You Are An Artist

Apr 20, 2022 | ARC 2022

You are an artist – look for the helpers – seeing is tricky You don’t paint because you have paint, brushes, panels, and this is what you do.   You paint because you are an artist who sees art in the ordinary and makes things extraordinary by simply...

Mindfulness

Apr 6, 2022 | ARC 2022

I’m really excited for this 2022 PAPC season. In my own life there’s a lot that’s happening. Lots of irons in the fire so to speak. Like many of us, our painting time is limited. We don’t have all the time we need to paint all the paintings we want to paint....

Design Wrap-Up

Nov 4, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

Design Elements and Principles are the tools artists have to build their paintings.   Take ownership of your tools. Building mastery, like building any skill, takes time and practice. There are no shortcuts to practice. These blog posts and write-ups are meant...

Repetition

Oct 28, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

“The greatest obstacle to discovering good art within you is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.”   Repetition, as a design principle, is a good principle to understand and use. In good conditions, it plays well with Rhythm and Harmony, and when done...

Unity

Oct 25, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

Unity in art adds cohesiveness, certainty, and an overall harmony within our design. This is one of the hardest design principles to put into action on location. It’s an extremely good habit to acquire, but very difficult to do.   Unity also refers to a consistent...

Variety

Oct 16, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

  “Variety’s the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour.” ― William Cowper Variety is also an excellent design principle that artists use to mix things up a bit and add pleasant and unexpected surprises.   Use all Design Elements to make your...

Balance

Oct 7, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

What is balance in art? Why is it important?   Balance in art refers to the use of our design elements, such as line, texture, color, shapes, and 3d forms in such a way that it creates visual stability. Visual stability, or balance, is often different for everyone.  ...

Proportion and Scale

Sep 30, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

The Design Principle of proportion and scale are closely linked to two other principles, boundaries and perspective, and to the Design Elements shape and size.   Proportion describes the relationship between the dimensions of different shapes and forms you’ll be...

Emphasis and Dominance

Sep 27, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

While you are planning your next painting, ask, what contrasting techniques can I use from the Contrast worksheet to strengthen the contrasts in and around my story’s hero?  This emphasis will do wonders to keep your center of interest the center of interest. Below,...

Perspective

Sep 19, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

Perspective is used to represent the ways objects appear smaller or larger as they move farther into the distance or closer to the viewer. It adds depth and dimension to flat images. Perspective is what makes a painting seem to have form, distance, and look...

Patterns

Sep 10, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

When we go out to paint, sometimes the scenes we look for are not that inspiring. Here’s a few things to do when things just aren’t clicking. Apply different imaginative filters to your eyes and see what you can identify. Filters: Use various principles of...

Harmony

Sep 2, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich

The human eye is attracted by contrast. The human heart is held by harmony. The human spirit is connected by story.   Harmony is huge! Much bigger than we give this humble Design Principle credit for. Harmony is what Nature does automatically. We humans, in trying to...