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Essential decisions to make before you start a painting.

Is it necessary to plan a painting in careful detail before you start, or should you let it evolve as you go along? Planning a painting can be a help as you know exactly what you’re going to do, but it could also inhibit spontaneity. Letting a painting evolve as you work is very free and lets you be spontaneous, but also leaves you open to the possibility that the painting won’t go anywhere and you’ll end up with a mess.

Ultimately the degree to which you plan out a painting depends on your personality, some people find it essential and others a hindrance. But regardless of how detailed you like to plan (or not), there are several decisions that have to be made before you to start to paint.

1. Decide On a Subject
Deciding on a subject is the logical first step as it influences the format of the support, the type of support used, and the technique you’re going to use to create the painting.

If you’ve only a vague idea of what to do with an appealing subject, such as a glorious landscape, sketching or doing small studies rather than a full painting will enable you to see whether the composition and selection of elements works well without wasting time or materials. A pleasing study can then be used as the basis or reference for a full-scale painting.

But if you find that doing a study makes you stiffen up when you come to do the large-scale painting because you’re focusing on replicating it, rather than it reminding you sufficiently of the original scene, consider doing only quick sketches to see if a composition works and taking reference photos to work from back in your studio.

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Various methods for checking that the perspective or angles in a paint

If you’re aiming to have a realistic painting, with accurate perspective, then it’s crucial to get the angles of the elements in the painting accurate. Not only the angles of how the objects lie in relation to each other, but also of the items themselves.

Here are various ways to measure angles:
• Hold your brush or a pencil up vertically then judge the angle by thinking of the small hand on a clock. Does the edge go out from the vertical at four o’clock or five o’clock? Or, even more accurately, by thinking of the large hand on a clock – does the edge go out at five minutes past twelve or three minutes past?

• Line a pencil or brush up with the angle then, holding it at the same angle, move it down to your painting to check the angle you’ve got.

• If you find that you move the brush when doing this, try using two pencils.

Line them up against two edges in the object so that they overlap. Now grasp them firmly where they overlap and bring them down to your painting to check the angle.

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How to improve your painting through your love for chocolate.

You don’t have to be a total chocoholic to appreciate the many levels of pleasure that comes from chocolate. There’s the often-agonising decision of what to buy this time: a favourite or something new, a big bar of cheap chocolate or a small imported bar? The anticipation while getting through the wrapper, making sure you don’t leave any tiny bits of foil to hit a filling. The distinctive crack as you break off a piece. The picking up with a licked finger of any crumbs. The popping of the piece in your mouth. The slow melting on your tongue….

But then there are the side effects, such as all those calories, the high fat and sugar content, the triggering of migraines. Which is where your paint brushes come in, because painting also rewards us with a ‘high’. And while I’m too much of a chocoholic myself to suggest that painting could (or should) ever replace chocolate in your life, here a few ways to use your love for chocolate to the benefit of your painting:

• Reward ‘Good’ Behaviour: So you really, really fancy a chocolate.

Okay then, give in to the temptation and buy it, but then use it as the subject for a painting – and no eating it until you’ve finished the painting! Or if you know you won’t be able to wait that long, investigate and sketch the compositional possibilities: as the sole object in a still life, as a still life with the till slip and change, with the wrapper scrunched next to it, broken in pieces, a cross-section, with a bite taken out of it, just the empty wrapper and a few crumbs (and maybe some ants).

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Tips to help you write a personal artist’s statement to accompany your paintings

An artist’s statement is a short piece written by the artist to accompany a particular painting or group of paintings. An artist’s statement shouldn’t be dismissed as insignificant or dashed out in a hurry as it’s a vital selling tool, promoting and explaining your work to people looking at your paintings, whether they’re potential buyers, exhibition curators, critics, fellow artists, or casual browsers.

At its best, an artist’s statement reads easily, is informative, and adds to your understanding of the artist and the painting. At its worse, an artist’s statement is difficult to understand or rambles on, is pretentious, and irritates rather than informs (or, even, provokes laughter).

