Beginner oil painting problems: When to paint around something not over it

One of the most common mistakes that I see made is when a painter chooses to paint over something instead of painting around it. It's okay to leave empty canvas for a different object in your painting. Today I demonstrate this with clouds which is a popular subject to make this mistake with. Enjoy!
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Hi, I am the son of two artists and began painting in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia before I could walk. I was a rare combination of artist and athlete so I moved to Los Angeles in 2008 to play football for USC. I left the team my sophomore year to focus on painting and filmmaking, applying the same focus and discipline from my football career to my art. I primarily work in oils, and spend most free days painting "en plein air" in my new home of Sarasota Florida.
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Пікірлер: 123

  • @Mrfurball25
    @Mrfurball253 жыл бұрын

    Painting over things is the mistake that I have been making. This is the video I need to see 🎨

  • @mtlewis973
    @mtlewis9733 жыл бұрын

    chris: paints a beautiful cloud, better than anything i could ever do chris: you see how bad this looks?

  • @karenbeaney3167
    @karenbeaney31673 жыл бұрын

    I’m new to oils and you have already answered many of the questions I have and the problems I have run into. Thank you x

  • @Nadotornadocat
    @Nadotornadocat3 жыл бұрын

    You are a truly lovely teacher, I feel like I’ve learned more watching your videos today than I have my whole semester in class. I’ve been feeling extremely frustrated with painting but your videos are so calming and helpful I feel way more motivated now. Thank you so much!😸💕

  • @jamieelder7438
    @jamieelder74384 жыл бұрын

    Great demo! I hope this keeps me from painting muddy skies.The ending was hilarious also!

  • @lydia12356

    @lydia12356

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yas!! I’m not the only one I litter have like painted 5 canvas’s that I am like nope don’t like it I’ll paint something else over it

  • @Wayneawebb
    @Wayneawebb2 жыл бұрын

    Two words: Bob Ross. Had the Happiest little clouds painted over his sky,

  • @KaytayBaylay

    @KaytayBaylay

    2 жыл бұрын

    Wasn't he painting with acrylics, though?

  • @blazed_existence3338

    @blazed_existence3338

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@KaytayBaylay No. He used oils.

  • @hc509

    @hc509

    Ай бұрын

    ​@@KaytayBaylay Oils he also had a proprietary "Liquid White" he would put all over his canvas and he painted wet on wet. It was a simpler and faster way to paint. I use his technique with acyrils tho. Acrylic paint dries super fast

  • @ralphcall4322
    @ralphcall43223 жыл бұрын

    I am newly subscribed, and have watched only a few episodes. What impresses me the most about your tutorials is your emphasis on techniques. The way you teach is very useful, and reminds me of another artist I watched on TV in the 90's named Helen Van Wyk.

  • @lindaburton1633
    @lindaburton16333 жыл бұрын

    I love watching how you hold the brush, and how you make your brush strokes. Very helpful! Thank you. 😊

  • @RobertF-
    @RobertF-4 жыл бұрын

    Really good video. You make a great point. You can also scrape off the blue paint with a palette knife or wipe it off with a paper towel, and then put in the white paint. It's oil paint so it stays wet and you can just wipe it right off. It's actually easier in some sense than pencil drawing where sometimes you make a mark that's too dark and you can't remove it, so it's stuck there and the drawing is ruined. That definitely can happen with pen and ink easily. That never happens with oil paint. You can always either scrape it off or just paint right over it. In a lot of ways painting is easier than drawing. It's amazing if you think about it, so counterintuitive. Painting is actually a pretty simple thing, that's the big "secret" of art.

  • @daveweir4429
    @daveweir44292 жыл бұрын

    It was nice at the end there to see you just enjoy painting, improving the clouds and not instructing as much. Just watching you made it a bit more relatable for me.

  • @watercolourgoddess
    @watercolourgoddess3 жыл бұрын

    wow you have an amazing stage presence for an artist. I am a watercolorist and I am going to start a channel as well! its really great that you are a bit cheeky. I work in a nursing home and doing everything I can to get out by autumn 2021. Wish me luck!

  • @WhatThePolitics

    @WhatThePolitics

    3 жыл бұрын

    Best of luck mate

  • @matthewgrennell9293

    @matthewgrennell9293

    2 жыл бұрын

    Wet on wet would seem like the least effective alternative to painting around. If over paint it would be best to paint thick over a thinned out more dry layer in my opinion.

  • @stormcorrosion176

    @stormcorrosion176

    2 жыл бұрын

    Good luck!!

