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How to Paint

When an artist contemplates how to paint they are truly faced with a multitude of options. One can vary the precision of paint application from more impressionistic painting techniques with loose brushstrokes to painting art hyper-realistically as is done in photorealist works. Choosing among painting supplies also means a bevy of choice—oil paints, watercolors, acrylics, casein, egg tempera, pastels, oil pastels, and more. But most importantly, the study of painting is more than picking up a paint brush and deciding to paint a picture. An artist has to think on how to paint a picture. Whether exploring paint texture, levels of representation, color or composition, a painting artist is one that never stops searching—because there is so much to be discovered.

For more, check out our latest resource page on how to paint: Learn How to Paint in Three Easy Steps.

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    Human figure painting, particularly painting skin, is the height of artistic prowess for me. I'll know I've made significant strides as a painter when I can recreate the opalescent glowing surface of skin. But I have a strong handicap to overcome
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  • Free Kittens
    It's no wonder artists are starving. People want their art for free. This morning I received yet another plea from a charitable agency, offering us the opportunity to support their ongoing mission by promoting Steve Henderson's oil paintings.
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  • How to Get the Most Out of a Painting Workshop
    I don't get to attend as many oil painting art workshops as I would like, so when the opportunity to participate in one does present itself, I really want to get the most out of my time there. Here are a few of my own "warm-up to workshop"
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  • Sharpen Your Color Sense
    Because the eye and the brain are constantly adjusting to the changing hues and values of sunlight and shadows when painting outdoors , it can be difficult to see those changes as they happen to our subject. If one is unaware that the original light has
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  • Plein Air Nocturnes: More Alive Than the Day
    "I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day." --Vincent Van Gogh Moonrise Road by John Hulsey, plein air painting. Plein air painting at night in bright moonlight is great fun and a wonderful learning experience
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  • Gallery Submission Process--What Following It Exactly Means
    My kids accuse me of saying obvious things, along the lines of, "The car won't get you there if you don't put gas in it," or "Your clothes won't be ready to wear tomorrow if you keep them in the washing machine." But I
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  • Paint Faceoff: Tube Takes On Jar
    For those who are painting with acrylics , this can be a big issue if only because you are constantly dealing with the consequences or benefits of your decision to work with jar color or paint from tubes. What I have gathered from my acrylic painting
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  • It’s Never a Matter of Black or White
    I was in the studio of my oil painting artist friend the other day and she had a really sizeable bucket filled with oil paint tubes sitting beside her palette. Some of the tubes were so squeezed out and folded up that I wondered if there was anything
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  • 3 Tips So You Don't Wipe Out on Smooth Washes
    I am rolling my eyes with embarrassment when I tell you that when I first saw watercolor paintings with wide expanses of color I assumed that these were applied and then wiped out and smoothed over after they were laid down. I had no idea that there were
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  • Art on the Square
    I was reminded that art grows in the most unlikely places and conditions when I recently heard about the art scene that is showing distinct signs of life in Fayette County, Georgia. Wildlife watercolorist Dylan Scott Pierce teaches students about layering
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  • Plein Air Essence
    We enjoyed the recent plein air blog of artist Marion Boddy-Evans and agree with her sentiments. We have been outdoor painting for over forty years each (before the "plein air" phrase became ubiquitous) and have always felt that the value in
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  • What a Website Is, and What It Isn't
    First and foremost, a website is an online portfolio of you, your background, and your fine art painting or other artwork. Years ago, artists spent copious time and bundles of money making slides of their work and 8 x 10 prints that they tucked into a
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  • The Kitsch Alternative
    The influential art critic Clement Greenberg (1909-1994) often cited the derisive term kitsch to critique artwork that, in his mind, failed to live up to the tenets of the modernist movement. His theories privileged formalist nonobjective abstraction
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  • 4 Tips to Get a Gallery to Call You Back
    I don't believe that gallery representation defines an artist or even makes one a professional, but if you are interested in pursuing that kind of relationship with a gallery there are a few tips to keep in mind. Make a solid connection. All the artists
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  • Drawing and Painting Together
    This is another complicated charcoal drawing, one done by an artist completing her first level of study at Studio Incamminati. I have shown it in three stages, ranging from the beginning of the drawing process to the end. The light is from the front right
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  • A Simple But Crucial First Step to Marketing Your Art
    Get a website. If you're not a tech genius, you can still do this because there are numerous options. Some are free; some are not. Realistically speaking, the free ones severely limit what you can do and you'll find yourself outgrowing them in
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  • 3 Bad Art Habits to Break Right Now
    I don't mean to be an alarmist, but there are certain habits that artists develop when oil painting that can be detrimental to the larger arc of their professional progress. None of us intend to pick up bad practices but routine and absentmindedness
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  • 3 Tips on Finding a Place to Make Your Art
    There are people who can sleep anywhere--in a car, on a couch, even standing up. I'm not one of those people. And it is the same for when I find the time to make art--I can't just plop down and do it anywhere. It doesn't feel right, and I
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  • Simple, Solid Shapes of Color
    Greetings everyone, Hello from Incamminati in the fine city of Philadelphia! A few days ago marked the fourth day of the Intensive Workshop being led by oil painter Lea Colie Wight , one of the senior Incamminati instructors, and a rising star in the
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  • Making Money with Your Art
    It's not an unreal aspiration to make money by selling your oil painting artwork or watercolors, but it will take a significant amount of work in two areas: 1) Your art. While it is possible to make money off of art that isn't particularly good
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  • May I Introduce Jeffrey Watts?
    Jeffrey Watts: Weekend with the Masters art instructor Jeffrey R. Watts is a southern California native. Growing up in rural San Diego county with an artist father, Watts demonstrated an early aptitude for the visual arts. After an injury cut short his
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  • May I Introduce Jennifer McChristian?
    Jennifer McChristian: Weekend with the Masters art instructor Jennifer McChristian was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. In 1986 she and her family took permanent residence in Los Angeles. In 1990 she earned a B.F.A with honors from Otis Parsons Art
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  • May I Introduce Michael Klein?
    Michael Klein: Weekend with the Masters art instructor Karina's Rose by Michael Klein, oil painting. Michael Klein is a young artist in the NovoRealist movement (new realism), creating melancholic oil painting art that has a distinct and haunting
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  • May I Introduce Ken Backhaus?
    Ken Backhaus: Weekend with the Masters art instructor Kenn Backhaus was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and spent much of his childhood on the family farm near Burnett, Wisconsin. His fondness for nature became the catalyst for his art. Backhaus' parents
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  • May I Introduce Ken Auster?
    Ken Auster: Weekend with the Masters Instructor Clearing Skies by Ken Auster, oil painting. Ken Auster grew up with his feet deeply implanted in the sands of Southern California beaches. Caught up in the surfing culture of the 1960s, Auster ate, slept
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  • Wimping Out of Plein Air Painting
    Whenever I end up in a conversation where other artists start talking about the kit they take with them when plein air painting --and it often starts with what plein air easel is the best--I tend to keep quiet. Very quiet. A page from my sketchbook when
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  • Michael Rosenfeld Gallery Moves to Chelsea
    The influx of artistic institutions moving into the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City continues with the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery prepared to make the leap. After showcasing groundbreaking oil painting work and other art pieces for the past 23 years
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  • Another Question That Never Goes Away
    "Am I a Real Artist?" This question is slightly different from last week's question , in which nuclear physicists and non-nuclear physicists ask if they are artists--the addition of the word "real" adds new dimension, along the
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  • The Long, Hot Summer
    The light of summer is a powerful and extreme thing. Getting effects of extreme darks and stark, searing lights is not something every painter can do. There's an acuteness of vision that must come into play to see the color that resides in the light
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  • Words of a Winner
    The winners of our Self-Portrait Cover Competition are featured in the September issue of American Artist, and they share advice about how to paint the figure and how to maintain a successful painting practice. When we asked David Tanner, the winner of
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  • Workshop: Professional Practices
    In this extra-length special issue, American Artist takes you through the business of being an artist, including advice for securing commissions and information on how you can use the internet to reach your professional goals. We also visit master workshops from artists such as Bo Bartlett and Donald
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  • It's a Sensitive Subject
    Topics and ideas that tend to strike a chord and spark debate are often that way because they are so subjective. In art, color is definitely one of those sensitive subjects because no two people see a color in exactly the same way, nor do painters always
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  • Dawn, Day, Dusk, Darkness
    Plein air artists are the first to tell you that you can go back to the same site over and over again during different times of day and it is like being in a whole other place. Light does that! It can turn a bright and sunny scene into a murky and mysterious
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  • From the Window to the Wall
    I've always wondered how an artist decides how to paint the background of an artwork. Did Sargent--who painted everything, even air, with volume and texture--employ certain painting techniques for this section of his works? Are there actual painting
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  • Finding Your Way Back
    I've always been fascinated by artists who live during incredibly polarizing times, but somehow still seem to go their own way. Elmer Bischoff--ever heard of this oil painting artist? He stands out as an artist in the aftermath of World War II when
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  • Are You a Real Artist?
    I chatted with a watercolor painting workshop student the other day who sighed, "I'm not a real artist. I probably never will be." "Why?" I asked. "First, because I'm still taking painting workshops and learning. Second
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  • AAA: Abstraction is an Asset to Your Art
    Abstraction is a key part of how you paint or draw anything. It is seeing completely with the eye, and not allowing the brain to contextualize what we are seeing. But turning off the brain is no small task! I've found that painting with acrylics has
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  • Ahoy Matey! Your Free eBook on Painting Water Has Arrived!
    Being outdoors revitalizes us in a number of ways. You can relax and laze away the day in the shade, climb the tallest peak in sight, or be awe-inspired by the waterways around you. Of late, I am definitely in the latter camp. A good friend of mine has
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  • What Is Grisaille and Why Do We Care?
    When I discovered grisaille oil painting I thought I'd gone to heaven. Learning how to oil paint is a lot of fun, but it is also just a lot . There is so much to deal with--getting your forms right, steering toward an interesting composition, brushwork
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  • The Self Taught Artist – Who Isn’t?
    Some artists make a big deal out of being self taught, but truth of the matter is, all artists are self taught. The difference between the two is encapsulated in two questions: Are you learning oil painting for example only from yourself, just from what
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  • Struggle, Overpaint, Layer, Sand, Soul-Search
    When you can do something well, it can be difficult to set it aside or modify that skill for the good of your art. John Evans is an American artist who admits to battling the tendency to overwork his oil paintings, sliding between depiction and evocation
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  • Get Really Close--No One's Going to Call Security
    What was that beautiful work I saw at the Met? Which room was Sargent's portrait painting , Madame X , in? I loved that Renoir but didn't have time to go back and spend a little more time with that work and that work alone. How do I answer these
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  • Plein Air Watercolor Survival Guide
    When plein air painting , one of the most enjoyable and facile medias I've found to work with has to be watercolors. Hands down. The supplies are minimal, you can paint quickly and move from place to place making sketches of what catches your interest
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  • Framing Paintings
    In any painting, the biggest expenditure for the artist is the frame that goes around the finished piece. If it's a watercolor painting, there's the matting, the glazing, and the frame holding it all together; for the oil on canvas or acrylic
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  • Heart Melting…So Cute!
    I'm not blessed at this point in my life to have children, but if I did you can bet I'd be one of those mothers who want portrait paintings of her children at every stage of their lives. Even better, I could learn how to paint children like artist
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  • Forget the Finishing Touches
    I love Masterpiece Theater on PBS. Recently the movie Birdsong aired--a love story about a soldier on the battlefield of World War I and the lover he left behind. Claude Renoir Writing by Pierre Auguste Renoir, lithograph, 1902/3. There was a scene from
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  • Finding Your Space
    If you do not have an official, proper, "real" painting studio, don't feel bad. Your studio can be in a corner of your dining room. Many people's are. Or it can be a section of the garage where you make your oil painting art ; a spare
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  • Checking Your Proportions, Drawing Three-Dimensionally, and Winning Competitions
    It Kinda Draws the Eye In by Matt Tucker, 2011, graphite and white charcoal, 7½ x 14. The spring issue of Drawing is now available, and it's full of resources for artists, especially if you are into figure drawing or figure painting. Here's
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  • 4 Paintings That Rock & Why
    And what do they all have in common? They are all done with acrylic painting techniques . Peter Drake's Mother W/Out is an unusual but fairly uncomplicated composition that makes the viewer question if the figure is real or a figment. The way the
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  • Wax On, Wax Off!
    I now have my own range of watercolor painting brushes and while going through the process of choosing their design, fond memories came flooding back to me from my time living and studying art in China. There I was fortunate enough to meet a wonderful
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  • More Here Than Color Theory
    I acknowledge that there is a lot about the color wheel and mixing colors that I don't know. But one thing I do know is that there's more to art than color schemes and memorizing a color mixing chart. Andrew by Fred Hatt, drawing with aquarelle
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  • Push Away the Voice of Your Inner Critic
    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
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  • Classic, Commercial, and an Art World Constant
    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
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  • The Right Stuff
    I work with knitters, and a student recently told me, "I don't like the way my stuff turns out." When I asked her what kind of yarn she used, she replied, "Oh, I just picked up something cheap. I didn't want to spend money on something
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  • That Time of Year
    Recently we added an informative article to the members' area of The Artist's Road called "Understanding Light in the Landscape: The Carlson Theory of Angles." It gives the student a crucial tool to make sense of the confusing array
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  • What Do Painters Really Do?
    Do you know how frustrating it is to love something, but not necessarily know everything about it? That's sometimes the way I feel about color. I have such a visual lust for color--learning new colors, discovering new paint mixes, figuring out how
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  • Grandpa Is Wearing His Batman Costume Again
    Earlier this week I was lucky enough to attend the opening of Jason Bard Yarmosky's solo show "Elder Kinder" at Lyons Wier Gallery, in New York City. It's a terrific painting exhibition, and it got me thinking about how an artist can
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  • American Artist Magazine, July/August 2012
    In this issue of American Artist, we look at both the plein air and figurative work of the California art scene. Articles feature the upcoming “On Location in Malibu” exhibition, the philosophies and artwork of NovoRealism, Weekend With the Masters instructor Jennifer McChristian, and the
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  • It's Not What You Know--It's Who You Know
    I've come to realize that that old saying "It's not always what you know, but who you know," is spot on. Even at American Artist magazine . Luckily, "we" know a lot of people, and as a result we have remarkable access to some
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  • Getting Trashed
    I've heard of painting for yourself, for school, for work, but painting for the trash can?! Artist and watercolor painting instructor Jean Haines explains why working this way isn't rubbish at all. Enjoy! The aim of being an artist is to create
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  • Here's One From the Heart
    In their day, the Hudson River School landscape artists were so popular with the public that people would line up and pay a fair amount of money just to view a single painting. Our plein air blogger Jennifer King shares her insights on why the works of
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  • 4 Ways to Paint Without Preconceptions
    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
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  • Value Division in Landscape Painting
    Landscape values are easier to understand when viewed as falling into four major divisions or zones. Reading values in landscapes is somewhat different from reading values in other subjects. All subjects have a light source, but the source in a landscape
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  • Silver Bullets and Miracle Pills
    Different people attend painting workshops with varying expectations, but the ones who get the most out of the experience are those who recognize that workshops are not: A workshop gives you the opportunity to start at one point in your artistic journey
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  • Lucian Freud Had Great Skin
    I started off seeing skin tones in a closed off way, not really pushing to find the dimension and depth right in front of me. I almost felt I was still pulling a Crayon out of the box to color a figure's form from head to toe like I did in childhood
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  • Painting Into the Light
    One of the major challenges of painting outdoors is the need to gather enough visual information about our subject in a brief moment of perfect light. In rushing to capture the light in nature, it is easy to lose those subtle details and tonal changes
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  • How Do You Pick the Right Workshop?
