Oil Painting Tutorial – Learn to Paint Like Monet

About Connie Nelson

I have always liked to draw and paint. In elementary school I was known as the “school artist”. Drawing and painting was a blissful and ‘easy’ activity for me.

I was also inspired by my father, who was a sumi painter. Still, I did not see myself an artist until after taking a job as a registered nurse. The toll exacted by the job on my body and soul made me question my purpose in life.

One fateful day, while I was still working as a nurse, I stepped into an art teacher’s studio and took my very first formal art lesson, and I have never looked back. I soon quit my nursing job and began seriously pursuing painting through continuing art lessons, supplemented by various workshops.

I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest of the United States, surrounded by water and mountains. It’s an enchanting place to live out an artistic life.

The world is more colorful and interesting since I became an artist; every morning I wake up and wonder what to explore next. It is a wonderful way of life. What a blessing!

Please visit Connie’s Websites to learn more about her and to view her work:

Her Art Instruction Site:

http://www.explore-drawing-and-painting.com

Her Portfolio Site:

http://www.connienelsonart.com

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You Can Learn How to Paint Like Monet: His Techniques and Color Mixing Approach

Have you ever wondered how to paint like Monet or wanted to paint like he does?

When you see his works, like the huge water lily paintings in the Orangerie Museum in Paris, you know that he was truly a master colorist.

Those paintings made such an impression on me that to this day I’m still inspired to follow in his footsteps. I want to venture outdoors, see the natural world around me, and paint it the way that he did. It is an invigorating change from the studio painting approach I normally use.

Learning how to paint like Monet is easy. There are three aspects to keep in mind: how he mixed his colors, his technique of applying the paint, and his process for creating paintings.

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First–How to paint like Monet? Learn what’s on his color palette.

Monet started out as a tonalist. He later chose the impressionist approach because he wanted to study the effects of light on the objects around him.

Take a look at his choice of colors to get an idea of what he used for his landscape and still life paintings:

Lead white, chrome yellow, cadmium yellow, viridian green, emerald green, French ultramarine, cobalt blue, madder red, and vermilion.

An impressionist palette to begin with…

You will see some ivory black in his paintings before 1886, but he abandoned it for his later work and used more vibrant colors to mix his grays.

Be aware that lead white is toxic, so use titanium white as a safe alternative.

You can also replace chrome yellow with cadmium yellow light, and use alizarin crimson instead of madder red.

Whatever you do, make sure you have two intense yellows and reds, a vibrant blue, and a green. Once you are familiar with a limited palette, you can gradually add to it.

Many colors have been developed since Monet’s time. You should definitely experiment with them (it’s fun!) but only after you are proficient with a limited palette. You can start with as few as three colors plus white as a reduced palette.

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How to Paint like Monet- Use Broken Colors: Visual Color Mixing

To learn how to paint like Monet, you will need to adopt a technique called “visual mixing.”

Monet did this by, for example, putting a stroke of pure red right next to a stroke of pure yellow. Side by side, the two spots of color produce a rich and vibrant orange.

He also laid in large masses of vibrant color first. Then he would apply strokes of pure colors over them to enrich the original color masses.

As an example, see the chart below for mixing orange.

The first spot on the far left is orange color straight from the tube. The second is a juxtaposition of pure yellow and pure red side by side. The middle spot uses the same yellow laid on top of a wet spot of red.

The fourth is the result of yellow mixed into red using a wet into dry technique (scumbling—painting opaque or semi-opaque colors over dried darker colors). It is almost the same as the third, but more vibrant. The last patch on the far right is the result of directly mixing the red and yellow paint.

You can see that the second, the fourth and the fifth spots are more vibrant and interesting. The colors are not only mixed but seem to vibrate.

Monet mixed his colors using either a wet into wet technique or scumbling (wet color spots on dried layers). Monet would mix a series of secondary colors on the palette, and placed them side by side or, dabbed them all over keeping the color spots separate.

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How to paint like Monet’s- the process.

Although he painted outdoors, Monet did not finish paintings in one session. In fact, many of the canvases were so large he had to hire an assistant to haul them in and out. He said that he brought many canvases outdoors and worked on each one for a short time at the same time of day over several days.

