There are a handful of techniques one can apply while painting an oil painting. In fact, masterful artists in the past have made many splendid masterpieces that have become great references for people of this era. Many sought to imitate these masters by striving with blind imitation without knowing the basic techniques of oil painting and therefore fail to produce something close to even being anything alike to the artworks of past masters. Before one begins with oil painting, or intends to pursue the dream of being an oil painter, one must understand the basics to oil painting techniques that will assist them along their way as they work forward towards their goal. Building the foundation and knowing the fundamentals are what will eventually count in the long run. This is so that artists could stand on their own feet and be independent in thinking while painting.

As one stares at an empty canvas, it would be hard to know of where to begin with. Often as it is, one has an idea and a repertoire of things to be put into the oil painting but does not know what would be a suitable position for those things. Composition is the right solution to this problem. The thing of primary importance would be to first lay out plans on a piece of paper by drawing four straight lines to divide the canvas into nine parts, this is called composition. The purpose of the lines is to help the painter choose an area of focus so that there will be a focus on the painting. The painter shall choose from any of the cross sections on the painting to place the focus. After selecting the point of focus, the painter will understand easily how to place the rest of the things in the painting to create a balance. The painter should take note that the middle block is not always the focus as this works only for portrait paintings. Composition helps an artist determine the focus of the painting.

Upon determining the focus of painting, the next step would be to define the colours to be used. This is a crucial step that should be considered deeply before applying the brush as this would affect the whole theme and mood and beauty of the oil painting, possibly even bringing it to ruin. There are several colouring techniques that could be applied and should be considered carefully prior to the painting of a picture. The colours should be handled and chosen carefully because the set of colours chosen will affect the mood of the picture, and the size of a colour\’s area will be the foundation of any colours that surround it. Another thing a beginner would have to know about colours is colour mixing. Getting the right tone and mixture can be difficult for artists who are inexperienced, so an artist should definitely try to mix all colours and feel the variety of effects different colours would bring. Also, shading would add space and enlarge the atmosphere of a painting. The way to determine and apply shading onto the canvas would be to have the darkest portion of a shadow coloured closest to the source of the shadow. Finally, an artist would have to be careful while working on edges. The meeting point of two colours should be handled with full caution by adding a smooth transition between both colours. This process will consume a lot of time but the artist should be patient in working out these transitions. Otherwise the colours can have an unpleasant effect on the oil painting.

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