Atelier Blogs

Learning how to gesso a canvas is one of the first skills that helps a painting last. Gesso is a

Every art class has a moment when the paper is blank, the pencil is sharp and nothing comes to mind.

Charcoal can look messy and a little intimidating the first time you pick up a stick. Black dust lands on

Every painter has mixed a color that turned to mud. Every painter has also spent twenty minutes chasing a shade

Oil paint left in a brush dries in the heel of the bristles, right beside the ferrule. From there it

1. Yes, Painting Is Learnable, and Here Is the Shape of It The question behind “how to learn painting” usually

A subject parked in the dead center of a canvas tends to sit there like a stamp. A horizon that

You set up a pose, start with the head, and work your way down the figure one careful part at

A first portrait often looks wrong even when every feature is drawn well. The eyes have lashes, the nose has

If you have ever hovered over the registration button for a figure drawing class and then quietly backed away, you