Chris Harvey has a lot of long straight architectural lines in his painting, and no matter what he tried, every pass with the brush resulted in another wobbly line. The wobbles weren’t interesting or expressive, they were distracting from the painting’s quality and mood, so I built him a bridge. This bridge is very fancy. I stuck 2 pins in a board, and voila! We have ourselves a tool that helps a person paint straight lines. (Chris has honored it with a name: “The Tool.”)
I’ve never understood why people berate their artistic abilities by saying “I can’t even make a straight line.” People, you don’t have to. That’s what tools are for.
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Hopefully Chris can finish the painting in time for the Seattle Artist League show! All students and teachers are encouraged to bring in work. Next month I’ll show you how to make a tool that slows time. You’ll need five rubber bands, a paperclip, and 3 extra long zip ties for that one.
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American seascape and landscape painter. Homer worked primarily in oil and watercolor paints, creating a prolific body of work that chronicled his working vacations. During the cold winter of 1884-5, Homer traveled to Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. He painted a series of watercolors as part of a commission for Century Magazine. The fresh …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9941″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Line drawing by William Anastasi A conversation between League friend and painter Fredericka Foster and composer/musician Phillip Glass has recently been published in Nautilus. Foster and Glass are talking about time. Philip Glass: There are many strange things about music and time. When I’m on a tour with the dance …
Today’s challenge is to draw using a disposable fork. This may at first seem odd and awkward, but if you think about it, a fork offers instant parallel crosshatch marks, saving you the time and trouble of drawing each line individually! Efficient. For this exercise, I recommend you avoid relying on outlines to describe the …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9121″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Pictured above: Gamblin’s recycled Torrit Grey, a different color every year Oil paints have a bad reputation for being toxic, and many of the solvents and pigments can be, but oil paint itself is essentially friendly. In any oil paint tube are two ingredients: Pigment Oil Pigment The pigments in …
The Bridge: A Very Fancy Painting Tool
[image_with_animation image_url=”8653″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”]
Image above from Urban Sketchers Chicago
Chris Harvey has a lot of long straight architectural lines in his painting, and no matter what he tried, every pass with the brush resulted in another wobbly line. The wobbles weren’t interesting or expressive, they were distracting from the painting’s quality and mood, so I built him a bridge. This bridge is very fancy. I stuck 2 pins in a board, and voila! We have ourselves a tool that helps a person paint straight lines. (Chris has honored it with a name: “The Tool.”)
I’ve never understood why people berate their artistic abilities by saying “I can’t even make a straight line.” People, you don’t have to. That’s what tools are for.
Hopefully Chris can finish the painting in time for the Seattle Artist League show! All students and teachers are encouraged to bring in work. Next month I’ll show you how to make a tool that slows time. You’ll need five rubber bands, a paperclip, and 3 extra long zip ties for that one.
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Winslow Homer in Cuba
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American seascape and landscape painter. Homer worked primarily in oil and watercolor paints, creating a prolific body of work that chronicled his working vacations. During the cold winter of 1884-5, Homer traveled to Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. He painted a series of watercolors as part of a commission for Century Magazine. The fresh …
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[image_with_animation image_url=”9941″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Line drawing by William Anastasi A conversation between League friend and painter Fredericka Foster and composer/musician Phillip Glass has recently been published in Nautilus. Foster and Glass are talking about time. Philip Glass: There are many strange things about music and time. When I’m on a tour with the dance …
30SAL Challenge: Fork it!
Today’s challenge is to draw using a disposable fork. This may at first seem odd and awkward, but if you think about it, a fork offers instant parallel crosshatch marks, saving you the time and trouble of drawing each line individually! Efficient. For this exercise, I recommend you avoid relying on outlines to describe the …
Non-Toxic Oil Painting
[image_with_animation image_url=”9121″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Pictured above: Gamblin’s recycled Torrit Grey, a different color every year Oil paints have a bad reputation for being toxic, and many of the solvents and pigments can be, but oil paint itself is essentially friendly. In any oil paint tube are two ingredients: Pigment Oil Pigment The pigments in …