Saguaro Lake Ranch Painting Workshop Through the Eyes of a Workshop Student I began full of vigor. Never mind that I’d never taken a painting workshop before. (Never mind that I’m not a painter!) Here was an opportunity to try something new, to feel adventurous, to seize the day! I had my canvas tote packed […]
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Plein Air and Outdoor Painting Approaches My Outdoor Painting Palette There are many great painting palettes. Certain palettes favor earth tones, others favor warm or cool color mixtures. I have used many different palettes, but the palette I have come to use most over the years is a warm and cool primary color palette. I
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Quick Tips: Reductive Drawing Reductive drawing is a great way to create a drawing. It gets you away from thinking about lines and helps you focus on value, tone, and shape. To create a reductive drawing, start with a toned ground on paper. To create a toned ground, use a piece of compressed charcoal to
Drawing Approaches Read More »
Painting Approaches: Mixing with a Brush and Keeping Your Color Mixtures Clean You’re painting that wonderful masterpiece. You just painted some wonderful deep shadows in the foreground and decide to work on the sky. You need to mix light, subtle cloud colors but you have a brush full of a dark color you know won’t
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Quick Tips: Drawing Papers To preserve the life of your drawing be sure to use papers that are 100% cotton rag. Most of these types of papers will be watercolor and printmaking papers. I prefer 90lb to 140lb papers. Papers come in different textures and are sized differently. (Sized means how absorbent or non absorbent
Technical Corner:Drawing Papers Which Ones to Use Read More »
Find What’s Right for You When I was a student in college, I took two very different workshops. Both were taught by established, talented artists and I learned something from both instructors. One of the workshops, however, stood out from the other. The artist conducting this workshop was not only a professional painter but an
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Quick Tips:Drawing Using Templates and Masks with Smudging Some people love to smear, smudge, or soften their charcoal drawings with brushes, rags, or stomps. When smearing a drawing or applying tone with a rag or brush you can’t get a distinct edge without help. Of course you can redevelop the area with charcoal stick or
Drawing Tips: Using Blending Techniques with Drawing Read More »
Mixing those Wonderful Grays Colors in nature are rarely straight out of the tube. Your primary and secondary colors are too intense to look natural. When painting, you are constantly modifying your colors and graying their intensity to create paintings that are harmonious. First, lets look at the definitions of color. Primary Colors – These
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When You Just Can’t Stand to Paint Every painter has been there. You’re staring at a blank canvas and nothing is coming to mind. You reach for the brushes but your muse or inspiration has left momentarily, perhaps to enjoy a little warmer weather in the Caribbean. You’re left to languish in your studio. Now
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