Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Alla Prima Brushstroke Demo by Larry Seiler

This will be of little interest for the seasoned artist but as a novice, I really enjoyed his explanation of pre-mixing color [versus Karin Jurick's pizza pan circle one hundred dollaps of pre-mixed tube paint].
He also explains how he used to spend 200+ hours on his award winning wildlife paintings and now 'counts his brushstrokes' as an exercise to make each stroke count. These were a couple of things I will try out on my next painting.



18 comments:

Cynthia Pittmann said...

Shiela, I'm having trouble reading/seeing images on the post...they just don't come in..also sometimes my comments don't appear. I think soon blogger will correct this problem. I'll have to come back when the situation is solved. I am interested in the paint blending method you mentioned. <3

gianlucio said...

Hello Sheila!!!
This beautiful video, the art of painting really interesting.
Ciao!!!

Dave King said...

Sensible and useful.

Carrie Griesemer said...

Thanks for finding this little demo, a nice reminder of some of the basics.

Kate Merriman said...

That was very helpful indeed!! I'm going to give some of those ideas a try. I'm always trying to remember to squint!

artbyakiko said...

Interesting video! Refreshing to see a painter with no rubber glove. :)

Michael said...

Hello Sheila, Thank you very much for visiting my blog and appreciation for

Art with Liz said...

Thank you for sharing this incredible demo with us. Great work!

Manon said...

Great video! I can't believe he counts all those brushstrokes! I don't think that my scrubbing paint with my brushes would count as a stroke.....lol! I better stick to mixed media!

James Parker said...

Hola, Sheila. Very interesting video, but I wouldn't try that with acrylics. I visited Larry's blog and was relieved that he hasn't abandoned his realistic wildlifes..."Red Cedar Mallards" is one of my favorites. It's also good to see an established artist excel in other styles and methods outside his norm...kinda like stretching your wings.

Tracey Clarke said...

Another one of the myriad of ways to work. I always enjoy seeing different methods.
Thanks for posting this, Sheila (and your great comment on my Shepard Fairey post...)

Carol Horzempa said...

I'm glad you found Larry Seiler and posted his video. I have been following him for a long time. He is a Wisconsin artist, lives in my home state, and has several videos of Plein Air painting in the snow.

James Parker said...

I was delighted that Larry stopped by my blog and commented on the beetles...makes my day. Now if I can finish my mystery artist, it'll be a great day. And Sheila, i tried mixing acrylics..with a spray water bottle handy..and it does work pretty good...could prevent some streaking and matching...good job.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this, Sheila. I don't think I've seen this one before. I wonder if Larry did his own music on this one? I read on his blog recently that he's started composing music for his videos.

Mona Diane Conner said...

Sheila, very interesting YouTube. Thanks for sharing this; I always enjoy hearing how another artist's process works. There is a former illustrator-turned-portrait artist, Marvin Mattelson (I think he is still listed on Strokes of Genius website) whose lecture I attended one time.

I was amazed to find out that not only does he premix his paints, he tubes them too! You can buy empty oil paint tubes, (or acrylic, as the case may be), and fill them with your own custom colors, and he was so systematic that he had all these premixed colors and brushes lined up for each and felt it helped him speed through his freelance assignments.

John Andrews said...

You make great video choices on your blog, Sheila! Thanks for posting this. I can't imagine keeping track of every stroke.

jennifer woodburn said...

Thank you for sharing this Sheila. What a jem of a video. I see you have been busy on your blog - lovely work. I really enjoyed your pastel portrait (fabulous lips!).

David Larson Evans said...

I'm counting how many times I've watched this video...3... thanks for bring it to my attention.