Pebbles and Time

An oil painting of two small children in shallow waters edge titled "Pebbles and Time" by Artist John Huisman

Pebbles and Time is a small painting I recently completed, measuring about 14 inches wide by 10.5 inches high. I’ve been focusing on smaller projects like this one lately, aiming to complete more pieces and, in doing so, accelerate my learning and development as an artist. Working on large-scale projects can sometimes feel like a … Read more

Daily sketching practice

One thing I try to do every morning is spend some time drawing or sketching or painting something. Doesn’t really matter what. Sometimes it might be 40 minutes sometimes only 5 minutes,  but the main thing is, now matter what happens the rest of the day, I have at least done a little bit of … Read more

Life drawing session at Old Town

Figure drawing , John Huisman

I manged to get to a life drawing session this week at Old Town Artists in St. Paul. A very nice quiet setting there and a good model. I have known about the Old Town sessions for may years and have always managed to find an excuse not to go, but since we don’t have … Read more

Working small again

“Playing around with smaller canvases lately – it feels like a shortcut to more projects and quicker learning. Swapped out my daily sketches for a week to dive into this 8.5″x11” oil painting, a solid 6-8 hours of work. It’s one of those ‘not completely happy, but done’ situations. Smooth Bristol Board, limited palette with … Read more

A few weeks of small quick oil paintings

For about 30 days, mostly in September, I decided to challenge myself to do an oil painting a day. These were very small sketches that I tried to keep loose and with limited pallets. I am not sure I learned anything but I feel like when I give myself a goal or challenge like this … Read more