Sunday, July 31, 2011

Acrylic Paints Are a Great Option for Budding Artists

Acrylic paints are quite a new medium in the world of art if you compare them to the likes of oil paints or watercolours. The paint itself has only been available on a commercial basis since the 1950's after the acrylic resin which forms the paint was invented by a Dr. Otto Rohm. The medium has been recurrently developed and refined ever since. Many new genres of art were developed after the paint was utilised by the likes of Andy Warhol, who set the standard for 'pop art' in the 1960's. This medium also adheres to attributes of other types of paint deeming it very versatile and perfect for anybody starting out. Art is all about experimentation after all.

Many reputable art suppliers will definitely stock acrylic paints, given their popularity, and they will often vary in price and quality. You can also purchase sets which offer a variety of colours and sometimes include acrylic brushes also, great as an initial starting point for the absolute beginner. It is very easy to manipulate this particular medium given its dexterous qualities. With the addition of water, acrylic paints can be thinned to a consistency that mimics watercolour paints. You can also layer very easily; allowing one layer to dry you can immediately add another on top of it. The only downside to using this particular technique is that unlike watercolours, the colours cannot be blended again once dry. Acrylic paints are water resistant once dry, great for stencils or block colours but not so flexible if you want to continuously blend colours together. As long as you keep it wet this should not be a problem.

This medium can also be utilised in crafts, not just simply canvas painting. One dry it is permanent, so it is perfect for small projects or painting miniature models and such. Many professionals who use it will have perfected techniques and methods which suit their painting style. As an amateur artist or student of art finding the right brand of acrylic paints and forming your technique and ideas is just as important. Another great attribute to this medium is the immensely quick drying time. A perfect quality for those who are new to arts and crafts, meaning you can work quickly and see the dry finished results straight away. Most sets available will offer a range of colours and of course the more you get used to the medium of acrylic paint, the more adventurous you can be.

iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality acrylic paints and other art materials.


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What Options to Consider Before Buying a Field Easel

The majority of field easels available from art suppliers today vary from all shapes and sizes, but because there are so many available nowadays it can get a tiny bit confusing if you are a budding artist looking to start out and gather your materials needed for hobbies such as outdoor painting. You want to get the best out of your hobby or indeed profession so choosing the right options to suit your needs will help you enjoy and settle into your artwork much more productively.

When considering field work, and an easel to accompany you bear in mind the medium you may be working in as for paints that don't dry too hastily you will have to think about transportation and storage when you are finished up. For most watercolours and acrylics that dry out fairly quickly, you'll only have to consider what size of field easel you require. If you are looking at producing larger pieces of work outdoors then it's generally advisable to opt for a more heavy duty easel that won't topple at the tiniest hint of wind.

You have to consider where you might use your field easel and what type of environments you might encounter. If you are looking at painting vast landscapes or views you might prefer to choose an easel that is lightweight and portable. Most art supplies overcome this by offering metal lightweight alternatives to the more traditional wooden easels that conjure images in one's mind. An easel with adjustable legs that is adaptable to any ground surface is also great in more rural circumstances.

Another important factor is that of the sturdiness of the field easel you choose. This ties in with the earlier suggestion of weight consideration. If your personal methods of making art are delicate and intricate then again a lightweight easel might be perfect for you. In contrast if you are very direct with your surface, using larger brushes and applying quite a lot of layering and pressure to the surface you might be best considering a more robust easel to withstand the pressure and ensure you achieve the best results.

Obviously if you are a frequent or professional artist then it's pivotal that you consider the best quality long term option coupled with the highest quality materials, your easel could potentially last a very long time if you are prepared to spend a fair amount of money on it. Alternatively students and individuals new to art might want to try a less expensive easel and see how they get on before indulging in something which might be a bit to specialised for them.

iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality field easels and other art materials.


