What kind of art should I buy?

Buy what you love and don't ask others for their opinions...YOU will be living with it, not your friends. And whenever possible, buy originals. Save up for them; they are worth it!

Today's tip is shared by oil painter Deborah Grayson Lincoln

Painter Paula Jones - other interests

What else do you do besides your art?

I am a very spiritual person. I love studying about spirituality - very different from religious study. I love to work outside in my garden. Walking and being a part of nature is a very integral part of my life. I have recently moved to Taos, NM where I have gotten very involved in the study of Native American ways. I believe that is time for us to go back to our basics, and love Mother Earth again - after all, just like the animals, and trees - she is a sentient being....

Photo credit: Paula Jones doing a painting demonstration near her New Mexico art studio

Painter Paula Jones - mistakes

Do you ever have goof ups or work you don’t like?

Of course - all artists do. If someone says that they don't, they would be lying!

Paula Jones - Why do you paint?

Why do you paint?

I paint, because, for some unknown reason, I feel like I have been called to paint.

Interview with Kevin Webster - Other interests

What else do you do besides your art?

I work full time as a police dispatcher and I love to travel.

Picture credit: "The Look", oil on masonite panel

Click here to learn more about this beef cattle painting

Interview with Kevin Webster - Do you make mistakes?

Do you ever have goof ups or work you don’t like?

Yes. I even have a collection called the Kevin Webster unfinished art gallery.

Interview with Kevin Webster - How much time to finish a painting?

How long does it take you to get an average creation?

It all depends on the composition. Most of my time is spent in creating the right composition. Once that is done I can paint a small piece in 2 or 3 hours, medium sized works about 1 or 2 days and a larger painting can take up to 40 hours.

January Featured artist: oil painter Kevin Webster

The featured artist for January is oil painter Kevin Webster. Kevin is a retired U.S. Army artist that now enjoys painting portraits of the livestock and wildlife around his Alabama home. Kevin also makes it a goal to paint one new picture a day, in an effort to improve on his skills and expand his portfolio. Follow the blog this month as Kevin answers a series of questions about his art, techniques and personal life.

View all of Kevin's work on the Cow Art and More specials page. Purchase any of his paintings this month and receive free shipping.

Oil and watercolor painter Julia Swartz

Cow Art and More was excited to feature oil and watercolor painter Julia Swartz in August 2009. Julia paints and maintains her own art gallery in southeastern Pennsylvania. She is best known locally for her ability to capture the local Amish community in art form.

Why do you paint?

Because I love to. It's fulfilling to me. I have to paint. It is who I am. I have to be creating one way or another. Right now it is painting on canvas.

How did you get started?

I always drew or painted as a child. I can remember as a child using my Mom's oil paints, she was an artist and painted at home for fun. After I got married, I took painting classes with Jay McVey, a local oil painter. When I had my children, I would draw and paint them as babies and toddlers. When my youngest child went to kindergarten, I started studying more seriously. I joined the local art association and took classes to learn watercolor. I started winning prizes right away so we jumped in the business. We bought some framing equipment, got some prints of my work and started framing and selling my art. We started by going to several local juried art shows and eventually were doing 18 to 20 shows a summer from NY to VA and MI to NJ. After several years of juried art shows we decided to join the arts movement in Lancaster PA and opened a gallery on Gallery Row. See more information at www.lancasterarts.com. It's been two and one half years in the gallery I am having more fun then ever.

Where do you get your inspiration?

I get inspired by everything around me. My kids, grand kids, my flowers, the countryside, animals, etc. Also looking through art magazines, and art galleries and museums.

What is your technique?

My main technique right now is thick textured oil paint on canvas. I use the palette knife to apply the paint and get the texture but I do use paint brushes a little. I say right now because my techniques change as I explore different ways to capture the feeling.

Where did you learn your technique?

I see styles or techniques that I like and I just experiment and try different things till I get it the way I want it.

How do you decide what to paint?

Everywhere I go, I see painting ideas. I keep a list of ideas and always carry a camera to capture ideas. I like to paint a series of paintings , usually ten, that have a theme so every two months I have a new show for my gallery. I'm always thinking what my next few series will be and gathering ideas as I see them.


How long does it take you to get an average painting?

It varies a lot, depending on the detail and size of the painting. There are quick ones that I've done in a day and others that have taken a month. I often tell people " All my life" because it is an accumulation of all the things I've learned since I started painting that go into every painting.

Do you ever have goof ups or work you don’t like?

Sure, once in a while it just doesn't turn out the way I like.

What advice to you have for aspiring painters?

