We get this question a lot. “Which canvas is best for Bill’s method of oil painting?” It can be quite confusing when you walk into the art supply store. We are always surprised at the high prices these stores charge for canvas. You could stretch your own canvas, but watching the videos is enough to exhaust us. It’s worth it to pay a higher price and let someone else stretch your canvas.

“Value” is a term used by artists to describe the amount of light or dark in a color. When a color is lighter, we say it is higher in value. When a color is darker, we say it is lower in value.

I used to think that perspective was the biggest problem in most paintings we see posted to social media. And, yes, it is a problem. Objects with the wrong perspective distort a painting. Viewers can’t make sense out of what they see. It’s almost like scratching fingernails on a chalkboard.

"In the Spring of 1982, he was in a small room in the Woodfield Shopping Center in Chicago waiting to do a demonstration. He was nervous, his hands were sweating, and he didn’t know what to expect."

Bill realized that, at some point in his life, he became a teacher more than a painter. From that point on, it became important to him to share the techniques he learned throughout his career with others.

In the book, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”, Dr. Betty Edwards discusses how artists see the world. She states: “Drawing is a curious process, so intertwined with seeing that the two can hardly be separated.

What do you think most artists consider the number one obstacle to their success? The following is a response from a survey we ran that’s typical of a lot of responses.

Forty years ago, Noel Burch developed a new model for learning. Burch worked at the Gordon Training Institute founded by psychologist Thomas Gordon. Their specialty was conflict resolution and building effective interpersonal relationships. Burch identified the following four stages of learning.

Tom Anderson is a native Californian. He studied at the College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland, California. Even as a young boy, Tom had the ability to draw. He would copy paintings from his parents’ encyclopedia. Drawing in pencil, Tom copied the works of Michelangelo, Donatello, and others. He taught himself all the body’s muscles and their movements.

When I retired I knew I wanted to paint, but I had no idea how to start. It seemed like there were a million “How to Paint” videos on YouTube. I realized, after a while, they were, in fact, “Watch me Paint” videos. There was no, or little, teaching.

In our last article, we wrote about the importance of setting a path to excellence. Earlier, we wrote about how you need a vision to achieve your goals. This article is about the element that binds these two ideas together.

A “Washington Post” reporter wrote recently, “Jimmy Carter was a good, honest man and the system ate him up.” Isn’t that how it is? Those who are honest, decent human beings seem to be at the mercy of those who are not.

There is no topic more confusing than that of color. A lot of artists seem to “eyeball” their color. That may work if you’ve been painting for forty plus years. Bill often acknowledges that he knows what a color will look like before he starts mixing. You’ll notice he rarely has to correct his color before he puts it on the canvas.