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
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
What is it? This week we’re taking a look at a method that some artists use to help enhance their work by creating color harmony and balance–the use of a limited palette. This is pretty much just what it sounds like. Thanks to the advances made over many centuries, artists today can go into an … More Technique Tuesdays: Limited Palette
What is it? Alla prima, also called “wet-on-wet” and “direct painting,” is a very popular method of painting in which the artist applies paint to the canvas essentially in one sitting (“alla prima” is an Italian phrase that translates to “at once”). One way to better understand the technique is to examine the alternative way of … More Technique Tuesdays: Alla Prima
What? A Studio Selfie Saturday post…on a Friday? Yes indeed, and for good reason! We’re posting about GC Myers today partially as a reminder about our exciting event tomorrow! Amidst the excitement of the Alexandria Arts Festival which will flood King Street this weekend, Principle Gallery will be holding an artist talk with GC Myers … More Studio Selfie Saturday (Early Edition!): GC Myers
We thought it especially appropriate that today’s Studio Selfie features an artist who is currently in town visiting– artist Paula Rubino traveled from Florida to join us for the Pay It Forward opening reception last night! Paula’s selfie shows her in what will soon be her brand new artist studio! We were so pleased that … More Studio Selfie Saturday: Paula Rubino
We were thrilled that so many were able to join us (both in person and online via the three live streams) for the Face Off live painting event on Friday, August 8. With three talented painters faced with the nerve-wracking task of painting a portrait from a live model in under three hours (and in … More Face Off 2014
A talented painter (and a long-time cherished friend of Principle Gallery) with a unique style and a thoughtful and philosophical soul, GC Myers is back in Alexandria this weekend to join us for the opening of “Traveler,” his 15th solo exhibition at the gallery. “Traveler” is a gorgeous collection of works in a wide array … More “Traveler” : GC Myers Exhibition Opens TONIGHT!
May’s exhibition, a visiting artist invitational titled “Tourist Season,” had its opening reception last Friday evening and it was a real pleasure to see the art hanging as a collection on the gallery walls. Working with these talented artists for the first time has been a treat for everyone involved. The show is still hanging in … More Tourist Season Recap
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