Author: Anthony Waichulis

We are thrilled to share some exciting news — Maxwell G. Miller has been awarded 1st Place in the 12th Edition of the Boynes Artist Award! 🎉 This recognition is especially historic, as Maxwell becomes the first artist in the award’s history to win the top honor twice, having also received 1st Place in the 8th Edition. His work continues to impress with its technical mastery and emotional resonance, marking him as a leading voice in contemporary realism. From @boynesartistaward: “We are proud to announce Maxwell G. Miller as the 1st Place Winner of the Boynes Artist Award 12th Edition!…

We are proud to share that artist Jamie Lindholm has been recognized by the ANJE (Artists of the New Jersey Emerging) at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art for her evocative work Looking for Light. Lindholm’s piece captures a striking interplay of realism and abstraction, weaving a contemplative portrait through a grid-like structure that feels both intimate and transcendent. The work embodies her ability to merge technical mastery with psychological depth, offering viewers a meditation on resilience and illumination. The ANJE highlights outstanding contemporary artists working today, providing a platform that connects innovative creators with wider audiences. Its recognition at…

The preparation of a painting surface has always been one of the most critical steps in creating durable and responsive works of art. In oil painting, the ground serves not only as a visual foundation but also as a physical mediator between the support and the paint film. Two major categories dominate modern practice: oil grounds, which have been used for centuries, and acrylic dispersion grounds, a mid-twentieth-century invention often sold under the name “acrylic gesso.” Both are widely used as substrates for oil paint today, yet their composition, adhesion properties, and long-term behavior differ in important ways. Oil grounds emerged during…

After several days of immersive art-nerding with the brilliant creatives at the ÀNI Art Academies Dominicana, I hopped online and—bam—there it was again: another video claiming that “purple doesn’t exist.” Ugh. This tired claim was, once again, “supported” by the observation that purple is a non-spectral color and that “your brain makes it up.” Double ugh. Let’s clear this up once and for all. The Origin of the Claim The idea that purple is not a “real” color arises from a fundamental misunderstanding of how human color perception works. The argument often stems from the fact that purple is a…

“Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert,” replied Glinda. “If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.” “But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!” cried the Scarecrow. “I might have passed my whole life in the farmer’s cornfield.” “And I should not have had my lovely heart,” said the Tin Woodman. “I might have stood and rusted in the forest till the end of the world.” “And I should have lived a coward forever,” declared the Lion, “and no…

In a recent Zoom Artist Round Table, a colleague brought up the merits of the popular book by Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The book has been translated into more than seventeen languages and boasts of being the world’s most widely used instructional drawing book. The book is now in its fourth edition which includes a new introduction, crucial updates based on recent research on the brain’s plasticity and the enormous value of learning new skills/ utilizing the right hemisphere of the brain, a new focus on how the ability to draw on the strengths of…

Photoshop 101 and Basic Digital Imaging for Artists (Zoom)WHEN: Every Thursday, 2 pm – 4 pm, beginning September 25, 2025 This fall, join Anthony Waichulis for a 12-week introduction to Photoshop and digital imaging designed specifically for artists. Whether you are new to digital tools or looking to strengthen your current workflow, this course provides a practical foundation for working with one of the most important platforms in contemporary creative practice. Over the span of the program, Anthony will cover the essentials of Photoshop, digital image preparation, and the development of high-quality reference materials for your artwork. Participants will also…

Many of us have read about the potential changes we might observe when oil paint dries. Dry oil paints can appear to darken or lighten depending on everything from the absorbancy of the ground (sinking) to the quality of light found where the painting is displayed or stored. The general understanding regarding the later is that dry oil colors in a painting take on color in the dark, and bleach back out in the light. For more on the impact of light on oil colors: Storing Oil Paintings – Gamblin Artists Colors and Ralph Mayer’s The Artist’s Handbook. However, a different phenomenon has…

Trying to figure out where a gradation might “go astray” can be a real challenge for artists in an observational, representational effort—let alone when there’s particularly “difficult colors” in play. For example, yellow can be difficult to work with as not only is does it often seem weak in many color mixing scenarios—but due to how we perceive/experience yellow, our estimations of it are often exaggerated in both lightness and chroma. One way our artists deal with challenging colors or elusive gradations is to use an isolating tool we call the Color/Value Isolator. This isolator is a visual assessment tool…