Beginners begin here!

Whether you're a novice painter or a seasoned pro, this chapter will encourage you to have fun playing with your paints, showing you ways to sharpen your skills but also how to loosen up and fall in love with the painting process. It introduces you to the supplies you will be using throughout this book, as well as fun and useful painting techniques to jumpstart your creativity.

Supplies

Throughout this book, we use a variety of my favorite art supplies that go well with the acrylic medium. We will get creative with paints, oil pastels, and markers on a lot of different surfaces — not just canvas!

Paints

Acrylic paints are my favorite paints to use for a variety of reasons, many of which we explore in this book. We will be using fluid acrylics, soft and heavy body acrylics, and acrylic gouache paints. These are all acrylic paints that vary in their consistency or fluidity. A heavy body acrylic, for example, will have a thick consistency whereas a fluid acrylic will be more like liquid.

Brushes

Paintbrushes come in three basic shapes: flat, round, and filbert. I suggest having a variety of all three. Each type makes a different stroke, and varying sizes will give you more options and control over your mark's thickness.

Palette knives

Palette knives are great, both for mixing paint and as a tool to paint with. A variety of shapes and sizes will be useful, and both plastic or metal knives will work well with your paints.

Sponges

Painting sponges or traditional housecleaning sponges are fun and useful both to build texture and add dimension.

Mediums

Acrylic mediums are additives you can use with your paints to manipulate the texture or appearance, or change how the paints move and/or cling to your surface. Mediums include:

* gesso: prepares raw canvas and covers up mistakes

* texture: changes the texture or body of the paint

* gloss: makes your paint thin and transparent without becoming runny

* decoupage: gives your artwork a glossy finish

* extender: extends the body and drying time of the paint

* pouring medium: helps paint pour smoothly without diluting the pigment or binding agent of the paint

* glazing medium: enhances the color of your painting

Palettes

There are a variety of palette options for you to choose from. My favorite is a white butcher's tray as it makes it easier to judge your mixes. You can always choose a traditional wooden palette and prime it with white paint. Some palettes come with lids that help prevent your paints from drying.

Surfaces

We will explore painting on a variety of surfaces — including cardstock, mat board, canvas, pillow, rug, leather, wood, and glass — throughout this book. The beauty of acrylic paint is that it can stick to nearly any surface with little preparation, additives, or finishing mediums needed.

Oil pastels

Oil pastels are fun to experiment with. You can use them in an oil-water resist method (see page 21) or to draw directly onto your painted surface.

Paint markers

Acrylic paint markers are great for mark making and add an element of control that you may not achieve with your brush. They are also useful to take with you to use "on the go."

Tape

Painter's tape is useful for creating clean edges. Washi tape can be used in your paintings to create another visual element.

Other useful tools

* straws for blowing paint across your canvas to create patterns

* props for still life shots

* photos to paint from and on

Paint palette and brush care

Acrylic paints are wonderful for novice painters in that they dry quickly and you can quickly and easily cover any mistakes. However, fast-drying paint can ruin your brushes and palettes. Proper care is essential to the longevity of your materials.

Palettes

There are a lot of palette options for you to choose from, with no option being a wrong one, but there are also things to keep in mind. Once dried, acrylics will stick to almost any surface. Choosing a palette you like using and can keep clean will make the painting process more enjoyable. A glass or metal (butcher's) palette is a non-porous surface that is easily wiped when wet and can be scraped clean. If you opt for a wooden or plastic palette, remember that once your paints have dried you will not be able to wipe it clean. Using a spray bottle to spritz your paints and keep your paint palette wet will help prevent your paints from drying quickly on your palette.

Brushes

As with your palettes, once the paint has dried on your brush's bristles there is little you can do to remove it. Paint left to dry on your brush will make it hard and ruin it. After using your paintbrush, you should immediately clean it in water. If you want to let it soak, only allow the brush's tip to be submerged in the water. Letting the brush's handle soak in water will ruin it.

At the end of each painting session, I suggest taking your brushes and massaging their bristles with dish soap and running water to thoroughly clean out any paint residue.

Play Mark making

Mark making is all about creating varying types of line, pattern, and texture. You can do this by using different brush sizes and brushes with different-shaped heads — flat, fan, angular, or dagger.

You can also vary your marks by applying different amounts of pressure to your brush. Alternatively, you can swap your brush for a different tool altogether: experiment by applying paint with things you have around you, like forks, knives, credit cards, or even rubber spatulas. Another way of varying your marks is to work with different consistencies of paint — thick or thin.

Mark making can be very structured — for example, you can create a regular pattern such as polka dots — or spontaneous and loose, where you create a different mark each time.

This is a fun exercise on its own, but discovering different marks will add dimension and texture to your paintings.

Create circles using varying sizes of brush.

Paint big and little "X"s, applying more and less pressure to create thicker and thinner lines.

Use an old fork to create marks by pressing it into thick paint and dragging the tines downward.

Make dashes using a square-tip brush and a round-tip brush to see the difference.

Make smile shapes with a medium-size brush.

Experiment with other tools such as a spatula or a credit card to see what marks you can make.

Play Paint and create with a palette knife

Palette knives are such a great tool to include in your painting supplies and process. They can be used in a variety of techniques and help add dimension to your paintings in ways that paintbrushes can't. I typically gravitate toward using palette knives with wooden handles and metal tips, although the plastic ones work...