Compendium of free art lessons

Read an essay on art

The Third Dimension, an essay on how to get depth on the picture plane

Lesson 1 - Getting started. Learning to look. Do a small monochrome painting with emphasis on the big shapes.

Lesson 2 - Simplify what you see to only three values

Lesson 3 - The edges. Working in monochrome, explore lost and found edges.

Lesson 4 - What is the difference between oils, alkyds, acrylics. Values and grounds and the limited palette

Lesson 5 - Seeing negative spaces; warm and cool color palette, and exercise in mixing greys.

Lesson 6 - Creating effective shadows

Lesson 7 - Understanding Contrast and Key in a painting.

Lesson 8 - Finding the "Home Value"

Lesson 9 - Local color and using warm and cool to lighten/darken.

Lesson 10 - Seeing complementary color in shadows.

Lesson 11 - Color temperature: painting warm and cool.

Lesson 12 - Reflected light in shadows.

Lesson 13 - Figure-ground concept; composition.

Lesson 14 - Relative transparency -- an exercise.

Lesson 15 - Hue and chroma.

Lesson 16 - Exercise in black and white.

Lesson 17 - Compositional shape.

Lesson 18 - Using broken color.

Lesson 19 - Depth in a painting.

Lesson 20 - Using warm and cool greys.

Lesson 21 - Reading the "value" of a color.

Lesson 22 - Practicing composition.

Lesson 23 - Finding the "message."

Lesson 24 - Color value scale exercise.

Lesson 25 - Interpretations of a theme.

Lesson 26 - Observing and duplicating.

Lesson 27 - Varying intensity.

Lesson 28 - Interpreting a composition as either warm or cool.

Lesson 29 - Closure: suggesting a form.

Lesson 30 - Coming up with a Pricing concept for your art.

Lesson 31 - Line as a design element: Contour drawing.

Lesson 32 - Varieties of "contrast".

Lesson 33 - Juxtaposing complements of the same value.

Lesson 34 -Juxtaposing opposites.

Lesson 36 - An example of the interpretive ability of the artist

Lesson 37 - Notes on composition basics