In this free oil painting video lesson by artist Dick Ensing  you will learn a method for starting a landscape painting using oil paint. This is not the only way to start an oil painting, but it is an excellent method and one that every beginner should become familiar with.

The artist will be working from a photograph of a scene in Tennessee. He will begin with a value sketch using only one color, Cerulean Blue. He is using Charvin Oils for this particular lesson. He says he likes these oils because they have excellent pigment strength and when they dry, the color is very close to the color you start out with. He also points out that he likes to work with flat brushes with long bristles. He says the longer bristles last longer and they give you a nice chiseled edge to work with while you are painting.

He very lightly begins to sketch in his composition using the Cerulean Blue. He is just looking for shapes at this point. While he is laying out his composition, he is careful not to place his focal point directly in the center of the canvas as this will produce a boring painting. He places his focal point off to the left of the center.

Its important to take your time with this first stage of a painting. The more time you spend on this first stage, the easier the rest of the painting will be.

Once his initial line drawing is completed, he switches to a larger brush and begins the value sketch by scumbling in some darks… Watch the oil painting video below for the rest of this lesson!

A really big thanks to the folks over at Jerry’s Artarama for making this video lesson available.  Head on over to their YouTube Channel Here for more videos!