    Whether or not you like to be around a lot of people is one thought to consider when you choose the right workshop for you. Descent into Bryce by Steve Henderson, 18 x 18, oil painting, also available as a limited edition signed print . Let's assume
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  • The Lost Art
    Losing a painting somewhere is never fun, but losing a good painting can drive one to temporary distraction. While teaching our plein air painting workshop in Rocky Mountain National Park last September, I was demonstrating the direct-painting method
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  • Your New Free eBook: Step by Step Painting Techniques
    Painting is a deep and vast ocean. It is a world full of possibilities. And while I am deeply drawn to that wide-open aspect of it, I'm also super intimidated by it too! I feel like there is no limit to what I can learn, and while I'm thirsty
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  • Is It Ever Too Late to Start Painting?
    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 .
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  • Think I Can Get Batman to Sit For a Portrait?
    Portrait painting is serious business. Truly, there is a lot at stake for the many professional portrait artists out there who paint dignitaries, presidents, and the like. But portraiture can also be incredibly fun! A show I recently saw at Elisa Contemporary
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  • Pick Up a Few Pointers from This Dutch Master
    A willingness to experiment with perspective and style is often the determining factor between a competent artist and a master. A new exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art , "Van Gogh Up Close," takes a compelling look at the choices
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  • The Complete Painter's Handbook
    In our new special issue, American Artist guides you through the most important aspects of the painting process, from selecting your materials to preparing a canvas to advanced techniques for accurately depicting landscapes and figures.
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  • Same Subject, Different Visions
    On Location with Michael Stasinos and Mitchell Albala It never ceases to amaze me how unique each painter's vision can be—in everything from the subjects they choose to the color choices they make or the type of painterly handwriting they use
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  • Is It Better to Learn From One Artist or From Many?
    While I was working recently on American Artist's new special issue, The Complete Painter's Handbook ( order now! ), I had a little debate with myself. The question at hand: If you are working to learn how to paint, is it better to focus on following
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  • Taking Off the Straightjacket
    I am not a finicky person, so getting my hands dirty to get a job done is totally fine with me. But with painting, I can get so uptight and hesitant that the physical joy of it all goes right out the window. I'm trying to be better about what I'm
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  • If This Sounds Harsh, Forgive Me...
    Below you'll find artist and blogger Jennifer King's discussion of when a plein air painting can be too real. I don't think she's being harsh at all, but you'll have to decide for yourself. Enjoy! ***** I think it's time for some
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  • Man's Best Friend Is Art's Best Friend Too?
    We have always felt that as plein air painters we are observers of the landscape—recording moments and places that can rapidly transform with fleeting changes of light. In a pure landscape, figures and animals are rendered small and insignificant
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  • Want to Show Painting Improvement Now?
    Portraiture is, in my humble opinion, the domain of artistic masters. All the greats, such as Velazquez, Rembrandt, Goya, and Sargent, can be counted as incredibly skilled and innovative portrait artists in addition to being pretty brilliant at everything
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  • Putting the Air in Plein Air
    I don't care how many times I see Monet's paintings, they never cease to inspire me. I just had the great pleasure of seeing the new Monet show at the Cincinnati Art Museum with my art buddies, and especially for those of us plein-air artists
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  • Solving the Mystery of Monet
    The Water Lily Pond by Claude Monet, oil painting, 1899. Mitchell Albala is an inspiring art instructor in the field of landscape painting , and it turns out he's an awesome detective as well. Recently, he did some sleuthing on a rare video clip of
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  • Your Paintings Reviewed By the Finest Artists in the Country
    The SourceTek cover art competition opened March 1. It's always an exciting prospect to have your work seen by artists whom you respect and admire. SourceTek, maker of canvas panels, plein air panels and more, certainly agrees. For fourteen years
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  • Painters Who Made the Biggest Splash
    Sometimes the question shouldn't be what to paint as much as how to paint. There are centuries' worth of artists who fill art history textbooks, but those who stand heads and shoulders above the rest do so because they turned their painting art
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  • Is White Really a Color?
    There are differing opinions among color theory purists whether white should be considered a color at all, since it represents the absence of hue or chroma, and cannot be made from the three primaries, as black theoretically can be. It's not usually
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  • Artistic Keys to the Kingdom: Flexibility and Discipline
    Artist Daily Member Spotlight: Steve Henderson Summer Breeze by Steve Henderson, oil on canvas, 24 x 24. Artist Daily: Tell me about your oil painting process . Are there rules you adhere to or just the opposite? Steve Henderson: Although I do follow
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  • Beating the Winter Blues
    Call it the blues, call it the doldrums, call it what you will--it seems that many of us plein-air painters go through a slump about this time of year. Even if the weather is good enough for painting outdoors, nature isn't always at her finest when
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  • Reflections on Creating an Artistic Body of Work
    Inkhead , 2009, oil on canvas, 29 x 16. Dorothy , 2010, oil on canvas, 14 x 14. Anakin Padawan , 2009, oil on canvas, 44 x 28. I have been blogging this past year about preparing for my exhibit, "Myths and Individuals." Now, it's time for
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  • 3 Techniques Moved Me to the Head of the Class
    At least I feel that way. I set myself a goal this week—I wanted to learn a few new watercolor painting techniques because I feel like when I contemplate working in watercolor, I only know the "first gear" approaches. I feel like Tim Saternow
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  • Painting for the (Trash) Bin
    The aim of being an artist is the ability to create. But with this desire of wishing to constantly achieve wonderful paintings that can be framed or exhibited comes an enormous amount of pressure on our shoulders. We expect to always succeed in our goal
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  • If You’ve Been House Hunting, You Know What I Mean
    Have you ever been looking for a new place to live, visiting different apartments or houses, and every time you experience a new reaction to a place and its spaces? It always happens to me. Either I love the architecture and light in this one, or the
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  • Our Newest eBook on Mixed Media Painting Techniques Has Arrived!
    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
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  • Playing Studio Detective with a Monet Painting
    If there were any artist, past or present, into whose studio I could magically transport myself and observe him paint, it would be Claude Monet. I have always been intrigued by his painting style, especially his highly textured and complex surfaces. When
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  • What's the Wisp?!
    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
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  • Only As Good As the Hand Wielding It
    A painting brush isn't animate. It isn't going to teach me how to paint or go about painting art when no one is looking. It needs the hand of the artist to do its job. Penitent Mary Magdalene by Titian, 1560s, oil on canvas. But one thing a brush—by
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  • Are Your Colors Going to Be "In" This Spring?
    I know it is only January, but I'm already thinking spring! And so is the Pantone Color Institute . The organization has just released their seasonal color report, and while this is specifically written for the fashion and design industry, we art
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  • The Cosmic Dance en Plein Air
    Spring in the Hills II by John Hulsey, 5 x 7, oil painting. Whenever we get to feeling that there is nothing really new to be discovered in art or the world, we have to keep in mind that the "undiscovered country" often lies in our own backyards
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  • Do It with a Stranger
    Eva Mullarky by Kristin Künc, oil on linen, 9 x 13, 2011. I can be a really hard sell when it comes to portraiture because from a beginner painter's perspective, I'm not always sure how to get the most out of a portrait painting session.
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  • Insane: They've Never Seen Contemporary American Paintings Before!
    Venus Awakes by Patricia Watwood, 2011, oil on canvas, 38 x 34. Karen in White by Paul McCormack, oil on canvas, 40 x 29. Enigma (Self-Portrait) by David Leffel, 2009, oil on canvas, 52 x 34. On Sunday, January 22 nd , the ACOPAL group will celebrate
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  • Painting with a Magical Medium
    Astor Place by Emily Falco, watercolor painting, 14 1/2 x 14 1/2, 2009. It warms my heart when I hear artists expressing excitement about their chosen painting medium because artists are the ones in the business of knowing all the ins and outs of their
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  • What Would Rubens Do?
    Leah by Patricia Watwood, pencil on toned paper, 18 x 14, 2011. I have just finished two big projects. Foremost, my show Myths and Individuals opened at the end of October at Saint Louis University Museum of Art. In two months the show will open for it's
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  • Don't Let Your Plein-Air Skills Grow Cold
    Don't give up your plein air focus over the winter months. Try to paint from life indoors and keep sketching. ( Melting Snow by Ben Fenske, 60 x 75, oil on canvas.) For some of us, winter weather is just a bit too unpredictable and chilly to spend
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  • It Calls to Me…My Precious
    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
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  • Why I Workshop
    We spent a lot of painting time along the cliffs outside San Juan. Painting can be a pretty isolating affair, and though I love the alone time spent with my muse, I miss the collective energy that working in a group of like-minded colleagues provides
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  • Come Winter, I Head to the Hothouse
    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
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  • Skies Don’t Have Brushstrokes In Them
    Watercolor artist Thomas Schaller achieves convincing and dynamic effects in his skies ( Salisbury Cathedral , watercolor painting). I know it is a bias, but sometimes I can't help thinking that painting skies belongs to a particular realm of watercolor
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  • Such a Diversity of Shapes in Her Landscape Paintings
    Turquoise Sky 3 , acrylic on panel, 5 x 5. All works by Lisa Snow Lady. I give a lot of credit to professional and semi-professional artists who seek out ongoing training or the advice of peers, even after their initial successes. I firmly believe that
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  • Ala Carte Your Art
    Grisaille copy of Jacques-Louis David's Patroclus , oil on linen, 48 x 78. At this time of year, we all travel so much that it can be a real challenge to figure out how to bring our painting supplies with us when we visit family and friends. Whether
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  • The Artist Watch List—Are You On It?
    In the December/January issue of American Artist magazine, the editors and staff put out feelers throughout the art community to find artists who are established or up and coming, and deserve recognition. They had limited space in the print issue, so
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  • How I Built an Art Network in My Hometown
    The Honorable Clarence Harmon, Mayor of St. Louis by Patricia Watwood, oil on canvas, 24 x 18, oval, 2002. Collection of St. Louis City Hall. Someone recently asked me what I did to get recognized and become part of the art scene in my hometown of St
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  • Your Free Portrait Painting eBook--But I Didn't Get a Chance to Gift Wrap It
    Ariadne by Janet Rogers, watercolor painting. Since coming to Artist Daily, my parents are both super supportive of me and our web community. My mom does her best to get everyone she knows to join us at Artist Daily, and my dad buys me art supplies in
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  • You Paint Them By Not Painting Them?
    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
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  • Free Video Lesson on Color Strategies in Plein Air Painting
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  • Video Lesson on Using Photos for Studio Landscape Paintings
    Upper Ridge at Dusk , 2011, oil on panel, 18 x 18 . Mt. Shuksan in Sunlight , 2010, oil on panel, 12 x 12. At my April 2011 exhibition at Lisa Harris Gallery, I gave an hour-long presentation on my "In Sunlight" series. This was a special opportunity
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  • Painting with Dreams, Memories, History and Myths
    Sonata of the Sea--Finale by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, 1908. One of my favorite movements in art is the Symbolist movement of the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. The artists were so free in exploring what mattered to them—personal
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  • It's an Excuse to Paint Umbrellas
    The Coming Storm by George Inness, 1879, oil on canvas, 27 1/4 x 41 3/4. Are you as bored of pretty outdoor painting scenes as I am? My eyes just seem to glaze over when I see a plein air painting scene with picture perfect sunlight over an idyllic landscape
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  • 3 Things I've Got to Have to Keep Going
    My family and I at my opening. Cute bunch, right? The show included works from the last 10 years. I know it's been a while since I've written. Let's see--the last time was just when I got back from my summer vacation. And now it's....November
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  • This One Is From the Heart
    Lake Tahoe by Albert Bierstadt, 1868. In their day, the Hudson River School landscape painters were so popular with the public that people would line up and pay a fair amount of money just to view a single painting. So I think it's safe to say that
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  • Can You Outgrow Your Art?
    Train Tracks by Valerio D'Ospina, 2011, oil on melamined MDF, 30 x 24. Some artists such as Jackson Pollock discover and use their own visual language to communicate with the world, and this singular voice takes them through an entire career of putting
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  • Wild But True: I Want to Paint Light
    Lee's Ranch - Sunny Day by Camille Przewodek, 9 x 12, oil on canvas. Even now it sounds like a beautiful, incredible, impossible thing to accomplish. I mean, paint light ? It seemed like magic to me at first. And I didn't understand what it all
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  • Breakfast of Champions: Free Still Life Painting eBook!
    The Remains by Joe Gyurcsak, 2007, oil painting, 24 x 24. If I start my morning with a bit of artistic inspiration, it really carries me through the whole day, just like a wholesome breakfast does! And today is a very good day because I was able to begin
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  • Will You Please Put Some Clothes On?
    Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard (attributed), 1585. I can only imagine the excitement and thrill of sitting for any one of the great portrait painters in history such as Bronzino, Velazquez, and Sargent. But then my mind goes directly
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  • Don't Set Yourself Up for Failure from the Start
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  • Take a Peek at Jamie Wyeth’s Watercolors
    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
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  • Tricky Stuff--Limit Your Focus & Expand Your Painting Options
    Demonstration: Exploring Composition Through a Limited Focus A "limited focus" isn't limiting at all, but expands our options in composition The first compositional move any painter makes is to apply a limited focus. Whether it be a still
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  • Capturing a Sense of Place--What Does It Mean To You?
