Story & Photography by Leslie Joy Ickowitz guest blogger this week while Shawn Dell Joyce is moving... It’s a picture perfect, crisp fall...

Many of you ask me about competing professionally and how to get into the plein air circuit of events. Here's a blog to get you going, or...

So when I was a girl, like most girls, I loved ANYTHING with glitter! I mean it was the '70's and disco was the latest craze with pink...

One of my favorite challenges in my Advanced Pastel Techniques class (next session is at Dunedin Fine Art Center Winter 1, Thursday...

Folks, this is the article that I wrote for Pastel Journal Magazine that is in the current edition. The article is reprinted below if you...

When you paint, it often feels like a solitary practice. But it isn't, and it doesn't have to be. We artists need a sense of community to...

This blog from last year rings so true to me today that I'm giving it another play. Many iof you are new subscribers so this may be the...

This is the final installment (part 3 of 3) of a short piece of historical fiction from my upcoming trilogy of stories based on the...

Folks, I am just arriving in NY and getting ready for a couple weeks of painting in places the Hudson River School painted 250 years ago....

As I pack to head up to the Hudson Valley to teach a workshop at Olana, I'm going to give you a sneak peek at my latest work of fiction....

I had to do an artist's talk yesterday at the close of my solo show at Woodfield Fine Art. What I most want to communicate to people is...

Many artists I've met proudly proclaim that they are "self-taught" and for many years, I often said that myself because I didn't learn...

Transcendentalism, symbols and meanings in my paintings by Shawn Dell Joyce Ever see the light filtering through the trees and it leaves...

The International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) convenes every other year in Albuquerque, NM. I've been wanting to go for years,...

Almost every artist I know works from photos at some time or other. Most artists shoot photos that wind up being paintings, and some use...

Framing is one of the largest business expense for most professional artists. When you invest in good quality framing, you also need to...

Getting a solo show is a big honor, and something you want to build for rather than have too quickly in your career. If you are not...

"Success happens in clusters." -Julia Cameron; The Artist's Way We artists need each other. It's a simple fact. While many artists may...

An underpainting wash is a way to dissolve layers of color into the tooth of a paper to lay down a base coating and free up the paper...

I don't often use under paintings as I am an alla prima painter (all at once) and tend to move quickly through the composition. This is...