The vast majority of my oil paintings are done on Strathmore 400 series oil paper, which is a treated linen that feels somewhat rigid like canvass. I am very much a creature of habit, so part of it is that I’m used to how it feels and how paint acts on it. But it’s also pretty cost effective, and storage
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I had an itch to get some practice with dark oil painting color blends, partially inspired by wanting to improve on a prior portrait painting that featured tons of darkness with small bright highlights. I thought I’d take a shot at similar concepts again, really pushing myself to practice some blends. With this piece, I used a few different mixes
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One of the painting highlights of 2024 for me was getting to participate in the Postcard Art Exhibit (PAE). It’s a charity event that is hosted in different locations, and the one last year was fairly close to me in McKinney, Texas benefiting the Millhouse Foundation. I don’t have much experience with art shows, but this was a ton of
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I’m currently experiencing an internal struggle with the start of my process. Most artists I follow start their oil paintings with a background wash or base layer of color, which helps eliminate the bright white from their canvass or paper and potentially makes blending easier. But, for most of my 240ish oil paintings, I have started my loose outline without
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Sometimes I just paint without any specific reason or goal, but with this piece I actually had a couple specific things I wanted to practice. I was talking with some colleagues about my appreciation for John Singer Sargent’s paintings, particularly Lady Agnew of Locknaw. I love the way Sargent captured the nature of light on fabric, and a nature instinct
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Almost from the start of my quest to learn to paint with oils, I’ve been captivated by expressive eyes in portraits. It’s something I’m drawn to just when I’m admiring paintings by other artists, so I naturally gravitated to wanting to learn how to emulate the same effect. Unfortunately for me perhaps, I learned quickly that it requires a subtle
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I think some of my best paintings come from a very loose approach and relaxed mindset. I can’t always achieve that, but I love when it does come together like that. In this piece, I really wanted to explore some bright and interesting color mixing, pushing on yellows and greens and light reflecting through windows. It was fun to paint
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The subject of this post is another figure study on 12 x 12 oil paper. I’ll follow my standard format here, which is to share an image of the painting, the Instagram time lapse, and some verbiage specific to the piece. Then, I’ll embed the YouTube discussion video, including another brief writeup on the topic, materials used, and some other
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The subject of this post is another figure study on 12 x 12 oil paper. I’ll follow my standard format here, which is to share an image of the painting, the Instagram time lapse, and some verbiage specific to the piece. Then, I’ll embed the YouTube discussion video, including another brief writeup on the topic, materials used, and some other
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This painting is one of my favorites – it features a woman in a nature scene that has a number of aspects that are appealing to me just from an art-enjoyment standpoint. I like the figure pose and natural standing position the subject has, as well as the impressionist-inspired landscape around her. I had a lot of fun with this
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My latest painting is another figure study on 12 x 12 oil paper. With this one, I tried to really emphasize a bright light source behind the subject. I think I was able to accomplish this for the most part, but I can see it’s something I need to practice a bit more. I’ll follow my standard format here, which
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Perhaps I’ve finally found the solution to my massive blog post backlog. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m almost comically behind on sharing art here – about 8 months and 110ish paintings at this point. It’s such an odd notion, considering how much of a proponent of blogging I once was. But, as an experience artist once advised,
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Going back in time to May 2023, here is an oil painting I did around that time based on when it was shared to the Amdall Gallery Instagram. This post will include a static image of the piece, an embed of the time lapse video, and then some verbiage from when I wrote about the painting on social media at
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Going back in time to March 2023, here is an oil painting I did around that time based on when it was shared to the Amdall Gallery Instagram. It included a collection of game characters, including Link, Zelda, Pikachu, Tom Nook, and Minecraft Steve. This post will include a static image of the piece, an embed of the time lapse
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Going back in time to March 2023, here is an oil painting I did around that time based on when it was shared to the Amdall Gallery Instagram. This post will include a static image of the piece, an embed of the time lapse video, and then some verbiage from when I wrote about the painting on social media at
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