    When discussing landscape painting , we often hear the phrase "capturing a sense of place." What does that mean to you? To me, it means so much more than just recording the physical attributes of the location. It goes way beyond suggesting the
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  • Calling Him a Landscape Painter Would Be a Stretch
    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
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  • Anselm Kiefer’s Landscapes Are Anything But Picture Perfect
    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
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  • He’s Nobody’s Fool When It Comes to Putting a Painting Together
    Breaking the Light by Don Demers, 24 x 36, oil painting. Don Demers knows that inspiration is always there if you know how to look for it, but he's also nobody's fool—he understands that to create a breathtaking and moving painting you sometimes
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  • His Painting Palette Was the Size of a Piano Top
    Under the Awning by Joaquin Sorolla, oil painting, 1910. "There is nothing truer than truth. All the mistakes committed by great artists are due to their having separated themselves from truth, believing that their imagination is stronger...There
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  • A Very Different Kind of Landscape Painting
    Ernest Lawson (1873 - 1939) came to maturity at the dawn of the 20th century, so his work was modern and gritty and real. His are not the idyllic landscape paintings of Corot , nor are they the dazzling light shows in Monet's plein air paintings
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  • Painting a Season in All Its Glory
    Study for Gapstow Bridge in Sunlight by Bennett Vadnais, oil on canvas, 12 x 16, 2007. Fall is my favorite time of year. It's my birthday season, so of course I'm partial, but I also just love the smell of autumn. It's crisp and clean, and
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  • Plein Air Painting, Fall 2011
    The last two editions of Plein Air Painting were a huge success—they flew off the shelves—and now the newest edition of the beloved magazine is back with even more on-site landscape painting instruction, handpicked by the trusted editors at American Artist, introducing the new special-issue
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  • Portrait & Figure Painting Highlights
    Reflect Your True Vision with Accurate Form Now you can paint the human form with the depth and detail it deserves - your artwork will come alive with this exciting special issue from American Artist: Portrait and Figure Painting Highlights Fall 2010. Improve the detail of your portraits with 100 pages
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  • American Artist: Everything You Need to Know About Plein Air Painting
    20 Top Artists Reveal How To Adjust to Regional Sites, Pack What You Need, Scale-Up Sketches, & Travel Safely Abroad; The history of the Plein Air Movement, and much more!
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  • 3 Tricks So People Remember My Painting
    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
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  • Painting with the Sight-Size Method
    I'll be honest with you all--I am not a painting technician. I read a lot about art and, as you know, love to look at paintings and drawings all day long, but I am still a babe in the woods when it comes to many methods and approaches to painting
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  • Can’t I Be Part of a Painting Dynasty?
    Paris by Danny McCaw, 24 x 16. Not to be a whiner, but I don't have an artistic legacy to build on. So far as I know, no one in my family is an artist or has any particular leanings towards painting or drawing. That's why I'm so enamored with
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  • Please Forgive Me If This Sounds a Little Harsh...
    But I think it's time for some straight talk. I've participated in many, many plein air painting critiques over the years, and I can't begin to tell you how often I've been faced with landscape paintings that are a little off. Perhaps
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  • You Want a Free eBook on Making Color Work When Pastel Painting, Right?
    Manhattan Nocturne by Frank Federico, pastel painting, 20 x 24. I have a tried and true love affair going with color. I'm drawn to it across the spectrum, but I'm a late bloomer when it comes to pastel painting, which has to be some kind of crime
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  • Who Is Odd Nerdrum and Why Do We Care?
    Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum, currently facing time in prison for tax fraud, is certainly a character, taking on more of a dramatic persona than most people do in their day-to-day lives. He's also a bit of a polarizing figure. I know artists who think
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  • Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About
    Lucrezia by Francisco Benitez, 30 x 30, encaustic on panel. I recently had a conversation with an artist about how she is struggling to get her drawings and oil paintings noticed by the "art world" and her frustration that she can't seem
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  • Thomas Eakins Taught Me All About Painting People
    Female Nude by Thomas Eakins, oil painting, c. 1881. The Thinker by Thomas Eakins, oil painting, 1900. Thomas Eakins earned himself quite a reputation during his lifetime. He didn't suffer fools gladly, he didn't hold his tongue, and he didn't
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  • Landscape Painting Lessons from the Masters: Inness
    These four oil paintings have something in common. Yes, of course, they were all painted by George Inness (1825-1894), one of the greatest American landscape painters of all time. But there's something else, an incredibly valuable lesson. Have you
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  • Painting to Preserve and Protect
    I'm a sucker for a good cause, and the Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery is putting on a great one this October: The Green Paint Out, a plein air landscape painting competition with the mission of preserving and protecting America's national parks
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  • Plein Air Paintings Created By Torchlight & Preserved Forever
    Drawings of horses in the Chauvet caves. We recently watched the Werner Herzog film, Chauvet: Cave of Forgotten Dreams . Herzog made the film about the prehistoric, 30,000- to 32,000 year-old cave art discovered in 1994 in the Ardeche region of France
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  • American Artist Highlights: Guide to Painting Flowers, Fall 2011
    Learn classical techniques with an inspiring guide that shows you how to create stunning pieces with ease and confidence. Make your colors sing and enhance your process—top contemporary masters of today show you how. Challenge yourself with more complicated arrangements and develop the confidence
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  • Landscape Painting Lessons from the Masters: Corot
    Recollection of Mortefontaine by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, landscape oil painting, 1864. One of my great heroes in art is Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), the world-famous French artist who is still considered one of the best landscape artists
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  • Help! I’m Stuck in a Plein Air Rut!
    Schloss Kammer at Lake Atter I by Gustav Klimt, 1908, oil on canvas. It seems impossible, right? I mean I'm out there painting, everything looks so fresh and crisp, the air and wind feel so good on my face, and then all of a sudden I am practically
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  • Drawing Basics: Using the Egg to Draw Anatomy
    Marjorie Forgues' figure drawing, day 1. Marjorie Forgues' figure drawing, day 2. Taking a painting or drawing class is always a learning experience, but often I find I learn a great deal from other artists in the class as well. This is especially
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  • Painting Darks That Are Too Dark to See
    Nicole at Mille Fleurs 3 , acrylic painting on canvas, 48 x 30, 2010. In the Afternoon Light , acrylic painting on canvas, 48 x 30, 2011. Contrast is the difference between light and dark values. The human eye is able to see clearly across a contrast
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  • 3 Painting Pointers That I'll Always Remember
    Notice how Gury scratches through the paint in his oil painting Autumn Glow , reinforcing the shape and outline of the tree limbs. I'm not one to ask or judge someone by their resume or history because we all walk our own paths and get meaningful
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  • 3 Paintings I'd Take in a Heartbeat
    Unknown Woman by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, 1890, pastel painting on paper. I love the effects and colors you can get with pastel paintings . . . at least I do now. It wasn't too long ago that I felt like I had some kind of weird complex where I could
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  • Abandon and Control: Robert Liberace's Contradiction in Oil Painting?
    Oil painting demonstration by Robert Liberace. To listen to Robert Liberace talk during one of his demonstrations, sometimes, fleetingly, it sounds to me like there is an occasional contradiction. The most recent example I can point to is when he talked
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  • Ah, Vacation.....Time for More Painting!
    I put aside my oil painting work to take up a sketchbook and watercolors to capture the sights and sounds around me during my trip . If you are a painter, you know that sometimes the best thing to do is get away from it all...and do more painting. I was
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  • Who Sent You Flowers? Me!—Our Newest Free eBook on Painting Flowers Is Here!
    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
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  • Painting the Illusion of Distance—Is It Just About Perspective?
    Fifty by Mitchell Albala, 2006, oil painting on canvas. In this painting, the artist strongly distinguishes the land and sky to give a sense of vertical distance. This summer I've been traveling a bit, but of course it's never as much as I would
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  • The First Plein Air Painters
    The cave paintings of Lascaux. Legend has it that Pablo Picasso remarked upon emerging from a visit to Lascaux cave that, "we have discovered nothing new in art in 17,000 years." The beautiful artwork from this ancient era is a reminder of our
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  • Move Over MacGyver. I’ve Got a Painting Studio Gadget for You!
    I was on a studio visit the other day to artist Daniel Baltzer 's place in Harlem and the first thing that grabbed my attention—even before looking at his paintings (!)—was this cool little contraption he had in the middle of his studio
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  • Finishing My Oil Painting, Leaves of Grass
    Notice the chalk lines drawn over the figure to assess and check the proportion and length of her limbs. I have finally finished my oil painting , Leaves of Grass , which I have blogged about previously. In all, the painting probably took nearly 2 months
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  • Landscape Lessons from the Masters: Monet
    Le Parc Monseau by Claude Monet, oil painting, 1877. Interestingly enough, technology played a major role in influencing the course of art history in the mid-1800s. Among several notable technological revolutions was the invention of the metal paint tube
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  • Painting Essentials: Color & Light from James Gurney
    Sunset over the Catskills by James Gurney, oil painting. If I want to excel in my craft and become any kind of decent realist painter, the two aspects of oil painting that I need to focus on are color and light. Perfecting the two, together, will allow
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  • I’d Make You a Mixed Tape, But This Is Better. Plus, Our Collection Sale Starts Today!
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  • Speed Painting Outdoors
    John had to deal with rapidly changing weather conditions as he worked on his plein air watercolor painting, Cub Lake Trailhead . We outdoor painters are always on the search for beautiful places to paint, and so we become inveterate travelers and explorers
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  • I Want to Sculpt My Drawings
    Minerva by Auguste Rodin simultaneously shows the centered grounding of the human body's core and the fluidity of its limbs. Painting is closer to three-dimensionality than drawing simply by way of the medium. You can build up sculpted areas and thick
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  • Drawing Basics: How I Judge My Artistic Progress & Learning from Robert Liberace
    This is a long pose drawing that made it into my "evaluate" pile. Part of the artistic learning process for me is learning how to evaluate my work, not on a piece by piece basis, but collectively. This summer I am looking at my drawing art works
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  • Mixing Harmonious Greens in My Plein Air Painting
    All you landscape artists who live in the dry, deserty parts of the world, or you plein air painters in the wet, watery parts of the world, bear with me, but those of us who live in the lushly vegetated parts of the world face a big challenge: green!
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  • What’s the Impressionist Way of Painting with Color?
    In Dancers at the Bar by Edgar Degas, 1888, the artist used complementary colors to make a sharp contrast between the figures and the space. We all know that Impressionism heralded a new way of painting. Material and technical advancements--metal tubes
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  • Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent
    La Carmencita by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1890. I try and shy away from describing art in bombastic terms. It can become a slippery slope of flowery language with no real takeaways. But when I'm studying the works of no less than John Singer
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  • We Don't Have to Settle for Paint & Brush
    Okay, I don't really mean that. I was just trying to get your attention. But I kind of do mean it because so often when dealing with how to paint a composition, I follow the same process day in and day out, which is why the idea of transferring images
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  • Plein Air Painting, Spring 2011
    The industry’s favorite plein air magazine is back with more of what you love! Last year, Plein Air Painting magazine flew off the shelves! Capture info from on-site studies, direct observations, and outdoor painting instruction from top plein air painters of today. Perfect your plein air painting
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  • Painting Outdoors: Fast and Easy Block-Ins
    I used to waste oodles of time blocking in my plein air paintings until I finally learned some great tips for doing them fast, such as skipping the drawing, establishing the value range first, and addressing each set of values in a logical order. Here's
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  • 4 Crucial Figure Painting Tips
    On Hamilton's Prairie by Rose Frantzen, 32 x 40, oil painting. Rose Frantzen's work has been on my radar for a while and even more so after I saw her oil painting portrait show at the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, which featured
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  • Just Back Up and Let the Painting Breathe
    Early Morning by Keith McCulloch, 12 x 16, oil painting. Artist Daily Member Spotlight: Keith B. McCulloch When I first saw Keith McCulloch's paintings, I took a deep breath. It was an involuntary reaction but a telling one—the airy, openness
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  • 5 Tips That Fine-Tune My Outdoor Paintings
    Fallen Tree, Mississippi by Jeffrey Smith, 11 x 14, oil painting. My studio is filled with stuff to look at: still life objects, postcards of paintings that I love, and written notes of things to think about and remember as I'm working on a painting
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  • Don’t Just Paint. Pour!
    Portifino by Jean Grastorf (watercolor painting, 20 x 30, 2003) was created using the artist's signature pour technique. I'm always surprised that the so-called ‘Painter of Light' isn't a watercolorist. Luminous light effects are
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  • Plein Air Essentials: The Anatomy of Water
    Ocean II by John Hulsey, 30 x 40, oil painting. The painting Ocean II was created from a smaller plein air study created at sunrise on Isle of Palms, South Carolina. I liked the composition and colors, and especially the way the wet sand mirrored the
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  • It’s What I’m Here For: Free eBook of Watercolor Lessons & Painting Techniques from Artist Daily
    Overlay by Ali Cavanaugh, 12 x 12, watercolor painting. As a wannabe artist, I have a lot of years ahead of me to invest in perfecting my painting. Knowing this, I often think about the medium I will choose to work with—what will grow with me through
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  • Planning Values In A Hurry When Painting Outdoors
    A gray-scale photograph of my plein air oil painting subject. If you read my last post , you know I'm a believer in spending time planning a composition before diving into a plein-air painting . Yet, I also want to get started as soon as possible
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  • Oil Painting Odyssey: Making Pandora
    Pandora by Patricia Watwood, oil on canvas. I've had it in my head to make a "Pandora" oil painting for a while now. In the myth, Pandora is overcome with curiosity (well, who wouldn't be??) and she opens the proverbial box and releases
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  • The Art of the Dog
    Watercolor study by John Hulsey, 7 1/2 x 7. Being strong dog proponents (especially for dogs in the studio, where they never provide negative commentary), and being the caretakers (or is it the other way around?) of two ancient (in dog years) Great Pyrenees
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  • Create a Painting On My First Try? Yes, Please!
    Artist Al Gury is known for his direct or alla prima painting knowledge. The oil painting, above, shows his decisive ability to create complex colors and shapes through successive layers. I love saying the phrase 'alla prima' but it's way
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  • Art Isn’t Just About Pretty People
    New Year by Mary Whyte, watercolor painting of a milliner from Atlanta, GA; 2009, 22 1/2 x 29. Sometimes I get so sick of people calling a painting or drawing 'art' because it has a good-looking person in it. Who wants to hang out with Barbie
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  • Let Nature Walk Right In Front of You
    Sunrise River II by John Hulsey, oil on canvas. "You can observe a lot by just watching." - Yogi Berra I was reminded of this quote as I was sitting on the boardwalk in Constitution Marsh on the Hudson River near where we used to live. I hadn't
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  • Painting Portraits with Personality, Mood, and Character
    Portrait of Ginevra di Benci by Leonardo da Vinci, 1474-1476, oil painting on wood, 16.5 x 14.5. I've described the most important technical parts of my study of Da Vinci: line and anatomy . When I began to study how to paint, I opted not to follow
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  • Lightening My Plein Air Pack
    Scott Burdick often does plein air studies, like this one ( Vermilion Cliffs , 2009, plein air oil painting, 9 x 12), on lightweight panels that are easy to travel with. I was watching a documentary about the Appalachian Trail the other day and was amazed
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  • Come Paint in My Backyard...Practically
    A view of the lands around Sagamore Hill estate, where the Teaching Studios plein air competition will take place. This is such a neat opportunity that I just had to share with you, and it is so close to me, geographically speaking, that it would be like
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  • What's the Association Factor and Why Is It a Painting 'Must'?
