As we develop our skills as painters, should we focus on painting alone or join groups of other artists? I think there are advantages and disadvantages to painting with others vs. painting alone. I’ve enjoyed painting on many occasions with groups of other … Read More
When I teach painting workshops, students are often surprised to discover that I use black as one of my usual palette colors. It seems that some art books have discouraged against using black, but I’ve found it to be a … Read More
I regularly have visitors to my gallery ask why I favor linen canvas over cotton. I’ve been painting on linen with oils for the past several years, but I used cotton exclusively in the early days. Painting along merrily, I began to … Read More
I’m excited to announce that my new instructional DVD, Steps for Successful Plein Air Painting, is now shipping! Order by January 31, 2013 to receive the special introductory discounted price. Plein air painting (painting outdoors) presents several unique challenges to … Read More
This week I enjoyed participating in Sonoma Plein Air 2012. The Sonoma Plein Air Foundation, a non-profit all volunteer organization, presented this weeklong annual event which raises funds to support art education programs for children in Sonoma Valley. Residents generously supported … Read More
I’ve enjoyed participating this week in Grand Canyon Plein Air 2012. The goal of this 4th annual event continues to be gathering funds to make possible a museum venue at the Grand Canyon for the permanent display of the Grand Canyon’s … Read More
I just returned from participating in the 2012 Carmel Plein Air Show in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Celebrating its 19th year, the Carmel Art Festival is a public benefit event held to educate and inspire people of all ages about the … Read More
I just made an interesting discovery while looking through a book of mine on the artist Edgar Payne. Payne’s work has been influential to me for quite some time. (We even named our cat “Edgar.”) While looking through the book for … Read More
I’ve been wanting to share some photos and details from my recent three-day painting workshop in Alberta, Canada, and I’m finally getting around to it! The workshop was organized by Hermann Brandt at Clear Air Art Studio in Cochrane, which … Read More
Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from other artists asking how I make the canvas panels that I use for plein air painting. Some of the reasons that I use canvas panels rather than stretched canvas for plein … Read More