarke, United Kingdom
Like a treasure…
"What a treasure trove!! My library has several hundred art books and your information seems to be what I have been looking for. Thanks again."
Judith Lancaster, North Carolina
Would have saved him $$$ if he had it sooner…
"I am very grateful for all the wonderful tips and wisdom you have shared. This is a marvelous tool and I’m convinced that it will help make me a better painter. My only regret is not having the information about buying useless art supplies years ago! It would have saved me lots of $$$ to buy more tubes of paint. I wish you continued success and hope you come out with some more goodies shortly. I am on your newsletter list, so I’ll keep my eyes open for more stuff."
David Kreinberg, Maryland
Learned more from this course than her college courses…
"I opened it the second I received it. You taught me more then I learned from the instructors at college! I especially related to the paragraph that said to start to practice with student paint. The last instructor I had insisted we begin with artist quality paints! I can tell you I was set back about $300.00 and I never bought all the required colors for the course! Needless to say I was totally discouraged and dropped the course. No, I didn’t return the paints for a refund. I hope you will be able to help me paint a picture with them…I wish you lived here in So. California so I could take lessons in person. Any way enough with this rambling, Thank you so much for being a level headed guy!"
Karen Dobbs, California
He was so thrilled he wrote his first testimonial ever…
"I am amazed!! I am 58 years old and have never written a testimonial, until now. I have dabbled in art for about 40+ years and have collected many volumes on how to oil paint. 90% are of the "how to" variety. I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the directions that I am getting and thus becoming very suspicious. I ordered your information. I was enthralled!! For the first time someone was telling me WHY, not giving me their opinion! I am going to have a huge yard sale this spring and get rid of several thousand dollars of "useless" art books! Thank you and keep up the terrific work. You will never know how many questions you answered for me."
Wayne Williams, Crestview, FL
Plus, You’ll Understand All The Secrets Of Color
A simple 3 step process to follow to be able to mix any color that you see.
How to easily think about color like an oil painter. When you know how to think properly you can apply this knowledge to any painting you ever create. The main reason you are having problems is because you have never been shown an easy to follow thinking process.
What exactly are the colors I use and why, exactly, do I use them. It’s not guesswork. It’s not because the colors are pretty. It’s an easy to follow reason that you can immediately apply to your own choice of colors to use.
How to properly lighten and darken colors. This way, you can paint objects in their light areas and shadow areas. If you don’t know how to do this, muddy color and you will remain great friends!
The myths about black paint. How to use black or not use black so it will help you achieve the colors you want. And an example of how two of the greatest oil painters could paint side by side-one using black and one not using black and get just the effects they are after.
Easy to follow examples of how to know what paints to use to mix whatever color you want before you even pick up your brushes and start painting.
The two ways for the oil painter to use color with easy to follow examples.
The properties of every color. When you know these properties, you don’t become lost asking yourself "what do I do now?"
What are the best paints for you to purchase so you can easily mix any color you see. This will end your confusion about buying paint and you won’t get confused with the overwhelming choice of paint tubes in an art supply store
Why You Won’t Find This Information Anywhere Else
Many art supply stores are interested in selling you their products, even if you don’t need them. Therefore it’s very hard to get them to cover these lessons at their websites…In the long run, it would cost them money.
This information comes from over 15 years of constant and in depth research.
I am not affiliated with any school, and thus I don’t have to answer to any supervisors or "board members" who are more interested in their status than in their students actually learning.
This course is different because I have experienced, firsthand, my own frustration and the frustration of others while in art school. The wasted money and time without learning much at all.
I experienced the type of teaching that doesn’t work so I know to include only things that will work.
I always knew when I would teach, I would only teach students things that would truly help them paint better. I enjoy teaching classes and watching the students learn and become excited about the information I give them.
Your Guarantee
guaranteeYou Have No Risk. No Worries About "Am I getting Taken?" or "Is This For Real"
Your success in using The Insider Guide To The Secrets Of Oil Painting is completely guaranteed. In fact, here's my 100% Better-Than-Risk-Free-Take-it-To-The-Bank Guarantee:
There is no risk to you to get this information. Buy it now and decide later as it is 100% guaranteed. If you do not find the information useful, simply return the course to us and we will refund your purchase price. Take 90 days to decide if need be.
Try and get an expensive oil painting class to give you that guarantee.
Try to enroll for a class and ask them, "If at the end of the course, if I don't feel I learned anything can I have my money back?" See what they say when they stop laughing.
That means you can try out all the instruction at my risk, while you see if they help you or not. And if they don't produce, I honestly want you to ask for your money back.
There is absolutely no risk, whatsoever on your part. The burden to deliver is entirely on me. If you don't learn to oil paint, or just improve your paintings, I'm the loser, not you.
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What Do You Get
Your home study course is all 3 of my individual manuals of the answers and instruction you are looking for. It is all 3 of my individual manuals in one complete package.
You can get it in 2 versions:
1) You can get it as an immediate download (working on both a mac and windows computer) - the Silver Version
2) You can get the manuals shipped to your home on a DVD containing video tutorials as well - the Gold Version
And, here are some images of the course
The Secrets Of Oil Painting Techniques
Made-Easy
oil painting techniques manual cover
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236 pages of all the information about oil painting techniques you will ever need.
The Secrets Of Oil Painting Supplies
Made-Easy
oil painting supplies manual
oil painting supplies manual pic 1oil painting supplies manual pic 2oil painting supplies manual pic 3
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186 pages of all the information about oil painting supplies you will ever need.
(the printed version of the manual is black and white)
The Secrets Of Color Mixing Made-Easy
oil painting color manual
oil painting color manual pic 1oil painting color manual pic 2
oil painting manual pic 3oil painting color manual pic 4
100 pages of all the information about color mixing you will ever need.
So What's The Bottom Line?
Note: This home study course may be a three manual set, but it is more than that. It is my personal notes on instruction compiled from over 15 years of research, and hard work.
