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Art as a Spiritual Growth

Apr 3
2 min

Secrets to Painting Sunsets and Water Reflections

I teach classes in painting sunsets, both in the studio and en plein air. No surprise that I LOVE painting sunsets and the rich chroma...

66 views5 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Mar 21
3 min

Using color wisely

We humans love color, specifically complementary colors. Our eyes are naturally attracted to the contrast of the complements. Think about...

133 views5 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Mar 7
2 min

The Ugly Stage

Every painting has an ugly stage. You know when you are about 30% into it and its not working out the way you want and your mind starts...

130 views3 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

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...

194 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...

123 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...

150 views2 comments

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...

50 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...

54 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...

57 views0 comments

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 ..

51 views2 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

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

40 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

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jul 12, 2020
3 min

Improving Upon Your Reference Photos...

A great thing about being an artist is that your do not have to faithfully reproduce a photo in your painting. Instead, you can improve upon

93 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jun 28, 2020
2 min

Catching mistakes in your paintings

It's hard to see mistakes with the same eyes that made them. We all make mistakes, but not all of us are wise enough to catch them....

56 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jun 21, 2020
2 min

High Key vs. Low Key

When you become a Value Ninja you start to see small changes in darks and lights that captivate you, and make you want to concentrate on...

386 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jun 6, 2020
3 min

Art is Your Happy Place

Creativity flows through all people in equal measure. You do not have to deserve it, or do anything special to get it, just be open...

96 views0 comments

"Knowledge has to precede execution"-Edgar Payne

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

May 24, 2020
3 min

"Knowledge has to precede execution"-Edgar Payne

"Knowledge precedes execution." -Edgar Payne How visual learners learn...

58 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

May 17, 2020
3 min

Training your eyes...

Skill building for artists means building your ability to discern subtle nuances of color and value. Being able to see into inky shadows...

90 views3 comments

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