Any artists/painters here?

[fhjmom]

I have been wanting to start painting and I have taken a couple of classes at one of those studios where you come in and everyone paints the same pic just to get some experience putting paint on canvas. I have really enjoyed it. My DH thinks I am kind of crazy though, because I told him that the reason I want to paint is, when I hear certain songs, I see colors and images (mostly abstract) that I just can't get out of my head. I feel like I *NEED* to paint to get these ideas out in a tangible form. It is like when you hear a song and it gets stuck in your head and just plays over and over, driving you crazy... yeah, it's like that only some of these images have been in my head for months.:tongue_smilie:

 

So now that I have started playing with paint I am kind of nervous or scared to really commit to a big canvas. I have purchased some artist-quality acrylics and some smaller canvas boards and played, almost like doing a rough draft of some of my ideas, and I like the results but I am still hesitant to tackle a big canvas - and the first image I feel like I need to paint, I see on a big canvas. I think part of it is because the canvas and paints are so expensive. I have a 50% off coupon sitting here for Michael's and I want to go buy a canvas and just dive in... but, I am still sitting here. I think another part of my heistation is the fear of not being able to finish a large canvas in one sitting, and the way I want the color blended may make it hard to do over multiple sessions. How do I handle that?

 

So,

#1.) I am wondering if anyone else that paints or does some other similarly creative endeavor can relate to this need to get these ideas out of my head - or - is DH right and I really am crazy? :lol:

 

#2.) If you paint, can you offer any advice or encouragement? Can you tell me about your process? Do you do "drafts" on smaller canvases? How do you plan? Can you finish a large canvas in one sitting? If not, how do you blend your stopping and starting points so it isn't obvious?

 

Thanks!

[The Girls' Mom]

#1...you aren't crazy! My dd and I are both that way.

 

#2...I often will sketch on paper with colored pencils to plan.

 

You can also make large canvases inexpensively (the first one will cost more to set up, but after that it is cheap). I've made them by making a frame with 1x1 lumber, stretching canvas dropcloth (can be purchased at Home Depot) over it and stapling with a staple gun, then coating with a couple of coats of gesso. After your painting is finished, you can remove it from the frame and reuse the frame. The one and only college art class I took, that was the first thing we had to learn to do.

 

Another thing you can do, if you are using acrylic, is to buy the craft paints in the bottle to play with. They quality isn't as good as the "real stuff" but it can be much cheaper if you are just playing around.

 

Also, don't limit yourself to canvas. You can also paint on masonite boards from Home Depot as well. Just give it a good coat of gesso first.

 

Mostly have fun!

 

Oh, and on the blending. You can buy a retarder that slows down the drying time of your paint, but it doesn't extended it an incredibly long time. You might try oils if you are looking to do that type of painting more.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Apryl H

[Catwoman]

You're not crazy.

 

And you're not alone in worrying about spending a lot of money on a large canvas. By the time you buy the paint and brushes, you feel like you've already made quite an investment, and when you add in things like easels or special lighting, or instructional books and DVDs, it really adds up.

 

The great thing about acrylics, though, is that you can paint over the parts you don't like, and you can even re-paint over the entire canvas if you truly hate what you've painted.

 

Depending on the level of detail, you may or may not be able to complete your painting in one sitting. If it's super-abstract and you've "seen" the complete painting in your head, you should probably try to finish it all at once, just because sometimes you can lose your motivation if you stop working, and then can't get back to the painting for a day or two.

 

I know people who take months to complete a single painting, but it would drive me bonkers to do that. I want RESULTS, and I want them FAST. :D

 

If you start painting and are concerned that you may not finish it in one sitting, be sure you've mixed plenty of the colors you'll be re-using in different parts of your work, so you won't have to worry that things won't "match" in the final painting. Make sure you have a palette that you can dampen and cover tightly, so your paint stays moist and workable in between sessions.

 

I don't know enough about the type of painting you want to do, so I'm sure I'm not being very helpful, but one thing I would suggest if you're worried about using the large canvas -- paint a smaller "sketch" version on a small canvas before you commit to the larger piece. It will give you a very good idea of whether or not the design will work as well as you hope, and you'll also be able to see how the colors work together, etc.

 

Good luck with it!!!

 

BTW, have you ever visited the forums at Wetcanvas.com? You can get tons of excellent advice there, and the members are very supportive and kind.

