Series of small paintings

In South Australia we have just been going through spring season and I had some blue-violet irises blooming so I thought they would be a good subject to paint. I took a few different photos of the flowers and then began a small painting on stretched canvas. I thought the colours were unusual because they were different shades of blue turning to a majenta shade. I tried to capture this colour variation in the painting.
In the photograph the background colour was trees and tall grass and I thought these things were distracting to the main focus of the painting so I intentionally painted a plain dark background to enhance the bright colours of the flowers and bring out the brilliant colour contrasts. Sadly the flowers didn't bloom for long but now there is an image of the beautiful flowers that will. This small painting will be the first of a series of small paintings that I plan on creating. I have since painted another small still life painting which will be listed in the next post. Thanks for reading about the art.

News and updates on new paintings being added to the website

For this post I would like to write about when I add a new painting to my website in addition to giving information to new painters. The paintings will be listed in my website at the following address:
http://www.marilouoloughlin.com

I would like to write some comments about some of the paintings I am doing and thought this blog would be the ideal place to put the comments in. I will begin with a painting that I did awhile back called "Cow Shed" (above)
This painting was painted on location just outside the small town I live in South Australia. The cow shed was located off a dirt road. I was intrigued with this abandoned stone building that used to be a cow shed. I think the building must of been nearly 100 years old. I was interested in painting this because I thought it was very unique and unusual. These old abandoned buildings tell alot about the history of a place. I wanted to "capture" this bit of "time" on canvas before it disappeared forever. The view I was looking at was into the shed and there was a hole on the other side with a view of the outside. The roof of the shed was a type of metal. There was lots of old "junk" laying around inside the shed. I wasn't game to actually go inside the shed for fear of snakes or spiders. I welcome any comments on any of these paintings if you so care to write about it.

What do I paint when I first begin to learn oil painting?

This is the question many people beginning to learn how to paint with oil paints ask. For an answer I recommend you try all the different subject types to get some painting experience with all of them and then you can decide what subject you like the best. The subjects you can choose from are:
Landscape
Seascape
Cityscape
Floral
Still Life
Portrait
*Human (face or whole body)
*Animal
Abstract
Fantasy

There are many more but these will get you started. For beginners I recommend doing a few still life paintings as you can control the lighting and subjects.
Try as many of the different types of painting subjects as you can so you can decide what you enjoy painting the most. Then do your favourite subject.
With my own experience I began doing landscape painting and some still life and floral paintings. I have gradually gone on to doing portraiture. I still love to paint landscapes but would like to get better at doing portraits.
If you find you are trying a new type of subject matter and learn you don't enjoy that particular type of painting then you don't have to keep on doing that subject. Stop and try something else new you haven't done before.
The main thing is you should enjoy the painting process and you will be getting valuable experience too.

Try to practice your art on a regular basis

If you want to get better at your art and painting; you must make time to do your art on a regular basis. Even if it is only 10 or 15 minutes a day, or every other day. Every time you pick up your paint brush and make an effort to paint something you improve and grow your skill. It is as simple as that. You have to practice to get better. The more you practice, the better your painting skills will get, I guarantee it. If you cannot paint, then just practice on drawing some small "thumbnail" pictures, re-arranging items for composition purposes. If you have never heard of a "thumbnail" it is just a small picture size such as 3" x 3"

I have wanted to practice and get better at my portrait painting and have been working on this type of painting recently. I have just finished a painting of "Ken" who is 90 years old. You can see his picture on my website under "portraits". Ken has some unusual colour eyes, extremely light blue colour. I have also seen people with extremely light grey eyes here in Australia. They almost look like albino eyes.

For people just learning to paint just practice very simple subjects to paint. For example just paint some fruit (maybe an apple) under a lamp to get some good shadows and lights. Still life set ups are great because you are in control of everything, including the lighting. You can also paint from a photograph, but pick something simple. Nothing too complicated or difficult or you will get discouraged.
The main thing is to just keep practicing and working on your painting and you will improve. Keep some of your old paintings and look back at the way you have grown with your painting skills, you will be amazed and pleased.

More Handy Useful Tips for Painting in Oils!

In addition to healthy tips for painting in oils; I would like to write about some other useful tips that some people may find handy and be interested in learning about.

First, when laying out your paints on your palette try not to be skimpy or stingy on how much you put down (I know that some of the paints are expensive). Oil paint usually takes several days before it starts to dry out and will stay moist for several days. If you can put your palette (with your paints) in the refrigerator in between painting sessions, this will keep your paints cool and slows down the drying time of the paints. Some colours will dry faster than others. The earth colours will dry quicker such as yellow ochre, burnt sienna, raw sienna.