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Van Gogh's Summit Period

Arles 1888.2 - 1889.5

In Feb.1888, Van Gogh in the recommendation of his friend came to Arles, a small city in south of France and he soon fell in love with this place. Fierce sunshine and harsh wheal field made him crazy and embraced his art summit. Even if deep influenced by French impressionism and Japanese Ukiyo-e, his artworks were still labeled with his personality, which was originated from his unique perspective and sensitive character. He loved nature and adored life. He was not satisfied with imitating the external image reasonably, but intended to "express the artist's personal opinion and feelings via painting, and made the artworks full of personality and instinctive style." Thereby, he was a great master painting with his soul.

During this period, he rented a "yellow house" by the city's square with the purpose to organize a "the home of painters". Afterward, Gauguin moved to live together with him. Unfortunately, Van Gogh suffered a mental disease from time to time. As a result, he quarreled with Gauguin day and night, what's worse, later "Ear-cutting even" happened.

Under the protest of the Arlesers, our great artist had to leave and went to Saint Paul Mental Hospital at Saint Remy, not far away from Arles, for treatment.

In Arles, he created lots of paintings, but failed to sell out enough to support himself. "The sunflowers", "The Cafe Terrace- Outdoors" and "The Cafe Terrace - Indoors" are all his masterpieces at this period.

Saint-Remy 1889.5 - 1890.5

On 8th May, 1889, Van Gogh went to Saint Remy, 25 kilometers away from Arles at his will for mental treatment. What should be noticed is that he had fallen into the horror about his mental disease and the lost about his future. His disease broke out every few months, but he was very clear afterwards, even went outdoors for painting.

More amazingly, even under such disadvantages, he never gave up, but painted more maturely, boldly and shockingly. His oil paintings in this period were filled with strong emotions and visual shock, such as spinning lines full of power, which made viewers sense of the artist's strong affection and impulse of expressing.

His masterpiece:The Starry Night, The Cypress, etc. It is worthy mentioning that critics began to commend his works and right in this period, he sold the only one oil painting during his lifetime.

Auvers-sur-Oise 1890.5 - 1890.7

On 17th May, 1890, Van Gogh went back to Paris and met with his little brother Dio, Dio's wife and his niece Venticent who had the same name of Van Gogh. He then went to Auvers, a small town near Paris for treatment and went on his painting. Luckily, he went on well with the locals and his treatment also went on well. But at the afternoon of 27th July, he went out for painting and made suicide. On the morning of 29th, he died beside Dio at 37 years old.

So far, there are many arguments about the reason for his death.

Some believes that Van Gogh killed himself not for the mental disease, because some famous oil paintings such as the Starry Night, and the Cafe Terrace were finished when he was clear, but with something of hint of his death. Van Gogh's suicide on the eve before he became famous may be mystery forever. But keep in mind his will, "The sadness will last forever..."

Huang X Cai is an experienced content writer on the topics related to hand made abstract oil painting and amber crafts for a long time. For more information, welcome to visit http://www.oilpainting777.com/


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Elements of Design - The Landscape Painter's Principles

Just as athletes must learn the rules and then spend many hours in practice to develop their precision and style, so must the artist learn the rules and then practice. This article is about some of the rules of design that artists must know in order to have a successful painting.

The simplest element of design is the line. A line is a one-dimensional mark. It has only length. If we draw another line, not on top of the first, then we are creating form. Form has both length and width; form is two-dimensional. Lines and forms can be organized into shapes, the third element of design. Complex shapes are often built from simpler shapes, such as circles, ovals, squares and rectangles. The distance between shapes is called space, another element of design. Space also refers to the illusion of depth, or three-dimensions. Thus when properly placed, shapes can give the feeling of three-dimensions in a two-dimensional surface. There are several ways to create visual three-dimensional space. One way is by using one-, two- or three-point perspective. Another is by using overlapping shapes. The landscape painter uses all these elements of design when creating a landscape painting.

In addition to line and form, shape and space, there are other elements of design. The amount of lightness or darkness of an object is the value. A good exercise is to draw a series of ten squares, put black in the left-most one and white in the right-most one, then try to paint shades of grey in the middle blocks, going gradually from dark to light. This is called a grey-scale, but the same could be done with any color. Similarly, we could paint a sphere with the lightest light on one side and the darkest dark on the other, going through all the shades of grey between the two.

