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Another slice of my personal humble pie is the fact that I'm pretty bad at math in general and downright horrible at geometry in particular. You'd never ever find me trying to use these skills when making art--or so I thought. But when I was gleaning tips from watercolor artist Law Wai Hin on...
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You don't have to think terribly hard to figure out that the painting genre that has all of these characteristics in common is floral painting . It is a practice that has inspired artists to create beautiful, graceful paintings for centuries, but it is so much more than that. Classic: So many artists...
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Short of lobotomy, we will always have the equivalent of mental trails that our brains follow when we are painting. Artists develop these based on painting techniques that they've learned along the way, or they can be expressions of inherent ideas that each of us has about how to paint. Motivating...
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Not if artist Claudia Seymour has anything to say about it. This year I had the pleasure of meeting Seymour at the Salmagundi Club in New York City to create two three-hour DVDs with her, including this year's The Art of Painting Flowers in Oil . Spring Things by Claudia Seymour, oil on linen, 2011...
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The botanical gardens in Washington, DC, near the Capitol. When I'm visiting family in Virginia during winter, I always make a point to walk through the botanical gardens near the Capitol in Washington, DC. It is one of my favorite places, and the hothouse flower rooms are just what I need to warm...
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T o Be Where There's Life by Ryan Coleman, oil on canvas, 30 x 40, 2010. The coolest thing I ever learned about painting flowers , specifically how to paint a rose, was when a painting teacher told me that you paint them by not painting them. Back then I gave her the stink eye because, really, how...
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Notice how the composition of this sparse still life is deft--from the angle of the bottle to the serpentine curve of the ivy sprig. (Dried Ivy by Kristin Kunc, 8 x 12, oil on linen, 2008). I'm not a knick-knack girl, but I do really have a connection to the objects around me. I project feelings...
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Rhododendron by James Sulkowski, 2001, oil painting. Notice how the flowers are arranged in a curving S-shape, starting in the back and bring your eye to the foreground. Most artists have a love-hate relationship with floral painting. There's plenty to learn from the genre, but I've found that...
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White Radiance by Scott Royston, 2007, oil on canvas, 14 x 11. When Scott Royston sets his sights on flowers for one of his still life oil painting compositions, he isn’t drawn to tiny buds or small bouquets but expressive flora in full bloom. For him, painting flowers is a gradual process that...
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Painting flowers is sometimes a study in the subtlety of color, as in Ann's flower oil painting, Philadelphus III (oil, 12 x 16). Painting large flower portraits has given me the opportunity to explore what seem to be the nearly infinite shades and tints of the color white. Just visiting the paint...
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I recently assisted my granddaughter, Amanda, as she painted with water-soluble tempera colors in our backyard. Like most four-year-olds, she loves to draw and paint, and although her drawings have become increasingly controlled pictures of herself, her parents, five pets, and her home, the paintings...
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On the Cover: John Phillip Osborne painting at the Ridgewood Art Institute in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Photo: Murray Smith. Featured Teachers: Joni Falk William Hook Ted Seth Jacobs John Morra John Phillip Osborne Nelson Shanks Matt Smith James Sulkowski Carol Swinney Sam Vokey Dawn Whitelaw FEATURES Six...
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A simple floral arrangement can be the perfect subject for beginner still lifes. by Janet Walsh With many years of experience as a watercolor instructor and artist, I have developed a simplified approach to painting flowers in watercolor. In this article I have divided the approach into two segments...
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New Jersey artist Sissi Siska reinvents traditional silk-painting techniques to create multimedia works of art. by Stephanie Kaplan Orchids on Blue Ferns 2005, dyes, gutta, and wax on crepe de chine silk, 6’ x 3’. Collection the artist. Detail of Orchids on Blue Ferns. New Jersey artist Sissi...