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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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Dutch still life painting set the standard for out-of-this-world virtuosity in the 17th century, and I'll never get over the unusual mix of objects artists chose to depict: food of all kinds, polished silverware and gleaming glass, embroidered and heavily worked tablecloths, and tons and tons of...
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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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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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Robert Johnson's floral still life demonstration began with a studied, thoughtfully arranged composition (left) that culminated in the oil painting on the right. Robert Johnson strikes the perfect balance between master artist and down-to-earth mentor, supporting his students while pushing them to...
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Oil painter Debra Teare mixes the best of conventional trompe l’oeil techniques with her own modern sensibilities to make her illusionistic pieces. by James A. Metcalfe Everything Nice 2007, oil, 13 x 10. Collection Christine E. Lynn. For more than 3,000 years, art lovers have marveled and celebrated...
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For New York City artist Ellen Buselli, painting is centered on translating what she sees to canvas, which is why she finds observing and understanding the nature of color and light so important. by Linda S. Price Classical Light 2007, oil on linen, 20 x 21. Private collection. The corners of the background...