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Today, I answered a letter to my brother, Dave (yes, that Dave Mark who wrote Home Sweet Home Page and Macworld® Ultimate Mac® Programming and Learn C On The Macintosh. He's written others, like The Macintosh C Programming Primer (a classic book that inspired countless Mac code creators). If you were a Mac coder in the beginning years of the Apple Macintosh, chances are you'd learned a thing or two from my big brother.

Anyway, back to the letter, Dave wrote:

"For someone just getting started with painting, would you recommend oil or acrylic? What do you paint with?"

I wrote back a long answer, which turned into the following blog entry:

**WARNING** Incredibly long-winded answer follows in 3... 2... 1...

I am not an expert.

That said, I have quite a few opinions about beginning painting for Art's sake. (I use the capital A to signify that the person in question is taking this seriously, that they are painting for the sake of the Art and not for money or fame or popularity.)

First, you should use your imagination enthusiastically and with great abandon, and with total disregard for all opinions, including your own. In other words, you should just go wild inside your mind, holding nothing back.

Once you have an idea of what you want to paint, you should buy a pad of paper, such as Dick Blick's Charcoal paper. The idea is to buy paper that takes well to charcoals, so you can sketch concepts with abandon. Nothing intense or complicated, just general lines, to get the Artist in you to flesh things out a bit. Buying a set of charcoals and a couple of white pads of paper is a fantastic beginning. (Charcoal paper is good because it takes the charcoal or crayon or other color-stick well - It is neither too light-weight (that the paper will tear) or too dense to not have any give, to feel too stiff.)

Once you have sketched for a bit and feel confident of your hand and your eye working in partnership with your imagination, it is time for painting.

Start with Acrylics, as they are cheaper and dry faster. Also, they are water-soluble, which means that if you get it on your brand new jeans, you won't freak out. (Seltzer works great.)

Buy canvas board before buying canvases. Canvases are more expensive. In the beginning, there will be lots of mis-steps and you don't want to feel that you wasted fifteen bucks on an oops when a 12"x12" canvas board costs a buck or so.

Buy cheap brushes in the beginning. Buy different sizes and shapes. Don't sweat quality, as you are in the beginning and the goal here is to develop a feel for the entire process. It's not about the results. After a time, the Artist in you may decide that a better quality brush gives you something extra. Also, if you buy cheap brushes, you can buy crazy sizes or shapes and not feel guilty. **NOTE** Guilt will KILL any attempt at painting, no matter what is in the Artist's heart.

As for acrylic paint, cheap is ok, but don't buy too cheap. There are some good quality acrylics that are reasonably priced, such as Golden or Liquitex. I am partial to Liquitex, but in the beginning, any acrylic will be fine.

Acrylics should run about $3.00 for a two-ounce jar. (Yes, Virginia, paint is darned expensive, as is the whole Painting pursuit).

There are different types of acrylic paints, which are based upon one concept: thickness. You may want to just experiment, and if you have deep pockets, you should. If budget is an issue, you should think of thickness ahead of time. There are benefits to various thicknesses. A thinner paint is like a watercolor, which gives a light feel to the finished painting. A thicker paint gives more texture (so you can see the brush stroke more clearly. Thicker means more ridges, which can be cool).

Again, as long as your pockets aren't too shallow, experimentation is absolutely best.

One last thing, you'll need a palette (a place to hold a working amount paint before they go on the canvas). I use an old dinner plate or a hunk of an old cardboard box (like the side of an empty box of cereal). They sell plastic and glass ones in the store, but you can save a little money by recycling).

That's it. To paint, you just need those few things. You may hear painters talk about mediums or varnishes or whatever. For now, ignore them.

Ok, if you're still with me, thanks for your patience. If you want more opinion, please, don't hesitate to ask, as I *love* this topic.