Oil study. Quick studies

I showed my compact set for quick sketches in watercolor (I’ll write about long ones next week), now it’s the turn to talk about oil studies. Here, too, everything depends on the tasks: for large works I take a Mabef tripod and a carrier for canvases, for numerous short sketches I use a small Podolsk sketchbook with legs, altering it a bit for myself, but this is a walking option. There is a little time, I jumped out into the park and made a sketch. Or I went on a picnic with friends and while everyone was spreading the blanket, cutting the tomatoes, I quickly captured the moment. I went to show my mother Repino: she walks along the coast, I paint. And I drew this at lunchtime 🙂

Another such option can be called urban. Peter in the season - it's crowds of tourists. Agree, few people like to work when several people stand behind their backs and breathe into the back of their heads, ask about something, advise ... Well, it’s simply impossible to concentrate on a task. I'm not just about drawing, I'm talking about any job. In painting, the artist also solves problems: how to convey light, where it is better to place a bush, how to divert the attention of the future viewer deep into the work. Future! But in the process of drawing, not everyone is ready to "get naked" and show the "behind the scenes", the train of their thoughts. And even though they say a thousand times, you have to get used to drawing in the crowd, but it doesn’t work! You have to start somewhere. Get used to it) I start, but in the St. Petersburg tourist season and continue with the Jullian box.

The most important advantage is that it does not attract attention to itself in the same way as an ordinary sketchbook with legs. You get up on a noisy street with a tripod and all, you are a hero! They “saw” selfies with you, take your sketch scribbles, ask why it’s yellow, tell their stories…. oh:((((I try to create the most comfortable conditions for myself in the open air. About life hacks. Everything is easier with the Jullian box: you just need to grab a chair and sit with your back to the house or, for example, snuggle up to the bushes in the Summer Garden. I opened the sketchbook on my knees and - go ahead! The canvas on cardboard 25x35 cm is hidden from prying eyes, it is impossible to stand behind, it is very difficult to look in (you need a neck like a giraffe). And if you also pick up gray-beige-green clothes, you can easily merge with the environment 🙂 and maximum concentration on the process.

Big fat plus similar sketchbooks - preparation for painting does not take much time. You just need to open the lid and squeeze out the paints (I don’t like to do this in advance, in many tubes there is exfoliated liquid oil, while you get to the place, some paints move out). Tired or a crowd of tourists still got me, closed the lid and left.

Box weight 2.5 kg. Dimensions: 42 x 29 x 9 cm. Inside - compartments with a metal coating are easily cleaned of oil, which stains everything around it))) Made by the French perfectly. I did not take Russia or China, because. I love things that are made with high quality, with the mind. When all the locks are softly snapped into place, and the lid is securely fixed in the correct position (by itself, without any screws), the suitcase itself is made of beech, evenly (!) varnished, with a comfortable leather handle. Well, in general, you understand me 🙂 there are all sorts of things that we use often, and if they are thought out to the smallest detail, then this is a separate buzz.

What's inside?

• Canvas on cardboard 25x35 or you can buy a large cardboard and cut it to the desired size
• Palette (when closing the drawer, it is tightly fixed with a lid)
• Paper handkerchiefs (if dirty, they are at hand)
• Rag (I wipe my brushes)
• Palette knives (I write with one, I clean the palette with the other)
• Small tubes of oil paint in a cosmetic bag (I don’t like it when they dangle around the box and rattle when walking)
• Garbage bags)
• butter dish
• A box with pushpins (before work, I immediately insert them into the cardboard, after drawing I put the cardboard facing the lid, so the buttons protect the lid from paint on the sketch. I don’t put the sketch facing the palette, because uncleaned paints can move out to the written sketch). How the buttons themselves look like - see the photo at the beginning of the note. I also transfer several sketches: in each one you need to stick buttons in the corners, stack the sketches on top of each other and put them in a box.
• In a plastic bottle (this is from a shower gel from some hotel) - linseed oil or a tee (I usually write on it)
• brushes

Oh yes! About cons I forgot to say! Sitting there is only one point of view: the horizontal plane opens up little, and if I am attracted by the openwork shadows from the trees on the alley that goes into the distance, then I must either take a tripod or look for another plot.

The rest are solid pluses. And further! When at home I paint a picture on a large canvas in several sessions, I keep a palette with already squeezed out paints in a drawer so that they do not dry out.

