Artist Strong Blog

Mary asked some great questions about acrylics and specifically about use of brushes and blending for her portrait art. I talk about my step-by-step process for painting portraits in acrylic as well as the blending techniques that help me create softer transitions...

What is gestalt? And how does it hurt your drawing? In psychology there is a term called gestalt. Oxford dictionary defines it as: “an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.” Say what? That’s what I want to talk about with you today. Our...

Value is one of the most important elements of art to reflect any level of realism in your art. The funny thing is, we often use line more than value when trying to convey our ideas or what we observe. Today let’s observe some shadows and highlights in a still life...

Have you ever wanted to better capture likeness in your portraits of people? Have you ever wondered if you could? When I was little I got this idea in my head that the only measure of being a good artist was to draw realistically. Not only should I be able to draw...

You may not know this, but drawing or painting from life is a completely different skill set than working from a photograph.  Think about it for a minute. When you work from photo reference, you are observing another two-dimensional image.  When you work from life,...

In today’s Q&A session Mary asks me about making the switch to smaller brushes when I’m working on painting. When do I switch to small brushes? How do I use them? And do I keep separate brushes for different colors? With the quick drying time of something like...