Many art students think more about medium than the subject. They think practicing medium is learning about how to paint ! What a wrong notion ! Here I am explaining, why it’s a wrong notion. (This article is an excerpt from my forthcoming book ‘ HOW TO START A PAINTING and HOW TO PLAN IT?’ this kindle book (e book) will be available on Amazon July 15.)
TO ALL ART STUDENTS …
Many interested art students are requesting me to teach them online. I am helpless in this matter. My age and my dislike to online teaching won’t allow me to do that. But I am writing kindle books on painting which will help art students, whether they are beginners or seniors. My first book will be released on Amazon this month. I am planning to write regularly at least one book every two months. I will reveal all the secrets of painting in those books. I am taking it as if I was born for this purpose. To understand painting, study those books, work on the guidelines which are given in them. With time you will be able to understand many secrets of painting.
To write these books I am going with a plan. That plan will be, first 10 books I am going to write on basics. I will explain those basics through Landscape, Still life, Figure and Portrait painting subjects. Whether you are practicing water color, pastels, pencils, acrylics or oil color it doesn’t matter. Whatever medium you work with, these basics will apply to them.
Many art students think more about medium than subject. They think practicing medium is learning about how to paint ! What a wrong notion!
In fact, medium is not important, learning about subject is important. That will make you an artist.
How? You may ask me. I will answer it.
Just think of this … You want to paint something on canvas or a paper. The subject may be a still life, human figure, landscape or portrait. To paint your subject on canvas you need to use a medium. Depending upon your interest and comfort you will use a medium, that will be oil, water, acrylics or something else.
So .. you have to paint a subject with a medium. Here medium is a tool for you to paint the subject.
Note this … Medium is not a subject. Once you finish your subject on canvas that will become a painting. If it comes good everybody will appreciate… if it is a still life, they will say ”How beautiful those fruits are! Artist has infused life into them! ” this they will say. For other subjects whether it’s a landscape, figure, portrait, they say the same. They won’t bother about which medium you have used. After some moments, some may ask you which medium you used.
I hope, now you have understood, subject is more important than medium, medium is only a tool to work on your subject.
Here the key lies. When you have to paint a subject you have to know about it. For example, if you want to paint a fruit, you have to know which fruit it is, what is the color of it, what kind of texture it has, where it is placed, from where it’s receiving light, what are it’s surroundings, how they are influencing it…. many questions. All these questions are connected to subject rather than medium. I hope now you understand, medium is only a tool to paint your subject, other than that it is no less, no more.
So, I am planning to write about these things which are the key to a successful painting. Writing about these basics in 10 books in these series, later I will move towards in depth writing on elements and principles of art, which will guide you to do a successful painting like professional artists.
In these series of books ‘ HOW TO START A PAINTING and HOW TO PLAN IT? ‘is … Book 1 of my Art Book Series. In this book as I said before, I explained a few basics to plan and start a painting. My second book is ‘ HOW TO FINISH A PAINTING ? ‘ That book will concern the basics of painting. That book will be released at the end of August 2017.
I hope my efforts to explain about the structure of painting will be useful to all of you.
Magunta Dayakar
Hyderabad, India