Blog | Shawn Dell Joyce

All Posts
Plein AIr
Studio Tips
Art as a Spiritual Growth

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

How Online Art Classes Build Your Skills

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

May 2, 2020
2 min

How Online Art Classes Build Your Skills

Unless you were born in the 80's or later you didn't grow up online, and probably cast a wary eye at anything technological. Being a late...

54 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Apr 11, 2020
3 min

How to torture a plein air painter...

By this time, we are all feeling the effects of the quarantine and being trapped indoors. But for folks like me, who HAVE TO be outside t...

56 views0 comments

Too much time to paint? How to avoid overworking a painting

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Apr 5, 2020
2 min

Too much time to paint? How to avoid overworking a painting

What happens when you overwork a painting is the freshness and life that was in it in the first 45 minutes has been deadened and dulled...

94 views3 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Mar 29, 2020
3 min

The Importance of Artist's Dates

Almost every painting I make is inspired by an artist's date. Some obviously like this one. Others not so obviously.

67 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Mar 22, 2020
3 min

The Shape of Things to Come...

On Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day for all of us fine Irish folk, every cultural institution in our country shut down in accordance with CDC...

85 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Mar 15, 2020
3 min

Art During the Apocalypse

art is a healing, soothing balm in troubled times. You are probably stuck at home reading this, and have art materials available...

161 views0 comments

Getting by with a little help from friends...

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Feb 23, 2020
2 min

Getting by with a little help from friends...

Success happens in clusters. Its as simple as that, for artists to be successful, we need each other. Van Gogh had Gaugin, O'Keefe had Stei

135 views2 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Feb 9, 2020
2 min

Workshop Frankensteins

Workshop teachers refer to this as "Workshop Frankensteins" when new artists pick up "trees" from this artist, "skies" from that artist...

63 views1 comment

Using the color temperature to create color harmony

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Feb 2, 2020
2 min

Using the color temperature to create color harmony

Many artists don't really think much beyond the basics of the color wheel. Warm colors are red, yellow, orange, etc. cool colors are blues,

190 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jan 19, 2020
2 min

Seeing Color As Value

This is a great exercise to get your creative color juices flowing. I highly recommend you do a few studies playing with color like this. It

170 views2 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Jan 4, 2020
3 min

Biggest Mistake that Artists Make...

One of the greatest blessings in my life is to see someone grasp the basics of art then develop their own style and voice over the years...

105 views0 comments

Painting Fog and atmospheric light effects

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Dec 15, 2019
3 min

Painting Fog and atmospheric light effects

Weather effects are all beautiful in their own way and each has a unique set of techniques for capturing it...

119 views0 comments

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Dec 1, 2019
2 min

Keeping an organized palette

I don't know if you are anything like me, but when I am in the heat of the moment, and the art is just flowing out of me...

20 views0 comments

Value does all the work-Color gets all the credit!

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Nov 23, 2019
2 min

Value does all the work-Color gets all the credit!

When you treat color as value, you can substitute any color; even unnatural and high-intensity colors, as long as they are the correct value

198 views3 comments

STUCK?! why its important to step out of your comfort zone artistically.

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Nov 17, 2019
2 min

STUCK?! why its important to step out of your comfort zone artistically.

Embrace being stuck. Look for it, and be glad when it happens to you artistically. Being stuck means you are reaching outside your level of

61 views1 comment

The Creative Process-what is your masterpiece?

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Nov 10, 2019
2 min

The Creative Process-what is your masterpiece?

I've made many, many paintings by this point in my career. I'd estimate well over 3,000, but only a handful of major paintings. What makes

66 views2 comments

Head, Heart, Hand... or how to evaluate your own work!

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Oct 27, 2019
3 min

Head, Heart, Hand... or how to evaluate your own work!

When I am asked to judge an art exhibit or jury an event I evaluate other people's work using the same criteria that I evaluate my own...

69 views3 comments

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” -Picasso

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Oct 20, 2019
2 min

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” -Picasso

"We must compost the failures of today into tomorrow's successes."-Shawn Dell

352 views1 comment

Using a color sketch to lay out your palette

Shawn Dell Joyce artist

Oct 13, 2019
2 min

Using a color sketch to lay out your palette

The secret to Alla Prima painting, or painting fast and accurately, is to be organized from start to finish,

50 views0 comments

{"items":["5eb710c243f6ea001833c9eb","5eadbe8d319a3e006fe4b9c5","5e921a692dbc37001743666b","5e89e12999100f0018d0f9ca","5e80d478c4da6c0017fb6229","5e777c1a2537a50017c3020c","5e6e53b82060eb00174aa1ba","5e51c0cda330e300178181d2","5e403633b8c07900178998ca","5e3630ec223b440017e18064","5e2440c4260d680017f4ca6b","5e10ef9121d7b20018074543","5df664e0f2a8a8001736a100","5de2e3b8e82b4a0018d93b86","5dd9a57500a32400175de91b","5dd176dfca373f00178c7866","5dc77493acefca0017f8bb60","5db5a2133b34b700172b4500","5dab642c25994300171ce009","5da31075bd9a5f00172e3cbd"],"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,"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":false,"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,"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}}