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Teach Yourself To Draw And Paint By Simplifying The Psychology Involved.

Have you always wanted to draw and paint and can’t?
Would you believe this? There is a racing certainty that the reason why so far you haven't been able to draw or paint as well as you want, or at all, has nothing to do with talent? It's because you haven't had the right mind for it?
And this you may find it even harder to believe! If you work on your mind and belief system and you’ll find you will be able to draw and paint!

But these questions may spring to your mind immediately!

“Is it dead easy?”

 No!

“Is it quick?” You may ask, wanting immediate results!

Depends entirely on you.

“But if I stick at it, will it work?”

Yes, of course - as it does with most things.

“Could you teach me?”

Possibly, but that is not what I do.

“But I haven't the time to go to classes, does that make it impossible?”

No! Read on!

“How can you vouch for any of this?”

Simple! I watched my Mother prove it starting in her Seventies. She died in her mid-eighties having produced beautiful work And I have proved it by trying it myself since!

So! Put all your negative thoughts to one side and remind yourself that - whatever happens, you really do want to learn to draw and paint.

Here are some tips I want to share with you.

Tip 1:- You can do what I have done by following the helpful tips I give you which I have picked up from reading instructional books by artists, having attended only one class session and realising that it was not the way for me. (I am in no way knocking the value of classes for those that prefer that route. I am sure I would have improved faster if I had combined learning from books with Tuition)

Tip 2, Decide what form of art appeals to you at this moment which you would love to reproduce: is it charcoal drawing, watercolours, mixed media, oil painting, or what.

Tip 3:- If you can't answer yet Tip 2 but you really, really want to draw and paint, go to a Gallery for inspiration on what form of art you would love to try. Is it floral art, landscapes, seascapes, portraits, churches or old buildings? Or go to a good art bookshop and browse through the instructional books by different artists to find a form and a style you like. Because much of the tuition involves learning first to copy the pictures provided to you in the book, buy a book with finished pictures you like!

Tip 4:- So with your chosen tutorial book on the form and style you want to create, you select a picture as your goal to paint! But this tip may surprise you. I did me. It's a tip I read in an Artist's tutorial book which I followed to the letter and am so thankful I did. He advised: "If you want to paint well, learn to draw first"

Tip 5:- That means seemingly taking a step back. It means looking again in the Book shop for an instructional book on drawing in the same way as you looked for the book on painting. If you like the pencil drawings in a book, buy it. If you don't, keep looking.

Tip 6. Don't stint on artists materials by drawing on the back of envelopes and the like. Buy some decent drawing paper, some good pencils, and some spray fixative to stop the graphite smudging when the pad is closed. And buy a pencil sharpener and a putty eraser.

Tip 7:- Make a start, treating it all as experimental and fun. Learn how to create all manner of effects with a pencil. A good instructional drawing book will help you with lots of exercises.

“But I want to paint!” You cry! “Surely this is just diverting me unnecessarily?”

Tip 8:- If you just learn to draw first, telling yourself that 98% of what you learn to be able to draw is also a vital part of learning to paint, then I guarantee it makes it so much easier when you do come to paint.

Tip 9:- Study the way you can create contrast, tone, definition, and suggestion. All the good books tutor on this. (I became fascinated by ink pointillism). And learn one simple truth: all art is really tricking the eye! We know when we look along a street, that people of the same size get smaller the further they are away, so mimic that on paper. Read the books on perspective and every tip in them. Some enterprising artists have even produced some thin and smaller books with titles starting, "100 tips on. Etc." Look out for them! They can speed your progress dramatically.

Tip 10:-Practice! Practice! I honestly believe drawing and painting are skills we can learn if and when we want to. They are not talents we are born with. So the more we practice the better we get. So spend some time on it each week, learning new tricks.

Tip 11:-Vital it is that you enjoy the journey as you develop your skill and that you judge yourself kindly otherwise the reflex action in the self-worth part of your brain will kick in and tell you are no good at it. I am telling you that you can be good when you know how.

Final Tip 12:- I would advocate you go to a reasonable size W.H.Smith and ask for their tin box (6 inches by 2 inches by ¼ inch) of 6 Pure Graphite Sticks. These come in various degrees of hardness. They can be used as pencils or on the side like charcoal. They are marvelous to use to get started.

Which would I say was the tip that helped me the most?

I am going to cheat and say there are three equal ones!

First: Don’t worry about what your style should be! The more you try different things, the more you will accumulate artistic elements you like and you style will come

Second: Draw and Paint what you like and which you enjoy to sit and look at as a finished piece of work. You are not trying to emulate famous artists, are you?

Third: All my initial drawings were dreadfully tight and over-detailed. In contrast, in one of his books, Alwyn Crawshaw counselled sketching prodigiously but with a catch! No sketch should take more than 15 minutes. The result in my drawing and pure watercolours was dramatic

Good luck! Follow your nose with trying different techniques. Have fun and happy drawing! And note the Peace derived from it.

P.S. Among artists’ books I read were by Ron Ranson, James Fletcher-Watson. Ray Campbell Smith, Wendy Jelbert. Others on Drawing. Painting From Photographs .

Gerry Neale:

Author of  Self - Discovery Novel "Squaring Circles"

www.squaringcircles.co.uk

Hardly an hour passes, let alone

a day, before the chance presents itself to help

someone we do not know or to spurn that chance.

It could be helping someone in the street, clearly lost, or we can walk by.

It could be when we are driving and
letting someone in ahead of us, or

it could be by making sure they cannot.

Or

It could be holding a door for them, or

by letting it shut in the face.

Or

it could be by carrying a bag

up or down some stairs for them,

or by simply ignoring them.

We share the same world in our time,

when it is their time too.

