Category: HOW TO PAINT
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What is Perspective in Art?
By Marion Boddy-Evans Perspective is an art technique for creating an illusion of three-dimensions (depth and space) on a two-dimensional (flat) surface. Perspective is what makes a painting seem to have form, distance, and look “real”. The same rules of perspective apply to all subjects, whether it’s a landscape, seascape, still life, interior scene, portrait, or figure painting. […]
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Viewpoint in Perspective
By Marion Boddy-Evans Viewpoint is the spot (point) from which you, the artist, is looking at (viewing) the scene. Linear perspective is worked out according to this viewpoint. There’s no right or wrong choice of viewpoint, it’s simply the first decision you make when beginning to plan your composition and figure out the perspective. Normal viewpoint is […]
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Art Composition Rules
By Marion Boddy-Evans Art composition rules provide a starting point for deciding on a composition for a painting, for deciding where to put things. The Rule of Thirds is the easiest art composition rule to follow in a painting. It’s a basic rule popular among photographers, but equally applicable to the composition of paintings. Applying the rule of […]
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Art Jokes: You Must Be An Artist If…
What are the signs that you’re an artist? This collection of definitions of what makes an artist started with a comment on the Painting Forum from Hamlet which got the rest of us going…! I’m not telling which of these art jokes originated with me, nor how many definitions apply to me, except to say I’ve never […]
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Elements of Composition: Rhythm
Don’t think that rhythm is something that belongs to music only, or perhaps poetry. It’s also one of the Elements of Composition, helping to lead the viewer’s eye across a painting. The example I’ve shown here is of a extreme landscape format, considerably wider than it is tall. To get the viewer’s eye from one edge to the […]
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The Fried Egg School of Painting Composition
By Marion Boddy-Evans Question: The Fried Egg School of Painting Composition “Is it a rule that the focal point of a painting should not be in the middle of the canvas? What if you have, let us say, a face with a crown on the head, nothing else other than the background, would that be wrong?” — Vivien S […]
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To Mix or Not to Mix Colors, That’s the Question
By Marion Boddy-Evans At an exhibition opening on Monday a friend and I were talking about how you recognize particular colors/pigments in certain artists’ paintings and how with others the colors are more individual. A phthalo blue/green turquoise was one color instantly identifiable in several paintings; lemon yellow another. It’s led me to pondering the use of […]
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Absolute Beginners to Painting: 16 Commonly Asked Questions
By Marion Boddy-Evans Looking at a great painting it can be hard to remember that every artist was an absolute beginner at some stage. But it’s true, no-one is born with a paint brush in their hand, everyone learned from scratch at some stage. This list of commonly asked questions will help you get started on […]
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Monday Motivator: Put More Paint in the Sky
By Marion Boddy-Evans “I used to paint the sky with thin mixtures of paint, but find I am better able to capture the shimmer of light when I have more paint over the entire canvas.” — Kim Casebeer, PleinAir Magazine, June/July 2013, page 51 Or, to paraphrase: “Use more paint!” What’s working best for your skies? I’ve been […]
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Selling Paintings: Which Subjects Sell Best?
All painters know that some subjects sell better than others. Whether these are subjects you want to paint and whether you should be painting specifically for the market are two thorny questions. Only you can decide whether you want (or need) to paint with a view to selling as much as possible, or whether you […]
