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Lesson Four Oil Painting
I had never thought one day I could learn oil painting, for I
always believed it was a very difficult and deep thing.
In the city of Putian where I had been an English teacher,
there were many oil painting workshops, where many young people were hired to
copy famous paintings to sell in the market. A friend of mine introduced me to
such a workshop. Seeing others painting everyday soon acquainted me with the use
of colors, brushes and canvas, and put an eagerness in me to learn oil painting.
The master of the workshop let me start from copying a
painting. I tried but felt it too hard. So I went to the bookshop to buy a book
for beginners. I did find such a good book.
It was Basic Lessons of Oil Painting by
Wendon Blake. The book was composed by 12 lessons, arranged from simple to
difficult, teaching how to paint still life, floral, different types of
landscape and portraits. In each lesson there was an example, followed by simple
and clear instructions showing how the work was done.
So I learned lesson by lesson, following the instructions painted one example
after another. With the advance of each lesson, I felt my progress and was eager
to learn the next. How much fun I felt with the learning, and how enriched!
Soon I finished the book. What should I do next? The master of the workshop
suggested I copy paintings again, which I did but still felt very hard. I couldn't paint a bit like the original,
color, proportion, everything went wrong. I did worse and worse, and felt
more and more discouraged. As soon as I took up the brush I felt wrong, and no
sooner had I touched the canvas than I made one mistake after another, until I
made a mess on it.
I felt very painful and discouraged, in the end I had to leave the workshop with the feeling that
I could never learn oil painting.
I went home. At home, I began to make experiment with
pastel. At first I would imitate some pictures that I loved and stuck them on
the walls, which looked quite nice. Then I went out to draw sketching. After
some time, one day I suddenly felt an impulse to pick up oil painting again. So
I took out brushes and canvas, chose a simple painting to copy. I no longer felt
afraid and was quite encouraged by the outcome.
So I did some more copies, from simple
to more complicated, feeling more and more at ease. Once or twice, I even
painted from the sketches I did with pastel. Thus I found again the fun and love
for painting. It always drawed my heart closer to God and made me love Him more,
it enabled me to appreciate more the silent beauty of God's creation, it made my
heart long for those pure and beautiful things, and put a wish in it to love
others more.
Later because of work, I could not continue to paint, but I still tried to do
some pencil drawing now and then. I hope one day I may take up oil painting
again and enjoy the fun of it!
Some of My Oil Paintings
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