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 [...]

Water adds brightness and life to paintings, no matter the medium. Adding the gleam of a sunset or late afternoon light transforms a foreground otherwise dull and dark into a fascinating  that pulls a viewer [...]

It seems to me one of the most difficult things to do as an artist is to come up with a good concept, especially when learning how to paint landscapes. It’s not that difficult to [...]

By Kelly Kane “My favorite subjects are those with a special quality of light and strong dark values in opposition — it could be a landscape, a garden, trees. A good subject touches my heart, [...]

Writer Matt Cardin calls it “creativity’s hidden paradox,” and it goes like this: “What is most private and personal in you is also what is most universal.” He means that what is deep in you [...]

Where do you get your inspiration online? Between podcasts, YouTube, online magazines, blogs, and the vast reach and immediacy of social media, what are some of your favorite sources for news and views on painting? [...]

“My hand is entirely the implement of a distant sphere. It is not my head that functions but something else, something higher, something somewhere remote. I must have great friends there, dark as well as [...]

Earlier this month, artist Jonathon Yeo ignited massive artworld controversy when his official portrait of King Charles III was unveiled at London’s Royal Palace on May 14.  Yeo shows King Charles shrouded in a bath [...]

Bogged down. In a rut. Off track. Stuck. It happens to anyone who takes the artistic journey seriously, even (maybe especially!) professional artists. Hitting a wall is painful and the wall will not go away [...]