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Acrylic paints are quite a new medium in the world of art if you compare them to the likes of oil paints or watercolours. The paint itself has only been available on a commercial basis since the 1950′s after the acrylic resin which forms the paint was invented by a Dr. Otto Rohm. The medium has been recurrently developed and refined ever since. Many new genres of art were developed after the paint was utilised by the likes of Andy Warhol, who set the standard for ‘pop art’ in the 1960′s. This medium also adheres to attributes of other types of paint deeming it very versatile and perfect for anybody starting out. Art is all about experimentation after all.

Many reputable art suppliers will definitely stock acrylic paints, given their popularity, and they will often vary in price and quality. You can also purchase sets which offer a variety of colours and sometimes include acrylic brushes also, great as an initial starting point for the absolute beginner. It is very easy to manipulate this particular medium given its dexterous qualities. With the addition of water, acrylic paints can be thinned to a consistency that mimics watercolour paints. You can also layer very easily; allowing one layer to dry you can immediately add another on top of it. The only downside to using this particular technique is that unlike watercolours, the colours cannot be blended again once dry. Acrylic paints are water resistant once dry, great for stencils or block colours but not so flexible if you want to continuously blend colours together. As long as you keep it wet this should not be a problem.

This medium can also be utilised in crafts, not just simply canvas painting. One dry it is permanent, so it is perfect for small projects or painting miniature models and such. Many professionals who use it will have perfected techniques and methods which suit their painting style. As an amateur artist or student of art finding the right brand of acrylic paints and forming your technique and ideas is just as important. Another great attribute to this medium is the immensely quick drying time. A perfect quality for those who are new to arts and crafts, meaning you can work quickly and see the dry finished results straight away. Most sets available will offer a range of colours and of course the more you get used to the medium of acrylic paint, the more adventurous you can be. 

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iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality acrylic paints and other art materials.

The 1950s was the decade in which acrylic paint first became available on a commercial basis. This innovative original paint and the techniques that developed from it gave rise to new forms of art being produced. This medium aided artists in producing work at a much faster rate and made artists like Andy Warhol for instance, rise to fame, with his outlandish new style known as ‘pop art’. In contrast others were hesitant to utilise this new form of painting given that acrylic paints have very unique qualities that are quite different from say oil or watercolour paints.

Acrylic paints have a reduced drying time in comparison to other mediums making it popular amongst professionals and beginners alike. With mediums like oil paints, a large painting can actually take a few weeks to dry. They became popular given that you’d have a dry piece of artwork within 24 hours. For people experimenting with art this was a great quality. Acrylic paints are also resistant to water damage when they are fully dry. In the preservation of artwork this is a great quality, they don’t have the tendency to fade and crack like other mediums. The only disadvantage with this really, is the fact that alterations cannot be made easily once the painting is dry.

Acrylic paints are nowadays widely available at any art suppliers that specialise in art materials. They are also very reasonably priced, and of course like anything you pay more for quality. If you are a beginner acrylic paint sets are available which cater for basic acrylic artwork and often come in a range of colours. The more professional artist will know what they want and will probably already have a brand in mind.

Another great quality is that the paint itself may be thinned by using water, in contrast to the turpentine and other toxins you may use with oil paints. This means brush cleaning is very simple and much less time consuming. This medium lends itself to many techniques, so if you are a budding artist it gives you the time to explore different techniques to find out what works well for you. Acrylic paints are great for block colour and work very well on canvas. Stencilling and simple designs are popular amongst beginners as you can often achieve successful results right away. Acrylic paints also adhere to qualities of watercolour and oil paint. They can be manipulated in similar ways so are a good starting point if you have just developed an interest in painting. They have a unique finish and if you do use them you will soon realise why they became such a popular paint. Of course, it comes down to preference in the end, so definitely experiment with the medium and find a style that suits you. 

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iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality  <a href=”http://iartsupplies.co.uk/van-gogh-colour-quality/acrylic-paint/”>acrylic paints</a>  and other art materials.

