I feel very fortunate to be one of the folks who received a professional grant this cycle from Creative Pinellas. One of the requirements...

When you become comfortable working with 5 values from dark to light, it's time to push that envelope to 10 values! Remember if you have...

Story & Photography by Leslie Joy Ickowitz guest blogger this week while Shawn Dell Joyce is moving... It’s a picture perfect, crisp fall...

Many of you ask me about competing professionally and how to get into the plein air circuit of events. Here's a blog to get you going, or...

"Success happens in clusters." -Julia Cameron; The Artist's Way We artists need each other. It's a simple fact. While many artists may...

Figures bring a human element to any landscape, especially beach scenes. But many artists are intimidated by the figure, and feel they...

Nature almost never gives you perfect light, and the time to paint it! Very often you must make up the light, or intensify it when it...

Adding a figure into a composition-while you are painting it en plein air-is always a challenge. I prefer to work from live models on the...

A friend recently asked me “if you didn’t have to sell your art, or teach art, would you still do it?” My answer is “Hail yeah! I’d still...

Color studies may save your life! How to plan a painting. Preparatory sketches.

Plein air painting in Florida means that at some point you will be painting water in motion, and probably at the beach. Painting anything...

This blog along with the previous 4, and the next 22 are designed specifically for the Plein Air Adventure class to go along with the...

Painting Palms and trees with Shawn Dell Joyce Treat trees as value masses and start with your darkest darks and get them down first:...

This week's demo and topic in Plein Air Adventure was on using the tool of sighting to gauge a measurement, and basing every measurement...

(Like starting a new class where you feel over your head, and out of your league) We all feel scared and overwhelmed at some point-if you...

Lessons from Olana and painting on hallowed ground... For the past month I've been teaching a plein air pastel class at Olana, this...

How to mix greens and avoid the "salad bowl effect" by Shawn Dell Joyce When you paint landscapes, especially plein air, you use a lot of...

When you are just starting out, it can be daunting to paint a larger or more complicated painting. I've heart novice artists say that...

I first learned about using a complementary palette from reading The Yin and Yang of Painting by Hongnian Zhang, from the Woodstock...

"Success happens in clusters..." Julia Cameron The Artist's Way I asked my friend A. (for anonymous) how her painting was going in a...