Tag: bravura brushwork

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How to choose the right painting class or art workshop

Beauchamp Point, Autumn Leaves, 12X16, oil on archival canvasboard, $1449 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

Choosing the right painting class or art workshop can dramatically improve your painting skills — but with so many online art classes, in-person workshops, and video courses available, how do you know which one will actually move your work forward?

I recently spent time helping my friend Karen figure out which of my upcoming classes would best serve her. That decision wasn’t about whether she was a beginner or advanced painter. It was about identifying what she needed to learn next.

The best painting instruction meets you at your next developmental step, not your current skill level.

Main Street, Owl’s Head, oil on archival canvasboard, $1623 includes shipping and handling in continental US.

What matters most when choosing a painting class

Clear skill goals
Before you sign up, ask yourself: what do I want to improve? Do you want stronger observational skills, better composition, more color confidence or more expressive brushwork? The most effective painting classes focus on specific, teachable skills and provide a roadmap so you leave with measurable progress, not just inspiration.

A teaching style you connect with
Some art instructors teach step-by-step demos. Others emphasize design principles and independent problem-solving. Look for classes where the style of instruction feels clear, encouraging, and tailored to your pace. And personality matters. Even a brilliant painter won’t help you grow if the teaching environment feels tense or dismissive.

Feedback and interaction
Interactive painting workshops accelerate learning far more than passive video lessons. Zoom classes and workshops that include real-time critiques and Q&A are especially valuable.

Autumn farm, oil on canvasboard, $1449 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

Of course, live instruction isn’t always feasible. That’s why I also offer Seven Protocols for Successful Oil Painters. It’s a structured foundation in oil painting principles designed to strengthen your independent studio practice. It’s not a replacement for live instruction, but it builds essential fundamentals.

Community and accountability
Learning alongside others builds motivation and accountability. Workshops and classes with peer interaction help you stay inspired and keep practicing long after the class ends.

Focus on fundamentals and expression
Good painting instruction balances foundation (how to see, how to plan, how to mix color) with artistic expression (style, gesture, brushwork). Technique alone doesn’t create strong art. A great class also teaches you how to see and how to interpret.

Checklist for choosing a painting class

  • Read the course description carefully. Does it clearly match your goals?
  • Make sure the instructor can articulate process, not just demonstrate it.
  • Check class size. Too large means no feedback. Too small leads to the hovering by the teacher.
  • Choose classes that include critique and interaction.
  • Commit to practicing between sessions. That’s where real artistic growth happens.
Autumn Farm, Evening Blues, oil on canvasboard, $1449 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

How to see like a painter

One of the biggest leaps any painter can make is learning to see like an artist sees — not just looking at reality, but interpreting it. That’s where my Zoom class How to see like a painter shines.

This class helps you:

  • Train your observational eye;
  • Break complex forms into rhythmic patterns of shapes and values;
  • Understand structure;
  • Look with intention, not assumptions;
  • Work from photos without being a slave to them.

Whether you’re a beginner painter or have decades of experience, improving how you see will transform how your work reads on canvas. The class meets on Monday evenings starting next week. Here’s more information, including a link to enroll.

Painterliness, looseness and bravura brushwork

One of the most common questions I’m asked is how to put confident, lively strokes down so your painting feels energized rather than stiff. That’s the focus of my Zoom class Painterliness, looseness and bravura brushwork.

In this class you’ll learn:

  • How to loosen up your hand and mind;
  • Techniques for dynamic, expressive brushwork;
  • Balancing control and freedom;
  • Creating dynamic surfaces.

This class is for painters of all levels. The class meets on Tuesday evenings starting next week. Here’s more information, including a link to enroll.

(Note: both classes have a bye-week March 9-10 while I’m in Sedona, AZ teaching Canyon Color for the Painter.)

Registration is now open for workshops in 2026! Reserve your spot:

Can’t commit to a full workshop? Work online at your own pace:

Seven Protocols for Successful Oil Painters

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Monday Morning Art School: painterly, loose brushwork

Marshall Point Rock Study
Marshall Point, oil on archival canvasboard, 9X12, $696, includes shipping and handling in continental US.

Today is Candlemas, one of the oldest feasts in Christendom. It came to North America through the Pennsylvania Dutch as Groundhog Day. That’s also the midpoint of astronomical winter.

Northerners know the whole “six more weeks of winter” thing is hooey. Winter ends at the spring equinox; this year that’s March 20. Yes, that’s six weeks away, but we’ve been known to have snow into May.

Traditionally, Candlemas is observed by eating crepes because there’s nothing like carb-loading this time of year. I plan on having wild blueberries with mine.

Now, to work

Two paintings by Lauren Hammond, courtesy of the artist.

In last week’s Zoom class, Lauren Hammond showed two paintings, above. One was a careful study of storm clouds over Lake Winnipesaukee. The other was a small abstraction of the same subject. The first is more factual; the second is more tempestuous. “It took me fifteen minutes,” she protested when I told her I loved the abstraction. That’s not true. She should include the hours it took her to do the carefully-realized painting as well, because all simplification rests on getting it right in the first place.

