Landscape painters often say their paintings capture “a sense of place.”  It’s an intriguing phrase when you think about it. It’s most often understood to mean that, in an age where cameras can (and do!) [...]

For their own reasons, some artists or writers disguise their work with a pseudonym. Most of the time, it’s a made-up name, not one “borrowed” from a real person. This artist was different. French realist [...]

Just like the lingering end of winter and the painfully gradual arrival of spring, sometimes your muse can seem like a slacker. It’s great to shake yourself out of the daily daze with a vacation [...]

There’s plenty of evidence that creativity can improve and even prolong your life. Taking up an art like painting keeps your mind limber and your emotions alive, helps you stay curious and adventurous, and it [...]

Something to Get You Thinking All Good Painting Have These 3 Things in Common: 1. good painting evokes a visceral and emotional response. People still want and need this from art, and it’s the work [...]

At the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains, nestled between Tennessee and North Carolina, lie the Great Smoky Mountains. A natural fog lingers over them, giving them their iconic appearance and their name. Great Smoky [...]

If you tend to feel stumped by trees and you’re ready to branch out … (okay, okay, sorry. Starting again..). Trees can be an intimidating aspect of painting the landscape. However, it doesn’t have to [...]

Compositions like the one that Spanish realist Emilio Sánchez Perrier (1855 - 1907) employs in The River Gisors (above) look impossibly complicated. Where do you start? If we simplify to the basic principles involved, we [...]

Huge vapours brood above the clifted shore, Night o’er the ocean settles, dark and mute, Save where is heard the repercussive roar Of drowsy billows, on the rugged foot Of rocks remote; or still more [...]

A video recently made the rounds with a caption reading: This hidden painting was found recently at The Church of Saint George Maggiore.  Commenting on the viral video, the BBC wrote, “In a scene reminiscent of a classic mystery novel, [...]