What do you want to know?

Greetje Sieders

Figurative and Abstract

6 Mistakes starting artists make - part 3

Look from a distance
You want to finish your painting at once. You're working on it and see something you want to chance or make a little better over and over again. A little more colour here, perfecting details there. Recognizable? It means you're making a mistake.

When you are close to your painting constantly, you do not look at it the way people would do as soon at it hangs on the wall. You want to get every detail perfect from up close. However, most of the time it looks way better when de details seem to be correct from a distance, but are not perfect up close.

So take frequent breaks from your work. You can best put your work aside and do something else. Personally I work on several canvases simultaneously. So when I continue painting on a canvas, I can have a fresh look at it again.

 
(Work on multiple paintings at once.)


Do not expect results immediately
Don't expect your painting to look exactly the way you want within an hour or even a day. By working in layers you have to think ahead. You have to plan the steps you take to make your painting look the way you want it to.

Will it be a painting with people on it? Paint the complete canvas in skin colour first. After that you sketch on your canvas using chalk. Only then you start painting the background the colour you want. (Sparing the places that need to remain skin colour.) Even you background is build up in different layers.

When you work this way, it takes a while before your painting starts looking like the picture in your head. Yet, it does ensure that you ultimately have the best end result.


(Your painting doesn't immediately look like the picture in your head.)