This is common - and commonly taught - but it can be limiting for several reasons.

Firstly, the artist is being tentative. The artist may not feel they're being timid, because they haven't felt the real power of advanced creating. The artist is not driving their creative energy onto the canvas. This shows lack of power - and that timidity comes through the work and affects viewers and buyers.

Secondly, the subject is calling the shots here, not the artist. What does this mean? It means that everything that happens creatively is governed by the subject. The artist follows a procedure which says "This must go here, that must go there". Those are creative decisions which the subject rules.

In fact, artists are much more powerful than that - don't forget that we are the creators. As creators, it should be ourselves who determine what goes where. Yes, we can create a subject, but the subject doesn't rule the way we paint. As creators, we choose to apply paint in ways which are much more powerful - ways which allow us to have subjects come alive any way we choose. In fact, being a powerful creator we then have the ability to make the painting go in any direction we want, and even change the subject dramatically, because being in control of the process means we are alive to all the possibilities the painting is giving us in return.

If you're coloring in a pencil sketch before you really start painting, those weak early actions place immediate limits on the work. You may feel you are able to change the subject, but you're probably only changing it slightly. And you're not giving yourself the opportunity to whip up a mood, any mood, or to capture light fully, or movement, within the subjects.

Thirdly, your career can become full of paintings done to a formula. This is incredibly limiting.

The creative world is far more awesome than what this timid, limited painting captures.

This is a sure sign the artist is using poor and limited technique, and is not aware of advanced and powerful creation. Art societies and groups are full of artists who paint the sky first.

Why do they do it? Because they think the sky is further away, is behind everything else, and so they think it should go on first, with other things added on top of it.

Well, this happens in real life, but if you want to see the folly of it, set up a canvas and touch the weave where the sky is. You can measure it if you like - it's exactly the same distance away as the canvas where the foreground will be. What have we just realised? That painting is about creating the illusion of reality. And that reality occurs on a two dimensional surface.

But to know how to paint the sky later - when or if the artist chooses - you have to know advanced technique, and advanced painting structure.

For those artists who do learn advanced technique and structure, and who have the power and ability by that to create a sky whenever and however they like, the feeling of liberation is immense.

You'll never go back, once you feel that incredible satisfaction and thrill.

Much the same as the question above. But if you're doing this, at this stage of the painting you've blown every chance of creating that painting to your full ability.

Art teachers around the world love teaching students to do this.

Why? Why do they teach this? Because they don't know how to work with thick paint powerfully. They're scared they'll make a mistake, scared they can't control it.

Advanced technique doesn't deal in silly things like this.

As a true Fine Art creator, you can put the paint on as thick as you like and have full control of it - because you know how to structure a painting so there isn't any 'right' or 'wrong'. And you'll know how to alter that paint with another advanced technique to create just the effect you want, or may want. And you can mould an image. And you are always in control of every stroke you do.

Sounds hard and something which takes years to master. Well, the second bit of that is true - we are continually learning to master advanced techniques. But learning them, and making dramatic changes, and learning how to be powerfully in control is, believe it or not, easy.

Silly teaching methods don't help - it's these in fact which make the learning of advanced Fine Art painting all that much harder, by putting limitations and weaknesses in artist's minds.

And if that's not bad enough, working from thin to thick ruins your full career because you're bound to be painting to a formula.

Goodness! We are creators! All of us.

Another favourite of so-called art teachers around the world.

Straight into formula painting again, and ruining possibilities naturally available to all artists.

Often 'teachers' get students painting with these silly things combined - they tell students to put the darks on thin first.

Anyone who instructs you to do this doesn't know the advanced structure of Fine Art painting, because doing this immediately limits the paint's physical qualities of capturing light.

Capturing light in a painting - really capturing it, not just some of its effects - is a true joy of quality art and to be denied this is to take away worlds and universes of magic that are naturally available for you.

Yep, another common example of poor technique.

If you've been taught to do this, it means the 'teacher' didn't know how to create the illusion of detail. Creating the illusion of detail is a central part of advanced Fine Art painting.

You'll be thrilled to discover that far more intricate and amazing detail can be created with a huge brush.

And if that stretches your belief, you'll have real trouble with this truth about advanced technique: not only will you get far more intricate detail, you'll also do it in milliseconds. That's power - and power comes from knowledge. Learn the techniques, and you'll see immediately how this is done.

We've put up an online tutorial for you so you can get this knowledge right now.

What a pain that is. These artists are spending all their time and energy and focus mixing colors because the artist thinks they have to be just right all the time.

You know, there are even art 'instruction' websites and schools around the world who specialise in 'getting the right colour'.

Things like colour wheels are all good and well, but that's not what advanced, powerful painting is about.

Advanced painting is about you having control over the creative process - and focusing and living that process. That's where the thrill is. That's where the money is. That's where the painting and career results are.

Does color matter? Of course it does. But as an advanced Fine Art painter you'll learn very quickly that you can change any color or colors or any part of or the whole painting at any time.

Not being bound by color at any stage of a painting is a powerfully liberating experience. Working freely and creatively with any color - using that to discover vital new areas of your work - while knowing you can get exactly the color you want later, is what an advanced Fine Art painter does.

Once you learn the techniques to alter color, you'll never puddle around on your palette again.
You'll whip up paintings using any colors you want to, at any time during the work, knowing you can change it all or in part at any time later.

That alone is fabulous. But what it also does is it allows you to create amazing color effects - effects you'd never, ever, get without knowing advanced technique and structure.

They're for glazing, right. And blocking in. Isn't that how you've been taught?

No, they're not. They're for creating intricate and amazing detail. Yes, we dealt with this earlier in the Test, but we wanted to get you thinking differently about big brushes - they're your powerful tools.

Once you get the value of advanced technique, you'll come to love big brushes.

Walk out of that art class if your teacher tells you that glazes cover the whole painting. And don't go back.

Glazes are extremely - and we mean extremely - adaptive and useful.

Our online tutorials will give you a glimpse of what advanced glazing can do.

And, while we're on it - walk out of that class if you're told you can't glaze with opaque paint. But that's another universe of worlds to open up. You'll get those worlds with advanced technique.

Oh no! This isn't art, it's craft. Just because there is paint on canvas doesn't mean it's art. This quick-fix way of putting paint on canvas will give you results and if you don't know better you'll think you are creating art.

Unfortunately, because advanced - or in this worst-case scenario, even standard - technique is so rarely taught, there are people who've become widely known for teaching this way of painting. It's basic stuff, about as basic as you can get.

Art is about creating - your creating. It's about capturing spirit. It's about your uniqueness, your power. It's about discovery.

If you're painting this way, it's about time you were given the benefit of what you really can do. Get that thrill, and get those results in your painting and in your (true) art career. As a creative individual you are much more valuable to the world than what this way of painting is doing to you.

Advanced painting is not difficult. Please take time here to let us help you.