I have added many Beginning Drawing and Beginning Painting classes starting l May 6th of 2013. I have scheduled Summer and Fall classes as well. If you would like to know more visit Idaho Art Classes or by phone or email.
By popular demand I have added watercolor painting classes for Friday afternoons starting in July. I am also offering special discounts for families with more than one student in my art classes. Contact me for more details.

My classical art classes are skilled based, where students develop core skills and draw from life. These are not paint by numbers or trace and fill in the value classes. Theses classes teach the classical drawing techniques and painting techniques of realistic art.

To learn more about classes click the links below.

Drawing Classes

Painting Classes

Painting Workshops

Private Art Classes

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Plein Air painting in the Mountains

Above Flagstaff, Az

Finding the right Inspiration

The most fundamental aspect of Plein Air painting is finding a scene that inspires you. It’s not enough to find a beautiful location. Once in that beautiful location the artist needs to scout around, walk or stroll sometimes even run to find something that inspires. A place where the light plays in interesting way or falls across the land just so, that creates depth or creates feelings of power or grandeur. As an artist you are always searching for something unique. It can take almost as long to find the scene to paint as it takes to actually execute the painting. When everything comes together it can be spectacular.

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I was hiking in the foothills of Boise, Idaho, the day was overcast most of the day. It was around 5:00 pm and the I came over the hill and saw that vista. It was beautiful. I knew that it had to be painted. I grabbed my plein air easel and this painting was born.
The painting is “The Vigil” it is painted in oil and stretched on canvas over heavy 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ stretcher bars. Sides are painted gray to be hung unframed. Painting is signed shipped unframed and is ready to hang.

Interested in Painting

contact me artist@kevinmccainstudios.com

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and Desert Oases of Tucson, Arizona.

Here are the workshops I am conducting the month of April.

Agua Caliente Park, Tucson, Az

Catalina Mountains, Tucson, Az

Agua Caliente

Tucson, Az April 27th Ancient Oasis of the Desert

The Location

Agua Caliente is an oasis of naturally fed warm water springs that gush from the mountain side to form the ponds within the park. Since ancient time this area has been a spark of life in the harsh desert. One that has lasted the centuries. Surrounded by native palms and rugged mesquite trees the park is alive with birds and desert wildlife. The surroundings stirs your blood and you can’t help but feel connected on a deep level. Join me to paint this wonderful oasis in the Desert.

What we learn

In my mini Plein Air (painting outdoors) Painting Classes you can hone you landscape painting skills while visiting wonderful locations around Arizona. These painting workshops run mostly in the Fall through the Spring avoiding the heat of the Summer Months. These are for those painters who have landscape painting experience and want to sample plein air painting or plein air painters that want to further their skills and receive feedback from a professional artist.

*This workshop is for those who are experienced in Plein Air Painting or have taken previous outdoor workshops.*

*there is a $15.00 per day pass fee that students will be responsible for covering

Student’s level of experience: Intermediate and Advanced

Enroll to reserve your space class is limited

Tuition: $100.00 for Workshop

* To enroll Click “Buy Now”*

* “Buy Now” button will take you to PayPal page. if you don’t have a PayPal account.

Look for the link “Don’t have PayPal Account” and continue to check out as normal.*

*To pay by check make out to Kevin McCain Studios and Send to Boise, Idaho studio*

Students are responsible for art supplies, food, lodging and transportation to the workshop

Supplies and Preparing for the workshop

any questions please contact us

Catalina Mountains

April 28th – April 30th

The Mysterious Catalina Mountains

The Location

Visit Tucson and the famous Catalina mountains. One of the most beautiful mountain ranges Arizona has to offer. Saguaros stand like sentries guarding the secrets of this sleeping mountain. Enjoy the pleasures of Tucson and the rugged landscape of the Sonoran desert. Paint the unique Saguaros cactus found no other place in the world other than Arizona. Come paint the unique mystery of the Catalina mountains

What we will learn

This 3 day workshop we will explore the fundamentals of Plein Air painting. Lectures and demonstrations will all take place outside and in the landscape. That is the best venue to discuss painting. Surrounded by what we will be painting. Using a limited palette and simplification of the landscape in both color and shape to create a convincing painting of the scene. Learn to see in shape and value instead of line and detail. Learn to use value and color to depict three dimensional space or depth. We will explore using larger brushes and economy of brushstrokes to work more quickly and accurately.

Class will start at 8:00 am where we will meet for a and go to 12:00 pm when we will break for lunch. We will continue to paint at 1:00 and continue through 5:00 pm.

