sasai asks: How can I learn to paint properly?
Hi sasai –
Well, this is an issue I can absolutely say I know nothing about! The first step to painting is being able to hold a paintbrush, and since I don’t have fingers or thumbs, I simply can’t!
But I do know people who paint. And they would probably tell you two things. Two things that completely disagree with each other!
The first is that there is no such thing as painting “properly.” That the revolution in art in the 20th century meant that today the true artists paint however they feel, using all sorts of different techniques. Jackson Pollock threw splatters of paints at a canvas, Roy Lichtenstein imitated comic books, and George Seurat made huge paintings with nothing but dots. So what’s “proper?” Who knows!
But the second is that there is a great deal of technique to learn, and all the great painters, including those three I mentioned, knew technique very well. Again, I can’t teach it to you, but I would certainly recommend that you find a class near you – just do a search on the internet and you’ll almost certainly find some – but even more so, I’d suggest you simply start painting. Get some inexpensive watercolors or acrylics, and just start painting what you feel like.
Because where these two opinions meet is that the better you get at being able to put what you want onto a canvas, the better a painter you are.
Good Luck! I envy you!
Shirelle