In todays post, I have for you a nice article by Amber Van Sickle on how we are losing out by not teaching enough art in our children's classrooms. I feel grateful that I had an art class from 1st to 8th grade and that my hometown had an art store where I could take oil painting lessons. I lost my teacher "Miss B." (as we called her), last year. She was a very special person to a lot of people and loved to teach art, you can read about her life . I know that I'm a better person because of being "exposed" [...]

Monday morning is here again, how was your weekend? Mine was nice, I got to relax and got some work I needed to get done taken care of, it was a nice balance. Anyway today I have for you an article by Redi Zartey that brings up a good topic. What is your understanding of art? is it something we all decide on our own, or to what degree should we let an "expert" decide for us. I'll give you an example, some online galleries jury an artist's work to be posted on their site and some say that their visitors should decide what good art [...]

Here we are again on a Friday morning and as I look outside my Pittsburgh home I see winter in full force with a tempeture of 7 degrees. What is it like in your area? Florida artists need not bother. Just kidding, as an artist I love all the seasons and enjoy the changes that come with them. Anyway today I have for you a great article by Jose Freitas Cruz on an artists mindset in the studio as they do their artwork. Is it an escape?, read on and decide for yourself. Some time ago, back in the nineties, an acquaintance said to me that [...]

Today I have for you an article by Alan LeStourgeon on one of arts most colorful characters, enjoy! "Whether you are a fan of the eccentric Salvador Dali or not, most everyone agrees his work is brilliant in its scope and intense imagination. Salvador Dali started his life as a reincarnation of his brother also named Salvador. At the age of 5 Dali was taken to his brother's grave and began to believe this strange tale as told by his parents. Thus influenced the thinking of the enigmatic and unique existence of the greatest surrealist painter the world had ever seen. At the [...]

It's Friday morning again and to close out this week on the blog, I have for you a nice article by Graham Matthews on making yourself available as an artist so that people will find you. I totally agree, you have to get out there first so that people can view the art and decide if they like it. I know that sounds like a "duh" but I have seen my share of artists stay at home painting wondering why there is little to no interest in their work, it's always about exposure. "I recently had an email from a concerned woman. Her husband, [...]

Today I have an article that takes the "basic palette" way of color mixing, one step futher. I found it interesting and I'm sure you will to. I know all artists have their own way of mixing the colors we need, but it's nice to see how others go about things in a different way, enjoy! "If you think color mixing is easy... you are WRONG!" "When you have a selection of colors on your painting palette it is easy to get carried away with the 1000's of incredible new colors you could mix. As an artist... "What a wonderful opportunity you [...]

It's Monday morning again, and today I have a special for you. I have not one, but two articles on the proper care of artwork. The first one by Marc Eliuk tells us things to be aware of for oil paintings, and the second by Kathleen Karlsen covers any original artwork in general. "When purchasing or obtaining a freshly painted oil painting, it is very likely that it has not truly "dried" yet. Oil paints can take between a few months to a year to "dry" despite feeling dry to touch. Therefore, let's make a distinction between these two states of dryness: Dry: being dry [...]

Today I have a for you an article on one of the most "heated" areas of the artworld, artwork with nudity. This article was done by Daniel Kretschmer and really covers (or maybe "uncovers") a lot of ground on the history of this subject matter. "Scandalous! Shocking! Without modesty! Nudity has been portrayed without shame throughout history and has been met with varying criticism depending on the time and culture. Early Nude Art Ever since early cave paintings the natural human form has been portrayed in its full unclothed glory. This was just how the artists saw his fellow people, and depending on [...]

Today I have for you a great article by Tina Marks that goes over many ways for an artist to exhibit their work. Like most artists, I was aware of most of these, but felt it was nice to see them all in a nice list. Maybe some people out there can use it to come up with their gameplan for the year as far as where to show their work. I know that it gave me a couple of ideas. "When an artist has completed a project or series of pieces it is natural and necessary to show them. It is natural [...]

Today I have for you another great article by Jonathan T Chin on the art world. Jonathan really has nice way of seeing the big picture when he writes about art, and I'm sure you will see that as well. "If you were to write down everything you saw that art was a part of, you would have a long list. Art is used so much because people like art, and it is effective in getting the message across or making something more appealing. However, understanding art and its importance does little to make you aware of where it comes from. Art [...]

Today I have for you a great article by Capucine Price that is very good news to emerging artists like myself. It looks more and more after reading articles like these, that art is really starting to get more acceptance into society. "Assume for a moment that emerging artists are akin to value stocks. Like any true value stock, the work of emerging artists is often overlooked, and their worth and prospects underestimated. However, just as Warren Buffet will search out quality companies with distinctive attributes, art lovers can unearth emerging artists whose work is thoughtful, topical and passionately committed to a sense of relevance to modern [...]

Today I have for you my latest framed oil painting "Flowers In A Dream". This like a good number of my paintings, was done without any reference material. I went in knowing that I wanted a floral and little else. I love the "freshness" and wonder of it all. This painting is 24" x 36" and is framed and ready to hang in your home or office. By the end of the week I hope to update the photo with one that shows more of the flowers detail. It started to snow as I was taking my photo and I didn't have time to get closer [...]