One of the most common items seen on a person’s bucket list is the desire to “learn to paint.” An ancient and beloved form of art, painting requires immense skill and years of practice, which can be intimidating to most people starting off. Malika Garrett, a painter with over 40 years of experience, understands the frightening task of first learning to paint but encourages all potential painters to find their courage and begin, as there is no time like the present. For those ready to check painting off their bucket list, Malika Garrett offers the following advice to anyone picking up a brush for the first time.
Prep Your Canvas
A frequently overlooked step; it is essential to prep your canvas before you paint. Starting off as a new artist and making a habit of prepping your canvas will make you a better artist in the long run as you will learn how to paint on a smoother, less absorbent canvas. When using a raw canvas, you may find it difficult to paint over the rough texture precisely, and overall, you will be losing paint to the canvas.
When Mixing Colors
New artists frequently make the mistake of believing that to achieve their desired color, they need to mix a multitude of colors. Mixing 4 or 5 colors only wastes expensive paint and gives the artists a muddy result. It is recommended that new artists paint with a limited palette of colors, to slowly gain experience mixing colors before striving to paint with a full palette. Begin by painting with only three prime colors on your palette; by doing so, you will learn the importance of the color wheel and mixing ratios of paint.
Brushes and Palette Knives
When starting out, many artists go to the art store and leave with shopping bags full of a variety of expensive brushes, paints, and canvases. While these are all excellent tools for an artist, an outstanding and often passed over tool is the palette knife. With a palette knife, you can achieve far sharper lines than the average brush while also adding texture to your canvas. When first learning to paint, strive to use a variety of tools to learn what suits you and your art best.
Get Outside Your Comfort Zone
Many people believe that to be a great artist, they need to immediately create their own painting style and continuously paint one subject. For Georgia O’Keeffe, her subject was flowers, and for Salvador Dali, his was clocks. However, these artists had years of experience painting a wide variety of subjects before focusing on the subject they’re known for. When first learning to paint, artists must try their hand at landscape, portrait, and object painting to learn the basics in various categories before choosing their subject.
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