Become a better oil painter by repeating the process!
When you start painting with oil paint, consistency and repetition are key to advance your painting skills, fast!
If you practice your new tools and skills by painting one object several times, you'll improve your understanding and strengthen your skills much faster than if you paint different objects every time you sit down by your easel.
This is because when you’ve gone through the process of solving something once, it’s much easier to build additional understanding on top of that painting experience when you start over. If you’ve already painted something, then you'll have a memory of the process you went through when you were painting.
This also means that you'll remember the mistakes you made, so you probably won't make those again the second or third time over.
Now, of course, I’m not suggesting that you paint, let’s say a cup 100 times, that would be a bit too much! Though, I could also say, well, if you did paint that cup 100 times, I’m sure you would paint one fantastic cup!
If you would like to advance your painting skills fast by painting the same object a few times, here's a couple of exercises that you can do to get started!
1. Choose an object that you would love to paint.
Preferably something with a simple shape that you can paint quite quickly.
E.g. Fruit, cups, an egg, a vase, or a bowl. Paint it three times. Try to push yourself a little bit further each time you paint it.
2. Paint the object you have chosen three times, but give yourself a time limit for every time you start over.
E.g. First painting 2 hours, second painting 1 hour and 30 mins.
I'm sure you'll get a much better result and have a lot more confidence in the last 30 minutes than you did the first time after two hours!
This is the magic of repeating the process and it's something that always helps me get a better result if I have a particularly difficult area to paint.
Happy painting,