When I paint from reference, most of the time it’s from photos displayed on my computer monitor. There are quite many benefits to using a photo versus the real thing. Living beings barely staying still long enough for a camera to capture won’t make an exception for an artist, regardless of their skill or fame. Unless you’re a fast worker, the light of day too will change on you and that scenery’s colours you are trying to capture along with it. If you cut open some fruit for that extra juicy still life, you better make sure to finish […]
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When Digital & Traditional Meats
While I’ve done quite a bit of digital painting in recent times, my acrylics had been patiently waiting for me to give them the time of the day. Not because I don’t enjoy using them, but there’s more friction to get going and when the end result is primarily shown on a screen anyway, it’s easy to reach for the stylus in front of me over setting up an easel, brushes and a palette. About a week ago however, their moment had come. A friend from overseas told me about his upcoming visit to Vienna and we made plans […]
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A Study of Comfort
Despite having been an artist for a long time, I only got into painting studies quite late. Though by now, they have become not just a learning activity yielding satisfying results, but also a source of comfort for me. While I wouldn’t claim that discerning shapes, forms, colours and values from reference and putting them down onto a canvas with your own hands is easy, it does mean there’s something tangible you can work from. Be it a photo or a still life arrangement, if something feels off in your painting, you can compare, look just a little harder at how […]
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Been a while…
…since I wrote a new post, yet that timeframe is dwarfed by how long it took me to revisit what I’ll be talking about. Which, at the time of writing, has already happened over a year ago and… well, maybe that’s enough talk about time. We all know it’s flying by and that feeling of being trapped in a perpetual cycle of trying to catch up. If this blog post does only one thing for you, then I hope it’s reassuring you that it’s never too late to pick something up again, even after putting it down over two […]
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Doing it wrong to get it right.
After my two recent digital speedpaintings, I started to wonder where to take things next. As fun as doing very time limited studies was, once I’ve proven to myself I can do something successfully, I always begin to feel like trying something new or do it differently. As coincidence would have it, my trusty Twitter feed was right there, ready to help me out once again. My friend and one of my favorite photographers Cri, tweeted a photo of a Scrub Jay happily displaying a freshly acquired peanut. It was the perfect image to try something I’ve meant to […]
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Recreate & Re-Create
As is too often the case for me, I tend to forget how much I enjoy doing something (or the satisfaction I get from the result) after not having gotten around to it for a while. This time it was painting studies. I had no idea how long it had been since I made my last, but when I saw a photo of cut up, deliciously lit grapefruit in a bowl over on my Twitter feed, I knew I had to paint it. Now I have to admit that I’d very much prefer to have a go at it […]
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