Yesterday I posted drawings by Stanley Lewis. Lewis was one of the influences listed by Charity Baker at the New York Studio School. Looking through Lewis’ art and writing, I found an interview on Painting Perceptions that talked about his methods, and his influences: “[Painting from perception] often feels like a horribly impossible thing to …

I was interested in learning how to better see and describe what makes Charity Baker’s drawings and paintings so captivating, and she gave me a list of her teachers from the New York Studio School. Goldmine! I posted drawings by her teacher Barbara Grossman yesterday. Today I found drawings by Stanley Lewis. Although the two …

I met Keith Pfeiffer in one of the last classes I taught in person, before the quarantine. The class was on color and light. We practiced producing a sensation of light by replacing white with color (above), how to get vibration from complementary hues, vibrant vs neutral effects, and how to dim or compress the …

The Seattle Artist League Portrait Awards encourage artists to develop the theme of portraiture in their work. The competition celebrates outstanding and innovative work in drawing, painting, printmaking, and mixed media. In this first year, we received 232 submissions from 151 artists. Throughout our selection process, the jury focused on choosing interesting work that engaged the artistic medium to convey the essence of a specific person, or …

Last quarter I saw a profound shift in artwork at the school. It happened in Jonathan Harkham‘s Still Life class. Jonathan Harkham is an artist and educator who is joining us from his studio in LA. On the first day of class I noticed there were some nice student paintings, then increasingly through the weeks …

This V. Note includes a selection of recent paintings from Charity Baker’s November show at Catherine Fosnot Gallery.  There are several large paintings of figures in the landscape and some small plein air landscapes featuring scenes from Pennsylvania, New York, and sunsets on the Hudson River. Charity Baker is a recent graduate from the New …

Have you ever gone shopping for easels and found the options of fall-apart folding easels vs. expensive hardwood calliopes, and thought “what the heck do artists buy?” The answer might surprise you.  Many painters don’t use easels at all. For my biggest paintings, two 4x4x16” pieces of wood service nicely. They lift a painting off …

Teaching an online class with the League this fall: Jonathan Harkham. Jonathan is another professional artist/instructor we found at the New York Studio School where he is an alumni and instructor. Currently under quarantine in his LA studio, Jonathan has shifted his attention from painting friends and live models to painting a series of 80’s …