Five Rules for Painting

If you keep these 5 things in mind, you'll paint faster and your paintings will be nicer to look at.

The BLAST Rule is one of many painting tips in my book Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist, which you can get signed with free shipping at my website store.

More on this previous post

How to Play Bucktail

To play bucktail, a Stegosaurus stands between two large mounds of straw. 

Each player in turn climbs on the tail and holds onto the spikes. 

The tail begins to wag back and forth until the player loses hold and tumbles safely into the straw.

From Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara.

 

Black Friar Pub

The Black Friar Pub in London.

I love the weird juxtaposition of elements. The wedge-shaped Art Nouveau landmark stands alone, surrounded by stark geometric forms from the postwar period.

I use two grades of graphite pencils, an HB and a 3B. I sharpened the soft pencil into a chisel tip, which helps with the treatment of the window details.

Square-Section Vehicles

Here's a good thing for vehicle designers to keep in mind: If it operates in traffic, it will have to fit inside a rectangular cross section.

A rectangular cross section maximizes the carrier's volume capacity. Any element that projects beyond the square boundary, such as mirrors, exhaust pipes or antennas, must be absolutely necessary, because it's prone to being broken off. 

Lane width and bridge height restrictions define the boundaries of the rectangle. Sometimes vehicle length constraints can affect vehicle shapes, especially for low speed designs where streamlining doesn't matter. 

The cab-over-engine design that was popular from the 1950s to the 1970s was a response to length restrictions. When those restrictions were relaxed and trucks could be made longer, cabovers became more unusual.

This principle applies not only to road vehicles, but also to rail traffic and to shipping, especially when it must traverse narrow sea lanes and canals. 

Woods in Winter, Watercolor

Konstantin Kryzhitsky was one of the founders of the Society of Russian Watercolorists in 1880.

Konstantin Kryzhitsky (1858-1911) Gathering Branches in Winter, signed in Cyrillic and dated 'K. Kryzhitsky 1903.' 

(watercolor and gouache on paper 13¾ x 18½ in. (34.9 x 47 cm.)

 In this forest landscape, he uses blobs of white gouache for the active shapes of the snow on evergreen fronds and for the distant sky holes. Most of the tree trunks however are handled with transparent paint.

Enchanted Poster

We've got signed posters for the "Enchanted" exhibition now available signed from our online store.

It's a nice gift idea for the Dinotopia fan in your life (or gift for your own well-being).

Somewhere in the Desert

Homestead in the desert. The sign says: "No Trespassing Until Further Notice."

Sorolla and His Contemporaries

In 1890, Joaquín Sorolla went to Paris, exhibiting Sad Inheritance, Sea Wind, and four other paintings at the Exposition Universelle. 

Joaquín Sorolla, Paseo a orillas del mar (Walk on the Beach)

His work made a big impression on the jury, which responded with universal enthusiasm. It was a triumph for Sorolla and for Spain. José León Pagano later said "Whoever was present would never forget it."

Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), ¡Triste herencia! (Sad Inheritance)

There, Sorolla met many of the leading realist/impressionists painters, including John Singer Sargent, Giovanni Boldini, Peder Krøyer and Anders Zorn, with whom he had already developed a close friendship.

Giovanni Boldini, a dazzling technician himself, was fascinated by "the superb mastery of this devil of a Spaniard."

Albert Besnard commented: "There is no doubt, we are in front of a great master." 

Claude Monet said: "Above all, he is joyful in light."

----

From Joaquin Sorolla by Blanca Pons Sorolla

Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) on Wikipedia

Dairy Farm Panorama

 

View this post on Instagram

Dairy farm, oil plein air.

Old Mill Falls

Old Mill Falls, plein-air oil.