Next is the element we all love - color. Color has three characteristics - hue, value and chroma. Hue refers to the color, such as red or green, blue or yellow. Value refers to how light or dark the color is (how it compares to the grey-scale). Chroma refers to how bright or dull the color is - it's saturation level or purity. The landscape painter must understand color in order to use it effectively.

Texture is the last fundamental element of visual design. A surface might be smooth or rough. We might represent a rough surface with thick brush strokes of paint, use of a palette knife or even by adding objects to our painting.

There are other principles of design that the landscape painter uses, according to Mitchell Albala in his book Landscape Painting. These principles refer to the painting as a whole. They are motion, balance, proportion, unity, variety, harmony, pattern, rhythm and emphasis - the focal point. In order to have a successful painting, the painter needs to be aware of all these elements of design and see that his/her painting observes them.

At Mary's Art, Inc., we have a large variety of original hand painted oil paintings on canvas. These inexpensive, colorful paintings were created en plein air (French for "open air") to capture the spirit and emotions of nature and bring them to you for your enjoyment. They are modern in style, somewhat abstract, and with expressionism overtones. Please visit http://www.murphyartstudio.com/ and find paintings you love.


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Replicate A Favourite Painting With Art Supplies

If you would like to put your very own spin on a famous piece of art, you may want to replicate a favourite painting with art supplies.

Aspiring artists are always looking for the next thing to paint but it can be difficult to focus all of your creativity energies on one project with so many different ideas buzzing around your brain.

An area of painting that many artists might not have explored yet is the recreation of existing artwork but making it their own by using art supplies to provide the piece with a unique twist.

One famous artist who has achieved a successful career from creating her own take on classic paintings such as The Mona Lisa, Girl with the Pearl Earring and The Scream is Caroline Shotton.

Caroline Shotton's paintings replace the famous subjects in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Johannes Vermeer and Edvard Munch with cows and this approach has seen the artist become incredibly popular with the general public.

The commercial fine artist is now one of the biggest selling painters in Britain due to her unique method of recreating masterpieces with strikingly different subject matter such as beautiful bovines.

Shotton decided to select cows for her paintings because she confesses to be genuinely obsessed by them and they are very successful for grabbing people's attention especially when spliced into instantly recognisable art.

Creating your own versions of existing art is a great way to make the original accessible to other sections of society who may already have been alienated by perceived pretensions.

Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery so most painters will probably see it as a compliment and not an insult if you decide to replicate an example of their catalogue of work.

Cows might not be everyone's favourite subject matter so it is important that you experiment with other topics and themes if you want to use art supplies to reimaging existing art.

The internationally renowned street artist Banksy is very clever at using art supplies to create subversive work that critiques society and makes people think twice when they first view them.

Famous examples of his cunning creativity include splicing Vietnam War victims in between American icons Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse to comment on globalisation and US imperialism.

Whether you want to cause controversy like Banksy or simply amuse like Caroline Shotton putting your own spin on paintings with art supplies is a very entertaining way to spend your time and develop your talents.

Buy the best art materials and art supplies from Turnham Arts & Craft. Click on the links to discover what products we offer!


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Portrait Painting, You Can Get Better Results Using These Two Simple Techniques

In the following article I am going to give two simple techniques to help you as an artist achieve accuracy in your portraiture. Sometimes as an artist you will start to evolve these techniques without even realising that you are using them, however, putting these techniques into words often helps the beginner.

The first technique is the application of negative shapes in your art. Essentially a negative shape is a shape formed around the head or body of a person that you can objectify. A classic negative shape would be the shape of the space between a body's arms and hips. Using negative shapes, you may see a curl of hair on the head you are painting. The curl of hair will interact with the background you are drawing. It may protrude into the spine of a book, half way up, on a bookcase behind the person you are drawing. As an artist it is easier for you to draw something you can define as an objective reality rather than something you feel emotionally about. So you would in this example draw the shapes formed between the bookcase, the head, the shoulders and the curl of hair. By drawing the negative shapes formed by the head and the bookcase accurately you will obtain a correct perspective and proportion for the head without even considering the head shape.

