The Need for Bad Art

Here is my finished painting from Arnold Fletcher’s oil painting exercise in perspective:   It’s a very small painting — … More

A Few New Do’s and Don’t’s

How, precisely, does one spell “don’t’s”? I don’t know, but I’m not going to worry about it. See? My new … More

A Method to my Madness

Insanity, it’s been said, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. By that definition, I … More

How Quickly We Forget

Last week I attended a Christmas luncheon hosted by one of the art clubs I belong to. It’s always fun … More

A Grown-Up Play Date

During all the Inktober fun, I spent the better part of one day having a very grown-up play date with … More

Note to Self

Recently my art time has been devoted to drawing. I consider drawing a foundational skill for all other art. I’m … More

The Same — But Different

One of my favorite jokes as a child was one about two women discussing fashion. The first had just bought … More

Why Are Eyelashes So Hard to Draw?

My Sketchtember plans — a graphite drawing each day — have changed a little bit. My first plan was to follow … More

Just Cover the Canvas

Today has been a somewhat frustrating day as far as my art goes. Nothing has really worked out quite the … More

Basics Redux

Redux is not a word we hear often. To me, it’s an awkward word. It sounds funny, and exactly what does … More

Let’s Be Whacky!

First things first. Whacky is a less-common spelling of wacky. I’ve always used wacky instead of whacky, unless I’m talking about whacking somebody over the head (which … More

A Wise Old Owl Once Told Me

A good way to improve drawing skills is by drawing upside down.

Art and Music – Memorization

As a pianist, I’ve always struggled with memorization. It doesn’t come easily for me. Recently I spent weeks memorizing Schumann’s Melodie, a … More

What Did I Learn Today?

Practice painting is often frustrating. Sometimes I feel I’m wasting a lot of canvas as well as wasting a lot … More

My New Drawing Pencils

I’ve had my new Tombow MONO Drawing Pencils for several weeks now. If you’ve been following along on my art … More

Hold It Right There!

I haven’t done a lot of serious drawing and painting recently, but I have done a lot of reading, a … More

What’s Stopping You?

All right, so the question of the day is really a bit more personal. It’s not so much about what’s … More

Artistic Etudes

Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about art and music. This was the theme of a … More

Under Construction

I have never been good at drawing buildings, and when it comes to painting them, I’m even worse. I struggled … More

Building Blocks

Canvas panels are piling up around my house. I keep a good supply of them — in all sizes — … More