I recently completed an oil painting that was perhaps one of the longest wrestling matches I have ever had with a painting. Finding a sense of color harmony was the initial struggle, which of course led to corrections in color temperature, ... Read More...

Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci), 1494-1557, Study of Three Nudes, Uffizi Gallery, Florence This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.MichelangeloPortrait of ... Read More...

We thought it would be interesting to ask some of our Board Members what they have been up to since being quarantined. Here's what they have to say: Bill Suys OPA I came home from teaching at the Scottsdale Artists School on Feb. ... Read More...

Our recent pandemic has forced us to hunker down. It’s par for the course, for many artists to stay inside for long hours, but this is beyond normal, as we know. Like many artists, I work at home. To earn a living, I teach, do storyboard ... Read More...

Lindstrom’s oil palette; She works out of a wood box so she can put her oils away in the freezer each night.  Throughout my adult life, creating and art has always been a comfort. When I was 10 days overdue with my first child I sat, ... Read More...

As the world seems to spin out of control outside of our studios, this may be a good time to revisit the ONE thing that truly enables you to stay engaged as a life-long artist: satisfaction from, and a love for, the PROCESS. Wanting to ... Read More...

"Last Light on Split Rock" by Mary Pettis OPA28" x 16" - Oil on linen “Do I have what it takes?” This was the last question posed to me by an earnest young man at my last landscape workshop. It is frequently asked, and not just at the ... Read More...

I think that as artists, one of the primary goals of a successful painting, whether spoken or unspoken, is that we hope to evoke an emotional response from the viewers of our paintings.  We want that untrained eye to approach one of ... Read More...

I received an email from my blog a while back asking a couple of questions about how Berthe Morisot painted. I thought my reply might be interesting to a wider readership, so here it is... On Feb 25, 2019, at 11:36AM, Malcolm ... Read More...

Today’s blog is from OPA Master, Dan Gerhartz, with some insights he shared during the 2012 “Weekend with the Masters”. Though it is a few years old, the information is timeless. Portrait Demonstrations… Weekend with the ... Read More...