    I don't want to learn how to paint from just anyone. I don't mean that snobbishly, but I know how I work and learn. I am a visual learner and I learn by doing. Hearing someone drone on and on makes me want to get up and run around the room, so
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  • Composing On the Fly When Painting Outdoors
    A photo of the plein air landscape site I chose to paint. I can still recall the first morning I saw this little bend in the river ike it was yesterday. The air was still cool and breezy, the sun was glinting off the water, the bees in their hive were
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  • Plein Air Painting with Clyde Aspevig
    Flower Garden by Clyde Aspevig, oil on canvas, 24 x 12. Content adapted from an article by Allison Malafronte. Clyde Aspevig is a landscape painter and seasoned plein air artist who prides himself on going out into his chosen environs with a feeling of
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  • The Best Art for a Control Freak Like Me
    One of my favorite still-life artists is G. Daniel Massad. He plays with space in an incredible way. His pastel paintings are stark, eerie, and lovely all at once. Above, Three Plums and Rosehip , 2005, pastel, 11 x 10 7/8. What I love best about still
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  • Plein Air Artist Asher B. Durand Wrote Me a Letter...Sorta...Not Really
    Rocky Cliff by Asher B. Durand, oil on canvas, 1860. Based on an article by Allison Malafronte. As you all well know, I spend a lot of time writing. But I also spend a lot of time reading, and lately I have absolutely fallen in love with reading letters
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  • Pop Quiz: How Good Is Your Painting Memory?
    Squall Line by John Hulsey (30 x 40, oil painting). John Hulsey and Ann Trusty created their website, The Artist’s Road , to inspire their readers and students with practical art tips and plein air painting techniques for the traveling artist. John
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  • Building a Bridge to China with Oil Painting and Contemporary Realism
    The ACOPAL show featured contemporary American Realist painting. Whenever I step inside the beautiful and historic National Arts Club, on Gramercy Park in Manhattan, I'm reminded of how long it has been a supportive home for American Realism. In May
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  • Plein Air Painting on a Freshly Primed Surface
    Wait until you are in front of your outdoor painting scene before deciding what to tone your surface. I've found that how you prepare your canvas has a huge impact on the finished result of your plein-air painting . Do you start your painting right
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  • He Told Me I Could Share His Secrets
    Looking at paintings can be like unraveling a mystery, especially with watercolor. Layers are so delicate and there are many interesting watercolor painting techniques that are quite subtle to the eye. That's certainly what I felt when I looked at the work of watercolor artist Miguel Dominguez. I
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  • Summer 2011
    As any artist can attest, versatility is the key to a long and illustrious career. The ability to work with a variety of media, subject matter, and techniques helps keep skills up-to-date, the mind engaged, and one's creativity consistently challenged. With that in mind, we've decided to use
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  • Painting This Uniquely American Place
    America is a land of rich diversity that extends throughout our landscapes, cities, and regions. I'd say that one of the most distinctive places we have is Cape Cod. Now, being a born-and-raised Southern girl, I have always romanticized the northern coasts and beaches because they always look so
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  • 3 Ways to Assure You Are Always Growing as an Artist
    Ellen Cooper’s In Defiance of Erebus won the People’s Choice and First Place Award. After participating in a panel discussion about career goals for artists at this year’s Portrait Society of America Conference I wanted to share a few more tips that I use to keep my art growing and
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  • Plein Air Time Machine
    Plein air watercolor sketches of sites in Kansas and Charleston, South Carolina. All works by John Hulsey. It took me awhile to realize it, but I have invented a time machine. I didn’t set out to invent a time machine exactly, but like many other
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  • Bring My Painting Back From the Brink of Disaster
    Meeting artist and Studio Incamminati instructor Lea Colie Wight was a little bit like meeting a favorite celebrity and miracle worker all rolled into one. Lea's execution and subject matter resonates with me, but it is her perseverance and desire to share common experiences in painting that really
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  • Draw with Your Brush
    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 starts with a rough sketch in his sketchbook and toning his canvas
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  • Building a Career for the Long Term
    For the Portrait Society of America Conference in Atlanta this year, I was invited to participate in a panel on Professionalism, Leadership, and Service. I was asked to speak to “Building a Career for the Long Term.” Now, anyone who saw my tax returns for 2010 would NOT have put me on a short
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  • How to Paint Clouds in Watercolor
    In a recent post on how to paint clouds at sunset , we diagrammed a pastel painting and explained a bit about the types of clouds one may encounter when painting outdoors . This time, we have dissected a watercolor, Ghost Ranch IV , that I painted in New Mexico near Georgia O’Keefe’s house
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  • Highlights: Painting Instruction From Master Teachers
    Get instant improvement on your portraits, landscapes, and still life’s from master teachers.
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  • Finding the Warms and Cools of White
    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
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  • What’s Up With the Floating People?
    That’s one of the first questions I put to artist Caitlin Hurd about her oil paintings, which feature dazed, inert figures floating through the landscape. But they aren’t floating as much as sleepwalking, according to Hurd. “It all started with how I wanted to live my life,” she
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  • It’s Like Coupon Clipping...But Not
    When I was a kid, my mom always cut coupons on Sunday morning. I’d sit beside her and do the same, but I’d flip through magazines and newspapers and cut out pictures I liked or lettering that I thought was neat, and I never gave up my artsy coupon clipping habit because it’s a great
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  • Reaching New Levels of Creativity En Plein Air
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  • Weekend With the Masters 2011: Exciting New Educational Opportunities & Breathtaking Location
    Golden by Daniel Gerhartz, oil on canvas, 16 x 12. Since its inception in 2009, Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference has brought together some of the top instructors of representational art under one roof for a long weekend of workshops
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  • There's Nothing Quite Like Custom Made
    I’ve always dreamed of having something, anything—shoes, a coat, a car!—custom made. While all of those are pretty much still out of my reach, I know that I can custom design how I get my art training. There are a lot of options out there for us art-minded folk, but I spoke to Rob Zeller
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  • The Artist’s Road—A Journey Not a Destination
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  • Step by Step: Sketch to Finished Painting + Plein Air Download for a Dime
    When Richard McKinley creates a landscape painting , he likens it to a dance, a push-pull between the artist’s feelings for the place and the tendencies of the medium. For his landscape art, he focuses on a subtle progression of color layers and
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  • Drawing Lessons from Edward Hopper
    I don’t think I’d be exaggerating by calling Edward Hopper one of America’s national treasures. His work captured a time and place like no one else, and his distinctive style makes his work instantly recognizable. But his drawings are an undiscovered secret, as I found out when I got
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  • Using Your Sketchbook to Good Advantage
    Hi all! This is my first blog at Artist Daily, and I wanted to jump right in and discuss one of the best things I think a plein air painter can do—use a sketchbook to plan your composition and clarify your vision of the finished painting you have in mind.
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  • Varnish, Varnish Everywhere
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  • What Could Be Better Than a Free eBook on Landscape Painting?
    My answer to that is nada! Zippo! Zilch! As the weather heats up from coast to coast, now is the time when artists turn their attention to the excitement of landscape painting. But I'll be honest with you. I'm still intimidated by the whole landscape painting process. There seems to be so much
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  • Artist Daily Member Spotlight: 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 expression on her face--looked like
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  • The Gowanus Ballroom
    The Gowanus Ballroom brought together installation art, contemporary sculpture, and realist painting. Every once in a while, I get to do something that is comes uniquely from the place where I’ve chosen to live—Brooklyn. My studio is in Gowanus
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  • Bring On the Botox...Or Not
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  • Painting to Establish Intimacy
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  • May I Introduce Odd Nerdrum?
    Summit by Odd Nerdrum, oil painting, 2000, 93 x 88. Odd Nerdrum: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Odd Nerdrum was born in Hälsingborg, Sweden, in 1944. He was a student at The Academy of Art in Oslo at the time when Modernism made its delayed
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  • May I Introduce Stephen Early?
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  • May I Introduce Scott Waddell?
    The Den by Scott Waddell, oil painting, 20 x 16. Scott Waddell: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Scott Waddell was born and raised in Central Florida. He received his B.F.A. from Florida State University. After college, Waddell spent the next several
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  • May I Introduce Daniel Sprick?
    Untitled by Daniel Sprick, 2006, 24 x 24, oil painting. Daniel Sprick: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Daniel Sprick was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He studied at the Froman School of Art and The National Academy of Design and received his B.F
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  • May I Introduce Ray Roberts?
    Seascape by Ray Roberts, oil painting. Ray Roberts: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Ray Roberts is best known for his seascapes, figurative work, and majestic views of California and the Southwest, and is one of California's most respected plein
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  • May I Introduce Ron Hicks?
    The Love on the Road by Ron Hicks, oil painting. Ron Hicks: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Ron Hicks grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and was introduced to art at an early age under the influence of his artist mother. Continuing to pursue drawing through
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  • May I Introduce Albert Handell?
    Pastel painter and oil painter Albert Handell. Albert Handell: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Pastelist and oil painter Albert Handell was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1937. At an early age, a favorite activity of his was drawing with chalks on
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  • May I Introduce George Gallo?
    Connecticut Yankee Spring by George Gallo, 20 x 24, oil painting. George Gallo: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Award-winning writer, director, and painter George Gallo is capturing the hearts of both the general public and artist-audiences everywhere
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  • May I Introduce Quang Ho?
    Quang Ho at his easel. Quang Ho: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Quang Ho was born on April 30, 1963, in Hue, Vietnam. He immigrated to the United States in 1975 and is now a U.S. citizen. His artistic interest began at the early age of 3 and continued
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  • May I Introduce Daniel Pinkham?
    Sublime Order by Daniel Pinkham, oil painting. Daniel Pinkham: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Born in Los Angeles, Daniel Pinkham has been a principal force in the resurgence of plein air painting in California and throughout the country. Pinkham
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  • May I Introduce David Jon Kassan?
    Approaching Noise (in progress) by David Jon Kassan, oil painting on wood panel, 40 x 34. David Jon Kassan: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Following his initial drawing studies at University of the Arts, in Philadelphia, David Jon Kassan attended
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  • May I Introduce Mary Whyte?
    Graffiti by Mary Whyte, watercolor painting. Mary Whyte: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Born in Ohio in 1953, Mary Whyte grew up with all the rural Midwest has to offer. She graduated from Tyler School of Art, in Philadelphia, in 1976 with a Bachelor
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  • May I Introduce Anthony Ryder?
    Twilight by Tony Ryder, 1998, pencil drawing, 25 x 19. Tony Ryder: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Anthony Ryder studied at the Art Students League of New York, the New York Academy of Art, and the Ecole Albert Defois, in France, with oil painter
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  • May I Introduce Skip Whitcomb?
    Dawn, High Tide-Navesink River by Skip Whitcomb, oil painting on linen, 10 x 20. Skip Whitcomb: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Born in 1946, M.W. Skip Whitcomb has been interested in art since his childhood on a ranch near Sterling, Colorado. However
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  • May I Introduce C.W. Mundy?
    Morro Bay Rock, Near Cambria by C.W. Mundy, oil painting on linen, 16 x 20. C.W. Mundy: Weekend With the Masters Instructor C.W. Mundy, an American impressionist, was born in 1945 and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated with a B.F.A. from Ball
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  • May I Introduce Peter Adams?
    Crashing Waves at Three Arch Bay; Laguna Beach by Peter Adams , pastel painting, 12 x 16. Peter Adams: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Peter Adams was born in Los Angeles, California, on August 27, 1950 and he received his training in California at
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  • May I Introduce Kevin Macpherson?
    Santa Catalina Island by Kevin Macpherson, oil painting, 30 x 50. Kevin Macpherson: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Kevin Macpherson is one of the country's leading plein air painters and is highly respected among collectors and fellow artists
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  • May I Introduce Stephen Quiller?
    February Shadows, Rio Grande by Stephen Quiller, acrylic painting, 17 x 19 1/2. Stephen Quiller: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Stephen Quiller is an internationally known painter who works primarily in water media, monotypes, and intaglio printmaking
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  • May I Introduce Richard Schmid?
    Throughout his career, Richard Schmid has promoted art education through his books, articles, workshops, seminars, and television presentations. Richard Schmid: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Richard Schmid was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1934.
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  • May I Introduce Marcia Burtt?
    Winter Sun, Full Moon by Marcia Burtt , acrylic painting. Marcia Burtt: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Marcia Burtt graduated from University of California Berkeley with a major in psychology and earned an M.A. in art from the University of Montana
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  • May I Introduce Frank Serrano?
    Sunlit Birch by Frank Serrano, oil on canvas, 12 x 12. Frank Serrano: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Contemporary landscape artist and plein air painter Frank M. Serrano was born in Los Angeles on November 29, 1967. He developed an early interest
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  • May I Introduce Jacob Collins?
    Thinking Man by Jacob Collins, oil painting, 30 x 20, 2004. Jacob Collins: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Jacob Collins is a leading figure in the contemporary revival of classical painting. He earned a B.A. in history from Columbia College and attended
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  • May I Introduce Carolyn Anderson?
    Dave by Carolyn Anderson, oil painting, 16 x 12. Carolyn Anderson: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Carolyn Anderson , a nationally recognized artist, is an accomplished pastelist and oil painter. Born and raised in the Chicago area, Anderson attended
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  • May I Introduce Camille Przewodek?
    Vineyard Melody by Camille Przewodek, 16 x 20, oil on canvas. Camille Przewodek: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Camille Przewodek is a plein air colorist based in Petaluma, California, who received her B.F.A. in illustration from the Academy of Art
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  • May I Introduce Joseph Paquet?
    Morning Light Crystal Cove , by Joe Paquet, oil painting on linen. Joseph Paquet: Weekend With the Masters Instructor Joseph Paquet received his Bachelors of Fine Art at the School of Visual Arts, in New York City, and had the good fortune of being mentored
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  • Meet the Instructors of Our Weekend With the Masters Events
    The American Artist Weekend With the Masters events and art workshops are an opportunity to learn how to paint at the hands of some of the most inspiring, skilled oil painting artists, watercolorists, and draftsmen working today. Their artistic abilities
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  • Nothing Watered Down About Her Work
    Over and over again I hear artists cooing about the thick richness of oil paints and its appealing spreadability, and yes, all of that is totally true. But artist Bev Jozwiak is giving oil a run for its money in terms of buttery appearance and saturated colors, and she’s doing it with watercolor
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  • More Tips for Painting Water En Plein Air
    John and Ann’s recent post about painting water en plein air was so inspiring and right on target. I love painting water elements, too, because they always make plein air landscape paintings more interesting. John and Ann’s tips were great, and I have two more to add:
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  • What I Get From Other Artists
    Wilson uses the visual world as a lexicon of poetic images, as in his painting, Mary . In the 19th century, painters depicted modern life, embracing the “real” and eschewing narrative subjects and symbolism. Now, modern figure painters are
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  • Painting Clouds, Part I: Sunset Clouds
    Living as we do in the center of the country where the dominant feature of the landscape is the sky, we have always enjoyed painting the rich variety of clouds here. Besides being beautiful to look at, clouds can tell us all sorts of things about the weather, both present and future, that can prove very
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  • It’s a Bird. It’s a Plane. It’s an Artist?!
