by Nancy Macdonald On site, I make a number of sketches and color studies, which I use as reference for larger paintings in my studio. I try to capture the harmony in the scene as [...]

A brilliant and prolific artist, Tom Thomson (1877–1917) painted lush, modernist celebrations of the Canadian wilderness en plein air. Thomson hiked and canoed to his locations, but his work doesn’t match up with what we [...]

"It has always seemed to me that a picture does not rest upon beauty alone." - John Carlson Paintings, like people, have an outer surface that they present to the world and an "inner life" [...]

Join us as Skip Whitcomb takes us on an insightful dive into what catches his eye when judging an art competition and how participants can make the most of jumping in. Mr. Whitcomb is an [...]

Just three words, LOOKING, THINKING, and PAINTING can radically change your artistic approach, your career, even as your life. It sounds gimmicky but it happened that way for me. Years ago, I shared some developing [...]

What a harvest is here in this still-life painting by the Flemish Baroque-period painter Jan Davidsz. de HEEM (1606-1684): a wooden table draped with a gold-fringed green velvet cloth, a glass of white wine and a [...]

Each December, and with annually increasing influence, the color company Pantone Colour Institute. announces the next year’s “Colour of the Year.” This year they’ve declared that for 2024, it’s what they’re calling “Peach Fuzz,” described [...]

By Shelby Keefe This is a photo I took when in Cuba with Eric Rhoads and 99 other people for the Paint Cuba trip back in 2016. I thought I was photographing this guy without [...]

It’s one of art’s most elusive of concepts - inspiration. Where does it come from? And is there anything we can do to make it come more often? One of the most important mindsets that [...]