-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
In plein air we attempt a form of direct translation. In the studio, we may recall our observations of nature, but are freer to be inventive with color. Night Passage by Mitchell Albala, 2006, oil painting on panel, 20 x 20. It's September and the plein air painting season is drawing to a close ...
-
The winners of our Self-Portrait Cover Competition are featured in the September issue of American Artist, and they share advice about how to paint the figure and how to maintain a successful painting practice. When we asked David Tanner, the winner of the competition, to give his advice, he offered...
Posted to
The Oil Painting Blog
by
Austin R. Williams
on
12 Jul 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: color, oil painting, plein air, still life, landscape painting, portrait painting, how to paint, Figure Drawing, Drawing Basics, Photo Reference, Art, Artist Daily
-
An artiste is something you don't want to be, that is, if you consider yourself an artist. While it sounds akin to archaic words like poetess or authoress, which in years passed denoted a female poet or author, an artiste is a "sort of" artist, a person who is more concerned with looking...
-
Drawing with ink takes the precision of a master draftsman and the skill of a watercolorist handling a fluid medium. When I was in school I was completely captivated by the silky dark lines of one of the most famous pen and ink artists, Aubrey Beardsley, but there are several artists working today whose...
Posted to
Artist Daily
by
Courtney Jordan
on
19 Apr 2012
Filed under:
Filed under: landscape painting, figure drawing, Artist Daily, sketching, watercolor painting, still life, Painting, Drawing Basics, Ink Drawing, Art, ink Drawing Basics, fantasy art
-
Below you'll find artist and blogger Jennifer King's discussion of when a plein air painting can be too real. I don't think she's being harsh at all, but you'll have to decide for yourself. Enjoy! ***** I think it's time for some straight talk. I've participated in many, many...
-
If there were any artist, past or present, into whose studio I could magically transport myself and observe him paint, it would be Claude Monet. I have always been intrigued by his painting style, especially his highly textured and complex surfaces. When I lived in New York, I spent many an hour at the...
-
In a recent painting of mine, you can see the sky and clouds are the lightest value, the towering waves and rocks are the darkest, as they are more vertical to the light of the sky. The flat of the ocean is the second lightest of the values, equating to flat ground. Water (and snow) can be exceptions...
-
Don't give up your plein air focus over the winter months. Try to paint from life indoors and keep sketching. ( Melting Snow by Ben Fenske, 60 x 75, oil on canvas.) For some of us, winter weather is just a bit too unpredictable and chilly to spend much time outdoor painting. But if you're like...
-
Optimal Orientation of Subject and Artist in Plein Air Before the first daub of paint is squeezed out of the tube and brush is put to canvas, many plein air painters have already set themselves up for failure. How? By selecting a site that doesn't translate well into painting. Just because a scene...
-
Demonstration: Exploring Composition Through a Limited Focus A "limited focus" isn't limiting at all, but expands our options in composition The first compositional move any painter makes is to apply a limited focus. Whether it be a still life, an interior, a figure, or a landscape (which...
-
Ernest Lawson (1873 - 1939) came to maturity at the dawn of the 20th century, so his work was modern and gritty and real. His are not the idyllic landscape paintings of Corot , nor are they the dazzling light shows in Monet's plein air paintings . They are tough, and yet there is an elegance and...
-
But I think it's time for some straight talk. I've participated in many, many plein air painting critiques over the years, and I can't begin to tell you how often I've been faced with landscape paintings that are a little off. Perhaps it's an ugly red stop sign that distracts from...