We painters are faced with a number of decisions when starting a new piece. Among these is whether to paint directly on the white canvas or to first apply a wash of color as an underpainting. In this post I’d … Read More
It’s been more than three years since I first started testing my oil palette colors. My goal with these ongoing color stability tests is to find out to what degree the colors might change over time. If you read my … Read More
Follow along through this step-by-step oil painting demonstration of The Old Road. I completed this piece in my studio using a couple of photo references I took near Mono Lake, California. As you will see, this one required a bit … Read More
There’s no painting like snow painting! Ever tried painting snow? ….While also standing in snow? ….Outside? It had been a few years since my last snowy winter efforts. Until a few weeks ago. My family and I spent a few … Read More
I was recently in a friend’s home and noticed a large oil painting on his wall. The surface sheen of the canvas was very uneven. Some areas of the painting were glossy and others were matte. When I asked my … Read More
Is cadmium paint toxic? Sometimes students ask me in my workshops whether certain colors are dangerous to use. Cadmium-based colors have been around for many years but tend to be among the most often in question. As I’ve researched this, … Read More
When I began making plans to open my art gallery in 2011, I knew I would need to figure out a method for hanging paintings. The walls in my gallery are plaster, which led me to think about some kind … Read More
We’ve discussed painting in morning light and painting in mid-day light. Now let’s talk about painting outdoors in late-day light. Late-Day Light For the sake of simplicity, I’ll include the afternoon and evening hours in this segment on late-day light. … Read More
In my last post we covered the experience of painting in morning light. This time let’s talk about painting in mid-day light. Mid-Day Light Finding something outdoors that’s exciting to paint in the middle of the day can be tough. … Read More
If you’ve done any plein air painting, you know that light tends to change pretty quickly. This is the first of three posts in which I’ll share some tips for painting in changing light outdoors. First up: painting in morning light. … Read More