I bought it a couple of years ago in the Art Quarter and took out the brain of a poor consultant who showed me different boxes for a couple of hours: we inserted different cardboard inside, calculated how many sketches would go in, put a bunch of brushes, weighed, opened and closed. But that's how it should be. I tried everything, made sure that the sketchbook is 100% suitable for me and left satisfied. Never regretted. So, torment consultants)

Questions? What did you forget to write about?

UPD. Thanks a lot for the questions on instagram! There are additions.

Cardboard, alas, does not fasten in any way, but I write fast sketches in a liquid way, in one thin layer. Usually, when writing impastoly or expressively, the canvas trembles) That's why I divide my sets according to tasks: solid painting - a sketchbook with legs or a tripod, fast painting - Jullian's box.

How does the reverse side of the etude not get dirty from the colors on the palette? Yes, I forgot to clarify that I usually squeeze out quite a bit of oil for an etude, I write fluidly. I insert the buttons so that they come out on the other side and then the small legs protect the sketch from oil. No, the palette was not scratched) I don’t know why) Good coverage, I guess. It cleans up easily too. If I squeezed out a lot of oil, then I put the cardboard with plastic legs to the palette. If it’s very, very much, then I take a metal box from under the lollipops and shift the rest there. And when I went to Vyborg to study sketches and wrote a lot (more than 2 will not fit in a box), I used a thick paper bag from some boutique store and put 4-5 sketches with these buttons there. Carried separately.

Etude. A significant place in the work of Malyutin was occupied by etude painting.

His sketches can be divided into two types. Some were long: they were created according to nature, with a careful study of forms in two to four hours and were intended mainly for genre works. These include, for example, the following: “Shepherd to the painting “Shepherd with a shepherd” (1893, State Tretyakov Gallery), “Hut” to the painting “Country Fair” (1907, State Tretyakov Gallery), “Boy” to the painting “Grandfather and Granddaughter” (1932 , All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions), “Watermelons” for the painting “Artel Lunch” (1934, State Tretyakov Gallery).

These sketches are made on primed, fine-grained, dense linen canvas. Pasty erased paints Malyutin energetically applies body, textured strokes, expressively sculpting forms.

The second type of etudes includes 15-20-minute etudes-“patches” performed by the artist on location during his frequent trips to the Moscow region, to the north of Russia, to the Crimea and other places of our Motherland.

Monastery in Istra

In these sketches of standard sizes (9x15 centimeters), Malyutin pursued a twofold goal. For him, it was, firstly, a constant training of the hand and eye in nature, and secondly, in the sketches-"blotches" the artist was looking for the color relationships he needed.

The size of 9x15 centimeters exactly corresponded to a small sketchbook (a gift from K. Korovin). usually accompanying Malyutin during his field trips. Going to go to write sketches, Malyutin took with him only a small sketchbook. He did not like to work on location with other sketchers. Squeezing the colors he needed onto the palette, he took white and brushes in his pocket and went to write.

The main material for these sketches were plates of strong, three-layer, well-seasoned plywood, 1.5 to 2.5 mm thick. In rare cases, primed fine-grained canvas was glued onto plywood (study "Hut", 1925, collection of O. S. Malyutina).

Techniques for laying colors in small, quickly painted sketches were distinguished by exceptional diversity. That was a very thin, semi-glazing (rather liquidly diluted paints) masonry of paints in the etude “Alabino. Brook" with the inclusion in some places in the picturesque and colorful layer of the texture of plywood; then a more impastoly painted sketch “Skorotovo” (1936) with a semi-glazing masonry of colors in the background and massive, embossed, strongly pronounced strokes (clouds) placed in the sky in a corpus; then energetic masonry with short, wide strokes of medium density of colors, clearly sculpting forms in “Peasant Yard” (1911); then the longitudinal textured strokes (sky and water) widely laid along the entire length of the etude, combined with very pasty and embossed small strokes of the foreground (shore and stones) in the etude “Crimea. Sea" (1925).

Some sketches are distinguished by massive masonry of enamel-like colorful thick paste, sharply laid in small strokes (sketch “Tree. Crimea” (1925).

Malyutin skillfully used the textured surface of plywood in the study. Painting in the sketch “Crimea. The Beach” (1925) is made in such a way that the texture of plywood, slightly worn with gray paint (leaving traces on it in the form of numerous dashes), perfectly conveys the sandy shore of the beach. Only in the background, water and surf foam are expressively conveyed by several strokes of blue paint and white. The female figure sitting on the beach is outlined with a few light strokes of Venetian red and black.

