The Artist's Road Painting the World's Beautiful Places

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Recent articles

The Story of Blue

How Lovely Yellow Is!

Waxing Watercolors

Using Oil Paper for Oil Paintings - Annie Helmericks-Louder

Floating in the Blue: Floating in the Blue

Professional Nature Photographer Kevin Sink Shares Valuable Tools for Landscape Painters

Think Pink

The Medium is the Message - Perspectives No. 424

Summer Greens - Perspectives No. 411

The Studio Boat

Creating Custom Tube Colors for Plein Air Travel

On Reflection: Learn to paint water reflections from the Masters
in our article On Reflection.

Painting the Portrait Head

How Edges Make a Painting Sing: One of the most important techniques a painter can learn to recognize and employ is the artistic placement of edges. Knowing how and where to create a certain type of edge in a painting is essential to successful painting.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - Excerpt: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - A Primer on Night Painting
Learn how the night can provide rich painting opportunities for the intrepid artist in this informative, illustrated article.

The Power of Middle Values - Excerpt: Improve your paintings instantly by learning to recognize and deploy middle values
for powerful impact in this informative article by David Rankin.

Under the Knife - Excerpt: Under the Knife - Excerpt
We are always trying different painting tools in an effort to discover new ways of image making. Different tools can help us get out of our comfort zones, where we are divorced from familiar, reliable techniques and perhaps even a little uneasy with the process. If you have never tried painting with knives before and you'd like to shake up your painting style a bit, we hope this article will encourage you to do so.

Black: The Queen of All Colors Excerpt: Black: The Queen of All Colors - Excerpt
Whether you are a representational artist, seeking to explore the chiaroscuro effects of a subject or an artist working in pure, abstract colors, the mission is the same—how to know which black to use to get the effect wanted.
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How to Turn Your 2D Dreams into 3D Sculptures - Part II: SaveSave

Mixing Colorful Grays in Oil Excerpt: See how the Masters built their paintings from color-filled grays and how you can learn this essential skill for yourself.

Mixing Colorful Grays in Oil: See how the Masters built their paintings from color-filled grays and how you can learn this essential skill for yourself.

The Power of Middle Values in Painting: The key to creating any successful landscape painting is
the masterful placement of values in space.
By decoding the secrets of the masters, David Rankin shows you how
to use his simple techniques to put them to work for you!

Working on Commission: 5 Essential Steps to Success.: Working on Commission:
5 Essential Steps to Turn Inspiration
into Success!

Understanding Light in the Landscape Part III: Free yourself from the tyranny of poor weather and bad lighting!
In Part III, we show you how to use the powerful gamut mask tool to
easily re-color your world in any situation.

Using a Camera for Painting Reference - Perspectives No. 245

How to Turn Your 2D Dreams into 3D Sculpture

How to Stretch Primed Canvas: We show you "How-To" save money and get professional results by stretching your own primed canvas or linen.

Seeing the Light - Professional Lighting Solutions for the Artist's Studio: Everything you need to know to create the ideal lighting for your studio work space.

Reflection, Venice - Turning Photo Inspiration into a Work of Art: Reflection, Venice -
Turning Photo Inspiration into a Work of Art.
A Step-by-Step Oil Painting Demonstration
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The Artist's Road Watercolor Test: The Artist's Road Watercolor Test

Photoshop for Artists, Part III: Learn how to exploit the image-painting tools in Photoshop to convert your ordinary photos into expressive and powerful reference for your fine art paintings.SaveSaveSave

The Cart Before the Horse? - Perspectives No. 151

Under the Knife - Using Painting Knives to Create Impressionistic Paintings: Get out of your comfort zone by experimenting with painting knives. A step-by-step demonstration.

Upon Reflection - Perspectives No. 138

Understanding Light in the Landscape Part II: Mastering color casts is the key to limiting a palette and controlling mood in a painting. Part II of this series shows how to identify and use them to make your paintings better.
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It's Not Easy Seeing Green - Twelve Artists Share Their Favorites: Have you ever been frustrated by greens?
Learn how twelve professional artists make their favorite greens and why.

Creating Three Dimensions with Color Temperature: Learn how great painters made short work of three dimensions with color temperature.

