Easy Oil painting and a boat load of demonstrations.

Easy Oil painting techniques that will help you create better paintings and feel the satisfaction of mastering oil painting when you see the realism you can achieve with them. 

These tips and techniques are used by most professional artists today.

From creating simple paintings to painting techniques for those that already know a bit more and are considered novice painters.  

Here's a short, family friendly video that talks a little bit more about the site.

Easy Oil painting, tips and techniques for beginners with step by step demonstrations.

An 8 minute video sampling of me selecting and painting one of my favorite flowers.  

6 essential and easy oil painting techniques to get you started.

Step 1.  This technique has been in use for over 400 years.  It's called the flemish technique and it breaks down the painting process into manageable steps. It brings to beginners a step by step procedure that makes any idea an easy oil painting.  It is an easy oil painting technique that is said to be fool proof and fail safe.  It is also the basis for my eBook (PDF) titled: "A Real Art Lesson".

Click here to begin your journey of this wonderful, step by step and easy oil painting techniques for beginners and novice painters alike! 

Don't just take my word for it.  

If you examine some of our members paintings (especially the first timers)  you'll be amazed at the level of success they have achieved.  You can see them here on this page.

You don't have to use just this particular technique, but in my own experience, it is a fail safe method of creating a great work of art.  There are other methods discussed here on the site:

Step 1a.  Direct methods that would include:

• Plein air,  painting outdoors which include landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes.
   
• Alla prima,  all in one go.   A very difficult method for beginners, but worth a try on a small canvas to see if you like it!
  
  
• Wet into wet.  Part of the Alla Prima camp, with a wet underpainting.  William Alexander and Bob Ross made this technique famous.
  
  
• Abstract,  even though most of my work is representational, I let my hair down (if I had any) and just let the paint brush do it's thing.  

Step 2.  Start looking for easy oil paintings to do on my  "Demos on my Easel".  The link will take you straight there.  It's a huge page with examples of demonstrations like the one below.  

This particular painting below shows one of my demonstrations, the step by step process I used of putting together a large canvas, to trying to paint in a small studio with a large canvas.  Yes, a bit of a tight squeeze you might say.

Step 6.  You're about ready to start your painting.  You have an idea, you have a process that you have decided on.  You have an idea of the composition and subject matter, you have a basic color scheme you would like to follow,  and you have gathered your materials.  Now it's time to start!

Drawing!

Transferring your image to the canvas, or drawing the image on the canvas. 

Several methods are discussed with these articles, unless you are doing abstract. 

For abstract, based on your color scheme, and your compositional expectations,  lets go PAINT!

More info about oil painting.

When comparing it to watercolor, encaustic, fresco or tempera, it simply hasn't been around quite as long. (And you thought those Egyptian hieroglyphics were done in oils!) It actually has its origins in Europe in the early 15th Century when oils were added with egg yolks in tempera which allowed for better blending. 

The paint didn't dry as quickly. This allowed the artist to create smooth transitions into the shadows and made for a more realistic picture. It has since become the medium of choice for most artists from the 16th Century till today.

Artist's that paint in oils are going to find one of the broadest color and tonal ranges of any medium, and unlike most water based products, will not change in color intensity or value after drying. In other words, what you see is what you get!

As you can see in this partially finished landscape oil painting,  there is quite a range in value's within the piece.  And the blues and greens can't be surpassed in other mediums.  You can click the image for a larger view.  Click here to see more about landscape oil painting techniques.

Easy Oil painting techniques that you can keep at your fingertips.

So, when you've found a great web-site, and you like what you've seen, but don't have the time to explore the entire site, most people will bookmark the site,(or save to favorites).

If you're like me, you've got hundreds of site's categorized in nice folders by subject. What I've found however, is a handful of sites that I would call my true favorites and visit regularly. The rest end up in their neat little folder and forgotten about unless I really have extra time to hunt them down again.

Honestly, when was the last time you cleaned up your favorites and bookmarked web sites?

Some of these sites (like my web-gurus') are really important to me because of the reference information they contain. What I really like about these sites is they send periodic emails of new things, or simply a friendly hello.

I try to emulate this in my monthly e-zine with new information, or just a friendly reminder of the important reference material located here on Easy Oil Painting. Won't you join our group?

Come on in and join me on this journey of oil painting tips and techniques, because you too have a passion for all things that are beautiful!

Newsletter signup right here, right now!

Don't worry, your email address is totally secure!  I only use it to send you my newsletter.

Easy Oil Painting, what is the real secret to successful picture making.

Since as early as the 18th century, painters have been obsessed with the idea of a Secret Formula, a small bit of knowledge or an oil painting technique, or trick that would unravel the mysteries of producing works of art as glorious as in the 14th & 15th Centuries. 