    Artists aren’t superheroes. No capes, no spandex onesies, and no butlers named Alfred. Artists don’t necessarily lead extraordinary lives in which they paint or draw between bouts of saving the world. Artists are like you and me. They are you and me, actually. We all go about our day-to-day
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  • The Romance Is Overrated
    I used to think so romantically about Monet, Pissarro, and the other Impressionists. Not romantic like Manet is so dreamy; romantic as in idealizing this particular group of painters—thinking they stepped outside of their studios and, snap, Impressionism just happened. Veneration can sometimes
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  • The Ultimate Backpack--Professional Tips for Packing Light
    Here's John using his heavy-weight watercolor gear while painting in Colorado. Through trial and error, over the years, we have figured out how to pack for our foot-powered plein-air painting adventures. We like to keep our heavy-duty Eagle Creek
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  • Do You Speak The Two Languages of Art?
    No, not Spanish or Italian or French. An artist needs to be fluent in the languages of realism and abstraction. By realism I mean the formal aspects of art--the painting techniques and drawing skills we develop over time through experience. Abstraction is the other side of the coin, the visual language
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  • Finding Meaning in the Details of My Painting
    Sometimes in making a small study for a larger oil painting, an artist will sketch in certain areas very loosely. It's almost as if she says to herself, "and there's some other stuff that fills in this area of the composition, but I'll think about that later." With the set of small
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  • A Painting Technique That’s Outside the Box…Er, Brush
    Breaking out of a painting rut sometimes requires a little more oomph than just adding another color to your palette or going from a still life to a figure painting. Sometimes your whole process needs an overhaul. A few years ago, artist Francis Di Fronzo took a fairly drastic measure to take his work
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  • How to Paint the Look and Feel of Spring
    I’m a color junkie. In fashion, in design, and especially in painting, vibrant color is what gets me creative. But before the image of Mimi from The Drew Carey Show becomes forever attached to my name in your mind, I’ll point out that I can control myself…sometimes. It’s tough
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  • How To Transfer a Study to a Large Canvas
    Study for Leaves of Grass . All works by Patricia Watwood. With the image of a female figure reading in the summer grass in mind, I began to develop my oil painting , Leaves of Grass . I started with a preparatory drawing. I work with models and from
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  • And the Award Goes to...
    I've been waiting all my life to have a red-carpet moment, but who knows when the Academy will get around to remembering my searing director's debut at the age of 14, when I put on a musical version of Hamlet to the theme song of The Beatles' "Obladi Oblada." (Maybe you had to be
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  • Workshop, Fall 2010
    Measure First, Draw Second; The Pathway to Great Compositions; Make Every ?Brushstroke Count; Learn How Top Artists Paint; How the Academic Technique can Work for You
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  • Okay, okay! You win! Here’s your Free eBook on Plein Air Painting
    Point Lobos , oil, 12 x 16. All works by Matt Smith . Have you ever had a moment where you’ve stumbled on something unexpected and you think to yourself, “What a find!” That was so me a few days ago. I read an amazing Q&A that one
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  • Palette Knife in Hand
    Palette knife painting sounds a little edgy and dangerous, but it’s really all about texture—the thick impasto swipes and flat sweeps of color that make up the surface of a painting. I’ve never created an entire painting with just a palette knife before, and I wanted to see what the
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  • The Art of Painting Water: 4 Plein Air Tips
    Water is perhaps one of the more challenging subjects to paint convincingly in a plein air landscape painting. Whether one is inspired by the ocean, a river, or a pond or lake, each subject requires a studied familiarity and often distinctly different paint handling. Here are a just a few tips that we
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  • It's Time to Take Sides: Color vs. Form
    Leah , oil on canvas, 2010, 24 x 20. The Sicilian Expedition , oil on canvas, 2010, 60 x 40. They say that there are two kinds of painter: color painters, and the other kind--the kind that focuses on form, tone, and line. I'm that "other"
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  • Painting with a ‘Show Me’ State of Mind
    Darrell Brown paints simple, seemingly timeless "portraits" of fruits and vegetables. A few days ago a reader came to me with a good point: If an artist running a workshop can talk about the philosophy behind his or her oil painting art, all
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  • The One Skill Every Artist Needs
    As plein air artists, we have had to become very aware of our own visual filtering processes--our visual biases. We train ourselves to focus our eyes and our minds on the subject before us, but it is only when we can quiet the mind from labeling and judging what we see that we are ever able to truly
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  • Workshop, Summer 2010
    10 Keys To Making Accurate Judgments; Use Measurements & Simple Shapes for Better Portraits; Learn Variations of Impressionist Painting; 4 Stages Of Successful Plein Air Paintings
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  • Developing a Narrative Theme for an Oil Painting
    For a while now, I have been exploring narrative themes. This is what R. H. Ives Gammell called “poetical pictures.” In the 19th century, this was commonly referred to as “history painting”, but by history they did not just mean world events as we define the term. “Poetical
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  • Plein Air Painting Essentials: How to Paint Trees
    This plein air painting by Tom Brown is impressionistic, but gives you a distinct sense of the form and structure of the scrub tree he's painting. We often think of trees in a very human way—that they have personalities and traits that distinguish
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  • Video on Light and Shadow: Portrait Painting with Scott Burdick and Daniel Gerhartz
    The American Artist Weekend With the Masters events are always a whirlwind of activity—new people to meet, alluring art to gawk over, and then there are the workshops. Articulate, passionate artist-instructors share their own particular artistic
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  • Plein Air Painting Techniques: How to Paint Clouds
    Clouds are not all created equal, just like not every sunset or skyscape is the same. They all have their own unique look and feel, even though we can see them all the time. And it is the plein air artist's goal, passion, purpose to eek out that unique something in every scene they decide to paint
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  • Home Ground - Finding Inspiration in the Familiar
    The lesson we first learned when living and painting in the Hudson Valley in New York is that as plein air painters there is a deep pleasure to be gained from becoming intimately familiar with the same piece of ground over many years. The process is essentially a silent conversation, in which we can
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  • A Painter's Best Bet: Stay in Kindergarten
    Jeffree , oil, 18 x 15. All works by David A. Leffel. I spend a lot of time brainstorming how an artist can become an Old Master of the 21st century. What kind of confidence, skill, and vision will it take for an artist working today to gain that reputation
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  • If I Could Paint Any Four Walls
    After developing an unnatural dependency on my galoshes and stocking my kitchen shelves with an outrageous amount of sugary sweets in case of snowstorms, I’ve come to realize that it is nice to be on the inside, cozy and warm, looking out. My creature comforts appreciation has definitely also influenced
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  • How Do You Paint a Natural Wonder?
    Springs Caprice by Curt Walters, 36 x 36. Content adapted from an article by Allison Malafronte. Arizona artist Curt Walters is well known and recognized for his plein air impressionist paintings of one of the most inspiring natural wonders in America
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  • Faith in the Wilderness--How One Oil Painting Artist Stays Committed
    Perhaps sometime over the last couple of years, you looked at your most recent drawing or oil painting and thought “Why am I doing this?” The economic recession has caused all of us to rethink our commitments and has given many artists reason to doubt that “making it” as a professional
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  • How’s Your Plein Air Vision?
    Somewhere out there, maybe even as you read this, a group of hungry, dedicated artists are taking a plein-air painting workshop. And at some point during this workshop—perhaps right at this very moment—one of those aspiring artists will ask the classic question voiced at least once in every
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  • 5 Surefire Plein Air Painting Techniques
    The Evening Show by Clyde Aspevig, oil, 40 x 36. You can often tell a painting that was painted en plein air from one that wasn’t. There is an immediacy to the light and atmosphere depicted in plein air paintings that isn’t always achieved
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  • Inspired Vision - Why Traveling to New Landscapes is Important to the Plein Air Painter
    In the 25+ years that we traveled to northern New Mexico to paint, we have explored its charms in every season of the year and have never failed to find wonderful scene after wonderful scene for a plein air painting . A big part of this charm is that this area of the Southwest is just inherently stunning
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  • Oil on Canvas: What I'm Up To
    Study for Pandora , oil on canvas, 2010. All works by Patricia Watwood. For the past six months, I have been working away at a new series of figure paintings. Over the next weeks and months, I will tell you more about each of them, and the steps involved
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  • Is "How to Paint" the Right Question?
    When we start making art, we don't start from a position of, "I want to paint like so-and-so," or not even, necessarily, "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 us the strength
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  • Spring 2011
    Turn Mistakes into Masterpieces; create the element of surprise with acrylics; get creative with Sunlight and Shadow; use value studies To Save Time; go inside Workshops With the Pros
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  • How to Paint a Piece of Americana
    Shaker Barns by Charles Sheeler, 1945, tempera on board. When I think of the features that make up a truly American landscape, there’s one structure that always sticks out in my mind—a big, broadsided barn. They dot the countryside from coast
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  • Plein Air Painting: Finding Your Commitment and Accountability
    This past Saturday was a beauty. The weather was warm enough to be outside comfortably, the light was sparkling, and it would have been a fine day to paint en plein air. Would have... if I had painted. But I didn’t. Instead, I went to a meeting and then spent the afternoon on the computer, completing
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  • Extreme Painting - Part III: Painting the Winter Night en Plein Air
    I like pastel for winter work because of the ease of not having to deal with paint thinner, stiff paint, or mixing color on a palette. When winter graces us with her charms and everywhere you look is covered in a beautiful layer of snow, Ann and I get
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  • Free Video Demo—Watercolor Painting With Mary Whyte
    Learn more about Mary Whyte’s full-length DVD. I'm a reader and studier by nature, but the lessons and techniques that I learn from books and magazines always seem to click much quicker when I watch an artist paint, rather than try to puzzle
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  • Bring Together the Outdoors and Indoors In Your Landscape Paintings
    When I’m landscape painting I’m always drawn to the curious, in-between places where the outdoors and indoors meet. This could be an ivy-smothered barn that almost looks like it is disappearing into the landscape, or an ocean view from an open window. The places where architecture and the
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  • The Upside of Plein Air Competition
    Cincinnati artist Monica Achberger participating in a paint-out in Milford, Ohio, sponsored by the Ohio Plein Air Society in August 2010. Looking ahead to the next few months, there are countless plein-air painting competitions coming up. We’ve
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  • Oil Painting, Studio Practice, and More from New Blogger Patricia Watwood
    Waiting for Supper , 18” x 35”, oil on canvas, 2010. All works by Patricia Watwood . Hello! I am delighted to begin this new venture with Artist Daily and start an ongoing conversation about my painting process and my thoughts on art. Most
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  • Extreme Plein Air Painting - Part II: Shadow Light
    Tracks II by John Hulsey, pastel. With the high-contrast conditions of winter sun on brilliant snow, we have been exploring the colors of snow and shadows in our plein air paintings. Shadows are essential because they create the form and interest in a
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  • Twilight Painting en Plein Air--No Vampires, Please
    Painting during twilight often means the added complication of using artificial lights to illuminate your canvas. This blog has been adapted from an article written by Allison Malafronte. Plein air painting during twilight is exciting but challenging
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  • Landscape Painter Clark Hulings Dies at Age 88
    The Lonely Man by Clark Hulings Last week, we received some surprising and very sad news in the American Artist office. The widely-admired landscape painter Clark Hulings had passed away at the age of 88. We learned this less than a day after finishing
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  • Extreme Plein Air Painting--Conquering Old Man Winter
    Fire and Ice by John Hulsey, watercolor. We both love painting landscapes outside, especially in the winter, when the air is clear and the landscape is reduced to its architectural purity. But winter weather conditions are rarely moderate in the places
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  • Sunset En Plein Air
    A sunset sketch by painter Thomas Van Stein. This blog has been adapted from an article written by Allison Malafronte. Plein air painting is all about light and atmosphere. Painting during sunrise or in the heat and intense light of the day can result
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  • Plein Air Painting: Isn’t It Romantic?
    Oak in the Snow by Caspar David Friedrich, 1825, oil, 44 x 34.5 cm, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, Germany. I think all landscape artists and plein air painters have a touch of the romantic in them. It doesn’t really matter what type of landscape
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  • It's Finally Here: Our New Free eBook on Oil Painting Techniques
    I’ve always prided myself on learning good technique when faced with any new skill, and doing this has definitely made a difference. That goes for when I was learning to dance, swim, draw, or paint in oil. Art techniques were always especially rewarding to tackle this way, because once you grasp
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  • You're Gonna Need a Pair of Boots
    Painting outdoors in winter can be an extreme sport. The snow, the wind, the cold—it takes a certain kind of artist to paint a winter landscape while in a winter landscape. The first time I attempted this was a couple of years ago when I was living in Connecticut. Two feet of snow had fallen the
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  • How to Evaluate Your Outdoor Painting
    Thomas Van Stein's student stepped back, with the help of her instructor, to evaluate her work. This blog has been adapted from an article written by Allison Malafronte. Amidst all the sights, sounds, and smells that swirl around you when plein air
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  • Painting Instruction Highlights from Master Teachers, Fall 2009
    14 Top Instructors Share Their Secrets; How to Paint From Photographs; Complete Instruction in Painting Figures, Still Lifes & Landscapes; 12 Step-by-Step Demonstrations & Lists of Materials Check out what's featured in the Fall 2009 issue of American Artist Highlights.
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  • A New Blogger and Checking Your Plein Air Painting Checklist
    A beautiful afternoon, some free time in the fresh air, a stunning location...I can’t wait for the weather to get just a touch warmer so I can get out and paint again. And as we look to the future, I’m thrilled to be joining all of you at Artist Daily as a regular blogger on the life of a
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  • Don't Fear the Pack
    As much as the stereotype of the solitary painter working alone and shutting him- or herself off from the world makes artists seem mysterious and cool, I’ve found that artists tend to be fairly social creatures, and their cool factor isn’t lessened by their sense of community. Sometimes this
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  • Learn the Latest Tips in Our Free Portrait Painting eBook
    Trying to capture the likeness of a person in a finite period of time and meeting the high expectations often associated with portraiture are far from effortless tasks. They take commitment and savvy to do well. Our eBook Oil Painting Lessons on How to Paint a Portrait: 15 Portrait Painting Techniques
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  • Workshop, Fall 2009
    Use a Limited Pallette for Greater Benefits; 10 Concrete Solutions for Figure Painting; How to Accurately See the Color Light; Andrea J. Smith; Bryan Mark Taylor; Steve Huston; Clayton J Beck III.
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  • Nature with a Bit of Edge
    Shaped by Reaction , acrylic on maple panel, 2010. All works by Tiffany Bozic. Courtesy Joshua Liner Gallery. Looking at San Francisco-based artist Tiffany Bozic’s work is a bit like falling down Alice’s rabbit hole: the natural world looks
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  • Make a Painter’s Resolution
    I’m starting this year by reassessing my approach to painting and recommitting to more concentrated studio time. I don’t necessarily feel that I want to completely revamp my process, but there are a few old habits that I want to break and a few new ones I want to instill. I’ve found
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  • Don't Paint the Sky Blue!
