Watch Me Paint: World-Class Art, World-Class Instruction
True to a degree, these rules should be taken with a grain of salt. Cotopaxi, 1862, Frederic Edwin Church, courtesy Detroit Institute of Arts Objects in the distance are cooler, blurrier, and lighter than objects in the foreground That is atmospheric perspective in a nutshell, and in most cases, it’s true. But when an artist …
Studying a contemporary master painter’s method and technique is a great way to learn. Columns, Colin Page, courtesy of the artist Last Thursday I stopped by The Page Gallery in Camden to see Colin Page’s current work. You can visit if you’re careful to mask and observe social distancing. Colin’s work is always worth the …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: Analyzing Colin Page”
I do not want to be a teacher who paints, but a painter who teaches. Student work on Clary Hill. Plein air will always be my first love. My friend occasionally acts like a break on my reckless ambition. I whine, “I’m tired,” and she reminds me that artists need balance or the creative impulse …
If you want to be a good painter, it’s critical that you learn to paint from life rather than from photos. Baby Monkey, oil on canvas, by Carol L. Douglas The liturgical year has two periods called Ordinary Time. In fact, we’re entering summer Ordinary Time today, since Pentecost was yesterday. I have taken to …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: how to create a compelling still life”
Hopefully we won’t need this long, but if we do, we can all learn together. Me on Zoom, captured by Chrissy Pahucki. Mary Byrom started teaching by Zoom a few weeks before me and she kindly helped me set up a protocol that works. Yesterday, Mira Fink asked for tips. I was answering on my …
NOTE: My Tuesday Zoom class is sold out. If you’re interested I’m waitlisting another class for Monday evenings starting May 18. I’ve been looking at this all wrong. This time is a gift, an opportunity to try new things, starting with online classes. Sunset sail, by Carol L. Douglas. Available through Folly …
Color harmony is not just a question of placing or finding objects that look good together; it means using those colors within your painting to build a great composition. Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge, by Carol L. Douglas Nearly all beginning painters focus primarily on matching local color. That’s an important skill, but it is just …
What techniques have you devised to make online learning more effective? Sometimes it rains, by Carol L. Douglas Yesterday, I taught my second class by Zoom. I found a format which I thought would work better than my usual one-on-one teaching model. This was a variation on the paint-and-sip model (minus the wine; it was …
And don’t worry; if my workshops are cancelled for coronavirus, I’m giving a full refund. The lovely American Eagle at rest in Penobscot Bay. We held out as long as possible, but we’ve been forced to cancel my first summer workshop, our June 7 Age of Sail adventure aboard the schooner American Eagle. Students have …
Create clear priorities and a compelling reason for people to engage with your painting. Lobster fleet at Rockport Harbor, by Carol L. Douglas With modern cameras, you can snap a view and think through why you liked it later, cropping and manipulating the photo to enhance the subject. When drawing, you have to set pencil …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: why this subject?”