10 Observations On Learning To Paint From Over A Decade Of Teaching Students

Over the last few years I have had the good fortune to teach more than 120,000 + students in the Learn To Paint Academy, and hundreds in one day, two day and three day workshops.

This has put me in a fortunate & unique position to be able to observe where students are struggling with their painting, and identify how best to help them improve.

As a result I have been able to refine my approach to teaching painting to beginners to intermediate students … which is what has led to the development of the Moore Method of Painting.

Through this process I have noted a number of observations that I want to share with you today in the hope they may assist you to improve your painting.

Here is ten observations I have found from those students who went on and really improved their paintings (many of whom ended up selling their artwork, and winning awards in art shows, and more).

1/ A Strong Desire To Improve – The students who ultimately improved their paintings had a strong desire to want to improve. For many, this desire was not that strong when they started but it developed over time. The more they followed along with our teachings at the Learn To Paint Academy the greater their desire became which led them to want to learn more.

2/ Belief That They Could Improve – At some point in their engagement with the Learn To Paint Academy they started to believe that they could develop their skills. This belief was built through understanding that there is a definite process for learning to paint, and through seeing others students of ours improve as well.

3/ They Became Fully Engaged – Those that made solid improvements in their paintings usually are the ones who are fully engaged. They turn up to all of the live streams, actively comment and contribute to the community, go through all of our courses, take part in all of the challenges we run, and do all of the assignments and projects.

4/ Willingness To Have A Go – Our informal moto at the Learn To Paint Academy is ‘Just have a go’. The students who make the most progress adopt this moto and have a high willingness to have a go even when they feel challenged or stretched by the project or assignment.

5/ 3 Key Areas – All of the students I have seen make great improvement have spent time in the three key areas. These are studying the knowledge of good painting, putting it into practising, and being involved in our supportive community. The balance of these three keys has had a big impact on our students ability to improve their painting

6/ Ask Lots of Questions – Typically the students that improve the most ask lots of questions. They have a natural curiosity and a willingness to ask questions. On our weekly Coffee Chat live stream we give you the opportunity to ask all of your questions.

7/ Focus – It is easy to jump around and get information on how to paint from a huge variety of sources, but from observation those that do don’t tend to improve the fastest. Often they stay stagnent in their current skill level primarily because they dilute the knowledge they are receiving by having too many inputs.

8/ Mastering The Fundamentals – Without question all of our students who have improved the most have spent time studying and mastering the fundamentals of good painting with us. They have gone to work to improve their understanding of Composition, Values, Colour & Colour Mixing, Brushes & Brushwork, Edges and Observation & Drawing skills. These fundamentals are a key part of our focus in the Learn To Paint Academy.

9/ Painting On A Consistent Basis – There is no substitute for what is known as brush miles. Our students who get the best results are the ones who paint on a consistent and regular basis. The more they paint and apply what they have learned through the Learn To Paint Academy the more they improve.

10/ Peristence – Learning to paint is not easy. There will be failures and a lot of the time in the early days a lot of frustration. Our students though know that this is not the time to assume you have no talent and quit. Our students know that frustration and sticking points are a natural part of the learning cycle. Persistence then is the key and we eventually more past these moments of frustration

In our recent “Unleash The Artist Within” painting challenge we had over 1,200 students enrolled and actively taking part in the various painting projects.

The results were amazing and many of our students showed solid improvements just in the four painting projects we conducted as part of the challenge.The photo results of students with their paintings were simply inspiring.

Reflect on these key observations and see which ones resonate with you.

Hope they help. If you are ready to start your own painting journey then you can get started by clicking here.

It may be the best decision you make for your painting.