The value is in the hard to find information it contains as well as how it is arranged and written. As you read from other customers, many value it more than their college art lessons.
This course is only available through this website.
I used to charge over $150 an hour for private lessons. So at bare bones minimum you’re getting hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of oil painting instruction at your disposal.
But, I’m not going to charge you anywhere near the amount of most classes. If I did that, only wealthier people could afford my lessons. But, I am not going to give them away either. After all it is my knowledge and research of over 15 years
So in order to have as many people as possible able to comfortably invest in this knowledge, and to make it an easy decision for you, I have decided to run a marketing test and price my home study course starting at
1) immediately downloadable version - Regularly $97- Order by , only $69.99 $35
PROMOTION NOW ON
2) DVD Version - Regularly $147 - Order by , only $97 $49 - this version includes a bonus of 55 short video tutorials, sample images of which are shown below
oil painting tutorialsThese tutorials are 2 1/2 hours of me going over the most important points of the course right on your computer screen. They work on a PC or Mac computer.
Adding this option will make the home study course a complete DVD set
Both well within the reach of someone who would go to an art store to buy their supplies.
If you implement what I talk about in the course and put the information to use, this small investment will generate you multiple times as much - in pleasure, and admiration of others - with the creations you can make, and what others will think of you when they see what an artist you have become.
What's more, your investment is completely risk-free - since I offer a simple 90 day money back guarantee. If you find the course isn't for you within 90 days of purchase, then email me for a full refund or return the items I sent you in the mail and you will receive a refund then.
If you realize that these oil painting lessons could easily sell for hundreds of dollars. In fact if you just take a look at the prices of other art lessons right on the internet you will see what I mean.
Here are some sample listings of workshops and classes taken right from the internet. You can see the days and hours the classes meet and the high prices of them.
Actual listings of OTHER workshops and classes
and their prices
You can see the days and hours the classes meet and the high prices of them.
Sat. - Sun. 10:00am - 6:00pm Cost: $225.
Wed, 2pm - 6:30pm, Wed, 6:30pm -10pm Course Fee: $555. Plus a non-refundable deposit of $100 per workshop and Tuition is $275 for each class.
The school I attended in New York City charges almost $6000 for one class per year!
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Now You Have A Choice - Please Choose Wisely!
I'm presenting you here and now with a simple choice.
You have an opportunity not only to discover the keys to mastering your oil painting techniques (as discussed in my 236 page course The Secrets of Oil Painting Techniques Made-Easy), but to master everything about your supplies as well (with my course The Secrets of Oil Painting Supplies Made-Easy) and to have the knowledge to mix any color you want from now on (as discussed in my course The Secrets of Color Mixing Made-Easy),
Sadly, over 90% of the visitors to this site will read to the end and then disappear, without investing in themselves. These people want what the other 2% - 5% also want - to learn to oil paint and paint better paintings - but they weren't willing to make that small investment in themselves and their passion that would propel them to their desired goal.
Unfortunately, that's just a reflection of life. 90% of people we meet in life really just want to stay in their comfort zones, and only a small minority actually take action to change their lives for the better.
The other 2% - 5% of my visitors - I'd like to count you among these - are smart enough to recognize that they need to take action to make the change.
So please make your choice, and I'll hopefully see you shortly as a customer!...
"YES, I want to Order Today"
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Sincerely,
my pic
Ethan Semmel
2
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"Discover How To Oil Paint Anything at All
...Right From The Comfort of Your Own Home Without Going to Inconvenient Oil Painting Techniques Classes"
Are You Having Problems Beginning Your Oil Paintings?
Not to Mention Problems With Techniques and Procedures?
Then continue reading...
oil painting lesson pictures
"I have been studying art as a hobby for the past twenty years, now retired I am in my third year of a painting course with the "Open College of Art" (Part of the "Open University"). During that time I have never come across such practical information… Thanks for opening another door for me - it was a great package well worth reading again - and again."
Brian Clarke, United Kingdom
Dear beginner/intermediate oil painter,
Your search to get better at oil painting can get ridiculous at times, can’t it?
How do I begin? How to oil paint ? Am I doing it correctly?
Oh, those questions I’m sure you have asked yourself in the past or are still asking yourself today. I’m Ethan Semmel and I started out painting like those painters you see on public television.
The people who paint a landscape in 27 minutes or so.
The problem was, when I went to the museums, I saw the greatest painters in history. Renoir, Rembrandt, Titian, Raphael, Monet.
How did they paint the fantastic pictures they did?
Their paintings made mine look, frankly, silly. I could only paint a landscape. And, my landscapes looked like the cheesy kind selling for $17 in a shopping mall, not like their fantastic paintings.
I was frustrated. "How do I get the answers to my questions? How can I learn to paint the way I really want to?"
You can go through the years of frustration at art schools, like I did, to search for the answers. But, you’ll never get them there.
This is why I created this web page. I knew other people like yourself were sick and tired of that frustration that came with doing something you love.
I paint because I love it, not because I want to be frustrated.
I always knew there was a much better way for others to learn to oil paint. People like yourself who are genuinely interested in learning oilpainting techniques or improving need to get the help you want and need.
And believe it or not, there is much better help available for you to learn right in your home rather than in some crowded class that might cost $2000 and may meet at times that are inconvenient for you.
I decided to turn my years of experiences with the frustration of learning to oil paint into something positive that will benefit beginning and intermediate oil painters like you.
When you don’t get the results you want, many times you blame this on your lack of talent, but guess what?…
If You Get The Proper, Direct, instruction which is Easy To Understand…You Paint Better, Period
The Things Beginning and Intermediate Painters Never Hear
You can keep watching painters on tv who only paint landscapes, or flowers. Of course if you were satisfied with that, you probably wouldn’t still be reading.
You can buy many of the books out there.
Many books out there are not written by the artist. They have co-writers or editors who know nothing about painting. But they do know about writing.