Loose is not easier

Loose brushwork isn’t sloppiness. Instead, it’s a confident economy that only comes after one truly understands the composition, values and color relationships.

Loose brushwork looks effortless because the artist has already figured out what matters and what doesn’t. He or she has internalized the way shapes interact, the rhythm of edges and the push and pull of light and dark. Once that happens, they can let go and paint with abandon. Mark-making is no longer tentative; it is the result of decisive choice. That’s the heart of painterliness.

Sometimes painting students seek looseness before they’re ready. You cannot break rules that you haven’t yet mastered. Without good structure, amorphous marks just look confused. True looseness is an informed choice. It’s a freedom that arises from discipline, not in spite of it.

Clary Hill Blueberry Barrens, watercolor on Yupo, ~24X36, $3985 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

Clarity

You can’t be genuinely loose until you are utterly clear on the subject you’re painting. Before you add bravura brushwork, you must establish the composition’s anchor points: the big shapes, the value relationships that give your painting weight and coherence and the color harmonies. These are the scaffolding of painting and can never be ignored. Build well and you give yourself the freedom to break out in dynamic ways.

This is just like learning a language. First you master vocabulary and grammar. Only after you are comfortable with structure can you play with idiom and nuance. Without that basis there’s no poetry in either painting or language.

Fog over Whiteface Mountain, 11X14, $1087 framed includes shipping and handling in continental US.

Good juicy, gestural marks aren’t by accident. They should be well-placed in the context of the composition and support the goals of the painting. This can be intuitive or subliminal, but it’s always the result of experience. The experienced painter knows when to let loose and when to hold back.

If you’re ready to move beyond tentative marks and learn to paint with clarity and confidence, I’ve created a class specifically to guide you. In Painterliness, Looseness and Bravura Brushwork, we break down the principles that allow expressive looseness to emerge. You’ll learn how to see what truly matters in your painting, and how to let go with purpose and vitality. This Zoom class runs on Tuesday evenings from 6-9 PM, from February 24 to April 7, and is strictly limited in size so that I can give each of you the attention you deserve.

Registration is now open for workshops in 2026! Reserve your spot:

Can’t commit to a full workshop? Work online at your own pace:

Seven Protocols for Successful Oil Painters

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Is this the age of bravura brushwork?

Fogbank, oil on archival canvasboard, 14X18, $1594 framed includes shipping in continental US

The pinnacle of baroque music composition was in the persons of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Both were so late in their genre that they nearly missed the bus. Since the term baroque music didn’t come into systematic usage until the 20th century, I’ve often wondered what Bach and Handel thought they were playing at. I doubt they thought of themselves as being in the same compartment as Henry Purcell or Johann Pachelbel, although this is how Baroque music is usually described to us amateurs.

In 19th and 20th century painting, we see much finer divisions, from the realism of Gustave Courbet to the transitional work of Édouard Manet through the flowering of Impressionism and then the post-Impressionist modernists. A ridiculous amount has been written about what these dead artists were doing, thinking and eating. However, we still can’t know what they saw as their place in the continuum of art history. Or even if they cared about that.

Larky Morning at Rockport Harbor, 11X14, on birch board, unframed, $869 includes shipping in continental US.

In the 20th century, we saw a kaleidoscope of isms: Fauvism, Futurism, Abstraction, Bauhaus, Orphism, Expressionism, Symbolism, Modernism, Synchromism, Suprematism, Constructivism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Regionalism, Precisionism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Photorealism and probably twenty more that I’ve forgotten. I didn’t list them just to bore you to death, simply to note the absurdity of so many labels. It’s possible that all those isms can be rebranded in the future as one topic: Experimentism.

A large section of the field has returned to realism, and is painting it in a style that could be loosely called post-Impressionism. Does that negate the work of the whole 20th century? Hardly, but it does leave us with the question of what we’re doing now.

In my few decades of teaching painting, I’ve noticed one request over and over: “I want to develop looser brushwork.” That tells me it’s important.

Brilliant Summer Day, 6X8, oil on archival canvasboard, $435, includes shipping in continental US.

Contemporary viewers are immediately captivated by bravura brushwork; it’s a sign of self-confidence and competence in an age beset by anxiety and doubt.

Mark-making can be loose and gestural or very controlled. On one hand, it’s the most personal aspect of painting. At the same time, it’s also highly technical. Much of what is called ‘style’ comes down to what brushes we choose and what marks we make with them. I wrote about that here.

It is never an accident; it comes from practice. It also rests on a firm foundation of proper preparation. Flailing around to fix things that should have been resolved in the drawing or underpainting will negate the freshness and decisiveness of good brushwork. Continuous modification, glazing, changing color, etc., make for diffident marks.

Seafoam, 9X12, oil on archival canvasboard, $869 framed.

