Five Ideas That Will Improve Your Painting

Five Things That Will Automatically Make You A Better Painter

Learning to paint takes time. There is lots to learn along the way.

At the Learn To Paint Academy we talk about our 5 Step Painting Process and the Fundamentals of good painting. These are the big things you need to focus on that will make a major difference in your painting skills.

But what about the seemingly small things?

Having taught hundreds of people in workshops over a decade now I have observed a few very common issues that many beginners have. And it's holding themselves back from really improving with their painting. These are easy to overcome once you are aware of them.

From observation here are five things you can change in your painting today that will make you a better painter:

1/ Not Using Enough Paint

This is the most common issue I see in workshops.

People don't use enough paint. They don't squeeze enough paint out on the palette.

This is a real issue because if we are going to learn to become good painters then the first thing we need is to have enough paint to push around the surface we are painting on. You need plenty of paint :)

I can't tell you how many students squeeze out tiny dobs of paint and are expecting to paint a 16 x 20" inch canvas with it.

If you are using acrylic paint and you only squeeze out a little dob of paint it will be dry before you even start to mix paint.

The other issue is when you mix a colour chances are good you will not be mixing anywhere near enough for the area of the painting you are trying to cover. So you run out of the mix. Then you have to squeeze out more paint and try and mix the same colour again. Trying to match it then becomes a real challenge.

Now I suspect the reason people don't put out enough paint is they are trying to economise. They are worried that if they put out to much paint they might waste some.

I totally get it. Paint is expensive hence part of the reason I recommend a limited palette.

But if you don't have enough paint on your palette to paint with then painting becomes an almost impossible challenge.

Use more paint!

2/ Palette Management

The next thing you can do to really improve your painting, and in particular your colour mixing, is to use a palette management system.

Most of the people I have had in my workshops, and I did this too when I started, have their palette looking like a dog's breakfast in no time. It's all over the place.

They have no system for managing their palette.

In the Moore Method of Painting 2.0 course I go through this in some detail.

First you want to organise where you squeeze out your paint. We teach painting from dark to light so it makes sense to organise your palette this way.

Across the top of your palette you want to put your Blue colours first (working left to right), then your reds, then yellows. These are the base colours you will use for 9-% of your painting. Then you put your booster colours and finally white.

Lay out your paint in the same way every time. After you have been doing this for a short period of time it will become second nature.

And then in the mixing area always start with your darks on the left, mid tones in the middle, and lights on the right hand side.

You will find with this small amount of organisation of your palette that you will start to see improvements in your painting.

3/ Colour Mixing Problems

Another big problem I see beginners running in to in my workshops is mixing colour.

When we start mixing colours together we form a puddle of the mixed colour on our palette.

If its not the right colour then we reach for more paint to add to the mix. Do this several times and the puddle of the mixed colour starts to grow larger.

The issue here is that in order to adjust this now larger puddle of paint we need to add even more paint to the puddle. And the puddle grows larger and its harder to make even the slights shift in the colour.

I see this all the time. Students become frustrated with not being able to reach the colour they are looking for.

It's no wonder we end up buying 43 different tubes of paint, right?

The solution is simple. Instead of adding more paint to the puddle, add it to the edge and mix it on the edge. By doing so you need to add less paint to adjust the colour.

And you will end up using less paint.

I demonstrate this in many of the projects within the Moore Method of Painting 2.0

4/ The Colour Relativity Problem

Another big issue I see many students run into is the colour relativity problem.

Colour is relative to the colours its surrounded by. Our eyes perceive colour and how we perceive them is greatly impacted by the colours its next to.

This causes a problem because when we mix colour on the palette it might look right, until we put it on the canvas then it looks completely wrong.

The trick is to mix what you think is right on the palette but then do a small test mark on the canvas. Place the test mark next to the colours it will sit alongside. Use the test mark to judge whether the colour wants to be darker or lighter in value, and whether it wants to be cooler or warmer.

Then once you have made the assessment adjust the mix on your palette.

Then do another test mark on the canvas.

Keep doing this until you have the right mix on your test mark on the canvas. How the colour looks on the palette is only a part of the puzzle. Ultimately it has to look right on the canvas.

5/ Brush Management

One thing I learned early on is that what ever is on your brush is likely to end up on the painting surface.

Yet I have observed that lots of students are not mindful of what paint is on the brush at any point in time.

I used to end up with great big blobs of paint on the brush and it would progressively accumulate the more I mixed. This makes it challenging to get clean colours on to the painting surface.

So I developed the habit of always having paper towel in my left hand, brush in the right. And I constantly pull the brush through the paper towel to wipe off any excess paint.

This one simple idea will make it easier to mix the right colours on your palette, and to place cleaner colours on your surface.

Develop the habit of always wiping the brush clean. It become automatic after awhile and will lead to you getting better results in the long run.

These five ideas might seem like little things but I can assure you they will have a big impact on your overall painting skills.

And the good thing is they do become habits very quickly. You just need conscious awareness of them.

Are you ready to really improve your painting?

If so then in the next 8 weeks you could take a huge step forward with your painting by following along with our 8 Week Home Study Program "Moore Method of Painting 2.0". It takes you through all of the essential knowledge and skills you need to improve.

Take a look at the details at https://www.MMOP2.com