Oil paints and watercolours have been used as an art medium for centuries now, while acrylic paint being invented in the 20th century is a fairly new medium. It only became available on a commercial basis in the 1950′s after a gentleman named Otto Rohm; a Doctor in fact, invented acrylic resin. This acrylic resin quickly developed into the paint form we know it as today. The paint itself was very soon adapted to become water-soluble allowing for artists to explore various techniques within the medium, as the paint may be thinned using water. Once dry though it is not possible to rehydrate any washes applied. Its water-soluble nature means acrylic brushes can be washed with water before the paint has had any time to dry. This helps in keeping the costs low, as no cleaning fluids, for instance turpentine, need to be used.

Acrylic paint can also be diluted as much or as little as preferred, for a budding artist this is perfect in keeping material costs low as the dilution means you are using less paint. If you dilute the paint a considerable amount it can be used much like watercolour paint, again this is great practise for a beginner exploring the versatility of art mediums. It is also handy to note that acrylic paint dries very rapidly indeed, normally in around 20 minutes or so, given the surrounding environment. So the medium itself is not for everyone especially those who like to take considerable amounts of time over their work. On the other hand the drying time is favourable when building up paint layers and is also great if you enjoy working quickly.  Another important factor to bear in mind when actually utilising acrylic paint is that it does darken upon drying so it is important to consider this when mixing colours.

In general most surfaces will suffice when it comes to using acrylic paint. Although it does adhere well to surfaces with a hint of texture and for best results artists usually prefer to stick to this method. Hardboard, canvas and textured paper are considered good options and there are many variations available for amateur and professional painters. Obviously another item to consider is the brush you will use to create your work of art. Brushes are available specific to acrylic paint and it is usually advisable to choose these options when working with that medium. Acrylic brushes are typically firmer in comparison to say watercolour brushes, and they tend to be made up of synthetic fibres rather than horse hair. It is recommended to have a general brush and a fine detail brush when you initially delve into the world of acrylic paint as this will give the best results.

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iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality acrylic paint and other art materials.

This article is a guide to stretching paper for watercolour painting, using the traditional ‘gummed tape method’. If you are using paper 356 gsm (260 lb) or less, it is normally considered essential to do this, otherwise the paper is likely to cockle after you paint on it. As an alternative to this method, you can buy commercial paper stretchers, that work in much the same way. However, two advantages the commercial paper stretchers have, is that they don’t take as much getting used to as the gummed tape method, and they allow you to dry the paper with a hair drier, meaning the whole stretching and drying process could take minutes instead of hours. But for this article, we will use the gummed tape method.

Leave the paper to soak in a tray of cold water for one minute. This causes the paper fibres to expand. Don’t use hot water or soak the paper for too long, as this can cause the paper to lose some of its sizing. It is important that the paper is equally wet, front and back, and is evenly soaked throughout.
Lift the paper out the water, shaking off any excess, and place on a towel. Gently pat the paper with a towel to finish removing excess water. Don’t over dry it. We need to keep the paper damp for now.
Place the damp paper on a clean wooden board, at least 12mm thick. Thin board, such as hard-board, may be too weak to keep straight during the stretching process.
Gently rub a sponge over the paper to smooth it over, and remove further excess patches of water.
Stick a moistened strip of gummed tape along each edge of the paper. Try to use tape at least a couple of inches wide, so that it can withstand the stretching process. For very large sheets of paper, over 18 inches square, at least 3 inches wide would be better. Another thing to note: Keep the reel of tape dry. If the reel gets wet, it becomes useless, and has to be thrown away. Use a different sponge for moistening the strips of tape, to the one you use to smooth the paper over. You don’t want to be smoothing over sheets of watercolour paper with a sponge that has glue in it. Also, don’t over moisten the tape, or you could remove the gum.
Have roughly a third of the tapes width on the paper, and two thirds holding it to the board. Each of the four strips should be at least a couple of inches longer than the edge of the paper they are holding. Wipe off any excess water and gum from the edges of the paper, and run your finger along the edge, to ensure the paper is properly held down along each edge, and that any air bubbles are squashed flat.
As an additional measure, you may want to stick some drawing pins along the edge of the paper, where the tape overlaps the papers edge. This helps the tape hold on to the paper, and prevents the paper pulling away from the tape as it dries.
Leave in normal room conditions to dry overnight, keeping the board lying down flat, and away from sunlight and heat sources such as radiators. As the water evaporates, the paper will be unable to shrink due to the tape holding it in place, and therefore the paper fibres will stretch, meaning that when you start painting on it with watery watercolours, the paper should retain its flatness.

