Happy Independence Day!
In just four years, we’ll be celebrating the 250th anniversary of our grand social contract. Here’s a challenge to you to paint what challenges us. Breaking Storm, 48X30, oil on linen. Available. Apparently, every time I paint the flag it involves a boat. In just four years we’ll be celebrating the 250th anniversary of our grand social contract, …
An unknown woman who changed art history
Behind every successful man is a woman, they say. She’s not always his wife. Portrait of Johanna Bonger, 1905, Johan Cohen Gosschalk Johanna Gezina Bonger is an unknown name to most of us. She was described by those who knew her as ‘cheerful and lively’ and ‘smart and tender’, and her remaining portraits depict a woman …
What’s a poor artist to do?
Perhaps my dream is telling me I ought to paint about something more serious than the beauty of nature. The Third of May, 1808, 1814, Francisco Goya, courtesy the Prado. I am seldom engaged by the news, but the death of 51 smuggled illegal migrants in a tractor-trailer in Texas has shattered my calm. It’s not just the …
Monday Morning Art School: the four steps of landscape painting
Being technically accurate frees up your subconscious mind to analyze and interpret what you see. Main Street, Owls Head, 16X20, oil on gessoboard, $1623 unframed. Observation I once took an artist on a long loop to see all my favorite painting sites here in midcoast Maine. “But there’s nothing to paint,” she wailed. She was suffering …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: the four steps of landscape painting”
Monday Morning Art School: fat over lean, what does it mean?
Mastering fat-over-lean will remove the need for varnishing and ensure a long life for your paintings. Ottawa House, oil on canvas, available, is going in my gallery this summer. There are three fundamental truths of oil painting, which are: Big shapes to small shapes Darks to lights Fat over lean The first one is more about …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: fat over lean, what does it mean?”