Don't worry about your style. I hear young artist say I've got to find my style. I would recommend that you just keep painting and painting and try different things and eventually your style will emerge. Never throw a painting away. As an artist you tend to be very critical of your own work. You may not like something very much when your done, but just put it in a drawer or put it away somewhere. Months or years later you may get it out and say "Oh, that's not so bad." I really treasure some of my first paintings and am glad I never threw them out.

What would you like to do more of in the future?

I would like to travel more to places like Europe, Italy and etc. to collect more reference material to paint. I would also like to travel to a third world country and paint that culture. So travel would be high on my priority list.

What else do you do besides painting?

Not much, laughing out loud. I love to play with my grand kids and spend time with my kids. I love to ride motorcycle with my husband, always taking my camera along. I love to take care of my flower gardens and decorate my house and redecorate and redecorate.

Introducing oil painter Linda Blondheim

Oil painter Linda Blondheim was the featured artist for March 2009 on Cow Art and More. Linda is well known throughout the southeast United States for her landscape paintings, including those of rural Florida farmland and cattle. Linda recently opened her own small gallery space and enjoys meeting with customers and art enthusiasts.

Why do you paint?

It's in my soul. I started painting at eight years old and never stopped.

How did you get started?

I started an art club for the neighborhood kids when I was nine. We painted together one day a week. I also had a horse club which crossed over into horse art. We were all horse crazy at that age.

What is your technique?

I paint with oils, acrylics and gouache. I am representational expressionist, in that I don't copy nature but rather invent it in my on style.

Where did you learn your technique?

I have a BFA (bachelor of fine arts) in Fine Art and advanced study. I studied with Joe Testa Secca in undergraduate school and with Bruce Marsh, in graduate school, both fine painters. After I finished school I self studied for many years and I still do.

How did you decide what to paint?

I became very interested in the Southern Landscape about 20 years ago. I started painting on location then and continue to work both on location with a small paint box and in the studio for larger format work. My fascination with the landscape goes on endlessly. I also enjoy Bovines and Canines as subjects.

How long does it take you to paint a painting?

Small paintings are done alla prima, from start to finish in one session, usually from 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. Large format paintings can take from 1-3 weeks.

Do you ever have goof ups or work you don't like?

All the time. Those are the most instructive. I consider painting to be an ongoing study, never a finished skill set.

What else would you like people to know about your work that they may not know already?

My work is thematic in approach. I will explore themes and subjects for long periods, because intense study of a subject reveals its soul. I also base many of my paintings on particular studies of technique. This is the way we grow as a painter.

I love the land, animals, people, cooking and culture of my beloved South. I am particularly indebted to the farmers, ranchers and land conservationists who allow me to paint on their private lands.

What advice to you have for aspiring painters?

There is no substitute for easel time. Work hard, study hard. Do many practice paintings, Study areas of painting like values, color mixing,composition in small studies. That will improve your painting.

Meet oil painter Shannon Grissom

February 2010's featured artist was accomplished painter, children's book author and musician, Shannon Grissom. She believes in painting in a large format with bright colors to accomplish the mission of "Give your walls some soul!"

Why do you paint?

I must. It's a primal drive for me. I feel the same way about music. There is so much inside that needs to come out. It's like being really excited about something and wanting to share it with everyone.

How do you decide what to paint?

It simply must make me feel good. I have several paintings going at once in the studio and I choose the one that speaks to me each morning. When I don't listen, I usually make a mess of things.

How did you get started?

As a child, music was a part of my daily life but not art. Oh I painted a little but in high school but never took an official art class. As a teenager, I'd climb up in our loft and disappear for hours. However, once I entered college, I stopped creating and didn't do anything officially creative again until I was 32.

( I chose a practical major, transportation/business and ended up dropping out as a senior. Sometimes the most logical choices are not the best choices! )

I took my first painting class at 32 and knew right then I was supposed to be an artist. I'd get up every day at 3am and paint before work. (After work was too stressful.)
Finally, after 5 years of doing this, I was able to leave my day job and become a full time artist.

How did you get interested in painting "rodeo life"?

I've always loved cows. They are a wonderful combination of sweetness and the formidable.

Once I moved to Hollister, western art was a natural progression. Rodeo is such a big part of life here. (I am not a cowgirl. I'm a suburb girl, but I so respect their way of life.)

Our San Benito County Saddle Horse Association has been kind enough to grant me access to some choice spots during the Rodeo in order to get great action photos. My favorite spot was the bull chutes. It was very exciting back there!

What is your technique?

I paint in oil on canvas. I build and sculpt the art through many layers of glazing and scumbling.

