If you're a beginning painter, canvas will be your go-to painting surface. Canvas is made from either cotton or linen and comes in a variety of styles, the two most common being stretched and unstretched. Stretched canvases are tightly fixed over a wooden frame. Unstretched canvases are typically not cut to size but are sold as fabric wound on a large roll.  A primed canvas means that it's been treated with a priming substance that will allow the paint to adhere. If you'd prefer not to purchase a primed canvas, you can pick up an unprimed canvas and a tube of a primer like gesso. Paint a layer of gesso on the canvas and allow it to dry before you begin painting. You can find a variety of sizes of stretched or plain canvases at a local art-supply store. Look around awhile until you find a shape and size that fits the project you'd like to paint. If you like the watercolor look but prefer to use acrylic paint, try painting on thick paper specifically designed for use with acrylics. Watercolor paper is also cheaper than stretched canvases, especially if you plan on disposing of your first few attempted paintings.  You can find thick watercolor paper at your local art-supply store. Keep in mind that watery acrylic paint can make thinner paper wrinkle or warp. In distinction to students' acrylic paint, artists' paint is rich in pigment and comes in a large variety of colors. If you're just starting out as a painter, 8–10 colors should be plenty. Select 1 each of the primary colors (blue, yellow, and red), and 5–7 additional colors that you'll enjoy painting with. For example, select colors such as:  Black Purple or pink Brown Green White If you only paint with a single brush, it'll be hard to achieve the full range of effects possible with acrylic paint. So, buy a handful of different styles of brushes. Some of the most common acrylic brush styles include:  Round (for lines and detail work) Flat (for making big, bold strokes and filling in large spaces) Fan (for blending and feathering) Bright (for holding close to the canvas to make thick strokes) Angular flat (for filling in corners and fine details)
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One-sentence summary -- Choose a primed, stretched canvas for a simple option. Opt for a thick watercolor paper if you'd like to use watered-down acrylic. Select 8–10 colors of artist-quality acrylic paint. Purchase 5-8 paint brushes to paint in a variety of styles.


Before you begin to bowl, you have to understand the function of the bowling lane. A bowling lane is 60 feet (18.3 m) long from the foul line, the line closest to the bowler, to the head pin, the pin closest to the bowler. There are gutters on either side of the bowling lane. If a ball veers off the lane, it goes into the gutters and is out of play.  The approach area is 15 feet (4.6 m) long and ends at the foul line. The bowler cannot overstep the foul line during their approach or their shot won't count. If a ball goes into the gutters and then bounces out and hits the pins, it won't count. Ten pins are arranged at the end of the bowling lane at the beginning of every frame. They are arranged in a triangle formation, with the point of the triangle facing the bowler. There is one pin in the first row, which is the head pin, two pins in the second row, three in the third, and four in the fourth.  The locations of the pins are assigned numbers 1-10. The pins in the back row have the numbers 7-10, the pins in the row above the back row are numbered 4-6, the pins in the second row are numbered 2-3, and the head pin is pin 1. All pins will earn the bowler one point if they are hit. The numbers are based on location, not value. Before you can call yourself a true bowler, you should be aware of a few different bowling terms. Knowing these terms will also make it much easier for you to understand the rules. Here they are:  A strike is when you knock down all the pins with the ball on your first try. A spare is when you knock down all the pins on your second try. A split is when the first ball of a frame knocks down the headpin (the pin closest to you) but leaves two or more pins that are non-adjacent. It's tough to hit a spare in this situation, especially if you have a 7-10 split, which is the hardest split to hit. A turkey is three strikes in a row. If any pins remain after the bowler's turn, it's called an "open frame." One bowling game consists of 10 frames. Each frame is equal to one turn for the bowler. The bowler's objective is to knock down as many pins as possible in a frame, ideally all of them.  A bowler can roll the ball twice in each frame, provided that they do not hit a strike. A bowler gets an extra turn on the tenth frame if they knock down all the pins on the first turn. If a bowler has an open frame, then they simply get credit for the number of pins they knocked down. If a bowler knocked down 6 pins after two turns, they simply get two turns. However, if a bowler hits a spare or a strike, the rules get slightly more complicated.  If a bowler hits a spare, then they should place a slash mark on their score sheet. After their next turn, they will receive 10 points plus the number of pins they knock down with that turn. So if they knock down 3 pins after their first turn, then they will get 13 points before their second turn. If they then knock down 2 pins in their second turn, they get a total of 15 points for that round. If a bowler hits a strike, they should record an X on their scoresheet. The strike will earn the bowler ten points plus the number of pins knocked down on the player's next two turns in the following round. The most a bowler can score in one game is 300 points. This represents 12 strikes in a row, or 120 pins that were knocked down in 12 frames. A perfect game has 12 strikes and not ten, because if the bowler gets a strike on the last frame, then they can take two more turns. If those two turns are also strikes, they will have 300 points. If a player rolls a spare in the last frame, then they can take one more turn.
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One-sentence summary --
Understand the bowling lane. Understand the bowling pins. Learn the lingo. Understand how a game of bowling works. Learn the scoring.