[Zoo Keeper]

Good for you for having the courage to paint! So many people spend their lives wanting to create (in pictures, words, music, etc.), but never take that first step. Like any new skill, it is intimidating, and can be difficult to find your pace. Keep at it. :)

 

Doing smaller sketches, or thumbnails, of what you want to paint will help you work out some of the difficult spots of composition, color, or design before you start painting on the big canvans--this can be as low key as sketchbook and colored pencils, or scraps of canvas and paint. Be willing to do multiple thumbnails if needed-there will be one that feels right.

 

You may want to consider working in oils, be it in paints or pastels. Oil paints take longer to dry, and are easier to blend. Very forgiving. :)

Edited February 12, 2012 by Zoo Keeper

[Caroline]

I am not a painter, but I am a fiber artist. I have had a number of pieces hang in gallery shows. My art keeps me sane. Just feeling the fabric, yarn, thread, etc. in my hands can take away a bad day. I love the feeling of putting a piece together. It is part of my soul.

 

I have spent a lot of money on supplies. I can't deny that. But it has been worth every penny, and my DH has seen that over the years.

[MamaSheep]

#1 - It's irrelevant whether you're "crazy" or not, it's the way you are, and you have every right to be that way. (Also, some of the best artists in history have been a little bit "crazy".) But yes, that happens to me too sometimes. Also in cooking, but that's a whole other story.

 

#2 - Over time you'll develop your own process. A lot of artists start out by playing around with smaller versions of their ideas to make sure they've picked the right pigments or have worked out problems with perspective or whatever. Not all colors of "red" look the same mixed with a particular shade of "blue"--which is why there are so darn many of them; sometimes you have to play around a little to get just the right shade of purple. The technical term for these "drafts" is "studies", and you'll sound very artistic if you tell people you're working on studies for a large canvas. But yes, do studies if that helps you work through your idea, or you can just do pencil sketches in a sketchbook. Acrylic paint can work on paper too, so you could try your colors out in your notebook too, and then write down next to them which pigments you used so you can get the same color again.

 

It's true, though, big canvasses can be really scary standing there all blank and white and expensive. I think the best way to get over that is to just jump in and do it a few times. I haven't done any painting in a long time, as my current medium of choice is fabric (pieces of cloth don't dry in your good brushes and ruin them when you have to drop them and go deal with autistic meltdowns, and they don't poison people who sometimes eat things that are not food--but that's another story). But I love painting and intend to get back to it "someday". Once I got over being scared of larger canvasses I found I actually preferred them. It's kind of a more visceral, full-body experience painting on a large canvas where making the brushstroke you want takes your whole arm instead of just the tippy tips of your fingers. Kind of like a dance with color and line and light and shadow and emotion...

 

As Apryl already mentioned, you can make your own canvasses for a good bit less than they cost at Michael's, but there are some start-up costs. When I used to make them I used 1x2 lumber, as it was a bit stronger than the 1x1's. I used a miter saw and miter box to cut 45 degree angles on the ends of the boards to get a mitered corner, which isn't as hard as it sounds. Then I'd use metal right-angle brackets and screw or nail them on to hold the boards in place. You do need to make sure your corners are square, and a carpenter's square is good for that, but if you're a poor starving art student who just spent her last ten bucks for a tube of cobalt blue, you can get it pretty darn close using the corner of a piece of paper to check it with. If your canvas is larger than...oh...24 inches or so in any direction you would want to put crossbars on the frame so that the boards don't bow when you tack your canvas on. A canvas drop cloth works, or you can buy canvas at the fabric store by the yard. Ask for "cotton duck" cloth. It needs to be big enough to wrap around the frame to the back on all sides. To stretch the canvas, lay it out flat on the floor, and then lay your frame in the center of it. You can use a staple gun or a hammer and tacks to fasten the canvas to the frame. Pull the fabric around to the back of the frame and tack it down. (A lot of "store-bought" canvasses have the canvas tacked to the sides of the boards rather than the back, but it's considered much more professional to tack it on the back. My understanding is that most galleries and museums don't like the side-tacked canvasses. And besides that, if you tack it on the back you can make your painting go around the sides, and then it looks "finished" enough to just hang it on the wall without a frame. Frames can be really expensive.) Begin by putting a tack in at the center of each side of the frame (give or take, it doesn't have to be an exact science) and then work out from the centers to the corners, being sure to keep the canvas smooth and taut. When you get to the corners pretend you're making "hospital corners" on a bed, and you'll get a nice mitered corner on your canvas. Tack it down good on the back, and then trim off any excess canvas, and you're done. You will need to paint it with a couple of coats of gesso. Don't be intimidated about gessoing a canvas, you just paint it on with a paintbrush (actually I like those cheapo sponge brushes for this--a nice wide one), let it dry, and then paint on another coat. It seals the canvas so the paint doesn't damage it (which is less of a problem with acrylics than oils), so you want to make sure you get it thoroughly covered. If there are any big lumps or bumps or brush textures in the gesso that you don't like when you're done you can use sand paper to get rid of them, just make sure the gesso is thoroughly dry.

