Today in my painting class I talked about Plein Air painting over the summer break. So I thought I’d share the shelf palette I showed everyone. When painting in Plein Air it is useful to have your palette set ahead of time so as not to take too much time getting set up in the […]
Materials & Methods
The Yarka Field easel for plein air painting
Spring always makes me want to get outside to paint. A while ago someone wrote to me and asked about my Yarka plein air easel. It is a wooden field easel similar to the French easel, but with the materials compartment in the front of the easel instead of behind. So it opens more like […]
How Rose Frantzen inspires you to paint at her Alla Prima Workshop – Part II
This is part II of a two-part post and continues with the painting process Rose Frantzen modeled for us at the workshop. If you missed part I, you can see it here. Rose has tremendous energy. She moves around a lot while she paints, walking back and forth, turning around and sometimes fairly dancing with […]
Happy New Year and a Gift for You
Here’s wishing you all a wonderful new year ahead. May it bring you all joy, peace and prosperity. I also have a New Years gift for you. I invite you to download this free eBook describing the properties of oil paint that will help you make informed purchases and get the most from your paint. You’ll have to […]
20 things I learned from 30 Days of Plein air painting
I just completed the Strada easel 30 day plein air painting challenge. I did 30 small paintings, one each day and posted them on FB in order to have a chance to win a Strada Easel. Of course the real reason I did it was to be able to do a small painting every day […]
Portrait of Tess
Tess took painting classes from me. She was already quite talented and drew well. I shared the basics of painting in oils with her. Then she became a teen ager and I lost her to boys. This is an oil sketch I did of her using a less limited palette. It’s basically the Zorn palette, along with a […]
Mounting linen on panel
A SMART person would mount linen on the panel before doing the painting. Well, evidently I’m not that person. I planned to send paintings to Australia that I painted on un-stretched linen so they could be rolled for shipping, but the customs requirements changed my mind and I sent smaller works instead. That left me with two completed […]
Wax Crayolas and the Scent of Art
Crayola crayons helped start me on the path to being an artist. When I was 5 had the chunky box of 48 Crayola crayons. I recall the feel of the paper under my fingers, the drag against the tooth of the manila paper as the crayon left it’s indelible trail, and the wonderful smell of the […]
Painting demo with Russian easel
Two weeks ago I did a quick painting demo at the Botanica show along with Tauna Cole Dorn. There’s a gorgeous plant in the courtyard at the Adobe-Patio Gallery, the name of which escapes me, that has brilliant pink blooms. Quinacridone magenta blooms! The setup I used is a Yarka Russian Field Easel meant for […]
Watching David Kassan paint makes me want to be a better painter, or what I did over spring break
Watching David Jon Kassan paint makes me want to be a better painter. A week ago I returned home from a workshop with Kassan at the Scottsdale Artists School in Arizona. David is a talented artist and a great teacher. He is very open, self effacing and generously shares what he knows with his students. If […]
Glass plate project in Israel
I haven’t posted for 6 weeks because I was in Israel and have been quite busy since my return. I could have posted while I was away of course, but I was having too much fun! I was working on a project to copy old glass plates and make special enclosures to stabilize some of […]
It’s here! – The fine wine of oil paint
I received my shipment of Vasari Paint from the Paint Grant award! The paints come packaged so nicely it’s almost a shame to use them. But I can’t wait! The web site says Vasari is …truly a painter’s paint…the one paint that will make you a painter’s painter. I certainly hope so! It was so much fun […]