These Free Art Lessons will have you painting like the PRO's!This whole web site is full of free art lessons. Please take your time, each of these free art lessons is on a variety of subjects. And as the site expands, we will delve deeper into this wonderful hobby! Enjoy! These paintings (created over 400 years ago) look so fresh, and so beautiful, you think the artist just finished the signature stroke! Other methods can be quicker, and the skilled artist can achieve some satisfactory results. But you must ask this question. Did the artist follow good oil painting practices that take into account the chemical and physical properties of oil paint? In my experience, no other method in how to oil paint even comes close! Both in the ease in which the method is learned and in how it is executed! How to use these Free Art Lessons in how to oil paint: Skim through the entire process once. This gives you an idea of the depth within these free art lessons that are actually available to you. It also helps with the big picture. Once that is done, learn how to oil paint at your own pace, absorb and explore in greater detail all that the free art lessons of each oil painting tip area has to offer. Links will take you to more detailed explanations with additional pictures throughout! Oh, before I forget, have you got a piece of art work you'd like to share? Do you have a cool story about a particular oil painting you're working on? Then click the link and
share your painting with us!
You may be a great artist already, or just starting out and would like to show off some of your work. Come on and join the group!
So you've read both pages on stretching your own canvas, and preparing your own canvas, but you need to check out one more page! If you buy your own pre-gessoed canvas's, you really need to see this short video to get that canvas just right before you proceed. Click the link below to get started. The store bought canvas, and problems associated with it
Also, as the site grows, with more and more tips, it's sometimes hard to find the new stuff, so, if you're like me, you want the new stuff now! I've got video's coming! And you will be the first to know about them from the e-zine! So, we get back to our lessons..... After your canvas is prepared, we can begin the process.
Step 2 – The first layer (imprimatura): In Step 2 you will apply your first coat of paint that is close to the middle tone of the entire painting. How do you determine the middle tone? It’s very simple….. you have to squint your eyes. click here to see the entire process! There’s also an oil painting tip as a shortcut that is being used more and more by artists. I’ll explain it to you too! It helps you to start painting the next layer within a matter on minutes instead of 2 to 4 days!
Step 3 – The first and second umber under layer: This will set the stage for the whole paintings overall contrast. This is what will separate your work from the amateur, because you’ll get it right early in the process! The secret oil painting tip here is in pretending you are a watercolor painter! By now, you've done alot if you've been painting all this time. It's ok to take a break, and come back later. Maybe you need a short review? Click here to go back to the top of Free Art Lessons for a refresher of what you've accomplished thus far! To get to the umber layer lesson, click the picture!
Step 4 – The dead layer, or gray layer: This monochrome olive/gray hue painting will establish all your shadow middle tones! This is where you will spend most of your time. When you get this black and white painting right, there will be no turning back! Once you see how beautiful your piece is at this stage, you may decide not to even add the color! Free Art Lessons are such fun and so helpful, if I might say! Click on the picture to go there!
This is where you block in your colors. Applying paint, correcting with a dry brush, blending with several different mop brushes, and admiring the master piece you are very soon to be finished with! This part of the process moves by very quickly since the hard parts have already been accomplished in previous layers!
Step 6 – The finishing layer: And Finally! This is probably to easiest part, fastest to complete, yet has the most dramatic impact of the entire process. This is where your painting seems to come to life and leaps off the canvas! Click the link for these free art lessons to complete your painting. I also have information on the varnishing or protective coating. Your final step within these free art lessons before allowing your painting to go to the Gallery to be sold at that super high price! This is the ENTIRE process.
Make no mistake. This technique is not taught in most art schools today! There are some in Europe that continue to teach the classical methods, but these are 4 and 6 year schools that cover all aspects of the classical artist's craft. From making canvas and stretcher bars, to grinding your own paint! We may discuss some of that in the future, but for now.... Follow these free art lessons close and you will not fail. Go outside the path explained, and well, it might work, it might not! Just remember some of the rules about oil painting and its physical characteristics. “Fat over Lean” is the number one thing to remember. Don’t be like some of the modernists of the late 1800’s early 1900’s that refused to practice good judgment. Their paintings can be seen cracked and popping off the canvas or board. Some decided to even use ordinary house paint! Their reds became browns before they died! And the poor folks that paid those crazy prices only to see their wonderful art work fade into history. Shame! Don’t be like them. Take the high road! Produce art that will last! Generations after you will thank you! Click through to go to the drawing and composition pages. After that, consider what you would like to paint, and select the individual sub-lessons from here. If your having trouble deciding, read up in the "Artist Practices" where I talk about the White Canvas, or view some of the "Whats on the Easel" to give you some ideas. If you need a break from your studies, grab a cup of coffee or whatever suits your fancy to drink, sit back, relax and enjoy one of the other sections of the Free Art Lessons site. Back to top of Free-Art-Lessons page Come on and join the club and the resurgence in classical art. And be updated when new free art lessons are posted here. I'd love to hear from you! 
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