Malyutin always painted his sketches with bristle brushes of various numbers.

Etude. Artist Malyutin S.V.

Etude is a work of painting of an auxiliary nature and of limited size, entirely made from nature.

Working in the open air on a study, the artist sets himself the task of a true and living embodiment of nature in painting.

Sketches can be a means of studying nature, training exercises for the artist, a means of improving his skills. Often they serve as material for the preparation of a picture, for example, sketches of individual places, plots, trees, foliage, and other details of interest to the painter. Constant work on them in nature helps in creating landscapes.

Etude painting makes it possible to develop an eye, strengthen the firmness of the hand, and improve painting skills.

An etude requires a carefully worked out drawing, which must be accurate and true not only in scale, but also in individual details and the relationships between them. For him, a general schematic drawing from life without excessive detail, fidelity and accuracy of the main lines and outlines of objects are important. In drawing, the artist must be able to convey what he observes and studies in nature. However, not only seen, but also generalized - essential, the main thing, without secondary details.

The drawing for the study is done on paper, cardboard or directly on the primed surface of the canvas with a pencil, charcoal, but best of all with a brush, with one paint.

In the work of our masters of landscape, the study occupied and occupies a very significant place. Unsurpassed masters of sketch painting were A. K. Savrasov, I. I. Levitan, I. I. Shishkin, N. K. Roerich, M. V. Nesterov, K. A. Korovin. In terms of completeness and pictorial mastery of execution, many of their studies can be considered works of independent significance.

When creating sketches, artists usually set themselves certain tasks, solving them by various methods, depending on the individual characteristics of the painter himself.

Acquaintance with the work on the sketches of individual landscape painters, their methods of performing these works, the technical features of working on them is of undoubted interest to a young, novice artist, and will help him avoid many mistakes.

The outstanding landscape master N. K. Roerich assigned a large place to sketch painting in his work. As already noted, Roerich based the creative method of creating a work on close, thoughtful observation and constant, penetrating study of nature. Starting to write a sketch, he first of all set himself a very specific task, the solution of which he sought. The idea of ​​the composition of the work, which originated in the soul of the artist as a result of his observations and study of nature, was thought out by him before the beginning of his painting work. When the compositional structure of the study was mentally decided, when the plot of the composition was determined and the main coloristic decision was outlined, Roerich proceeded to sketch drawings, and then to painting.

In the process of a long study of nature, the moment found by the artist and striking him was the basis of the impression about him; the creatively conscious and mentally processed impression and the artistic image that arose on the basis of this was constantly preserved in memory while working on the sketch.

Knowing perfectly well that once observed in nature you will not see again, Roerich wrote his studies quickly, within a few hours. Otherwise, after all, it is impossible to convey in all its original freshness and immediacy of the first impression this or that state of nature, since in a day, and sometimes in a few hours, it will already be completely different.

Roerich believed that, of course, it is very important to be able to depict what you see in nature, but it is equally important to be able to see what you want to depict. This, according to Roerich, is the main quality of the artist, which consists in the fact that one must look at nature not with the indifferent gaze of an observer, but with a loving, penetrating gaze, mentally selecting and noting what one likes. If you do not invest in the study of nature all the passion of your soul, all the love for it, there is no need to paint it.

In etude, one should be able to find simple, seemingly uncomplicated solutions to the tasks set for oneself. These decisions, both compositional and in terms of color and pattern, should be concise. However, this requires not only experience, but also a strong belief in the main goal set in this work. The artist must be able to focus on solving and achieving this goal, on the main thing, and not on the secondary, using all his possibilities in composition and painting. Concentration, composure, the ability to see and highlight the main thing, speed and accuracy in work - this is the key to success in creating an etude.

It is necessary to write it, having calculated your strengths and capabilities, determining with greater or lesser accuracy how long the state of nature, which interests the artist, will last. Without doing this, it is easy to fall into error - after all, the lighting changes all the time. It can also happen like this: you start painting a sketch under certain conditions, for example, you paint the earth - the sun was on the left, then you switch to painting the sky, and the sun has already crossed to the other side, which you didn’t notice and it turned out implausible. It is impossible to write a sketch for an excessively long time - the first impression of nature is dulled, the artist gets tired, gradually losing freshness and sharpness of perception.

Roerich's sketches always amaze with their original composition, which helps to reveal the unique originality of nature with exceptional fullness.

