Category: Tools and Techniques
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Vermeer restoration unveiled with revealed Cupid
Johannes Vermeer, the remarkable 17th century painter from the city of Delft in the Netherlands, is revered for his transcendent portrayals of the effects of light and atmosphere in domestic scenes. He is best known for his series of compositions in which people, predominantly young women, are seen engaged in simple activities in front of…
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Sketches in Line and Wash by Jeanette L. Gurney
If, like me, you’ve watched many of James Gurney’s excellent short videos on YouTube, you have undoubtedly seen Jeanette Gurney, James Gurney’s wife, playing a supporting role, often accompanying him on sketching trips and sketching in the background while he sketches or paints. Occasionally, we would get a look at her line and watercolor drawings,…
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Richard Schmid 1934-2021
I was saddened to learn of the death on Sunday of American artist Richard Schmid, one of the finest and most influential realist artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. His paintings are veritable textbooks of color and value relationships, texture, brush handling, and the subtle power of edges in painting. Schmid was…
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Eye Candy for Today: John Sell Cotman graphite and wash drawing
East End of Saint Jacques at Dieppe, Normandy; John Sell Cotman; graphite and brown wash; roughly 12 x 9 inches (29 x 22 cm). LInk is to zoomable version on Google Art Project, downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons, original is in the Yale Center for British Art. English painter, printmaker and illustrator John Sell Cotman,…
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TRIADS: Painting with Three Colors, James Gurney
In his latest instructional video, TRIADS: Painting with Three Colors, painter James Gurney explores three-color palettes and gives a good introduction to the basic concepts of painting with limited palettes. Though not specifically about triadic color schemes in the classic sense (in which the colors are evenly spaced around the color wheel), his exploration of…
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Mastery by George Leonard (and its relevance to learning drawing and painting)
I came across a recent post on James Gurney’s art blog, Gurney Journey in which a reader had asked “How do you force yourself to improve?“, and it prompted me to think about some of what I’ve learned on the subject of studying, practicing and improving, and a book that was instructive in informing my…