Start Here: Paint: 50 Ways to Be an Artist Without Trying

If you’ve always wished you could paint but have no idea where to begin, get a head start with more than 50 progressive art activities that develop skill and confidence as you go.

Start Here: Paint gives you exciting prompts for kick-starting an artistic practice centered on painting. By exploring how simple brushstrokes and splashes can be repeated to create more intricate images and patterns, Start Here: Paint builds up your understanding of shape, color, and technique without intimidating jargon or theory.

• Paint Play. Experiment with fearless mark-making ideas that can be achieved in a few minutes to an hour or so using a variety of mediums, including watercolor, gouache, and acrylic.
• Colorworks. Understand and master choosing and using colors, from putting together a palette to mixing the colors you want.
• Shapes and Shadows. Learn how to observe these important visual elements, then translate them into paint using ideas that will help you hone your skills.
• Make It Your Own. Building on the techniques learned in the first three chapters, develop your own creative path by exploring a range of styles, from painting patterns with simple motifs to trying a more realistic approach. In addition to creating original wall art, apply your newfound skills to the many Takeaway ideas offered throughout for gifts and home décor items.

With Start Here: Paint as your fresh, fun creative companion, you’ll learn how to paint and never want to stop.

Start Here: Paint is a companion title to Start Here: Draw, which guides you through the basics of drawing and sketching through 50 fun and inspiring exercises.

Moira Clinch is a watercolor artist and urban sketcher. The author of the companion art titles Start Here: Draw and Start Here: Paint, she is also the author of two books on watercolor painting, including The Watercolor Painter’s Pocket Palette, which sold more than half a million copies. She has worked as a creative director in the publishing industry for more than 25 years, and her own artwork has been exhibited in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and featured in several books. She lives in London.