If you're a long-time reader, then the name Jerry Fresia will likely be familiar to you from his articles on painting. Jerry is a contemporary Impressionist painter who has a studio in a beautiful enviable part of Italy, on Lake Como, where in summer everything is baked by glorious sunlight.

I find Jerry's eye for colors mesmerizing. Such as the cat in the photo, which is a detail from the painting Jerry's chosen as his favorite for 2009. Through his eyes, a black cat could never be tube black. Take a look at the painting here...

I'm off to try to get my cat to sit in front of my daylight lamp. I know I've seen browns in his black fur, but will I see blues?

See Also:
• Techniques of the Impressionists: Broken Color
• Impressionism is Not a Dirty Word
• The Real Reason We Paint

^{Detail from "Lake Como Summer Day" © 2009 Jerry Fresia}

It's been said so many times before, but that doesn't make it less true: it's never too late to start painting. (Though you will probably end up wishing you'd started earlier.) Nor is it ever too late to take up your artistic dreams and aspirations. While we won't all achieve our dreams, take courage from the story of abstract painter Carmen Herrera who has, decidedly late in life. Read more...

"Painting treatises in the seventeenth-century practice recommended the use of an initial 'dead coloured' composition, in which the full design would be laid out in semi-monochrome, dull-coloured paints -- dark greys, browns and blacks. ... The sombre underpainting exerts a powerful influence on the colour and tone of the finished painting."

Read more...

This past year has seen all sorts of fabulous paintings submitted to the various monthly painting project galleries. While I try to put aside my personal art preferences (painterly and abstracted) when writing critiques, there are always paintings that stand out for me. Here's my pick of "a favorite" from each project: Read more...