OPA - Oil Painters of America

Dedicated to the preservation of representational art

Mr. John Pototschnik

What’s the Concept?

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Paul Strisik was a master artist and teacher. He authored a couple of important books: The Art of Landscape Painting and Capturing Light in Oils. I believe you will find his views about painting helpful. Foremost, before beginning a painting, he stressed having a clear “conception of the subject”. I call it “your painting concept”....
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Diane Massey Dunbar Revisited

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After I posted one of Dunbar’s paintings of a glass jar on my Facebook page, an admirer of the painting wrote wanting to know where he could purchase a “tube of that glass” used by Dianne to complete her painting. Well, that would be nice, but I told him that Dianne doesn’t share that information...
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Johanna Harmon Interview

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For Johanna Harmon, art is a beautifully timeless, skillful, poetic, abstract, and deeply felt visual concept. Using her remarkable skill, it’s her desire to fearlessly explore the mystery of her subjects, and to do that with sensitivity, intention, and truth. For everyone in the room that night in Fredericksburg, TX at the 22nd Oil Painters...
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Dancing with the angels – Part 2

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Twelve professional artists talk about being “in the zone”, what it means, what it’s like, and how to get there. There are lots of words for it…”in the grove”, “singularly focused”, “in tune”, “wired in”, “centered”, “on a roll”, and “in the moment”. Some have described it as “going with the flow”. It is said...
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Dancing with the angels – Part 1

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Twelve professional artists talk about being “in the zone”, what it’s like and how to get there. When Facebook friend, John (Skeets) Richards, suggested I do a blog addressing the issue of whether or not artists are in a “zone” when they paint their best, I thought it was a good topic to pursue. I...
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