Oils are the most forgiving media available. Oil painting is typically perceived as a challenging medium by beginners, yet it is actually one of the most forgiving. I’ve tried almost everything over the years, but I always come back to oils. Acrylics dry too quickly for me, and you need a lot of layers to acquire the same coverage as oils. Watercolor is all about timing; if you mix a wet colour with another wet colour at the incorrect time, you’ll end up with run backs, bleeds, and other disasters.

Watercolor is by far the most difficult media to master, especially for beginners, in my opinion. Oils, on the other hand, give me lots of time to relax while I plan the next stage, as well as plenty of time to blend one colour into another, such as when creating a good smooth sky colour. Oil Paints of the Future In addition, new innovations in Painter Of The Night mean that they may now cure over night – these are known as Alkyd paints. Because oil paints and odourless thinners eliminate the need to stink up the whole home with turps, there’s no reason why a beginner’s first painting shouldn’t be done using oil / Alkyd paints. Secrets of Wildlife Art (what I learnt in 10 years) Wildlife and animal painting is quite popular – many people would love to be able to paint their pet, or perhaps they had a special vacation in Africa and would like to paint their memories, but novices may be dissatisfied with their first attempts at capturing animals. When I first started painting wildlife approximately ten years ago, I studied almost every book on the subject and saw a lot of video footage, but they all appeared to have one thing in common: they skipped too many steps and left out the precise instructions, which was rather aggravating. As a result, I made a decision to build my own website so that I could share my experiences with other artists while learning new skills.