A game-changer for watercolor?
It’s a danger when you come to visit; I probably will make you work. Watercolor painters have several options for transferring their sketch to paper. They can hope they get it right without guidelines at all. That has never worked for me; I’m far too impulsive. Or, they can sketch in light pencil lines. Pencil …
From the archives: Extreme painting
My guest expert (my daughter) wrote this post in 2018, because I was indisposed due to medical tests. I’m having tests again today (one of life’s eternal verities) and was reminded of this classic. The Road to Seward, Alaska, by Carol L. Douglas Dear Carol, Last week, you mentioned the wild turkeys near your residency. …
Monday Morning Art School: start with value
Lobster pound, 12X16, oil on canvas, available. There’s an old saw that goes, “value does all the work and color gets all the credit.” I tend to not repeat it because value is just one aspect of color. It’s like saying ‘my arm hit that ball and my body gets all the credit.’ Nevertheless, it …
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The limitations of style
“Ravening Wolves,” oil on canvas, 24X30, available. I’ll be painting next weekend in Camden on Canvas. I’m a little rusty because my time right now is being taken up by things that have nothing to do with painting. While I can’t go out and do a full plein air painting, I’m taking an hour a …
Common sense isn’t that common
The Schoodic Peninsula has some wild and wooly scenery. Jennifer Johnson has been my monitor for Sea & Sky at Acadia National Park for six years. In all matters other than painting, she knows more about the workshop than I do. I’m not impractical, but my focus is on the instruction. Plus, to be perfectly …