There are times when a beginner will paint what he thinks he knows about a particular subject and not what is right before his eyes.
Now, this is not to say that you should always paint what you see exactly. Sometimes it is more important to paint what you know, especially if your eyes are not trained to see color and value correctly, as in a portrait for instance.
In this oil painting lesson for beginners, William uses a subject that he has never painted before: a shiny gold watch.
Shiny metal objects are probably one of the most difficult things for beginners to paint. That is because a beginner is not observing the watch correctly. William teaches you how to observe the watch differently, to break it down into a bunch of small shapes, which makes painting it much easier. Learn more by watching the videos below. Enjoy!
A really big thanks to William Gelvin for sharing these videos. To learn more about William and to view more of his excellent video demonstrations and tutorials, follow this link to visit his YouTube Page.
Paint what you see! part 1
Paint what you see! part 2
Paint what you see! part 3
Paint what you see! part 4
Paint what you see! part 5
Per says
January 26, 2011 at 12:24 pmYou make the whole thing look so simple. It’s like you just drew a circle, lines, and shades all over and then the resulting piece is a gold watch like that in the picture. But you are right leave out the details until later. Just make a rough sketch of what you are painting then fill out the parts later! Excellent tutorial! 😀
Carol says
January 26, 2011 at 2:43 pmIf you want to see some other instruction I have several videos of my work on youtube with work in progress.
Best
Carol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3WrSE1H_iM
Sven says
October 26, 2011 at 5:30 amReally nice painting. Its fun to se the technic and process behind the painting. It looks so easy when you paint it, but I understand it isn’t. Maybe I should try myself 🙂