Showcase Art Center

Up until the Italian Renaissance, art was pretty flat. The old masters discovered perspective to increase the depth of their paintings and sculptures. Brunelleschi created the doors of the Florence Baptistry with incredible depth by using perspective. Leonardo da Vinci often gets credit for perspective. We are going to explore a simple scene using one point perspective. The video is up now at www.Showcaseartcenter.com . I also resurrected a video on 2 point perspective

You have heard it many times - Value does all the work, color gets all the credit. It can be challenging to get the values correct when distracted by color. In this video we start with a value study and overlay color. Viola! The values are correct. This is a trick the old masters used. The video is up now at www.showcaseartcenter.com . Next week we will work in person at our regular class times: 10:00 AM to noon Tuesday and Wednesday for independent painting (your own

A good way to start a painting is by recognizing the shapes within the scene. After outlining the shapes, then identify the value (light medium dark) of each shape. Then the detail can be added - or left off. The video is up now for the above scene on the video page of www.ShowcaseArtCenter.com . Find your own scene and try this exercise again. Training the eye to identify shape and value will improve our paintings. We will paint this and some other scenes next week in

Join me for a watercolor lesson that starts with a quick tech version of drawing. Yep, use your phone as a tool to "see" shapes to help improve your drawings. The video is live now at www.ShowcaseArtCenter.com . (subscription only $10/month for unlimited views of 389 choices) This will conclude the January White Sale where we painted a different white animal each week. I know you will enjoy painting "Coconut", the West Highland Terrier - photo sent by her human, Anne Mas

I used to have a beautiful long haired white cat that ran the art gallery. She reminded me of the James Bond nemesis mascot, only much sweeter. This model will be another study in painting "white" using other than white colors and light and dark values. This how-to-paint in watercolor video is up now on the video page of www.ShowcaseArtCenter.com. It is also Watercolor LIVE week next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So next week's schedule is as follows: 10:00 to noon T

Continuing the "January White Sale" theme, this week's white animal is a snowy owl. With the request of icicles, it made a nice story of the owl's gaze being captured by the sparkling freezing drips. The video for this painting is up now on www.ShowcaseArtCenter.com . Classes at Showcase this week are: Tuesday and Wednesday 10:00 A.M. - noon for independent projects Tuesday and Wednesday 1:30 - 3:30 P.M. for step-by-step Snowy Owl

A January white polar bear project will start the new year in our watercolor video classes. In watercolor, white is the white of the paper, so painting white is easy, right? Not so fast! White is the reflection of all color. Ah, value is important too. This cuddly bear video is up now on the video class page at www.ShowcaseArtCenter.com . I will show you exactly how I painted him. (subscription only $10/month for unlimited views of 386 videos) Missed everyone over the

This next week enjoy one or all of the 23 winter videos at the top of the video page on www.ShowcaseArtCenter.com . Tuesday we will have class at Showcase from 10 to noon and 1:30-3:30 PM. Bring your favorite current project or request to work on in class. Wednesday is for celebrating Christmas Eve, so no class. Christmas break will be through January 5, 2026. What a productive painting year it has been! I love seeing your improvements. New Year's resolution? More! M

Let's make it snow! This long narrow format is perfect for a fence in the snow. Painting white snow is a balance of values and color. Nothing is truly white. This video is up now at www.ShowcaseArtCenter.com on the video class page. (subscription $10/month) Next week we will paint it together step-by-step. Showcase classes are: 10:00 AM to noon Tuesday and Wednesday for Independent painters 1:30-3:30 PM Tuesday and Wednesday step-by-step painting and Christmas party -

Lights are going up everywhere, a brightness against the winter cold. This simple design is perfect for cards and slightly addicting. Definitely FUN! The video is up (video class page-subscription $10/month) now at www.ShowcaseArtCenter.com . Next week classes at Showcase are: 10:00 AM to noon Tuesday and Wednesday for independent painting 1:30-3:30 PM Tuesday and Wednesday for step-by-step Christmas Lights See you there!