You can imagine how he had very little time to work on a painting each day before the “moment” was gone and he moved on to the next. This approach allowed the paintings to dry a day or two between sessions, which makes scumbling easier.

So if you want to learn how to paint like Monet, keep in mind that you don’t have to finish everything in one session.

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A Demo of how to paint like Monet

To demonstrate all of this, why don’t we take a painting of Monet’s, the “Haystack in Winter,” and recreate it?

“Haystack in Winter” is a charming, simple, and unmistakably Monet painting because of both the subject matter and the brushstrokes. No complicated drawing is needed, which makes it perfect for this demo.

First, I draw the large shapes with a brush, and then cover the large masses to create an underpainting on the white canvas. (I am partial to toning canvases for oil painting, but this is the exception).

I use slightly diluted paint (diluted with some water since I use water soluble oil paints). I use a blue tone for the mountain in the background, and a warm green and yellow in the foreground and on the haystack. I mix some white into the sky to match the value in Monet’s original painting. I then let the layer dry completely.

Once the first layer is dried, I begin to scumble colors all over. Starting from the top, I scumble pale yellow into the lower sky. I mix a pale grayed green into the lower part of the mountain. I  scumble blue into the cast shadow of the haystack. I mix a brown using orange, yellow, and burnt sienna with a bit of blue for the hay stack and the village on the right. I also dab the same warm brown in the foreground.

In the next step, I dry brush the white colors into the ground. I tone the white down with a tiny amount of yellow or blue. I do not want to use the starchy white paint directly from the tube,  because it attracts too much attention. Even when Monet was painting the most vibrant colors, he was still very deliberate in maintaining harmony of color and value.

Here is a close up of the broken color dabs that I used. Notice that I let the underpainting show through. The white paints are thick impasto passages.

I then modify the sky and the mountain by adding more dabs of grayed green and yellow. I continue to scumble white paints over the ground. I keep the dabs separate as much as possible.

I continue using the same scumbling technique to dab more colors onto the canvas. I keep the overall value relationships correct by squinting. Every time I find that I have misjudged the value of a color, I modify it. Even if the colors are interesting and vibrant, they still need to be tied together to make a united whole.

I begin to zero in on small masses and details. I mix some grayed red color for the trees on the middle left.

Almost done….I see in Monet’s original painting that the haystack’s shadow has violet colors on top. I could have added that color immediately, but I am afraid that it might make the shadow look muddy and heavy. So I wait until the whole painting is dry and then I scumble that color over it for an airy and light effect.

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The original haystack painting’s size is 25¾ x 36 3/8 inches (65.4  x 92.3 cm). Monet painted it outdoors. The demo I did is only 6×8 inches.

I could have painted this scene in one session, but with Monet’s broken color technique, I have to wait for each layer to dry until it is tacky or semi-dry so that the colors I scumble or dry brush  over will not disturb the layer underneath.

As a plein aire painter, I know that it is out of question to create a painting the size of Monet’s outdoors in one session.

It’s nice to know that I do not have to make a painting ‘right’ on the first day; I can rework it over many days until it’s finished.

If you want to learn how to paint like Monet, it is best to copy his paintings. That will give you a better understanding of how the process works. It will make you appreciate the optical effects achieved through his techniques and his respect for faithfully catching the natural effects of light.

The revolutionary water soluble oil paints

Oil Painting Video Lesson – The Spring House

Enjoy this three part oil painting lesson:

Part 1

Beginning a new oil painting of a Spring House in rural Pa. Here i am blocking in the sky and foreground underpainting:

Part 2

Underpainting the backround elements of “The Springhouse” oil painting.

Part 3

Unfortunately i had to skip videoing several sessions as i was in between cameras at thte time. So we’re here at the final session ;detailing in the foreground. Thanks for watching!!

Oil Painting Tips – How To Keep Your Colors Pure

One of the biggest hurdles for beginner oil painters is learning how to keep colors pure. How many times have you started an oil painting only to quit from frustration because things just didn’t look right. Your colors were muddy or they just lacked brilliance. This is a very common problem for artists just starting out with oil paints. Hopefully the oil painting tips in this article will help relieve some of your frustration and enable you to finally enjoy painting.

