For my holidays back in July I spent a week in Osoyoos with the family. If you have never been to Osoyoos I highly recommend it as a place to visit; it is a mix of small town charm surrounded by landscape that gives you the feeling of living in the wild west. It is too unique to describe and best discovered in person. Since the rest of the family enjoys sleeping in, I planned on painting in the early mornings when the sun was [...]
In May I was approached by the Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) to hold a summer plein air workshop and to write an article for their July/August Art Avenue magazine. To tie the article in with the workshop I decided to write about my approach to plein air painting and show my process step by step. The painting i chose for the step by step is also available to watch on my YouTube channel (video embedded below). You can read the article below or download [...]
When talking to other artists and students I often hear that they want to paint looser but do not know the painting technique. I know the feeling; I started out painting realistically and strove to become more loose and impressionistic. There is a trove of information one has to learn and grasp to round out your ability to paint more impressionisticly. However, if there isn't an understanding of where to start then it makes it even more difficult. A simple painting technique to start you [...]
Still life painting is so diverse. It can narrate a story of objects or take you closer into an objects world. Every since I stared painting with pastels so long ago I have enjoyed painting candy apples. I took a large amount of reference photos years ago that I still use today for when I have the itch to paint another. This painting is 4x4" painting on a 5x5" square of Arches Oil Paper which comes in large sheets or blocks of 9x12" or 12x16". [...]
I remember my first time painting a glass bottle with the seemingly impossible task of depicting the transparency and the endless shapes of reflections and inclusions. "Bottle Painting is overwhelming" was a common thought in the process. However, while working on that piece I realized that this complex object is nothing more than just an array of simple shapes in various colours and values. Next thing you know, you step back and realize you're done and think to yourself, "Wow, did I just paint that?". [...]
Figure drawing can be an all consuming task but what if you just want to add a quick figure to a painting for scale and context? Does it have to be intimidating? No. As with anything, knowledge is power. The more you know the easier and more enjoyable a task is. I find this especially true with painting. I want to show that adding a figure in a painting, from a street scene to a landscape, is simple and straight forward. So easy, in fact, [...]
