Pitfalls and stumbling blocks in portrait painting. 10 mistakes to avoid. By Ben Lustenhouwer

Hello Ben, I am 86 years old and have been an artist all my life...landscape, abstract, jewellery etc. I'm in excellent health and have decided to challenge my self to paint portraits; a skill that has always escaped me! But I feel privileged to have found your videos, so generously made available to strangers like me. With your help I think I'm making progress. So thank you for sharing your knowledge, talent and gentle teaching skill. There should be more people in this world like you. I tried to attach a photo of one of my efforts but it didn't work.John McConnell Vancouver Island BC Canada.

I love this man, not only is his painting captivating, but he has an awesome sense of humor 😄🥰

You are my favorite art teacher!! Thank you for this!

What really impresses me with your paintings is that it appears to me as a cross between impressionist & realism combined. You capture the likeness w/o doing a photo copy likeness. Great style sir. 😊👍👍

Yep I was guilty of breaking quite a lot of these rules. Thanks for sharing.

One word to sum up your work Ben , "Brilliant".

Ben I am your fan. I paint and learn from you a lot. But sometimes I simply watch your videos as they make such a nice and relaxing mood - your voice is so calm and your personality is so full of positive energy. I dont know If You know that. So many thanks for your work. You.are a great person.

I don’t even paint in oils but find your videos both helpful and entertaining! Your work is lovely, and you’re an inspiring teacher.

I never get tired of watching your video

You are a wonderful teacher, and I loved your Paul Simon quote. Ditto to all the comments on your mood- you feel so peaceful, even when attempting to be frantic.

Being humble enough to share with your you tube followers the mistakes you have experienced during your journey as an artist is your gift to the world and those who want to learn ...there is a proverb in the UK ...a wise man learns from his mistakes , I believe a wiser man learns from the mistake of others that have proceeded him . Thank you again for sharing so we can avoid pitfalls .

Best YouTuber I've ever seen, very wise and easy to understand, thanks for the tricks

"An over-blended image with crisp details looks silly". Brilliant! And the way the demo looks at that point proves the point!

Oh i just cannot thank you enough for your videos!

You explain everything so well, in such a concise and clear way!! Thank you so much.

thank you for another excellent set of tips . I am using lately , an unusual way to see the painting from a little bit of distance , that is to take a photo with the phone , its incredible , but makes it look completely different , is even easier some times ( to me ) then to stay a few meters back from the painting , because the phone is making an image that looks even further then it really is . love your paintings . best regards

artists always have very good taste of music too

Dear Ben!! I just became recently aware of your great work and tuition! It helps me really a lot - thank you so much. I really had to smile you watching painting this "poor" portrait, with all the errors in it. This can be so well also transferred to all other kinds of disciplines in art or even in life. "Take your time". - "don't work with poor materials". "take distance and a break from time to time" Thank you very much!

Thank you so much! I love your videos! May you and yours stay healthy and happy!

GRAZIE MAESTRO SEMPRE!!! COMPLIMENTI PER I SUOI DIPINTI MERAVIGLIOSI 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