Review: The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum
In her recent New York Times article, The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum, Stephanie Rosenbloom admonishes us to slow down when we visit museums. 20 minutes, she says, in front…
RGH vs Utrecht
A reader asks wether I prefer Utrecht flake white or RGH’s. To answer the question directly: I prefer Utrecht (barely). Utrecht covers better and has more body. To demonstrate this,…
Painting Mediums
Painting mediums are a never-ending topic for discussion and debate among artists. Mediums profoundly affect how oil paint handles, and many preparations are complicated or dangerous, filled with ancient lore…
Update to Oil Paint Brand Table
Added Richeson and Grumbacher to the table and updated information about the types of oils used in binders; updated several ratings.
The problem with blended commercial oil paint
The ideal palette consists entirely of single-pigment colors. Such an ideal palette provides artists with total control over values and tones. This is especially important for artists, like me, who…
New painting prep
My newest painting, White Ballon, is the standard size for me, 40″ x 54.” The drawing is simple–really the plan for the painting. I define the shapes and clarify the…
Carl Gaertner
Yesterday was a lucky day–I discovered an artist new to me: Carl Gaertner (1898-1952). Gaertner’s reputation is almost entirely local to Cleveland, as Robert Smith‘s is confined to Dayton. Gaertner was born…
Awakenings
Do you remember your first encounters with great art? I vividly recall my introduction to certain artists–life-changing discoveries that revolutionized my views about art. The composer Berlioz recalled his introduction…