    Because it’s hardly ever really blue. Think of Turner’s skies or even Monet’s—they are multifaceted and carry the hum of several colors. As many of us transition from painting outdoors to inside the studio, we can sometimes make assumptions and take certain things for granted
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  • New Video Blog: See the Secret to Positioning Your Brush
    We’ve been cooking up the Artist Daily Video Blog for a while now, and I’m thrilled that it’s time to unveil it to all of you. The name says it all—it is a part of the Artist Daily blog that we will be creating in video form. There
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  • Free eBook—Full of Acrylic Painting Techniques for You
    Sunset in the Teton Valley by Gil Dellinger, 2008, acrylic, 16 x 20. Almost all the painting I did in college was with acrylics, and most of the students I worked in class with did the same. Painting with acrylics was our best option because the paints
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  • Should You Paint Lies?
    Les reclus by Philippe Jacquet, 31 1/2 x 46 1/2. All images courtesy Axelle Fine Arts. Most painters I’ve spoken to say that it’s somewhat liberating to paint an imagined subject or a fictitious place. Working in such a way does come with
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  • Portait & Figure Painting Highlights
    Reflect Your True Vision with Accurate Form Now you can paint the human form with the depth and detail it deserves – your artwork will come alive with this exciting special issue from American Artist: Portrait and Figure Painting Highlights Fall 2010. Improve the detail of your portraits with 100
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  • November 2010
    On the Cover: Belle (detail, reversed) by Galina Perova, 2007, oil, 50 x 44. Private collection. FEATURES Rosemarie Beck: Exploring the Physicality of Paint by Eric Sutphin This New York artist used themes from mythology, music, and literature as ways
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  • Where Exceptional Artists Gather
    Watercolorist Stephen Scott Young getting into the details of his watercolor technique with students. All photos by Manuel Rodriguez . Artists of the past are often remembered as working solo, toiling alone in their private studios and intimate garrets
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  • Coming To You From Weekend With the Masters
    Artist and instructor Marcia Burtt painting a beach scene at Weekend With the Masters. I can honestly say I've never been to an event like American Artist's Weekend With the Masters workshop and conference, which is currently underway in Southern
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  • Counting Down to the Big Event
    Twilight by Anthony Ryder, 1998, pencil and pastel on gold paper, 25 x 19. The event I’ve been looking forward to since I came to Artist Daily is just a few days away. Weekend With the Masters 2010 is almost here. I’ve been told that the energy
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  • Paint to Preserve the Scenery You Love
    As an artist who has painted the natural world for over 20 years, Adam Straus has a complicated connection to his environment. In the 1990s, he painted Oil Slicks , a series of paintings that referenced the oil spills that happened at the time, and the relevancy of these paintings has been asserted again
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  • Defy Expectations—See In a New Way
    No matter the venue, the accepted rule of thumb is that a painting should always be hung just above eye level. As a result, many artists create paintings with this point of view. Louisiana artist Mitchell Long seeks to subvert this expectation by manipulating vantage points in his paintings of landscapes
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  • Are You Using This Critical Painting Technique?
    The process of underpainting has such a buttoned-up reputation. If it were cast in a movie, it would be the uptight, by-the-book stickler that no one wants to hangout with. That’s because the process of underpainting is often associated with a belabored, rigid series of steps that delays us from
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  • Draw on Tradition to Create Lasting Art
    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 images are all around
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  • Free eBook for Your Best Summer Outdoor Painting Experience
    With summer in full swing, I've been spending as much time as possible outdoors, going to concerts and plays, walking from place to place when I do my errands, and just finding every excuse for an outdoor excursion. Plein air painting is another perk of the season. There's something invigorating
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  • Learn to Paint the Unexpected
    Artists are the sharpest of observers, attuned to a person's passing gesture or the play of light and shadow on a building façade—but not everything that catches our eye is a painting waiting to happen. For Utah watercolorist Joseph Alleman , the stories that hold his interest are reflections
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  • Best of Watercolor, 2010
    On the Cover: Barrens in October (detail) by Paul Rickert, 2002, watercolor, 11 x 14. Collection the artist. Artists In This Issue Anne Abgott Jane Paul Angelhart Sue Archer Bo Bartlett Dan Brown Peggy Brown Carl Dalio Sondra Freckelton Laurin McCracken
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  • Plein Air Classes at WWM 2010
    American Artist’s Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference will be arriving on the sunny shores of Southern California this September 22-26, in our second-annual presentation of this four-day event. Workshops, demos, lectures, panel discussions, and evening events from more than 25 instructors
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  • July/August 2010
    How to Paint Landscapes; 10 Cover Contest Winners Offer You Their Best Advice; Combine Watermedia & Pastel for Inspired Results; Express Content with Fewer Brushstrokes
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  • Sharpen Your Ability to Judge Color Tone and Value
    In last Friday's post featuring artist-instructor Kerry Dunn, we explored some of the opportunities and challenges that an extensive color palette offers. On the flipside, Bulgarian-born painter Ignat Ignatov understands how an artist can benefit from the use of a limited palette. For a time Ignatov
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  • Discover How to Use an Extensive Painting Palette
    There is nothing that defines an artist quite like his or her palette. Some consist of premixed colors and others are developed in the moment, determined by the needs of each painting. Some artists are meticulously organized, with paints arranged by color temperature, while other artists arrange colors
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  • How to Successfully Paint Color Relationships from the Start
    Painting instructors often ask students to consider two important relationships between the colors squeezed out on their palettes: value and temperature. By that they are asking them to consider whether one color mixture is lighter or darker than another, and whether the mixtures tend to have a warm
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  • Learn How to Paint Like a Sculptor
    Weekend With the Masters instructor Jacqueline Kamin paints with a sculptural sensibility that isn’t at all foreign to her practice. Earlier in her career she spent time as a bronze bust sculptor. “Working with sculpture is a lot of fun,” Kamin says. “It is very tactile and organic
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  • What Every Artist Can Learn From Plein Air Painting
    After several months of hiatus, the Plein Air blog is back! Our new Artist Daily editor, Courtney Jordan, and I have worked out a biweekly schedule to get the Plein Air blog back on track, and I’m excited to resume coverage of the artists, events, exhibitions, tools and tips, and conservation issues
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  • Recouping Lost Artistic Opportunities
    It’s often the case that when you live somewhere, you don’t take full advantage of the opportunities that the place affords, and only after leaving do you realize how valuable those opportunities were. This can be true for artists, who, after moving, may regret not utilizing a strong local
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  • Adaptability and Durability are Proven Aspects of Encaustic Painting
    After spending all day sitting at my desk, click-click-clicking away on my computer, I savor getting out and being active, especially if I’m learning a new activity or skill. It’s the difference between reading through the steps of a complicated, unfamiliar process and actually seeing it
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  • June 2010
    SPECIAL REPORT Explore New Creative Ideas With Acrylics; Learn From Sorolla’s Epic Masterpiece; Increase the Drama in Pastel Paintings; How to Plan & Improve Your Watercolors
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  • New eBook Teaches Acrylic Painting in 7 Steps
    Paintings of the sheer peaks of the Alps or serpentine glimmer of the Hudson River showcase the awe-inspiring characteristics of the natural world. But there’s something equally compelling about depictions of interior spaces. Think of how bleak and bereft Edward Hopper’s bedroom scenes are
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  • Take Advantage of Our Plein Air Expertise
    Kevin Macpherson is a renowned artist and instructor with 30 years of plein air painting experience. For newcomers, painting en plein air means literally, painting “in the open air,” and is the genre associated with painting outdoors. In 1996, Macpherson challenged himself to what I’d
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  • Free Tips and Techniques for Painting Oil Landscapes
    With landscape artist Chris McHenry's hard-won oil painting tips and techniques, you’ll start to understand how to create a realistic sense of contrast for objects in your paintings, establish depth and focus in a landscape painting with a balance of warm and cool colors, and more. Attending
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  • American Artist: Everything You Need to Know About Plein Air Painting
    On the Cover: Deb Painting Spring Creek (detail) by Edward Martinez, 2006, oil, 22 x 14. Collection the artist. Jim Wilcox: Western Landscapes Using Plein Air Sketches, Photographs, Research, & Imagination to Create Studio Paintings Plein Air Past
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  • April 2010
    How to Paint With Spontaneity & Insight; Benefit from a Beginner's; Sense of Adventure; Bring Drawings to Life In Watercolor Paintings; Professional Advice on Painting With Pastel, Oil & Watercolor and much more!
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  • Finding Your Personal Style
    It’s often said that artists don’t find their personal style—it finds them. Although I agree with this statement, I found in my experience that individual style develops only after a number of other tasks are accomplished. All professional
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  • Taking Advantage of Free Instruction
    I recently joined a gym in my neighborhood, with the hopes of working off some of those extra holiday pounds that seem to wear out their welcome around this time every year. My schedule is pretty busy, so I try to streamline my visits, making a beeline
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  • Sight-Size Drawing and Painting
    I've written a number of articles on artists who use the sight-size approach to painting, but the method became clearer to me while I was writing an article on Paul DeLorenzo for the spring 2010 issue of Workshop . The procedure is to stand a measured
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  • Paint Landscapes From Sketches, Memory, and Photographs
    Ever since my trip to Venice, Italy, last year, I have been looking at paintings of the city by 19th-century artists such as Sargent and Whistler, as well as contemporary artists such as Steve Rogers and Leonard Mizerek . I've become more aware of
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  • Free Watercolor Painting Tips and Techniques
    It’s often said in sports circles that the best players often make the worst coaches. That’s because it is hard for naturally gifted athletes to relate to players who are not so innately talented. A perfect example of this is former Boston
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  • Watercolors by Architects
    Greek Steps, Sifnos by Thomas W. Schaller, 2008, watercolor, 12 x 9. I just finished writing an article on Thomas W. Schaller's watercolor paintings for the April 2010 issue of American Artist, and it occurred to me that Thomas is the third licensed
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  • Painting From Photographs
    I normally work from plein air sketches or my imagination, but this scene I photographed while on vacation in Costa Rica was just too beautiful to pass up. As most artists do when working from a photo, I made adjustments to the composition to better suit
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  • 24 Tips to Learn How To Paint a Plein Air Landscape
    Our newest free eBook, “24 Tips to Learn How to Paint a Plein Air Landscape,” is now available to download, and in it you’ll find tips on how to get started working en plein air and how to improve your en plein air painting technique
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  • Watercolor, Winter 2010
    On the Cover: Breakfast Club (detail) by Gordon France, 2004, watercolor, 20 x 28. Private collection. Artist to Artist: Dean Mitchell Modern Masters: Jan Kunz DEPARTMENTS Editor's Note Contributors Noteworthy FEATURES Weekend With the Masters Review
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  • En Plein Air: Holiday Exhibitions & Shows
    ‘Tis the time of the year when galleries across the country host their annual holiday exhibitions, giving artists, dealers, and collectors the opportunity to gather around great art and share some Christmas cheer. Whether these shows are organized
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  • Important New Research on Artists and Art Materials
    It’s quite probable that you were already creating artwork by the time you were 20 years old. In fact, you were likely spending a good bit of time drawing, painting, sculpting, or crafting when you were 12. Those are two of the inferences that might
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  • En Plein Air: One of the First Filmed Plein Air Painters
    Although revered for his portrait work and known for being an artistic rival of his contemporary John Singer Sargent, Philip de László also painted landscapes, and one of the first known film documentations of an artist painting en plein air depicts him. That film clip of the artist painting
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  • Free Lessons From Top Watercolor Artists
    The basic set of supplies John Hulsey uses when painting on location. The recent spat of wet weather in New York has made it difficult to get outside to paint, but that doesn’t mean we in the American Artist offices haven’t been thinking about
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  • Showcase Your State: North Carolina Finalists!
    The American Artist editors have reviewed the submissions for the Showcase Your State: North Carolina contest, and below are the four chosen finalists. Whether it was expansive views of the Blue Ridge Mountains as seen from the Highlands; still, serene
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  • Building Rich and Full Layers
    By subtly layering pastel, Marlene Wiedenbaum creates a luscious and convincing sense of the world.
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  • Why I Must Paint Plein Air Studies
    I admit that I am not one who adores painting on location. If the truth be known, when I visit a national park, I'd rather be exploring and walking around—taking photos of everything that strikes my interest. Oh yes, I've paid my dues by
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  • En Plein Air: The Physics of the Sky
    Yesterday, as the articles from the upcoming winter issue of Workshop magazine circulated around the editors’ desks, I was struck by how many high-quality artists are featured in this issue and what valuable advice they offer readers through their
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  • How to Adjust to New Painting Subjects
    Curt Walters painting at the Grand Canyon. None of us want to be stuck in the rut of painting the same subjects over and over again, so we try different landscape locations, select new groups of still life objects, or join a sketch group that hires models
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  • How to Act Like an Art Collector
    When artists shop for a gallery to represent them, it's helpful if when they first visit they avoid acting or looking like an artist and instead take on the behavior of a collector. This can help you to learn how attentive a gallery’s staff is, and it allows you to assess how much they know
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  • En Plein Air: A Conversation With Jacob Collins
    Known primarily for his figurative work and for leading a resurgence in classical art education through his Water Street Atelier and the Grand Central Academy of Art, in New York City, Jacob Collins is now the founder of the Hudson River Fellowship ,
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  • En Plein Air at Weekend With the Masters
    Weekend With the Masters recently concluded in Colorado Springs, and I thought I’d share some of the photographs from the plein air portion of the event with you here. Enjoy!
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  • Painting Instruction Highlights from Master Teachers, Fall 2009
    14 Top Instructors Share Their Secrets; How to Paint From Photographs; Complete Instruction in Painting Figures, Still Lifes & Landscapes; 12 Step-by-Step Demonstrations & Lists of Materials Check out what's featured in the Fall 2009 issue of American Artist Highlights.
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  • Presentations That Help Sell Artwork
    I recently attended the opening of an exhibition of artwork by a group of artists, and the display raised questions in my mind about the impact of presentation on sales and career development. The exhibition was a temporary display in a community center
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  • November 2009
    Check out what's featured in the November 2009 issue of American Artist.
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  • The Artist We Love to Hate
    Although most of the recent news about Thomas Kinkade concerned his passing away and legacy, while he was alive he was consistently in the news over disagreements between his company, former employees, franchised gallery owners, and the FBI (detailed
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  • Priming Your Mind for Painting
    by Lori Woodward Simons As I've mentioned in past blogs, artists are motivated visually—at least I am. It seems our minds follow and are motivated by what we see. So in order to get busy on a painting, I need to remove myself from distractions
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  • Watercolor, Fall 2009
    Check out what's featured in the Fall 2009 issue of Watercolor .
