Greg, Author at Greg Mason Burns

Technique Instruction: How to Varnish a Painting

This page, with accompanying slideshows and photos, is the most comprehensive article on how to varnish a painting I've ever seen. It's put together by NitpickyArtist.com, which has a lot of good technical info including advice on how to reduce glare, how to enter juried shows, or even info about table surfaces and easels. You may not want to follow this person's advice all the way through, as it's quite complex, but there are a ton of good ideas in here to use otherwise. It was the section at the bottom on how to clean a varnish brush that caught...

December 9, 2014

Greg

in How-to in Art

Behind the Painting: Igreja do Cerro Branco (and other small towns)

[caption id="attachment_3865" align="alignright" width="250"] Painting Small Towns: Igreja do Cerro Branco - Watercolor on Board (2014)[/caption] I grew up in a small town on the coast of Maine, mostly on an island but sometimes on a peninsula near that island, too. The shop doors would open in May and the tourists started trickling in around Memorial Day at the end of the month. Things would turn into a boom from the 4th of July until Labor Day at the beginning of September. When I was growing up, October was quiet but these days leaf peepers come in hoards, making October the...

December 9, 2014

Greg

in Art, Behind the Artwork, Painting

Trust in the Process: The Myth of the Right-Left Brain Mentality

[caption id="attachment_3213" align="alignnone" width="1100"] The Myth of the Right-Left Brain Mentality: City VII - Roses - Oil on Canvas (2014)[/caption] Part I of this series is here Part II of this series is here Part III of this series is here The right and left parts of the brain may do certain things, but they don't operate exclusively. I took this right-brain vs. left-brain test recently and scored 16 out of a possible 21 (there are 22 questions, but one is the same with reversed answers). I'm borderline "moderate" to "strong" right brain, which means I'm supposed to be more creative in my life. There...

December 3, 2014

Greg

in Artistic Process, Criticism

Trust in the Process: Where Does Creativity Come From?

[caption id="attachment_3213" align="aligncenter" width="1100"] Where Does Creativity Come From? - City VII - Roses - Oil on Canvas (2014)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_3865" align="alignleft" width="250"] Igreja Do Cerro Branco - Watercolor on Board (2014)[/caption] Part I of this series is here. Part II of this series is here. Where Does Creativity Come From? Count me as skeptical. But skeptical of what is something I'm not really sure about. Where does creativity come from? I have no idea, except I know that it comes from me. I guess maybe it comes from the universe, or the Universe, whichever you feel better about. Or maybe it comes from within....

December 1, 2014

Greg

in Artistic Process, Criticism

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

Material of the Month: Why Cheap Oil Brushes Aren’t A Bad Idea

[caption id="attachment_3893" align="alignright" width="329"] Cheap oil brushes: Some of my tools are cheap, others not, but they all work.[/caption] What's the most important thing to oil painters after oil colors? The answer is probably the brush. There are many different ways to put color onto the painted surface, but brushes are the most common. I use brushes probably 80% of the time, but not all brushes are created equal, and the surprising thing that I have discovered is that the brand and / or quality of the brush may not matter that much in the grand scheme of things. As a self-taught...

October 31, 2014

Greg

in How-to in Art

Greg Mason Burns

Author: Greg