| Your art, if it can inspire you, will inspire others. ~ Nicholas Wilton |
It’s national plein air month. How fortunate are we to live in such a beautiful location where we can get out and about and spend some time in nature! I’ve taken advantage of this over the last couple of months – getting out for a walk and enjoying some nature time. Last week I pulled out my Open Acrylics (with a long dry time for when I get interrupted by Dad duties) and even managed to get some plein air painting done!
- This week’s artist is – ‘Charles’ Joongwon Jeong – I ran across his series where he took inspiration from some classical pieces of art and recreated them as hyperrealistic portraits. Of course, he does more than that – be sure to check out his instagram for even more!
- This video is an oil portrait walk-through for beginners.
- Mixing colors too intimidating? Limit yourself to only 4 colors with the Zorn palette with this video tutorial.
- Here’s a video about why portrait paintings are so hard – with tips.
- For something different than portraits – this Japanese cook has drawn every meal he’s eaten for the last 32 years (in case you need a project idea).
- Maybe it’s not meals, but what do you collect?
- Always keep in mind, no one knows anything.
- Though I’m an avid reader, I don’t fully appreciate poetry. Next time I read some I’ll keep in mind that poetry is language made special.
- The book of the week is – The Urban Sketching Handbook: 101 Sketching Tips: Tricks, Techniques, and Handy Hacks for Sketching on the Go by Stephanie Bower. I have 2 of the books in this series and love having them as reference and inspiration. While you can get a kindle copy, I like having the flexibound edition so that I can take it with me as reference. Not sure what urban sketching is? You can think of it as the trendy version of plein air (and it’s national plein air month!). Not interested in urban sketching? The sketching tips work in all settings.
I love plein air work – both sketching and painting. So I’m loving this weather and the opportunity to steal away for a few minutes at lunch to get some painting in. Even if I forget my paints I will draw the landscape with a pen or pencil. Any excuse to get outside works for me!
We expect to be open for in-store traffic on Monday. We’re in the process of meeting the required safety regulations and getting everything ready. We can’t wait to see you! Until we do, keep creating – the world needs your art!
Cheers!
Matthew & the Art Supply House crew
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