The Cardboard Bernini is another art documentary that we highly recommend to you.  It's about cardboard artist, James Grashow who, during the filming, creates a monumental installation after Italian artist Bernini's epic fountain.  It takes James several years to create the massive art project and you watch as it unfolds and comes to life. 

​What's more impressive than this huge undertaking is that he plans to destroy the work after it is finished, by placing it outside in the rain to dissolve into mush.  The whole project is amazing to watch.  You're left with awe and loads of inspiration.

Should it inspire you to create some art and you need art supplies, please make an order with us at this link.

Portland, Oregon artist, art director, illustrator and author, Elizabeth Haidle is offering an online illustration course to help artists process the heavy things we're dealing with at this moment in our society.  In her own art practice, she has been creating personal power symbols to help her through her struggles and challenges.  She thought others might benefit from learning her art practice and creating their own.  It's called, "Illustrating Personal Power Symbols".  

The course is for 30 days starting October 4th.  If your'e interested, don't wait.  Her courses usually sell out soon.  Register by clicking on the link above.  Should you need art supplies for the course, make an order with us.

Artist Serena Barton says she's an archeologist at heart.  Ruins, history and forgotten pasts inspire her layered oil and cold wax abstract paintings.  She lives and works in Portland, Oregon, actively teaching and exhibiting all around the city, including an online oil and cold wax course and shows at Gallery 114 in the Pearl District.  She'll be a participating artist in the annual Portland Open Studios Tour which will be virtual this year due to the pandemic.  Without further ado, let's watch Serena's amazing layering and texture painting technique.  We love seeing her roll, brush, scrape and chisel away until the painting is perfect.

Make sure you check out more of ​Serena Barton's work on her website and Instagram account.  She also has an online course that teaches you how to use oil and cold wax.  Find it on her website.  

Artist Myriam Tillson shares her knowledge of gouache painting with you in a 4 part workshop that takes you from the basics to painting a landscape and an eye with gouache paint.  The best workshop is when she teaches you several methods of blending and lets you decide which ones work best for you and what you're trying to accomplish with gouache.  

The series is:

1. Gouache 101
2. Basic Gouache Techniques
3. Gouache Landscape Tutorial
4. Gouache Eye Tutorial

Should you need any gouache painting supplies for this workshop, please place an order with us at this link.

The Collector, a documentary about Allan Stone, a man who hoarded art for over 50 years, was one of the most fascinating and interesting films about art that we have ever seen.  You not only get to see how obsessed this man is with art as it takes over his home, but you see how it has brought him much success in art as it leads him to opening up a very successful New York gallery. 

It's filmed by his daughter who had made art documentaries, so you get to hear her point of view of her father's art collection obsession.  We give this film 5 stars and 2 thumbs up.

The link to watch it is on Amazon Prime is here and you can watch the trailer at this link.

We are amazed that art keeps going and adapting to the state of the pandemic world.  Pictoplasma's annual international art, design and animation conference which is usually held in Berlin, Germany, has adapted and for the first time offers it online for free for everyone.  For 2 days, they'll open 2 online channels where you can listen and watch artist talks, do live workshops and watch animations with many different methods and styles from around the globe.  Here's what they say about the conference:

• This year’s first ever, fully digital ‘Pictoplasma in Isolation’ awaits all global character pioneers, creatives and enthusiasts for a special celebration of contemporary character design and art.


• This September 18 + 19 we’ll be broadcasting more than 40 inspiring artist talks, 77 hand-picked animation shorts, 36+ hours of home entertainment spread over 2 channels during 2 intense days = endless character joy…
• … all for FREE, and all to the safety of your own 4 walls, wherever you are!

It's live broadcast only and starts at 7am PST in Portland, Oreton or if you're in Berlin, Germany that's 16:00 CEST. Click on the link above to register for it.

2 live worshops that we think you might enjoy are:

1. INHALE, EXHALE—A CREATIVE WORKSHOP WITH NATHAN JUREVICIUS:  Do you feel stuck for ideas or in a creative slump? ‘Professor’ Nathan Jurevicius’ workshop is a crash course in unblocking your mind and allowing thoughts to flow freely. 
   Nathan will take you through a series of subconscious doodle exercises, breathing life into ideas and finishing up with a rigorous fan art sketch-a-thon.
2. STAY AT HOME WORKSHOP WITH JON BURGERMAN:  Join Jon Burgerman as he rummages around his Brooklyn apartment (or studio) to find things he can turn into a character. Then in the second half join Jon as he turns you into a character whilst you turn him into one!
   
   

Portland artist Addie Boswell works in many different mediums; such as paint, cut paper, and calligraphy, and in many different scales; such as mural size public art, painting size fine art for galleries and lap size art for children's books.  Since she gets a lot of inspiration from play, family, children and community, it's only natural that she has illustrated many children's books.  Today, she reveals some of her process to make her children's book, Five On The Bed.  

We still need a lot more submissions for our "Oregon Artists Share Tips & Techniques" series.  Please submit your work at the button below.

In this simple and easy, step-by-step guide to using watercolor pencils, you can make koi fish seem to float on your page, as if you are looking down upon them in a beautiful Chinese pond. 

​The article (click above link to read the whole thing) takes you through the materials you need to do this project and even estimates the amount of time it will take you to do it.  Towards the end of the guide, it even tells you to take your wet brush and get pigment directly from the pencil.  After you've finished it, you'll have picked up techniques that will help you with your next watercolor pencil projects.

Should you need any watercolor pencils, paper or brushes to complete this project, please make an art supply order with us at this link.

As of late, we've been watching a lot of documentaries about artists. Some leave you feeling unsatisfied and like we wasted our time.  Others, like this one about collage artist Lance Letscher, made us elated to learn about his artist journey; the ups and downs, successes and failures and his amazing progress as he pushed his medium to the limits. 

We give this documentary 5 stars and a big thumbs up.  It's inspiring.  It's amazing to see how he pushes this art form to new heights and depths.  We loved seeing how he took trauma and tragedy and made it into something beautiful in his art.  It left us feeling fuller, bigger, more human, more caring, more creative.  We're sure you'll get the big feels by watching it too.

Watch "The Secret Life of Lance Letscher at this link. 

And if you need any art supplies to create your own collages afterward, make an order with us at this link.

We know there are lots of ways to make monoprints, but have you ever heard of making them with watercolors?  It's new to us. 

In this video, artist Patty Brady shows you step-by-step how to do several watercolor monoprinting techniques.  She makes it look so easy and fun to make this kind of print, plus we just love her colored hair and funky style. 

Click on the image below to be watch the whole how-to video.  And if you need any of the art supplies, please make an order with us at this link.