Student’s level of experience: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced

Enroll to reserve your space class is limited

Tuition: $300.00 for 3 day workshop

* To enroll Click “Buy Now”*

* “Buy Now” button will take you to PayPal page. if you don’t have a PayPal account.

Look for the link “Don’t have PayPal Account” and continue to check out as normal.*

*To pay by check make out to Kevin McCain Studios and Send to Boise, Idaho studio*

Students are responsible for art supplies, food, lodging and transportation to the workshop

Supplies and Preparing for the workshop

any questions please contact us

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Watercolor Art Classes

Watercolor is one of the easiest and universally used medium in the country. Most of us as young children cut our creative teeth so to speak with prang or crayola watercolor paint set. Watercolor uses the most basic elements “water”. Watercolor is one of the oldest painting mediums and one of my favorites. I have recently added a Beg. Watercolor painting to my other art class offerings.

New Watercolor Painting Class starts April 5th, 2013

Class size is limited enroll today

Friday Afternoons: Watercolor Painting

8-Week course, 8 sessions
Friday , 1:00 – 3:30 pm
starts April 5th
$120.00

*You can pay with cash or check contact me for more information*

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Understanding the Madness of the Print Market

Art is sometimes ambiguous, but understanding what you are buying should be crystal clear. In my earlier days when I showed my artwork at outdoor art venues I saw a lot of customers and patrons purchase items and not understand the difference between original art, prints, editions, and essentially poster or wall art. Artists sometimes don’t help in clarifying these things. Maybe it’s because they are too busy trying to eek out a living selling their wares and making a meager living through their artwork. However I have never believed it’s a good idea to sell something based on assumptions or to keep the consumer in the dark about what they are really buying. I believe by not clarifying what artists are actually selling they are hurting themselves, their fellow artists and the consumers. I know many people that buy giclee’ prints or another words canvas prints. Because of how far printing on canvas has come people buy these canvas prints thinking it is a one of a kind original painting instead of a reproduction. This causes problems when the purchaser finds out his original painting is in fact a copy. This realization erodes confidence not only in the artist who produced the canvas print but the art world as a whole. It’s bad for artists and the art buyer. However canvas prints are not a bad thing, many artists produce a series of artist approved canvas prints. So what does it mean when you buy a copy? What is the difference between a copy and an original painting? These questions and others are answered in this article.

It’s not only canvas prints that muddy the waters for art buyers. I also know people who purchase open edition prints or another words posters thinking that they are buying original works of art or another words original prints. Original prints are a series of prints approved by the artist for production or for reproduction. These prints are known as original prints. Again knowing the difference between open edition prints, limited edition prints, and artist proofs or artist prints will help you know what it is you are buying or how you are labeling your artwork.

Let me start off by saying that you should never buy art hoping it will increase in value. That is never a sure thing. There is never a guarantee that the artworks you purchase will even capture the same price you originally paid for them. So don’t buy art with a mindset that its value will increase. Instead, buy what you love or what moves you as a person and inspires you when you look at it. Art is created to lift our souls and enrich our lives. Even though art has no guarantee of becoming a gold mine, original artwork purchased from professional artists will hold a certain amount of value in most cases. It is always best to buy original art when possible. It is like buying antiques.

Artwork that isn’t original is some referred to as poster art or wall art, artwork that isn’t original. This type of art can bring you a lot of enjoyment but has essentially very little to no resale value. Some may describe this as décor or reproduction art. Whatever you call it, it is essentially “copies” of original artwork that was never signed and numbered by the artist. So what is an original? An original is any one of kind or series of images the artist has approved as original artwork or copies of original artwork that the artist has approved, signed, and numbered to be reproduced a certain amount of times.

Let’s start with paintings. With painting originals are any artwork produced by the artist where the subject, color, and scenery is different from one painting to the next. Paintings can be somewhat similar in subject as long as it is clear that they are different from other another, each painting is a one of a kind original painting. If however the artist is painting, not printing, the same painting over and over again essentially he is creating multiple copies of the same image or an edition. Editions are the same image multiple times. Editions are still originals but demand that the artist declare the number of item in the series and how many images there are in the series in total. So you should see in the corner of any edition print, painting, sculpture or what have you the number of the item and the number of originals. It would be in a fraction like 5/250 this means you have the 5^th image of a 250 image edition (each of the 250 images are original and of the same value). With paintings anything that isn’t numbered should be a one of a kind original piece of artwork. If there are multiple copies that exist of a particular painting and they aren’t identified with an edition number it is classified as wall art. They are not original.

