French painter Eugene Delacroix’s (1798 – 1863) work epitomizes the setting-free of painting from the strict classical ideals of the Academy that had come before. From an artist’s inside view, we can see Delacroix’s technique [...]
During the golden age of American landscape painting, no one painted trees quite like George Inness. Inness created elegant, often backlit trees with a gauzy, permeable character, as though emerging and dissolving back and forth [...]
Virgil Elliott has earned a stellar reputation as an expert practitioner – and teacher – of contemporary traditional representational oil painting. His book, “Traditional Oil Painting,” has been continuously in print since 2007. In its pages [...]
“My way of seeing the world and painting it in simplicity and purity is my way of honoring ‘a country girl’s eccentricity,'” says artist Mary Pettis. Characterized from an early age by a deep curiosity [...]
Sometimes it’s the small things that make all the difference. Artists working from life never reproduce exactly what they see. They might come close, but it wouldn’t be possible, really, because every time you look [...]
An acclaimed work of art consisting of a banana and a roll of duct tape has sold at one of the world’s most prestigious auction houses for more than $6 million. When Italian artist Maurizio [...]
"Philosophy begins in wonder," Plato said. I love that, because it reminds us to be surprised by the wonderful things in the world before we get caught up in trying to figure out what anything [...]
“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” ― Gustav Mahler As an artist, it's a given that you’ll spend many hours learning, both through study and through trial and error, the [...]
Classical tales of Greek and Roman mythology have brought color, drama, and magic to Western art throughout its entire history and right up to the present day. The gods and goddesses of antiquity, dwelling eternally [...]
