Art, Creativity, & Painting

Size matters. At least for painters. Small paintings appeal to us like a precious gem. Medium sizes self-reflect like a mirror. Larger sizes evoke an expansive space. The size of a painting significantly affects a viewer's experience. With this in mind I recently...

Painters paint for many reasons, and I believe emotion is one of those. The act of painting in itself can be a release of feelings, or a way to handle life events. So emotion plays a part in the making of the work, but it also plays a part in the viewing of the work....

ACRYLIC - It’s not just paint! Acrylic is an amazing medium for fine art painters. Acrylic research and development has taken acrylic far beyond what any other medium, like oil or watercolor, can do. When we compare acrylic to all the other available mediums for...

Linda Harbert, The School and It's Environment, oil on canvas, 35.5" x 47.25" The journey an artist takes in creating their work has always interested me. From their first decision to create art to the point where they discover their work is uniquely theirs can take a...

Nancy's Most Popular Master Course on AcrylicBring your visions to life on canvas. From your first brushstroke to your ultimate masterpiece – this course has it all!A Do-it-yourself courseFully demonstrated techniquesAcrylic Paint. You'll love it! Easily master...

To capture rich depth and atmosphere in my paintings, I use layering techniques, applying one layer over another, until the final effect I want is achieved. My paintings shown above and below are created this way using multiple layers. The process of layering while...

Oil Pastels are Versatile Oil pastels are still my number one favorite medium, even though I also paint with acrylic and oil. When working with oil pastels I feel as if I am able to combine both painting and drawing qualities using just this one medium.   Oil...

Create Seductive Painting Surfaces Did you know that by changing your painting surface, prior to painting, you can gain all kinds of advantages? Instead of using a store-bought canvas, as is to paint on, here are some ideas you might enjoy, to customize your surface....

  BE AN ARTIST RIGHT NOW! A Ted Talk by Young-ha Kim I love watching the videos from Ted Talks. It's addictive! There's an incredible range of topics, each limited to about 15 minutes, offering the finest in the Art of Persuasion! One in particular, about...

Landscape & Galactic Dust, 48" x 60", acrylic & gold leaf on panel   How to Apply Gold Leaf - especially for acrylic & oil painters If you've seen my website and other blog articles, you probably figured out that I really really like gold leaf! I...

Artist: Donna Gillispie, Lake View No. 1, 4' x 12', mixed media and wood panels Photo Credit: Linda Edge-Dunlap I was recently given the honor of presenting an artist award for the online exhibition HerStory 2017 Art Exhibition, curated by Renee Phillips, Director of...

  Interview with Nancy Reyner on creativity This was recorded February 23, 2017, and is part of Julie Merritt’s Mindfully Alive Retreat, an online series of artist interviews about creativity. Nancy explains how all artists have creative blocks, which are a...