This article continues the exploration of various techniques used by Samuel Shelton. In this small portrait, 9x12, I used the ...
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Do you remember the Magna Doodle? It was a neat little plastic toy popular in the 1980’s, the decade of ...
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In this series of articles, Samuel Shelton offers details about three different and unique approaches he uses in his work ...
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Mark Balma is creating a facsimile copy of the painting using the methods and materials Leonardo used in the creation ...
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There are big changes happening now in the world, although in most cases the new forms and expressions are just ...
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As many artists are recognizing, the supply situation for art materials is shifting. As one customer recently noted, it used ...
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Roman Black Earth, our newest colour, gets its black from minerals, iron oxides, and carbon. The high iron content means ...
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A guest article from the artist Kimberly Brooks! It’s that time of year when we pledge to better ourselves in ...
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You may be familiar with Samuel Shelton’s work from a previous article on The Art Treehouse web site: The Making ...
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A guest article by Kimberly Brooks. I never buy the Financial Times. But it was pink, it was in the ...
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Kyle Paxton: I am from Florida but currently live in New Zealand with my Kiwi wife. I love to use ...
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The Tube-Wringer was invented in the 1970s by Oregon inventor John Gill. As more products came in tubes, he saw ...
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By Kimberly Brooks "The View From Here" 60 x 48 inches Oil on Linen I remember the first time I ...
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As an artist who is very sensitive to the traditional solvents used in oil painting, I have been searching for ...
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According to Mark Balma, Leonard Da Vinci was an innovator in the realm of painting, as well as his many ...
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2019 is Leonardo da Vinci's 500th Anniversary. In the articles and videos that follow on this page, Leonardo specialist and ...
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David and Goliath - a painting by Samuel Shelton. The Process: I started the painting by making a traditional hide ...
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By William F. Martin For years I struggled, attempting to paint a portrait that displayed a relatively accurate likeness of ...
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The well known and highly regarded artist Bill Martin has a great idea about how to save your Canada Balsam ...
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Globally we are coming full circle, returning to biobased materials. In fact, many early artist materials were based on natural ...
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Recently, while visiting an upscale gallery to look for new art, I came across a painting that I enjoyed very ...
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Much of today's art places stress on bright colors and strong sharp lines. In a gallery the "high contrast" look ...
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Many people use Masonite or birch boards rather than canvas for painting supports. Usually, artists use boards because they desire ...
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Can a culture develop an identity around certain colors? In the case of Indian Yellow, it appears to be the ...
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Acrylic paints often contain small percentages of formaldehyde or ammonia as preservatives. These can cause allergic reactions in some individuals, ...
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Most of us have replaced our CRT computer monitors with LCD monitors, creating a significant problem for artists. LCD monitors ...
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Recently someone asked about problems with underexposed images on a camera. Sometimes if you are at a gallery reception, messing ...
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Painters often use a maulstick to steady their hand when working on details. The Dutch word "maalstok" means "painter's stick" ...
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Iron oxide is possibly the single most common pigment used in oil and acrylic paints. Powdered aluminum is used in ...
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According to the Chemical Abstract Service, there are now over 50 million chemicals listed in their catalogues. New chemicals are ...
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An artist friend in California sent an email with this idea. Historically, charcoal and pencils have commonly been used for ...
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Recently the Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety (ACTS) people in New York called for the repeal of the labeling of ...
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Bruges, in the Flemish region of Belgium, is sometimes called the "Venice of the North". During the 1400s, it was ...
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At one point, cadmium red was thought to be a safer alternative to vermilion (cinnabar). Because of the mercury in ...
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The secret is near the metal ferrule.  If paint gets packed up too close to the ferrule, it is almost ...
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It is always interesting to hear about the different ways artists use Oil of Spike Lavender.  This is a description ...
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"The painter who prepares his own materials knows them in a very different way from one who buys them ready ...
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Recently a promotion for artist's oil paints was mailed to thousands of artists across the country. The extra large size ...
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In the mid-19th century, King Ludwig I of Bavaria longed to have something like the fine lime frescoes he saw ...
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The image of a messy workbench often comes to mind when people think of an artist's working space.  Perhaps the ...
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"The tendency to put in more and more white is so usual that it would be well to restrict the ...
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Recently, a highly regarded art supplies manufacturer closed up shop and sold everything to a much larger company, agreeing to ...
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Artists sometimes are fascinated by the search for a "Secret" that makes old master paintings last so long and look ...
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Working on a creative project up close, hour after hour, can make it difficult to get a fresh sense of ...
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It is common for an art student to show up for the first day of painting class and discover that ...
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This idea was sent to us by a painter who solved a problem.  The problem is that the caps on ...
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According to legend, Giotto was the ugliest artist in town, but he was also the greatest illusionist.  As a boy, ...
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When tubes of artist's oil paints are displayed for sale, they are usually hanging down in a rack, with their ...
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The Greeks observed that the common cuttlefish emitted a brownish-black pigment when attacked.  They discovered that pigment could be made ...
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Historically, lead-based white was the pigment used in art, for hundreds of years.  But of course, lead is toxic and ...
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Painting knives are certainly great tools for contemporary artists using impasto techniques.  Some form of the painting knife has  been ...
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This idea of interaction with art is in contrast to the idea we sometimes have that great works of art ...
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Artists have been aware for some time that there are problems with the canvas materials normally used to support paintings ...
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ART AND ANXIETY - "Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to ...
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The yellows in one of Van Gogh's paintings, "Flowers in a Blue Vase", have been turning orange-grey.  This is not ...
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In the 1930s, over 15,000 artists were commissioned by the federal government to create art for public places, including libraries, ...
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During the 1800s, Plein Air painters were scattered throughout the country, from far west to the North Pole.  Landscape painting ...
