Any oil painters out there?

If you want to learn to draw then I would recommend Kimon Nicolaides - The Natural Way to Draw.  Takes about a year with three hours of drawing every day.  If you want to paint in oils then a good book to start with on materials and techniques is Pip Seymour - The Artist's Handbook.  If you're interested send me a message and I'll give you access to a bunch of resources that I've accumulated depending on what you want to achieve.

Fear is probably the right word. How much time to you have - and how much talent do you have?

Everyone draws & paints as part of their development and schooling, so you will be already at a point in the journey - if you can find out what it is that made you stop it is the only real barrier between that and oil painting. If it's lack of discipline, do a course, if it's fear of doing it wrong, go to classes. If it's lack of time, remove distractions. 

Time is now my barrier to oil painting - I simply value my time doing other things more, so I paint one piece, every other year at most. 

I still draw every single day. Sometimes 30sec. Sometimes 8 hours. etc as it is a means of communicating. 

How long is a piece of string? It is an impossible question and there is no one size to fit all.

Tutorials on line can be useful and lessons are probably the way to go but it is a lottery. You may get a brilliant tutor but if you get the wrong one it can be worse than useless.

There are so many variables but the first question I would ask is what do you want to get out of it? It can be an enjoyable hobby or a stick to beat yourself with.  That is what I have been doing for 45 years or so.

Can I ask what subject matter you are interested in and who is your favourite artist?

art65 said

How long is a piece of string? It is an impossible question and there is no one size to fit all.

Tutorials on line can be useful and lessons are probably the way to go but it is a lottery. You may get a brilliant tutor but if you get the wrong one it can be worse than useless.

There are so many variables but the first question I would ask is what do you want to get out of it? It can be an enjoyable hobby or a stick to beat yourself with.  That is what I have been doing for 45 years or so.

Can I ask what subject matter you are interested in and who is your favourite artist?

I have really enjoyed watching Michael J Smith on Youtiube and his hyper-realistic paintings. I would love to be able to replicate some landscapes to an extent whereby they look somewhat real and not to the extent of hyper-realism. 

I want to be able to lose some time in painting and not harming myself by sitting down of an evening and just drinking wine, so I guess I need this as a distraction

@PhotoPhilljk said

art65 said

How long is a piece of string? It is an impossible question and there is no one size to fit all.

Tutorials on line can be useful and lessons are probably the way to go but it is a lottery. You may get a brilliant tutor but if you get the wrong one it can be worse than useless.

There are so many variables but the first question I would ask is what do you want to get out of it? It can be an enjoyable hobby or a stick to beat yourself with.  That is what I have been doing for 45 years or so.

Can I ask what subject matter you are interested in and who is your favourite artist?

I have really enjoyed watching Michael J Smith on Youtiube and his hyper-realistic paintings. I would love to be able to replicate some landscapes to an extent whereby they look somewhat real and not to the extent of hyper-realism. 

I want to be able to lose some time in painting and not harming myself by sitting down of an evening and just drinking wine, so I guess I need this as a distraction

You have set the bar high. It can take a lifetime to achieve that standard and your particular talents may not be suited to it. I think signing up for an evening class is the way to start and drawing is the foundation pf representational art.

It may be a good idea to consider acrylics insted of oils. It is a far more forgiving medium. Oils have their own particular challenges. With acrylics you are less likely to get in to a mess. You can overpaint withoutwaiting long periods for drying and cleaning up is a lot easier.

If I were you tutor I would want to see what you are already capable of before giving specific advice but I have to say that I like Felix's attitude.

I've just come back from my oil painting class!

What is it that concerns you about drawing? I would suggest YouTube tutorials or perhaps look for a local drawing or oil painting class. It's always good to see other people's work and how they study different shapes and forms. Drawing every day and practicing will make you better.

art65 said

@PhotoPhilljk said

art65 said

How long is a piece of string? It is an impossible question and there is no one size to fit all.

Tutorials on line can be useful and lessons are probably the way to go but it is a lottery. You may get a brilliant tutor but if you get the wrong one it can be worse than useless.

There are so many variables but the first question I would ask is what do you want to get out of it? It can be an enjoyable hobby or a stick to beat yourself with.  That is what I have been doing for 45 years or so.

Can I ask what subject matter you are interested in and who is your favourite artist?

I have really enjoyed watching Michael J Smith on Youtiube and his hyper-realistic paintings. I would love to be able to replicate some landscapes to an extent whereby they look somewhat real and not to the extent of hyper-realism. 

I want to be able to lose some time in painting and not harming myself by sitting down of an evening and just drinking wine, so I guess I need this as a distraction

You have set the bar high. It can take a lifetime to achieve that standard and your particular talents may not be suited to it. I think signing up for an evening class is the way to start and drawing is the foundation pf representational art.

It may be a good idea to consider acrylics insted of oils. It is a far more forgiving medium. Oils have their own particular challenges. With acrylics you are less likely to get in to a mess. You can overpaint withoutwaiting long periods for drying and cleaning up is a lot easier.

If I were you tutor I would want to see what you are already capable of before giving specific advice but I have to say that I like Felix's attitude.

I agree that my sights are high but I just to dip my toe in to see if it is the right thing for me and will definitely be looking for classes 

Peaches Du Jour said

I've just come back from my oil painting class!

What is it that concerns you about drawing? I would suggest YouTube tutorials or perhaps look for a local drawing or oil painting class. It's always good to see other people's work and how they study different shapes and forms. Drawing every day and practicing will make you better.

Thanks Peaches Du Jour I've never really had any inclination to draw until recently and found oil painting to be a healthy distraction from the world we live in but all this is vicariously through youtube videos etc hence why I want to do it myself. I didn't grasp art at school and preferred the technical side like photography. 

I really wish I had given it a go at school but hindsight is always 20/20

@PhotoPhilljk I spend my free time watching oil painting tutorials on YouTube, haha. I suppose drawing comes before painting and it's a good place to start. It's never too late to start either. Have fun with it. What is it you want to draw or paint?

Have you got a well ventilated space to paint in?

I don’t use oils much as the turps stinks out the house and upsets my cat.

Peaches Du Jour ideally landscapes and nature. I have a beautiful photo of a swan that is like to paint. Who do you watch on YouTube?

Becky Kvittems yea I have a warm garage to go in and it’s ventilated well. We’ve got a dog and a cat so have to think about them

@PhotoPhilljk I absolutely love Andrew Tischler. He paints some incredible portraits as well as landscapes. He lives in New Zealand so you can imagine how gorgeous his landscapes are. He's a realist painter. I've just got into Matt Talbert for portraits, more of an impressionist. Another really good artist and tutor is The Paint Coach on YouTube.

Why don't you try post-impressionism, or maybe even abstract.

I love Robert Bevan. His style isn't difficult to copy:

Peaches Du Jour thanks x

A R G E N T U M I love e this kind of thing, but would like to be closer to realism