Rocks are hard.  That’s a fact. But painting them gets easier with a few basic principles in mind. Number one pitfall to avoid: making your rocks look like potato sacks. Okay, but how? The following [...]

“Having your head in the clouds, even for just a few minutes each day, is good for your mind, good for your body, and good for your soul.” – Gavin Pretor-Pinney “Paintings of clouds are [...]

We conclude with the final installment of “mountain tips” from three professional painters: Kathryn Stats, Tim Diebler, and this time, Paul Kratter. (View Diebler on brushwork here) and Stats on Color, here. There’s one more [...]

“Being an artist is a true blessing. It’s a reason to get up in the morning,” says pastel painter Judith Kazdym Leeds. “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, cover art by Judith Kazdym Leeds [...]

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Shakespeare’s most lyrical play. A delicious dream of love and magic, it inspired an entire sub-genre of ‘faery painting’ which flourished in Victorian England, that is, during the latter half of [...]

Don’t sacrifice your personal expression for the sake of learning the principles of art. Here’s how to maintain your unique artistic voice. By James Kroner As an artist, one does not need to sacrifice his [...]

“Paint the flying spirit of the bird rather than its feathers.” -Robert Henri It’s the bane of many a beginner and something even pros have to stay on their guard for: Overworking refers to paintings [...]

This article combines two posts by Carol Strock Wasson  on exploring color harmonies in pastels, which can be found on her blog. Carol will be one of the professional artists demoing at this year’s Pastel [...]

In honor of the many plein air painters traversing mountain-laden landscapes this summer, we continue with the second installment of “mountain tips” from three professional painters: Kathryn Stats, Tim Diebler, and next time, Paul Kratter [...]

Last weekwe took a close look at a few landscapes by John Singer Sargent, but we didn’t get THIS close!  In fact, most ordinary mortals will never get this close to a painting by John [...]