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Edgeworth Johnstone is a contemporary artist from Muswell Hill, North London, UK. He specialises in expressionist figurative paintings, but also makes other art work such as drawings and block prints. Browse the online gallery on his website for affordable original art work.

Review on artist Ruslan Korostenskij’s paintings written as part of the Forum project

 Any established artist once experiences the beginning. This beginning is frequently accompanied by all sorts of difficulties, yet always by anticipation and strife to succeed. Whichever is stronger, depends on the personality of the artist.

 The Young Artists Forum, which finished its work in Zaporizzhia (Ukraine) last month, revealed an emerging gemstone in the Ukrainian painting world. Ruslan Korostenskij was unanimously acknowledged the most expressive and promising artist, and his skill and passion about art should reserve a place for his name to be placed among recognized artists of Ukraine and beyond.

 The Forum featured several works of the artist, most of which were still lifes, performed in an irreproachable academic technique yet expressive enough to preserve the author’s individuality. All still lifes can be characterized as bearing an air of solemnity, self-assured posture, inviting the viewer to immerse into a semi-meditative state to contemplate the depth of colour, continuity of images and transcendental volume. The works look monolith; following classical painting tradition, the artist takes care of not to disrupt the emotion by a careless stroke. Korostenskij seems to incorporate every detail which only contributes to the feeling of the completeness of the work. His still-life “Soft Day” (1989), performed in watercolours, turns a daily image into poetic representation by scrupulous attention not merely to the shape and colour, but also the texture of the fruit, applying lightly a tint of white to produce a touch of levity. The effect is purely an impressionistic one.

 Despite his success in watercolours, the artist apparently gives preference to oils as evidenced by the number of works performed in this medium. Here the artist again thoroughly considers the materials and applies them in such a way that images embody reservedness and emotional fullness, rest and dynamic energy wave absorbing the painting into one whole. Using contrast as key to his composition and colour in “The Blue Grrapes” (1993), the artist nevertheless creates a harmonious, voluminous portrayal. His work with black is virtuoso.  The effect produced is very masculine, yet sensual, lacking any roughness. One nearly feels placed in a darkened hall-room of an age-old mansion. In this relatively recent work the artist as if summarizes his experience he gained in studying paintings done in realist style.

 Several words have to be mentioned about a still different artist’s technique. The “Sicilian Apples” (1990), the largest work to date, stands out of the entire collection both in terms of technique and genre. Korostenskij moves away from realism, but only in order to incorporate more impressionist notes into the painting, skillfully balancing in between. He again, proves his mastery in working with shades of colour. The painting is very dynamic, even stormy, sustained only by the central image, apples, composed in a way somewhat reminiscent of a bunch of grapes. The artist does not spare temperament and applies strong, powerful strokes of varying length and directed so as to create an impression of a restless, fitful wind. Technically the work is different, it is no longer stifled by the starched academicism, and suddenly one understands that this is perhaps the new dimension the artist has discovered for himself. 

This Forum has given us a talented artist whose work, it is hoped, will continue to explore the infinite possibilities of paint.

October 1997

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I just want to tell you about a brand new product that has just come onto the market and is just fantastic if you’re a Watercolourist.

