What constitutes a beginner painter?
I don’t want painting students to pass a test before they start with me; I just want them to be able to thread their metaphorical sewing machine on their own. Midsummer, 24×36, $3985 framed. In honor of Canadian Thanksgiving, which is Monday, let’s feature paintings I’ve done in Canada. As soon as I announced that I …
A glossary of basic painting terms
Now you, too, can sound like an artist! Here’s my glossary of art terms—highly subjective and relevant mainly to painters. Fallow field, Carol L. Douglas, 12X16, $1449 framed. Abstraction: non-representational art in which meaning is expressed through a formal pattern of shapes, lines and colors. Sometimes called “non-objective.” There are degrees of abstraction. Alkyd: an oil-based …
Monday Morning Art School: contre-jour
Contre-jour is a great effect for figure and landscape painting, but you can practice it in still life. Tête-à-tête, by Carol L. Douglas, long since gone to its new home. Contre-jour is French for ‘against daylight’ and it simply means a back-lit subject. The viewer is looking towards the light. When the sun is low, …
A new system of training new painters
I’m confident this approach will prepare confident, competent painting students ready to tackle higher-level observational painting, composition, color theory and mark-making. Breaking storm, 48X30, oil on canvas, Carol L. Douglas, available through Folly Cove Gallery, Rockport, MA After this session of painting classes, which ends on November 2, I will no longer take beginning painters. …
Three artists, one view
It’s not what you paint, it’s how you paint it. Asters by Björn Runquist, 12X24. Courtesy of the artist. Last week, I got a text from Björn Runquist that read “Asters!” and included a photo of the roadside along Maine 131 in Thomaston. I was out on American Eagle teaching, so I couldn’t rush over there. On …