BE CLEAN AND ORGANIZED

I know for some of us, it can be very difficult to maintain a clean and organized painting environment. Sometimes we can get very caught up in our work and things can get sloppy. The last thing you want is to become a sloppy painter as your work will suffer. Break the habit early and try your hardest to develop clean and organized painting habits.

Your Palette

First, you should get into the habit of laying out your colors the same way every time you paint. This is just good practice and keeps the painting process flowing nicely. Arrange your colors along the edges of your palette leaving a lot of room in the center for mixing.

Don’t be afraid to squeeze out a good amount of paint, especially your whites. You will be more productive if you aren’t continuously stopping to squeeze out more paint.

Make certain to include all of the colors you think you will need to complete that session of painting. Again, this will make you more productive.

When adding paint to the palette, I have found that squeezing the paint out in long lines, as opposed to puddles, keeps my colors cleaner. When you have puddles of paint, they tend to get soiled by other colors when mixing. With a long line of paint, you can just take paint from the end as needed and not dirty the rest. Keep some rags or paper towels handy for wiping your palette knife clean.

It’s a good idea to continuously wipe your palette clean during the painting process. There is nothing more frustrating then trying to remove dried up oil paint. Keep some alcohol handy so that you can keep the mixing area of your palette clean.

If you don’t want to fuss around with a regular palette, why not try a disposable one? They are basically paper with a plastic coating that prevents the paper from absorbing the oil. The beauty of the disposable palette, is that you can simply throw it in the trash when you are done. Using a disposable palette will definitely help keep your colors clean as you will be starting with a clean surface every time you start a new painting session.

When mixing your colors, use your palette knife and not your brush. A palette knife can be wiped completely clean so there is no chance of your colors becoming contaminated. Your brush is made for painting and not mixing and you can shorten the life span of your brush if you are continually mixing with it.

Brushes

I like to have a handful of clean brushes near by when I am painting. This way, I do not need to stop and clean my brushes when I am working with a different color and there is less risk of the wrong colors getting into the mix.

SATURATION OR BRILLIANCE OF COLOR

When a color is squeezed straight from the tube, it is said to be high in saturation or brilliance. This is because it hasn’t been mixed with any other colors. The more colors you mix together, the duller they will become. It has been said that one should not mix more than three colors together and this a very good rule to follow. If you mix more than three colors together you are kind of defeating the purpose.

Why is this so? Let’s say that you are going to mix a brown. You decide to use red, yellow and blue to create your brown. You then decide to mix in a bit of orange. As you know, red mixed with yellow will create orange. So there is no need to add the additional color.

No one ever said it is a sin to use color straight from the tube. If you are painting something that calls for brighter color, why not use paint straight from the tube without mixing. Sometimes we get so accustomed to mixing color, that we neglect the pure color that is right in front of us. When using pure color though, try not to over do it. Too many bright colors can create havoc in a painting. Try and add bright colors against a duller surrounding so that your bright colors really stand out.

LIGHTEN OR DARKEN WITH COLOR

What is it that most of us do when we want to change the value of a color? To lighten a color, we usually add white and to darken a color we use black. You should always look for the opportunity to use color to change the value instead of black and white. Adding white or black to color will diminish its brilliance, unless that is the effect you are shooting for. A great example of this is using Yellow Ochre. If you want to brighten and lighten this color, instead of adding white, try adding a little Cadmium Yellow Light.

I hope this article has given you a little more insight into keeping your colors pure. Remember to practice oil painting as often as possible and never give up, no matter how frustrated you get!

Oil Painting Demonstration – Peacock Feathers

About Barbara

Barbara A. King is a self-taught artist. Born in Irvington, New Jersey. Barbara took to art as soon as she was able to hold a crayon. Throughout her childhood, Barbara developed an appreciation for her majestic surroundings. She would often sit in tress for hours with pencil and pad, or sit in a meadow with a canvas. Years of artistic expression made it clear that Barbara’s life would be centered upon her passion for art.

To learn more about Barbara and to view her work, please visit her website by clicking here.

