Supply List For Beginners

I have been asked a few times what supplies I would suggest for a person just beginning their art practice. So I put together this list of recommendations for those interested in working with acrylic paint, collage, and drawing materials. Download the list here.

My general advice on art supplies: start with basics - paint, brushes, paper, drawing tools - and if you want to do collage, paint your own collage papers. Leave out the fancy stuff: metallic or pearlescent, fluorescent, glitter, or dimensional paints, special-purpose paints such as pouring paints, alcohol inks, and the like. Not that you won't try these products at some time in your journey, just don't rely on the bling factor to make your art for you.

 

Even though I use professional quality paints, I suggest the beginner use decent-quality but less expensive paints such as Liquitex Basics, Blick Studio Acrylics, or Nova Color Paints. You don't want to feel too precious about your materials. Ease into your acquisition of professional quality (expensive) paints.

 

 I have created a list on the Blick Art Materials website. You can order from the list, or just take a look at each product and find comparable products at your favorite art supply retailer. 

 

This is my Beginner's Supply List. Download it here.

 

Why Do You Make Art?

 I want to ask: What are your aspirations in art-making? What does your ideal art self look like? Where are you trying to get with your art? Is your goal a moving target or fixed? But... in the end it's all the same question. Why do you make art? What is your primary motivation for making art?

I am sorry that I have to moderate comments. It is because I have gotten a TON of bot-generated spam. Please do comment, though. I do check every day and publish all comments that are not spam. Thank you for your thoughts, and for visiting my blog.

How Do YOU Study Composition?

 Composition is the one aspect of painting that I am most often asked about, so I am continually evolving my approach to teaching it. There are many ways to explore composition. Cut paper collage is one of my favorites because it is very direct, and it is accessible to any level of technical skill. 

 Join me for a Technique Takeaway on Zoom, Friday, December 17, 5:00 - 6:30 pm Eastern Time.

See details at Winslow Art Center, and sign up here.  

Composition with Cut Paper Collage!

 

COLOR!!! For Cut Paper Collage

 Join me on zoom for a Technique Takeaway, hosted by Winslow Art Center. 

To make strong images in cut paper collage, it's best to start with a HUGE palette of painted papers. This includes all the colors around the color wheel - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and everything in between - and a broad range of values - very light, very dark, and everything in between.

I've noticed that when painting papers for collage most of us default to the mid-range values. Lighter values are often omitted. To make light values, start with white, add a tiny bit of color, mix thoroughly, and then paint a sample. Acrylic paint generally dries a bit darker than it is wet, so mix it to look lighter than you want.

Finally, make sure you have a range of neutrals - beige and gray, colors that you would not assign to a spot around the color wheel - in a range of values, and muted colors, again in various values. If this sounds like a lot of work instead of a lot of fun, do something else. I find painting solid colors on paper very soothing and at the same time enlightening.

Friday, December 17th,5 - 6:30 EASTERN Time (2:00 - 3:30 Pacific)

Cut paper collage is a powerful tool for exploring some elements of composition. In Composition with Cut Paper Collage we will first focus on this broad palette.

Composition with Cut Paper Collage

 Join me on zoom for a Technique Takeaway, hosted by Winslow Art Center.

Friday, December 17th,5 - 6:30 EASTERN Time (2:00 - 3:30 Pacific)

Cut paper collage is a powerful tool for exploring some elements of composition. In Composition with Cut Paper Collage I will show you how to use this simple technique to better understand shape, scale, negative space, color, and value.

Find details and sign up here.

The following are examples of student work, all-over layouts, nothing glued down.

More New Stripes

 I am starting to explore stripes with a lot of texture, in repeated colors. 

24"x24" acrylic on panel

30"x30", acrylic on canvas

30"x30", acrylic on canvas

And some other kinds of stripes..

"Going with the Flow #5", 36"x36", acrylic on canvas

Various small stripes, 10"x10", available at Edgewater Gallery.

Thank for visiting!

Technique Takeaway - The Short Workshop Format

 The Winslow Art Center in Seattle has been offering a series of "Technique Takeaways", which are short, one-session workshops that focus on one technique or concept. The workshops are on zoom, so you can watch them from the comfort of your own computer, and ask questions of the instructor in the chat box. 

Forty bucks, an hour and a half, and you have got a 'takeaway'. I have one scheduled next month, which you can see here. I would love to know your thoughts on this short form of a workshop, whether it is Winslow Art Center's Technique Takeaway or something similar.

What is your favorite form of a workshop? A five-day intensive in-person? An online weekly video workshop with or without feedback from the instructor? A one-day crash course? Videos you follow on your own?

If you are interested in The Short Workshop (tech takeaway style), what kinds of focused topics would most interest you? Would you like to be introduced to a new tool or material? A new technique? A particular aspect of color mixing? Or something specific about composition? What would YOU want to learn in the short takeaway?

November Raffle

 This month for our raffle, you have your choice of three paintings. If yours is the winning ticket, then you get to pick your painting. So far, the summer and monthly raffles have raised over $2000 for Rupert Village Trust. We are building community, weaving social fabric, in the village of Rupert, Vermont, by renovating an historic general store building to create a café and community center.

Buy your raffle tickets here. Drawing is the last day of the month. These are the paintings you get to choose from if you are the winner:

Burning Bright #2, 18"x24", acrylic on paper

Floral Wannabe, 18"x24", acrylic on paper

There for the Asking, 12"x12", acrylic and collage on paper

Some New Stripes

 Fresh from the photographer, some new stripes on wood panel:

20x20"

24"x24"

20"x20"

20"x29" (SOLD)

20"x20"

Working on a couple of 36"x36" stripes on canvas

Raffle Winner!

 The winner for September's painting raffle, "Nowhere to Hide #2", is Rena Diana. Rena is a prolific and accomplished abstract painter. Check out her website here.

October's painting raffle is called "The Fallout". It is another in my scribbles and florals series, this one a little more landscapey in feel. It could be the autumn foliage, a forest burn, or a volcano erupting. Take your pick. Since it's October, I'll go with the autumn foliage at the edge of a marble quarry. Very Vermont.

 

The Fallout, 18x24"

Buy chances to win "The Fallout". The drawing will be at the end of October. All revenue from ticket sales goes to support the Rupert Village Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to creating community in Rupert, Vermont. See our website here.

Gel Printing in Tucson!

I have been experimenting with a process of assembling prints into pieces, which reminds me of stringing words together to make sentences. Each print has a few elements - they are not just all-over patterns - and combining them offers a fresh approach to 'composing'. Whereas in a collage, your substrate determines the boundaries of the piece, in creating visual sentences, you assemble the parts without a substrate and make up the boundaries as you go along.

 

I will be teaching "The Visual Sentence" at Tanque Verde Ranch in Tucson, January of 2022, hosted by Madeline Island School of the Arts. Get details and sign up here.

This is just outside our studio at Tanque Verde. Check out the venue here.

Monoprint Collage

 I love combining gel plate monoprints with collage techniques. Here are a few examples, all of which are 9"x12" except the last, which is larger. Join me in Sedona next month for a 4-day workshop!!