“The artist must work so hard, so long, that a brain develops and lives, all of itself, in his fingers …. The artist must not think of critical rewards or money he will get for [...]

Above image licensed under  CC BY-NC-ND. An endless dream of timeless summer days hums in the warm greens and hazy distances that we inhabit as we gaze at the painting by JMW Turner above. It’s [...]

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) is often celebrated for his realism and his technique, particularly his meticulous details such as blades of grass, tiny crevices, subtle wear, or grains of sand. What’s not as often discussed is [...]

Ryan S. Brown is an American painter in the naturalist tradition. After graduating BYU, Ryan went on to study classical painting in Florence, Italy, at the Florence Academy of Art, where upon graduation he won the [...]

For more on this painting, go here.  We continue our look at the first exciting period of “homegrown” art and ask the question, What happened to the Hudson River School with yet another question: What [...]

Dave Santillanes, 9th Annual PleinAir Salon Grand Prize winner, has revealed his selections for the May 2025 PleinAir Salon art competition. Scroll down to see the winning paintings and read Dave’s comments on his top picks. 1st Place [...]

Gouache, or opaque watercolor, is a water-medium paint, like watercolor, that dries opaque, like acrylic or oil. It uses similar natural and inert pigment material, but its binder isn't a natural oil like linseed, safflower, or [...]

We arrive at the final two paintings in Thomas Cole’s epic cycle, The Course of Empire. The progression has been from early and more natural lifestyles to the Empire’s decadence and decline. The message is [...]

Take advantage of these art and plein air painting events and opportunities from our 2025 Ultimate Guide to Painting Events and Organizations. Bonus: Includes upcoming event deadlines! (We want to include your plein air painting [...]

During the first half of the nineteenth century, America’s first exciting period of “homegrown” art coalesced around what came to be known as the Hudson River School.  Painted during the halcyon period prior to the [...]