  • @Drew.Hunter.Maker.Artist
    @Drew.Hunter.Maker.Artist3 жыл бұрын

    This is definitely a showcase of oils biggest advantage, its blending ability. However like you showed if you don't plan ahead or wait for a layer to dry it can all get pretty muddy. Probably another solution to the problem is just to be patient and wait for the layer to dry. Since it will already be close to where you want it it wont take much to fix it from there. But also great suggestion for using that technique for clouds in the distance. Thanks for the tips!

  • @roxannekeomaka4754
    @roxannekeomaka47543 жыл бұрын

    Love when you demonstrate. That was so clear to understand. You always have the best advice

  • @paintcoach

    @paintcoach

    3 жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @dorrisgonnawreckyou7111
    @dorrisgonnawreckyou71114 жыл бұрын

    Mate your videos are so usefull, i swear i have found about 3 now that cover subjects i have seen covered so many times before but you cover them so much better.

  • @paintcoach

    @paintcoach

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! If you ever have any suggestions for videos let me know

  • @maimanon
    @maimanon4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the tip. Your channel deserves more views and subs. Love your contents, very useful.

  • @paintcoach

    @paintcoach

    4 жыл бұрын

    Glad you think so!

  • @creatingkellyjay232
    @creatingkellyjay2324 жыл бұрын

    Love the Info man! I need to learn how to become as good of a teacher as you are for the videos on my channel! Thank you for what you do!

  • @Barakon
    @Barakon2 жыл бұрын

    painting on wet paint is like painting on the same layer, waiting for that paint to dry is like waiting for a new layer to load. wet paint clouds are misty, whispy, and distant. you can start with the farthest clouds and then wait for the paint to dry or have lineart for the clouds before painting the sky so that you can both distinct and distant clouds on the same layer.

  • @lostisles5850
    @lostisles58502 жыл бұрын

    When you put the white highlighting over the clouds it really brought the painting out. Thats awesome

  • @jaymccaffrey7463
    @jaymccaffrey74639 ай бұрын

    So great to watch you paint Coach! We think we need a certain brush stroke or look. But you show us that it is application, moving, and layering the paint that makes the difference. Muchas gracias.

  • @aaroncaterrulez123
    @aaroncaterrulez123 Жыл бұрын

    your videos absolutely make me a better painter. So grateful for you!

  • @kimlanoue2033
    @kimlanoue20334 жыл бұрын

    I often wondered why this was done this way but questioning it no more. I’m not going to struggle anymore more and my clouds will forever be grateful. Thank you. Kim

  • @ArtistBrian
    @ArtistBrian Жыл бұрын

    Amazing video, this brings a lot of clarity..often this mistake is done by rushing..I often work on multiple paintings now to avoid rushing allowing layers to dry then work. Thanks

  • @muhammadsaad-cr3bw
    @muhammadsaad-cr3bw3 жыл бұрын

    Actually i prefer the top one. “I” “me”. The tutorial is great 👍 and helpful.

  • @nataly4069
    @nataly40693 жыл бұрын

    Great appreciation for the comparison! Thank you!

  • @losv2434
    @losv24343 жыл бұрын

    Excellent video as always!

  • @dmanzenpaintings
    @dmanzenpaintings3 жыл бұрын

    That's really helpful.. thanks for sharing your knowledge

  • @marypartridge5154
    @marypartridge51542 жыл бұрын

    You give us painters hope.

  • @MariaRodriguez-bw4sk
    @MariaRodriguez-bw4sk3 жыл бұрын

    This was so helpful. Thanks

  • @Mimmimok
    @Mimmimok Жыл бұрын

    Beautiful clauds. I am going to follow your steps.

  • @tumblingrosesstudio
    @tumblingrosesstudio2 жыл бұрын

    Love this demo!

  • @jolantadrzwiecka8661
    @jolantadrzwiecka86612 жыл бұрын

    At last I understand my mistake thanks to you👍🙏

  • @pistaobiela
    @pistaobiela3 жыл бұрын

    The both are good 😂. Btw, fantastic videos! Keep going and thanks for sharing your knowledge!

  • @beanalog8202
    @beanalog8202 Жыл бұрын

    Good video...again. laughing at the very end, was not expecting that 🤣

  • @lars7282
    @lars7282 Жыл бұрын

    That was very, very helpful. Thank you

  • @phyllisharries2742
    @phyllisharries27422 жыл бұрын

    This is great, thank you.

  • @ddbdbubbles
    @ddbdbubbles2 жыл бұрын

    love your videos! They are helping me so much. I think you could even go with a larger brush on some of these.