Like all painting mediums they all have their problems and watercolour is no exception. One of the problems with watercolours is the limited surfaces you can paint on; you are always limited to watercolur paper. Now don’t get me wrong here, painting on watercolour paper isn’t a massive problem, as their is some fantastic paper’s out their, and it does make it quite easy, in fact that’s why painting in watercolour is so popular with beginner artists, as the equipment needed to start painting is so simple, it could be as little as 1 tube of paint, 1 brush, some paper and a jar for some water, how simple is that. But as you move on and get better, well more experienced, sometimes you’d like the opportunity to paint on a different substrate, just now and again you would like to try something new, something different.

As an artist by nature you are a creative person, so sometimes you want to let your artistic juices flow and not be tied to the same paper, again and again. Well i have just come across this brand new product from the American Watercolourist Daniel Smith. This American company has created the first Watercolour Ground that i have heard of. It is best described as being just like a gesso, it looks like gesso and you apply it in pretty much the same manner, but the main difference is you can apply this ground to almost any surface. So what’s the difference i hear you ask from just any old gesso on the market, why don’t i just paint my old gesso onto a piece of cardboard and paint onto that, surely it’ll do the same thing. Well what your old gesso doesn’t do is dry to a HP paper textured finish, that’s right once this ground dries it will look and feel just like a sheet of HP medium texture watercolour paper. The ground creates a soft, absorbent watercolour surface with a slightly cottony texture that’s similar to cold press paper.

It is recommended that you use the watercolour ground straight from the container. It has a thick, brushable consistency. For best results use a soft-haired synthetic brush for a smooth finish or a hog bristle brush for a more textured finish. Since the ground is pigmented with Titanium White Pigment, one coat will cover most surfaces, however very absorbent surfaces such as unfinished soft wood may require two coats, allowing the first coat to dry properly before adding the second coat, for the best results let your watercolour ground dry and cure for at least 24 hours, this allows it to attain the right degree of absorption, just make sure you wash your brushes immediately after use.

Another problem with watercolours is, if you ruin your painting that’s it, there’s no going back. You tread a very thin line with watercolour, it’s so easy to apply to much water and get the wrong result, a drip or run will just stain your finished painting, and if you use far to much water, your paper acts just like blotting paper and you end up with something that resembles cabbages, and the worst thing is you can’t overpaint with watercolour and start again, well not until now that is. This new ground lets you cover up any unfortunate mistakes; it gives you a second chance, a nice security blanket enabling you to rescue any of your old unseen paintings. It works because the ground is pigmented with titanium white and dries to a watercolour paper finish; you just apply it directly over any unwanted areas, leave it 24hrs then start again, because what is left is almost like a fresh piece of unpainted paper, fantastic.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-articles/daniel-smith-watercolour-ground-something-new-for-watercolours-4836815.html

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For all your art supplies please consider using Paint & ART as your first port of call. We offer a wide and comprehensive range of art supplies; everything a busy artist might need. We offer products from some of the most respected and trusted manufacturers in the business. http://www.paintandart.com is an online source for not only quality art supplies but also information; we offer hints and tips on problems that many artists face daily, we have a regular updated blog giving ideas and advice on products and techniques.

We have just opened a retail shop in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, for details and directions take a look at the shops website http://www.artsupplieshuddersfield.co.uk

The vision for Paint & ART is something quite different from your run of-the-mill art shop. Most art shops are quite boring places to be in, they’re just shops that happen to sell art supplies; they may as well be selling table cloths or spanners. We feel that an art shop needs to be so much more; it needs to be a place of inspiration. Artists are by their nature, creative people, so they desire inspiration; they are always looking for something to inspire them, that little thing that stands out, something that gives them that spark of an idea. That’s the feeling I’m hoping to create in our shop, we want an art shop where customers can buy their products from, but at the same time be totally inspired, I want them to come and hang out and just be immersed in the whole experience of the shop, look at the different things going on, look at the art on display, talk about art and ask for advice on the products they are looking to buy.

Probably one of the most important aspects of choosing watercolour paper is the surface texture as this will either help you or hinder you with your watercolour painting. Watercolour paper is divided into three categories according to the surface of the paper: Rough, Hot-Pressed (HP), and Cold-Pressed (NOT).

