On my first day of actually painting in class I started a still life painting.

Step 1: Gesso the canvas as a primer for the painting. The gesso I used was acrylic based.

Step 2: Grab a cup of mineral spirits to thin the paint and clean my brushes as needed.

Step 3: Tone the canvas using your largest brush with lots of mineral spirits and a little bit of burnt sienna oil paint.
                                                                     
                 Step 4: Add more sienna to the paintbrush to draw in                           objects with abstract spaces. This was done using a                               homemade view finder.

Definitions:

Gesso: a hard compound of plaster of Paris or whiting in glue used for priming canvas

mineral spirits:a petroleum distillate that is used especially as a paint or varnish thinner

Palette: The range of colors used in a particular painting or by a particular artist