Dear Artist, Here’s a subject that many artists don’t want to hear about. I’m including it because it can be turned into a creative device. It’s about keeping track of your work. Even as a kid I liked to do…
Dear Artist, I’m frequently asked whether it’s best to go back to school or back to work. I’ve been on the board of directors of a prominent art college, and I’ve also been an advocate of do-it-yourself for life –…
Dear Artist, There’s an interesting paragraph in The Legacy of Mark Rothko, by Lee Seldes: “Rothko had nowhere to go. If he had been able to complicate his image rather than simplify it to the extreme, his art could have…
Dear Artist, “What sort of ground should I paint on?” While there are a few common and safe answers, there’s a wide variety of opinion on the subject. I’ll confine my remarks here to the preparations for oil or acrylic.…
Dear Artist, Regardless of your political or philisophical position, there’s a surprising amount that can be learned from Russian social realism of the twentieth century. I’m talking about painters like Kustodiyev, Ioganson, Surikov, Plastov and Klychev — names that are…
Dear Artist, Last year I started reading about the explorations of Alexander Mackenzie of the North West Company. In 1789 this Scottish fur trader followed a great northern river to its mouth. He left Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabaska and…
Dear Artist, It’s been my experience that plein air requires a different mind-set than indoor work. Small inconveniences that do not occur in the studio can make or break the effort — a cool wind on the neck or a…
Dear Artist, I wanted to mention something which has proven to be one of my all time best creative devices. The concept applies to many fields of creativity, but I’ll describe it as it applies to painting. It’s called the…