Well, this is better, right? Sometimes bigger is better. This acrylic painting on paper is 22" x 30"-- a full sheet. Thanks to Mr. Ryder's video advice, I kept at the versions of the painting until my brain could get out of its own way and think more about the form and the brushstrokes than the details. I also love the bright red that draws the eye up the coastline and balances the softer grays of the fog--this was achieved using Mr. Ryder's trick of laying down a layer of oil bar pigment and painting over it with acrylic. Then, since acrylic won't really stick to oil, you can come back in with a palette knife and scrape away the top layer to let the depth of the rich oil color come through. I did this also with the grassy area on the far left. Loads of fun, and well worth the effort of repeated studies! I'll definitely keep working on this technique!

Today, during yet another snowstorm, I spent a quiet day indoors planning and preparing for my spring term oil painting course at NOA Gallery in Groton, MA. I'm quite excited to start this course again; it's been a while since it was offered and I've revamped it and modernized it. That sounds odd, but the fact is that a few years ago I didn't have an iPad, and while I've always made use of the internet in the classroom to show images (thank you, Google Art Project!), there are a few ways that I use digital media now that I didn't before. Primarily, I now have an extensive library of excerpts and tutorials from Artist Daily and the North Light Shop, and several really super instructional videos. I'm also getting more into blogging, which is to say that along with becoming increasingly verbose, I've also found some wonderful, wonderful art blogs. I've already mentioned James Gurney's blog, gurneyjourney.blogspot.com (worth mentioning again); today I direct you to Ann Trusty and John Hulsey's blog The Artist's Road http://www.theartistsroad.net/ . If you love being outdoors, and painting, then check out this generous collection of advice about plein air painting.

Anyway, when I got to the end of my syllabus, to my last topic, Mixed Media--in which I get to throw out all the conventions and play around with all the amazing materials available now--I revisited the website of one of my favorite mixed media artists, Nick Bantock. Remember the craze of the Griffin and Sabine trilogy? Well, I was delighted to discover that Mr. Bantock has a blog, so please check it out: http://nick-bantock.blogspot.com/ . His unique voice is such fun to read!