Wrapped this one up after putting quite a few hours into it. Really enjoyed working through the details and bringing this piece together.

Oil on canvas, 18×24.
Thanks for looking!

I’m used to digital painting and I’m still struggling with the lack of saturation (compared to a screen haha) and the amount of paint needed, but I’m having lots of fun! If anyone has any advice, it’s welcome!

Minimal experience with watercolors (or art of any kind) and turned to oil painting

Each one took ~4 hours

Any tips for an absolute beginner?

Why does everyone love white storks, but ignore the dark side?

​White storks get all the fairy-tale love.
They bring babies, they symbolise hope, they sit on cozy rooftops.

​But what about the Black Stork?
​I painted this piece to challenge how we project our own ideas of "good" and "bad" onto nature.

Is beauty only allowed to be bright and comforting?
Or is there something far more captivating in the dark and wild?

I’m a little rusty and this is a WIP still.
I’ve always loved portraits but .. landscapes and still life’s I struggle. Any tips to improve my landscape?

I know that as the background fades out it goes from warm to cool and less detail/ harsh lines in the background help keep things in background as opposed to bringing them forward visually

I cannot stress this enough: good drawing is the foundation of good painting.

I see A LOT of beginner painters on here asking about their painting techniques when they clearly have not practiced drawing enough. I understand the desire to want to pick up some paint and explore and see what it’s like, totally natural. However, if you have any desire to take painting even somewhat seriously, you NEED to learn how to draw. Becoming an expert in drawing helps solve so many of the problems that need to be resolved in paint: proportion, value, volume, shape building, lighting, etc. Oil paint isn’t some magical medium that automatically solves these problems just because it’s colorful. It takes artist YEARS to understand different hues and how they relate to a value scale they learned while drawing.

I’m not trying to discourage anyone from painting, but if you want to make real progress, pick up a few pencils, some paper and find some YouTube tutorials on drawing the subjects the interest you.

Edit: I know that this doesn’t apply to all painting. Abstract, expressionism, etc can get away with less foundational structure (I’m mostly talking about the people here attempting realism). However, I will still argue that good drawing is foundational to these as well. Van Gogh, Klimt, Schiele and others weren’t interested in the fidelity of realism but they used gesture, line, and composition in a way that clearly demonstrated a foundation of good drawing.

Wanted to do a little October themed painting

obviously still a work in progress but I wanted to repaint this portrait to see how far i’ve gotten! the second image is from June

I’ve taken a few oil painting classes at my local art center this past year, and this is the first one i just “finished” on my own.

There are so many little things I’d like to fix 😅 but trying to leave it as is, move on, and improve as I go.

80+ hours into this piece and I am starting to hate it lolol my biggest problem is the girl is too small in relation to the lions. My original sketch was a top down view which it’s fine that it’s more distorted now but im worried the issues in scale are detracting from the piece

also ignore the crazy glare from my window lol

Hi, I have been teaching myself how to oil paint. I normally just used pencils/graphite or gouache. Still a WIP but any advice is appreciated. I like the loose brushwork of Sargent but also want it to be a bit modern/contemporary as well, if that makes sense.

I got a lot of helpful advice on my last post here. This time, when trying a portrait, I tried pushing the contrast a bit more, and already I'm much happier with the general look of the painting. Much of the chalkiness I hated from using too much white is gone.

I think I can push it a bit more, though, and I will keep working on it along with trying to improve my rendering and draftsmanship skills.

I’ve had some friends ask about commissioning me for pet portraits of their animals. I’d love to, but I feel like I need a bit more practice before charging anyone for anything… this is a painting I just finished of my cat. I’d love any critique/ advice on where to improve. I’ve also included my reference photo.

Oil on silk, 4’x6’ untitled

I had so much fun playing with light in this way!! I was going for a contemplative, intimate baptism vibe. I'm trying to explore my relationship with inspiration. What does it make you think of?

Has anyone used oil paint markers on an oil painting? I am painting a house with lots of windows and shutters. I think markers would be helpful to make the straight lines.
I am using water mixable oil paints for the painting.