by Kristen O'Neill | Jan 31, 2023 | Art Lessons
Loosen Up Brushstrokes A lot of painters struggle with ways to loosen up brushstrokes to create the feeling they want in their paintings. The Impressionists helped us fall in love with brushstrokes. And, for over a hundred years, artists have explored celebrating...
by Kristen O'Neill | Jan 24, 2023 | Art Lessons
What is Rhythm in Paintings? Rhythm is a visual tempo in an artwork. Creating rhythm in paintings causes a sense of movement or action to be suggested. Viewers love the sense of predictability and satisfaction they feel from understanding the composition. It can help...
by Kristen O'Neill | Jan 17, 2023 | Art Lessons
Why Winter Sunlight is Different In the winter, the sun goes through the sky in a much lower arc than summer or spring. Just as sunrise and sunset are affected by the low position in the sky, so is the winter sun. Depending on where you are, this can be a dramatic...
by Kristen O'Neill | Jan 10, 2023 | Art Lessons
Glowing Paint Effect Ever seen a painting glow? Then suddenly you realize that just using regular paint colors, this artist was able to create that amazing effect. In this lesson, I cover how you can get that paint glowing effect, without any special kinds of radiant...
by Kristen O'Neill | Jan 3, 2023 | Art Lessons
One of the most common questions I get from art students is, “How do I start a painting?” A blank paper or canvas can be exciting, but also stirs up a bit of fear in us. “I haven’t screwed it up yet,” was a common a thought that ran...
by Kristen O'Neill | Dec 27, 2022 | Art Lessons
Atmospheric Perspective – What is it? Atmospheric perspective helps us create the illusion of depth in landscape painting. As the land get further away from us the colors get less intense and shift in hue. This is due to the lightwaves scattering off of...
by Kristen O'Neill | Dec 20, 2022 | Art Lessons
The Quest for Realistic Greens Many painters find that mixing up a realistic green is the hardest color task. If you have struggled, know that you aren’t alone! Over the years, a painter often develops their “go-to” formula for the greens they need....
by Kristen O'Neill | Dec 13, 2022 | Art Lessons
What makes a great landscape painting isn’t always the scene before us. However, we have a magical superpower as artists, we can (and should!) move things around. Simplifying a landscape composition creates a way to celebrate the important things of the...
by Kristen O'Neill | Dec 4, 2022 | Art Lessons
What are Paint Sample Squares? Paint sample squares are a way to tell how a certain pigment behaves at a glance. You can see the true color, how it looks with one coat or two, which helps understand that pigments transparency or opaque qualities. There are different...
by Kristen O'Neill | Nov 25, 2022 | Art Lessons
One of the first things I noticed about some rivers in Oregon, and the Smith river in Northern California, are their colors. Wowza. It seems like unbelieveable, magical, fairy-land kinds of color. The water is clear, yet emerald. Not the murky green of algae blooms,...
by Kristen O'Neill | Nov 15, 2022 | Art Lessons
Why is Composition Important? Composition is one of the most important parts of making a good artwork. It is impossible to have a great painting with a bad composition. And, it can be one of the biggest struggles for a painter in the beginning. This post is to help...
by Kristen O'Neill | Nov 3, 2022 | Art Lessons
Painting fall colors are so inspirational. Bright and bold, these temporary splashes of color are fun to celebrate. Here, I walk you through a step-by-step journey of painting a leaf – with a focus on color choices. Materials: Fantastic leaf from tree...
by Kristen O'Neill | Sep 27, 2022 | Uncategorized
Creating a value scale is an essential and simple task for a painter. The basic idea is that we need to see the range of values that one or two pigments can create. Values are an important part of painting, creating contrast, mood, form, and help guide the eye. It is...
by Kristen O'Neill | Sep 6, 2022 | Art Lessons, The Practice of Art
The Isle of Skye seen from the amazing B&B in Glenelg, Scotland Sometimes I find myself taking myself way too seriously. Does this happen to you? I go to sit down and paint and all the sudden I bring all this pressure with me. Like, I need to paint a...
by Kristen O'Neill | Jul 26, 2022 | Art Lessons
Achieving realistic color and values can go a long way to painting anything. With ocean waves, we also have to make sure that we are following the rules of how nature works to create a believable wave. Believable Waves – Values #1 The deepest part of the ocean...
by Kristen O'Neill | Jul 7, 2022 | Art Lessons
Mixing with warm and cool primaries is really the secret to knowing how to avoid muddy colors . Also, mixing ON the right type of palette can really help too. Check out this video I made all about it.
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