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  • Behind the Scenes: Artists' Studios
    My office is also a conference room on the third floor of a building on 46th Street in Midtown New York City. The desk and file cabinets are pushed against the east wall of what was once a library, and a large conference table and eight chairs are arranged
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  • 3 Proven Ways To Start Watercolors Outdoors
    Michigan artist Jim Johnson offers valuable hints for successful watercolor painting outdoors.
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  • October 2009
    Check out what's featured in the October 2009 issue of American Artist.
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  • Workshop, Fall 2009
    Check out what's featured in the Fall 2009 issue of Workshop magazine.
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  • Andrea J. Smith: Expand From a Limited Palette and Focus
    In the new atelier she opened in Rome, Andrea J. Smith teaches students to use a limited palette of colors when painting exactly what they see from a measured distance away from the subject and the easel.
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  • Plein Air Exhibition on Balboa Island
    The artwork of nationally recognized plein air painters Greg LaRock, Jeff Sewell, Carolyn Hesse-Low, Jeff Yeomans, and JoAnn Royal will be the subject of a celebratory exhibition at Rainey Fine Art, in Newport Beach, California. The gallery is commemorating its first anniversary by featuring the works
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  • Clutter Causes Confusion
    When I meet artists at a workshop or at a convention, they often comment that I must be a highly organized person. Upon hearing this, I laugh inwardly and reply, “I'm organized in my thoughts but not with my stuff.”
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  • Drawing with Acrylics, Charcoal, Ink, & Conté
    Most of the students attending workshops and art classes rely on the instructor’s list of recommended supplies when deciding what drawing and painting materials to use, so their resulting artwork usually looks quite similar. However, when artists
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  • Plein Air Painting to Help Special-Needs Teens
    Nancy Bea Miller, a painter and mother of three, has organized a plein air paint-out to benefit the Camphill Special School’s Transition Program for teens and youths with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The paint out will be followed by an exhibition of the artists’ work at The
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  • Drawing Basics: Does Mr. Ed Have an Advantage Over You?
    It's crazy to say that horses have a visual advantage over humans, but with eyes on opposite sides of their heads, they surely don't see in three-dimensional terms like we do. There are times especially for beginners when seeing less--seeing a
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  • En Plein Air: Prepatory Sketch, Or Finished Work?
    I recently returned from a trip to Colorado, and while on that trip I got into quite the (heated) debate with two figure painters who claimed that plein air painters who sell their on-site sketches are bringing down the overall value of art. What’s your opinion? Is plein air painting a means to
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  • Drawing Basics: The One Rule We Hear More Than Any Other From Art Teachers
    Very few rules are absolute in art. But one rule keeps popping up in our magazines, quoted by art instructors and artists of all types...
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  • En Plein Air: The Golden Hour
    Photographers have coined the term “The Golden Hour” to explain the ideal lighting situation that takes place during the first and last hours of light each day. Plein air painters have an equal admiration for this time of day and find the quality and character of light to be well worth the
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  • Children Painting, Laughing, Learning and Your Valuable Advice
    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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  • The Sublime and the Beautiful: Painting the Hudson Valley
    In honor of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage, the art community prepares to celebrate the extraordinary history of painting along the Hudson River.
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  • En Plein Air: Paint-Out in Central Park
    Kevin Macpherson, Kenn Backhaus, Joe Anna Arnett, and James Asher—four professional artists who are featured in the PBS series Passport & Palette—will convene in Central Park this Saturday, July 18, for a plein air paint-out. This event is free and open to the public, so be sure to join
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  • En Plein Air: For the Love of Light
    If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about dedicated plein air painters, it’s their love of light and the great lengths they’ll go to behold and/or paint the perfect light condition. I’d like to hear your stories of a particular instance where you risked life or limb to get
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  • En Plein Air: A Conversation With Camille Przewodek
    California landscape painter Camille Przewodek's approach to plein air painting is all about capturing the color of light. She credits her teacher Henry Hensche with opening her eyes to this new way of seeing when she was a student, and now she helps other plein air painters see the light through
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  • How to Paint En Plein Air: Beginner Landscape Oil-Painting Techniques
    California landscape painter Frank Serrano is a popular instructor of plein air painting, generously sharing his knowledge and experience with students and helping them develop a foundation in the fundamentals of painting outdoors. Here we present two step-by-step demonstrations, taken from his book
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  • En Plein Air: The 400th Anniversary of the Hudson River Valley's Exploration
    As the Hudson River Valley gears up to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage, landscape painters are remembering the famed 19th-century Hudson River School painters who put the Hudson on the map and are celebrating with plein air events and exhibitions of their own.
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  • Drawing Basics: Drawing Day Results
    I can't speak for anyone else, but I sure enjoyed Drawing Day 2009 ! I went to Central Park with a friend, loaded down with drawing pencils, drawing sketchbooks, painting supplies, and Gatorade. Several scenes screamed out to be captured in a quick
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  • En Plein Air: On Location in Malibu
    The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University is once again presenting an exhibition of California Art Club members’ interpretations of the idyllic region of Malibu, California.
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  • Minimal Means, Maximum Impact
    Using subtle washes and minimal detail, Keiko Tanabe creates a powerful sense of time and place.
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  • Showcase Your State: Now Accepting North Carolina Entries!
    Our Plein Air: Showcase Your State competition allows artists from all over the country to share paintings and personal sentiments about the landscapes they love with the American Artist online community. We are now accepting entries for the state of North Carolina, and finalists will be announced in
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  • How to Triumph In Spite of the Odds
    Emerging artist Daniel James Keys couldn’t enroll at an art school, but he used every other available means to educate himself as an artist, to connect with other painters, and to promote his artwork. His experience proves that with determination, support, and computer savvy, artists can make significant
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  • Showcase Your State: Massachusetts Winners
    Our national Plein Air: Showcase Your State competition allows artists from around the country to share their interpretations of the landscapes that define their home states. This month we feature the Showcase Your State: Massachusetts finalists.
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  • Qiang Huang: Myth Buster
    This Texas oil painter shatters multiple myths—including the notion that artists are myopic and single-minded. Qiang Huang helps workshop participants learn how to draw, paint, and sell their artwork using modern technology and traditional painting methods.
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  • Workshop, Summer 2009
    The Table of Contents for the Summer 2009 issue of Workshop magazine.
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  • William Jameson: The Elements of a Great Workshop
    During a recent workshop in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, William Jameson provided instruction in plein air oil painting, but he knew it was just as important to offer encouragement and direction to students while they enjoyed the experience.
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  • En Plein Air: Pearls From Painters Past
    Plein air painters deal with many challenges outdoors, but the first hurdle they usually come across is choosing something to zero in on amid miles of potential subject matter. Here’s what two great landscape instructors of the past have to say about composition and design.
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  • En Plein Air: Favorite Places to Paint?
    All artists have at least one magical place where, no matter what is going on in their day or their life, they can go and just concentrate on the beauty of nature and be rejuvenated by their surroundings. What’s yours?
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  • 6 Tips on Using Color Mixtures
    The articles we publish in American Artist and our quarterly magazines repeat basic advice about one of the most challenging aspects of painting: selecting and mixing colors. Here’s a summary of those recommendations.
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  • En Plein Air: Local Color
    Los Angeles screenwriter, director, producer, and plein air painter George Gallo's movie Local Color will be released this summer and is already touching artists and audiences everywhere through prescreening promotion. Here is a preview of that movie and the story that inspired it.
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  • Rivalries Among Artists
    Steve Doherty asks readers if they have experienced bickering or tension between competitive artists at art association meetings, and compares those rivalries to the ones that occured among artists in 16th century in Venice, Italy.
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  • American Artist Cover Competition Winners Announced
    Artists from across the country submitted their work for consideration in the 2009 American Artist Cover Competition. After an extensive selection process Suzanne Eisler’s Still Life With Butterfly was chosen as the winning image. It is presented here, along with artwork from the nine other finalists
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  • En Plein Air: A Conversation With Scott Christensen
    Idaho artist Scott Christensen is one of the most well-respected landscape painters in the country, and his understanding of light, ability to achieve pure color, and reverence for nature also make him a highly sought-after instructor. In this Q+A section, we list Christensen’s responses to 10
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  • Acrylic Painting: Landscape Painting On-Site on a Large Scale
    With adequate preparation and the right materials, it's possible to create large acrylic landscapes en plein air. by Andrew Paquette A few years ago, I left the high-stress feature-animation industry in Hollywood, California, and moved to Arizona
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  • Plein Air Painters at Weekend With the Masters
    More than 18 top painters will be teaching at American Artist’s Weekend With the Masters Workshop & Conference this September, including the following five plein air painters who will be leading master workshops and demonstrations in Colorado’s beautiful Garden of the Gods and Monument
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  • Highlights: Painting Instruction From Master Teachers
    Get instant improvement on your portraits, landscapes, and still life’s from master teachers.
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  • Connecting With Each Other, In Person and Electronically
    Steve Doherty talks about a young California artist he discovered while browsing the American Artist member's gallery.
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  • Resources for Landscape Painters
    Steve Doherty talks about landscape painting, and shows a video of a recent painting excursion in New Orleans.
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  • Showcase Your State: Massachusetts
    American Artist is now accepting Showcase Your State submissions for artists residing in the state of Massachusetts. The submission deadline is April 31, and finalists will be announced in May.
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  • How Do You Personalize Your Still Lifes?
    Recent visits to still life painting workshop and exhibitions has reminded Steve how still lifes provide an opportunity to share some aspect of our lives with those who look at our drawings and paintings. Here, he expands on that thought, and asks about the ways you compose, execute, and personalize
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  • En Plein Air: Kevin Macpherson's Reflections on a Pond
    In the upcoming May issue of American Artist, we feature Kevin Macpherson’s Reflections on a Pond project and describe how he approached this exploratory series on light and atmosphere. That article is posted here, and it can be seen in its full layout when the May issue hits newsstands on March
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  • Watercolor: Setting Up and Painting a Floral Still Life
    A simple floral arrangement can be the perfect subject for beginner still lifes.
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  • En Plein Air: A Conversation With Joseph McGurl
    Joseph McGurl grew up under his talented father’s artistic tutelage while cultivating a passion for boating and a love of the sea. This early influence, coupled with years of hard work and practice, have made him one of today’s foremost landscape painters, and in this interview he shares
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  • Showcase Your State: New Jersey Winners
    American Artist would like to thank all of the plein air painters who submitted artwork for our Showcase Your State: New Jersey contest. From images of babbling brooks and sunlit fields in the suburbs to depictions of sailing ships and lighthouses at the Jersey Shore, New Jersey is clearly a subject
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  • The Impressionists' brushstrokes
    Q: What mediums did the Impressionists use to paint such soft, colorful strokes? A: The long strokes have more to do with technique than a particular medium. It is often said that artists are products of their age. This adage is particularly true of the
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  • English distilled turpentine
    Q: My instructor for an upcoming workshop is requesting we use English Distilled Turpentine. How does this differ from regular turpentine? His painting medium is a mixture of English turpentine, linseed oil, and dammar varnish. A: English Distilled Turpentine
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  • Choosing the Correct Canvas
    Q: I’m interested in trying watercolor painting. I took a few classes from a local artist, but I need to learn more of the basics. How can I educate myself about color? I need to experiment, but I also need to read about it. I have medium texture
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  • Painting Airy Clouds
    Q: I'm a beginner painter, and I'm hoping you can recommend a technique for painting clouds that will create the illusion of airiness. Can you help me? A: Regardless of your medium—watercolor, acrylic, or oil—the basic rules for edges
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  • Varnish Recipe
    Q: I paint in oil and acrylic, and I've successfully used an acrylic final varnish for both. I seem to have misplaced this final varnish recipe, but I believe that it was part gloss and part matte. Can you recommend a recipe of this type for me? A
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  • Do you have any recommendations on how to get started with acrylic painting?
    Q: I'm a retiree and I'm taking up painting, specifically acrylic painting, for the first time. Do you have any recommendations on how to get started? A: Acrylic is a great medium for beginners because it is the most versatile type of paint. You
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  • April 2009
    The Table of Contents for the April 2009 issue of American Artist magazine.
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  • Modern Ways to Sell Traditional Art
    Ed Terpening may represent the future of art education and marketing. His skills as a plein air painter and a software engineer allowed him to use social-media marketing to build a flourishing art career. Reading about his experiences could help you navigate through the new world of digital communication
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  • Workshop Spring 2009
    The table of contents from the Spring 2009 issue of Workshop magazine.
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  • What Do Viewers Say About Your Art?
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  • En Plein Air: A Conversation With Clyde Aspevig
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  • The Social Aspects of Watermedia Painting
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  • En Plein Air: Letters On Landscape Painting
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  • Showcase Your State: Extended Deadline
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  • En Plein Air: Showcase Your State!