You can start to use negative shapes within the structure of the face and head as well. Take the effect of light for example. It is always good for an artist to draw a portrait in good directional light which casts shadows. This makes form much easier to see and define than a soft non directional light source. In directional light there will be shadows cast around the nose, around the forehead and the eyes. Start to look at the shadows and consider their shapes. Again by using this technique we are removing emotion from our work and making it easy to see an objective reality. The shadow cast by light on an eye often takes the shape of a triangle with one side flat down the side of the nose. Study and draw the triangle and not the eye. If this is correct then the proportions of the eye will start to fall into place without any worry on your part that you are not getting the shape quite right.

The second simple technique I would like to give you to use is called plumbing. Plumbing is imagining a vertical line on your drawing. You can if you wish lightly draw a vertical line to assist you further. For example imagine a vertical line from the outside corner of an eye. Follow this down. How near would this line approach the corner of the mouth. This technique is most useful if you are drawing or painting a head which is inclined from the vertical. It is also much more real for the viewer to see a head inclined slightly in thought than held erect like a statue.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this short article and if you start to use these two simple techniques you will be pleasantly surprised at the results you start to achieve.

Mark Robb is a practising artist based in Haworth. If you have enjoyed the article above then he invites you to browse the website http://firstforart.com/ where you will find all kinds of art materials, art prints and further advice and tips to help you become a better artist


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Acrylic Paints: A Great Medium for Beginners and Professionals

The 1950s was the decade in which acrylic paint first became available on a commercial basis. This innovative original paint and the techniques that developed from it gave rise to new forms of art being produced. This medium aided artists in producing work at a much faster rate and made artists like Andy Warhol for instance, rise to fame, with his outlandish new style known as 'pop art'. In contrast others were hesitant to utilise this new form of painting given that acrylic paints have very unique qualities that are quite different from say oil or watercolour paints.

Acrylic paints have a reduced drying time in comparison to other mediums making it popular amongst professionals and beginners alike. With mediums like oil paints, a large painting can actually take a few weeks to dry. They became popular given that you'd have a dry piece of artwork within 24 hours. For people experimenting with art this was a great quality. Acrylic paints are also resistant to water damage when they are fully dry. In the preservation of artwork this is a great quality, they don't have the tendency to fade and crack like other mediums. The only disadvantage with this really, is the fact that alterations cannot be made easily once the painting is dry.

Acrylic paints are nowadays widely available at any art suppliers that specialise in art materials. They are also very reasonably priced, and of course like anything you pay more for quality. If you are a beginner acrylic paint sets are available which cater for basic acrylic artwork and often come in a range of colours. The more professional artist will know what they want and will probably already have a brand in mind.

Another great quality is that the paint itself may be thinned by using water, in contrast to the turpentine and other toxins you may use with oil paints. This means brush cleaning is very simple and much less time consuming. This medium lends itself to many techniques, so if you are a budding artist it gives you the time to explore different techniques to find out what works well for you. Acrylic paints are great for block colour and work very well on canvas. Stencilling and simple designs are popular amongst beginners as you can often achieve successful results right away. Acrylic paints also adhere to qualities of watercolour and oil paint. They can be manipulated in similar ways so are a good starting point if you have just developed an interest in painting. They have a unique finish and if you do use them you will soon realise why they became such a popular paint. Of course, it comes down to preference in the end, so definitely experiment with the medium and find a style that suits you.

iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality acrylic paints and other art materials.


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What Qualities to Look for in Canvases You Purchase for Your Artwork

The first canvases were made from hemp, but at present cotton and linen are the most commonly used. A canvas specific to painting can be made up from materials such as linen or cotton and occasionally, synthetic materials are also used, but are not favourable amongst professional artists. The weight of the fabric is used to denote the thickness of the threads and the tension of the weaving within it. Principally, different types of canvases have different type of textures and weigh differently. Smaller canvases or cheaper versions are usually aimed at small craft projects. Linen is very popular amongst artists of a professional standard given that the threads are very fine and tightly woven, creating a perfect painting surface for many.