Oil Painting Demonstration – Peacock Feathers

Materials Used for this Painting

My Palette of Colors

Acrylic Yellow Lemon

Dioxazine Purple

Cobalt Blue

Indigo

Cobalt Turquoise

Raw sienna

Perlene Red

Thalo Yellow Green

Viridian

Ultramarine Violet

Raw Umber

Sap Green

Van Dyke Brown

Warm White

Metallic Gold

(One Coat Glazing Medium)

(Two Coats damar Varnish)

My Brushes

# 6 Bright

# 4 Bright

# 2 Bright

# 0 Bright

# 2 red Sable flat

Small soft mop brush

10 X 30 Canvas or what ever you have.

STEP 1

Cover the canvas with lemon Yellow acrylic paint. You can draw your peacock feathers on the canvas. Your lines will not show. I do not draw in the lines when I paint. I did this so you all can see the shape of how to start a peacock feather. The main part of the feather is shaped like an egg.

Start with what I call the eye.

Work your way out to the outside of the feather.

Oil colors for the eye: Cobalt Blue, Indigo, Dioxazine purple.

Make a mix of these colors for the eye.

Brush in the mixed colors for the eye.

First ring around the eye. Cobalt Turquoise, using a sharp chiseled edge of the brush. Go in the direction that the feathers grow,around the eye with short strokes. Now blend and soften the edge, with a clean dry soft mop.

Second Ring: Mix Raw Sienna and a small amount of Perlene red # 6 Bright brush. The brush should always have a very chiseled edge. Soften edge with soft mop brush.

Third Ring: Mix Tholo Yellow Green and Viridian With # 4 or 6 Bright what ever brush works better for you. Always use short strokes at the top of the feathers. I can never say this enough “CHISELED EDGE”.

Next Ring: repeat second ring.

The last ring , mix Ultramarine Violet and Raw Umber with a # 2 Red Sable flat Brush.

Lightly pull lines though all the rings in the direction the feather grows. (to the top of the feather)

Used your mop brush very softly go over all the rings to smooth out any hard brush lines.

Feather Quills is a mix of your greens, purple, raw umber and warm white.

The top of your quill is your green mix. Middle quill is your purple and raw Umber mix. Bottom of the quill is warm white.

Blend the colors together were the colors meet.

When all your feathers are done and quills are done, move to the outer edge of the feathers.

Now the fun begins!!

Mix Sap green and Van Dyke Brown more to the green side. Use a # 6 Bright. Your brush should have a very very chiseled edge.

Keep your feather lines very close together. If you have a maulstick , this would be the time to use it to steady your hand.

This part of the painting takes a lot of time and patience. The feathers must be from the top to the bottom of the quill. You can fill in as you go. You will be going back and forth to your palette many times to reload your brush. You will also have to see what feathers are going to be in the background and what feathers are in the foreground.

When your painting is dry you may use a light coat of metallic gold on your painting. Use the Metallic gold only on your eye and feather rings. This is optional.

When your painting is dry, put a thin coat of glazing medium on your painting. When the medium is dry use one coat damar varnish on your painting. Six months later put your second coat of damar varnish on your painting.

When I painted Proud Peacock I did things a little different with the background. I did not use an acrylic paint. I used a mix of gel, cadmium yellow and titanium white. This is for you people who don’t mind waiting for a background to dry.

I hope you all enjoy painting peacock feathers. Just a little note to all the people who are new oil painters. Never give up and don’t let any one tell you, you will never be a good painter. If you would like to see more of my work, please go to www.barbaraaking.com

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Oil Painting Art Course – Is Using Photographs OK? Edgar Degas and Norman Rockwell Thought So

By Barry Waldman

Edgar Degas painted from photos:

Degas became a painter just at the beginning of photography. He first had others shoot photos for him for his use in his paintings. Later, he became an expert photographer. Degas’ paintings show the influence of photography in the cutting off of figures. Before Degas, the whole person was inside the painting. In many of Degas’ work, the figures are cut off mid leg or their figures are cut off on the left, right and top by the edge of the painting. This cropping came from his reference photos.

Photos were a tool in his paintings, drawings and sculpture. Degas’ photographs had the look of his paintings. His paintings were based on his photographs.

Students ask me if it is proper to use photos:

I have a classmate from the art school from which I graduated. He has had a very distinguished career painting all his life. He said that anything you do to help you develop a painting is a correct method.

