Beginner Artists, Or What I Wish I Knew When I Started

In the last few years, I have found that I get so excited when I hear about a friend or family member picking up a paintbrush and giving it a try. I love to see the results of their time in front of the canvas, and to hear what they thought of the experience.

Sometimes, their excitement is tinged with sadness- they see things happening on the canvas that is not what they anticipated, and aren’t sure how to correct it. They question if they should have bothered painting in the first place, or if they have the ‘talent’ to paint at all.

Painting is a lifelong learning experience. But those first few pieces of work can often make or break your desire to keep going.

My humbly offered advice to the beginner is is- Material Quality Does Matter.

Paint: Student Grade paint should be kept to elementary grades. It’s an affordable choice, but the affordability is at the cost of pigment, and lots of cheap binders and fillers. The paint will dry darker or not in the color you see. It may be too runny or too thick.

Brushes: When you purchase a set of brushes, give the bristles a gentle tug. Do a bunch of hairs come out in your fingers? Then when you go to paint, those hairs are going to scatter all over your canvas, or worse, splay out and make your marks look unlike what you want. I use cheap brushes often- however, it’s knowing that the loose gestures I want will come at the cost of me picking stray hairs off of wet canvas before it dries. My “good” brushes are my prizes, and are used for deliberate mark making, where the mark counts.

Canvas: Here there is some leeway but again, quality counts. A cheaper canvas will cause you issues right away: The canvas will be loose, and ‘bounce’ too much when you paint, or stretch unevenly causing the whole thing to sag. The tooth (or surface) of the canvas maybe too rough- especially if you are looking to paint in a more realistic smooth style. The stretcher bars may be prone to cracking. And so on and so forth.

Don’t break the bank when learning to paint: Use what is in your budget— but be aware, if the results you seek aren’t happening, ask an artist to review your materials to see if that could be causing some of the issues you are having with your work.

Happy Painting!