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The Continuity of Light and the Criteria to Capture It: A Review of the Workshop with Charles Weed
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“J. M. W. Turner and other English artists of his generation relied on the development of innovative gels. “
“To paint quickly while creating exceptional texture and volume effects, J. M. W. Turner and other English artists of his generation relied on the development of innovative gels.”
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The Pigment Compendium on Google Books
If you are doing research on unfamiliar names of pigments, then this is the resource you need: The Pigment Compendium by Nicholas Eastuagh, Valentine Walsh, Tracey Chaplin and Ruth Siddall.
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“Flesh Spheres”
In January of 2014 I made my second trip to visit Odd in Norway. It was during that visit that I first met the Italian painter, Roberto Calò, and together we began experimenting with underpainting, flesh tones and color temperature (including the turbid medium effect), through a series of spheres. I would now call those […]
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The National Gallery Technical Bulletin: Sir Joshua Reynolds
This special edition is dedicated to the paintings of Joshua Reynolds in the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection.
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Titian’s Secret Revealed
“He was simply better than anyone else.”
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“Painter’s Palettes from Historical Writings”
A just-discovered great new resource by Patricia Railing.
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A Poem from 1762
—The diſtinguish’d part of Men With Compaſs, Pencil, sword, or Pen, Shou’d in Life’s viſit leave their Name In Characters, which may proclaim, That they with Ardour ſtrove to raiſe At once their Art’s and Country’s Praiſe. Prior. —from Anecdotes of Painting in England by Mr. Horace Walpole
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A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings Online
For those familiar with Ernst van de Wetering’s Rembrandt – The Painter at Work and the Rembrandt Research Project, you may also be aware of the six-part series of Rembrandt books entitled A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. If you’re not interested in paying the going rate for an actual volume (Volume I is currently selling […]
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Caravaggio’s Contarrelli Chapel in High-Res and Head-On
If you visit the Contarelli Chapel in Rome’s San Luigi dei Francesi, you can see the paintings that made Caravaggio a superstar. The only down side is having to appreciate The Calling of St. Matthew and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew at oblique angles. Thanks to Factum Arte’s extraordinary images you can now see the […]
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“Aesthetics Have Nothing to Do with It.”
Nowadays the charlatans say it straight to your face.
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From Odd Nerdrum to Igor Stravinsky and a Favorite Quote on the Creative Process
I have a recent habit of saving a variety of essays, forums posts and articles I find on the internet as PDFs then assembling them into one bundle, which I print as a bound book and carry around with me for a month or so to read and contemplate. In the latest collection I included an article […]
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“The Four Techniques for Illusion and Volume”
For those out there like myself interested in technical art history, you can download an excellent free document in PDF presented by the Getty Conservation Institute called Historical Painting Techniques, Materials and Studio Practice. This was called to my attention by Prof. Celeste Brusati at the University of Michigan, and I thank her again for doing […]
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Rubens: How to Price a Painting
For one evaluates pictures differently from tapestries. The latter are purchased by measure, while the former are valued according to their excellence, their subject, and number of figures. —Letter of June 1, 1618, to Sir Dudley Carleton.
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Seeing is Believing: Caravaggio’s Conversion of Saul, Formal Analysis and Critical Thinking
I teach a 100 level on-site Art History class for The American University of Rome called Art of Rome.¹ I began teaching it in the Spring of 2007 and, as of this writing, have taught it every semester since. It is, in essence, a hybrid of historical fact—names, dates, places and vocabulary—combined with a methodology designed […]
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Is Burnt Umber Evil?
Some time back in 2012 I read Virgil Elliot’s Traditional Oil Painting. He refers to Burnt Umber as a Problematic Pigment: The author [Virgil Elliott] has all but dropped burnt umber from his palette, owing to its high degree of absorbency when dry, which causes varnish to sink in, leaving chalky-appearing “dry spots.” It can […]
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pLog Pith XIV
Dogma is the illusion of power. Craft is the power to create illusion. —TJA
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Illustration vs. Painting
Decades ago this would often come up in discussion with Maestro: what is the difference between “Illustration” and “Painting”? Here’s a thought I had tonight on the way home from Tuesday’s figure drawing lesson: Illustration is execution; Painting is performance. Illustration is the end of the journey; Painting is the means of the journey. Your […]
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