Artists Magazine

Every piece of art—whether a success or not—begins with an idea, even if it’s very simple. When artists do have a more complex concept behind a work, however, many will say that while this idea may drive their vision, and hopefully the outcome, it is

as a child, the thought of attending summer school would have mortified me—and spending the warm, sunny days of freedom stuck behind a desk wouldn’t have been my idea of fun. Fast forward to life as an adult, and the concept of devoting a whole seaso

amber Droste has a vision to elevate the traditional art of stained glass to new creative heights. By combining her classical training with innovative techniques for designing compositions, Droste carries on the lineage of this age-old art form while

one of the pleasures of writing for this space is to research talented artists who are now all but forgotten. On a recent visit to the Smith College Museum, I found amid canvases by old masters a fine painting by a New York artist named Alfred Kappes

Among the pleasures of sketching in watercolors is the plethora of beautifully bound sketchbooks available for this purpose. While I find these books useful, I inevitably end up with a few pages that either don’t fit in with other paintings in the bo

Last summer, I spent a couple of months traveling in Europe. It was a trip I’ll never forget—and not because I ate way too many pains au chocolat or because a tornado tore through the canals of Amsterdam or because I spent three hours in the Tate. In

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Learn from the best.” I believe that’s what we as artists are doing when we copy a masterwork. Today’s representational painters often envy the rigorous study that classically taught art students once received. Thei

In this demo, my goal was to learn from the work of Anders Zorn (Swedish, 1860–1920)—specifically his painting, Coquelin Cadet (below). I was interested in exploring Zorn’s limited palette—ivory black, yellow ochre, vermilion and white—and his use of

For some artists, painting a picture involves an adventure, a quest to discover something new and important about the world and the way they relate to it. This is a very different enterprise from simply seeking to capture appearance through good draw

● Both land and sky get softer, cooler and paler as they recede into the distance, as demonstrated by the J.M.W. Turner painting seen above. ● Clouds cast shadows on land, water and vegetation. Remember to show those shadow shapes. ● Call in your mos

Carolyn Robles has painted portraits of people for years, but a goal to strengthen the narrative has led her to design paintings with greater meaning. “They’re about the individual,” she says, “but they’re also about the human experience.” Robles car

When you look at a painting by Mary Bentz Gilkerson, you see a work that holds air and land together in an easy embrace, as easy as a restful pose held by a yoga master. You feel at peace—but you also feel the potential energy within the landscape, e

When an artist as enduring and widely celebrated as Edgar Degas (1834–1917) becomes the subject of an exhibition, it’s as refreshing as it is rare to see a novel perspective or previously unexplored piece of scholarship presented. The exhibition “Deg

Watercolor artist Peggi Habets vividly remembers the first time she was moved by a narrative in a painting. She was standing in front of a Francis Bacon diptych at a museum, initially unphased and uncertain what all the fuss was about, but she kept l

artists face many challenges when it comes to pricing their work. Many simply look at the work of artists around them and price their own work accordingly, but this method ignores the particularities of knowledge and style. Developing a personal pric

Artists never stop learning. Each new painting or drawing can bring another revelation, but when you want to learn more about a specific technique, medium or style, you can’t do better than to take a workshop. Start planning now. On the following pag