Art Tips

Values or tones are the relative lightness and darkness of colors with the color removed. It has nothing to do with color. It is the backbone of a painting. The most important design element of a painting. If you took a photo of a painting and converted it to black and white, that would give [...]

Look at the scene you are about to paint. Is there a color that dominates? What color do you see more than others? Or, is there a color that stands out from all the rest? Is there a mood you want to capture using color? Color harmony is a harmonious arrangement of colors in a [...]

Have you ever wondered what to paint first and how to get it all when the light is changing so quickly when you are plein air painting? I’ll tell you what I think about and my process. As you know, it isn’t wise to start chasing the light. Once you do that your painting can [...]

The shapes of the scene need to be viewed as if looking through a gauze curtain. This would make it hard to focus on anything or see any detail. You can achieve this by squinting at a scene. By squinting, you will just see the major values and shapes. Open your eyes and you will [...]

Featured Painting: Cry Me a River  mixed media  10″x12″ I receive emails from artists telling me they want to learn to paint looser and with more paint. We all start painting tight, detailed paintings, painting what we see. I thought would make a list of things to help you move in that direction. First squint, [...]

    Recently I painted out at Bartlett Lake north of Phoenix. I took some photos of the painting in progress. There are a few gaps and I wish that I had taken more photos for you, but I find that I get involved with my painting and at times forget about the steps. The [...]

Recently, I gave a presentation at the Plein Air Convention in Monterrey for the Basics Course. The course covered things about equipment and the process of painting. My presentation was about equipment, what you need and don’t need. I think choosing an easel is probably the most difficult piece of equipment to choose, certainly it [...]

Gathering for our group photo at the Plein Air Convention I still need to gather my thoughts on the plein air convention, but it was fabulous. The best part is always meeting old friends and new friends. I thought I would post some group shots here first, then I’ll get down to some of the [...]

Featured painting: © 2013 Becky Joy     Saguaro Spring    oil     10 x 8 inches $700.   Click here for more info. I told all of you to keep in mind the last painting that I created which was in the shade, both my painting and palette. This piece was created in the [...]

Today I went painting out at Bartlett Lake northeast of Carefree, AZ. The wildflowers are blooming and it was a gorgeous day.  I have been working in the Celebration of Fine art every day since the second week of January. After doing taxes, catching up on bookwork and tying up loose ends, I was finally [...]