Rough watercolor paper, as you’d expect from the name has the most textured surface, or most prominent tooth. It’s described as having a pebbly surface with a series of irregular rounded shapes just like a pebbled beach. When using rough paper the paint from a very watery wash tends to collect in the indentations in the paper, creating a grainy effect when the paint dries. Alternately if you dry brush lightly across the surface, you’ll apply paint only to the raised parts of the paper, the paint will only touch the tops of the ridges and not in the indentations. Rough paper is generally not a good paper for painting fine detail, but is excellent for a loose, more expressive style of painting.

HP stands for “Hot Pressed” and is the smoothest paper and is suitable for high detail work. Hot-pressed watercolour paper has a smooth surface with almost no tooth. Its smooth surface is ideal for painting fine detail and for even washes of colour. HP is not an ideal surface for beginners as they sometimes have problems with the paint sliding around on the smooth surface.

Cold-pressed watercolor paper is sometimes called “NOT” (as in “not hot pressed”). It’s a slightly textured paper and is the most popular as it’s suitable for most types of work. Cold-pressed paper is a medium paper, in between Rough and Hot-pressed paper and having a slightly textured surface. Cold-pressed paper is the most commonly used Watercolour paper as it allows for a good amount of fine detail work while also having enough texture to allow a more loose expressive style of painting.

The thickness of a sheet of watercolour paper is measured by its weight. So the greater the weight, the thicker the paper. Watercolour paper is measured in either (lb) pounds per ream or (gsm) grams per square meter. Most papers have both weights advertised as standard. There are 4 standard weights of watercolour paper, these are 90 lb (190 gsm), 140 lb (300 gsm), 260 lb (356 gsm), and 300 lb (638 gsm).

When you use a thinner paper it needs to be stretched, this is done to prevent the paper from buckling or warping when you paint on it. How thick the paper needs to be before it will start buckling does depend on how wet you tend to make the paper as you paint. The best way to decide which is the best weight of paper for your painting style is to experiment with different weights to see, but it’s likely you’ll find that paper with a weight of 140 lb (300 gsm) or less needs to be pre-stretched.

How to pre-stretch Watercolour paper: If you have chosen a paper of 140lb (300gsm) or less then the chances are you will need to pre-stretch your paper. The reason for pre-stretching is with the lighter weight papers when you apply water it moves and buckles, or “Cockling”. This happens when the application of water when painting, will cause one side of the paper to expand slightly, the other side will remain dry and due to the sizing contained within the sheet will not expand. To counteract the papers movement on the wetted side, the paper buckles and warps. This then causes the very unsightly effect of buckling which is not ideal for the finished painting, and is also quite difficult to work with.

1. Immerse your sheet of paper either in a bath of cold water or under a tap for approximately 1 to 2 minutes, this is to allow the fibers in the paper to expand.  Take care when handling your paper, ideally before you start wash your hands thoroughly and don’t touch the area you intend to paint, this is because the paper is fragile when it’s wet and also your finger marks will show up in your wash due to the grease on your fingers.
2. Carefully place your soaked sheet of paper flat on a board.
3. Using gummed tape, stick down all four edges of your paper, you can also staple down your paper but don’t use heavy duty staplers as it will be hard to get the staples out which may result in you damaging your paper.
4. Blot any excess water from your paper, ideally use a clean sponge and leave to dry on a flat surface, a flat surface is preferred otherwise the water will drain to one edge and the paper will dry unevenly.
5. Leave your paper to dry at least for a couple of hours, but ideally over night. When your paper is completely dry it will be stretched tightly on the board and when you apply your wash the paper will not move or buckle again.

All Watercolour paper is made with a difference between the two sides, one side is usually slightly smoother and the other side has a slight hairier texture to it. There isn’t a right and wrong side because which you use would depend on what you require from your watercolor paper. The smoother side of a paper is better if you’re painting a lot of detail, while the hairier side is better if you want to build up colour by using lots of glazes.

The colour of watercolor paper varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and even between the different types of paper made by the same manufacturer. Watercolour paper doesn’t just come in white it can range from a warm, rich cream to a cold, blueish white. The difference in colour tones can sometimes be easy to see, but at times it can be so slight that it is hardly evident even when you have two different sheets of watercolor paper next to one another.

