Learning to paint with oils is a whole new world for me. (Not that I know how to paint with anything else; I don’t.) I now have a new set of supplies to get me started: canvas pads, brushes, paints, cleaning solutions. As far as I can tell, there is only one way for me to learn things: the hard way.

Example: I get to class, open my instruction booklet and pick up where I left off at the end of the previous class. I remove one sheet from the canvas pad and clip it to the support board, load up my paint and off I go with the current lesson.

Or not. First thing the instructor says when she stops by my station (after I’d been painting a while) is, “That’s the wrong side.”

The wrong side

“The wrong side of what?” I ask.

“The wrong side of the canvas.” She flips it over to show me the difference.

“Oh.” (The art world is safe from me, I can tell right now.)

I clip the same canvas to the support board and start over.

Wow! What a difference using the right side makes!! (That looked and sounded funnier in class.)

The Right Side