 

As far as finishing in one sitting, starting and stopping, and that sort of thing, it really depends a lot on the kind of painting you're doing. As has already been mentioned there are things you can add to acrylic paint to make them take longer to dry. Even with those, though, it usually dries between one session and the next. It's harder to finish a careful, highly detailed realistic painting in one sitting than it is to finish a very energetic, broad-stroked abstracty kind of thing. Oils do take longer to dry than acrylics, and again the dry time can be adjusted depending on the amount of oil versus thinner in the mix and whatnot (also, just so you know, you can paint oils over the top of acrylics, but you can't paint acrylics over oils or they flake off). I like oils best for that reason, because I like to be able to push the paint around for a while. But even oils can dry in undesirable ways between sessions. With practice you'll get a feel for how to work through the problems of multi-session paintings. What I do is to work a little bit all over the whole canvas in each session. I build up my paintings in layers, starting with thinner, more watercolory-looking background layers that sort of block in where things will go, and building up gradually over the whole canvas with more color and more detail as I go. But I've known other artists who start at one part of the canvas and finish that part before moving on to the next. Again, this is something that depends a little on what kind of painting it is. I, personally, find oils easier to blend, mostly because acrylics tend to dry in unexpected ways when I've gotten absorbed in some other part of the painting.

 

Anyway...I don't know how much help that is, but those are my thoughts on the subject. If you have more questions, I'm happy to try to help. Mostly, though, I just wanted to say don't let the big canvas scare you. You're the boss of it. Go show it who's in charge.

 

And post photos (if you're comfortable with that). :)

[MamaSheep]

I am not a painter, but I am a fiber artist. I have had a number of pieces hang in gallery shows. My art keeps me sane. Just feeling the fabric, yarn, thread, etc. in my hands can take away a bad day. I love the feeling of putting a piece together. It is part of my soul.

 

I have spent a lot of money on supplies. I can't deny that. But it has been worth every penny, and my DH has seen that over the years.

:iagree: The supplies add up, but they're still cheaper than therapy. At least that's my excuse. ;)

[fhjmom]

Thank you! Thank you, All!! The replies are so encouraging. And yes, I think it will be cheaper than therapy! :D

 

I love the sound of "studies" - yay! And I will try to get some courage up to post pics when I feel like I have something to share. Right now all I have are "studies" and since I don't feel like those are finished, I am not ready to share yet, KWIM?

 

This

Kind of like a dance with color and line and light and shadow and emotion...

and this

My art keeps me sane. Just feeling the fabric, yarn, thread, etc. in my hands can take away a bad day. I love the feeling of putting a piece together. It is part of my soul.

are perfect sentiments of how I feel. Thanks again!!

[GingerPoppy]

To get over any fear of wasting money or supplies, I work very small, generally (usually 2 1/2" by 3 1/2"). You'd be surprised at the amount of detail you can get, and it allows me to indulge my desire to hop from one idea to the next, and actually finish each mini project. I was addicted to doing them for a couple of years. People around the world trade these mini works called Artist Trading Cards. I have a collection of around 300.

[fhjmom]

I did it!! I started my painting last night on a big canvas (well, big to me - 24" x 30"). I am using a palate knife technique and finished one small section with the paint built up to the way I wanted it. I also painted base colors as a guide to use as I apply more paint with the knife to the rest of the canvas, but this morning I kind of like it as is. Now I am debating whether to leave it alone, or continue with the plan I had in mind. I am afraid that if I don't do at least a little more to it, I will see it as "unfinished" forever. KWIM?