In TransitArtist Kathryn Keller Larkins risks everything by embracing gigantic dimensions and a radically limited palette. She’s no longer a novice artist, but she still has some of the best tips for beginners to try.Larkins’ work is distinguished by many things. It’s distinguished by her decision to use a highly restricted palette, to start.
Why Master Artists Chose PastelI love art history. Love it with a passion. But I’m also woke to its shortcomings, most notably that the art history I was exposed to is but one art history among many. The art history of pastel certainly fits the bill as a history that has been sidelined over the centuries.
Is a painting finished when you run out of paint, sunlight, time, or energy? One of the most common questions students ask me when I teach is, “When is the painting finished?” This is a really difficult question to answer because it’s personal.How did Vermeer know when his Girl With a Pearl Earring was complete?
In this free excerpt from “Introducing the Airbrush” in Magazine (May 2013) by Daniel K. Tennant, he describes how he painted Apple and Strawberry (gouache, 8×10) using a traditional brush, in combination with an airbrush, for a flawless finish.Demo:1. Underpainting: I applied the gouache underpainting with a traditional brush.
Artist Iain Stewart shares his therapeutic process of recording his days in sketchbooks.“I’ll tell you what,” starts my wife Noelle. “You’re on, babe.”Seven minutes later, and just before the last half-ounce of chardonnay makes its final journey, I say “done,” and order myself a beer in triumph. It’s not my best work but, as it turns out, it’s one of my favorite simple sketches.
With John P. OsborneThere’s a formula of sorts for determining the subtle atmospheric progression of colors and color values. “No matter what we’re painting and how important the figure, still life or landscape,” Osborne says, “there’s a light average value and a shadow average value, and when you add the halftone between the two, or the middle value of the palette, you have form.