Seven Ways to Project or Transfer Photos or Drawings onto Your Canvas:

1. Tack them up on your easel as reference: There is a famous Norman Rockwell self-portrait (Google it). The painting shows Rockwell painting himself at an easel covered with photos of portraits by Rembrandt and Van Gogh and a drawing of himself. Rockwell is also looking in a mirror as he paints.

2. Opaque Projectors: The opaque projector is a machine that projects photos, book pages or drawings by shining a bright light onto the photo from above. A series of mirrors, prisms and lenses project the image onto a canvas. The artist then draws the outlines of the photo on the canvas using the projected image as a guide. Opaque projectors are available from Dick Blick, Jerry’s Artorama or Mister Art online or at some art stores.

3. Camera Lucida: A camera lucida is a lens on a metal arm that clamps onto the artist’s drawing board. The camera lucida superimposes an image on the artist’s drawing surface. One sees a scene or the reference photo on the drawing surface. You can then trace the outlines of objects.

4. Mirrors: David Hockney, a well-known contemporary artist, was interviewed on “60 Minutes” on CBS-TV. Hockney had Lesley Stahl stand outside his studio window, in full sunlight, facing a mirror set up inside the window. Her image was reflected in the mirror and it was projected inside Hockney’s dark studio onto Hockney’s canvas. That projected image can then be copied. Hockney had written a book called “Secret Knowledge” about which Stahl did the interview. In the book Hockney theorizes that artists in the 1400’s learned how to use lenses and mirrors to project images onto their canvases.

5. Print the photo or drawing on your canvas: You can print your photograph directly onto your canvas and then paint over them in oil paints. Ink jet printer paper suppliers offer ink jet printable canvas. You need to ask your ink jet/canvas supplier how long their inks last according to scientific testing.

There are printing services that offer Giclee fine art reproductions for painters, photographers, galleries and museums on fine art canvas. Some artists use these services to make reproductions of their paintings for sale in addition to selling the original oil painting. Giclee (French for “a spurt”) is an inkjet process for making super high quality and long lasting prints. A good supplier uses fade-resistant inks or dyes that some claim last as long as 100 years.

Other artists print photos on canvas at Giclee printers and then paint over them in oil paints. Giclee prints are not only long lasting but also have no visible dots as do most ink jet printers. Google “giclee printers” to find giclee printing suppliers on the web.

6. Camera Obscura: In his book “Vermeer’s Camera” Philip Steadman poses the theory that VerMeer used the early version of the photographic camera: the camera obscura. Camera obscura are the Latin words for dark room.

How the camera obscura works:

• A box (or room) with a pinhole in the front end is placed in a well-lit room.
• The room in front of the hole will then be projected onto the inside back end of the box.
• Later, the camera obscura evolved into what we now call a camera. In a photographic camera, film is placed on the inside back end of the box where the image is projected from the lens in the front end of the box.
• Using the camera obscura principle with additional lenses and mirror, one can project an accurate image onto a painting surface and trace over the projected lines. Some suggest one can paint onto the canvas directly guided by the projected image. People still make camera obscuras … Google “camera obscura” on the web.

7. Tracing: Some artists trace and transfer the outlines of photos onto their canvas or other drawing surface. They staple together a “sandwich” of the traced photo, a transfer sheet and the canvas. Drawing over the traced photo drawing on the top of the sandwich with a ballpoint pen causes the transfer sheet color to be transferred to the canvas. They then paint using the transferred line drawing as a guide on their canvas with the original photo(s) tacked alongside their canvas as reference.

Is Using Photographs OK? Like Edgar Degas and Norman Rockwell and countless other great painters and illustrators, I think so.

The author has painted and taught for 50 years and has had over 30 art exhibits of his paintings. My USA based online art school has students in 19 countries. I have taught art classes at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and Manhattan, USA, Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, Famous Artists Schools in Westport, Connecticut, USA. I have also lectured on various art subjects all over the USA and in Holland, Belgium, France, South Africa and Australia.

My online interactive art school is at:

http://www.interactiveartschool.com

Links to people, images mentioned in article are at:

http://www.interactiveartschool.com/linksEzine.html

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