Of no small importance for the successful work of the artist is the size of the study. Therefore, it is very important, taking into account one's strengths and capabilities, to choose for sketches the size of the canvas that is most light and convenient for work in a relatively short time and at the same time makes it possible to achieve completeness of the work. Roerich usually used cardboard measuring 35.5x45.8 cm; for sketches, he used even smaller cardboard.

In sketches, Roerich, as a rule, took the tones of paints not in full force, but somewhat more restrained than they actually were, and did not fully use the entire range of his palette. In doing so, the artist took into account: if you immediately take sonorous, intense tones, then when you need to apply a color strike, it turns out that the entire range has already been used and there will be nothing to make it.

While working on the study, Roerich limited his palette, not cluttering it with excessive colors, rightly believing that excess always leads to great difficulties in combining the color gamut into a single whole and deprives the veracity in the transfer of color relationships observed in nature.

In Roerich's sketches, with brilliant skill, the effect of juxtaposing seemingly incompatible tones with each other, forming an internal unity, and the special simplicity and courage inherent in the artist in contrasts of color are achieved. These skillfully found comparisons of light and dark tones, bright and dull-sounding, give his painting an exceptional luminosity. Its colorful tones seem to be filled and permeated with light. The luminosity of color is one of the amazing qualities of Roerich the painter, coming from a penetrating study and observation of nature.

V. N. Baksheev devoted much attention and time to work on sketches. Each of his paintings was painted according to sketches. Already in them, the artist tried to find the most characteristic of the chosen topic, achieving not only external resemblance to nature, but also internal fullness. Sketches, of course, helped him in creating large canvases - he studied the form, color, light. However, the artist never mindlessly copied from a sketch, believing that working on a painting is a creative process in which you convey inner life, psychology.

Here is what Baksheev said in one of his conversations with the author of this book about the requirements for an etude: “ First of all, sketches must be strictly drawn and truthful in colors. You need to study nature very carefully. It is important to first find out everything: proportions, color relationships, light and shadows, and only after that proceed to painting. And then, when you start working with paints, convince yourself that this will be your best thing, that you will write it well; set it up and then get started! Polenov advised me to first put bright, definite tones on the canvas, then the darkest and lightest ones; compare halftones both in relation to light and dark, and in relation to warm and cold. It is necessary to write without underpainting, in parts and, if possible, in full force of color. The etude must be well, worked out in detail ... You also cannot write better than it is in nature, otherwise it will come out false» .

Baksheev spent different time on sketches: he managed to write some of them to complete completion during the day, he completed others in a longer time. At home, he never made any corrections and corrections, because, as a rule, the painting became false from this.

Seriously engaged in etude painting SV Malyutin. His sketches can be divided into two types. Some are lengthy: they were created in nature, with a careful study of the forms in two to four hours, and were intended mainly for genre works. The second type includes 15-20 minute etudes-blotches, made by the artist on location during his frequent trips to the Moscow region, to the North of Russia, to the Crimea and other places in our country. In these studies of standard sizes (9x15 cm), made on plates of three-layer, well-dried and seasoned plywood, Malyutin pursued a twofold goal. For him, it was, firstly, a constant training of the eye and hand in nature, and secondly, in the etudes, the artist found the color and tonal relationships he needed.

M. V. Nesterov was very attentive to etude painting. In his sketches, we can observe a well-thought-out manner of performance that fully corresponded to his attitude to this type of creativity. Nesterov told his students: Etude is a serious thing! Sketches must be written very carefully. They should not be random, but well thought out in advance, found and fully consistent with the artist's creative intent. If you lie in the sketch, then there will be even more lies in the picture» .

The process of creativity and the result are closely related to the worldview of the artist. His thoughts, feelings, fantasy, skill, attitude to the depicted participate in the picture he creates. The artist is always looking for the most expressive solution to his idea, ponders the plot, the composition. The images that arise in his imagination have an objective origin, are born of the visible properties of reality and have their own specific forms. Therefore, the painter, embodying his idea, refers to those properties of objects and phenomena that he perceives visually. Only in the presence of visual authenticity of the depicted, it is possible to express certain feelings, thoughts, to cause appropriate experiences in the viewer, whose associative representations are associated with the objective world. In a good landscape, the viewer will see not only material objects, but also the natural play of light and color, the silvery sheen of dew or play of colors in the morning sky. Such an image evokes forgotten impressions in memory, makes the imagination work, sets in motion thoughts and feelings associated with past experiences, with previous experience. The emotional and aesthetic impact of paintings is connected with the peculiarities of this associative perception.

