Gilbert Gaul's 'Return Home'

Gilbert Gaul was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1855. He studied art at the National Academy of Design in New York and worked as an illustrator for multiple newspapers including the New York Daily Graphic and the New York Herald. 

A young soldier returns to find his boyhood home and hearth in ruins.

Oil painting by Gilbert Gaul in the Birmingham Museum of Art 

Later, he took formal art lessons in Germany and France, where he learned how to paint in the academic method. Gaul is known for his realistic illustrations and paintings of American history, especially military scenes.

Special Delivery

Hope everyone is enjoying the new book. 

I'm curious: What are you working on in your own sketching practice? 

Crash of the Florist Van

This florist van crashed into something jagged, which sliced through it from under the headlight to the side door panel. (Ballpoint pen and gray markers, around 1980.)

This was one of the sketches we couldn't fit into the expanded and remastered edition of "The Artist's Guide to Sketching."

The Color Black

Art: Coles Phillips

Your questions about the color black. More on Substack