Where do you get your inspiration?

From happy people, nature, reflective surfaces, vibrant color, music, and other creative people.

Where did you learn your technique?

I learned color seeing through my long time mentor/teacher Michael Linstrom and artist friend Janet Vanerhoof but I developed the layering on my own. I learned so much from them both but I really do not paint like anybody.

How long does it take you to get the average painting?

About a month, since I'm working on more than one at a time. Having that many in progress keeps up my productivity. I'm always in the mood for one of them.

Do you ever have work you don't like?

I'm laughing... I sure do. Sometimes I paint over them and sometimes they go in the John Smith collection. (Our local landfill.)

What advice do you have for aspiring painters?

I think it was Julia Cameron who said it best.."Dreams don't die, people do." It's so important to make time to go for it. Don't let life get in they way. My creative time is sacred.

What would you like to do more of in the future?

More cows, rodeo action scenes and some plein-air pastoral landscapes. And I LOVE commissioned work. They take me places I might not visit.

What else do you do besides your art?

For work? Lots!

I produce and host an instructional television series called "Give Your Walls Some Soul". (Think Bob Ross meets Emeril) It's in about 10 million cable households across the country.

I'm also in pre-production for a new television show where I find people who don't realize they are creative and teach them to go for it!

I write and sing my own music. I'm working on a CD and expect to complete it this year.

I'm working on a new novel, inspired by my own paintings.

And a few years back I wrote a picture book, Monkey Made of Sockies. The main character has now been licensed in to a line of golf club headcovers that are sold globally. We are giving a percentage of the profits to help kids with Prader-Willi Syndrome.

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 12

What else do you do besides your art?

I have a huge garden and I love putting up vegetables and fruit. Sewing used to be a passion, but now I confine it to making just an occasional quilt. I still ride my horse every once in a while, and I will begin training her filly offspring this fall - for my granddaughter who is due in December. I would love to learn to make soap and how to weld. There just isn't enough time to learn it all, though!

Picture credit: "Be Careful Where You Put Your Nose", oil on masonite

Click here to learn more about this Quarterhorse painting

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 11

What advice to you have for aspiring artists?

Paint every day if you can. Practice makes perfect. And venture into techniques you think you would NEVER use - you will learn from them even if you don't continue using them. BE BRAVE!

Picture credit: "Woo Hoo", oil on canvas board

Click here to learn more about this rodeo painting

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 10

What would you like to do more of in the future?

Take a photography course to better help me "capture" what I want to paint. Digital cameras have made me lazy, though. I can take 1000 photos for nothing and usually find ONE good one!

Picture credit: "Time to go to work"

Click here to learn more about this horse and cattle painting

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 9

Do you ever have goof ups or work you don’t like?

Always - I have stacks of unfinished and BAD stuff that should be burned! My husband won't let me, though. Sometimes I just paint over them, but most of the time, I remove the canvas from the stretchers, store it flat and re-stretch a new canvas on the empty frame.

Picture credit: "Left Out"

Click here to learn more about this horse painting

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 8

How long does it take you to get an average creation?

58 years! Next year it will take 59! Seriously though - from photo, to doodling to small painting to finished large one - minimum 40 hours.

Picture credit: "Easy Afternoon Walk", original oil painting

Click here to learn more about this horse painting

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 7

How did you get interested in creating art of farm animals?

I LIVE with farm animals! And we recently built a chicken coop so I expect chickens will become the next familiar subject.

Picture credit: "Bluebonnet Roller", oil on masonite

Click here to learn more about this horse painting

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 6

How do you decide what to paint?

First it must be something I am familiar with (cowboys, cows and horses) and it really needs action to keep my interest. If I start on a "static" painting, I sometimes cannot finish it. There's not enough to hold my interest.

Picture credit: "Naptime Boredom", oil on linen board

Click here to learn more about this horse painting

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 5

Where did you learn your technique?

I have refined my basic technique after attending classes with several different artists - John Poon, James Spurlock and John Pototschnik

Picture credit: "Curiosity", 8 inches by 6 inches, oil on canvas board

Click here to learn more about this horse painting

Q & A with Deborah Grayson Lincoln Part 4

What is your technique?

Get inspired by something (anything), take a million photos, take piece(s) from several, reconstruct using thumbnail drawings, paint a small version to get color and composition, detail drawing on larger canvas, block in lights and darks usually using neutrals, come back over with color. Sometimes I stop before I put in too much detail, and sometimes I paint every hair. Depends on my mood.

Photo credit: "He's No Dummy", 8 inches by 6 inches, oil on masonite

Click here to learn about this bull painting