Another useful tip for painting with oils is always clean your brushes after every painting session. You don't need to buy the expensive brush cleaning stuff for this job, you can just use ordinary dish detergent to clean your brushes with. First clean them with your turp or paint thinner then wash them with your dish detergent. Put a small dab of dish detergent in the palm of your hand and rub your brush in this soap. Rinse with water thoroughly and lay flat to dry. Try to not stand them up when they are wet as this causes water damage to the ferrel of the brush. After they are dry you can pop them in the can standing with brush side up.
Hope this helps. I'll have more useful tips in another post.

A Few Tips on Staying Healthy when Painting with Oils

Tonight I wanted to write about some health issues with regard to painting with oil paints. If you can I hope to just give you some helpful tips on working with this type of medium. First, always paint in a well lighted area. Painting is a very "visual" art and you need to have good lighting to be able to see the colours you are working with. For lighting if you can have some good windows that let plenty of light in and be able to open them for ventilation is great. Have a well ventilated work space for your painting area. If you can open a window or try to use the low odour or odourless turp to clean and thin your paints with. There are water soluble oil paints on the market that you just use water with also. Another issue to think about, health wise, is try avoid skin contact with your paint, especially the cadmium oil paints. Some artist use rubber gloves to protect their skin from exposure to the materials in the paint and the solvents. Another tip to try to remember is to wear clothes you don't really care if you get paint on or wear an apron over your clothes to protect them. If you get the paint on your clothes, I believe it is very difficult to get it out. I got some oil paint accidently on the sleeve on one of my sweatshirts and have never really gotten it completely out after numerous washings. Another health issue is to never put your paint brush in your mouth like a pencil. some people will put the end of their pen or pencil in their mouth (a nervous habit) and this should never be done with your paint brush. The paints would be toxic to you if injested. Another important safety thing to remember is to never light a match or lighter to smoke around the solvent such as turp or mineral spirits. These fluids are highly flammable and you could set fire to yourself and your house/studio. Hopefully this information is helpful.

What do I need to get started painting with oils?

When I started to paint with oil paints back in 1985 I asked myself that question and had to basically figure out what all I needed as a beginner to get started painting with oil paints. I think I ended up buying an expensive oil paint box. This box comes with everything you need to get started painting with oil paints. The only problem is it is quite expensive and prohibitive for many people who cannot afford to pay for a nice paint box kit. I was living in South Africa at the time and actually ended up leaving it behind when I returned to the U.S. a year later. My husband bought me a new paint box kit to replace the one I left behind in South Africa. But while I was in South Africa I basically began to paint with oil paints and began to teach myself to paint from a book I had about oil painting.
Anyway in this post I will list the basic art material you need to get started with oil paints.
You will need:
Oil paints (I recommend primary colours: red, yellow, blue) Of these colours you can virtually mix all the other colours on the palette. As a beginner I would have the following colours to start:

*Titanium White (get a large tube of this as you will use lots of white)
*Cadmium yellow
*Cadmium red light
*Alizarin Crimson
*French Ultramarine Blue
*Winsor Green or Viridian
*Yellow Ochre
*Sap Green
*Paynes Gray
*Black (for beginners)
*Raw Umber (dark brown)
*Cadmium Orange (optional as you can mix this colour)

You will need brushes, try to get long handle bristle brushes
*brights, rounds and flats are good to start with
(you can get a variety of sizes, size 6 or 8 are good to start with)

You will need something to paint on. If you want to save money you can get a canvas pad. You just need to tape the sheets to a cardboard or glue them to a board of some type. You can also purchase canvas board or canvas panels as these are fairly economical.

You will need mineral spirits or turp to clean your brushes and to thin your paint with.
You will need some sort of easel. A table top easel is easy and cheap for beginners to start with.
Also linseed oil or poppy seed oil is good for adding to your paint. You will learn more about these things later.
You will need some sort of palette to put your paints on and to mix your paint on. You can buy disposable palettes or buy a plastic one or a wooden one.
Other items that are handy for painting with are an apron to protect your clothes, paper towels, a palette knife (I use mine to mix the paint with) an old rag is handy for wiping your brush occasionally. Old jars to put your turp in to wash your brushes.

You will need lots of patience as painting is a skill you have to build up and many people get frustrated because they do not like the results that they get. It takes time and lots of practice to get really good at painting with oils. Eventually you will improve and get better with practice.

You will need an area to paint in that has good lighting and good ventilation as this is a very visual art experience.

When you buy your supplies to start painting with keep in mind that "you get what you pay for" so if you buy cheap brushes, you will get cheap brushes that lose the bristles, and lose their shape easily. Try to get good quality art supplies and you will notice the difference either in the colours or brush performance almost immediately.