White Dress, 15″x30”, gouache on illustration board. I usually work 9″x12” to 12″x16” so this was a stretch in size for me. In “White Dress” Jay incorporated the principles of...
Online Art Community News
Well Done Chantel on Completing Workshop H
In “Bouquet” Chantal incorporated the principles of Workshop H for her summary painting: contrast of brushworkcontrast of shaperight anglestie togethercomplementary or balanced color harmony “I cannot...
Well Done Susan for Completing the Apprentice Pro Program
In this painting, Susan used all the principles she learned in Workshop P. She created this for the Summary Painting: “Winter Wonder is based on photos from our hike in Shevlin Park in the winter of 2016. It is a...
Daily Tips for Painters
The 1 Critical Reason Your Art Is In A Rut – How To Improve Your Painting Skills
Table of Contents IntroductionHow To Improve Your Painting SkillsStep 1: Make A PlanStep 2: Identify Skill Building ExercisesStep 3: Evaluate Your ProblemsAdditional ResourcesKey Skill Building Blocks: How To Improve...
Using Thick Oil Paint to Enhance Light Areas
Cat. No. 1126 Snow Falls in Pianello – 23cm x 30.5cm – Oil on Board When using oils, paint your darks using thin oil paint and your lights using thick oil paint (referred to as “impasto”). This enhances the...
Less Is More: Suggesting Details Makes Your Painting Stronger
Suggestion is much more powerful than detailed rendering. More sophisticated paintings suggest detail without actually rendering it. This increases the viewer’s involvement and interest in the painting by making viewers...
Alumni Showcase
Inspirations, by Lorraine
Inspirations, 25x35cms, Watercolor A beautiful art museum scene by Virtual Art Academy alumni student Lorraine. “Trying a different technique with this one by laying complementary colour first and painting final...
Night at Cafe Hapina, by Motti
Another great cafe scene by Virtual Art Academy alumni student Motti Shoval. This painting “Night at Cafe Hapina”, was awarded an Honorable Mention award in the 2019 CMPS National Juried competition. The...
Village in China, by Meng
Here are some closeups showing the juicy brushwork in this painting: You can see a video of Meng’s technique in the Apprentice Program lesson on brushwork: N02 Tree Masses See more of Meng’s work from his...
Street Composition 61, 60 cm x 60 cm, oil, by Thomas
Street Composition 61, 60 cm x 60 cm, oil
Thomas’s street scenes keep getting better and better. Another great one from Thomas.
Read more about Thomas’s experience with the VAA.
Low Tide, One Tree Point, by Richard
Low Tide, One Tree Point ‐ Oil ‐ Canvas ‐ 18″ x 22″
Lovely soft light in this landscape by New Zealand artist, Richard Robinson.
Watercolor Portraits, by Lorraine
Two lovely new watercolor Portrait, by Lorraine, in our Portrait Drawing and Painting Special Interest Group this month.
Good Luck Sue
“I submitted paintings to the Society of East Anglian Watercolourists exhibition and heard that these two paintings had got in.”Sue These watercolors have a beautiful texture and an interesting design. Our...
Xinjiang 2019, by Meng
Some recent landscape work by one of our advanced Virtual Art Academy alumni. Meng has a great loose abstract realism/impressionist style. He has been studying with the Virtual Art Academy for four years now. Great work...
Award Winning Painting: Primitive Pots, by Sue
The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours Award: Sue from Virtual Art Academy Sue has been studying with the Virtual Art Academy now for five years. This painting recently won the award given by the Royal...
Family Matter, by Thomas Ruckstuhl
A very nice still life by one of our Graduates: Thomas Ruckstuhl. Great color!
Barry
Visual Music & Poetry™ – Understanding Museum and Contemporary Works
Critiquing Art: Frank Carmichael, Autumn Hillside
Autumn Hillside, oil on canvas Franklin Carmichael (1890 – 1945) was a Canadian artist. He was the youngest original member of the Group of Seven, a group of painters I like very much. He studied at the Ontario...
Critiquing Art: William Wendt, Saddleback Mountain Mission Viejo
Saddleback Mountain Mission Viejo oil on canvas 30x40in In this painting you can see how Wendt is a master of shape distinction and design. He carefully designs the trees, bushes and mountains to create an...
Critiquing Art: Claude Monet, The Truth of Nature
The Denver Art Museum will be home to the most comprehensive U.S. exhibition of Monet paintings in more than two decades. The exhibition will feature more than 120 paintings spanning Monet’s entire career and will focus...
