Online Art Community News

Virtual Art Academy Student’s Second Major National Exhibition A Major Success

Barry’s Virtual Art Academy student, Meng Qing Sheng, just held his second major national exhibition in Xian, China, home to the famous terracotta warriors. The exhibition was a tremendous success and attracted a...

Claude Monet, Path in the Wheat Fields at Pourville, 1882. Oil on canvas

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...

John Singer Sargent at The Morgan Library, New York

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was one of the greatest portrait artists of his time. While he is best known for his powerful paintings, he largely ceased painting portraits in 1907 and turned instead to charcoal...

Daily Tips for Painters

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...

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. Why do you varnish oil paintings? If you want to protect your paintings it is a good idea to varnish them. Varnish protects the painting...

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...

Student Success

Well Done Sheila

Sheila donated four 6 x 6 inch “tiles” to an annual fundraiser for the Canadian Mental Health Association. They sold three and this one was selected to be framed and put into their silent auction.

Plein Air SIG – Donald Burrow

A beautiful river scape by Donald Burrow that he posted in our Plein Air Special Interest Group. “Alpine Stream”. 9x 12inches. Oil on Canvas. “I have had 4 weeks on the road largely in the Australian...

Plein Air SIG – Filippo Memmi

A beautiful landscape by Filippo Antonio Memmi, 10x15cm oil on board, in our Plein Air Special Interest Group. I started the VAA in April 2018 and worked on Workshops A to C until November 2018. At the moment I am...

Plein Air SIG – Walter Haas

” View into Pitztal/Tyrol” 18×24 cm

” Two pictures from the same spot, in a different personal mood.”

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...

Congratulations Susan!

I want to share that I sold one of my plein air paintings in the Oregon Lavender Festival Paint out show. This felt so affirming of all the hard work of studying others work, color harmony, composition, itness of...

Exhibition Selected Paintings, by Oksana Melenevska

Congratulations to Okasana for having four paintings accepted into 67th Open Annual Exhibition of Hertford Art Society, UK. She also sold one a watercolor “Old Port, Liverpool”, so we can say she is now a...

Award Winning Paintings, by Jane Haskins

It is always nice to see so many VAA students winning prizes for their work and getting recognition. Congratulations to Jane this month for not only one, but two prizes! Both are very nice pieces of work. The first has...

Winter Light, by Denise Maxwell

Another lovely snow scene from Denise. The color of these snow scenes is amazing!

Panicale, by Georgie Rey

In Tuscany with Barry

Georgina really captured the lively spirit of the Tuscan Lunigiana hills here. I love the bold design and breakdown of spaces in the painting.

Barry

Woodland Scene, by Susan Hood

This is a delightful woodland scene by Susan Hood. It is full of light and air – you can just feel the atmosphere in this painting.

Barry

Alumni Showcase

Night at Cafe Hapina, by Motti Shoval

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 Qing Sheng

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...

Thomas Ruckstuhl, oil painting city street scene

Street Composition 61, 60 cm x 60 cm, oil, by Thomas Ruckstuhl

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 Robinson

Low Tide, One Tree Point ‐ Oil ‐ Canvas ‐ 18″ x 22″

Lovely soft light in this landscape by New Zealand artist, Richard Robinson.

Competition Finalist Painting “Actor, James Krystal” by Donald Burrow

Painted from the model with much studio time following, I was pleased with the force of colour work and entered this into a major portrait competition with a $20,000 prize and was delighted to proceed through several...

Watercolor Portraits, by Lorraine

Two lovely new watercolor Portrait, by Lorraine, in our Portrait Drawing and Painting Special Interest Group this month.

Xinjiang 2019, by Meng Qing Sheng

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 Downie

The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours Award: Sue Downie 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...

Denise Maxwell – “Winter Scene, Coquitlam River”

A lovely snow scene by Denise. I love the juicy brushwork, and the bold and harmonious colors used. Great composition too! A really nice piece of work.

Barry

Winter Light, by Denise Maxwell

Another lovely snow scene from Denise. The color of these snow scenes is amazing!

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

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...

Saddleback Mountain Mission Viejo, William Wendt

Visual Music & Poetry™ – Understanding Museum and Contemporary Works: William Wendt

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...

Madonna with Child and Two Angels, by Fra Filippo Lippi

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...

Giovanni Boldini: The Suprising Things You Can Learn From His Pencil Sketches

What can you learn from the sketchbook of Giovanni Boldini. A surprising amount really …. Giovanni Boldini brief biography Giovanni Boldini (31 December 1842 – 11 July 1931) was an Italian genre and...

Sunny Day by Daniil Volkov

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...

Brushwork That Captures a Time & Place

Creating Poetry Armin C. Hansen (1886-1957), one of the founders of the Carmel Art Association in Carmel, California, was renowned for his ability to use brushwork to capture the vitality of life by extracting the...

Evening Calm by Vladimir Karnachev

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, but...

Birch Grove, Algonquin Park, Tom Thomson

Birch Grove Algonquin Park, painting by Tom Thomson

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...