For your inspiration today: Frank Johnston’s Sunset in the Bush. Johnston was a Canadian artist and a member of the Group of Seven. This painting caught my eye with its painterly brushwork and glowing sunlight. A few observations: Tip: The dimensions of your painting is one of the first important composition decisions you can make. … Read more
Robert Henri wrote in his book The Art Spirit: “However much you may use “broken color,” hold on to the few simple larger masses of your composition, and value as most important the beauty and design of these larger masses, or forms, or movements. Do not let beauty in the subdivisions destroy the beauty or … Read more
Here’s a simple but effective test that I frequently use. It’s for when you are making your way through a painting and need to check if you’re on the right track. Or if you know you made a mistake but are unsure what it is. What you do is take your reference photo and compare … Read more
As you may know, we had our second daughter, Arabella, four weeks ago. Of course, I haven’t had much time at the easel. My hands have been full with cuddles, feeding, and a few sleepless nights. But I have been able to do a touch of drawing. Mostly rough sketches of Arabella, often with her … Read more
I had an interesting question from a reader. They have a slight color deficiency in their vision (red/green deficient) and wanted to know if it would have an impact on their paintings and if they should be doing anything about it. Here are my thoughts. It would probably have an impact but how much? I’m … Read more
Here’s a small painting fresh off the easel, New Zealand, Botanical Gardens. I used a limited palette for this one. Just four colors plus titanium white. Alizarin crimson, transparent red oxide, cadmium yellow, and ultramarine blue. Painting with a limited palette is an interesting exercise and I suggest you try it yourself from time to … Read more
Let’s take a closer look at a high-key pastel by Childe Hassam, Up the River. I’ll cover: Title: Up the River Date Created: 1906 Size: 17.7 x 21.7 inches (45.1 x 55.2 cm) Medium: Pastel on Paper Distinct Pastel Finish Pastel is an interesting medium. It has characteristics of both drawing and painting and a … Read more
For your inspiration today, I have curated a selection of sunrise and sunset paintings by the great Canadian artist, Tom Thomson. He had a knack for capturing these fleeting moments with brush and paint. Many of these are studies done plein air (outdoors) and, I imagine, rapidly. He painted Sunset (below) from a canoe, immersed … Read more
Earlier this week, I wrote about Susan Ryder, a remarkable interior artist. In doing my research, I came across another interesting artist, Bernard Dunstan. He was one of Ryder’s early teachers. I have since been down a few rabbit holes relating to his life and work. I wanted to share my findings while I remember. … Read more
I came across a British artist who I think you might like, if not already: Susan Ryder. She paints these wonderful interior scenes, with rich colors and painterly strokes. Her father was an amateur painter and encouraged her to pick up a brush at an early age and pursue the art life. Too often I … Read more
One of my best painting tips, no matter your skill level, is to focus on the big, simple shapes and colors at the start and reserve the more intricate and complex details for later in the painting. When you’re a beginner, you tend to do the opposite: you get lost in the tiny details at … Read more
Let’s take a closer look at Arthur Wesley Dow’s Cosmic Cities. (What a name, hey!) Dow was an American artist and teacher, though it seems he is more known for his teaching. One of his students was Jane Peterson, who I wrote about last month. He also taught Georgia O’Keeffe. But enough about his students. … Read more