Watch Me Paint: World-Class Art, World-Class Instruction
Feeling out of place, like a failure? Perhaps the problem isn’t you, but your tribe. Five Chairs, by Pamela Hetherly, courtesy of Kelpie Gallery. This painting stopped me yesterday. The color is beautifully integrated, something that’s lost in the photo. I spent a few hours yesterday at the Kelpie Gallery in S. Thomaston. I’d meant …
Other people say it’s good, but you think it’s awful. What do you do with it? Spruces and pines on the Brook Trail, by Carol L. Douglas. This is more or less where my mark-making is today. Last week I listened to a fellow artist grumble about her painting. I really couldn’t see anything wrong …
On vacation? Here are some tips for taking reference photos you can work from later. Winter Lambing, 48X36, oil on linen, Carol L. Douglas. My workshop aboard American Eagle included a professional filmmaker who once studied with Ansel Adams. She was taking pictures with her iPhone, a tool Adams could never have dreamed of. She …
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This weekend’s workshop was all oil painters. This gave me the opportunity to review some fundamentals. Nicole Reddington’s painting ruthlessly subjugated detail for design, and was tremendously powerful for that. I wish I had more student work to show you, but I can’t find my camera! Use enough paint Using too little paint is a …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: the basic rules of oil painting”
A reader asks for advice teaching his first workshop. Janith Mason at a Sea & Sky workshop. One of my all-time favorite photos of a student. It looks like the rain predicted for Monday has moved up to Sunday, but I’m prepared; I rented a shelter for this workshopmonths ago. It can be a fly …
I tone my canvases bright red because it works for me, but you can choose any warm color. The important thing is that you always do it. I use a clapped-out oil-painting brush, but a 2″ wall brush works just fine and is cheaper. Imprimatura is the initial stain of pigment painted on a gesso ground. In …
Envy, covetousness, and false expectations are all ways to guarantee a rotten time as an artist. Dyce Head in the early morning light, Carol L. Douglas I haven’t been able to paint for weeks. It seems as if my peers have made fantastic strides in that time. I look at their work on Instagram and …
A fast, simple way to do a quick, finished field study. Megunticook River, Camden, by Carol L. Douglas A few weeks ago I mentioned that I use Inktense pencils to mark out my paintings on canvas. This is a technique borrowed from my pal Kristin Zimmermann. Value study in charcoal. My first step is always …
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Criticism is tough to take. Sometimes, that’s because the criticism itself is lousy. The Raising of Lazarus, by Carol L. Douglas. Really, was it so bad? I don’t remember the exact words of my first printed review, but they are burned in my memory as, “I can’t believe the curator included this dreck,” and “absolutely …
Teenagers and artists choose interesting paths. Teressa studying painting in Rochester, many moons ago. Yesterday, I got two registrations in the mail for my Rochester workshop. Kamillah started painting with me when she was a junior in high school, working at a local diner so she could afford art lessons. Now she’s a graduate architect, …
Continue reading “How I plan to spend my summer (if it ever gets here)”