How Long Should an Artist’s Statement Be?
Rather make an artist’s statement too short than too long – most people simply won’t have the patience to read a lengthy treatise and many will be put off before they’ve even started.

Aim at around 100 words or three short paragraphs.

What Should an Artist’s Statement Say?
An artist’s statement should be an explanation of your painting style and subjects or themes. Add a bit about your approach or philosophy if you wish. Mention your education, specifically if you’ve studied art (the closer you are to the date you left art college, the more relevant this is). Consider mentioning which artists (living and dead) have influenced or inspired you. Mention any significant awards you have won, exhibitions you have participated in, collections your paintings appear in or significant sales you may have made, and painting organisations or societies you belong to. Remember, though, you’re aiming to create professional credibility by highlighting your achievements, not providing a full resume. If you don’t have a formal art qualification, don’t worry, it’s your paintings that make you an artist, not your qualifications.

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The colors Van Gogh used in his paintings.

The most commonly known facts about Vincent van Gogh are that he cut off his left ear (actually only a part) and presented it to a prostitute, that he sold only one painting during his lifetime (actually there is evidence to suggest that it was more than one), and that he committed suicide (true).

Few realize quite how significant his contribution was to painting, that his adventurous use of color changed the direction of art. Van Gogh deliberately set about using colors to capture mood and emotion, rather than using colors realistically. At the time, this was completely unheard of.

“Instead of trying to exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitrary use of color to express myself more forcefully.”

When he first devoted himself to painting full time, in 1880, Van Gogh used dark and gloomy earth colors such as raw umber, raw sienna, and olive green.

These were very suited the miners, weavers, and peasant farm laborers who were his subjects. But the development of new, more lightfast pigments and his exposure to the work of the Impressionists, who were striving to capture the effects of light in the work, saw him introduce bright hues into his palette: reds, yellows, oranges, greens, and blues.

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How an attempt to make a red pigment, created Prussian blue instead.

Any artist who enjoys using Prussian blue will find it hard to imagine that such a beautiful blue was actually the result of an experiment gone wrong. The discoverer of Prussian blue, the colormaker Diesbach, was in fact not trying to make a blue, but a red. The creation of Prussian blue, the first modern, synthetic color was completely accidental.

Diesbach, working in Berlin, was attempting to create cochineal red lake in his laboratory. (”Lake” was once a label for any dye-based pigment; these days it’s used with relation to red only. “Cochineal” was originally obtained by crushing the bodies of cochineal insects.) The ingredients he needed were iron sulphate and potash. In a move that’ll bring a smile to any artist’s who’s ever tried to save money by buying cheap materials, he obtained some contaminated potash from the alchemist in whose laboratory he was working, Johann Konrad Dippel.

The potash had been contaminated with animal oil and was due to be thrown out.

When Diesbach mixed the contaminated potash with the iron sulphate, instead of the strong red he was expecting, he got one that was very pale. He then attempted to concentrate it, but instead of a darker red he was expecting, he first got a purple, then a deep blue. He’d accidentally created the first synthetic blue pigment, Prussian blue.

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Where, How, and Why to Add a Signature to a Painting

Adding your signature to a painting is like adding a stamp to it that reads “finished”. It’s a sign that you’re satisfied with the painting and no longer consider it a work in progress.

Is It Really Necessary to Sign a Painting?
It’s not a legal requirement, but if you don’t add your name to a painting, how will anyone know who the artist is? You may argue that you’ve a very familiar style that people will recognize, but what if it’s the first time someone’s encountered your work? How will they find out who the artist is then? If it’s hanging in a gallery it’ll have a label with your name on it, but what if it’s in the lounge of someone who’s bought a painting and they can’t remember who the artist was? Think about the works by famous artists which are ‘rediscovered’ every now and then; is this a fate you want to risk for your paintings?

