Oil and Acrylic Painting Mastery - Painting Course Review

In my last painting hub, I mentioned different criteria to consider when selecting a painting course. Those were all issues I had to consider when selecting a course for learning to paint with oils or acrylic paint and I hope you have been thinking about them too.

In this hub I want to tell you about the painting course I've been taking for the last few months, what it covers, what I've learned so far, and how it is benefited me so far as I am only part way through the course.

Starting Learn and Master Painting was very easy. I just had to play the first DVD and watch the first video. The first thing I see is the instructor Gayle Levée. She is so calm and peaceful. She is happy to be there with me starting me on the journey of painting.

She goes on to tell us what we need for supplies for her course and how to best set up the work area and that we should do our best to do so and to continue with the next video. I made sure that I had as close to what she suggested in paint colors and brushes and continued.

Ok, you probably laughed when you read that title, but really I was so thrilled to actually SEE and hear explained how to clean oil paint from brushes. I had searched online and asked friends who paint, but no one could show it to me so simply as Gayle did in Learn and Master Painting.

She also taught me in the first DVD how to mix oil paint with medium gel to change the consistency,  how to mix with white or black to get different shades of light or dark using the palette knife, how to store leftover oil paint, and how to organize the palette to work efficiently. Not bad for the first of twenty DVDs!

It was so awesome to learn so much so easily without confusion or having to search or wait for a video to load. The lesson book was also great help emphasizing important points and giving a quick list of supplies and showing important graphics and moments that were most important in the lessons.

In the second DVD of the Learn and Master Painting course, Gayle taught me about the difference between a flat brush and a curved brush then she started me on intense exercises in doing horizontal, vertical then diagonal and finally curved brushstrokes. She explained and did the exercises right along with me. She also showed how to apply paint to the brush so that you have the right amount.  We finished the brushstroke lesson with a quick winter birch tree painting.Mine wasn't as nice as hers, but it was my very first oil painting of trees and I felt empowered.

The next part of the second DVD, I learned about varied strokes and how I can use them to make a painting have painting qualities and NOT look like a drawing since painting is not drawing. She even made a comparison of some incorrect things people do when they start painting and then the right way. It made everything very clear. Do you know how to correctly paint edges? Gayle made it simple! It was so simple that we made our second painting of an autumn tree.I'm attaching my versions to this hub page.

The course got better and better starting the next DVD - yes, 3 out of 20!  I learned visually how to paint hard edges, soft edges, and lost edges and how to paint gradients, paint using massing, and how to paint using negative space. That was one packed lesson and on top of it all we painted a winter evergreen tree. Mine looks more abstract, but I am thrilled because I learned the technique which I can repeat and do better next time!

Learn and Master Painting also covers advanced topics including:

• painting with an underpainting
• perspective
• color theory
• painting backgrounds and shadows
• using complementary colors and color combinations
• painting still life using color temperature for mood
• creating abstract paintings
• how to create a focal point
• drawing different shapes
• painting humans and animals
• using photos as reference for painting
• more!