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Greg Mason Burns

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Technique Instruction: Figurative Oil Painting

My strongest work are my abstracts, but sometimes the figurative comes out in me and I produce some good landscapes, still life paintings, and portraits. I enjoy these more than my abstracts because of the challenge they present, but like anything they require practice. I came across these videos by Joseph Lorusso who shows us how he builds up his palette and uses it on canvas to produce a portrait. There are some good tips in here on figurative oil painting. I hope you enjoy. You can view both on www.artinstructionblog.com. The vast majority of my work is abstract, even

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December 9, 2014

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

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December 9, 2014

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

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 busiest month for many. After that the local folks tire and look forward to a

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December 9, 2014

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

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 is some truth to this, but a lot of this is also complete bunk. Here’s

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December 3, 2014

Trust in the Process: Where Does Creativity Come From?

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. Or maybe it’s put there, inside of me, but count me as skeptical. Who Should Take the Credit? Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame says that

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December 1, 2014

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.

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November 25, 2014
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Greg Mason Burns

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