If you’re just starting to paint, you might be faced with the question, “what should I paint?” Maybe you’ll start with a guided instruction video, or maybe you’ll paint a portrait of your favorite pet, or you could just start throwing paint on the canvas and see what happens. My personal recommendation is to start with a simple still life.
What is a Still Life?
Still life is a collection of natural or man-made objects, often arranged on a table indoors. You’re probably familiar with still life because it tends to consist of paintings of flowers, glasses, food, and books, but the point is that you can create your own still life with household objects. You could start with a single object or make a little composition using two or three subjects that you have lying around the house (think coffee mugs, candles, apples, oranges, etc.) and then get started.
There are plenty of guides online to help you figure out where to put your first brushstroke. Acrylic paint tends to be very forgiving. It dries quickly, can be layered, and is thinned with plain water which makes it the perfect medium for the beginner artist. Due to its user-friendly properties, it can be a good idea to just paint without worry because you can always paint over any mistakes. Oil paint is often considered to be difficult for new artists but I personally think it can be easier due to the slow drying times, allowing colors to be mixed easily on the canvas, and it holds the body of the paint better, which means brushstrokes will retain their shape.
Start Painting
Start by lightly drawing the general shapes and position of the objects on your painting surface with a pencil or vine charcoal. Focus on getting the proportions right and try not to worry about surface features or the little details just yet. You should really only be concerned with large shapes so maybe make an indication of where the biggest shadows are, but don’t fill them in yet. Next, use thin layers of paint to fill in the shapes you drew. Whether you’re working with oil or acrylic, be sure to mix the colors as accurately as possible to make your work easier down the road. This step is usually fairly relaxing because you’re just mixing basic colors and painting large areas so you don’t even need to have refined brush control. Just paint all the way to the edges and try to fill in all areas of the canvas. This will give you a better idea of what your painting will look like and you can adjust the colors and values as you see fit, you’re the artist after all.
Continue to refine the painting by using slightly thicker paint with each layer and add more details as the painting develops. Don’t neglect the background. While it might not seem too important, the table under your still life and the wall behind it will go a long way in making the painting feel more complete. If you don’t want to paint the image in layers, you could use an alla prima technique where you use fairly thick paint from the beginning and make a finished painting in one sitting. A word of advice: really think about each brushstroke and avoid just filling in colors like a coloring book. Once again, there are many guides and videos to show you how the process works.
Recommended Supplies
If you’re going to start with a still life, you’ll need a few supplies. A beginner oil or acrylic paint set is a good place to begin. You’ll also need something to paint on, like a canvas board, or pre-stretched canvas, but you could also just use paper for practice. You’ll need a few brushes in various sizes and a place to mix your paint, such as a disposable palette. That should be enough for the basics but if you’re using oil paint, be sure to have some paint thinner to clean your brushes afterward.
Still life painting has a rich history of tradition and many artists have examples of still life in their oeuvre. It’s a great way to practice since everyone has objects lying around the house to use as a subject.