Exercise Your Creativity! 4 Inspirational Oil Painting Ideas

Let’s explore 4 oil painting exercises to build your confidence.

“Kauai” — four color painting, 10 x 8″

1. Try a limited palette

You will need:

• 1 tube each: Titanium White, Yellow (Cadmium Yellow or equivalent), Red (Rembrandt Permanent Red Medium or equivalent) and Blue (French Ultramarine)
• 4 canvases or canvas panels, size 5 x 7″ to 8 x 10″
• Whatever brushes you prefer
• 4 favorite photos to work from

I was first introduced to this limited palette when I attended artist Scott Christensen’s 10-day Plein Air Intensive in 2004 and used it exclusively for almost two years. I found that it really liberated my use of color and perception of it. I couldn’t copy exactly the colors in my reference photo, but found that was ok. One of the big advantages of a limited palette is that color harmony will happen automatically.

“Gibbon River” — four color oil painting

“Cactus” — Large brush oil painting, 6 x 8″

2. Use one large brush for a small painting.

You will need:

• Your oils, whatever you normally use
• Flat or bright brush: a #10 for a 6 x 8″

This is an exercise that will help you loosen up, since it’s close to impossible to get picky with details using a brush this big in relation to the canvas. See how many different marks you can make with the brush. You will have to be decisive and just lay down the strokes. Pick something that has simple shapes.

It will probably feel very awkward at first. But once you get used to it, working this way can come in handy for doing quick preliminary color or value studies.

3. Do a small painting in one hour.

You will need:

• Your oils and brushes, whatever you normally use
• Small canvases or panels, a maximum of 8 x 10”
• A timer

Over the years I’ve heard many artists say they wish they could “loosen up.” Well, here’s one way to do just that. The need for speed when working against the clock changes how you move your hand and the brush. There’s no time to fiddle or dab. You are looking for the largest, simplest shapes of form, light and shadow. Pick subjects with well-defined shapes and light/shadow areas.

Reference photo for my painting

4. Try different horizon lines for a landscape

You will need:

• Your oils and brushes, whatever you normally use
• 3 small canvases or panels, size 5 x 7″ or 6 x 8″

Working from this reference photo or one of your own:

1. Make 90% sky and 10% ground 2. Make 90% ground and 10% sky 3. Try a proportion somewhere in between but not equal. You can move elements around, add or subtract trees, change the sky, whatever you want, but move the horizon line off-center.

High horizon line — oil 6 x 8″

Low horizon line — oil 6 x 8″

The reference photo above, taken in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia last year, has the horizon line pretty much in the middle. Here are two other compositions, using the same elements, one with a low horizon line and one with a high horizon line. While both paintings “work,” they each have a very different feeling. These little studies were done very quickly, each in about 30 minutes.