How to start painting.
When you start to paint you will waste a lot of time making mistakes but that is ok. You need to learn to use the tools somehow!
Everyone needs to learn to use the tools before you can put the paint exactly where you wish, in the tones you wish, 'tones' because most beginners start painting using the wrong tones and when they realize what is meant by 'tones' they have to start re painting all their favorite scenes.
Many people have been painting for years and have not realized that a bright red car which is one hundred yards or more away is not red any more but a red tone of grey.
If you can combine this learning of tones with the learning of using the tools, you will progress quickly.
The monochrome painting exercises are great for learning about tones for there we paint pictures in one color and there we see what is meant by 'tones'.
When we move on to the colored paintings we must place the tones of different colors into their order, tones get darker as they come towards us, which makes a painting on a flat surface look three dimensional.
Learn to use the tools, like rideing a bicycle or eating with chop sticks, your mind will learn to control the colors, meanwhile you will make mistakes from which you will learn what not to do.
It is better to paint many simple pictures than to try and produce a major painting while first learning to paint in oil or acrylic.