It is important for your growth as an artist to try new styles, techniques and mediums. Although it is tempting to stick to your abilities, you might find yourself bored if you don't challenge yourself.
Painting Surfaces
The traditional surface to paint on is a canvas, but nearly everything can be painted on. Walls, cinder blocks, sea shells, carpets, clothing, plastic bags, draperies or raw unstretched canvas.
The most important factor to keep in mind when choosing a surface to paint on is whether the paint will adhere to the surface and whether that surface can support the paint on a long-term basis. Artists using oil paints should be careful. Oil paints on raw cloth can cause the cloth to deteriorate, which is why priming a canvas is important when using oil paint.
Tools
Nearly any tool can be used for painting; paint brushes are only the most obvious choice. Hands, sticks, palette knives, rags, cotton balls and sponges are only a few of the lesser-used options. Again, the type of paint should be taken into consideration when deciding what tools to use. In the case of oil paints, an artist will not want to use his hands, for example.
Textures
By adding texture to the painting, you engage the viewer and give the painting a more substantive presence on the wall. Texture is incorporated into the painting either by painting on top of something with its own inherent texture (such as an old warped board, or a farmhouse door), or by painting thickly and allowing the natural texture of the paint to build itself up.
If you are going to paint on top of something with its own texture, choose carefully what you are painting on. You might find the painting you are creating exists in competition with the texture below. You must find a synthesis of subject and surface you are painting on so that the two are related and working together. The texture must add to the design, not inhibit it.
Painting Techniques
Try different painting techniques. Study works of the masters and incorporate them into your pieces. Expressionistic, abstract, surrealist, non-representational, minimalist and impressionistic are a few of the hundreds of different artistic styles you can choose. Over time, you might find yourself producing a synthesis of two or more of these styles. Be open to these experiences.
Mixed Mediums
A mixed-media piece is anything that mixes two or more types of materials in one piece. A mixed-media piece incorporates types of standard art materials, such as acrylic paint, charcoal, ink and pencil, or it may consist of more unconventional materials such as plaster, erasers, wire, dirt and oil paint. Try making a painting that uses three or more creative materials, related to the content of the painting. One example is a painting of the beach that uses sand glued to the canvas, sea shells embedded within and a palm leaf draped over the top.
Subjects
Try switching your subjects. Paint a subject you've never painted before. Pick an abstraction to paint such as an idea, a political belief or a vision of a deity. Paint a poem or a song lyric. Make a series of paintings that depict a story. Make a series of paintings of the same subject, but in different styles. Paint something close up or from a great distance. Paint yourself, without looking in a mirror or at a picture. Paint an emotion, a dream or a nightmare.
