Painting on Copper Panels

An oil sketch on copper of  a dead bird I found on my morning walk. See the photo here. I thought it fitting to paint this bird on my first copper panel painting. Here's a traditional method of preparing the copper plate with garlic from National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 20: Painting in Antwerp and London: Rubens and…

Oil painting brushes

My most important tools are obviously brushes. Here are my favorites at the moment: Escoda bristle filberts Isabey mongoose rounds  Silver Brush ruby satin synthetics rounds and filberts I typically use around two dozen brushes in a painting session. I don't like rinsing them while painting and prefer to have new clean brushes per color.…

My palette

I prefer a classical palette composed of earth colors. David Rourke in his weblog All The Strange Hours wrote an informative post on the classical palette, if you're a little more curious. My wood palette itself is one designed by artist William Whitaker and manufactured by Real Gesso (who also make great traditional gesso panels).…

La Dolce Vita – oil painting demonstration

I work in a manner I've developed over the years which may be best described as somewhat similar to a Venetian manner of painting. That is I glaze a LOT. I also use impasto and scumble. I am a solvent free painter and use just walnut oil and M. Graham walnut alkyd medium. I often…

Learning humility through the art of painting – studio process

The more I paint, the more humbled I become. There are times when I paint and all the elements fit in perfectly and it seems as if I've finally gained mastery. I go through the day feeling victorious, thinking, "haha...am genius after all...." Only to come crashing down like Icarus on the very next painting.…

O Brave New World – the artist’s statement

"O Wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't." -William Shakespeare, "The Tempest" The above quote from Shakespeare is perhaps a fitting artist's statement. To be an artist is to see everything with fresh eyes. One always hopes to preserve the wonderment…

Learning to Draw: the virtues of copying

Originality is a quality highly prized in art. How does one begin to be original? By learning the basics. When it comes to learning the craft of painting and drawing, I believe that there's nothing more beneficial than copying and studying great works of art. It's how I taught myself to draw and then to…

Crowning the Grand Sow

This is the final painting. I released it and then took it back after awhile because there was something missing I thought. So in 2009 I revised it. My creative process: from drawing to finished painting. I love the little piggy in the foreground, scratching his side, completely unimpressed by the wondrous coronation next to…