First Strokes: A Discovery in Oil Painting

Last week, I stepped into an oil painting workshop for beginners—my first time working with oil on canvas. As someone who appreciates the quiet beauty in the details of everyday life, I found myself drawn to a floral subject in cool tones: a quiet arrangement in soft greys and blues, reminiscent of the Morandi palette. I thought I had chosen something simple and decorative. But as I would soon discover, subtlety is no small feat in oil painting.

The challenge began with the colors. In oil painting, the secret often lies in mixing—not just choosing pigments, but gently layering and blending them to evoke mood, depth, and texture. As I learned, successful color mixing requires more than a good eye. It calls for patience and sensitivity to light and value. As the workshop guide explains, "The fewer the pigments in your mix, the more vibrant and clean the result. A limited palette creates harmony, and white should be used not just to lighten but to desaturate and unify tones." These subtle strategies helped me understand why the grey-blue tones I envisioned were not easy to reach, yet so satisfying once achieved.

Each brushstroke became an experiment—sometimes bold, sometimes hesitant. I quickly let go of the idea of replicating every petal with precision. Instead, I focused on the overall impression: texture over form, feeling over exactness. The result was something between realism and suggestion, leaning gently into impressionism. Though far from perfect, it was expressive. Personal. A peaceful bloom born of trial, touch, and exploration.

When I finished, I felt I had made a small, meaningful step—guided by my hands and heart alike. I left the studio quietly satisfied. Later that evening, as I waited for my train under the bright moonlight, the cold, crisp air wrapped around me. A moment to breathe. A reminder that creation, however modest, is a form of presence.