Dress in old clothes and get out all your supplies to get started. Any painting project will likely result in a bit of mess, so it's important to prepare for it to avoid impossible-to-remove paint stains on your carpet or other surfaces. To get started painting, find an open area with plenty of light to set yourself up.  It's common to use an easel to paint, but not necessary. Find a hard surface, like an old clipboard to clamp your watercolor paper to, or prop a canvas up on a desk, covered with an old sheet or newspaper. Lay down an old sheet or newspaper on the floor, and any surface that'll be in contact with the paint. You won't have to worry about spilling if you've got a paint trap already set up, letting you concentrate on making. . While it's not a required step--you could always just start painting--it's helpful to sketch out the basic shape of the subject to use as a guide. If you want to paint a pot of flowers, you don't have to get into the tiny details of the pollen in the center, but it's a good idea to have the basic outline of the petals on the paper before you start adding color.  Use contour lines to sketch the basic shape, and gestural lines to start getting a sense of the spatial relationship between the objects in the subject. The object will be made up of many little shapes, like many little paintings. Try to focus on the relationship between things. Locate the source of the line illuminating your subject and start looking at how the shade is cast upon the subject, and how you'll need to capture it with color and line. . On your palette, spend some time mixing your paints and trying to get the kind of colors you want to use to capture your subject. Some painters will be really concerned with getting the value as accurate as possible, so it looks like "real life," while other painters might want to change things up a bit. There's no right way to do it.  Blend a small amount of color and paint a few test strips to see how it looks on a white background, rather than mixing up a whole tube of white and blue together to make light blue. Only make as much as you'll need. Tint your bright colors with a small amount of white to soften them, or add black to create different shades of the color. Adding the opposite color from the color wheel to one paint will create a different "tone," giving you an endless range of possibilities. Using a variety of contrasting value in your painting will help to create a more dynamic sense of color in your painting. Use many tones, shades, and tints, thinking seriously about color. Learn to use, clean, and care for your brushes before you start painting. Before you're knee-deep in your masterpiece, get some experience getting the brush to hold an appropriate amount of paint and practice painting smooth, even lines with it. Don't worry about what you're painting, just paint some scratch while you're mixing up colors or thinning the paint out. Use short little brush strokes and long even ones. Use as little paint as possible on your brush to get the value you're looking for. Don't saturate the page with paint. Use different brushes for their different effects, blotting, drawing, and stippling with them. Usually, you'll want to get the background in first, working from the back to the front of the painting. This lets you move from the general to the specific details, adding layers to create little details, rather than the other way around. If you start on the petals, the painting can end up looking out of balance. Experiment some to see what works best for you. Bob Ross, everyone's favorite television painter, was excellent at starting his paintings with backgrounds on the fly and using the imagination to get started. He usually found complementary colors and dry-brushed the background in nice sunset colors, then started filling in trees and other natural scenes without planning much of anything. It's an excellent way to get started on a canvas.

Summary: Prepare your painting space. Sketch out your painting with pencil Mix a variety of colors as you need them Practice using the brush. Paint the background first.


To do a squat, simply stand with your back straight, against a wall if you'd like. Your knees should be shoulder-width apart and your legs should be about 18 inches in front of you. Slowly squat by sitting down till you are level with your knees. These exercises develop the hamstrings, glutes, and quads which are the key drivers to helping you jump higher. If you feel pain at any time, stop the exercise. Build strength in these muscles by gripping a raised surface with your toes and using your calf muscles to do short dips. You can try doing calf raises with one leg at a time, both legs, or even from a seated position. The calves are another important muscle group in improving your jumping. Try holding some weight while you do this to increase the resistance and build strength. by stretching. Stretch your hamstrings and buttocks by laying on your back with one leg crossed over the other at the knee. Pull the lower leg toward you firmly and steadily. This should stretch the hamstring of the crossed leg. For another exercise, touch your toes while seated, standing, with your legs spread, and with your legs crossed. If you're not flexible you'll develop an imbalance of strength. This could limit your ability to jump. Jumps, hops, and lunges are known as plyometrics. Plyometrics are high intensity movements which increase your heart rate quickly. Endurance training can actually improve your quick twitch muscle fibers, making jumping more powerful. For a maximum exercise, try holding about one-third of the weight that you normally lift. Jump explosively and repeat it as many times as you can.

Summary: Do squats. Work out your calves by doing calf raises. Improve your flexibility Continue practicing jumps and squats.


Note: You can click the “+” sign to the right of the top row to create a new Desktop.  Click any window to automatically exit out of Mission Control and bring the window to the foreground. Note: Windows from the same application will be bundled together.
Summary: Click the square in the upper left corner of the top row labeled “Dashboard” to access your Dashboard widgets. View your desktop spaces to the right of Dashboard in the top row. View your currently running full-screen apps to the right of your desktop spaces in the top row. View standard-sized windows and your main desktop below the top row in the lower section of Mission Control.