ARTICLES

The use of Sun Thickened Oil dates back at least to the 14th century. At one point, someone discovered that ...

Angela Batchelor currently lives in Twin Falls, Idaho with her husband, two sons, dog, and a small flock of chickens ...

Samuel Shelton writes: I have had a little time to play around with the new Sun Thickened Walnut Oil from ...

On Pigments by Debu Barve -- Remember c o l o r s ?  This question sounds silly because we ...

This article continues the exploration of various techniques used by Samuel Shelton. In this small portrait, 9x12, I used the ...

Do you remember the Magna Doodle? It was a neat little plastic toy popular in the 1980’s, the decade of ...

In this series of articles, Samuel Shelton offers details about three different and unique approaches he uses in his work ...

Mark Balma is creating a facsimile copy of the painting using the methods and materials Leonardo used in the creation ...

There are big changes happening now in the world, although in most cases the new forms and expressions are just ...

As many artists are recognizing, the supply situation for art materials is shifting. As one customer recently noted, it used ...

Roman Black Earth, our newest colour, gets its black from minerals, iron oxides, and carbon. The high iron content means ...

A guest article from the artist Kimberly Brooks! It’s that time of year when we pledge to better ourselves in ...

You may be familiar with Samuel Shelton’s work from a previous article on The Art Treehouse web site: The Making ...

A guest article by Kimberly Brooks. I never buy the Financial Times. But it was pink, it was in the ...

Kyle Paxton: I am from Florida but currently live in New Zealand with my Kiwi wife. I love to use ...

The Tube-Wringer was invented in the 1970s by Oregon inventor John Gill. As more products came in tubes, he saw ...

By Kimberly Brooks "The View From Here" 60 x 48 inches Oil on Linen I remember the first time I ...

As an artist who is very sensitive to the traditional solvents used in oil painting, I have been searching for ...

According to Mark Balma, Leonard Da Vinci was an innovator in the realm of painting, as well as his many ...

2019 is Leonardo da Vinci's 500th Anniversary. In the articles and videos that follow on this page, Leonardo specialist and ...

David and Goliath - a painting by Samuel Shelton. The Process: I started the painting by making a traditional hide ...

By William F. Martin For years I struggled, attempting to paint a portrait that displayed a relatively accurate likeness of ...

The well known and highly regarded artist Bill Martin has a great idea about how to save your Canada Balsam ...

Globally we are coming full circle, returning to biobased materials. In fact, many early artist materials were based on natural ...

Recently, while visiting an upscale gallery to look for new art, I came across a painting that I enjoyed very ...

Much of today's art places stress on bright colors and strong sharp lines. In a gallery the "high contrast" look ...

Many people use Masonite or birch boards rather than canvas for painting supports. Usually, artists use boards because they desire ...

Can a culture develop an identity around certain colors? In the case of Indian Yellow, it appears to be the ...

Acrylic paints often contain small percentages of formaldehyde or ammonia as preservatives. These can cause allergic reactions in some individuals, ...

Most of us have replaced our CRT computer monitors with LCD monitors, creating a significant problem for artists. LCD monitors ...

Iron oxide is possibly the single most common pigment used in oil and acrylic paints. Powdered aluminum is used in ...

According to the Chemical Abstract Service, there are now over 50 million chemicals listed in their catalogues. New chemicals are ...

An artist friend in California sent an email with this idea. Historically, charcoal and pencils have commonly been used for ...

Recently the Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety (ACTS) people in New York called for the repeal of the labeling of ...

Bruges, in the Flemish region of Belgium, is sometimes called the "Venice of the North". During the 1400s, it was ...

At one point, cadmium red was thought to be a safer alternative to vermilion (cinnabar). Because of the mercury in ...

It is always interesting to hear about the different ways artists use Oil of Spike Lavender.  This is a description ...

"The painter who prepares his own materials knows them in a very different way from one who buys them ready ...

Recently a promotion for artist's oil paints was mailed to thousands of artists across the country. The extra large size ...

In the mid-19th century, King Ludwig I of Bavaria longed to have something like the fine lime frescoes he saw ...

The image of a messy workbench often comes to mind when people think of an artist's working space.  Perhaps the ...

"The tendency to put in more and more white is so usual that it would be well to restrict the ...

Recently, a highly regarded art supplies manufacturer closed up shop and sold everything to a much larger company, agreeing to ...

Artists sometimes are fascinated by the search for a "Secret" that makes old master paintings last so long and look ...

It is common for an art student to show up for the first day of painting class and discover that ...

This idea was sent to us by a painter who solved a problem.  The problem is that the caps on ...

According to legend, Giotto was the ugliest artist in town, but he was also the greatest illusionist.  As a boy, ...

When tubes of artist's oil paints are displayed for sale, they are usually hanging down in a rack, with their ...

The Greeks observed that the common cuttlefish emitted a brownish-black pigment when attacked.  They discovered that pigment could be made ...

Historically, lead-based white was the pigment used in art, for hundreds of years.  But of course, lead is toxic and ...

Painting knives are certainly great tools for contemporary artists using impasto techniques.  Some form of the painting knife has  been ...

This idea of interaction with art is in contrast to the idea we sometimes have that great works of art ...

Artists have been aware for some time that there are problems with the canvas materials normally used to support paintings ...

ART AND ANXIETY - "Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to ...

The yellows in one of Van Gogh's paintings, "Flowers in a Blue Vase", have been turning orange-grey.  This is not ...

