Plein Air Art Podcast · PleinAir Magazine

Harley Brown and the 7 Essential Art Truths

·1 hr 31 min·5 clips

Brown tells artists to erase the word “hope” and say, “I am going to be an artist.”

1. Plein Air Art Podcast episode 261 centers on Harley Brown and the seven essential art truths he uses in painting. 2. Eric Rhodes, publisher and founder of Plein Air magazine, hosts Harley Brown, an artist who says he has been painting for over 70 years. 3. The episode asks what Harley Brown thinks matters most in painting, then turns those answers into a practical framework for artists. 4. Brown says a drawing his father made of Ronald Coleman in the 1930s led him to decide at age seven that he would be an artist. 5. He says teachers in high school noticed his drawing habit, and they even sent him to a movie instead of Latin class or chemistry. 6. Brown describes a choice from his father: return to work and pay rent, or sign up for four years at the College of Art in Calgary. 7. He says he chose art school immediately and later learned at the Southern Alberta Institute of Art and Technology. 8. Brown says the first of his essential truths is values, which he defines as light and dark relationships that can make or break a portrait. 9. He says design matters because a subject can be interesting, but poor design will flatten the painting. 10. Brown also says color should follow structure, and he points to the Munsell color theory with red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. 11. Brown says the word “hope” should be erased from the artist’s vocabulary when it comes to a personal career path. 12. He describes leaving school, standing in a Calgary parking lot, and deciding, “I am going to be an artist.” 13. Brown says he got a peddler’s license and knocked on 35 doors before selling his first one-dollar profile portrait. 14. He says he discovered pastel in a bar, felt his head start “buzzing,” and bought a full set of colors the next day. 15. Brown says pastel felt immediate because the colors were ready to use and could be layered without drying time. 16. He says working from life matters because faking rocks, noses, or hair from memory usually looks wrong. 17. Brown says accuracy, depth, and edges all work together, especially when values and colors change as forms move back in space. 18. The tone is conversational and demonstrative, with Brown speaking while showing his paintings on camera. 19. Listeners who paint outdoors or study portrait structure will get the most from this episode. 20. Viewers wanting a polished interview with minimal studio detours may skip it.

As heard by us

A veteran painter's case for values, design, and seeing what is actually there.

Harley Brown draws on more than 70 years of painting experience to talk through what keeps a painting coherent. The conversation stays close to core craft concerns: values, subject, design, and the discipline of not adding details that were never really seen, with Brown…

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Hear Harley Brown, a painter of over 70 years, break down why values, subject, and design make a painting work.

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