It should not be thought that the author of the picture, striving to achieve the visual authenticity of painting, must mechanically copy the appearance of the depicted. Educational work is characterized primarily by cognition, in-depth and comprehensive study of nature. Quite often, educational sketches are too “dried”, “fractional”, “protocol”, similar to each other not only in plot and thematic terms, but also in technical execution. All this is quite natural, and the "dryness", timidity of academic work cannot be considered signs of its weakness or the author's lack of creative talent.

At the same time, the free attitude of the student to the tasks of the etude, a certain “daringness” are not signs of creativity, as is sometimes believed. Educational works are not emotional enough, fresh and original, because they are still artistically imperfect, as students do not yet have experience, skill, do not know the whole variety of means for solving an educational problem or embodying an idea. Free creative mastery of nature and its laws, as well as technical perfection, will come only with experience.

We are talking about the fact that in the educational work the set educational tasks are consistently and clearly solved and, in conjunction with this, the students are brought up and developed creative talents.

Main part

The ability to see and convey three-dimensional shapes and colors of objects on a plane is the essence of painting. This diploma is acquired mainly in exercises from nature. The more the artist paints sketches from nature, the sharper becomes his sense of color, harmony of colors and rhythm of lines. As a result of constant exercises in depicting still lifes, landscapes, the head and figure of a person from nature, observation develops, the ability to emphasize the essential, discard the secondary, express one's emotions caused by the beauty of the surrounding nature, the diversity of life is developed.

The path to mastery begins with the study of the theoretical foundations of painting and the systematic implementation of practical exercises. Without knowledge of the laws of painting, the practical work of students is blind and professional improvement slows down.

Depicting is, first of all, reasoning. When you start painting, you need to think carefully about your task, clearly define your goal.

Even Leonardo da Vinci said that “those who fall in love with practice without science are like writhers who go sailing without a rudder and compass, because they can never be sure where they are going. Practice must always be built on good theory, and without it nothing can be done well in cases of painting."

How to paint an oil sketch

(on the website, a free viewing of the video "Lessons of painting with oil paints" is planned soon)

I would like to describe how I put into practice the above materials and methods of work. For example, the landscape "End of Summer" is chosen.

In late summer - early autumn, the leaves on the trees turn yellow, the grass takes on different colors. The shadows from the trees become colder, with a purple tint. Closer to the horizon, due to the blue sky, the trees and vegetation seem colder than in the hot summer. Autumn is the time when you can not miss a day without painting in the open air. Two or three hours of work with oil paints a day for me personally turn into minutes of complete peace of mind, peace and harmony with nature.

To write this study, I needed a canvas treated with gelatin and acrylic primer, previously pasted on a tablet. I decided to make the underpainting with tempera paints, so I stocked up with the necessary materials for oil and tempera painting. I made a viewfinder out of black paper according to the size of the prepared canvas. In addition to the sketchbook, for complete comfort, I took a folding chair and an umbrella with me.

Having chosen the most attractive view of the landscape with the help of the viewfinder, evaluating the composition and tonal relations of the future study, I set to work.

To write an oil portrait from a photo (), you need a preliminary, accurate pencil drawing. In my case, the construction of the composition and the preliminary drawing on the canvas can be done with a thin kolinsky brush No. 2 and transparent, ocher tempera paint. With the help of the viewfinder, I determined that vegetation would be the main thing in the sketch. Based on this, the horizon line is located above the middle of the canvas. In order to emphasize the perspective of the landscape, as well as to balance the composition, he outlined a road leading into the distance.

Before proceeding to the underpainting with tempera paint, I mentally carried out the preparatory work.

1. Carefully examined the tonal relationships of the landscape.

2. Installed the lightest and most saturated in tone places.

3. Determined which colors will prevail in the sketch in the foreground, middle and background.

In order to avoid mistakes in the further tonal construction of the work, I begin the underpainting with the most saturated fragments of the picture, regardless of whether it is a still life or a human figure. Then I write from the darkest to the lightest. It often happens that the white ground of the canvas is the most minimal place in saturation in the study. In such cases, I give the ground a warm or cold shade, depending on the circumstances and the place of painting (in the audience or in the open air).

In the landscape “End of Summer”, the best solution was to perform an underpainting, started from the trees in the background. The fact is that the vegetation and the surface of the earth in the background were clearly distinguished by a violet-blue stripe and had a light tone close to the sky. Paints used: sky blue, cadmium violet, Neapolitan red-violet, zinc and titanium white in a ratio of 1:1.

