I’m in a drawing period; I haven’t touched a brush for three weeks. The drawings serve as designs for paintings, not standalone drawings. The paintings are my typical size, 40″ x 54.” So, I’ve used a lot of pencils lately. A pencil is a pencil is a pencil, right? Sure, you have to pay attention…
A reader asked if I use a drawing tablet. Before I answer that question, let’s talk about what a drawing table is for those who might not be familiar with the technology. There are three types of technology collectively referred to as drawing tablets. For each type, the artist uses the supplied pen to create…
Everyone knows how to start a painting, right? You take up your brush and begin–what’s the problem? Joking aside, if you want to create a sketch or study, that IS exactly how you start. That approach is fine until you want to create something more ambitious. If you intend to create a piece that’s large,…
Artists spend a lot of time thinking about their palettes; how many colors, which colors, how big, and so forth. My palette is too large to hold in my hand so I keep it on a cart next to the easel. The palette has to be big enough to contain my color assortment and premixed…
Cedar Point is known as the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World.” It is one of the oldest and largest amusement parks in the United States. In addition to the roller coasters, the park has beautifully landscaped areas and stunning white beaches on Lake Erie. I regularly visit Cedar Point with my Nikon z7. This…
Many oil painters keep their brushes upside down in turpentine or thinner. This practice is horrible; it’s the worst thing you can do to your brushes. In defense of painters who do this, I used to do the same thing because it’s what I was taught. I was taught that concern for my kit was…
The hand clamps I use for carpentry are versatile. Here, I’ve used one to attach a palette to my easel. My big palette, the one that spills over my paint cabinet, is movable but when I work on a big canvas, like this one, it can be a tight fit. My big palette has space…
For the past week or so, I’ve worked exclusively on drawings. More precisely, designs for paintings, as the one illustrated below. These design-focused drawings will be covered by paint. The one illustrated here is the smallest painting of the current crop. The others are 40″ x 54″ and bigger. This means that I can spend…