Lessons Archive

This common flower has a very unique petal structure. See how to handle this flower and its characteristics with some handy tricks and tips.

Jeff completes the iris painting in this video, with further work dialing in the values and edges.

The iris’ delicate structure makes it deceivingly difficult. You will need to add a few colors to your palette for most of these scenarios. Jeff will walk you through how to handle this flower. As he does so he will emphasize color harmony, edge and value control, and (as always) brushmanship.

In this continuation lesson Jeff shows how to add those finishing touches to roses that really make them sing.

Roses... possibly the most painted flower. Jeff walks you through layering up this complex petal structure, using the Zorn Palette.

Now that the sunflowers are layered in this painting will be brought up to a finish.

This is the first lesson to introduce painting a floral motif. Join Jeff as he shows you tricks and tips for laying in and painting sunflowers. He will add some supplemental colors for these.

Take note in this lesson of how, as this painting is finished, the values of the back objects are adjusted to create the illusion of overlap.

In this video lesson we move on to the illusion of transparent objects. Jeff will show how to design the reflections, and some insightful tips on how to make look as though they are being seen through one another.

The lesson continues. Watch as Jeff massages the crafty reflections of a silver patina using various tools.

Creating a shiny surface is tricky, but adds interest to any still life. Watch as Jeff shows you how to obtain this illusion.

In this lesson Jeff demonstrates bringing up the intricate shapes of a china surface, until the desired finish is reached.

China is the focus of this lesson. Watch as Jeff works up the intricate patterns. This is a tough one, you will need some nice small brushes in good shape to handle the small details. We will also add a blue to the palette for this painting.

In this continuation video Jeff will work on finessing the hammered shapes and bring up the edges and values to a finish.

In this phase we are back to Zorn palette. In this first video Jeff shows you how to capture the inherent look and characteristics of copper. Learn how to distill down the small nuances, and to capture the essence of copper through indication. Watch and it will begin to make sense. This is the favorite patina of many people.

As with all three object setups, this one is a step up in complexity. Join Jeff for the finish of the last painting of this phase.

Congratulations! You've made it through the monochrome still life exercises (almost). Jeff has saved one of the most difficult for last. Nevertheless, he will show you how to attack this setup using the layering sequence you are starting to ingrain. Remember, correct repetition is the key to success.

Join Jeff in working up the small, silver object to a nice finish. He touches here on how to handle the small, complex nuances around the handles.

We are back to one object, but this time we are using a new palette (at least new to some of you). Try to grasp the look and feel of the subject through your ever-increasing awareness of shape, value, and edge. Keep your focus on these simple exercises. They can be deceivingly difficult.