Above the trees near the horizon, the sky had an ocher-reddish hue and became the lightest element in tone in the picture. Paints used: golden Moscow ocher, light cadmium red, whitewash. Such a contrast of warm and cold shades on the horizon marked the boundary between the trees and the sky.

Here are excerpts from D. Constable's notes on the sky: The landscape painter, for whom the sky is not one of the most important parts of the composition, neglects his best assistant ... The sky is a very difficult task, both in terms of composition and in terms of execution. With all its splendor, it should not protrude, but should only evoke the idea of ​​​​infinite distance. This does not, of course, apply to rare natural phenomena or accidental lighting effects, which always attract special attention ... "

Moving to the medium shot, I used more contrasting and saturated tones for the trees and other vegetation. Considering the aerial perspective, I painted shadow and light with warmer colors. Shadow colors used: Cadmium Violet, Sky Blue, Umber burnt, cadmium red light. Paints used for light: yellow ocher, golden Moscow ocher, cadmium red, cadmium yellow lemon, titanium white.

On the closest plan to the viewer, the grass and the road are a little lighter and warmer than the tone of the trees. Here paints such as ocher yellow, golden Moscow ocher, cadmium red, cadmium yellow lemon, carmine, English red, white.

Such an underpainting already gave the future sketch an aerial perspective and determined the color of the work.

After the tempera paint had dried, I started painting in oils.

At this stage of work, I had to:

1. "Emphasize" the volume of foliage and trunks of nearby trees.

2. Prepare the first plan as a basis for the next one.

3. Describe in detail the second plan of the study.

4. Add, with the help of glazes, various shades in the right places of the sketch.

Following the underpainting with tempera paints, he continued with an oil sketch from the trees in the background. The shadows of the trees were given a blurry contour with a mixture of colors. Paints used: grape black, white, sky blue; the light showed with the help of lemon-yellow, whitewash and sky-blue paints.

With a #16 bristle brush, I painted the sky, applying the so-called stretching from warm (at the horizon) tone to cold and from light to dark, in order to give it volume. Paints used: sky blue, blue - "FC", cadmium violet, grape black, white. Prescribing the sky, applied a colorful layer in a diagonal direction.

As described above, there should not be two identical strokes in a painting (see oil painting techniques). Therefore, I used brushes of various sizes (according to fragments of the work).

The light in the foreground and background of the study was filled with pasty strokes, using a palette knife.

Having given volume to the trunks of trees and vegetation in the background, I proceeded to the details.

At the final stage of the work, all I had to do was paint more carefully the thin branches of the trees, grass and sections of the road with a thin kolinsky brush (No. 2).

Success in creative activity is ensured, first of all, to the artist who, in his persistent desire to create a work of art, overcomes, despite various difficulties, any barriers and obstacles in his life path. Remember Vincent van Gogh... After all, this artist (and not only him) proved that a person with his perseverance and desire to achieve his goal is capable of a lot.

Once the famous sculptor Michelangelo was asked the question: “How do you get such wonderful sculptures?” To which he replied: “I take a stone and cut off everything unnecessary in it.” The same is true in painting. By analogy, you just need to put the desired tone of paint on the corresponding place on the canvas ... So the artist will be able to convey his feelings and thoughts, opening up a new reality to the viewer. But in order to know how, what and where to put the tone of paint, you need to work hard and develop, study and love painting.

The best teacher for a painter is nature, and no one can teach more than her. Teachers, teachers only guide, suggest and teach the beginning artist the basics of painting, share their own observations. Wherever you are, whatever you feel, and whatever your mood, always try to notice in the reality around you that, at first glance, seems uninteresting to an ordinary person. Observe and compare the tonal relationships of sky and earth, the colors of the background and foreground. Make quick sketches from nature every day and never destroy them afterwards. Even if some of them did not turn out the way you see them ideally.

Try to imagine yourself in the role of a naturalist who studies the phenomena of nature, the habits of animals; a physiognomist who studies the features of the structure and facial expressions of people's faces in an attempt to guess, determine the features of their character.

The artist must display his time on the canvas and at the same time be able to express himself, which requires his constant openness to the outside world.

Pay more attention to the people around you: pantomime, facial expressions, clothing style (make quick sketches).

To expand your own professional horizons, try to visit as many exhibitions and museums as possible, study reproductions of great painters, read various literature.