“ The whole process in critiquing paintings was very eye opening ,” Steve confessed . “ It ’ s about how to improve your work , not tear it down .” to pay more attention to how his mom painted after that , watching how she shaded and highlighted things to make them look more realistic .
As many budding artists of the 1980s did , Steve watched PBS , learning from William Alexander and his favorite , Bob Ross . “ They made painting look so easy , the technique of it . Cleaning the brush Bob would ‘ beat the devil ’ out of it . I would smile every time he said , ‘ and this tree over here has to have a friend .’ I decided to give it a serious try so I asked my mom to give me an art lesson . We painted a landscape scene and like in the movie “ Cast Away ,” where Tom Hanks builds a fire and beats his chest and yells out ‘ I made a fire ,’ I looked at what I had painted and yelled ‘ I made a tree !’ That was it . I was hooked !” Steve went on to use screenby-screen playback to educate himself from recorded PBS shows and continued getting lessons from his mom .
He found that attending artist guild meetings , where they critiqued works that members wanted feedback on , helped him learn what was appealing and what could be done to improve a work . “ The whole process in critiquing paintings was very eye opening ,” Steve confessed . “ It ’ s about how to improve your work , not tear it down . The suggested techniques on using palette knives , the use of color , value , intensity , and composition , were so helpful in building up my confidence and giving me an idea how to approach my paintings .”
Fast forward a good many years and Steve realized he might be able to
“ Daisies ” “ Fall in the Bitterroot ”
“ What a view ”
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