Sometimes the print market can be a little trickier. It is the same rules though generally. There are two types of prints what is referred to as original hand pulled prints and limited edition artist approved prints. Hand pulled prints are originals created by an artist that was meant to be created in multiples. They are signed and numbered by the artist. The entire series is considered original. In this category you have woodcuts, etchings, engravings and lithographic prints. Limited edition prints are created by original works of art from paintings and hand pulled prints. These are still signed and number by the original artist giving permission for these prints to be made. In this category you have limited edition prints and canvas prints. The important thing is the artist gives his signature to show these copies are approved and how many are approved.

If artworks is copied and not signed or numbered then it is considered a poster, wall art, or décor art and not original or assumed to have been copied without permission of the artist is therefore an open edition copy and has no value. Open editions are the same as posters they are reproductions or copies only without any value. Any prints outside an edition are also posters or décor art. This includes artist proofs or prints outside the original number of approved print run number. This understanding this will help you the next time you visit an art gallery or outdoor art venue.

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Scratch Boards Great Way to Reverse Your Thinking

Working from White to Black

What are they?

Scratch boards have been in use since the 19^th century and were often used to make pieces of art that were easy to re-produce and could resemble woodcuts. The base is made of specially prepared clay which is white in color. The clay is near the thickness of cardboard and is covered with black ink.

How do I use it?

Instead of adding more material on top of the board, which is what we do on canvas or paper when painting and drawing, the black ink is scraped off to show the white clay beneath. The broader the strokes when being scraped off, the lighter that area of your piece will seem. Likewise, thinner strokes relay that there is less light, and are useful when trying to add values other than black or white. Just about anything may be used to scrape off ink that isn’t wanted: needles, exacto blades, wire brushes, nails, etc. Specific tools are available for purchase as well, one of which that is useful has a rounded arrowhead shape. The tip is very narrow and can make quite thin lines. Modify the angle of the tool to use the edge until the curved ends of the arrowhead, and thick, bold lines may be used for the lightest areas of highlights. Any amount of tipping or angling the tool may lead to varying thicknesses of line, which you won’t have to achieve by continually switching tools otherwise. If the need to “erase” ever arises, simply paint over the unwanted mistakes with India ink and let dry before trying to work in that area again.

Why is it helpful?

Using a scratch board helps us to better recognize light: the different shapes that it contains, and the varying intensity of light etc. When using paper or canvas, focus tends to be on the shadows. The scratch board helps us to think differently and ideally we will be able to recognize both the shapes and values of light in addition to those of shadow, which help to give our art a more convincing quality.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/529824/scratchboard for some historical insight

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  Looking at many of the paintings of the great masters, I am amazed at the feeling of depth. Rembrandt painted scenes which appear as if you could reach right into them, or step inside and wander the countryside. Many artists have tried to discover the secret of painting pictures with that kind of depth. They pour over books looking for the secret recipes, just the right technique, or paint pigments. There is no big secret; it all comes down to the four laws of atmospheric painting: Size, Value, Detail and Color.

  Whenever a painting of mine feels flat and without depth, I stop and go back to the basics. I ask questions about my painting. How are the relationships in size, value, color and detail working together? The answers to these questions often solve the spacial problems with my painting.

The Four Laws of Creating Atmospheric Depth in Painting

1. Value- In landscape painting the value relationships need to be consistent. They usually fall into two categories:
a. The darkest objects/values are in the foreground and will fade to the lightest in the background
OR
b. The lightest objects/values will be in the foreground and fade to the darkest in the background
2. Size- This is very important. There is nothing that will flatten a painting more than to have a tree a mile away larger than the trees 50 yards from you. Larger objects advance while smaller ones recede. The most amazing painting I ever saw was of grasslands and some very distant mountains. The blades of grass in the foreground were taller than the distant mountains. That contrast in size really gave the painting a feeling of depth.
3. Detail- The most amount of detail should be in the foreground and fade to become very simplified in the background. If you are trying to paint the individual leaves on a tree a mile away it will advance into the foreground and flatten your painting.
4. Color- The most intense colors should be in the foreground. If you have the most intense colors in your background it will feel like it is trying to advance to the foreground which will flatten your painting.

Also your painting should have an overall color temperature, warm or cool. Look at the temperature of the light. The light will change from warm light to cool during the day. Is the lit side of your objects cool in temperature and the shadows warm in color temperature? Or is the lit side of the objects warm and the shadows cool in temperature? It’s all about the temperature of the light source (the shadow side will express the complimentary color to the light source. Example; If you have a yellow light source the shadow side of an object will be slightly purple)

   When your painting has very clear and consistent relationships in value, color, size and detail, you will have a power painting that creates the illusion of atmospheric depth.

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Through the Eyes of a Workshop Student

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