Realist painter Robert Henri called the communion of connoisseurs "The Brotherhood." The Thought Police would insist we re-label that "mystical bond," but let's allow Henri to slide. What he had to say is too important to get hung up over one Victorian-era word. According to Henri, The...

Hollywood loves artists because they're observant, flawed, eccentric and vulnerable—qualities a main character must have to win over the audience. Artists also allow directors to smuggle scores of "beauty shots" into their films. Always a plus. Here's my list of the dozen top films depicting artists (in chronological order)....

Most artists trust their intuition. Sometimes it leads you to make mistakes, but that hardly matters. There is no such thing as failure, you just learn from it and go on. — David Hockney One advantage of oil painting resides in the medium's "forgiving" nature. You can wipe...

Today I give thanks for our First Amendment and freedom of expression. Throughout history, artists have been muzzled, shackled, imprisoned and liquidated merely for expressing "unofficial" ideas; but only once, thank the Lord, in the good-old USA. In Havana this moment, 14 artists are sequestered in an...

My artist statement takes over 300 words to describe what I hope to capture in my oil paintings. What I wish to capture, in as few words as possible, is average everydayness. The term—a favorite of mine—comes from philosopher Martin Heidegger's colossal book Being and Time. Average everydayness...

Twenty years ago, I attended a lecture by the renowned architect Frank Gehry. Meek and plain-speaking—like most Canadians—Gehry described his signature design process: "First, you get the building  right. Then, you make it weird." Gehry meant a building must be structurally sound and functional first; a Gehry...

In Next Avenue, I spotlight the work and careers of four "second-act" artists, proving seasoned folks can flourish if they follow their passion. Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy! ...

I'm often asked what the term in my artist statement alla prima means. It's Italian for "at once." I painted "Jug and Friends," for example, all at once, in a two-hour time-span. I painted it directly, seamlessly, or, as the Germans say, aus einem Guss—literally, "from a single...