Let’s take a closer look at The Little Worker by Helen McNicoll—a pleasant landscape with high-key colors, compressed values, and an intimate perspective. Dimensions: 20 x 24 inches (51.3 × 61 cm) Year Created: c.1907 Medium: Oil on Canvas Current Location: Ontario Art Gallery, Toronto Click here to download a high-resolution photo of the painting. … Read more
Let’s take a closer look at this stunning landscape painting by Daniel Garber titled September Morning. I love Garber’s work. He had a unique, peaceful style. This one caught my eye the other day with its crisp colors, rolling hills, and brilliant yellow sky. (If you enjoy learning about beautiful art and master artists, you … Read more
In this post, I’ll walk you through how I painted Fraser Island, Sunset using oil paints, brushes, and palette knives. It features a striking sunset witnessed from the jetty, with brilliant warm lights, ambiguous shadows, and shimmering water. All up, it took about three and a half hours spread over a few sessions. (I also … Read more
Today’s featured artist is Elena Salnikova. She paints stunning portraits in oil, usually with the subject outdoors amongst nature. Her still lifes are also impressive. You can see a few of my favorites below. They are colorful and playful, but not so much that they appear cartoonish and overly stylized. Her style also seems particularly suited … Read more
Most people characterize Vincent van Gogh’s work for its bold, swirling strokes. But he was much more dynamic than just that. I have spent the last few weeks looking over his entire portfolio, including over 800 paintings, to get a feel for how he painted and his preferred techniques and processes. Here are my findings. … Read more
I recently put the finishing touches on my painting Montville, Lush Greens, Rainy Day. This was a tricky one with all the plants, leaves, flowers, and trees weaving in and out of focus. All up, it took about five hours spread over several sessions. The last couple of hours were just spent tinkering and adjusting … Read more
(My “On the Easel” posts give you a behind-the-scenes look at what I am working on, what went well, what went wrong, and lessons learned.) Below is one of my recent paintings, Montville, Red, Yellow, and Green. It depicts the beautiful landscape of Montville, Queensland, Australia. We spent a few nights there around the end … Read more
I recently published a video walking you through my painting, Perth Gardens. You can watch it below. The painting took about four hours spread over several sessions. The video shows you some of the broad steps and decisions I made along the way. If you don’t have time to watch the video, you can read … Read more
“Paint what you love, and love what you paint” Tom Roberts Let’s take a closer look at the iconic Australian painting, Sheering the Rams by Tom Roberts. When I think of outback Australia, this painting comes to mind. I’ll cover: Dimensions: 48.2 x 72.1 inches (122.4 × 183.3 cm) Year Created: 1890 Medium: Oil on … Read more
(My “On the Easel” posts give you a behind-the-scenes look at what I am working on, what went well, what went wrong, and things I learn.) Let’s take a look at how I painted Gumdale, Red Flowers, Blue Sky. I run past this spot almost every day. On this particular occasion, everything was just right. … Read more