Oil painter Gregg Kreutz has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Here, he shares with us a few principles he implements in his own creative process. Read below, and don’t forget to order your copy of The Artist’s Magazine‘s newest issue.

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10 Principles of Painting with Oil Painter Gregg Kreutz

1. The four stages of painting are: placement, background, shadow and light.

2. To paint something convincingly, you have to determine local color, shadow color, turning color and highlight color.

3. Dynamics (high contrast, color, paint thickness, and so forth) bring passages forward (see Fish Market Dawn, below).

Fish Market Dawn (oil on canvas, 25×32) by Gregg Kreutz

4. Paint relationships—not isolated things or people.

5. Everything is either light against dark, dark against light or same against same.

6. Paint passages in the light thickly (see Fall at the Farmer’s Market, below).

Fall at the Farmer’s Market (oil on canvas, 16×20) by Gregg Kreutz

7. Light turns gently into shadow and emerges crisply from the shadow.

8. Every object needs a form shadow (see Up the Lane, below).

Up the Lane (oil on panel, 12×14) by Gregg Kreutz

9. Shadows are dark versions of local color.

10. Highlights are never on the starting edge (see Golden Earring, below).

Golden Earring (oil on canvas, 24×20) by Gregg Kreutz

 

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Need a break at work? Check out these easy drawing exercises!

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