by Nolan Clark

Have you been painting the same scene over and over and just can't seem to get it right? Often we tend to loose sight of the basics and this causes us to make common mistakes which in turn causes headaches. This is when you need to get back to basics.

Here are some of the common basics, in no particular order :

• When painting a landscape, the colours start dark in front, brightening to the focal point, then fading out to the background.



• Don't put your focal point smack in the middle of the painting, (except some still life paintings), move it off centre and you will see the difference.



• Your eye automatically focuses on the brightest part of the painting, so reserve the brightest brights for the focal point.

• A colour only appears as bright as the colour(s) it is contrasting against - if you can't get the brightness you need for the focal point, darken your shadows.

• Objects in the distance fade out - this is because you are looking through a 'thicker' amount of atmosphere and dust as the objects closer to you. This is called aerial perspective.



• The farther away an object is from you the smaller it appears. This is called linear perspective.



• When painting a still life or portrait, fade the detail out as you move farther away from the focal point. This is called vignetting



• If you haven't guessed it by now, your painting must have a focal point. A focal point is something (a tree, the eyes etc.) that you want the viewer to focus on when they look at your painting. Everything else around it is merely to set the scene.



• Your painting will never have any life in it until you have put in the shadows. To check this - start your next painting by putting in the shadows before the objects, stand back and see how alive it already looks !



• ALWAYS remember where your light is coming from. It is amazing how many artists get this basic rule wrong. If your light source is on the left, then your highlights MUST be on the left.

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