They do know how to turn simple and direct talk into confusing babble that sounds impressive and fills many pages with information that could have been direct and simple.
Oil painting instruction doesn’t have to sound "mystical".
You can enroll in some expensive art school. The one I studied in, in New York City charges almost $6000 for one class for a year. But, when you do this, something happens that you never thought would...
The Problem With Oil Painting Classes
Many times the oil painting course instructors would arrive 15-30 minutes late to class and they would do the usual "thing" of going around the room and telling students, while looking at their painting…
"This is too dark", "This should be longer", etc…
Being the teachers assistant gave me a wonderful insight. I heard all of the students complaints.
"I’m not learning."
"How do you get this effect?"
"Why don’t they tell me exactly what I should do first?"
"What medium should I use?"
"What brush do you think I should use?
I heard it all.
I was confused myself.
I made it my job to get the answers to my questions on my own.
The thing they don’t tell you about art lessons: The teacher will come in to class twice a week and spend around 5-10 minutes each class with you. Many will paint right on your painting and will not give you information of much use.
How To Truly Learn The Secrets Of Painting Techniques
So, what is the best way to learn?
What works?
Oil painting involves a process that must be understood to be able to paint better. The process itself is not complicated. The problem is you probably have never been shown the real secrets of oilpainting techniques.
At least not in a step by step way that is easy to understand.
Following the process and using the techniques are easy. You simply follow step by step information. A system, a procedure, and watch how you will paint better than you ever have.
And, I mean the same secrets used by the greatest painters in history. They simply adjusted the techniques to fit their own personality and you will do the same.
When that happens, you will enjoy all the benefits of being a well respected painter.
The compliments
the pride of hanging your paintings on walls for all to see
selling your work
having people asking for your paintings
Winning awards in shows
The pure joy of creating something beautiful
Well, you get the picture
From Start To Finish Without Frustration
Just how do you really learn the techniques of oil painting? What would you need to know to be able to paint wonderful pictures from start to finish without frustration?
To really discover these secrets, you need someone who has the information to give it to you. And this is where I come in so...let me share with you what you really need learn so you can be painting the way you really dream about...
New Materials and Thinking Like An Oil Painter
The first and most important thing is that you need to learn the language of oil paint. I will explain..
You see, the material of oil paint has has certain physical characteristics...
It is a wet paste, it is applied with brushes, even just the fact that the paint is applied to a canvas, (instead of rubbing like you do with a pencil) at all is different than what you have been used to for your whole life.
In other words, it is not drawing.
Ok, now as far as thinking like an oil painter, this gets really interesting...
An oil painter must see the world differently than most people and this is the first thing that you must learn.
One of the biggest problems people have is that they see a subject like a vase of flowers, or a person...meaning they see the end product...and then they want to take those flowers or that person and just plop them on canvas.
They don't know how to go about building the picture. The steps to get to the end product.
Which brings us to...
You Must Change Your Thinking
You see, you must change your thinking. And it starts with the most basic of concepts.
You only have oil paint and you must represent your subject (flowers, a person, a landscape, or whatever it is) in paint.
The things you want to paint are real, but all you have is paint.
Knowing how to do this is the process of translating what you see into paint.
I'll let you in on a little secrets they will never tell you in an oil painting class..
Discover how to do this, and you are halfway there. When you know this, you can paint anything at all.
Not just landscapes or people, but anything at all. It’s the biggest secret there is.
I will show you how to do this with the information here.
The Process Step By Step
Next you must learn the process of oil painting. From beginning to end.
Imagine knowing what to do in a step by step manner.
Never again saying to yourself "what do I do now?"
Never becoming lost or confused again while painting your paintings.
And this is no different than learning a procedure to anything else...for example:
I think you would agree that a surgeon knows the procedure to perform an operation. A carpenter knows the procedure for building a cabinet.
Well, you need to know a procedure for making a painting of whatever you it is that you want to paint.
When you begin your painting, which of these steps should you do?
Do you draw on the canvas or panel right away?
Do you draw on paper first?
Do you draw with pencil on the canvas or panel?
The answer is you can do any of these things, However, you should be able to choose the method that best suits you.
Of course the very beginning is just one step. Then you will need to know the other steps in the process that you. This involves things like…
underpainting
painting over dried paint - how to layer your paint
glazing and veiling
how to handle edges
Checking your composition
Translating nature into a simple tone value system
and more.
You see, when you know exactly what these procedures and techniques are you choose which ones will help you to paint the picture you are working on.
You have learned how to think like an oil painter.
You have learned how to translate what you see into the language of paint.
And now, you will have learned the techniques to use so you can use your materials and put it all together in a wonderful oil painting.
Will it benefit you to use a monochrome underpainting? If it will, you use one. If it won’t, you don’t use one. How to layer your paint, When and how to glaze. You can only do this when you know all the secrets of oil painting techniques.
Now to get this information, you may think you can enroll in a painting class, and hope the instructor will teach you all of this vital information.
I have been through many art teachers myself, and I must say, I was not taught this vital information in a painting class. I learned all of this information on my own from more than 15 years research in museums and trial and error.
And, I want to make my research, knowledge and expertise available to you, but first let me just let you know why you should listen to me...
Backing Up That This Info is The Real Deal
You can be sure this information I am going to share will work for you.
The first time I taught a class at Pace University was a great experience.
Let me tell you one important thing about myself, nothing scares me more than speaking in front of a large number of people, like a classroom.
I get very nervous
I sometime stutter, which gets horrible when I am nervous and speaking in front of an audience
I was panicked the night before my first class
But I was talking about oil painting. After I got over my initial nervousness and I saw the students actually get excited because they were truly learning.
I discovered I had a real knack for teaching oil painting. For teaching things that would make students think "Wow, I really learned something and it works!"
Students would ask me to teach them privately. And I swore I would not teach the same way as the teachers that I had. I knew there was a better way to teach.
