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Art and Taxes: It’s Mostly Good News!

Here’s a short and sweet explanation about what artists can do with their art and taxes. It’s the same as any business, but there are some things that are good to know. For one, you may need to depreciate that new easel, and you may need to only deduct some expenses after you’ve sold the artwork. However, if you’ve bought it or done it for the purposes of making, marketing, or selling your art then you can deduct it. One piece of advice that I would give is don’t think you have to file as a business every year. My

April 12, 2015

Conversations About Art: with Bazévian

I recently started doing conversations about art and what people in the art world think about their field of work. The first article was about abstract art with Guido Viaro, the writer from Curitiba, Brazil. Today’s article is about figurative art, and for that I caught up with emerging artist Bazévian. He is primarily a portrait artist, specializing in capturing the homeless using oil pastel and china ink. Bazévian is originally from the north of France, and he grew up under the auspices of art because both his mother and grandmother were artists. “I was exposed to art very early.

February 24, 2015

Drawing Tips for the Advanced Artist

As I do often when I have some time to kill, I float through the Internet looking for ways to improve as an artist. Sometimes I stumble on basic instructions such as this one about shape and form. I find these basic instruction sites helpful because it helps to remind me the fundamentals. However, I much prefer to take the next level. That’s why I was happy to have found Keene Wilson’s art notes for the advanced artist. Wilson does a great job of just listing things to remember. These are his notes, so they aren’t meant to be a

February 22, 2015

Conversations About Art: Abstract with Guido Viaro

Guido Viaro and Abstract Art As a writer, Guido Viaro is currently working on abstract short stories, but it’s abstract as an idea that influences him. “In my working room I’m surrounded by abstract paintings by Guido Viaro,” he says of his grandfather of the same name. “I love all Kandinsky, perhaps for his previous studies of proportions and colors. I love Paul Klee for his fake innocence. I love Jorge Luis Borges for his short story “The Aleph”. I love Ingmar Bergman for his film “The Seventh Seal”. I love Franz Schubert for his quartet “The death and the

February 19, 2015

Trust in the Process: Understanding Introversion (because we don’t)

Understanding Introversion Part I this series is here Part II this series is here Part III this series is here Part IV this series is here Introversion and being an artist actually have little to do with each other. As much as people would like to pigeon-hole artists into the introversion category, I’m not convinced it’s true. There are an awful lot of artists out there who prefer to just want to be out there with other people, attending shows, or generally being the center of attention. As it happens I’m not one of them. I get my energy from

December 21, 2014

Technique Instruction: Pastel Portraits

I paint mostly with oils, but I have ventured into the realm of oil pastels at times with some success with portraits. In fact, probably three of my most popular works have been oil pastel paintings (seen below). I recently came across this step-by-step pastel portrait link by Gwenneth Barth-White, and thought it would be nice to share. It actually more follows how I build up my oil paintings (though I’m much less deliberate and more emotional instead), but it’s still nice to see a good process. Enjoy: I painted quite a few oil pastel portraits over the years, but

December 18, 2014

Greg Mason Burns