Learn how to paint with oils, I believe may be the ideal medium for beginning artists. Is is a great way to study, as your changes and corrections can be easily made. When you apply and later find unwanted passages of color, they can simply be scraped off the canvas without any injury to the surface.



Colors can be painted over another, your actual drawing can be corrected, and all the aspect of your light and shadow application can be experimented with..



Your painting session can be ended at any time, and picked up and continued at any time. Beginners more than not, make oil their choice without considering other media at all due to a reverence for "true oil painting." Many artists want to produce pictures that show the actual brush stroke marks and textures.



Even an artist that might lean toward a specific medium may find, as I have, that with oils he can gain a quicker study of color subtleties and can gain a basic knowledge which can later be applied to the preferred medium.. You will soon discover after some practice time, that there is more to oil painting than the visible quality of the actual brush stroke work. Your chosen surface type, preliminary stain preparation of the surface, and the underpainting process come together to affect the finished result.



Make sure in your initial efforts that you work in a direct way, particularly when you are painting outdoors. After awhile you might choose to experiment in the studio with various underpainting processes. Also when learning how to paint choose a good box to store the different oil paints, brushes, palettes, and panels. One very popular size for a paint box is 12x16 and another is 16 x 20 inches. Try to find a box with a lid that is grooved in order to hold a canvas panel.



Usually Paint boxes are available in wood and metal. You may find new plastic versions as well. The choice of a metal box will be more expensive and will last a lifetime. You can locate wooden boxes that are already painted or stained though they will cost more than unpainted paint supply boxes. If you choose an unfinished box, put a complete coat or two of a good varnish, on the inside and outside. This makes easier to wipe off left over paint for easy cleanup.