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When I'm hiking or walking on the beach, my attention span is really short. I flit from activity to activity, sight to sight, just trying to take it all in. That's why pastel painting is a perfect fit for me when I want to create art outdoors. I can work quickly and see results equally fast,...
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We read an interesting article recently in The New York Times titled, " Why We Love Beautiful Things " in which the architect and author, Lance Hosey, wrote about some of the latest research findings and his opinions on the subject. Peony Bouquet by Ann Trusty, oil painting. The focus of his...
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Looks Like Heaven by John Budicin, 2002, oil painting, 32 x 40. Almost any artist will tell you that there's a certain appeal to working outdoors that can't be found anywhere else. With spring in full swing, many of us have left our studios for our porches, backyards, and beyond. To celebrate...
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It’s only May, and already I’m fantasizing about summer road trips and exotic jaunts. But then I remember that almost every time I go on vacation my glow wears off once the artists show up. Inevitably, I see a traveler who is painting landscapes or sketching, creating significant and personal...
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With so much interest in plein air painting these days, it's easy to overlook how important drawing skills can be to the landscape painting artist. Fundamentally, drawing is both a way of seeing and a way of knowing a subject. If you can draw it, then you own it. It is in your visual library and...
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Why go to the trouble of painting from life when our cameras can take such great pictures? Digital cameras have gotten so good at taking properly exposed, beautiful photos that they can fool us into thinking that they are also accurate. To be sure, the technology packed into even an inexpensive camera...
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I was in Florida a few weeks ago and felt so lucky to be in such a warm, sunny place that I don't think I spent a minute indoors. I was kayaking, mountain biking, walking on the beach, and swimming in the ocean. And again and again I would look around and think, "That's a landscape painting...
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Ever wondered where Da Vinci found the time to create all his masterpieces? Alongside his fine art painting he managed to dabble as a scientist, geologist, architect, mathematician, engineer, and anatomist with a bit of aeronautical design thrown in for good measure! So how can we adopt a little bit...
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Around this time of year we are inundated with wintry scenes and beautiful snowy landscapes--on greeting cards, products, advertisements, calendars and more. But these winter landscapes aren't necessarily all created equal, and the same goes for the fine art paintings of the same subject. One of...
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"Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky." - Khalil Gibran Perhaps the biggest challenge for those of us who paint from life is to see and understand what is right before our eyes. This may sound simple, but it is anything but, and it takes unrelenting practice to get good at it...
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Hopefully Blake will forgive me for that little rewrite, but when I see a painting that has complicated light effects or diffuse light that seems almost prismatic I can't help but think of that adulterated line of poetry. New York City, Winter 2006, The Storm by Nina Maguire, 2006-2011, acrylic on...
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Those of us in the fine art industry know that artists and art galleries have had a long-standing love/hate relationship. Artists love the fact that galleries market and sell works of art, but they hate the fact that the better galleries keep 40% or 50% of every sale. Then along came the Internet, and...
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I roll my eyes every time I hear about representational art and realism being "imperiled," because there are so many important representational artists painting right now. It's almost offensive how people think legitimacy comes with the passage of time. History can be a great equalizer...
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Here it is: If you aren't going to really push it when you make a landscape painting , it is going to be completely forgettable. Having looked at thousands of landscape paintings, and made a few myself, I'll be honest and tell you that only the best of the best landscape art really sticks out...
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Of course there are more than three painting techniques that will allow you to create a compelling artwork, but learning how to paint a picture well can certainly start with these elements. Rhythm. Painting objects that actually look alive, in the case of the figure, or lively, as in a landscape, is...