Artists, authors, historians, and manufacturers have all claimed to discover a piece of this mystery. Something that would unlock the secrets of painting so that it could be mastered without effort and with such ease as to be done in one sitting!

Even me!

None of these easy oil painting techniques or tricks have proven to be THE SECRET, but, we have found pieces to the puzzle. This secret to a quick oil painting masterpiece persists and artists continue to seek a simple solution.  But the truth can be explained. 

There is no such thing!

There is NO SECRET FORMULA. No secret material, no secret medium, no special recipe, no single piece of instant knowledge, that can fix the lack of technique or understanding of the actual materials you are using.  (That is a statement from another artist which I can't find, but it sums up a very simple truth)

The true SECRET to a beautiful oil painting lies within your ability to have a COMPLETE set of skills, knowledge and information about your materials and the techniques to exploit your ideas to the canvas.  That knowledge can only be acquired over time, study, practice and experimentation.

Having said all that, let me assert that to paint like this is not as difficult as some artist's will lead you to believe.

Do you have to have talent?  I talk about this elsewhere on the site, but for now, view painting as a craft.  When you learn a craft, you learn each step of the process.

It's kinda like a friend of mine used to say, How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time!

On my site I will talk about the oil painting techniques I use today, and give them to you one bite at a time. They really are simple and easy to do! These techniques, because they are so easy, will keep your enthusiasm high, and grow that creative excitement!

You won't be worrying about what to do next. You just paint!  

More about easy oil painting techniques and lessons on this site.

Now, some of the things we will talk about will be oil painting and materials, techniques for beginners, and advanced techniques for those that have painted a bit before. 

An important part of oil painting, drawing skills were always taught and learned before painting in the old schools of yesteryear. Looking at the classical paintings in any major art museum today, it's not hard to understand that drawing skills were very important in those works.

This is an important part of oil painting believe it or not. But you can start painting without being the perfect draftsman of yesteryear. There are just too many tools available today that can help you along faster!

Stick with me for a few minutes, and let me explain to you my easy oil painting techniques that will get you there!

Don't be afraid of all the flower's within the site logo! It's just my style and genre of painting, but that's not all that is available here.

I get into landscapes, portraits, still life, and flowers. I explore drawing lessons too!

On some of the demonstrations, we will show you techniques for trees, clouds.  How to create texture, impasto, glazing, mixing colors, and I'll try to define some of the oil painting terms you may hear out in your art world.

At last count, there are over 400 pages here! (This includes a great deal of your art too!) 

While visiting my site you will learn many important things about oil painting and learning to draw. You’ll discover many important facts. But one in particular will be “Anyone can learn to paint! And even better, anyone can learn to paint quite well”

All it takes is determination to succeed, and a passion for all things beautiful! You supply that, and I’ll try my very best do the rest!

These oil painting tips and drawing techniques will empower you to succeed! And I will take you step by step, through the process of creating beautiful works of art, like the paintings below! Hey, don't just take my word for it. Visit my "your oil paintings" and see what others have already done using these techniques! They are simply put, amazing!

For those that viewed the video, I hope you enjoyed my son's techno music (which he wrote, composed, and played). I don't think I'll be using the techno music on my instruction video's though, it causes me to do too much dancing! Well, I dance a lot in my studio anyway. When what you do brings so much joy, you simply can't help yourself!

By now, you'll also understand my writing technique is not like your academic art textbook. Yes, I have some education and a degree in a field that paid the bills while I continued to paint and help my wonderful better half in raising a large family. You can read more about me here. But enough about me, the site is geared for you! So lets get started!

If you find a particular article that you like and enjoy, pass it on to your friends by clicking the Face Book like buttons, or you can even tweet about it!

Are you interested in seeing more of my work?

There's two ways to do that! Click here for my online fine art gallery or check out the resources link here to see where my work is represented in real brick and mortar galleries.

P.S. Just setting up your studio? I got a few great articles on Artist Career Practices, of the professional artist. All sorts of information from how to photograph your work for advertising to squaring up the shot.

You can contribute too, we have two new sections on "Your Paintings!" and "Your Photos!". The painting section features your hard work, and gives you some free internet exposure! You can post several examples of your works and describe your techniques in creating them.

The Photos section is where we are now collecting reference material for all our readers benefit. Got a special rose photo that would make a great painting? Add it to our photo library. Tell us the story behind it too!

P.S.S. And yes, there are all kinds of oil painting techniques, tips and lessons chock full of information here! So take your time and browse around. If you would like to hear about my story, going from managing the electrical/electronic maintenance of a 2500 employee factory to painting flowers for a living,

click here for my story! I promise you, it is not boring!

We are also a proud member of the Blick Art Materials Affiliate Team

Please understand that should you purchase anything I will receive a small percentage of the sale as an affiliate of Blick products. I use em, I recommend them. Great customer service too should you have an issue.