There are many painters whose brushwork I admire, but there’s little point in trying to copy them in my own work. Brushwork is as personal as handwriting. It’s where the artist expresses-or suppresses-his feelings. There’s value in attempting to copy passages by great painters, but don’t try to paint like Sargent or Van Gogh or Rembrandt; use what you learn to create your own mature style.

Style is the difference between our internal vision and what we’re capable of. We often don’t like our own brushwork when we lay it down; I think that’s because it’s too personal. Don’t continuously massage your brushstrokes hoping to make them more stylish. If the passage is accurate in color, line and precision, move on. Future generations may think it’s wonderful.

Registration is now open for workshops in 2026! Reserve your spot:

Can’t commit to a full workshop? Work online at your own pace:

Seven Protocols for Successful Oil Painters

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Escape from Pleasantville

Mary Day on Camden Harbor, Cassie Sano, courtesy of the artist.

“I’ve escaped from Pleasantville,” Cassie Sano excitedly told our zoom class. “I’ve always been afraid to step out of Pleasantville, but now I’m exploring outside of it.

Later, I asked her about this transformation. “It’s not that my paintings were awful. I was just painting too tightly and too carefully with no detail left undefined,” she said. “They were pleasant, but somewhat boring. Afraid to step ‘out of bounds,’ my paintings reminded me of the movie Pleasantville, and I began to jokingly refer to them with that name.”

That’s a 1998 comedy about two siblings trapped in a 1950s sitcom, set in a small town populated by ‘perfect’ people.

Shadows and Tracks, Mount Vernon, Cassie Sano, courtesy of the artist.

“I left nothing to the imagination of the viewer. I wanted to get the heck out of Pleasantville, but I didn’t know how.”

Cassie is somewhat handicapped in that goal by being one of the most pleasant people I know. Behind her gentle demeanor, however, is a fiercely-fit single-mother and grandmother; she once bounded up Bald Mountain to keep me company while I was painting. And then bounded around the summit to keep herself amused.

She studied graphic design at Salem State University, Elementary Education at Boston College, and cartography and journalism in the military. “In 2018, I retired as a mail carrier for the US Postal Service, and then began focusing on my art. I spent a few years doing pottery, but then shifted to watercolor and oil painting, writing and illustrating picture books, and teaching watercolor painting to beginners.”

“When I first started painting with oils, I was focused on the technical aspects of painting– how to set up my palette, when to use Turpenoid or medium, how to apply the paint on the canvas, and effective use of values and composition. As I became more comfortable with these technical matters, I began to think beyond them.”

Corea Harbor, Cassie Sano, courtesy of the artist.

Transformation from journeyman to master

That makes sense; we must figure out technique before we can dig into meaning and expression. But at some point, technique becomes automatic and we start thinking about deeper issues.

Cassie’s most recent class with me was on bravura brushwork, and that seemed to be what she needed to get past literalism-especially the class where I asked her to paint like Vincent van Gogh. “I could feel myself loosening up and finally seeing how to sneak past Border Patrol… I felt a lot of joy after that class and shouted (to myself), ‘I finally get it!'”

“My goal is to continue practicing these techniques with an emphasis on making my paintings more exciting and joyful for the viewers, and leaving a lot to their imagination,” she told me.

Vienna Mountain Road, Cassie Sano, courtesy of the artist.

Cassie is represented by Eye Feast Art. She is a member of the Kennebec Valley Art Association, River Arts Gallery, and Maine Arts Gallery, and the organizer for the Kennebec Valley Plein Air Painters. In June, she will have a solo show at McLaughlin Garden and Homestead, 97 Main Street, South Paris, ME. The opening will be June 3 from 2-4 PM.

Registration is now open for workshops in 2026! Reserve your spot:

Can’t commit to a full workshop? Work online at your own pace:

Seven Protocols for Successful Oil Painters

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Contemporary impressionism done right

Banks of the Oyster River, Eric Jacobsen, oil on panel 16 x 20, regular $2300, sale $1150

I brought my laptop with me intending to write my blog on my vacation, only to realize the combination of camping and nine people has outdone me. (Not my dumbest move yet this week; I also brought my summer nightgown. To camp. In the Nevada wilderness. In February.

Orange and Blue, Eric Jacobsen, oil on panel 16 x 20, regular $2300, sale $1150

I’ll be taking off, but meanwhile I want to alert you to a Truly Great Deal. Eric Jacobsen is one of the best impressionist painters of our generation, and also my good buddy. He’s one of the few painters I’d like to study with right now, to steal all his secrets of brushwork.

Rocky Beach, Eric Jacobsen, oil on panel 16 x 20, regular $2300, sale $1150

Eric’s having a half-off sale on selected works on his website, which you can find here. Some of them he painted with me around, lucky fellow.) There’s not a huge selection, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Enjoy!

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Eric Jacobsen, oil on panel 16 x 20, regular $2300, sale $1150

Registration is now open for workshops in 2026! Reserve your spot:

Can’t commit to a full workshop? Work online at your own pace:

Seven Protocols for Successful Oil Painters