Watch Me Paint: World-Class Art, World-Class Instruction
If I had more time, I would have written a shorter essay. Coast Guard Inspection, 6X8, oil on canvasboard. The above witticism has been attributed to many people because it’s a universal truth. President Woodrow Wilson put it thus: “If it is a ten-minute speech it takes me all of two weeks to prepare it; …
Beautiful brushwork rests on a foundation of good preparation. Ravening Wolves, 24X30, is in my show, Fantastic Places and Magical Realms at the Camden Public Library, month of December. I recently came across the sketch below, of two wolves. I was surprised and pleased, because it’s something I drew about a decade or so. It …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: practice makes perfect”
I don’t begrudge people painting for fun, but I assume you read this blog because you’re interested in being the best painter you can be. Beach Erosion, 8X10, Carol L. Douglas, available through Ocean Park Association. I had finished writing a lecture I’d mentally subtitled “why am I torturing you like this?” That’s hard work, …
Continue reading “A marsh painting and why they can be truly terrible”
Try reducing one of these paintings to a notan, and you’ll realize just how much drawing underpins this seeming simplicity. Plein air painting by Tara Will, courtesy of the artist. “Why are you teaching us self-portrait?” a student recently asked me. The human face is the most demanding subject to draw, because very slight errors …
This exercise, so critical to the success or failure of painting, is also important because it stresses the beauty inherent in all objects. Prom shoes, 6×8, oil on canvas, Carol L. Douglas, $348 unframed A major part of learning to paint is learning to see, and in the process, learning to draw. Part of this …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: simplification”
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 …
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. …
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 …
There’s a world of difference between copying a photo and creating a painting using photos for reference. Skylarking 2, 18×24, $1855 unframed. It’s difficult to paint boats under sail en plein air, so mostly we use photographs for that. It is not true that I never paint from photos; I just prefer painting from life. …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: painting from photographs”
The color of white is the color of light. Mastering that will make all your paintings more exciting. Girl Arranging Her Hair, 1886, Mary Cassatt, courtesy National Gallery of Art Do you remember learning that “white is not a color; it’s the combination of all the colors”? That’s malarkey, although it’s based on a truth. …
Continue reading “Monday Morning Art School: white on white”