Oil Painting Lessons—How to Learn Oil Painting

Learning to paint with oils can be compared with creating a gourmet meal—first you must have a recipe. But, you ask, doesn't putting oil on canvas require some artistic talent to begin with?  Well…yes and…no. Here's what I mean.

I believe that talent is a gift from our Creator—we are born with certain talents. The trouble is that many of us never discover just what talents we have been given. Blame it on the complications of everyday life. As we mature we take on a load of responsibilities: marriage, family, the career and so on.

And all too often our talents lie dormant…and that's a shame.

You found this article because you were searching for information about oil painting. So right off the bat I realize that you are serious about learning more about the subject of painting with oils. But you may have doubts about your ability to learn this subject. You may be wondering if you have the talent to create strikingly beautiful oil paintings!

Talent vs. Skill

We are born with talents that may or may not be utilized. Do surgeons, architects, lawyers and college professors have talents? Of course they do, but having a talent and making some use of it requires something else—it requires skill—and skills are not God-given, they are learned!

Do you see where I'm going with this? What I am leading to is for you to recognize that regardless of whether you possess any artistic talent—you can learn the skills necessary to be a successful artist!

OK, it isn't as simple as that. Any number of books are available at your local art store, and even on the Internet. I know because over the years I bought a stack of them. You see, I believe that my talent is as a writer. But I wanted to paint! And I wanted to be good at it!

Where do your talents lie?

Writing is a fulfilling pursuit for me. And I took that talent and coupled it with the skills I needed to be a good writer. But if I can develop skill as a writer, then I can certainly develop skill as an artist. But creating an oil painting takes time and I was impatient. I wanted instant results—so I packed up my tubes of oil and my brushes and tucked them away. I turned to photography, and when digital photography came along I got that instant gratification I was seeking.

But something was still missing. It took a trip to the NC Museum of Art to awaken the muse in me. As I stood before the works of Monet, Degas and Renoir I began to feel a sense of excitement!  Shortly after returning home I pulled out my painting supplies, and the first thing I did was to locate my sketch pad.

I was shocked to see what I had created! Sketches in charcoal and colored pencil were actually pretty good. They were dated 1996—it was time to add new life to my sketch pad so I set about drawing a scene I photographed a few months before at a marina along the North Carolina coast.

Yes…I thought. I do indeed have the basic talent but converting a raw sketch to canvas is another matter. This would take skill, and just like you I began to search the Internet. I "Googled" the keywords, "learn to paint with oils." You probably used similar words to find this article.

I found an abundance of courses, most of which sounded like they would provide me with what I needed. I looked through a collection of oils I  completed years ago and stored in a closet. It was apparent that what I needed most was a complete course that took me by the hand, step-by-step so I could unlearn what I knew and could start from scratch.

I found such a course by a very well-known artist whose teaching has helped literally thousands of struggling artists like me. I'd like to share a little about this chap and what he is offering. I have put together a blog with more information. Please take a moment to visit my blog. <a rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link/4061413']);" href=http://learning-oil-painting.blogspot.com/>Visit Don's Blog</a>