It costs nothing to make it a better time.

 

Try it, and I swear you will make three weird discoveries!

1. In totally unrelated situations, you will find other people
increasingly doing it for you.

2. You will feel the emotional power within you

for having treated Life
as an interconnected endeavour with others,

even if only for a few moments in your day!

And 3. and most important, you receive a pay-off.

As you look to help

your powers of observation are being fine tuned,

a necessity for all artists!

Have Faith In Today

IF YOU HAVE FAITH, PRAY,

BUT IF YOU DON’T, THEN APPEAL

TO THE HIGHER ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE

Faith can be a taboo subject

but I do not believe it should be.

If you believe in God,

however dimmed by lack of practice,

I would encourage you to awaken your Faith.

In so doing you awaken your connection

with greater powers than your own.

Most Faiths have a peaceful and spiritual emphasis

which serves to connect us

with “our neighbour.”

If you do not have Faith,

no worries,

Then ponder on the infinite scale and wonder

of the order of the universe,

on its power to put your own issues in perspective.

and our luck to be in it.

But reflect too on how

when you grasp a good intent and you promote it,

with passion and in line with your Faith

extraordinarily and coincidentally,

helpful things begin to happen

towards achieving your good intent.

Most Important: I find it brings a tranquillity to my Pictures

COMMUNE WITH NATURAL BEAUTY

Being aware of the sheer scale of
the natural beauty all around us
is a key part of our sense of
our well-being

We can find this in a small garden, a park, along a river

or lake, large or small

We can witness it in birds and animals

We can walk past it many times in our homes or at work.
Examples of it can be in pictures hanging on our walls.

Vow to spend moments each day, taking notice of it.

Feel the pleasant & soothing impact on you
as you do it!

The Pay Back For Choosing To Do Something For Ourselves 

I am pleasantly stunned by the immediate and great response to the article I posted yesterday on www.submityourarticles.com on the Marvels for Giclee Printing For Artists. Should this appeal to you to try to have something you have painted copied in this way, that would be a bonus for me.

But what I hope sincerely would be a bonus for you would be a realisation forming in you that you can make something like this an unqualified "Want To" for yourself.

Maybe you won't take me too literally. Perhaps you would like instead to write, to cook or dance - the choice of what we can do is endless. It matters not what you take up as an interest.What is key, is your "wanting to" do it, for your own satisfaction. It's solely for your pleasure and sense of achievement which is key. There need be no "Have to" about it, at all!

Life today for so many of us is a long succession of "Have To's" or at least "Ought To's". If that is not actually the reality of our lives, it can still be our perception and put us under more pressure.

Doing something that is our's; doing it at our own pace; doing it because we want to get better at it, these are not self-indulgent and selfish actions or motives.

Of course, it goes without saying that to take up something manically, with total and utter missionary zeal at the expense of other commitments would not be good idea. But finding the times in the week when one can learn new skills is a great way to relax and restore belief in ones creative powers.  That is a great feeling and provides an object lesson to those around us that having a more balanced lifestyle is important and achievable.

And there is one hidden secret lesson in all this. A tutorial in simplified psychology! Show yourself how easily and quickly you learn the tricks of the new activity of your choosing,  and it will show you how powerfully the mind can respond to your deep desire to do something.

That's all very different to learning a "Have To"!

With your new skill learned or well towards being acquired, then you will have the stark proof of the high worth of this recommendation:-

Faced with any new "Have To" or "Ought To", look for the value to you in it, look for the value to those you love and those you care about and respect. The more of that value you find and can cherish, the quicker you will achieve the goal and draw great satisfaction from it as a choice rather than a imposition.

Have some fun!

The Marvels Of Giclee Printing For Artists to Create Art Prints For Sale

 

I confess I have come late in life to this form of copying technology. I cannot imagine anything that could have helped the amateur artist more to market their work effectively and economically. The cost and versatility of this form of copying has fallen dramatically in recent years. Any artist should check it out.

The cost of the scanners and printing machines has dropped and the size at which they can function has increased. As a result many more speciality copy shops and printers have them or have access to them. But what is far more material is no longer does one have to finance hundreds or even thousands of conventionally produced copies, such as lithographs. Now one can order the art print pretty well as one wants one and in reduced or enlarged sizes, compared with original. This means their use on greetings or other cards becomes a formality.

And one can only describe the art print quality as embarrassing. Why! Because the standard of reproduction is so phenomenal that it is impossible to tell the copy apart from the original. Does this allow unscrupulous behaviour. I guess it could. But what it does allow is an artist to sell excellent prints of their work at economic prices to those for whom an original would be too expensive.

You still can benefit materially from going to a printer who is skilled in Giclee printing and who has an acute eye for colour tints. There can still be a degree of man management of the scanning and reproductive process that can make that ultimate copy.

I have also come across artists prints where I have then discovered that they have actually set themselves with their own machines. They have acquired the necessary training. They are not only producing their own fine art prints, but producing them for others. The fact that printing can be achieved on various surfaces, canvass and watercolour paper included, means they can develop entrepreneurial businesses very simply. Being able to produce affordable art from their own studio, is a huge bonus.

Sometimes erroneously referred to as Iris prints, Giclee art prints are reproduced on 8 to 12 colour ink-jet printers. They are designed to respond to the very high resolution scan already conducted on an original by squirting the ink on to the paper to match the scan exactly..

The achievable advantages seem endless! The ink can be the best long-lasting ink enabling one to give 15 year warranties on them against them fading if the usual sensible precautions are taken. The high definition scanned image of the original can be stored digitally to be used as required.

.

If you are an artist, do check it out on the internet. It presents so many exciting possibilities. Even if you have produced just one masterpiece, you have it copied for your family or friends.