Tag: art techniques

In this interview, Lebanese visual artist Rania El Osta speaks about moving from Medical Sciences to painting, the influence of family memory, and why birds and old houses continue to appear in her work. She shares how observation, color, and lived experience shape her process, and what it means to carry images of Lebanon beyond its borders.

In this interview, Sokhna Mariama talks about migration, nature, and working across different mediums. She shares how her life between Dakar and Italy shaped her way of seeing, how ideas guide her process, and how her projects invite people to take part rather than only observe.

In this interview, Elodie Martin talks about how her childhood in Arles, her time exploring visual arts and her return to hand embroidery all come together in the pieces she creates today. She explains how she chooses her materials, how she moves between Lunéville crochet and needle work, and how works like Splinters of rose form a space where memory, care and the pace of nature meet. Her insights offer a close look at the thoughtful, steady way she builds stories through thread.

Festive season is upon us, and the air feels a little brighter, a little cozier, and full of creative possibilities. For artists, this is the perfect moment to soak in inspiration from those who have mastered the art of holiday illustration. There is something magical about how certain illustrators can capture winter light, frosty textures, and twinkling decorations without ever showing a single face or figure. Holiday illustrations are more than just seasonal decoration. They teach how color, composition, and subtle details can evoke warmth, nostalgia, and cheer. Studying these works…

In this interview, Daniela Tovar talks about the early paths that shaped her work, from theatre and music to design and years of training in drawing and painting. She shares how watercolour became the medium that suited her way of working and how travelling to learn from different teachers pushed her to grow in unexpected ways. Her insights reveal how painting and illustration each give her a way to tell stories and connect with others.

If you’ve ever walked into a room and felt like the walls themselves were alive, you’ve experienced a little bit of what Rothko aimed for. Born in 1903 in Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia), Rothko emigrated to the United States as a child and later became one of the seminal figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement. What made his work stand out was his belief that colour alone, large fields of it, softly edged and hovering on the canvas, could evoke deep human emotion: tragedy, ecstasy, even the sense of the sublime.Rather…

Remember that feeling when you’re standing on the edge of something vast, sea, cliff, sky, and for a moment nothing else matters? That’s the world that Caspar David Friedrich often invites us into. Born in 1774 in northern Germany, Friedrich became one of the key figures of the German Romantic movement.What he did differently was simple yet profound: he stopped treating landscapes as just backdrops and made them the main subject. Mountains, mist, sea, these were not just places, they were experiences.  His paintings were slower than many modern works, built…

Every artist has little things that mean a lot, maybe it’s a childhood toy, a pattern you loved in your grandmother’s kitchen, or a recurring motif you notice in dreams. These small, personal symbols carry stories that only you fully understand, and they can become powerful tools in your art. When someone else sees them, even if they don’t grasp every layer, they feel a connection, like a secret handshake. Think about a painting that features a little paper boat. To you, it might be a memory of a rainy afternoon,…

Why It’s Time to Show the Messy Middle We all love the final piece, the polished canvas, the perfectly lit photograph, the sculpture that stands proud and complete. But what about the versions before that? The smudged pages, the failed attempts, the half-formed ideas that eventually led you there? Most artists hide those moments. But here’s the thing: they’re gold.  Audiences are no longer content with just the result. They want to know the story behind it, the hands that shaped it, and the journey it took to arrive. Including works…