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Art and Productivity: Trust in the Process

To read the first part of Art and Productivity, click here: In the first part of this series, I mentioned two things. One is how the artist can never shut off the artistic process. And the other is that the artist is just as productive as the normal corporate worker, if not more so. In this part I’ll talk about the real reason why the starving artist exists. The Myth of the Starving Artist There is this myth that the starving artist exists because suffering creates great art. There may be some truth to this. It is generally considered to

October 22, 2014

A History of the Color Blue

As a painter I have been fascinated by the history of the color blue. I’m certainly not alone. Picasso is probably the most famous of the past 100 years to have produced a significant blue period, so to speak. Of course, as was Yves Klein. In my paintings, since I really am completely self-taught and really only inspired by those who create what I have no interest in creating, none of these blue periods or obsessions have influenced me. My own blues come from my own tastes. I’m not really sure why this is so. I grew up on

October 19, 2014

Instruction: Step-by-Step Watercolor Painting

Watercolorpainting.com has some nice step-by-step watercolor painting processes on how to paint specific paintings. I chose this Mediterranean Beach Scene by Allan Kirk to post here. He has a nice way of building up the painting. Although while I use much lighter washes than he does in the beginning, the technique is the same. I hope you enjoy this lesson by Allan Kirk. I do things a bit differently these days. For one, I start with light washes and build up over time, darkening the areas that need more shadows. However, I’ve also developed a quick technique for doing small

October 9, 2014

Material of the Month: Watercolor Paint

This is the first post of what I hope to be will be a “Material of the Month” string of posts. I’m a painter, and I’m also self-taught, so I see this series as a sort of informal education for me as well. This month I’m working with watercolor paint, which is something I’ve been getting into more this year. I began my career as an oil painter, and I still consider oil to be my main focus. However, I really enjoy working with watercolor because of its transparency. This is one of the themes of my work, but I

October 6, 2014

Art Transcending Science

This article by author Amy Kelly suggests that art and science have developed together over time, despite having opposite functions.Published by the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, the article suggests that art and sciences have long been linked. This is true even in the 20th century where it is rare to find people participating wholly in both areas. After all, art is supposedly more emotional while science is supposedly more logical. This is in spite of the fact that many artists create logic-based art (M.C. Escher, for example). Of course, many scientists make discoveries based on intuition (such as

September 17, 2014

The Precise Moment Impressionism Began

I know, the title is crazy, but someone out there decided to try to find the precise moment impressionism began. Astrophysicist Donald Olson from Texas State University actually took a crack at finding that exact moment using the angle of the sun, the position of the boats, and the wind / weather conditions noted in the painting. The result: Impressionism began on November 13, 1872 at 7:35 AM.This is crazy stuff, but fascinating none the less. First the sleuth poured over hundreds of photos to find the exact location, which was a balcony of a hotel in La Havre. He

August 31, 2014

Greg Mason Burns