Getting an accurate image into a human portrait is hard enough, right? Then there's getting the LIFE into it. To those not privy to the process, a successful finished portrait can seem like a miracle, destined [...]

Painting Cityscapes: Capturing a Busy Urban Scene Without Getting Lost in the Details Just as you wouldn’t explore a new city without a map, don’t start your next cityscape without a plan for where you [...]

What Makes This Painting Great? An occasional series all about analyzing what makes paintings beautiful, iconic, memorable, or effective. Painters, beginners and masters alike, make leaps and bounds by studying creative triumphs of the art. [...]

Johan Christian Dahl, Swinoujscie in the moonlight, 1840 Growing up in poverty, the son of an unambitious fisherman, left him bitter; being kept down and exploited by his first art teacher infuriated him. [...]

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create, or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” [...]

In a post last week we put it out there: What are the freshest, go-to sources for art news and inspiration on the Web (except of course, for Inside Art and Streamline’s sister publications 🙂 ? [...]

This ought to be taped above my easel, my computer, the door to my life.  But it isn’t, because it wouldn’t do any good. I can tell myself this a thousand times, I can tell [...]

The human need to examine itself in the mirror of art begins with early civilization, and portraiture is one of its classic and oldest forms.  As far as we can tell from history, the portrait begins in [...]

Vermeer's painting, Lady at the Virginal with a Gentleman - The Music Lesson, (variously known as The Music Lesson, Woman Seated at a Virginal or A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman) is as much a study in subtlety and [...]