  • @kellylee4512
    @kellylee45123 жыл бұрын

    Very good info i realy enjoy wahting it

  • @nikolamihaylov94
    @nikolamihaylov943 жыл бұрын

    Very interesting, but you can paint nice clouds over the background if you do wet on wet painting. Otherwise for good detail in normal oil painting going around is the key. Nice content keep it up.

  • @MissWascallyWabbit

    @MissWascallyWabbit

    2 жыл бұрын

    Isn't this demo wet on wet? Or does wet on wet that you refer to use more medium or something?

  • @Handles-R-Lame

    @Handles-R-Lame

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@MissWascallyWabbit the first painting was wet on wet, no medium was used as far as I could tell. However the second painting was roughly sketched then blocked in with shapes, by its color and value. So with the second painting he essentially imagined the clouds as shapes first nothing more, then depending on the distance between them and the viewer, determined the value of the color(dark or light) and paint around this principle. He didnt put the blue sky in first as an undercoat like in the first painting, thus he wasn't fighting to get the color or value right. So first painting was basically a form of wet on wet and second was not. Hopefully this makes sense!✌

  • @_kikizaman_

    @_kikizaman_

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yes! Exactly. When I paint clouds over my background (wet on wet), I think they come out best. They don’t end up looking like big fluffy clothes, but wispy thin clouds. It works much better for me, and when I do clouds over my background with wet on wet, they end up turning out extremely hyper realistic.

  • @Sarah_Stark

    @Sarah_Stark

    2 жыл бұрын

    Bob Ross. I have my mom's old Bob Ross white and clear mediums she got yearssss ago and I love using this technique.

  • @hrttt9277
    @hrttt92772 жыл бұрын

    for me the first one look more realistics, the other clouds looks more define.

  • @roserousan6411
    @roserousan64114 жыл бұрын

    Thank you . I really struggle with clouds i hope I get better

  • @pgemperl
    @pgemperl Жыл бұрын

    This is helpful!

  • @LizGridleyArtist
    @LizGridleyArtist4 жыл бұрын

    Do you find yourself working any differently if you start on a colored or toned surface?

  • @rosemariesarver4640
    @rosemariesarver46404 жыл бұрын

    answered my question of problem of overpainting

  • @giuliacortina.9765
    @giuliacortina.97654 жыл бұрын

    You Are a Fantastic Teacher!! :) :)!! And an Amazing Painter!! ;) ;)!!! Bravissimo! :) :)!! Grazie^.^^.^!!!!

  • @juliegroth335
    @juliegroth335 Жыл бұрын

    Love your videos! Can you do one on how to add to an already dry painting?

  • @Nioki1000
    @Nioki10003 жыл бұрын

    I saw some painters using paper towels to clean excess paint and then painting over or u can wait till it dry up.

  • @taraverkuil8910
    @taraverkuil89103 жыл бұрын

    Great video! Thanks! Do you always hang your pale next to your canvas? Is it clipped on? Looks ideal! Thank you!

  • @lydia12356
    @lydia123562 жыл бұрын

    Acrylic to oil struggles! For real

  • @PopleBackyardFarm
    @PopleBackyardFarm4 жыл бұрын

    Excellent information . I love to paint . New friend Ruthie

  • @paintcoach

    @paintcoach

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @Amber-le8ds
    @Amber-le8ds Жыл бұрын

    well that just makes sense thank you :)

  • @TheBanjoShowOfficial
    @TheBanjoShowOfficial Жыл бұрын

    Honestly the first one doesn’t look that bad in comparison. Different approaches yield different outcomes it really all depends what you want

  • @painterlybrushes4035
    @painterlybrushes40354 жыл бұрын

    Awesome 👍😊👍😁👍👍😉👍

  • @integrity1969
    @integrity1969 Жыл бұрын

    You remind me Of a art teacher I had many years ago. What really caught my eye about you is The way you hold your brush not like a pencil And that's the way the teacher I had in the past held her Brush. And I have it painted Is in 15 years Am struggling with the sunset. I keep redoing the sunset cause I don't like the way it's coming out I'm still not done with it. I am not happy with it

  • @Bonita.ch1
    @Bonita.ch13 жыл бұрын

    That's why you may want to do the under painting with acrylic??? 🤔😎

  • @jessicathayer3151

    @jessicathayer3151

    3 жыл бұрын

    do you mean painting the sky without the clouds in acrylic?

  • @MegaPacosanchez
    @MegaPacosanchez3 жыл бұрын

    Ohh you really needed to show both the squares at the end as a comparison!! How did you not do that??

