In an early concept for a dinosaur parade scene I tried a profile view of a small group of humans and dinosaurs bedecked in colorful costumes.  There's a horn-drum on an Ankylosaurus to set the tempo. I realized I needed to pull back the view to show the whole parade ..read more

Buick Special, pencil and markers. Note the rust stains coming up through the roof section, the cracked window, and the junkyard fender. More on Substack ..read more

The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is currently hosting an ambitious summer exhibition called "What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine". This is the first comprehensive museum show dedicated to MAD Magazine's art and satire. The exhibition explores MAD's evolution from its beginnings as a popular humor comic book in 1952 to its emergence as an influential magazine that tweaked those in power, engaging generations of loyal readers, me included. The show is popular, and the audience includes both young and old people who grew up loving the magazine’s mildly subv ..read more

In this new video on YouTube, I explore the practice of negative painting. The idea is to paint the negative shapes around the white shapes of the daisies.  The goal is to reserve our attention for the spaces between things ..read more

Art students in Cincinnati portray a crucifixion scene based on a live model. A history and discussion on my free-to-participate Substack page ..read more

I called one painting "Rainbow Bridge" in one exhibit and "Gideon's Bridge" in a book. Unfortunately, both names will follow that image forever. 'Untitled' is a Title: Eleven tips for titling paintings.  ..read more

Someone must have set up this target for archery practice. It's in a lonely place way down below a high bridge ..read more

 Carl Brenders (b. 1937) is a wildlife artist from Belgium known for his richly detailed gouache and watercolor paintings of mammals and birds in their environments. How does he do it? There’s not much information about his technique available online, but I did some digging. He begins by taking a lot of photographs of the animal and its habitat. According to his 1994 book Wildlife: The Nature Paintings of Carl Benders: “Even after spending weeks of research and photography in the field, the artist devotes more time to develop the concept of the painting. “With this planned, he ..read more

What's going on with the two cows in this pastel drawing by Degas? The one on the right appears to be grazing, but we don't see its head or its feet. Degas loved to experiment with cropping elements off the bottom of his compositions, most likely influenced by photography. Here he seems to be having fun, just seeing what he could get away with.  More about breaking the foreground line on my Substack post.  ..read more

Tickets go on sale today for Lightbox Expo in Pasadena, California this October. It's an inspiring gathering of concept artists, animators, plein air painters, and illustrators. Everyone is super friendly, sketching all the time.  You can meet and hang out with artists like Angela Sung, Craig Mullins, Kiptoe, Jess Karp, Marco Bucci, Aaron Blaise, and artists who work for Blizzard, DreamWorks, Disney, and Pixar (I’ll be there too, with a new book). Find out more at the Lightbox Expo website ..read more