Watch: Pastel Landscape Demo with Tony Allain
Coming to us from Scotland, Tony Allain shares a pastel painting demonstration during Art School Live with Eric Rhoads.
Mix Color and Get Good Harmony
"When mixing colors for the landscape, artists need to be quick on their feet," says John Hughes. "Outdoors, where the light and shadows are in constant motion, it’s important to be able to mix a color intuitively."
6 Ways to Silence Your Inner (Art) Critic
Don’t let your inner critic sabotage you — instead, learn how to cultivate it into self-compassion. See how in this guest post from an artist / psychologist.
Watch: How to Organize Your Pastels
In this live interview with Eric Rhoads, Marla Baggetta takes us through a pastel painting demonstration you don't want to miss!
New Watercolor Demo: Focus on Big Shapes and Contrasts
The following is part of a series featuring a leader in the art community who will be joining us on the faculty of Watercolor Live ...
Secrets of Painting a Nighttime Look
An award-winning artist, Nancie King Mertz has spent her lifetime painting in oil and pastel. Now, join Eric Rhoads with Nancie on this episode of Art School Live!
Why This Works: Breaking up the Horizontals
In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and points out why they...
What the Rocks Tell Us: The Big Jigsaw Puzzle
In this series of articles, Utah artist J. Brad Holt talks about what artists are seeing as they look at the landscape. Holt studied...
Why This Works: Strong Value Statements
- Jeanne Mackenzie reporting -
In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and...
Putting Many Colors in the Shadows
A painting by California artist Kim VanDerHoek ably demonstrated the artist's prerogative to look closely for somewhat unexpected colors in a scene to strengthen...
Gilkerson’s 7 Crucial Plein Air Tips
South Carolina artist Mary Bentz Gilkerson paints arresting, vibrant plein air paintings with significant impasto. It takes a bold brush to do that. She...
Albert Handell on Gray Tones
Learn how to find out if two colors are the same value with this advice from a master pastelist and oil painter.
Understanding Your Subject as an Abstract Design
Before laying paint to canvas, it’s a good idea to assess your subject in terms of pure abstraction. John Hughes explains.
Joseph McGurl on Contrasting Edges
"What I’m trying to do is paint the appearance of nature, the experience of looking at it," McGurl explains. Learn more, and see what's in his landscape painting toolkit!
Why This Works: Diffused Light, Balance of Careful Rendering and Looseness
- Jeanne Mackenzie reporting -
In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and...
How to Protect Your Eyes from Snow Blindness
Jane Hunt's eyes ached when she recently painted a snow scene, so she tried to crowd-source a solution: She went to Facebook and asked...
Shapes Before Subject
What makes a painting successful at the finish might just be what you do at the start. Check out these underpaintings and advice from Barbara Jaenicke, who is on the Pastel Live faculty!
Rising Tide: Advice for Painting Waves
Water as a featured element in painting has been used by artists throughout history. Here, John Slivjak explains four things artists need to consider when painting waves.
Why Fall Is a Good Time to Get Looser
Arkansas painter Dave Butler has been painting looser lately, and it’s no coincidence that this is happening as the leaves are turning vibrant colors....
Suggesting Detail in 75 Minutes, Step by Step
Brazilian painter Marcelo Romani Borges de Araujo agreed to share with our readers some photos of a painting in its various stages, and a...