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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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Looking at Mark Messersmith's artwork is like being sucked into a kaleidoscope. The colors are bold, varied, and everywhere. It seems odd to say this. I mean, of course, there is color everywhere--it's a painting. But what stands out about Messersmith's work is that the colors, more than...
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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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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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Intimate Gathering by Russell Irwin, 2002, acrylic and torn paper on board, 48 x 60. When I was flipping through the American Artist magazine archives for mixed media art inspiration, I was prepared to do some pretty extensive digging. I assumed that most artists tend to silo themselves in their media...
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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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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...
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This is one of the artist's more traditional pieces in terms of his painting process. ( Raspberry House by Jamie Wyeth, 1988, watercolor, 22 1/2 x 28 1/2.) Watercolor is one of those wondrous materials that can be manipulated in so many different ways. Techniques vary, levels of liquidity and viscosity...
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Anselm Kiefer is not a landscape painter by any stretch of the imagination, and yet his incredibly powerful work is based in and of the land. Observing his mixed media paintings and sculpture has taught me a lot about what a truly impactful landscape painting can be-and one thing that I realize it doesn't...
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But that is exactly what makes them so powerful. I've never been more moved by seeing a work in person than I am when I see Kiefer's. They floor me. As I said in my other post on Kiefer , it certainly has to do, in part, with the fact that his work isn't picture perfect. And it also has to...
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Five of Us , 1996, mixed media painting with gouache, charcoal, pastel, and collage, 23 x 40. Collection The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. All works by Alex Powers. When I was a kid, my mom always cut coupons on Sunday morning. I’d sit beside her...
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How about painting an abstracted landscape en plein air, like this mixed media piece called Walk in the Woods II by Skip Lawrence? Do you ever feel like you’re just painting the same old, same old when you are painting outdoors? Couple of trees, maybe some water—it’s actually fairly...
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Colored Innocence by Asghar Gonchehpour. One of the things I love best as the editor for Artist Daily is getting to know the artists in our community. A few weeks ago, I saw a mixed media portrait in the Member Gallery that caught my attention. The painting--a girl with wild, colorful hair and a tranquil...
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Ben by Melissa Carroll, 2010, 48 x 60. When we start making art, we don't start from a position of, "I want to paint like so-and-so," or even "I want to paint well." We should start from a position of, "I have a need to make art." This is an important principle; it gives...