When you write every day of the week, it's a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because the more you do anything, the better you get. Let me clarify that statement, though. Practice alone doesn't guarantee you'll get better. The old saying, "Practice makes perfect" is wrong! If you continue to practice the wrong stuff, you will not improve. Practice A better … [Read more...]
Better by Design
The Old Masters knew a secret which made their paintings enduring masterpieces. Why do you think, for example, over six million people visit the Louvre every year to see the Mona Lisa? What is it about Leonardo's masterpiece that attracts viewers like moths to a flame? Trusted apprentices The Old Masters taught this secret only to their most trusted apprentices. As a … [Read more...]
Bonus Video Clips
We mentioned last time that we've added a bonus to our Summer Special. (This promotion ends tonight at midnight Pacific Daylight Time). We're going to include a link to some video clips from some of the projects included in this collection. So far we've assembled over half an hour of tips and techniques from Bill, Buck, and Lowell. What we did was match up the projects … [Read more...]
Light!
Light is the most important thing for every artist. Light is always there, in the mountains, in the grass, in the water, out in the open, into the shadow and out of it. As a painter, you have to learn to play with light, to play with colors, and to feel its movement. That’s what makes a complete artist. To see the play of light, to take it inside you, and bring it home to fire … [Read more...]
The principles of mastery
I was listening to my audiobook this morning on Creativity. The author interviewed many creative people from many disciplines. He said that creativity could not occur without first mastering the domain in which the creative person works. In other words, unless you know your subject, you cannot add to it. It's the same thing with painting. You can't master the discipline of … [Read more...]
Fun with perspective
In Chapter 1 of Leonardo's "Treatise on Painting," he makes this statement. "The young student should, in the first place, acquire a knowledge of perspective, to enable him to give to every object its proper dimensions..." In the footnote, the translator states that many readers misunderstood Leonardo's suggestion. Leonardo did not mean that the student should be a master of … [Read more...]
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