Art Newsletter

Here’s a painting fresh off the easel: Perth Gardens. One of the key challenges of this painting was making the feature plant stand out as a soft focal point, yet also appear woven in with the surrounding landscape. Getting it right involved a lot of back and forth between blending the plant in with the … Read more

For your inspiration today is a painting by a Russian artist named Stanislav Zhukovsky. It’s titled Summer Meadow, Pobojka. It’s a simple and pleasant landscape. (Not every painting needs to make a grand statement. It could just be pretty.) There’s a pleasing temperature contrast between the pink flowers and the surrounding greens and blues. The … Read more

At the start of the year, Chontele, Elora, and I spent a week with friends in Perth. It has some beautiful spots, particularly along the coast. My most recent painting is based on a photo I took at Cape Peron.  This was a surprisingly challenging scene to paint well.  The big idea of this painting … Read more

For your inspiration today is Thomas Moran’s View of Venice. It’s an intricate watercolor painting of Italy’s Canal Grande.  (You can download a high-resolution photo of the painting here.) Below are some key observations about the painting. Compressed Values and Dark Accents Here’s a grayscale of the painting: The painting follows a theme of compressed values … Read more

I have taken progress shots of almost every painting I have created over the past seven years. This has been an invaluable habit. Not only does it remind me how each painting came together, but it also helps me solve problems that arise in my paintings. Often a painting will be coming together nicely… until … Read more

Someone emailed in saying they hope my Painting the Landscape workshop will give them the confidence to take and paint from their own reference photos. The thing is, painting from your own reference photo is easier and more effective than painting from one taken by me or anyone else. When you paint from your own … Read more

We are in Perth at the moment staying with a friend. I haven’t been able to do any painting, but I did take a few good reference photos. You can see them below. Feel free to download and paint from them as you wish. I’m eyeing off one of those rocky shore photos with the … Read more