Chromophobia
Until you start playing and experimenting, you won’t really own your own color pathway. Autumn farm, Evening Blues, 12X16, oil on archival canvasboard, available. Bobbi Heath once posited to me that painters learn to manage color in three phases: They make everything grey; They vastly overshoot the chroma; They finally learn a pleasing color sensibility. “Is …
Monday Morning Art School: the power of light
In a world obsessed with rawness, you could do worse than studying the Luminists. Lumber Schooners at Evening on Penobscot Bay, 1863, Fitz Henry Lane, courtesy National Gallery of Art. The setting for this painting is, quite literally, out my back door. Luminism is a distinctly American painting movement of the middle of the 19th century. It was chiefly …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: the power of light”
The power of the Great White North
In the solitary splendor of Canada, these painters found energy, possibility, and a national identity. Byng Inlet, Georgian Bay, 1914–1915, Tom Thomson, courtesy McMichael Collection Here in Maine, we import our weather from Canada. In fact, we share a lot with our Canadian neighbors, including black spruces, granite, and the spodosol soils that are good for …
Selling paintings
What’s the next social media marketing trend? Main Street, Owls Head, available. Last month I spent a few hours with Kicki Storm, who excitedly told me about the potential she saw in Instagram reels. I was buried in bubble-wrap at the time and more focused on getting a mountain of paintings into a U-Haul trailer. …
Monday Morning Art School: losing your edge
There are many ways to soften an edge; the important thing is recognizing where you should do it. Niagara, 1857, Frederic Edwin Church, courtesy Corcoran Gallery Almost every good painting is a combination of hard and soft edges. Edges may be lost through brushwork or they can be muted using contrast or color. A variety …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: losing your edge”