With the internet I can now teach people all over the world. I could teach them in a way that would not frustrate them and so they would actually learn from the very first lesson.
artist magazine website of the month** Artists Magazine website of the month sept 2002
The Artists Magazine contacted us, own their own, and wanted to use this website as their website of the month in September 2002 for the Artists Magazine.
** Many Awards.
Besides teaching private art lessons, I have won many prizes and scholarships including
The first recipient of The Newington-Cropsey Foundation Art Grant as well as their traveling Scholarship through The National Academy Of Design. You can verify this for yourself by calling them or writing them.
The Valerie Delacorte Scholarship and The Ernest and Helen Adams Scholarship both from The National Academy Of Design in New York City.
I have won numerous first place prizes in shows for portraiture and landscapes. I have had many exhibits. My last exhibition was in Florence Italy.
I have paintings in private collections of people that live on both sides of the atlantic ocean.
I have been commissioned many times to paint all types of subject matter, samples of which can be found here. I do not tell you this to brag, but only to show you that I know my stuff. I also enjoy teaching very much.
And, you can view samples of my painting here (opens in a new window)
And of course, what shows my improvement better than "before and after" pictures (opens in a new window)
Yes, This Will Work For You…
You may be concerned that the information I am going to offer you will not work for you., but let me reassure you...yes this information will work for you...
If you have never taken oil painting lessons, you have no bad habits to break.
If you have taken oil painting lessons in the past (perhaps you are "starting over" and wish to do it the right way) and would like to learn to oil paint or improve your current painting.
If you paint landscapes or nature and would like to try people, or vice versa, it is not as difficult as you think with simple, direct, and easy to understand instruction.
If you currently paint following the painters on public television and want to move beyond that way of painting.
If you don’t paint very often, or not as often as you want to be…most of the time from the frustration of not knowing how to begin and other step by step instruction you can easily understand.
With the information I have for you, you can join the thousands of people from over 23 countries throughout the world who have gotten the instruction they desired and needed to reach their full potential as an oil painter.
I’d hate it if you fall into one of the categories above and didn’t achieve your full potential as an oil painter, because you thought it was impossible.
This is why I want you to have all of my experience. Over 15 years worth of experience and personal notes in my home study course "The Insider Guide To The Secrets Of Oil Painting".
Using this information you’ll finally have the easy to understand information that will have you understanding more immediately - not months or years from now.
With this course, here is what is possible…
Imagine knowing step by step, how to paint your picture from beginning to end.
Imagine… Knowing everything you need to do to use the same procedures that the greatest oil painters in history used.
Imagine knowing everything about your supplies so that they will become your best friends, as you know exactly what supply (mediums, brushes, canvases, etc.) to use to make oil painting easier.
Having no confusion because you know you are doing it the right way.
Imagine learning the next time you pick up your brush because you have direct and easy to understand information that works for whatever you like to paint - still-life, portraits, landscapes or whatever you wish to paint.
Imagine knowing a step by step procedure to mix any color you want or need. Saying goodbye to muddy color as you know what colors to use before you pick up your brushes.
Which Of These Oil Painting Secrets Could You Use To Learn To Oil Paint…Or Improve Your Current Paintings?
The information you will learn covers the secrets of oil painting techniques. Here are just some of the most important ones…
Starting your painting.
You will never have to again ask, "How do I start a painting?" How to transfer your drawing onto your painting surface and other procedures.
About proper preparation. Properly preparing your canvas or panel so it will help you to paint better, and help you with your oilpainting techniques. This includes one thing you must do or you will never paint with the ease the old masters did.
When to stop painting and let the paint dry before you continue.
Learn why painting is harder than drawing and why so many people have such a devil of a time painting well when they can draw well.
Why medium is so important.
The difference in acrylic primed and oil primed canvases and how to apply gesso to your raw canvas or panel.
What is the difference between "new " painting like the impressionists and the "old" painters commonly known as the old masters.
Lighting your subject - Why 1 source of light? How it makes it easier!
On Thinking differently to improve.
The steps you should take so you will think differently.
How to translate everything into a "tone system" you can use to paint everything.
If you just remember two tips on thinking differently, you have made painting so much easier.
A 5 stage thinking process to follow.
Why the big shapes are more important than the details.
Why painting is similar to building something, like a house.
How to "see" in the language of paint, learning to think differently.
Why you must understand what detail really is, it’s not just an eyelash!
How to paint from a drawing as your model, without the live model.
What is the maximum amount of time you should paint outdoors and why.
What is "oiling out" and why is it so important?
What really is glazing?
Understand Your Oil Painting Supplies and Save Money While Doing it!
You will learn the knowledge of improving your techniques, but…What good is that, if you don’t have great knowledge of your supplies?
Oil Painting is done with many supplies. Some can be very confusing. Many times you will waste money, sometimes $100’s of dollars buying useless supplies. It’s time that you put this money back into YOUR pocket. You’ll get that knowledge as well.
No more wasting from $50 and up every time you visit your art store.
Which oil paints are a waste of money. How to walk into an art supply store and not get taken by a salesperson who tries to sell you supplies you do not need.
What are the minimum amount of art supplies that you need?
Why learning your supplies is one of the main keys to improving and why the materials decide how your painting will look.
About your brushes
What are the differences between all the paint-brushes in the art stores.
What brushes you should never buy.
Answers to questions like, "What is the best brush to use?"
When to use bristle brushes and when to use soft hair brushes.
What is a good starting set of brushes to buy.
How to properly clean your brushes.
A great tip on removing old paint from brushes.
How to use the right brushes to take brush marks out of your painting.
About your palette
How to make sure your palette isn’t making things harder for you.
What is the right palette for you?
What color palette you should use and why this is of the utmost importance!
Explanations about how I use my palettes to make things easier for me.
About Oil Paint in tubes.
How to NOT get confused when looking at all the paint tubes in an art supply store.
