Posts by Nicholas Wilton

There is this really cool shop in Portland that I accidentally wandered into last week. At first blush it just looks like a metal junk shop but peering in the window as I went past, I realized that this just wasn’t any old junk shop. This shop was only selling old metal letters, the kind…

One element that appears throughout my work is line – it’s such a simple concept and yet can add so much to a painting. Given that, I thought I would share with you my favorite tools for making lines. Watch the video and leave a comment. Do you find certain marks or shapes consistently appear…

It seems like wherever we are in our art making, we always want to be someplace better. Often, our art or our ability to make our art feels inadequate. And it doesn’t feel so good. The real problem, however, is that this discontent sometimes never goes away. If we are not careful it can follow…

A few nights ago I had a handful of people over at my studio for a night of art making. My friend and sculptor Joe Brubaker brought a bunch of small wood pieces with him, and everyone had the option of glueing them to their paintings. Adding this dimensional element to my work was at…

The tricky part in life is making the right decisions. Everyone struggles with this. Lately I feel like I have been not doing so well at making decisions. It is hard to know because what might, at first, feel like a mistake, maybe down the road, will feel right. I hope so. Of course a…

I just started working on a diptych and have already put down a bunch of marks. While I’m pleased with what I have so far, the piece isn’t particularly harmonious – some colors and shapes are much more noticeable than others, and the overall effect is a bit disorienting. Watch the video and discover how…