Artists Magazine

With a span of 1,595 feet, it’s not hard to understand the importance of design behind a structure like the Brooklyn Bridge—the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its opening in 1883. The stakes aren’t quite so high for an artist i

Mandalay ... the name alone evokes faraway, exotic lands, as expressed in Rudyard Kipling’s 1890 poem, Mandalay, which inspired Frank Sinatra’s 1958 hit On the Road to Mandalay: “Come you back to Mandalay, Where the old Flotilla lay: Can’t you ‘ear

there was a time when I thought art was simply about putting paint on canvas or like surfaces. Art schools taught little more than that, and all the great masters were painters. Who was I to argue? I got my start in painting with watercolor, quite en

In the early 15th century, European artists started incorporating linseed oil when working in the egg tempera painting medium. Eventually, two techniques with these media were developed. In one, oil was applied as a separate layer over an egg tempera

I confess that I’ve had a love-hate relationship with thumbnail sketches throughout my painting life. The more I paint, however, the more I love doing my thumbnails. Done right, they capture the kernel of inspiration that steers me through the whole

A drawing studio should be a special environment—a permanent space you’ve allocated for your creative work, as well as a storage area for your art supplies and finished artwork. A full-line studio/workshop may also include a space for framing with ta

The real power of a thumbnail kicks in partway through the painting journey when I reach that inevitable point where I stop, look around, scratch my head and ask, “Where was I going?” The painting process involves so many decisions, it’s easy to get

On August 26th, 1920, the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, became law in the United States. In celebration of this centennial year, we invited 10 award-winning women artists to nominate a female artist from history whom they’ve admir

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a John Crump painting. My husband and I, on a trip to escape the Canadian winter, were strolling around Wanaka, one of our favorite South Island, New Zealand towns. We noted an art gallery on the second floor of

Long before COVID-19 wreaked havoc around the globe, Cleveland, Ohio artist Amy Casey was consumed with the plight of the planet, the precariousness of civilization and the fragility of our way of life. Using images of buildings as stand-ins for huma

Eleanor Crow has no difficulty pinpointing the time when she realized what she wanted to do with her life. At age 11 she was painting a sprig of holly in her first year at secondary school. “I remember attempting to mix the three primary-colored powd

In his short life spanning just 37 years, Raphael (née Raffaello Santi de’ Urbino, 1483–1520) accomplished incredible feats not only in painting and architecture but also in drawing, design and archaeology. Like fellow Italian Renaissance artists Mic

Over the 30 or so years that I’ve been drawing in the street, I’ve made lots of friends who also are urban sketchers. We’ve drawn their hometowns and mine and met up in strange new places looking for sketching adventures. I’d like to introduce you to

Brooklyn-based artist Bisa Butler uses textiles and stitchery to make compelling African-American portraits that tell stories. She was working on her most ambitious project to date, To God and Truth (above), when she received a call from her dealer,

FROM THE JOY OF BOTANICAL DRAWING (WATSON-GUPTILL) ■

there are two categories of grants for artists: individual, which I discussed in the July/August issue, and institutional, which I’ll address now. Institutional grants reduce some of the limitations inherent in individual grants because far more fund

THE JOHN AND MABLE RINGLING MUSEUM OF ART SARASOTA, FLORIDA THROUGH NOVEMBER 29, 2020 RINGLING.ORG In his solo show, Howie Tsui’s mixed-media, super-sized artwork, Retainers of Anarchy, is being shown to the American public for the first time. The 8

“All one has to do is take one look at this masterful oil painting by Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917) to understand why the artist is so revered. Painted when he was 46 years old, we see in this work the amalgamation of the artist’s classical academi