Art is a hobby practiced and loved by millions. There are many mediums of art - drawing, sketching, clay, digital, photography, and painting. Painting is one of the easiest and enjoyable forms of art, especially for beginners. Although it may seem complicated at first, don’t expect yourself to be the next Picasso after one painting. Take time and play around with what kind of painting you enjoy and what kind of paints and brushes you are most comfortable using.
All you need to start painting is a canvas, some brushes, and some basic paint colors. Of course, it helps to have water and a paper towel or cloth nearby to change the color on the brushes. It helps to have a color wheel nearby so mixing colors is easier. This also helps save money on buying every color of paint when you can just mix them yourself. Before choosing your colors, decide what kind of paint you want to use. The most basic categories of paint are acrylics, oils, and water colors. Many people, as well as myself, will agree that acrylics are the easiest to start out with. This is because they blend easier and fixing mistakes is much easier with acrylics than it is with oils and watercolors.
Once you’ve decided on a paint medium, you have to pick something to paint on. Typically, people paint on canvases. There are many different types of canvases in many different sizes. Canvas ranges in size from 4×3″ (10×7.5 centimetres) to 72×48″ (180×120 centimetres), and is usually made from cotton, linen, jute, or synthetic. The grains of canvas vary and one can choose to paint on a fine grain, medium grain, or large grain canvas. Canvases also come in different shapes besides rectangles, such as squares, triangles, circles, and even hexagons. If you don’t want to buy a canvas, you can make your own canvas out of a wood frame and linen. Or, you can even use heavy duty window curtains or regular, but thicker, paper. You don’t even have to paint on paper or forms of paper; you can paint on wood, clothes, walls, or even glass.
Unless you’re an expert at painting, don’t stress over brush types and sizes. Bigger brushes are easier to use for larger spaces, smaller brushes are easier to use for smaller spaces, slanted bristle brushes are good for straight lines, and puffy bristle brushes are great for details like clouds or trees.
Over time, painting will become easier as your learn blending techniques, what type of canvas (or other surface) you prefer, and what type and brand of paints you enjoy using.
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