One thing to consider when choosing your watercolour paper is that the different colour tones of paper will affect your paintings, as basically your starting your painting with a glaze, so this will have an impact on your painting. A watercolour paper with a slight cream colour can make your colours appear muddy or dull. A watercolour paper with a blueish tint can give your yellows a greenish appearance. When you are buying your watercolor paper, take its colour tint into consideration just as much as you would its texture and weight.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-articles/a-few-tips-on-watercolour-paper-4836804.html

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For all your art supplies please consider using Paint & ART as your first port of call. We offer a wide and comprehensive range of art supplies; everything a busy artist might need. We offer products from some of the most respected and trusted manufacturers in the business. http://www.paintandart.com is an online source for not only quality art supplies but also information; we offer hints and tips on problems that many artists face daily, we have a regular updated blog giving ideas and advice on products and techniques.

We have just opened a retail shop in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, for details and directions take a look at the shops website http://www.artsupplieshuddersfield.co.uk

The vision for Paint & ART is something quite different from your run of-the-mill art shop. Most art shops are quite boring places to be in, they’re just shops that happen to sell art supplies; they may as well be selling table cloths or spanners. We feel that an art shop needs to be so much more; it needs to be a place of inspiration. Artists are by their nature, creative people, so they desire inspiration; they are always looking for something to inspire them, that little thing that stands out, something that gives them that spark of an idea. That’s the feeling I’m hoping to create in our shop, we want an art shop where customers can buy their products from, but at the same time be totally inspired, I want them to come and hang out and just be immersed in the whole experience of the shop, look at the different things going on, look at the art on display, talk about art and ask for advice on the products they are looking to buy.

Acrylic paint is a relatively new art material, having only become commercially available in the 1950′s following Dr. Otto Rohm’s development of acrylic resin, which formed the basis for the paint. Despite being only used at first as a house paint for interior decorating, acrylic paint was very soon adapted to become water-soluble and started becoming widely used by artists.

The beauty of this art material is that it is water-soluble and can therefore be mixed with water and reduced down to something similar almost to watercolour paints. Equally it can also be used in its standard form and applied very thickly to the canvas or medium for a very intense, rich effect. Acrylic paint will blend well whilst wet, allowing the artist to manipulate their work, correcting mistakes or simply layering the paint. When dry however, it becomes water-resistant and will not bleed or change easily. Thanks to developments in technology and manufacturing, acrylic paint also now benefits from very high levels of viscosity, giving it a great solid texture when used in artwork.

Acrylic paint also possesses the characteristic of being able to bond well to a wide variety of surfaces. This means that it’s a more flexible art material, allowing the artist a greater range of applications and ways to express themselves. This paint is commonly on a variety of other mediums other than canvas and paper, which includes natural materials such as stone and wood. Due to its density, it can also be used literally as a solid material when dry. By layering the paint up to create relief features and textures, an artist’s creation can quite literally extend beyond the surface of the canvas, reaching out to the viewer and becoming a three-dimensional sculpture.

In addition to being versatile enough to be applied to range of surfaces, acrylic paint can also be used very successfully with other art materials such as pencil, chalk, pastel, charcoal and may more. Following this, derivatives of acrylic paint have been developed for all types of application including face painting, fabric painting, screen printing, and airbrushing to name a few.

The use of this paint requires somewhat different techniques than those used with watercolour and oil paints due to its unique physical properties, and can include the following:

Flat painting – the process of layering paint without tonal distinctions, resulting in a very two dimensional aesthetic

Spattering and spraying – flicking and spraying paint onto the canvas or medium to help add atmosphere and mood to the work. It can also help with suggesting more complex textures.

Scraping and rubbing – using flat, blunt objects such as plastic cards, rulers or an artist’s spatula, you can scrape paint across the canvas resulting in some truly beautiful and unique ‘distressed’ and broken textures.

