Things I wish I’d known when I started painting
Five quick tips that’ll get you started on painting today, with no faff and no waffling.
- You don’t need to know what you’re doing
Really.
Sure, there are some materials, like oils, that you might want to take a crash course in before beginning so that you can get the most out of the materials (hello Youtube, you wonderful thing) but others? You can simply lift a brush and begin!
Acrylic paint is great for this because it’s a water based paint. You don’t need fancy add ons, or in depth knowledge on what to do. It works simply. Literally all you need are the paints, a brush, and a surface to work on, and you’re all set!Gouache and watercolour are similar.
We often stop ourselves before we begin by thinking But I Must Know What I’m Doing Before I Start, but truthfully we often learn by doing.
Choose some papers, start mixing colours and away you go. Don’t overthink it (and step away from all the lengthy video courses!) Be brave, and see how it moves. You will have done something arty at school and it’s amazing how much muscle memory is still there - just go for it!
- Some paintings are going to be SHIT
I said it. And I say it as a person who often paints things that I, myself, would declare are Totally Shit. On those days I hide them in a spidery corner of my studio and march out in search of a restorative cup of tea and a cheese snack.
We all have days where we create things and for some reason or another they simply don’t work. And so I say to you:
Don’t be put off if your first forays into painting don’t produce things that you love.
Don’t be put off if you produce something you even like.
Allow the exploration and learning of the material to shape your experience of it. One thing I think we all, as adults, are guilty of is thinking we need to be immediately good at something. We leave no space for learning, for being beginners, for not knowing what we are doing.
In a world where everything we do is often shared online, such as our runs, or our days out, we can often invite in a little pressure to share what we made that day. I actually invite you to allow a little space into your world to not share this new hobby you’re embracing. Not yet, anyway.
By allowing space to be a beginner, we also invite in beautiful failure. We invite in the opportunity to learn, to play, to explore, to wonder, to try. Trial and error. It’s an important aspect of the learning curve.
Don’t be scared of failure. Don’t worry if your paintings are shit, and most importantly: DON’T GIVE UP.
- Your style isn’t something you have to find.
I have often had questions from people asking how to find their own unique style.
And I completely understand why.
It’s easy to see artists online (myself included) who have styles that are quite recognisable and want to have that ourselves if we create something. This thought process is often one that goes hand in hand with points 1 and 2 above. We want to create something that looks amazing, to look upon that complete painting with delight, and that painting also has a defined style and isn’t shit. Of course we do! We don’t have infinite free time, materials are an additional expense in a world that is increasingly more expensive, and we don’t want to feel like we have wasted them, or our time. It’s absolutely natural to feel this way.
That being said, finding your style isn’t something you should wait to have before even lifting a brush.
In the meantime, please don’t let this be the thing that stops you before you have even started! Style is something that evolves, that comes naturally as you grow as a creative and explore more.
It is an ever developing thing, and truthfully the way it grows is by experimentation.
- You don’t have to paint everyday.
If you’re anything like me, you might feel very excited about a new hobby and want to do it All The Time. It’s amazing, and exciting, and fun, and that stage should be leaned into and enjoyed for all the heady, magical wonder of exploring something new. Yay! New hobbies are so cool! Enjoy and embrace your enjoyment!
But when life, as it naturally will, starts to pick up, get busy, and slow you down in your creative endeavours, please don’t think you’re failing in some way because you can’t dedicate time every day to your passion.
You might only have time once a week.
You might only have time once a month.
You might only have time once in a blue moon when your husband takes your kids off to the park for the afternoon and you stay home to have some much needed ‘me time.’ I hear you. I am you.
(My ‘me’ time is a silent house, a bath with my fave bath salts, Enya on my playlist, and then a cup of tea that is uninterrupted afterwards)
Painting, whether everyday, every other day, or every now and again, is a completely valid way to explore creativity. Don’t let that mean little voice that can take over in your brain allow any of it’s evil, gremlin thoughts to take root. Painting sometimes is just as wonderful, cool, valid and important, as painting everyday. You might feel a little rusty when you come back, you might look at what you were painting last time and think ‘what was I doing?!’ You might look at your materials and think ‘wait, where do I begin? How do I do this again?’ But please simply choose to begin, no matter how long it’s been since your last go of things.
- Be open to changing your mind.
A long time ago I was choosing my degree course options for my application to art school. I was sixteen years old, and I was so absolutely determined I wanted to be a designer. I wanted to innovate, to create, to think, and explore, and make new things.
Fast forward to the course I actually ended up on which was Fine Art; drawing, painting, printmaking, woodwork, metalwork and sculpture.
As it turned out, I was absolutely terrible at designing. Like BAD. Like, got called into a meeting at art school with some professors who needed to explain to me in no uncertain terms that actually I was simply not cut out for the design part of the school because my brain was too flighty for the design process.
“Wouldn’t you be happier painting, Sarah? You can begin something new everyday!”
Um, no, I thought. This was not the plan.
Why am I telling you this?
Because sometimes we hold on fast to a choice we once made, and we can neglect to look at what we might actually be good at.
Perhaps you bought a beautiful selection of watercolours and no matter how hard you try, they just don’t work for you.
Perhaps you bought a set of acrylics for paint pouring but the mess is making you despair and you can’t enjoy them as much as you hoped you would.
Now, sometimes it is a case of needing to learn how the materials work better, so that our paintings don’t look Like Shit.
Sometimes, we actually just need to play with a different medium.
I am terrible at watercolours. I love them, but they rely on being a bit reserved with colour. As you know, when it comes to colour I am a More is More person and my watercolour paintings don’t look pretty, delicate and lush. They look like a rat ran into the watercolour paint and rolled around on my paper and created a right old mess!
Be open to changing your mind. You never know where it might take you!
AND FINALLY…
If I can give you anything to take away from this blog post it’s this: Be brave and go for it.
You will regret it more if you never give it a go, I promise you.
Maybe you’ll paint something and love it.
Maybe you’ll paint something and it’s so dreadful it’s actually comical, and you bury it at the bottom of your recycling in horror.
Maybe you are somewhere in between these two.
But you will definitely enjoy the process and the experience.
AND THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS.
If it makes you happy, go for it.