Insights
Color Temperature
Here are some useful bits of information about cool and warm hues. Cool colors recede and warm colors advance. In landscapes as the atmosphere plays with distant views, soft edges and coolness prevail. Putting cool next to cool or warm next to warm flattens the...
One Caveat
As artists our time is spent primarily with ourselves. The hours fly by unencumbered. Creativity knows not the limits of time and as we become engaged in our work, time, for us, seems to stand still. Others may look upon our solitary seclusion as selfish and to...
The Importance of Drawing
In order to paint a realistic or impressionistic style, drawing is the foundation. There is no substitution for good drawing skills. A fellow artist recently shared an interesting book, The Zen of Seeing by Frederick Franck. In it are quick sketches/drawings from...
Create – the artistic life. Find your why.
Why do you create what you create? Artists are often confronted with painting that which seems to sell and that which inspires them to pick up the brush and paint. When asked, why I paint, my response is that painting is my passion that has become addictive. My being...
Style
Style for me is a state of continual development – not static. When art becomes static, the beauty is lost. New experiences bring new interpretations. The mark of the artist is not lost; it remains part of the painting fabric through subtle shifts in style and...
Imaging Your Art
Sometimes taking time off from painting brings a fresh return. Painting in my head, creating compositions and envisioning a completed work are pre-requisite for applying paint to a canvas. Perhaps this is day dreaming for artists. If a clear vision is imagined before...
Limited Palette Artist – Anders Zorn
An outstanding artist, a contemporary of John Singer Sargent, was Swedish born Anders Zorn. A friend of Isabell Stewart Gardner, Zorn often received commissions through her and came to America for extended periods of time. He painted three American Presidents - Grover...
Adding New Colors
Often it is fun to explore new colors and their combinations. This broadens ones knowledge and keeps paintings fresh. The earth colors – raw umber, burnt umber, raw sienna and burnt sienna – I found produce some interesting combinations and results. Before starting a...
Portrait Painting
Portrait painting is often looked upon as too difficult to undertake. It requires the same observation of form and value that is in all realistic art. However, to achieve a likeness, one must measure and compare to locate the eyes, nose, chin, tilt of the head,...
What makes a great painting?
As artists we strive to create a new perspective with our paintings, not merely a technical copy of what is before us. All our tools - medium, composition, values, hues, shapes, lines, brushwork etcetera - are called into play. We instinctively sense whether the...