Dear Artist, Having spent the afternoon in the Picasso show at the Seattle Art Museum, I’m laptopping you from a quiet café near First and Spring. Right now I’m digesting those Picassos along with a nice set of Samish Bay…
Dear Artist, A subscriber wrote, “I found at the beginning of the pandemic that I had the most productive period I have had in years. Now, nothing. I am not sure what is going on. I am eating more and…
Dear Artist, After noting the tendency of kindergarten kids to keep pushing paint until their images were destroyed, Susan Marx of Orange, N.J., wrote, “You raise an important question. How do you know when to stop? If the best result…
Dear Artist, In 2003, when Anne Truitt was 82, she wrote a letter to her daughter: “Something strange is happening to me. Certain ways in which I have made my work ever since 1961 have simply — very simply, silently…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, Candy Crawford Day wrote, “Is it better for an artist to go it alone or is camaraderie advisable? Lately, I’ve lost a mentor who greatly influenced my work. Other influences don’t seem to have my best interests…
Dear Artist, In the 1960s, when Canadian artist Betty Goodwin was in her 40s, she enrolled in a printmaking class with abstract painter and printmaker Yves Gaucher in Montreal. There, Betty started experimenting with found objects and clothing. Having always…
Dear Artist, My late friend Egbert Oudendag used to say, “The best way to help artists is to hinder them.” He had the idea that being tough was the way to bring out their gumption. It was also the key…
Dear Artist, Here’s a decluttering idea: 1. For this exercise, commit to 30 minutes and a palette of six mixable colours, warm to cool, avoiding black. (Hint: mixing Phthalo Green with Alizarin Crimson, or Ultramarine with Burnt Umber make fabulous…
Dear Artist, Glazing is a technique where a transparent, usually darker, tone is washed over previously painted and dried passages. While primarily an acrylic technique, glazing can also be used in oils and watercolours. A glaze is applied with a…
Dear Artist, A collector of emerging and mid-career art recently told me about the friendships she’s struck up with artists on social media, many of them young. “Before I knew it, we had moved to private messaging and were having…