Watch Me Paint: World-Class Art, World-Class Instruction
A good artist, like a good writer, controls how his painting is read. Early November: North Greenland, 1932, oil on canvas, Rockwell Kent, courtesy the Hermitage People are sometimes under the mistaken notion that I’m intellectual. In fact, my taste in books is decidedly low-brow. Luckily, there are as many different books out there as …
Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that matters most. Girl with the Red Hat, c. 1665-66, Johannes Vermeer, courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. I once had a painting teacher who told me that heavy edges were “my style.” Like many younger artists, I just hadn’t learned how to marry edges in my painting. Beginning …
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The motive line in a painting is the most powerful design tool you have at your disposal. Lions painted in the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave, c. 30,000-28,000 BC. This is a replica; the cave is sealed from human visitation. If you had to isolate the fundamental element of art, across all media and forms of expression, it …
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Animals, people, automobiles and other evidence of life add humanity to an otherwise static scene. Erie Canal, by Carol L. Douglas. The figure is my daughter Julia. Figures are best incorporated as part of the design, rather than added as an afterthought. Groups of people are such strong design elements that they can overwhelm a …
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We’re our own worst critics. A little time and you might realize that painting has flashes of brilliance. Adirondack Spring, 11×14 in a cherry frame, will be available through a fundraiser for the Gerhardt Neighborhood Outreach Center on October 17. This is a mission that provides medical care, job training, after school care and more to …
Continue reading “It’s too soon to wipe that painting out!”
My Mabef tripod easel is older than my Prius, which is why I recommend it so often. Two demos require two easels. Still in the value-study phase here. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Johnson. I sometimes demo in watercolor and oils simultaneously, since I always have students in both media. I started as a way to …
If you don’t engage with your subject, you’ll waste time if you paint it. This year we have a service dog with us. He could make anyone happy. (Photo by Jennifer Johnson) I started this year’s workshop with an exercise I haven’t done in years. I took the protocols I published the last two Mondays …
An efficient plan for fast plein air painting in watercolors. Surf at Marshall Point, by Carol L. Douglas Last week I gave you a basic primer for oil painting in the field. This week, I’ve done the same for watercolor. 1. Set up your paint box/palette with pigments arranged in a rainbow pattern. You don’t need …
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An efficient plan for fast outdoor painting in oils. Perkins Point, by Carol L. Douglas. All the paintings in this post were done for Castine Plein Air last week. Often people ask me how we manage to get so many paintings done during an event. We avoid what my friend Brad Marshall called “flailing around.” That means …
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We learn from studying our peers and the painters who’ve gone before us. Victoria Street, oil on linen, 16×20, by Carol L. Douglas Bruce McMillan emailed me last week. “Just in case you feel you’re painting a lot, in 1911, from early August to late September on Monhegan, Robert Henri painted 300 paintings, most of …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: continuing education”