Dear Artist, I’m laptopping you from beneath a red-painted tori on the edge of Lake Ashi in Hakone National Park, Japan. Nearby, an elderly man is mixing bright powders from plastic bottles in a small bowl and stirring with a…
Dear Artist, I’ve always been suspect of historical painter’s palettes. One reason is that a lot of my old ones are around and none are typical, nor are they dated. They were put aside because they were an irredeemable mess.…
Dear Artist, Quite a few letters come my way from artists asking how they might go about marketing a body of work. These days, jpegs often show mysticism, spirituality and other unique visions. Many artists have put their hearts and…
Dear Artist, It’s about time I fessed up. When I was at Art Center School in Los Angeles I failed Colour 101. This admission is such an embarrassment to me that I’d ask you to please keep it quiet so…
Dear Artist, Outdoor work can be confusing. Because there is often so much to look at, the painter may not know where to begin. Here are three basic approaches you might find useful: Even though your planned subject may be…
Dear Artist, I’m laptopping you from an ancient log cabin on Edith Lake near Jasper, Alberta. The southern view across our mountain-shrouded lake is dominated by Mt. Edith Cavell, one of the highest in the Canadian Rockies. Deer, caribou and…
Dear Artist, Letting folks into my studio is getting more and more problematical. It has to do with my embarrassment about the accumulated mess — the build-up of unfinished and substandard paintings — as well as the sentimental bric-a-brac and…
Dear Artist, In a recent letter I wrote, “I’ve often toyed with the idea of working with an open-minded person who has never picked up a brush and turning her into a great painter in short order.” Several hundred answered…
Dear Artist, At dinner last night the textile artist Carole Sabiston posed a question to our party: “How do you account for the remarkable popularity and love for the work among average people of someone like Vincent van Gogh?” Her…