  • @LilyAmongThorns

    @LilyAmongThorns

    Жыл бұрын

    I went back and looked at the finished clouds of the first one and there was nothing wrong with them, actually liked the first one slightly better to be honest…but I understand what he’s saying, that there’s more than one way and that one can save you time and frustration over another sometimes.

  • @M33838

    @M33838

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@LilyAmongThorns blending is nice too, its just a matter of preference.

  • @winterdesert1
    @winterdesert13 жыл бұрын

    I think the clouds in the top painting felt jealous from paint-around cloud biasness.

  • @rrresonance2
    @rrresonance227 күн бұрын

    You had me at beginner. 😁

  • @kylapoe7991
    @kylapoe79913 жыл бұрын

    I tried this technique today and the colors turned out really good but they were all kind of shaped like jelly beans 😂 any tips on making more natural shapes?

  • @henrydavis4328

    @henrydavis4328

    3 жыл бұрын

    get some inspiration from actual images from clouds and replicate those first and that's when you yourself will start igniting your creativity and come up with some good shapes. Do it more than once and you'll get the hang of it you need practice.

  • @brooklyn7189
    @brooklyn71892 жыл бұрын

    It seems that going dark to light really is the best practice… you really don’t muddy your colors

  • @sp9138
    @sp91388 ай бұрын

    I like it

  • @MelanieElaineH
    @MelanieElaineH3 жыл бұрын

    Would you use a larger brush to cover a large area or make more obvious strokes with. Smaller brush? I’ve been instructed both ways. I found success with watercolor, yet using various brushes in oils seems much different to me.

  • @Arr_original

    @Arr_original

    2 жыл бұрын

    From my experience it depends on what you try to achieve. If you just want a color an a huge area with no movement then it’s easier to use the big brush. As if a area is just in a constant color. If you want to draw a ocean or the sky, you can use a smaller one to indicate the winds and the small differences and the movement in the sky or the ocean itself. This can change from picture to picture depending on what you draw hopefully it helped you a bit. After all use what you prefer yourself

  • @Arr_original

    @Arr_original

    2 жыл бұрын

    Just saw that your comment is a year ago so you probably found your own way to do it

  • @jessicathayer3151
    @jessicathayer31513 жыл бұрын

    what if you wait till its dry?

  • @kovici7226

    @kovici7226

    3 жыл бұрын

    sometimes its just less practical 🤷‍♀️ im not very good at oil painting yet, but oil paint's main purpose (to me) is to stay wet and work well without drying in one session. im guessing that the paint around method works best if you want to use the mindset of "all of this paint is wet, and I have to work with that" paintings would take much longer, and at thst point, use acrylic for it to dry quicker 🤷‍♀️ its thinking harder instead of smarter when you do that

  • @qinxinzhou4143
    @qinxinzhou41433 жыл бұрын

    Painting over is my mistake too ! I was wondering why my painting looks so dirty!

  • @debramoss2267
    @debramoss22672 жыл бұрын

    I love this thank you. When you said we don't need fat over lean for things like this, I don't know what the things like this are 😕 Could you elaborate, please? Thank you 🙏

  • @carolbaughan8768

    @carolbaughan8768

    Жыл бұрын

    Thick paint over thin

  • @RT-mh8en
    @RT-mh8en2 жыл бұрын

    すごく勉強になりました! 日本語字幕がほしい!

  • @Rick-tb4so
    @Rick-tb4so Жыл бұрын

    Can you comment between brushing a cloud and dabbing ?

  • @chrisi8605
    @chrisi86052 жыл бұрын

    How does this advice line up with your recent advice to get the darkest values down first, then add in / layer the lighter values on top?

  • @ivo76

    @ivo76

    2 жыл бұрын

    Exactly

  • @DylanRomanov

    @DylanRomanov

    2 жыл бұрын

    6:17

  • @TheBanjoShowOfficial

    @TheBanjoShowOfficial

    Жыл бұрын

    That’s exactly how he did it though. He drew out the painting, then colored in dark to light

  • @andreajim1000
    @andreajim1000Ай бұрын

    Well, the second clouds also looked better because you spent over twice as long on them. I can see that about mixing the colors painting wet on wet, but in my painting it looks like one color/brush stroke stops and another starts rather than one is in front. Like sky holes for example if there’s a lot is sky peeking through the leaves, doesn’t it look like a bunch of dots if you paint blue next to green over and over?

