When it comes to visual art, the most basic building blocks are known as the Elements and Principles of Design. The elements (line, shape, color, texture, etc.) are used by the artist in a particular way to create visual interest and harmony. These methods of using the basic elements are known as “principles.” Some examples … More Technique Tuesdays: Balance
What is it? Pointillism is a painting technique that popped up in the late 1800’s as an off-shoot of Impressionism. Essentially, pointillism uses small, distinct dots or strokes of different colors in a pattern to form an image. This technique relies on the ability of the eye to blend the dots of color–it’s actually quite … More Technique Tuesdays: Pointillism
Since 2012, Principle Gallery has proudly exhibited the artwork of Teresa Oaxaca, an upcoming artist in the D.C. area. At a young age, Teresa has already gained international recognition for her alla prima portraiture and Baroque and Victorian influenced style. Teresa’s latest accomplishment–painting the cover art for Nate Ruess’ new album, Grand Romantic–proves her growing respect … More Teresa Oaxaca’s Exciting New Collaboration with Nate Ruess
What is it? A pentimento (the plural is “pentimenti”) is an alteration in an artwork that becomes apparent by the marks and traces left behind from the artist’s original strokes. Although it is derived from the (you guessed it!) Italian word meaning “to repent,” it’s not quite accurate to call these marks mistakes. For a long … More Technique Tuesday: Pentimenti
Welcome back to Technique Tuesday! Today’s post is going to look at a technique that we all saw in action at Friday night’s fantastic live painting demo with Teresa Oaxaca. If you missed it, be sure to keep an eye out for when we upload the photos and videos from that night, as well as … More Technique Tuesdays: Imprimatura
What is it? If you’ve ever amused yourself by holding up your thumb and noticing how someone across the room appears to be tiny and thumb-sized next to it, you’re well on your way to understanding the sight-size method of painting and sculpting. Sight-size is a technique long used in schools and ateliers to teach … More Technique Tuesdays: Sight-Size
What is it? Continuing our mini-series on different reference methods artists use, today we’ll be looking at painting from the imagination. Nearly everyone who has ever had an interest in art had at some point created an artwork from imagination or memory; most all of us have at least doodled from imagination! When there’s an … More Technique Tuesday: Painting from Imagination
Happy Tuesday! Today’s post is part one of a mini-series of posts looking at the different methods artists use for reference when they’re working on a painting. Essentially, there are 5 ways an artist might paint: 1. From life (this applies to both plein air painting and indoor painting from a still-life set or a … More Technique Tuesday: Painting from Photos
Remember the Technique Tuesday post where we took a look at chiaroscuro? Today’s post is going to take a look at a very cool technique, closely related to chiaroscuro: tenebrism. What is it? Tenebrism, like chiaroscuro, is all about the use of lights and darks. Where chiaroscuro is used to create a sense of depth, … More Technique Tuesdays: Tenebrism
What is it? Today’s Technique Tuesday takes a look “behind the scenes” at a handy artist’s tool known as the mahl stick (sometimes spelled mahlstick or maulstick). A mahl stick typically looks something like this: This kind of mahl stick is held in the non-painting hand, though some mahl sticks (like one we’ll see in … More Technique Tusedays: The Mahl Stick
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