Inspiration – Art Monk

A History of Teachers

By: Melissa April 7, 2017January 7, 2018

(Featured image: Beer and Oysters II by Jacob Collins, Oil on Canvas, 12 x 20″, 2007) Over the weekend I escaped our soggy Seattle spring to sunny LA where I wore sunglasses and visited the Getty Museum for the first time. I’m on a two week spring during which I took a weeklong alla prima portrait workshop…

A Few for the Ages

By: Melissa January 2, 2017January 7, 2018

Art History, featured, Inspiration3 Comments

I often go into periods of infatuation with artists whose work effortlessly illustrates a skill I’m trying to learn. I’ll read all I can about them and make studies of their work. But I have several enduring favorites. I’d like to introduce them to you through my eyes, although many or most you already know: Da…

Best of Show and the End of Year Two

By: Melissa June 23, 2016January 6, 2018

Inspiration, Life, Painting, Year Two2 Comments

Second Year of the atelier is over! It ended Friday with the Best of Gage show.

Colleen Barry Figure Drawing Workshop

By: Melissa May 28, 2016January 9, 2019

Drawing, Inspiration, Workshop, Year Two1 Comment

(Featured image: a charcoal drawing on tone paper by Colleen Barry.) I should have long ago stated that my contemporary hero artist is Colleen Barry. Her drawing above, and some more of her work below: This last image is in Juliette’s book Lessons on Classical Drawing, where I first saw Colleen’s work. She lives in…

Three-Hour Portraits

By: Melissa March 6, 2016October 15, 2016

Drawing, Inspiration, Workshop, Year Two2 Comments

I’ve mentioned a few times that I want to get better at drawing portraits this year. But how does one manage this when the first half of each day is devoted to painting the figure and the second half is all about still life?

Master Copy after Jacob Collins

By: Melissa November 29, 2015October 15, 2016

Grisaille, Inspiration, Painting, Technique, Year Two2 Comments

Post before last, I linked an article about Jacob Collins who runs an atelier in New York. At the time I was working on a master copy of one of his portraits: Carolina, oil on canvas, 22 x 20 inches, 2006.

“Life Studies: What I Learned When I Learned to Draw,” by Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, June 2011

By: Melissa November 8, 2015October 15, 2016

Art History, Drawing, Inspiration1 Comment

This profile from June 2011 of Jacob Collins is one of the best explanations of the classical realism atelier movement I’ve read.

The Summer That Came and Went and Was Somehow Revolutionary

By: Melissa October 24, 2015October 15, 2016

Drawing, Inspiration, Life, Motivation1 Comment

Dear Patient Readers: Year two is in full swing and where the heck have I been? Painting hard.

The Annual Aristides Atelier Show

By: Melissa June 18, 2015October 15, 2016

Drawing, Inspiration, Life, Motivation, Year One2 Comments

Of course I didn’t think to take a picture of the drawing before I framed it.

The Book Project

By: Melissa April 3, 2015October 15, 2016

Inspiration, Motivation5 Comments

Since last summer I have been working with Juliette as artistic designer of her fourth book, Lessons in Classical Painting. I believe it will be available in book stores next spring. Her last book Lessons in Classical Drawing is a work of such high calliber that I’ve read it over and over again and the binding is peeling back from the hard cover. If I’m ever asked why this atelier, why this teacher, the answer is quite literally…