For professional artist Laurel Daniel, a lot more than joie-de-vivre and spontaneity go into making great plein-air paintings.   With a degree in studio art and 19 years in the graphic design business behind her, Laurel [...]

Here's a simple but potentially revolutionary way to spark creativity: Make mischief. Take out your calendar and schedule one day a month for an ART DATE with yourself. An art date gives you permission to do [...]

Photographs can serve as a valuable source of reference material. However, rarely will a photo capture the essence we felt originally and that we seek to portray on canvas. How do you turn “okay” or [...]

 “Mastery does not come from dabbling. We have to be prepared to pay the price. We need to have the sustained enthusiasm that motivates us to give our best.”  – Eknath Easwaran Enthusiasm! The word (from [...]

By CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR  Karen Margulis Early in my art journey I avoided painting wildflowers. I was afraid they would make my landscapes too sweet or too pretty. But the muse kept calling me until finally [...]

Most perfectly well-intentioned web sites and even art historians will tell you who the figures in the above painting are and where they were when Monet painted them – thereby completely missing what’s interesting and [...]

We continue our series on “The Course of Empire,” Thomas Cole’s epic series of five paintings charting the rise and fall of an imaginary Empire. As previously introduced, we follow the story Cole’s paintings tell, [...]

It’s strange how some people are reluctant to say they’re an “artist” but rather “just someone who paints.” If it’s like the distinction between a musician and someone who makes music, I get it – [...]

Painting is a solitary pursuit, and you never have to show your work to anyone. Once you get good though, you might start wanting other people to see what you can do.  It’s an amazing [...]

Elaine Daily-Birnbaum is a mixed media painter. Her abstract work is deeply personal and very much process centered. She is a member of the National Watercolor Society and the American Watercolor Society. We asked her [...]