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I have always loved myths and legends. It comes from appreciating a good story and all the things that go into the very best storytelling. The mixed media artwork of Julie Buffalohead shares stories of all types, blending personal narratives and metaphors, as well as cultural ones. But the artist complicates...
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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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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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I don't know if I've ever said these words "out loud" to you, but they deserve to be said, repeatedly and loudly. So here I am, virtually hollering at you across cyberspace: Experiment with abstract art! I know we have talked about how thinking abstractly is a key to any successful...
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Working with artists is a lot of fun. Really, I would put nothing before it in terms of what I want to do with my life's work. But sometimes it can be a little like herding kittens, and it can get really frustrating if the artists aren't organized. (But really, that never happens...never.) Mom...
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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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I've been told by more than one person that I try to see both sides of any issue. And my personal life aside, I can attest that I also do the same for art--I like to see it from all sides, materially speaking. That makes me a perfect match for mixed media art because you can combine so many different...
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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 I first saw the mixed media art of Lee Bontecou, my world went off-kilter. I had never seen anything like her darkly wondrous abstract art forms before. They are simultaneously lovely and threatening, calling to mind contradictory objects—artillery and transcendent portals, war machines and...
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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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Sometimes the hardest thing to do is that thing we have to do. Resistance...I call it the "R" word. It gets me in trouble more often than not. And, crazy as it may seem, it is usually my own resistance I find myself fighting against. I want to be one of those people, one of those artists who...
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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...