You know painting animals you feel what she’s singing here – nature gets you! Enjoy Nina Simone: https://youtu.be/N4kGc8bp7LY ..read more

For one painting I remember, it took many hours (over weeks) of color studies because I knew after thinking about the subject for weeks before that (and really thinking about the nature of the animal and the nature of the perceptions of that animal) – that for this, the right color and technique for applying that color would tell everything I wanted to tell. Once I applied the paint it all happened very quickly and there was no pre-sketch needed. Sometimes I make 5 sketches and then a carefully measured pre-sketch on the final paper which can take 3 or 4 half-hour-periods of sketching and look ..read more

The line from Prof. Bernard Chaet (Yale) p.12 of The Art of Drawing “…become aware of personal preference [artistic styles, mediums, methods]… learn what’s needed to fulfill that vision and discard the rest… absorb what’s personally meaningful. In learning to draw, one must address oneself to problems that can challenge one’s image-making capacity…” This he wrote after showing us 4 totally different drawing styles all from Matisse – it’s like saying there’s more than one way – pay attention to what is grabbing you ..read more

..read more

Bring a mini-pan (5-6 pans can be crammed into a mini-altoid tin) and a waterbrush (or real brush, often you can find a glass of water to use); you may have time for a painting to dry. Most often I draw instead and use Twsbi (nibs: M and 1.1 mm) and EF pilot fountain pens (inks: sunset noodlers, walnut brown, poppy red diamine) or retractable mechanical pencil (Faber-Castell) in a Leuchtturm notebook. I use the pocket size and next size up. Since I journal and draw for many pages, and travel-paint less frequently – thinner paper works best and it’s lightest. The 12-pan mini was a gift and foun ..read more

Art offers a compassionate break from pressures in life. Anyone can create and experience art and find relief. When folks say, I can’t draw, I think anyone who can draw supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, can definitely draw. If we draw an apple while standing under the Sistine then we don’t even get a look. If we draw it in an average city in America, that may be the only drawing for a mile and you the only person who drew one for two miles. It’s a simple truth of circumstance. If you grow up walking by block-long buildings covered in sculptures, you have a different experience of the value ..read more