November 2014 - Greg Mason Burns

Music and Its Inspiration in the Studio

I'm a big music fan. I couldn't hold a note if you glued it to my hand, but I certainly try when working in the studio. In general I'm most inspired by Indie bands such as The Mars Volta, Cloud Cult, or Sleater-Kinney, among others. I also have a lot of New Wave and Mod-Rock on my playlist. Even Flamenco gets me in the mood more than once per week. For some strange reason, however, I've lately been heavily inspired by outlaw country - mostly songs like Waylon Jennings's Ain't No God in Mexico or Willie Nelson's Pancho and Lefty....

November 25, 2014

Greg

in Artistic Process

Behind the Painting: Calle en Ardales

[caption id="attachment_3869" align="alignleft" width="172"] Calle en Ardales - Watercolor on Canvas Board - 28 x 33.5 cm (2014)[/caption] I've been climbing for about 15 years now. That's so hard to believe when I look back on those first few years. The man who introduced me to climbing passed away during a climbing accident not long after he got me hooked. On the day I found out, I went climbing. I still can't tell you why. I guess I just felt it was the right thing to do.For many years I wanted to go climbing in El Chorro, in the Malaga region...

November 20, 2014

Greg

in Behind the Artwork, Painting

My Favorite Artists: The Restoration of Matisse’s Swimming Pool

[caption id="attachment_3883" align="alignright" width="204"] Henri Matisse - The Swimming Pool (1952) - MoMA[/caption] Henri Matisse has long been one of my favorite artists. This is in spite of the fact that he probably isn't my favorite artist to study or even look at. He has probably influenced me more than any other artist. I never chose to use bold colors, but it's certainly a strength of mine, and Matisse's paintings, particularly A Glimpse of Notre-Dame in the Late Afternoon, absolutely helped me to understand that my use of colors works in the public eye. When to Use Archival Materials One thing that I've...

November 17, 2014

Greg

in Contemporary Art, Criticism

Could Cadmium be banned in Europe?

Being an artist, it's a little disheartening to be held hostage to making color in today's world. Actually, that's too dramatic. I could always make my own colors, and to be honest I'd love to learn how to do so. But there are some colors that are really useful and I can't see myself making them on my own any time soon. The cadmium colors (red and yellow in my studio) are very useful. In fact, I typically work with just these colors: cadmium red, cadmium yellow, ultramarine, cobalt, cerulean, and titanium white. I mix in some other tones from...

November 11, 2014

Greg

in Art, Criticism

Technique Instruction: Basic Forms

[caption id="attachment_3515" align="alignleft" width="300"] Basic Forms - Study of Boxes and Bottles in Blue[/caption] As a self-taught artist, I needed to learn some basics before I could move on to more complicated projects. Of course I'm still developing, and still need to practice just as any other artist needs to. But when I came across a site by Bill Martin I had forgotten how fun it is to go back and practice those things that one first learns. I like to keep things simple in my own art, often focusing on bold colors and basic forms. Going back to the basics...

November 5, 2014

Greg

in How-to in Art