By far, the most personal gift you can give to someone you care about is a gift that you have made personally. If you are new to painting, you will want to choose something simplistic and let go of any preconceived notions that your painting will be a masterpiece. Paint carefully, accept the errors you make and be proud of the final product. It's true what they say--it's the thought that counts.
Instructions
1. Choose your subject. Choose something that will be meaningful to the person for whom you are painting. For example, if your gift recipient has a pet, you may want to paint a picture of that pet. Animals are generally easier subjects than humans.
2. Choose your palette. Give consideration to the room where your gift recipient will likely hang the painting. It is best to match the colors of your painting to the colors of the room where the painting will be located--or at the very least, the colors of your painting should not clash with the room.
3. Choose your medium. Archival-quality paintings are often done in one of three mediums: oil paints, acrylic and watercolor. Oil paints are a slow drying opaque medium, often applied to canvas. Acrylic paints are very similar to oil paints, but they dry much more quickly. Oil paint and acrylic canvases are easy to hang and may often be hung without a frame.
Watercolor is a transparent medium applied to special watercolor-grade paper. When it is finished, a watercolor will need to be framed before it can be hung.
4. Draw the subject onto the canvas or paper on which you will be painting. If you are painting a watercolor, draw very lightly so that the pencil will not appear in the finished piece. Draw only the basic shapes and no details.
5. Set up your materials and begin to paint. For the first layer of paint, you will only paint a thin wash of paint, blocking in the basic shapes on the picture plane. Use a medium-sized paint brush. Note that if you are painting in watercolor, you will build layers of color slowly and that all layers will be visible underneath the subsequent layers (meaning that any errors you make will not be easy to cover up). In oil paint and acrylic, any mistakes you make may be covered by an additional layer of paint.
6. Begin to paint the details on the painting. Use a smaller brush.
7. Give your painting time to dry. If necessary, give yourself time away from the painting and come back later to add final details and correct any errors. Allow the painting to fully dry before preparing it to be given as a gift.
8. Frame the painting, if it is a watercolor. Frames in a variety of sizes are available at most art and craft stores and in big-box department stores. If you are giving a painting on a canvas, it does not need to be framed, but you should paint the sides of the canvas to give it a more complete appearance. Choose a color appropriate for the palette, and paint all four sides the same color. This color should generally match the other colors on the painting. Allow the sides to fully dry before giving it away.
9. Wrap your gift. If the canvas is too large to be wrapped, wrap ribbon around the canvas and tie it together with a bow.
