Category: Art Tips
Bring out your dark side (to show more light) by Wilson Bickford
I love to paint the deep woods. There is mystery in the dark depth of the shadows. And the way the light filters through the trees is absolutely majestic! (At least to me.) What appeals to me above all, is the strong light and dark contrast, which is the entire basis of a good painting……
Jerry’s Blog Team -- 12/05/2010
What’s YOUR Style? by Wilson Bickford
As an art instructor, I often hear the lament of students stating that, “I don’t have a style,” or “My work doesn’t look like ME.” Though we’ve all heard it before, the old saying, Don’t worry about finding your style, your style will find YOU, is very true. In the beginning, most aspiring painters learn…..
Jerry’s Blog Team -- 12/05/2010
Mixed Up Media? by Wilson Bickford
Here are a couple of paintings that I’ve done over the past couple of days. Both utilized some Acrylic underpainting, but are essentially “Oil paintings.” The sunflowers were started yesterday and finished today. I had added Alkyd medium to the Oils to speed the drying, so that it was virtually dry over-night. That made it…..
Jerry’s Blog Team -- 12/05/2010
Three Steps to being a Better Painter in Three Months by Mike Rooney
Here’s a three step list of things that are guaranteed to make you a better painter. Paint. Paint. Paint. There’s no substitute for painting. Reading about it won’t do it, watching DVDs incessantly won’t do it, and taking workshops one behind the other won’t do it either. If you would challenge yourself to paint…..
Jerry’s Blog Team -- 12/05/2010
Creating A Classic Still Life by Wilson Bickford
Still life is one of my favorite subject matters. For me, it’s the challenge of capturing the realism of the objects involved. Quite often, I will utilize the Old Masters’ “indirect” approach of laying down a “grisaille” underpainting, then layering glazes and applying final highlights. There’s no question that this is a very effective…..
Jerry’s Blog Team -- 12/05/2010
Tips on Composition of a Painting by Tom Jones
Composition is a very important part of the painting process. A good composition makes your painting more pleasing to the viewer and will enhance your chances to sell more paintings. Let me start by suggesting that you use a pencil to draw a very light vertical line down the center of the paper and…..
Jerry’s Blog Team -- 12/05/2010
Help! I’m Stuck! by Jeanne Bessette
O.k. let’s face it. We all get stuck. It’s panic time and we feel like we will never make another worthy piece of art as long as we live. Or even worse, we insist on working in this energy and every piece we touch turns to garbage. It can sometimes go on for days, weeks…..
Jerrys Blog Squad -- 12/05/2010
Take A Hike by Wilson Bickford
If you want to get your creative juices flowing, sometimes you just have to get out into Mother Nature’s domain. Winters here in northern NY can be quite brutal, with minus 20s and 30s pretty common in January and February. There are acres and acres of meadows and thick woods behind my home which I…..
Jerry’s Blog Team -- 12/05/2010
WINTER STREAM Project Lesson in Oils by Wilson Bickford
I thought I’d share some insights as to my thought processes and techniques with this painting. This was created just recently and I took step-by-step photos along the way to highlight certain points. Although this is considered an Oil painting, I did start with some Acrylic gessos for the underpainting; a blue-gray for the snow…..
Jerry’s Blog Team -- 12/05/2010
Grrrrr by Valerie (Valry) Drake
Typically I am fairly good at technical stuff since my day job deals with technology. But recently a technical issue has really messed up one of my art pieces. I still haven’t resolved the situation but let me tell you about it. I have been doing a series of colored pencil abstracts for my product…..