Understanding exactly how oil paint is made.
What is the difference in student grade and artist grade oil paint.
Why do paints from different companies, with the same names, look like different colors?
How to make your own oil paint and put it in an empty tube.
About mediums
How to mix your own medium for the effect you want.
Example of WHY I use the medium I do!
What are good pre-mixed mediums that are sold in art supply stores?
What are the good and bad qualities of the oils, varnishes, etc. that you can buy.
How to make your own painting varnish.
What turpentine must be used for, and when can you use an odorless substitute.
What medium should you use?
About Canvases, panels, etc.
Why you shouldn’t use the pre-stretched canvas you can buy in the stores and how this is only making it much harder for you.
How to stretch your own canvas.
How to make the materials for preparing your canvas or panels.
Explanations of the painting knives you should have.
How to steady your hand to paint details.
Become Your Own Best Teacher
Painters have had questions since painting began. Rembrandt, Monet, all of them, had painting problems they had to solve…They did!
Their answers are hanging in the art museums of the world. A museum or gallery will always be your best painting class…If you know what to look for. That is covered here as well.
What to look for in paintings in the museums.
Learn to understand how paintings that you see in the museums looked like when the artist began to paint.
Unusual places to look at paintings to see how they were created.
What paintings in museums have an entire painting lesson right in front of you!
How to see more than the average museum visitor sees.
What is the problem with the conventional way of teaching art?
Take a fantasy tour of an old masters studio, What would you have seen and learned? How would his studio have worked?
Here are just some of the reviews I’ve received
He received the secrets he wanted since college…
"Your information is like a passenger reading it to land a plane! All the pilots secrets are in there. it brings back those college days, where you we’re suppose to KNOW instinctively how to master the different medium. Boy, do you hit home."
Bill Hegarty, Virginia
She says universities don’t teach this stuff…
"I have gotten a tremendous amount of information. Although I have been painting for 35 years, along with achieving a MFA in painting & drawing, your information lays out the fine details and techniques which are rarely taught in today’s universities. It is great for teaching, as well as for use in one’s own studio."
Jenny L. Lasswell, Lasswell Studios, Texas
Hasn’t seen anything like it in 20 years…
"I have been studying art as a hobby for the past twenty years, now retired I am in my third year of a painting course with the "Open College of Art" (Part of the "Open University"). During that time I have never come across such practical information… Thanks for opening another door for me - it was a great package well worth reading again - and again."
Brian Clarke, United Kingdom
Like a treasure…
"What a treasure trove!! My library has several hundred art books and your information seems to be what I have been looking for. Thanks again."
Judith Lancaster, North Carolina
Would have saved him $$$ if he had it sooner…
"I am very grateful for all the wonderful tips and wisdom you have shared. This is a marvelous tool and I’m convinced that it will help make me a better painter. My only regret is not having the information about buying useless art supplies years ago! It would have saved me lots of $$$ to buy more tubes of paint. I wish you continued success and hope you come out with some more goodies shortly. I am on your newsletter list, so I’ll keep my eyes open for more stuff."
David Kreinberg, Maryland
Learned more from this course than her college courses…
"I opened it the second I received it. You taught me more then I learned from the instructors at college! I especially related to the paragraph that said to start to practice with student paint. The last instructor I had insisted we begin with artist quality paints! I can tell you I was set back about $300.00 and I never bought all the required colors for the course! Needless to say I was totally discouraged and dropped the course. No, I didn’t return the paints for a refund. I hope you will be able to help me paint a picture with them…I wish you lived here in So. California so I could take lessons in person. Any way enough with this rambling, Thank you so much for being a level headed guy!"
Karen Dobbs, California
He was so thrilled he wrote his first testimonial ever…
"I am amazed!! I am 58 years old and have never written a testimonial, until now. I have dabbled in art for about 40+ years and have collected many volumes on how to oil paint. 90% are of the "how to" variety. I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the directions that I am getting and thus becoming very suspicious. I ordered your information. I was enthralled!! For the first time someone was telling me WHY, not giving me their opinion! I am going to have a huge yard sale this spring and get rid of several thousand dollars of "useless" art books! Thank you and keep up the terrific work. You will never know how many questions you answered for me."
Wayne Williams, Crestview, FL
Plus, You’ll Understand All The Secrets Of Color
A simple 3 step process to follow to be able to mix any color that you see.
How to easily think about color like an oil painter. When you know how to think properly you can apply this knowledge to any painting you ever create. The main reason you are having problems is because you have never been shown an easy to follow thinking process.
What exactly are the colors I use and why, exactly, do I use them. It’s not guesswork. It’s not because the colors are pretty. It’s an easy to follow reason that you can immediately apply to your own choice of colors to use.
How to properly lighten and darken colors. This way, you can paint objects in their light areas and shadow areas. If you don’t know how to do this, muddy color and you will remain great friends!
The myths about black paint. How to use black or not use black so it will help you achieve the colors you want. And an example of how two of the greatest oil painters could paint side by side-one using black and one not using black and get just the effects they are after.
Easy to follow examples of how to know what paints to use to mix whatever color you want before you even pick up your brushes and start painting.
The two ways for the oil painter to use color with easy to follow examples.
The properties of every color. When you know these properties, you don’t become lost asking yourself "what do I do now?"
What are the best paints for you to purchase so you can easily mix any color you see. This will end your confusion about buying paint and you won’t get confused with the overwhelming choice of paint tubes in an art supply store
Why You Won’t Find This Information Anywhere Else
Many art supply stores are interested in selling you their products, even if you don’t need them. Therefore it’s very hard to get them to cover these lessons at their websites…In the long run, it would cost them money.
This information comes from over 15 years of constant and in depth research.
I am not affiliated with any school, and thus I don’t have to answer to any supervisors or "board members" who are more interested in their status than in their students actually learning.
This course is different because I have experienced, firsthand, my own frustration and the frustration of others while in art school. The wasted money and time without learning much at all.