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iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality  acrylic paint and art materials.

The abstract art exists in its most unique and valuable shape in the world today. This is one of the most breathtaking arts in the sphere recently. In the art of abstract painting, several things are supposed to be implemented on a frequent basis. One of them is called as watercolour. Realistically speaking, there are many kinds of water colours available out there which can be regularly used for your oil paintings. For example, if you are seeking the watercolour painting in seven most unique colours, it can be certainly acquired by your abstract painter at any time you long for. Fabulously abstract paintings are really efficient, worthwhile, and versatile paintings. They are very lovable, peaceful, masterful, and creative types of paintings in the world today. 
Generally the abstract painting can be designed and manipulated by using the greatest kinds of abstract art tools and techniques. Most significantly, the water colours can be frequently used for improving your creative art objects all the time. As far as the uniqueness and versatility of your abstract paintings are concerned, you should bear into your own mind that they do have these kinds of traits themselves always. Generally speaking, the abstract art paintings can be accessible in more than enough breathtaking shapes and styles all the time, such as  river, landscape paintings, flower paintings, oil, blue sky, nature, people, cartoons, jungle, mountain, sunset, sunrise, and boat paintings. Greatly they are very loving, creative, and versatile objects which would surely create an immense piece of mental soothe, relaxation, loveliness and attraction into your souls for long time. 
Being an abstract painter, you will always need to implement the best of your skills, competencies, and rational knowledge all the time. Most significantly, it will be absolutely pivotal for you to use your common sense, imaginations and abstractions always. Consequently, you will be affectively able to draw some very unique and versatile kinds of oil paintings for the targeted audiences for all time. Furthermore you will definitely need to enhance your abstract art knowledge by reading several types of articles on the abstract paintings online so that you will be easily able to draw the best abstract art objects and charms for the targeted audiences for all time. 
Fascinatingly hundreds of thousands of people are nowadays making the most of oil paintings nowadays. For that reason, there is a huge demand of the watercolour and oil painting especially in the Europe today. Most imperatively, each type of abstract painting does have a huge worth than the whole lot. We offer you the most unique abstract paintings online.

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Here you will learn more about modern paintings and oil paintings

Painting From Photographs & Sketches – In The Artists Studio

Some artists may say that its not wise to use photographs as reference material for your paintings, but many artists find that this is a valuable additional resource to use in the creation of their original paintings.

There are a few rules of thumb to take into consideration when using photos as reference when working on your art back in your studio:

• It’s better to never slavishly copy a photograph, photos flatten the view, and darken areas so you cannot see the detail
• Photographs are covered by copyright laws, so to closely copy someone else’s photo is not advisable, always use your own
• You can rearrange the elements and composition to suit you, i.e. if you are painting a seascape move the boats around, if you’d like to do a sunset painting but the sun isn’t going down in the right spot move it so it creates a better composition, paint some people or figures into your landscape to create better perspective
• Change the colours, you don’t need to stick to the colours in the photo, use your imagination and pick an interesting colour combination for the scene
• You can lose some of nature’s wonderful colours, shades and tones in a photo, when out on location make a colour swatch of small squares of oil, acrylic, watercolours, pastels or coloured pencil, to show the different shades of colour that make up the scene, create a reference of the dark, mid tones and lighter values for each colour for your painting

Photos are a very useful tool to add to your repertoire of references for your art, used by painters of all skill levels, in addition to sketches they can be very useful in capturing a scene quickly, from different angles, and to show the shape of objects, landmarks etc. to refer to later on back in your studio.

There is nothing better than to spend a day out getting to know the scene, soaking in the atmosphere of your chosen location, really feeling the place before you put brush to canvas, you can make sketches or small studies in oil, acrylic, watercolour, charcoal or coloured pencils, on small stretched canvases, watercolour paper, canvas board or wood panel, or just use your sketchbook.

Take your camera to quickly capture the scene before going back to the studio to work on larger canvases or larger works on paper, incorporating your sketches and small painted studies into the work, happy painting!

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Stella Dunkley Contemporary Artist
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