ASS1 - Feedback from Tutor

      I received my feedback for my assignment 1. I got marked average and limited, which was quite fair, as I am a beginner painter. I still had a lot of questions that I needed to get answers for and to make sure I was doing the correct techniques to paint with oils and acrylics. I decided I needed to talk with Derek, my tutor to help me get a better understanding in my head of the basics.

      Derek was really helpful and I feel so much better about what I am doing. He said my paintings were good for a beginner which I felt better for. I did a quick painting at the beginning of assignment 1, of some bananas and with that painting I was just went straight in to it. As I went on with the assignment, I ended up trying to concentrate on my painting technique more then the objects I was looking at. He told me to just forget about the technique side and concentrate on the object and the colours. This made me realize. I had been pushing my self too hard trying to make sure I was painting correctly, that I forgot to look at what I was trying to paint.

      I also asked him about oil painting rules, just to make sure I was doing that correctly, which I was not. I was using linseed oil instead of turps to thin the paint. This was quite funny, as I was wondering why my paintings were taking so long to dry and it was because I was putting more oil in the paint. Oil paint is made of colour pigment and linseed oil so by adding more in, I was thinning it but also prolonging its drying time. So I am excited to use turps to see the difference.

      The main things I need to concentrate on are drawing, tone,and mixing the colours to create a good painting. He mentioned to not worry about brush marks in the painting and it can also be a tool to change the flows of paint in a painting to show movement to a viewer.

       He also helped me with some blending tips and an issue I was having with transparent washes with acrylics. Every time I added water, soap like bubbles appeared on the page, which he told me was because I was adding too much water.

     After our conversation I was so excited to just go and paint again to just get suck in. I have to go and buy some turps though, that's probably a good start :)