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  • Useful Art Links
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  • A Practical Approach to Creating & Marketing Oils and Pastels
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  • Kevin Macpherson: Colorful Impressionist Landscapes
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  • "American Artist" Magazine Cover Competition Winners
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  • Colleen Howe's 4 Steps to Building Stronger Paintings
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  • Janet Monafo Chat Transcript
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  • Tony Curanaj's Workshop: Knowledge and Structure Allow Freer Painting
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  • Artist of the Month: Sarah Siltala: Capturing Utter Stillness
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  • Oil Painting: Daniel E. Greene: Gleaning Inspiration From Formative Experiences
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  • Oil Painting Techniques: C.W. Mundy: Painting From Upside-Down Photographs
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  • Acrylic: Barbara Edwards: Acrylic Exploration
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  • Drawing Basics: Female Nude Figure Drawing
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  • Oil Painting: The Knowlton Gallery Presents Yosemite on Canvas
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  • Pastel: Masters
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  • Watercolor: "Watercolor" 2008 Cover Competition Finalists
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  • Pastel: Denise LaRue Mahlke: Art as a Calling
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  • Oil Painting: Mary Anna Goetz's Colorful Landscapes
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  • Artist of the Month: Nick Clulow: Interior Acrylic Portraits
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  • Oil Painting: Daniel E. Greene: Gleaning Inspiration From Formative Experiences
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  • Jeffrey Reed: Introducing the Basics of Painting
    Students at the Community College of Philadelphia receive thorough instruction in the fundamentals of drawing and painting, especially those currently enrolled in Jeffrey Reed’s introductory course, Art 115—Painting I. by M. Stephen Doherty
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  • Art and the River at The James A. Michener Art Museum
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  • Susan Lyon's "Gold-Trimmed Shawl"
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  • Oil Painting: Susan Lichtman: The Powerful Use of Light in Oil Interiors
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "Silver Server With Cups"
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  • Pastel: Critique: "The Old Man"
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  • Oil Painting: 3 Views of the Same Scene
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "The Mother Wore Green (at the Wedding)"
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  • Pastel: Sam Goodsell: Sticking With the Figure
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  • Jim Wilcox: The Right Shape and the Right Color
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  • Beginner Oil: Options for Oil Painters
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  • Oil Painting: Kevin Sanders' Plein Air Landscapes
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  • Florence Griswold Museum Presents “Impressionist Giverny”
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  • Drawing Basics: Arlene Steinberg on Colored Pencil
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  • Michael McNamara's Urban Plein Air Tips
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  • Technique: Sissi Siska: Transforming Silk Painting
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  • "American Artist" 2007 Cover Competition
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  • "Watercolor" Magazine 2007 Cover Competition Finalists
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  • Pastel: William Schneider: Painting the Mouth
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  • Technique: George James: Innovations With Transparent Watercolor
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  • Artist of the Month: Christopher Copeland
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  • Lori Simon's "Bass Harbor Marsh"
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  • Oil Painting: Scott Prior: A Contemporary Approach to California Impressionism
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  • Pastel: Patricia A. Hannaway: Drawing What the Model is Doing
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "Geraniums"
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "Bleu"
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "The Moroccan Vase"
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  • BACAA: Classical Training From Contemporary Masters
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  • Beginner Oil: Setting up for Plein Air painting
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  • Oil Painting: Tree's Place Gallery Exhibition: Six Premier Landscape Artists
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  • Jim Wilcox: More Student Critiques
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  • Oil Painting: Peter Fiore: Freely Interpreting Nature
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  • Watercolor: Jane Paul Angelhart: A Practical and Creative Approach to Commissioned Portraits
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  • Artist of the Month: Don Gray
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  • Watercolor: Charles Reid: Natural and Authentic Watercolors
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  • Oil Painting: Steve Armes: Creating Imaginative Studio Paintings
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  • Beginner Oil: Recommended Books for a Beginning Artists
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  • Art Business: Artist's Web Blogs
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  • Watercolor: 20 Great Watercolor Teachers: Biographies and Artwork
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  • Pastel: 70th Anniversary Competition Winners
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  • Pastel: CRITIQUE: "Maddy No. 1"
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  • Beginner Oil: Determining the focal point of a painting
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  • Oil Painting: Christine Lafuente's Oils: Exploration of Color and Form
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  • Art in Colorado
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  • Oil Painting: Michael Albrechtsen: Spend More Time Looking
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  • Watercolor: Peter Hussey: The Impact of Geometric Shapes in Watercolor Paintings
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  • Oil Painting: Daniel Graves: Steward of Humanist Art
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  • Hudson River School for Landscape: Reviving an American Tradition
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "Looking South—Hollywood Beach, Florida"
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  • Oil Painting: Cecilia Beaux's Legacy
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  • Artist of the Month: Lonnie Shan
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  • Oil Painting: Plein Air Painters of Chicago: More Finished Work
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  • Watercolor: Steve Hanks: Romantic and Inspirational Watercolors
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  • Pastel: Albert Handell's Pastel Paintings
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  • Oil Painting: SPONSORED CONTENT: Artist Behind the Brand: Scott Gellatly
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  • Watercolor: Kathleen Kolb: Versatility in Vermont
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  • Oil Painting: Frederic Edwin Church: A Great Landscape Painting Teacher
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  • Oil Painting: Using Subtle Grays in Still Life Painting
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  • Art Business: Investing in Artists
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  • Watercolor: 70th Anniversary Competition Winners
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "Reflecting at Sunset"
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "Blue Violets of Provence"
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  • Drawing Basics: Colored Pencil 70th Anniversary Competition Winners
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  • Oil Painting: Doug Higgins: Attracting the Viewer's Eye
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  • Oil Painting: Oil 70th Anniversary Competition Winners
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  • Masters: John Ruskin and His Influence on American Art
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  • Watercolor: Carl Dalio: Cruising the River of Living Color
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  • Pastel: CRITIQUE: "Kate Menendez"
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  • Watercolor: Elizabeth O'Reilly: An Oil Painter Takes on the Figure in Watercolor
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  • Pastel: Robert Hoffman: About Brown County, Indiana
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: Working in Mixed Media
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  • Beyond Drawing Basics: Ashcan Drawings
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  • Oil Painting: Plein-Air Painters of America Members: From the Site to the Studio
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  • Oil Painting: On Location in Malibu: Paintings by CAC Members
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  • Technique: Design Aesthetic
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "Moonlit Forest"
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  • Oil Painting: Meredith Brooks Abbott: Seeing Nature With Fresh Eyes
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  • Oil Painting: Sarah Lamb: Painting the World as a Feast
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  • Beginner Oil: Paintbrush care
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  • Artist of the Month: Paul Lowe
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  • Dan Thompson's June 13th Chat Transcript
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  • Oil Painting: Sneak Preview of Dan Thompson’s Figure-Painting Demonstration
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  • Oil Painting: Art That Heals: Bonnie Ramsbottom
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  • Oil Painting: Still-Life Portraits: The Book-Filled Art of Ephraim Rubenstein
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  • Ned Mueller: Painting Spots of Color
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  • Beginner Oil: Oil Painting Materials: The Basics
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  • The Painting Center Hosts Two Watercolor Exhibitions
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  • Art Business Success Story: Donna Dewberry
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  • Watercolor: Florence Strauss: Building Layers of Drybrush Color
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  • Beginner Oil: Color Theory, The Basics
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  • Acrylic: Stephen Quiller: Color Choices That Improve Watermedia Painting
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  • Watercolor: Stephen Quiller: Color Choices That Improve Watermedia Painting
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  • Pastel: Kim Lordier: When to Be Critical, When to Let Go
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  • Masters: 20 Great Watercolor Teachers Offer Their Best Recommendation
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  • Watercolor: Teaching Watercolor Workshops to Beginners: Pitfalls to Avoid
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  • Oil Painting: Rose Frantzen's Figure Painting Tips
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  • Artist of the Month: Alexandre Reider
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  • Using Egg Tempera & Gold Leaf to Achieve Renaissance Luminocity
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  • Pastel: Mark Norseth: Capturing the Ocean in Pastel
    Nine years ago, Mark Norseth moved his family to Hawaii and discovered the perfect place to record the power, movement, and coloration of the sea in pastel paintings. by Tamara Moan It’s easy to spot Mark Norseth around the town of Kailua, perhaps
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  • Pastel: Jean Ranstrom: Discovering Unexpected Subjects for Pastel Paintings
    Jean Ranstrom’s artist-friends are often surprised that she can create stunning pastel paintings in locations they would ignore. “If a painting has a strong focal point, as well as varied edges, values, and color temperatures, it can be successful
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  • Oil Painting: Colin J. Callahan: Seeking Energy and Light
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  • Masters: Lessons Learned: Monet's Influence on Robinson
    Time in Giverny with Monet transformed Theodore Robinson's work, and much of what he learned he later passed on to another promising young painter. by Stephen May A recent exhibition on Theodore Robinson (1852–1896) highlighted the importance
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  • Drawing Basics: Woodcut Prints or Oil Paintings?
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  • Watercolor: Into the Heart of The Southwest: 20 Painters Interpret the Forbes Trinchera Ranch
    Forbes and American Artis t again invited a group of artists to spend a week together interpreting a vast Colorado ranch in their choice of medium, subject, and style. by M. Stephen Doherty View of Cat Mountain by Ephraim Rubenstein, 2006, oil, 9 x 17½
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  • Oil Painting: GALLERY: Marla J. Brenner's Plein Air Oils
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  • Oil Painting: Ned Mueller: The Importance of Value Studies
    Ned Mueller discussed how to properly mix the right colors with which to convey a scene. by Bob Bahr “Many students want to learn as much as they can in an expedient manner, but it does take some years to achieve a fairly competent level,”
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  • Oil Painting: GALLERY: James M. Sulkowski's Oil Paintings
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "A Spanish Song"
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "West Coast Fall"
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  • Acrylic: CRITIQUE: "Sunset Edith", "Solvang" and "Stream"
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  • Oil Painting: GALLERY: Ned Mueller's Landscapes and Portraits
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  • Oil Painting: Ruth L. Beeve: Responding to Chance and Planning Ahead With Water-Soluable Paint
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  • Acrylic: Marcia Burtt: Bold Plein Air Painting From A Conservationist
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  • Masters: Sweden's Sargent
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  • Beginner Oil: Transistioning into Fine Art
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  • Drawing Basics: From a Roman Fountain to a South Bend Studio
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  • Acrylic: Painting On-Site on a Large Scale
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  • Watercolor: Steve Rogers: Inspiration at Higher Levels
    Steve Rogers can point to the specific time in his career when his watercolors changed from being average to exceptional. That occurred when he met his future wife, found a subject he was passionate about painting, and had a religious experience. by M
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  • En Plein Air: Thomas Van Stein: Painting the Light of Night en Plein Air
    Along a moonlit Santa Barbara beach this past June, seven artists learned how California nocturne painter Thomas Van Stein employs strong value contrasts, soft edges, and a simplified design to recreate the light of night. by Allison Malafronte Thomas
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  • Oil Painting: Josh Elliott: Tapestries in Oil
    Oil painter Josh Elliott strives to paint tones and designs, not just picturesque scenes. by Bob Bahr Evening Shadows, Swan Valley 2006, oil, 12 x 16. All artwork this article private collection unless otherwise indicated. Josh Elliott is 33 years old
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  • Oil Painting: GALLERY: More of James Woodside's Remote Landscapes
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  • Drawing Basics: Preserving the Landscape in Colored Pencil
    Ohio artist Linda Wesner depicts American scenes that are quickly disappearing because she feels it is important that the viewer recognize the universal theme of change. by Bob Bahr Light Along the Hudson 2006, colored pencil, 25 x 12¾. All artwork
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  • Pastels: Taking Charge of Color
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  • Pastels: Teaching Values
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  • Watercolor: SPONSORED CONTENT: The Artist Behind the Brand: Joe Miller
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  • Watercolor: 20 Emerging Watercolor Artists
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  • Watercolor: Essay: A Visit With Andrew Wyeth, March 9, 2006
    Editor-in-chief of Watercolor magazine, M. Stephen Doherty, recounts his memorable visit to the home of legendary watercolorist Andrew Wyeth. by M. Stephen Doherty In this account of my visit with Andrew Wyeth, I hope to convey the sense that he is like
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  • Watercolor: Betty Carr's Basic Principles for Painting
    In the fall 2006 issue of Workshop magazine, verteran artist Betty Carr taught the fundamentals of light and color in the cool spring of France's Loire Valley and in a Scottsdale, Arizona studio. We offer an excerpt from the article explaining her
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  • Oil Painting: Travis Schlaht: Following Inspiration
    New York painter Travis Schlaht looks for—and finds—compelling beauty in many corners of life. Then, using a restrained but powerful palette, he mirrors it on canvas. by James A. Metcalfe Bar II 2005, oil on linen, 26 x 36. All artwork this
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  • Oil Painting: Timothy R. Thies' Color Charts
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  • Oil Painting: Sean Cheetham: Common Weaknesses in Figure Paintings
    In the fall 2006 issue of Workshop magazine, California artist Sean Cheetham explained how to achieve accuracy and harmony in his alla prima figure paintings. Here, the artist discusses common weaknesses in figure paintings in an excerpt from the article
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  • Oil Painting: Randall C. Sexton's Painting Tips
    In the fall 2006 issue of Workshop magazine, Randall C. Sexton taught participants how to create oil paintings in response to subjects that they were anxious to paint. We present an excerpt from the article. by M. Stephen Doherty Keep your palette organized
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  • Oil Painting: Lynn Gertenbach's Handy Tips for Painting Water
    In the fall 2006 issue of Workshop magazine, Lynn Gertenbach taught her students that plein air painting is a partnership between the artist and nature. We offer an exerpt from the article with Gertenbach's tips for painting water. by Molly Siple
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  • Oil Painting: Thomas Van Stein: A Nocturne Painter’s Palette
    In the fall 2006 issue of Workshop magazine, California nocturne painter Thomas Van Stein taught seven students his process for capturing the light of night on canvas. Of the many challenges students faced, the most difficult ones seemed to involve value
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  • Watercolor: Sondra Freckelton: Planning for Expression
    Sondra Freckelton is widely recognized for her well-planned, thoughtful, and expertly crafted watercolors she develops using principles that expand artistic expression; and she is appreciated for helping others learn those principles while gaining a concrete
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  • Watercolor: Jamie Wyeth: Combining Water-Soluable Paints
    Like many artists accustomed to working with opaque paints, Jamie Wyeth prefers to use combinations of water-soluble materials rather than just transparent watercolor. He finds that layers of gouache, ink, graphite, acrylic, and watercolor allow him to
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  • Watercolor: Lee Boynton: Painting the Same Subject to Learn More About Light & Color
    Lee Boynton, a master of Impressionistic watercolor painting, explains how to learn more about color and value by simplifying your subject and painting it repeatedly under different light conditions. by Linda Gottlieb and M. Stephen Doherty Cozy Harbor
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  • Oil Painting: Milt Kobayashi: Paint What You Want to See
    Milt Kobayashi grants students permission to take complete control of their paintings and not feel obligated to paint exactly what they see. During a recent workshop, he encouraged participants to change a model’s pose, coloration, and costumes
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  • Drawing Basics: The Emergence of Tonal Drawing
    Tonal drawing--the juxtaposition of relative values, the notion of seeing masses rather than outlines--more closely replicates the way humans see than do lines. This emotional way of depicting the world has been explored since Leonardo; modern artists
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  • Oil Painting: James Gurney's Paintings: Fact & Fantasy
    This New York state plein air artist creates impressive landscape paintings informed by his work as an illustrator and inspired by the work of the Hudson River School. by John A. Parks Creek Above Kaaterskill Falls 2004, oil, 20 x 16. All artwork this
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  • Watercolor: 10 Tools for Better Watercolors
    Artists often limit their potential by not taking full advantage of watercolor paints and supplies. Here’s advice that has proven helpful to my students. by Catherine Hillis There is so much conflicting information and advice available to watercolor
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  • Drawing Basics: Jon DeMartin's Drawing Workshops to Improve Paintings
    “One of the biggest reasons painters get into trouble is because their pictures don’t have a solid foundation of accurate and expressive drawings,” says New York artist Jon DeMartin. That’s why his drawing workshops are so helpful
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  • Drawing Basics: Inside the Atelier: Learning How to Draw on the Right Side of the Brain
    As the son of Betty Edwards, the author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain , Brian Bomeisler helps students access the right side of their brains to improve their drawings. The following describes the first day of Bomeisler’s five day drawing
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  • Oil Painting: Ken Auster's Technique in a Nutshell
    In the October 2006 issue of American Artist , California artist Ken Auster explained how he pursues an aggressive, take-no-prisoners approach to plein air painting. Here, we offer further insight into his technique. by John A. Parks Canvas. Cotton duck
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  • Oil Painting: Gene McInerney: The Delicate Engineer
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  • Oil Painting: Painting Interior Light
    Room interiors provide an excellent opportunity to paint a variety of light intensities, colors, and effects; but they also present challenges in trying to capture the subtleties of forms within those dimly lit spaces. by Joseph Gyurcsak Interior scenes
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