A blog about art.

Category: Painting Technique

Two Sides to Every Story: Reconciling different parts of a painting-Part Two

Rose Heart by M. Pia De Girolamo © Acrylic on canvas, 30" x 40" To recap my last blog post: I sometimes have difficulty reconciling the right and left halves of a horizontal painting. The following are some things that I do to get both sides to agree. Sometimes it...

Two Sides to Every Story: Reconciling different parts of a painting-Part I

  Wild Heart by M. Pia De Girolamo ©, Acrylic on Canvas, 36" x 48" When I use a horizontal canvas, given that I am working abstractly and not directly from a pre-designed still life or fixed landscape (other than hazy ones that might be in my head) I often have some...

Painting Possibilities Part II: "Painting Myself Out of a Corner"

Window to a World by M. Pia De Girolamo, Acrylic on Canvas 36" x 36" I’ve been thinking a lot about particular issues that come up during painting. Last month I wrote about the experience of having a painting come together really fast and having to deal with trusting...

Painting Possibilities Part I: "Did I Just Paint That?"

Trio by M. Pia De Girolamo © Acrylic on board 14" x11". I recently posed this question to fellow artists on my FB artist page and my Linked In Abstract Painting Group: “When a painting comes together really fast & easily from the beginning, a) do you say a silent...

Tools of the Trade: Sketchpads

"Pompeii" by M. Pia De Girolamo © 2012.  From sketchbook.  Acrylic paint, Mixed Media, 9" x 12" When I was a kid, there were few things I liked better than buying a new sketchpad. I’d feel the paper, testing the weight and texture between my fingers....

From the "Ground" Up

Reef     22 x 30      Acrylic on Arches Watercolor Paper Recently when starting a new painting I have been applying a colored ground,  usually in a modified red or yellow shade, to the fresh canvas.  In the new series of paintings I’ve been...