I experienced the type of teaching that doesn’t work so I know to include only things that will work.
I always knew when I would teach, I would only teach students things that would truly help them paint better. I enjoy teaching classes and watching the students learn and become excited about the information I give them.
Your Guarantee
guaranteeYou Have No Risk. No Worries About "Am I getting Taken?" or "Is This For Real"
Your success in using The Insider Guide To The Secrets Of Oil Painting is completely guaranteed. In fact, here's my 100% Better-Than-Risk-Free-Take-it-To-The-Bank Guarantee:
There is no risk to you to get this information. Buy it now and decide later as it is 100% guaranteed. If you do not find the information useful, simply return the course to us and we will refund your purchase price. Take 90 days to decide if need be.
Try and get an expensive oil painting class to give you that guarantee.
Try to enroll for a class and ask them, "If at the end of the course, if I don't feel I learned anything can I have my money back?" See what they say when they stop laughing.
That means you can try out all the instruction at my risk, while you see if they help you or not. And if they don't produce, I honestly want you to ask for your money back.
There is absolutely no risk, whatsoever on your part. The burden to deliver is entirely on me. If you don't learn to oil paint, or just improve your paintings, I'm the loser, not you.
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What Do You Get
Your home study course is all 3 of my individual manuals of the answers and instruction you are looking for. It is all 3 of my individual manuals in one complete package.
You can get it in 2 versions:
1) You can get it as an immediate download (working on both a mac and windows computer) - the Silver Version
2) You can get the manuals shipped to your home on a DVD containing video tutorials as well - the Gold Version
And, here are some images of the course
The Secrets Of Oil Painting Techniques
Made-Easy
oil painting techniques manual cover
oil painting techniques sample pic 1oil painting techniques manual sample pic 2oil painting techniques manual sample pic 3
oil painting techniques manual sample pic 4oil painting techniques manual sample pic 5oil painting techniques manual sample pic 6
oil painting techniques manual sample pic 7oil painting techniques manual sample pic 8oil painting techniques manual sample pic 9
236 pages of all the information about oil painting techniques you will ever need.
The Secrets Of Oil Painting Supplies
Made-Easy
oil painting supplies manual
oil painting supplies manual pic 1oil painting supplies manual pic 2oil painting supplies manual pic 3
oil painting supplies manual pic 4oil painting supplies manual pic 5
186 pages of all the information about oil painting supplies you will ever need.
(the printed version of the manual is black and white)
The Secrets Of Color Mixing Made-Easy
oil painting color manual
oil painting color manual pic 1oil painting color manual pic 2
oil painting manual pic 3oil painting color manual pic 4
100 pages of all the information about color mixing you will ever need.
So What's The Bottom Line?
Note: This home study course may be a three manual set, but it is more than that. It is my personal notes on instruction compiled from over 15 years of research, and hard work.
The value is in the hard to find information it contains as well as how it is arranged and written. As you read from other customers, many value it more than their college art lessons.
This course is only available through this website.
I used to charge over $150 an hour for private lessons. So at bare bones minimum you’re getting hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of oil painting instruction at your disposal.
But, I’m not going to charge you anywhere near the amount of most classes. If I did that, only wealthier people could afford my lessons. But, I am not going to give them away either. After all it is my knowledge and research of over 15 years
So in order to have as many people as possible able to comfortably invest in this knowledge, and to make it an easy decision for you, I have decided to run a marketing test and price my home study course starting at
1) immediately downloadable version - Regularly $97- Order by , only $69.99 $35
PROMOTION NOW ON
2) DVD Version - Regularly $147 - Order by , only $97 $49 - this version includes a bonus of 55 short video tutorials, sample images of which are shown below
oil painting tutorialsThese tutorials are 2 1/2 hours of me going over the most important points of the course right on your computer screen. They work on a PC or Mac computer.
Adding this option will make the home study course a complete DVD set
Both well within the reach of someone who would go to an art store to buy their supplies.
If you implement what I talk about in the course and put the information to use, this small investment will generate you multiple times as much - in pleasure, and admiration of others - with the creations you can make, and what others will think of you when they see what an artist you have become.
What's more, your investment is completely risk-free - since I offer a simple 90 day money back guarantee. If you find the course isn't for you within 90 days of purchase, then email me for a full refund or return the items I sent you in the mail and you will receive a refund then.
If you realize that these oil painting lessons could easily sell for hundreds of dollars. In fact if you just take a look at the prices of other art lessons right on the internet you will see what I mean.
Here are some sample listings of workshops and classes taken right from the internet. You can see the days and hours the classes meet and the high prices of them.
Actual listings of OTHER workshops and classes
and their prices
You can see the days and hours the classes meet and the high prices of them.
Sat. - Sun. 10:00am - 6:00pm Cost: $225.
Wed, 2pm - 6:30pm, Wed, 6:30pm -10pm Course Fee: $555. Plus a non-refundable deposit of $100 per workshop and Tuition is $275 for each class.
The school I attended in New York City charges almost $6000 for one class per year!
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Now You Have A Choice - Please Choose Wisely!
I'm presenting you here and now with a simple choice.
You have an opportunity not only to discover the keys to mastering your oil painting techniques (as discussed in my 236 page course The Secrets of Oil Painting Techniques Made-Easy), but to master everything about your supplies as well (with my course The Secrets of Oil Painting Supplies Made-Easy) and to have the knowledge to mix any color you want from now on (as discussed in my course The Secrets of Color Mixing Made-Easy),
Sadly, over 90% of the visitors to this site will read to the end and then disappear, without investing in themselves. These people want what the other 2% - 5% also want - to learn to oil paint and paint better paintings - but they weren't willing to make that small investment in themselves and their passion that would propel them to their desired goal.
Unfortunately, that's just a reflection of life. 90% of people we meet in life really just want to stay in their comfort zones, and only a small minority actually take action to change their lives for the better.
