elaby | My first oil painting

I started taking an oil painting class in September, and this past Thursday, I signed my first painting! It was thrilling -- everyone clapped for me <3 I enjoy painting with oils so much. I learned to oil paint when I was in elementary school, taking a class in my slightly-crazy painting teacher's breezeway, with the wood stove blazing at all times of the year and unfamiliar junk food piled in bowls. I loved it then, but I don't remember anything I learned, so I found a freestyle painting class about 45 minutes away from our house when I wanted to start again. This class is wonderful, because the students paint whatever they want at their own pace and the teacher walks around the room giving guidance and advice. You come when you can and pay for each session rather than for a series of classes. Mary, my teacher, is a fantastic painter and a very friendly, kind person. The other students are all older than me and are very welcoming. Every night I go is a refreshing, relaxing experience.

I based my first painting on a bunch of different landscape photos I found around the internet. I snapped some cell phone pictures of it every time I made progress, and after I finished, I put them all together to post here!

For some reason, the colors came out very much browner and more orange in these pictures. It had something to do with the angle I held my phone and the light in the room. You can see in the close-up of the stone wall that the grass areas are much greener than in most of these pictures. Regardless, I'm so happy with how my painting turned out. The very last one shows part of my workspace (I laid the canvas down flat to sign it, but I usually use a tabletop easel) :3