Painting the Perfect Flower in Oils!

Step by step beginner lessons almost always include a flower. Flowers are always a popular subject to paint...challenging, beautiful, fleeting. At Hidden Talent there are some FABULOUS florals. Janet is working on the last bits of her monochromatic in greys and will be putting color on...probably the background first. This sunflower is Janet's third painting. She is great to have in class,, and is a pretty good curler! I am always amazed at the interesting people that come for lessons.

This poinsettia is in it's monochromatic stage-stunning in yellow ocher,Van Dyke Brown and white. It doesn't seen large, but it's about 20x30, maybe a bit more. Candace has been pressured by the rest of us to keep it this way...but I think she'll be putting red on her palette next week. She has another poinsettia that she's started  on the mono as well. We'll have to get her to share her popcorn, then all will be well at Hidden Talent. ;)

Christine's third painting is also a flower-a waterlily from Wales, where her family toured last summer. She has two charming sons that also take lessons and are soooo proud of their Mom. Christine has quite a challenge- each water drop is unique, no formula painting here. Her cool greens are very rich, you can feel the moisture!

 

This photo really shows the scale of Linda's painting-LARGE. Is painting a larger canvas easier than painting a smaller one? We'll ask Linda when she's done! Great control of red/pink. It's a challenge to keep the pinks from going to bubblegum.

Bernie is one of our most productive painter...I am sure she has a brush in her hand when she's sleeping! This intricate Indian Paintbrush is a great study of the red/green combination. She has a Mahl stick that she is resting her hand on. One of our inventors-Shawn- sold quite a few of these handy tools to the students. Keeps a steady hand and great in easing fatigue.

As you can see, if I told you how great my students were doing, you wouldn't believe me! NOW YOU CAN SEE FOR YOURSELF. Any favorites yet? I still have more student work to post so check back often!

Top Ten Art Magazines THE REST!

Time to add to my list of GREAT art magazines
3.  The Artist Magazine
 The Artists Magazine has been around forever. It is the magazine that covers every niche! I 've enjoyed the high quality images and the advice and step by step instruction that this magazine offers every month. It now has a sizable online presence and very worthwhile to join up (for free) There is a blog, marketplace, networking area etc. A great advantage is now back issues are available on CD and DVD!

4. American Artist
Sister site http://www.artistdaily.com/
This is the oldest publishing art magazine that I have read. I have copies from the 70's hanging around somewhere in the basement. Just can seem to throw away any art book! It's getting a bit thin, but the online network is fantastic...they have a great and helpful newsletter ( a bit to sales oriented at times), but a way to communicate in an arts community. They are embracing the future of online mags and providing free infomation, an easy means to keep in touch with other artists and great promotions like the Weekend with the Masters.

5. American Artist Oil Painting Highlights
6. American Artists Workshop
All from the same publisher and all availalbe through the same website portal. My personal favorite is the Artists Workshop because I happened to be at a featured workshop with Greg Kruetz and the write up was bang on.  Once you've been to a professional artists workshop you soon realize that it is impossible to remember everything! The next thing question is who do I take a workshop from? This magazine eliminates hours of research on the computer and if you like a certain teaching style, you'll find the right workshop by going through the magazine. NEVER throw them out!

7. Art Business News
Art Business News was recommended to me when I first passed my professional framing course. It offered advice on framing tachniques, gave me the trends in the art industry, colors for the year, what is a giclee, what are print companies interested in and their newest lines, how to run a gallery and how galleries were doing across the United States.It now has a submission area online for articles and art, along with regular catagories of emerging artists, print and original artwork, what is selling where and also a great newsletter. This is for the serious career artist!

8. Decor Magazine
It is the art and framing resource that I trust. They are also sponsors of art expos around the US and have the lastest art and trends and advice. I use to get it when it was almost a thick as a phonebook, but those days are fast disappearing! Go online and check it out and see if you want to subscribe. Again, for the serious career artist.

9. Canadian Brushstroke Magazine
Great and timely writing, high quality pictures and it's free only online. There are contests, reviews, hints and tips, interviews and it is great to see an upstart magazine do so well...and it's Canadian! Be sure to sign up for this up and coming ezine!

10. Southwest Art
This is a must have if you are interested in highest quality images of contemporary realism. I use the images in this magazine to instruct on color and composition. I think the Southwest has been a hotbed of great art for many years and has a loyal and well educated following. I have visited Scottsdale and have seen many of the featured galleries and yes....the art is THAT good! Inspiring and educational.
Did I miss yoou favorite magazine? I'm sure there are others and I'd love to promote any that help us artists!

Old Masters Oil Painting Technique for Beginners!

At Hidden Talent we want to 'make it real!' Our focus is to be able to accurately paint what you see...and use the best and simplest ways to do this. So we look to the Old Masters of Art and find that many of them underpainted in a neutral color and once all the details and composition were worked out, the color layer was added. At Hidden Talent we keep the color layer thin and smooth ( no visible brush strokes), which allows us to glaze the canvas and ensure luminosity.
Here are a few students who are working on their monochromatic underpainting ....And just think-this is only the beginning. Every painting brings more challenges and techniques to learn. (I love the moment when a student realizes that they can paint ANYTHING with this method!)

Shane has a collection of beautiful old barns and buildings (even outhouses) that were on his family’s property in Southern Alberta. Sadly, many of them have been torn down. This painting is the front porch of a homestead from the 1920’s-1930’s. The turquoise blue gives it away! He paints a unique view point of looking through the front door from inside the porch.

June is working on a beautiful stylized floral of daisies. Her underpainting was in black and white and her color layer has been a big surprise...she didn’t think there was soooo much color in white! We actually went through the color spectrum from yellow to indigo and added glazes to bring out the flowers without overpowering the white.

Scale is a fun element to play with...these larger than life daisies look like a elegant abstract when painted so large. Infact many ‘abstract’ artists take their cues from cropped and manipulated images of nature.

Ron is dedicated to painting wildlife and has completed ‘Wallice’, a leopard and a very large elephant from Africa! Next on his list is an owl picture that he has gotten permission to paint from a newspaper photographer. Sometimes it is just a matter of asking to get!

He is planning to spent alot more time at Hidden Talent in the next year (between golfing in Palm Springs and travelling the world)....retirement has its advantages!

Jeannette was born with a wrench in her hand! She loves to paint classic cars and you can imagine she has a long list of commissions. Jeannette has actually turned down invitations to car shows so that she can finish the restored car painting she has already taken on. This is an old abandoned tow truck. What makes her car paintings so unique is that the backgrounds are as well done as the vehicles. Jeannette prides herself on being an automotive ‘oil’ artist...so clever! Jeannette's monochromatic is in the warm neutral tones to give an overall sun filled feeling to her finished painting.

Irene is painting the view of the lake from her BC cabin‘s front porch. Her trees are still in the monochromatic stage and you can see her gradually adding color on the right. A good rule of thumb is to add color to the area that is the furthest away-this helps with issues of overlap and not having a ‘cut out’ subject. It is so very important to integrate everything on the picture plane, sometimes by blurring or eliminating edges, or having a color harmony strategy.