Everyone loves Impressionism! The colors, the movement, the beautiful light and sense of calm. What should you do if you want to paint more like an Impressionist? Impressionism was a big change in the way paintings are made and seen. Landscape paintings changed from this detailed, idealized view: (Ommeganci, Landscape With a Flock of Sheep, […]
Inspiration – Diebenkorn
When I hit a plateau or am stuck, or just need some inspiration — looking at great artists helps me a lot. This painting is by Richard Diebenkorn. and it’s called “Cityscape 1″. It’s huge, like 50″ x 60”. He painted it in 1963, when he was 40. Diebenkorn passed away in 1993 at the […]
Art School Shortcut – Using Your Smartphone
I often take photos of my work as I’m going along, and I noticed that my cell phone’s “auto-correct” feature makes good suggestions now and then! It’s that little magic wand icon, and it’s really designed to compensate for lighting. Because we’re usually snapping photos in less than perfect conditions. But sometimes the way it […]
Giant Paintings!
This landscape painting is HUGE! It’s a 4′ x 8′ panel that I painted for the VA on Soldier’s Home Road, West Lafayette. We talked about painting directly onto their wall, but their walls have a lumpy surface, kind of like a woven basket, so that wouldn’t have worked. I used acrylic paint on plywood, […]
Add More Paint!
When we’re Painting & Partying and I tell people “If you make a mistake, just add more paint”, I know that sounds weird. Take a look at this masterpiece by Monet. It’s at the Art Institute of Chicago, I took this photo when I was there. Because I like to get reeeeally close and check […]
Public Art – Monarch Bear
So you might be wondering what other kinds of artwork I do! Well – in 2015 I painted a fiberglass bear for the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, as part of their “Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!” fundraiser. I’d always wanted to paint a fiberglass animal! I remember when they did those wonderful […]
Avoid “Overworking” Your Paintings
“Is it done? Am I finished?” It’s a tough question sometimes. Here’s an example of a painting I consider to be “overworked”, and it’s one of MY paintings 🙂 Aaaaargh! When I look at this, the purpose isn’t clear, the relationships between the objects are vague; the shapes are too similar without being rhythmic; there’s […]