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It used to be called the Wal-Mart effect, where large-scale merchandising techniques and international manufacturing made consumer goods so much ...
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Not all art materials come from large manufacturers.  The Coate family in Somerset, England makes willow baskets and artist willow ...
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In 1841, the American artist John Goffe Rand invented collapsible metal tubes for preserving oil paints. These tubes made it ...
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Recently, some folks have been marketing raw pigments for making "non-toxic" paints at home. This is the oldest mistake in ...
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Most Americans are used to visiting museums and galleries where there is one work of art hung in each horizontal ...
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According to the University of Minnesota a bio-based revolution is underway, and it is fundamentally changing how the world produces ...
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In 1924, Nicholas Roerich set out on a five-year expedition loaded with all his painting supplies, travelling to Tibet, Sikkim, ...
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Globally, many people are working to replace petrochemicals with biobased alternatives.  The art materials introduced in the coming years will ...
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Around 1122 A.D.,  an author known as Theophilus wrote a manuscript called On Divers Arts, where he described the technique ...
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The art from at least nineteen archaeological sites including four Buddhist monasteries, several Buddhist reliquary towers known as stupas, and ...
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There is a long established connection between abstract art and spirituality, highlighted by Vassily Kandinsky's well-known book, Concerning the Spiritual ...
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There is an old song from the 1940s titled When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again, sung by Merle ...
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The main point about biomass is that it comes from the waste left behind when plants are processed for food ...
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If you have a page promoting your art on facebook, you probably know facebook will promote it for you, if ...
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As Carole's web site says, "Carole Chalmers is an imaginative painter who is driven by an incredible passion for self-expression ...
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Oil of Spike Lavender has been known and used since ancient times, along with several other species of lavender. The ...
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Almost as valuable and expensive as gold, vermilion was the unique red pigment demanded by the rich and powerful throughout ...
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Once upon a time, artists who worked closely with their materials knew that oils must be purified before they could ...
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In the 12th century, there was a commonly used color called exudra, which was a mixture of black and red ...
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There are accounts of John Singer Sargent being free in his use of turpentine, but there is no way his ...
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It is easy to take for granted the oils we use in painting. Most of us probably assume that linseed, ...
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Balsam is another word for the sap that comes from trees, mostly conifers. Balsams have been used in art throughout ...
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A synthesized “nature-identical” Oil of Spike Lavender has recently been made commercially available in the United States. This oil is ...
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Wet on Wet, or alla prima (“first attempt”) painting has become increasingly popular, with plein air (“in the open air”) ...
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We finally released the brush soap everyone has been asking for. This new Organic Brush Soap is made from organic ...
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When Mark was young, he would come home from school to find his mother working on a painting in one ...
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This article deals with a question about "fat over lean" that is often asked by artists who have seen the ...
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Recently, several people have asked this question! Turpentine, acetone, and mineral spirits are often called "solvents". You can't paint with ...
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The teacher of Raphael was a highly regarded artist named Perugino. Perugino was one of the first Italian artists to ...
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Many artists have collections of their own work, stored for the future. But, what happens when the art measures 14' ...
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Punk History - Oil on Linen Kimberly Brooks is an amazing contemporary artist whose work has been showcased in the ...
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Artists are becoming increasingly aware of health issues related to solvent exposure in the studio. Many art schools are now ...
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For thousands of years, people have made pigments from materials found in the earth: minerals, metals, biological and organic substances ...
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Artist brush makers have recently introduced synthetic mongoose brushes to the market. The synthetic hair in the brushes comes from ...
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My motto, “Take Time to Find the Unseen” is realized through Symbolism, the language of my art. I explore the ...
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"The mixture used by Van Eyck was light and fluid and dried easily. The colors were ground in linseed oil ...
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This is a guest article written by Peter Campbell, the highly regarded artist, workshop presenter, and video producer whose work ...
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Currently there is a revival of interest in the techniques of historic master painters. Artists sometimes are fascinated by the ...
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Alexander Koleszar just finished a stunning exhibition called "Chiaroscuro of the Butterfly" at the Archangel Gallery in Palm Springs. You ...
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Sometimes artists purchase water-soluble oil paints in hopes of replacing turpentine, OMS, or other harsh solvents, with water. While this ...
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Jack Tenney is an artist that contacted us about his work with landscapes - particularly his interest in using walnut ...
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At The Art Treehouse, one very common question asked by artists concerns the shipping of art materials by air, or ...
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Today, oil paint is often made with linseed oil. Linseed oil dries relatively fast, creates a good film, and has ...
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In recent years issues of toxicity and the environment have been at the forefront of concerns for artists who wish ...
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I am an artist with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS, a physical reaction to even the smallest amount of a variety ...
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Oil painting is a unique art form due in large part to the individual qualities of the pigments, as well ...
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                              Direct link to Oil of Spike Lavender product page HERE. 1) Mix with Linseed Oil and tube paints for ...
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In the historical development of Western art, early Christianity was a major source of inspiration, development and preservation. However, as ...
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Safa Qureshi sums up her art....   “My creativity seems to come from a place deep within me. I often ...
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Here is a remarkable new painting by the artist Samuel Shelton!  The Gift Giver is 24x30 oil on panel using ...
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At the Art Treehouse, we often receive questions about the drying time of paints. Some artists prefer to keep the ...
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Here is the clickable link to the article What Makes a Great Artist Thinner? -- Because it is a printable ...
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The last image we posted of Mark Balma's work received a large number of inquiries about his technique. It seemed ...
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JK Thorsen has a new December show at the Connect Gallery in Omaha. JK is a full time artist with ...
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Because of the quality of his work, Bill Martin is often asked about the medium he uses in his painting ...
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It is common for painters to have a small container of Biobased Artist Thinner near the work area so that ...
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