The Art of Bato Dugarzhapov
Table of Contents LandscapesNocturnesSnowscapesBato Dugarzhapov’s thoughts on paintingBiographyAn artistic legacy Landscapes [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”1″...
Critiquing Art: Fra Filippos Lippi, Madonna with Child and Two Angels
Visual Poetry In this painting Lippi took a traditional holy image and gave it a strong sense of humanity, both through the emotion in the expression of affection between the family members, and in the choice of clothes...
Critiquing Art: Giovanni Boldini, Pencil Sketches
What can you learn from the sketchbook of Giovanni Boldini. A surprising amount really …. Table of Contents Giovanni Boldini brief biographyGiovanni Boldini pencil sketchesKey lessons Giovanni Boldini brief...
Critiquing Art: Daniil Volkov, Sunny Day
There are some great critiques of this beautiful work of Daniil Volkov by the Virtual Art Academy students Michal, Susan, and Rocio this month. Michal said it all when he said: “Study of this painting is amazing...
Critiquing Art: Armin Hansen, On the Levee — New Orleans
Table of Contents Creating PoetryHansen’s “Near Music”Applying Visual Music & Poetry™To Learn More Creating Poetry Armin C. Hansen (1886-1957), one of the founders of the Carmel Art Association in...
Critiquing Art: Vladimir Karnachev, Evening Calm
The interesting thing about this painting is the clever way Karnachev created a very simple four-value notan structure, then added detail and interest to that design using color spots of a different temperature...
Critiquing Art: Tom Thomson, Birch Grove Algonquin Park
This painting by Tom Thomson shows the principle of unequal space division. If you look at the spacing of the trees, they are all different distances apart. This variety adds more interest to the painting. You can also...
Critiquing Art: Tom Thomson, Northern River
To Learn More
To learn more about color harmonies, see the lessons on color in our online painting classes.
Painting Techniques
The Best Nine Oil Paints for Beginners
If you are a beginner just starting out, one of the first questions you have is which colors to use? Here is a brief guide to some of the things to think about if you are just starting out. It applies equally well to...
The Secret To Painting Luminous Shadows
Table of Contents The problem of dead shadowsHow to create luminous shadows The problem of dead shadows One of the common problems beginners have is to paint shadows so they look ‘dead’. If you look at these...
Straight to Curved Lines
Curved shapes are important in many paintings, not only in paintings with figures in them but also if you are trying to capture the gesture of a particular tree, an archway on a bridge, or a vase. Many drawing books...
Oil vs Acrylic Paint: A 2020 Beginner’s Guide
Table of Contents Oils vs Acrylic Paint: How to Choose? Factor #1: Ease of Clean UpFactor #2: Problems With Fast Drying TimesFactor #3: Color Shifts When DryingFactor #4: Drying Time when Traveling Common Myths About...
Block Studies
Learning color is one of the basic skills an artist needs and is often one that is the most neglected. Many beginners use either too much garish color, or go too far the other way and do not use enough color in their...
How To Paint Water So It Doesn’t Look Like A Wall
When you are painting a body of water there is one thing that most beginners miss. The end result is a lake or ocean that just doesn’t look right. It looks more like a vertical wall than a flat body of water. The...
Contrast of Temperature
There are several ways to emphasize the focal point or focal area in your painting. This key discovery shows you how to use contrast of temperature to focus the eye. In this painting the flower head, which is the focal...
Does Direct Sunlight Damage Oil Paintings?
Many students ask if they can put their oil paintings out in the sun to make them dry more quickly. Whilst you can do this, there are good reasons not to. Table of Contents Damage to oil paintings from exposure to...
5 Reasons Why You Need to Varnish Your Oil Painting
This article talks about how to varnish an oil painting and why you should do it. Table of Contents Why do you varnish oil paintings?How do you varnish an oil painting? Why do you varnish oil paintings? If you want to...
How to keep your oil paints from drying out
Want some valuable tips on how to save money on paint? and how to cut down on all that weight you have to carry when painting plein air? Then read this article … When I go out plein air painting, I don’t...
Two Secrets For How To Paint A Sunset In Oils: Grays and Values
Here is a demonstration of me painting a sunset in oils in the Peak District in England during one of my plein air painting workshops. Table of Contents The Top Two Secrets for Painting SunsetsMore Sunset...
The Key To Fast Plein Air Painting – The Nine Step Alla Prima Painting Process
This video shows some of the key steps I use in the alla prima painting process. You will learn the all prima process I use in much more detail in Workshop D of the Apprentice Program. Workshop D includes both oil...