“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 [...]

First, congratulate yourself for even getting as far as contemplating doing this: painting nature as it appears to your mind and senses is an extraordinary way of relating to yourself and the world! It begins [...]

“Dry and thirsty, a paintbrush pokes its nose into water, then ground inkstone, and swells with the abundance of expressive potential.” So begins a lively essay on contemporary Chinese painter the late Wu Guanzhong written [...]

Last week we looked at a number of paintings in which artist painted themselves painting themselves. Several of you wrote in to call my attention to a classic I’d forgotten about – Norman Rockwell’s Triple [...]

Here’s a plein air strategy to help make the overwhelm manageable: Start with feeling – and then immediately think DESIGN. If you’ve never attended PACE before, if you’ve never painted outside before – the thing [...]

By Kathie Odom Today’s article is by Walland, Tennessee, artist Kathie Odom Kathie Odom. Kathie is a well-loved and seasoned professional plein air painter. This week, she is in the Great Smoky Mountains for this [...]

Why paint?  Why not?! Who says you need a mission or a brand or a purpose or a plan? Making art is just one of those things that happy humans do. Painting “just because” is [...]

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. What kind of principles, techniques, [...]