Art Instruction Blog
Fear and Bravery for the artist
Many people believe the following statement: "Real freedom is the absence of fear." I respectfully disagree. I tell my kids that fear is only step one. Step two is bravery. An absence of fear is probably not practical or even possible. Denial is rarely effective....
What is the Fair Market Value of Art?
How Do You Put a Value on Art? "Don't blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive." John D. Rockefeller I recently blogged about the valuation of art. Many find the commodification of one's creative output problematic. How can you put a...
Perception is Everything
Low-balling Art Is a Flop I've been running a little marketing experiment lately. I've been offering recent demo paintings for a much lower price than one might expect to pay at an art fair or even a framed print in a frame shop. Very often, these demo paintings...
Babies, Charcoal and Conte
Baby Portraits in Charcoal and Conte My dear friend Jason Zwiker asked me to create a couple charcoals sketches from photographs he had. I decided to go with the toned paper, with conte. I love the look of these drawings and am hoping to have the opportunity to more...
Right vs Left Brain Are One Brain
Who really knows their Right from their Left? The traditional Right vs Left brain conversation is not giving us the complete picture. New findings suggest that people are not necessarily more functional on one hemisphere of their brain over the other. I have done...
Mountain Majesty Demo
Mountain Majesty, 16 x 20" oil on canvas, framed by the artist Here's the latest demo from a really fun painting party. I worked on it after everyone left, experimenting with some crazy colors to create a bit more vibration. I may have gone too far with crazy color,...
Double-Speak
Fight for Peace! There is an insane culture of Double-speak in this country. Following is by no means a complete list: We must . . . tolerate others’ intolerance. protect our freedom by curtailing others’ freedoms. protect our right to impede others’ rights. execute...
Folly Beach Floral Demo
Painting a Beach Demo Last night was another magical painting party. Cate and I are becoming quite a team, getting great results from people who've never picked up a paint brush. Everybody's having a great time and going home with something they are proud to hang in...
Why, oh Why do we do it?
Sometimes we wonder why we make art, against all odds. We fail. We fail to connect. We fail to see. We fail to be seen. Even our triumphs seem so short-lived. It seems so meaningless, so empty. We feel like giving up. Others do what we do so much better, so much...
Portrait Portrait
A Tale of Two Portraits "Great defect leads to great affect." unknown One of the things I enjoy most about teaching portrait workshops is that even though we are all working with the same method, the same palette, sometimes even the same POV, the paintings always turn...
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