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I'm always surprised—and, okay, a little peeved—when my mention of an arts background is often met with a puzzled look followed by the somewhat skeptical question, "What do you do with that?" The truth is there's a lot to do with that, especially now—at a time when...
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I own up to the fact that I am drawn to the portraits artist Jenny Morgan creates because they are unconventional. Yet they capture qualities of the human face and our other human qualities in ways that read very true and lifelike. I like them because they are different, but not just because they are...
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I'm not qualified to tell anyone what they should or should not do, but if I was to give us--and by "us" I mean those artistically inclined individuals who love painting, drawing, and mixed media art --a universal homework assignment, it would be to sketch every day. Every. Single. Day...
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Uh, I think I may have stumbled into an artist's dream! The Artist's Network Annual Holiday Sweepstakes is going on right now, offering awesome art prizes from the best painting and drawing product makers and service providers around. Rosemary & Co. brushes? Yes! Strathmore surfaces? Yes...
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When it comes to certain creative sensibilities--awareness of color, editing a concept--I trust my judgment. I think I have pretty good instincts--maybe not in the execution of said sensibilities in an oil painting I paint myself, but I know good color combos and narratives when I see them in the oil...
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Plenty--especially if you are trying to figure out how to draw a person in that chair. Drawing people standing up is waaaaaay more straightforward than puzzling out how to proportion and position a figure sitting down. But to draw people this way opens up a lot of compositional possibilities for an artist...
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Have you ever looked at an abstract art piece or oil painting genre scene or pastel seascape and wonder, how'd they do that?! Chances are the answer lies somewhere in mixed media. Art that tends to defy our eyes does so for a reason--it isn't conforming to a set of rules based on its materiality...
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I feel so inundated with ideas from every single photo reference around me right now. Sometimes I am super inspired by them, but sometimes they make me want to put my paintbrush down because I get so overwhelmed by all the ways I can start painting from photographs that grab my attention! Today is one...
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As an artist, I often feel that I am more sensitive than others, or perhaps I am more in touch because I need to be so that my work will flow genuinely from my heart and allow me to respond from a deeper place. That is one of the reasons that I faced my fear and started painting in front of large crowds...
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It's funny when you think about it but the art world is built on copying. However, unlike plagiarism in journalism or literature, copying master drawings is something many artists have incorporate into their studies for centuries because it is an excellent way to study and evaluate incredible artwork...
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"It may seem controversial, but I really think artists are born, not made," says Meagan Shein. Definitely bold words, especially coming from someone who has advanced degrees in fine art and art history. "It doesn't mean that the innate skill is there," the artist quickly adds...
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Structural drawing by Dan Thompson, mixed media, 15 x 25, 2010. Self-Portrait After Palmer by Dan Thompson, mixed media, 19 x 25, 2003. I've taken notes from a lot of art instructors and sat in or participated in plenty of drawing classes, but when I heard Dan Thompson talk about the "great...
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Elton , 11 x 14, mixed media on gesso board, 2011. Yesterday was an interesting day for me. I thought I was near finished with a painting I had been working on for over three months, but when I sent it over to my agent in New York, who I call my third set of eyes, (hubby Matthew is my second) he called...
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Artists working today that I admire most all usually have one thing in common—they have developed their own unique contemporary practice while still utilizing classical methods. I've come to realize that I have a bias for artwork that has a well-thought-out narrative, but I'm also drawn...
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Precious by Russell Irwin, paper mosaic. Okay, that might have been a little too Gollum from Lord of the Rings , but Russell Irwin's latest mixed media collage titled Precious is certainly mesmerizing because of the unusual creative process that goes into making it as well as its dazzling final form...