“In summer,” says poet William Carlos Williams, “the song sings itself.”  If these paintings are any guide, to invite summer into your paintings, you have to let it be itself by putting the emphasis on [...]

“Art is Imagination and those who love Art love it because in looking at a picture it awakens their imagination and sets them thinking.” - Lawrence Alma-Tadema Detail from The Womon of Amphissa, Lawrence [...]

Previously, we enjoyed running down the most consistently inspiring, informative, and entertaining art and art history sites we could find on the Web. Including contributions from our readers, you can read those articles here and [...]

I used to think this painting was titled “Summer,” I guess because it seemed, in my memory of it, to convey the end of a hot, hazy day among tall grass, ponds, and woods, all [...]

By Mike Barr Painted on a sunny winter’s day, this is one of my favorite plein air pieces. From a high vantage point, the sea was unusually light in color and contrasted sharply with the [...]

“Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son,” 1875 Claude Monet , “Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son,” 1875 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons Public Domain) Most perfectly well-intentioned [...]

Under the name of “Phoebus Apollo” (Phoebus is a Greek word that means “shining, radiant, bright”), the god Apollo daily drove the sun across the sky, manning a chariot drawn by four barely controllable horses.  [...]

Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is well known for his 3/4 life-size fin de siècle paintings of dreamlike women in oil, gold leaf, and other precious metals. The oil-on-canvas painting The Kiss of 1907-08, [...]

Not sure whether to paint a seascape or a landscape? Try a marsh! Marshes combine the colors and skies of landscape with the light effects of water. They’re a great subject for a painting in [...]

It’s “England’s favorite painting” according to a BBC poll in 2005, it’s reproduced on the British £20 banknote, and it’s one of the greatest paintings of the 19th century period. JMW Turner's The Fighting Temeraire depicts [...]