The other 2% - 5% of my visitors - I'd like to count you among these - are smart enough to recognize that they need to take action to make the change.
So please make your choice, and I'll hopefully see you shortly as a customer!...
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Ethan Semmel
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Friday, September 9, 2011
Portrait lesson
Portrait - a direction of the fine arts, devoted to draw face of certain person or group of people - externally similar image of person, its customs, internal attitude, a vital spirit. How to draw portrait correctly? Alongside with a unique individual originality the portraitist should reveal attributes of an epoch and the social environment. The artist being constantly in searches of new decisions, chooses the most valuable compositions with various effects of illumination and integrity of work. Owing to color to riches of shades, colors come to life under action of light. In this clause it is presented small lesson drawing portrait, how to draw portrait, the secrets of drawing face a special place development of technics of figure, methods of drawing, a proportion of the person borrows, harmony and unity of colour - here brief description of a fine art portrait. During drawing face of person the artist gradually finds new colour scores, gradation shades, light in a picture should open the set theme. How to draw portrait on the one hand it it is not too difficult if to observe certain rules of drawing, it is difficult to draw a portrait if these rules not to observe or absolutely about them nothing the nobility. Some portrait artists cover the inability precisely to transfer similarity refusing with the ostensibly vision, sometimes they after the portrait drawn by them and tell "I so I see". Some artists of the similar plan became well-known, and their portraits cost today millions dollars.
As the portrait is drawn, all this is reached owing to skilful use of art receptions and labour-consuming creative work in which the art portrait is born, is thin, the masterful psychological portrait of the person registered by soft tones. Constantly being in search correct, it is difficult carried out decisions, the artist is in at times in silent reflection, trying to open the God created secrets of human nature. The richer internal understanding of artist of beauty of the world, an immense image of the person, the it is more ennobled its mind, are especially accessible to it various secrets of soul of the person. The artist should listen attentively to soul alive nature of the person, trying to catch the invisible shades in drawing face, the latent looks to generalize character traits.
We draw, the main task which faces to the beginning artist it deeply to study a nature and to try, it is as much as possible to draw from life, as such approach yields in the big degree positive results in knowledge as the portrait is drawn.
How to draw a portrait , it is frequent in portrait painting, the basic attention the artist gives on features, proportions of drawing face, arrangement of details of person, volume that will help to approach further similarity of a portrait to the original. We draw eyes and eyebrowes the main thing correctly to estimate proportions of eyes concerning with other parts of the person, as though as a whole, one eye can be more on the size of another depending on turn of a head, it is very important details of the person expressing all figurativeness and a private world of the person, necessary to consider a direction of a sight. It will be in addition separately very useful to draw figures of eyes. We draw a nose, this juicy detail of the person happens the different sizes, rounded off edges force down it from sense, it is necessary to measure width of a nose in relation to length of eyes, often width of a nose happens on much wider lengths of an eye, it is very difficult to catch the true size of a nose, both on length, and on width, all this is comprehended in trainings where it is possible to draw figures of a nose. We draw lips, at first sight it seems that it is an easy detail of the person, lips happen narrow on width, average and chubby especially should be considered it in relation to the certain person, considering still listance lips from a nose which happens a miscellaneous, be trained representing various figures of lips. In due course, if more often to draw from life the person of the person, it is possible to overcome these difficulties with correct proportions. How to draw realistic faces? why portrait so is difficult for drawing?, the face of person consists of different details of eyes, eyebrows, a nose, a chin and a face form and at each person these
components have the various sizes and at each person they the unique, having thousand and millions combinations. It is necessary to give special attention for the sizes of details of the person concerning other parts if in drawing of the person all it to observe similarity to the original positive will be obligatory. If beginning artist acquires such principle of drawing of a portrait, in a consequence developing its everyday trainings draw realistic faces, drawing person in various turns of a head, observing volume and drawing face proportions, it will necessarily yield positive result in the nearest future. Some teachers who to train draw a portrait, tell that in a portrait this main thing volume, correct shading and it is not
necessary to pay attention to similarity of drawing faces, actually it is not correct, it is possible to agree with it if we for example draw a jug or other similar subject strict similarity here it is not so important. As to a portrait the person drawn should be recognised. To draw a portrait without similarity empty employment.
As the portrait is drawn, all this is reached owing to skilful use of art receptions and labour-consuming creative work in which the art portrait is born, is thin, the masterful psychological portrait of the person registered by soft tones. Constantly being in search correct, it is difficult carried out decisions, the artist is in at times in silent reflection, trying to open the God created secrets of human nature. The richer internal understanding of artist of beauty of the world, an immense image of the person, the it is more ennobled its mind, are especially accessible to it various secrets of soul of the person. The artist should listen attentively to soul alive nature of the person, trying to catch the invisible shades in drawing face, the latent looks to generalize character traits.
We draw, the main task which faces to the beginning artist it deeply to study a nature and to try, it is as much as possible to draw from life, as such approach yields in the big degree positive results in knowledge as the portrait is drawn.