  • @AH-pu8iu
    @AH-pu8iu2 жыл бұрын

    hey dude love your content youre a great teacher, but has anyone mentioned it sounds like your mic is too hot, we can hear you breathing and gulping and other generally unwanted noises id turn down the input my guy

  • @Donehv
    @Donehv2 жыл бұрын

    I am confused , i have learned that you can't mix warm en cool colors together otherwise you get a neutral color instead of it going forward / backward and than here i see you mixing ultramarine and phatalo blue 🤔

  • @Donehv

    @Donehv

    2 жыл бұрын

    I am still a beginner and confused what method is the best. Also confused with warm and cool if you want all the colors . Shouldnt you at least need a warm yellow , red blue / and also a cool one of all of them ? I also heard teal and magenta/ quadrone rose are better to mix all colors than Red and blue because you can get better purple. I really want to know what i am not getting haha xD so many things are possible hope you can help me.

  • @Myoldaccount-mu7of
    @Myoldaccount-mu7of3 жыл бұрын

    How is Bill Alexander able to put clouds over a wet sky?

  • @granmabern5283

    @granmabern5283

    3 жыл бұрын

    The sky is thin paint and the clouds are stabbed onto the wet sky with a 1 inch thick brush, not smeared on bit by bit. The highlights are touched onto the thick cloud paint with the tips of a fan brush. I still learned from this video and will start my clouds darker.

  • @MrFox64057
    @MrFox640572 жыл бұрын

    Idk I kinda like the first one more

  • @David-jf7zr
    @David-jf7zr3 жыл бұрын

    Hmmmmm..... That's all.

  • @janerogers5717
    @janerogers5717 Жыл бұрын

    The big cloud in the bottom square looks like it has a nose and two eyes 🤣🎨

  • @christipatrick1127
    @christipatrick112710 ай бұрын

    Are you using medium here or just mineral spirits? And do you always wear gloves?

  • @sttarch5150
    @sttarch51503 жыл бұрын

    I'm not a fan of sharp edged clouds.

  • @_kikizaman_

    @_kikizaman_

    2 жыл бұрын

    Me neither. I paint my clouds over my sky (wet on wet), and they actually always turn out extremely hyper realistic. And I’m not even that good at hyper realism. But when I do clouds the way he said you shouldn’t, they turn out hyper realistic. I guess everyone’s different lol, because his technique doesn’t work for me!

  • @amelyaatkinson9606
    @amelyaatkinson96062 жыл бұрын

    i wish you wouldve sped up more of the vid. the first box was tedious to watch.

  • @dorethablunt5452
    @dorethablunt54522 жыл бұрын

    You are a great painter,but this video is so confusing what was the point. I didn’t get it,it was just patches of paint on a canvas.

  • @hadihattat83
    @hadihattat832 жыл бұрын

    Beautiful but not to the required level, you need a lot of practice on the clouds

  • @natalialistopadova6204
    @natalialistopadova62043 жыл бұрын

    I don't undrrstand what you want explain. I can do it more contrast, what problem?

  • @Earthlight777
    @Earthlight7773 жыл бұрын

    Bob ross would disagree 😁

  • @jonathanlow1494

    @jonathanlow1494

    3 жыл бұрын

    Bob Ross was a lovely guy, and got a lot of people painting, but boy did he teach some bad habits and technique

  • @granmabern5283

    @granmabern5283

    3 жыл бұрын

    I love Bob Ross and his techniques.

  • @godoftheLTD

    @godoftheLTD

    2 жыл бұрын

    I don't think that there are bad techniques - just techniques that render different results.

  • @sleyaraze8916

    @sleyaraze8916

    Жыл бұрын

    @@godoftheLTD that's what Boss Ross would say. Nice.

  • @sujanithtottempudi2991
    @sujanithtottempudi29913 жыл бұрын

    One paints over not in alla prima but when you dry layers ....painting around is done in alla prima only....this is usual thing...I didn't understand what exactly new are you trying to say🤔

  • @hgzmatt

    @hgzmatt

    3 жыл бұрын

    Just because you know it doesn't mean everybody else does. Just remember that and that there is still stuff you have to learn as well.

  • @sujanithtottempudi2991

    @sujanithtottempudi2991

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@hgzmatt so true...I was thinking for myself. I'm sorry 😞

  • @frankclarkjr6369
    @frankclarkjr6369 Жыл бұрын

    Is this abstract clouds ?

  • @wolfsommer1767
    @wolfsommer17673 жыл бұрын

    "There is no right answer!" So stop giving the wrong answers! 1.Painting on top of wet paint is a struggle - wait till it drys! - use your Knife or rag to remove the wet paint - mix more oil or media into your top layer paint it will swim on the layer beneath! 2. Painting around an object? in your demonstration, you are obviously not aware of it - but you are putting a lot of paint on the board - if you want to do that no need to paint around the object just keep pasting paint onto the surface!