My first oil painting experiments: a pair of dragons, master studies inspired by two paintings by artist Mattew Stawicki.
“Ardighiaccio” (white)
26×31 cm, oil on canvas, 15/02/2026
“Ardifiamma” (red)
26×31 cm, oil on canvas, 14/03/2026
The world has changed. As early as 2021, I began seeing the first AI image generators. That year, I also discovered that all the paintings I’d uploaded to Deviantart had been scraped and used to train the first AI models. My fight to protect human art began, a fight that has suffered many defeats on multiple fronts, especially when Artstation, Meta, and so on joined the ranks of platforms, giving all their content to the AI world. Social media makes me sad now, and I’ve lost some of the desire to publish my work on a thousand platforms: in 2023 I decided to focus on my own website, greenedera.com, and I’ve worked hard to upload my work and related works in progress, to create my own little digital home that I can furnish as I please.
I will continue to support handmade art, and although my digital art is “hand-painted,” the pollution of the digital art environment continues to grieve me. I won’t abandon digital painting—I love it too much, it’s fun, it’s powerful, it’s portable, and it’s convenient—but I’ve decided to broaden my horizons and tackle oil painting.
In the physicality of this medium, in its antiquity, I’m finding some comfort. Of course, when a photo of an oil painting exists, it too is prey to the training of AI models, but it doesn’t really matter because the piece itself is unique. Its three-dimensionality, the way the colors change depending on the light in the room, are truly beautiful. A print of a digital painting is very beautiful, but an oil painting truly has a presence in the room. Pencil is my primary drawing tool. Watercolor is delightful, but I struggle to convey the power of colors in my mind on paper. Oil, I must admit, has immense potential.
Thanks to Matt Stawicki, whose Dragonlance paintings I’ve admired for years, for posting the videos that helped me understand how to paint these dragons, and hopefully many more.
📹 Here are Matt Stawicki’s paintings I used as reference for my studies. I’ve always found them beautiful, and there’s something special about them: the artist has posted on artstation pics and videos of himself painting them, which were crucial for my learning.
Small Dragon Painting #16 (white)
Small Dragon Painting #13 (red)
More about Matt Stawicki on his website
I’ve learned that oil painting is complex. That getting the colors you want is a challenge in itself. That drying times teach patience. Taking a decent photo of an oil painting is tricky. And the colors don’t stay the same over time. And so many other things, along the way.
Article published 01/06/2026 #noAI
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