How to draw a portrait , it is frequent in portrait painting, the basic attention the artist gives on features, proportions of drawing face, arrangement of details of person, volume that will help to approach further similarity of a portrait to the original. We draw eyes and eyebrowes the main thing correctly to estimate proportions of eyes concerning with other parts of the person, as though as a whole, one eye can be more on the size of another depending on turn of a head, it is very important details of the person expressing all figurativeness and a private world of the person, necessary to consider a direction of a sight. It will be in addition separately very useful to draw figures of eyes. We draw a nose, this juicy detail of the person happens the different sizes, rounded off edges force down it from sense, it is necessary to measure width of a nose in relation to length of eyes, often width of a nose happens on much wider lengths of an eye, it is very difficult to catch the true size of a nose, both on length, and on width, all this is comprehended in trainings where it is possible to draw figures of a nose. We draw lips, at first sight it seems that it is an easy detail of the person, lips happen narrow on width, average and chubby especially should be considered it in relation to the certain person, considering still listance lips from a nose which happens a miscellaneous, be trained representing various figures of lips. In due course, if more often to draw from life the person of the person, it is possible to overcome these difficulties with correct proportions. How to draw realistic faces? why portrait so is difficult for drawing?, the face of person consists of different details of eyes, eyebrows, a nose, a chin and a face form and at each person these
components have the various sizes and at each person they the unique, having thousand and millions combinations. It is necessary to give special attention for the sizes of details of the person concerning other parts if in drawing of the person all it to observe similarity to the original positive will be obligatory. If beginning artist acquires such principle of drawing of a portrait, in a consequence developing its everyday trainings draw realistic faces, drawing person in various turns of a head, observing volume and drawing face proportions, it will necessarily yield positive result in the nearest future. Some teachers who to train draw a portrait, tell that in a portrait this main thing volume, correct shading and it is not
necessary to pay attention to similarity of drawing faces, actually it is not correct, it is possible to agree with it if we for example draw a jug or other similar subject strict similarity here it is not so important. As to a portrait the person drawn should be recognised. To draw a portrait without similarity empty employment.
still life by igor
On page oil painting still life of fruits are presented: hand painted picture of grapes, art - painting - romantic still-life, dutch style still-life art (a kind of easel painting) this image of inanimate objects (subjects of a daily life, fruit, flowers, game, etc.) As a rule artists try to transfer the invoice and colors of subjects as it is possible more naturally and more precisely, to display fruit of the spirit picture for love with art sense. Contemporary fruit oil painting Dutch style still-life is a great opening by artists of beauty of the world, unique creations of nature, prophetic with their unique variety and riches. Artist shows to spectator on canvas various subjects collected by it, uniting them around of the core and the main thing. Still-life painting of fruit, it is composite spread out, beautiful on color scale exotic fruits in commonwealth about a patch of light glass and metal utensils which reflexes play pleasant visual perception. It is yellow orange peaches, mature plums in are mixed with picturesque grapes and grapevines with the twirled moustaches and leaves, supplement composite all picture. Easy highlight in many still life of fruits it certainly the beautiful butterfly or the fly written very convincingly, that would be desirable them to touch. Always it is very
perfectly looked still life pictures of baskets of fruits, are vividly looked fruit in beautiful a patch of light vases. The main task of artists of a still-life to reveal material features of various subjects in conditions of the set illumination, selecting the most valuable. Owing to color riches, colors come to life under action of light and the type of a magnificent still life of fruits painting is gradually developed Distinctive features of the Dutch still-life are its small sizes as basically people from average estate bought them for an ornament, sometimes prosperous peasants. Contents of a still-life were emphasized by extremely exact detailed elaboration of a material world, transfer of real forms, separate fragments of a picture very honesty and diligently left, subjects in a still-life were represented in a celebratory manner of perception, graceful luxury and shine, quiet contemplation, all this corresponded refined to taste of Dutchs. The Great value was given to the composite decision, a manner of a writing of pictures by sufficient confidence of knowledge of the business and love to the craft, grinded by patience and diligence that was national feature of the Dutch artists. Main a problem of the Dutch artists was: To involve the spectator with unusual beauty of a still-life, to develop in the person feeling of perception fine, forcing to think and reflect on beauty of things surrounding them, habitual to a sight of inanimate objects. The person still with since olden days peered into the world of subjects surrounding it, trying to solve secret secrets of a life to display all graceful on a canvas. All this beauty, have superb managed to see Dutch artists and to present all world unusual creations and unsolved secrets of art of a still-life. A still-life this bright expression of the person, to the world of fine things surrounding us and gifts of the mother of the nature. Hand painted picture of grapes with it is thin registered details subjects with a picturesque abundance of others exotic fruit where light falling on subjects, plays on a brilliant surface стекляных vases and metal utensils that gives integrities, unity of construction of a composition and unique fantastic decorative effect of the image. The picture in a beautiful, decorative frame will decorate any интеръер apartments or will serve you as an excellent gift.
perfectly looked still life pictures of baskets of fruits, are vividly looked fruit in beautiful a patch of light vases. The main task of artists of a still-life to reveal material features of various subjects in conditions of the set illumination, selecting the most valuable. Owing to color riches, colors come to life under action of light and the type of a magnificent still life of fruits painting is gradually developed Distinctive features of the Dutch still-life are its small sizes as basically people from average estate bought them for an ornament, sometimes prosperous peasants. Contents of a still-life were emphasized by extremely exact detailed elaboration of a material world, transfer of real forms, separate fragments of a picture very honesty and diligently left, subjects in a still-life were represented in a celebratory manner of perception, graceful luxury and shine, quiet contemplation, all this corresponded refined to taste of Dutchs. The Great value was given to the composite decision, a manner of a writing of pictures by sufficient confidence of knowledge of the business and love to the craft, grinded by patience and diligence that was national feature of the Dutch artists. Main a problem of the Dutch artists was: To involve the spectator with unusual beauty of a still-life, to develop in the person feeling of perception fine, forcing to think and reflect on beauty of things surrounding them, habitual to a sight of inanimate objects. The person still with since olden days peered into the world of subjects surrounding it, trying to solve secret secrets of a life to display all graceful on a canvas. All this beauty, have superb managed to see Dutch artists and to present all world unusual creations and unsolved secrets of art of a still-life. A still-life this bright expression of the person, to the world of fine things surrounding us and gifts of the mother of the nature. Hand painted picture of grapes with it is thin registered details subjects with a picturesque abundance of others exotic fruit where light falling on subjects, plays on a brilliant surface стекляных vases and metal utensils that gives integrities, unity of construction of a composition and unique fantastic decorative effect of the image. The picture in a beautiful, decorative frame will decorate any интеръер apartments or will serve you as an excellent gift.
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