What Should My Signature Look Like?
The most important thing is that people must be able to read it.

An illegible signature isn’t a sign that you’re extremely creative and it doesn’t add a level of intrigue to the painting. You’re the artist, so let it be known. But at the same time, don’t make it look like you’re using a stamp. You don’t have to sign your whole name on the front of the painting, you could just put your initials but it’s wise to put your full name on the back of the painting. The same applies if you use a symbol or monograph; people have to have some way of knowing what it stands for.

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A collection of the various symbols and signs associated with love.

If you were painting a Valentine’s card, you’d want the signs of your love to be clear and noticeable. But if you were painting a portrait, you could also add some hidden symbolism about love that someone looking at the painting may only understand subconsciously.

Red: The color associated with love and passion.

Heart: From Christianity comes the belief that the heart is the seat of our emotions, particularly love. In Islam, the heart is our spiritual center. A heart symbol is used to replace the word ‘love’.

Lips: Used for kissing and therefore associated with passion. A kiss by a pair of lips painted with bright red lipstick leaves a print showing something was sealed with love.

Heart pierced by an arrow: Cupid or Eros shoots an arrow into a heart, causing the person to fall passionately in love. It explains why love is both pleasurable and painful.

Broken heart: A symbol of the loss of love, most often of a spurned or rejected lover, and the pain of this. The term ‘heartbroken’ is used for extreme sadness and grief.

Cupid: The Roman god of love, represented by a winged boy carrying a bow and arrow with which to piece his victim’s heart, causing them to fall in love.

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The meanings associated with various flowers and plants.

Flowers have been irresistible to painters through the ages. These days we’ve lost much of the symbolism associated with them, but earlier painters chose flowers to convey very specific messages about their subjects. The meaning associated with a specific flower differs between cultures; the symbolism for each given here is from Western European culture unless specified otherwise.

Bamboo: A symbol for longevity (it’s always got green shoots) as well as strength and grace (it bends readily but doesn’t break easily). In Chinese philosophy the straight stem of bamboo symbolizes the path towards enlightenment, the segments of the stem being the steps along the way.

Carnation: A symbol of betrothal or engagement. In China, a carnation is a symbol of marriage.

Chrysanthemum: The national symbol of Japan, ‘mums are a symbol for long life.

Clover leaf: The three divided leaves of clover represent the Christian Holy Trinity of God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Four-leafed clovers represent luck.

Daisy: The most basic of flowers, a white daisy is a symbol of innocence.

Deadly nightshade: A highly poisonous plant (Atropa belladonna) with purple bell flowers and small black berries. A symbol of deception, danger, and death.

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A collection of the various symbols and signs associated with death.

The things that symbolize death or that we associate with mourning, vary across the world. The prime example is the use of white for mourning in the East, whereas white is traditional for celebrating a wedding in the West.

Black: In the West, the color used for death and mourning is black. Black is associated with the underworld and evil (think of black magic, which is said to draw on the power of the devil, and the saying ‘the black sheep in the family’ for someone who’s disgraced the family). Jewelery made from jet, a hard black stone that can be polished to a brilliant shine, became popular during the reign of Queen Victoria when, after the death of her husband Albert, she shunned bright jewelery as inappropriate. Kali, the Hindu god of destruction, is depicted as black.

In parts of Africa, spirits and dead ancestors are seen as white (which is why Europeans were initially welcomed with open arms).

White: In parts of the East, the color used for death and mourning is white. It’s also the color used for surrender (think of white flags being waved). Ghosts are depicted as white.

Skull: The skull of a human head. (Think of the scene from Shakespeare’s Hamlet where the prince holds a skull of Yorick, a former servant, bemoaning the pointlessness and temporary nature of worldly matters.) The skull with two crossed bones underneath it of a pirate flag were to symbolize that death awaited those whom the pirates encountered. Today a skull and crossbones is sometimes used as a sign for poison.

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