Blog | Shawn Dell Joyce

All Posts
Plein AIr
Studio Tips
Art as a Spiritual Growth

Feb 21
2 min

To Blend or Not To Blend!

Every pastelist (and many others) face this dilemma on a regular basis. There are two trains of thought when it comes to blending in past...

163 views1 comment

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Feb 6
2 min

Starting with Watercolor...

Each medium has it's strength, and weakness. Pastel is magic because you can layer color, and even light over dark and dark over light wh...

106 views0 comments

Cleaning House-keeping your thoughts and painting space clear of clutter

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jan 31
3 min

Cleaning House-keeping your thoughts and painting space clear of clutter

What's the first thing you think about when you realize that you have time to paint? Probably its the laundry, or all the other chores th...

98 views2 comments

Switching it up-playing with other mediums to strengthen your painting skills

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jan 23
4 min

Switching it up-playing with other mediums to strengthen your painting skills

I cannot overstate the importance of play. As a professional art teacher, I see many novice artists that take themselves so seriously and...

49 views1 comment

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jan 17
4 min

Finding your personal style (or voice)

When I was in my twenties. I had a loud voice. I was an angry young woman with a lot to say, and led demonstrations and marches using a m...

122 views1 comment

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jan 10
3 min

Artistic Discipline

We often don't think of art in terms of a discipline. Usually we think art is "outside the box" and creativity "happens," it isn't planne...

50 views0 comments

What a difference an arts organization makes in the life of an artist or the Tragedy of Van Gogh!

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Dec 19, 2020
6 min

What a difference an arts organization makes in the life of an artist or the Tragedy of Van Gogh!

Recently, I attended a slide projection exhibit of Van Gogh's works at the Dali Museum in St. Pete, FL. The most interesting thing about ...

93 views1 comment

Stopping yourself 15 minutes before you think your done, or "Conquering Perfectionism"

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Dec 13, 2020
4 min

Stopping yourself 15 minutes before you think your done, or "Conquering Perfectionism"

Perfectionism makes me silent when I need to speak up. Because I stumble over words, I often choose to be quiet instead of speaking my true

57 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Dec 6, 2020
2 min

How I teach Still Life Classes...

If you ask 100 different artists how to approach a still life, you may get 100 different answers. In art, there are many paths to the sam...

51 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Nov 22, 2020
2 min

Color Temperature Creates a Mood!

Right after value, color temperature is a very important element of painting. Being able to discern color temperature in your subject...

51 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Nov 16, 2020
3 min

Abstracting the Landscape

When I'm plein air painting, I have a different process than when I'm painting in the studio. In plein air, you have a short period of ti...

54 views1 comment

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Oct 31, 2020
3 min

The painting process

If I were to describe my painting process here, it would be back-to front, and dark-to-light. That means I started with the big shapes of ..

50 views2 comments

That defining moment when I became an artist...

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Oct 25, 2020
3 min

That defining moment when I became an artist...

Recently, I was asked to write about a painting that influenced me artistically...

93 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Oct 10, 2020
2 min

Abstracting the Landscape Part 2

What we have done so far is break it down into values and shapes. At this point, we can start assigning color to those shapes.

34 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Oct 4, 2020
2 min

Abstracting the Landscape

Starting off with a good Gestalt is key to making a good painting. To determine the Gestalt, you may need to abstract the design down to the

41 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Sep 27, 2020
4 min

The Lure of the Nocturne

There's a whole new world that opens up when the sun sets. Night changes the values and colors of the landscape; everything becomes low-key,

53 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Sep 20, 2020
3 min

When Life Hands You Lemons...

We've all been "lifed" on. You know the feeling; your going along, living life, when suddenly big drama after big drama occurs...

108 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Sep 6, 2020
3 min

Setting Artistic Goals for Yourself

Setting goals may not be what you think of when you have time to paint! But, it's important if you want to jump from hobbyist to artist. ...

74 views0 comments

Why Pastel is the Best Medium for Capturing Light Effects

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Aug 30, 2020
2 min

Why Pastel is the Best Medium for Capturing Light Effects

Every medium has its strength and weaknesses. If you have experimented with different mediums (most of us do and accumulate closets full of

39 views1 comment

Seeing Color as Value (and improving your painting with it!)

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jul 26, 2020
2 min

Seeing Color as Value (and improving your painting with it!)

Nature doesn't always give you the perfect view. Sometimes you have to improve upon it by playing with the color or the light to juice it...

41 views0 comments

{"items":["603268024382290017709ad9","601e8cf99d41ed001833d81d","6015f9d0ffe05500174bee75","600c2cc51f4570001881669b","6004593105814600172a4045","5ffb10eb4da1e300175b4076","5fde39fbab4c610017f6304f","5fd6502532579c00178e974b","5fccfc572e97d40017e11100","5fbac13f815f470017168805","5fb28e9d2943520017fc6373","5f9d7028650bfd0018a8f440","5f9569a9e24905001760d4dd","5f81b644b506da0017ab4217","5f78b91f76f5b10017d372e9","5f70cff77f40190017fa505d","5f676741096fc40017b3fb7c","5f5527e444b0e20017746029","5f4ba4043703a600170fab54","5f1cd965aef3c80017895b3c"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":940,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"value":"#333333"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":940,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":940,"galleryWidth":972,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}

2 3