Help with Painting

[BohoRoohaha]

I am painting a master copy in acrylic. I know I'll get better as I keep painting. What should I pay attention to when doing master copies? is it the way they layer their paint, and the colors they use, and their brush strokes? how does that help us become better painters? just wondering, thanks!

- Roo

[jrr]

yeah the masters' didn't use acrylics....


but aside from that, more time should be spent looking at the painting and seeing how it might be done than to actually paint. almost like that measure twice, cut once saying.

[BohoRoohaha]

Lol. yea i know...but i'm a little iffy about using oils just yet. What I've figured out though is that you use different variations and values of a mix of colors because as the light goes across the plane the color changes. and also to use like: ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow for the background and cerclean blue and hansa yellow light for the fore ground, and if you wanted to bridge the gap you'd mix variations of the four colors together so it gradually changes. If you don't the painting comes out flat. like if you cadmium yellow to mix colors in the foreground and background the two will become flat because the two areas are too similar. also i was wondering is part a successful painting have to do with brush control? just knowing how to use each brush, and how much paint to put it on it, and how to apply it to the canvas. cuz i find that i have more control with oil pastels than i do with a paintbrush.

-Roo