Watch Me Paint: World-Class Art, World-Class Instruction
This exercise is like learning perspective. You’ll never draw this way in the real world, but practicing it will improve your harborside skills. Cadet, by Carol L. Douglas I tell my students that it’s best to paint a boat from the deck of another boat or a floating dock. If you can’t, then keep your …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: drawing a boat”
The important thing you bring to class is not your prior painting experience, but your attitude. To teach painting effectively, one must not only know how to paint, but be able to break that down into discrete steps and effectively communicate those steps to students. That’s straightforward, right? What isn’t so straightforward is how one …
Continue reading “Do you have the right mindset for learning?”
2025 Workshops Canyon Color for the Painter, Sedona, AZ Color theory is not just a collection of good ideas; it’s the cornerstone of your toolbox. Using practical lessons and exercises, you’ll take what you’ve learned about color and use it to enhance your artistic vision. March 10-14, 2025. Advanced Plein Air Painting, Rockport, ME This …
“I’m not talented” is the most pernicious lie in the world. Science is slowly disproving it. Under a milky sky (Hare Bay, Newfoundland), Carol L. Douglas. It’s exactly what today’s sky looks like. Like Thomas Edison, I firmly believe that “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” I have zero tolerance for the 18th …
Continue reading “You can’t draw a straight line, and other falsehoods”
Fast, effortless drawing is the artist’s most important skill. It’s easy to learn and lots of fun. Michelle reading, by Carol L. Douglas Drawing sometimes seems like the “eat your vegetables” of art lessons. It’s what students need most, but they believe its unpalatable. So we teachers are always hiding it in our painting lessons. …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: how to do a gesture drawing”
Have trouble drawing people? Here’s a way to get a good likeness in a hurry. Robbie, by Carol L. Douglas Most artists don’t have trouble drawing individual features. They run into trouble hooking all those parts up into a plausible whole. Sadly, a person’s likeness starts with the overall structure of their head, not with …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: drawing a face”
The South sure loves its Greek Revival pillars, doors and windows. Here’s a little trick to draw them evenly. My painting of Siloam Baptist Church from last week. The South also observes Blue Laws. That meant I wasn’t able to get a replacement sketchbook at Hobby Lobby yesterday. I drew these on tissue paper; the …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: how to draw windows and doors that fit”
Drawing six similar objects will teach you to observe details. Reliant rigged as a sloop. I once got a commission to paint Lazy Jack II in Camden Harbor. I was pretty happy with the results. As I finished, two deckhands from another boat stopped to look at it. Their eyes met. “You’ve got the…” one …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: draw six different boats”
This exercise is like learning perspective. You’ll never draw this way in the real world, but practicing it will improve your harborside skills. Cadet, by Carol L. Douglas I tell my students that it’s best to paint a boat from the deck of another boat or a floating dock. If you can’t, then keep your …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: how to draw a boat”
Whether you want to make a drawing as detailed as Prud’hon’s or as simplified as Gauguin’s, the process is the same. My precious linen drape. If you’re lucky enough to own a worn mid-century linen tablecloth, don’t get rid of it. It can stand in as a drape under a still life, or as a sheet …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: drawing draperies”