Realist painter David Leffel’s work has been popular for decades, and he’s been teaching students his technique for just as long. Using an “all-in-one-go” style of direct painting called “alla prima,” Leffel combined the look [...]
It is recognized as one of the greatest American paintings ever made. The painting is by Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916) and it is known as The Gross Clinic (or Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross, as [...]
Q – When is an apple not an apple? A – When it’s painted with the intention of turning something ordinary into something extraordinary. We love paintings that surprise us a little, that catch our [...]
When I was an art director in the advertising field, panic deadlines seemed to squeeze out the best creative ideas from myself and my other advertising coworkers. The best ideas often got going sometime after [...]
Think plein air in Maine, and chances are you’ll think “Monhegan.” But before that rock-bound island community took the crown, another and more accessible locale was king – the southern Maine town of Ogunquit, which [...]
What makes an award-winning painting? Lots of things, but subject matter, at least, can be as varied as you can imagine. Among the winning paintings that Master Artist Kathleen Dunphy selected for the June 2024 PleinAir Salon [...]
In Karen Margulis’s pastel painting “Color by the Sea,” above, the artist composes an eclectic (and potentially clashing) mix of hues. At a glance, we get a playful jumble of colors, a combination of cool [...]
What is it about William Nicholson’s painting The Lustre Bowl with Green Peas that impresses itself on the imagination and memory? Somehow Sir William Nicholson’s “simple” still life transforms just three everyday items – a [...]
This edition of Inside Art corrects an error in the previous Salon spotlight edition. “Inchoate” (in-KO-ate) is an unusual word that means something just started, not yet fully formed. Annie Murphy-Robinson used the descriptor in [...]
“Inchoate” (in-KO-ate) is an unusual word that means something just started, not yet fully formed. Annie Murphy-Robinson used the descriptor in the title of her salon-winning charcoal “Emily ‘Inchoate.’” There was nothing in the least [...]