Painting Winter - Exploiting the Winter Landscape

Secrets of the Old Masters - Mixing Beautiful Greens from Black: Have you ever wondered how the great Masters got those rich, deep greens and subtle shading in flesh tones? Learn how black should be an essential mixing color on every palette.

Brushes? We Don't Need No Stinking Brushes!: Abandon the brush and release your creativity!
Plein air painting using painting knives.

How To Stretch and Prepare a Large Canvas: Stretching and Preparing a Large Canvas
the Professional Way

Fog and Mist - Perspectives No. 111

Drawing for the Landscape Painter: Why good drawing is always the foundation
of great painting

Photoshop for Artists, Part II: Learn to harness the power of Photoshop to enhance your creativity!
In Part II of this series of instructional How-Tos, we show you the quick, professional way to master the art of color-correcting your paintings.Save

See the Forest - Perspectives No. 96

Sharpen Your Color Sense - Perspectives No. 95

Photoshop for Artists, Part I: Learn to harness the power of Photoshop to enhance your creativity!
We show you how to set up Photoshop menus and color spaces so you can master the art of color correction.SaveSave

Color Mixing Secrets for the Plein Air Painter: Cut years off of your plein air learning curve
with our simple color mixing techniques.

Hit the Right Values Every Time - Perspectives No. 86

A Path for the Eye - Perspectives No. 84

The Artist's Road Guide to Composition: The Artist's Road
Guide to Composition

Understanding Light in the Landscape - The Carlson Theory of Angles: Understanding Light in the Landscape:
The Carlson Theory of Angles

Understanding Oil Painting Mediums: Understanding what oil painting mediums are, what they do,
and how they can improve your painting.

A Fatal Mistake - Perspectives No. 64

The Ultimate Still Life Table.: Everything you need to know to make your still life paintings more engaging, dramatic and powerful.

The Educated Palette: What every painter should know about basic palette layout and color mixing

The Artist's Guide to Digital Cameras, Part II - Understanding the Histogram: Getting the most out of your digital camera, whether shooting a fleeting sunrise for reference later in the studio, or taking professional quality pictures of your artwork for exhibition, websites or competitions, requires a complete understanding of the valuable histogram tool.Save

Painting Water - Perspectives No. 34

Painting Clouds - Part II - Perspectives No. 30

The Artist's Guide to Digital Cameras, Part 1: The 5 most important things to know before you buy your next digital camera.
Did you know that digital cameras do not see the world the same way that film cameras do? Find out what you may be missing in every picture you take, and what to do about it.SaveSave

Painting Clouds - Perspectives No. 24

Photograph Your Art Like a Pro: Learn the secrets of the pros and turn those "good-enough" art shots into perfection with this comprehensive tutorial.
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Member Content

Voices of Experience:Alex Kelly

Transcendence:Truth in Nature

Waxing Watercolors

Pictures of the Floating World

Artists' Gardens

Nocturne Notes

Inspiration in Monet's Gardens

Using Oil Paper for Oil Paintings

The Watercolor Medium

Paintings & Their Places
Van Gogh

Floating in Blue

Essential Photo Tools for the Landscape Artist

The Perspectives Archive

and MUCH MORE!

Free Content

Perspectives -
email postcards

PBS Video Plein Air Painting

Step-by-Step Watercolor Demo:
A Votre Sante

Artist Profiles

Adventure and Inspiration in Glacier National Park

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The Artist's Road Store

Nocturnes - A Primer on Night Painting

Filled with inspirational examples by the masters of nightime painting, this little book is sure to fire up your creative energies. Never tried painting at night? We show you how it's done with a step-by-step-oil demo and a tale of night painting in the wilds of Rocky Mountain National Park. The Primer on Night Painting - Nocturnes is a 7 x 7" PDF download with 40 pages of text and images. It includes a gallery of paintings by masters of the nocturne, information to inspire and encourage you in your plein air nocturne painting, an illustrated step-by-step demo and tips for working in pastel and oil. Also available in a softcover edition. Check out the tools and other products that we use in our own art and travels in The Artist's Road Store. We only offer things for sale that we enthusiastically believe in.

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About Us

We are artists, authors and teachers with over 40 years of experience in painting the world's beautiful places. We created The Artist's Road in order to share our knowledge and experiences with you, and create a community of like-minded individuals. You can learn more about us and see our original paintings by clicking on the links below.
About Ann About John
Hulsey Trusty Studios