Stop copying in your landscape painting
Instead of asking, “How do I paint what I see?” ask what attracted you to this scene in the first place. That’s the basis of landscape painting.
The most important decision in plein air painting
Painting is all about organizing a beautiful chaos into a coherent design, so the viewer experiences what moved us to paint that scene in the first place.
Maine Coast
I’m by nature pretty larky, so moody symbolism is beyond me. To me, the cool, dark waters off Maine’s coast are refreshing, boats are lyrical symbols of human capability, and church spires mean hope. Stripped to its essentials, this is my Maine.
National juried shows should ban (or cover) signatures
“I will not judge another show where artists are allowed to submit signed work,” a juror told me. Judges are human, and signatures are basically spoilers.
Thomaston
The old port village of Thomaston sits where the St. George River flows into its tidal estuary on the Maine Coast. This view is from where Water Street intersects with the road to Cushing, where mudflats glint in low tide.
On the Brooklyn Heights side, the low hill rises in cool blues, greens and violets, indifferent to Thomaston’s history of shipbuilders, fishermen, and merchants.
Seen from this distance, the boatyard details are less important than the rhythm of shapes and the interplay of warm light and cool shadow.
There are only so many summers
Urgency is built into life. When we pass on, the world we created and lived in and all the possibilities we entertained are gone forever.
Mining your slush pile for better painting ideas
Time has already done the editing in your painting slush pile. If it still interests you a year or five later, there’s something there worth exploring.
When artists went to war
Before photography became fast, portable and cheap, the world relied on artists to explain war.
An extremely soft opening and Trekkers auction
Trekkers is a non-profit youth mentoring organization that helps adolescents build social, emotional, and intellectual resilience.
Monday Morning Art School: retraining your eyes
Painterly seeing is in some ways the opposite of everyday vision. The brain has to be tricked into slowing down.