In the 1930s, over 15,000 artists were commissioned by the federal government to create art for public places, including libraries, ...

During the 1800s, Plein Air painters were scattered throughout the country, from far west to the North Pole.  Landscape painting ...

It used to be called the Wal-Mart effect, where large-scale merchandising techniques and international manufacturing made consumer goods so much ...

Not all art materials come from large manufacturers.  The Coate family in Somerset, England makes willow baskets and artist willow ...

In 1841, the American artist John Goffe Rand invented collapsible metal tubes for preserving oil paints. These tubes made it ...

Recently, some folks have been marketing raw pigments for making "non-toxic" paints at home. This is the oldest mistake in ...

Most Americans are used to visiting museums and galleries where there is one work of art hung in each horizontal ...

According to the University of Minnesota a bio-based revolution is underway, and it is fundamentally changing how the world produces ...

In 1924, Nicholas Roerich set out on a five-year expedition loaded with all his painting supplies, travelling to Tibet, Sikkim, ...

Globally, many people are working to replace petrochemicals with biobased alternatives.  The art materials introduced in the coming years will ...

Around 1122 A.D.,  an author known as Theophilus wrote a manuscript called On Divers Arts, where he described the technique ...

The art from at least nineteen archaeological sites including four Buddhist monasteries, several Buddhist reliquary towers known as stupas, and ...

There is a long established connection between abstract art and spirituality, highlighted by Vassily Kandinsky's well-known book, Concerning the Spiritual ...

There is an old song from the 1940s titled When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again, sung by Merle ...

The main point about biomass is that it comes from the waste left behind when plants are processed for food ...

If you have a page promoting your art on facebook, you probably know facebook will promote it for you, if ...

As Carole's web site says, "Carole Chalmers is an imaginative painter who is driven by an incredible passion for self-expression ...

Oil of Spike Lavender has been known and used since ancient times, along with several other species of lavender. The ...

Almost as valuable and expensive as gold, vermilion was the unique red pigment demanded by the rich and powerful throughout ...

In the 12th century, there was a commonly used color called exudra, which was a mixture of black and red ...

There are accounts of John Singer Sargent being free in his use of turpentine, but there is no way his ...

It is easy to take for granted the oils we use in painting. Most of us probably assume that linseed, ...

Balsam is another word for the sap that comes from trees, mostly conifers. Balsams have been used in art throughout ...

A synthesized “nature-identical” Oil of Spike Lavender has recently been made commercially available in the United States. This oil is ...

Wet on Wet, or alla prima (“first attempt”) painting has become increasingly popular, with plein air (“in the open air”) ...

We finally released the brush soap everyone has been asking for. This new Organic Brush Soap is made from organic ...

When Mark was young, he would come home from school to find his mother working on a painting in one ...

This article deals with a question about "fat over lean" that is often asked by artists who have seen the ...

Recently, several people have asked this question! Turpentine, acetone, and mineral spirits are often called "solvents". You can't paint with ...

The teacher of Raphael was a highly regarded artist named Perugino. Perugino was one of the first Italian artists to ...

Many artists have collections of their own work, stored for the future. But, what happens when the art measures 14' ...

Punk History - Oil on Linen Kimberly Brooks is an amazing contemporary artist whose work has been showcased in the ...

Artists are becoming increasingly aware of health issues related to solvent exposure in the studio. Many art schools are now ...

For thousands of years, people have made pigments from materials found in the earth: minerals, metals, biological and organic substances ...

Artist brush makers have recently introduced synthetic mongoose brushes to the market. The synthetic hair in the brushes comes from ...

My motto, “Take Time to Find the Unseen” is realized through Symbolism, the language of my art. I explore the ...

"The mixture used by Van Eyck was light and fluid and dried easily. The colors were ground in linseed oil ...

This is a guest article written by Peter Campbell, the highly regarded artist, workshop presenter, and video producer whose work ...

Currently there is a revival of interest in the techniques of historic master painters. Artists sometimes are fascinated by the ...

Alexander Koleszar just finished a stunning exhibition called "Chiaroscuro of the Butterfly" at the Archangel Gallery in Palm Springs. You ...

Sometimes artists purchase water-soluble oil paints in hopes of replacing turpentine, OMS, or other harsh solvents, with water. While this ...

At The Art Treehouse, one very common question asked by artists concerns the shipping of art materials by air, or ...

Today, oil paint is often made with linseed oil. Linseed oil dries relatively fast, creates a good film, and has ...

In recent years issues of toxicity and the environment have been at the forefront of concerns for artists who wish ...

I am an artist with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS, a physical reaction to even the smallest amount of a variety ...

                              Direct link to Oil of Spike Lavender product page HERE. 1) Mix with Linseed Oil and tube paints for ...

In the historical development of Western art, early Christianity was a major source of inspiration, development and preservation. However, as ...

Safa Qureshi sums up her art....   “My creativity seems to come from a place deep within me. I often ...

At the Art Treehouse, we often receive questions about the drying time of paints. Some artists prefer to keep the ...

Here is the clickable link to the article What Makes a Great Artist Thinner? -- Because it is a printable ...

The last image we posted of Mark Balma's work received a large number of inquiries about his technique. It seemed ...

JK Thorsen has a new December show at the Connect Gallery in Omaha. JK is a full time artist with ...

Because of the quality of his work, Bill Martin is often asked about the medium he uses in his painting ...

It is common for painters to have a small container of Biobased Artist Thinner near the work area so that ...