There are many factors to consider when you decide to take up painting. Painting in an artistic context is about creating a visual image. You may be painting as a hobby or wanting to paint as a profession. Either way, starting in a small way is possible and probably best. Initially, the process is one of the exploration and is not so much about you and your art but about interacting with the materials that will make your art possible. You need to know what they are, what they can do, how to manipulate them, what to expect and how to coax satisfactory images from them.

 

Choosing a medium (or type of paint) is also important. Unless you try each one, you may not discover the one that works best for you. Devote a period to each paint type and allow it to give up its secrets before moving onto another medium. If you choose to start with oils, for example, it can take many months of practice to reach a point where the oil paint will start to do what you want it to.

 

Another concern is that each medium is going to teach you something different about painting. You may start by imagining that you are in control and that the painting is about you but with practice you will begin to respect the character of the medium, and learn to work within the relationship it is offering to you. Fast and fluid in acrylics is a very different energy to fast and fluid in oils and will create quite different results. Paints have a mind and a destiny of their own.

 

A good way to find out more about which paints are available to you is to visit an Art store. Find the best one you can, that supplies professional artists and students, if possible, and see what they have on their shelves. People who work in these stores are often extremely knowledgeable about what they are selling.
You may also be surprised at the huge price difference in what appears to be the same sort of paint. One sort of pastel, for example, can be much more costly than another one in the same color. This is due to the expertise and ingredients involved in how each is made. For instance, one could contain genuine pigment which has traveled half way across the world to be bound with a unique gum so as to become a little pastel. The other pastel could be just a piece of colored chalk. There should also be explanatory information available. Browsing in Art stores is a good way to learn more about different mediums. .

 

While learning about these mediums it may be some time before you start depicting an actual image. However, this time spent in exploring your medium is both crucial and valuable. It is also important to continue drawing and sketching. Nothing is achieved in art without drawings. This is an often undisclosed partner of all great works. It is something many artists do as a daily workout to keep their eye observant and practiced and inspiration flowing. Every great work of art has come to life hand in hand with its research, sketches and drawings.