Canvas has long been a preferred surface for artists to express themselves on. Devised in the thirteenth century, canvas was a great substitute for the wooden panels typically used when painting with medium such as oils, before mediums like acrylic paint existed. The fabric is widely respected for its endurance and long lasting nature. Once appropriately primed, the fabric itself can sustain a painted surface for many years without too much wear. With that in mind canvases have a proven record of standing the test of time.

Alternatively stretching your own canvas can enrich the creative experience of painting your own masterpiece. Canvas supplies are easily obtainable and can be located in most art supply stores and online. To stretch canvas you will need to purchase canvas on a roll first and foremost. Stretchers are also crucial as these are the components which make up the frame for your canvas. Generally a staple gun is also useful to attach the canvas to the frame. A great advantage to creating your own surface is the control you have over every element, so you can choose the quality of the canvas, the size you wish to work with and the tension you will need for your artwork.

If you are a student of art or are simply starting out there are cheaper alternatives to professional artist canvases available that still maintain great quality. If you are simply experimenting and playing around with different methods and mediums, it is a great way to build up a relationship with canvas before buying more professional types. Obviously you can move onto more expensive options when you have mastered your technique. There are plenty of canvases available from reputable art suppliers so for a great art project or final piece you can always source the art supplies you will need to complete it.

iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality canvases and other art materials.


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Michelangelo's First Painting Lie

We've reached the first crucial turning point in Michelangelo's painting career: the moment his father finally allows him to become an apprentice to the painter Ghirlandaio.

Once again the scant information we have about this 1-2 year period comes mainly from the biographers Giorgio Vasari and Ascanio Condivi -- and the few pieces they give us don't quite fit together. But it is important to find the larger picture given that what happened with Ghirlandaio helps explain what happened 20 years later when Michelangelo began painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Let's recap: As a boy, Michelangelo dreamed of being a painter, but his father Lodovico sent him to school to become a businessman. After 5-6 years of studying letters and commercial mathematics, Michelangelo began skipping class to spend time with painters -- for which his father beat him, saying that such a career would be a disgrace to the family. Then something happened, and Lodovico changed his mind and signed a three-year contract with Domenico Ghirlandaio to teach Michelangelo how to paint.

What's mysterious is that last part, because later Michelangelo (dictating to Condivi) made no mention at all of the Ghirlandaio contract. In fact, he told everyone he never studied under Ghirlandaio. But Vasari caught Michelangelo in the lie. In his second edition of The Lives (1568), Vasari writes:

Now he who wrote Michelangelo's life after the year 1550 [Condivi],has said that some persons [Vasari]have related things that never happened, and have left out many that are worthy to be recorded. He has touched on this circumstance in particular, charging Ghirlandaio with jealousy and saying that he never offered any assistance to Michelangelo. This is clearly false, as may be seen from an entry by the hand of Lodovico, the father of Michelangelo, written in one of Ghirlandaio's books, which book is now in the possession of his heirs.

Vasari had seen the contract which said Michelangelo would stay with Ghirlandaio for three years to learn to paint and that Lodovico would be paid a total of 24 gold florins, a significant amount of money given his limited means.

So why did Michelangelo lie about his relationship with Ghirlandaio? Obviously something important happened during those 1-2 years.

It's only one of many fascinating questions that need to be examined before we can move forward. What exactly did Michelangelo learn from Ghirlandaio? Was he ever allowed to pick up a paintbrush to work on a fresco during that time, or did he suffer through the usual toil, working the equivalent of slave labor like any other first-year apprentice? And why did Michelangelo leave Ghirlandaio's workshop to become a sculptor in the San Marco garden? Whose decision was that anyway: Michelangelo's or Ghirlandaio's?

All of these questions lead to the most important question of all: Did Michelangelo choose to give up his painting dream, or at the tender young age of 14, did he run away from it?

We can't just skip over the Ghirlandaio years, the way many biographies of Michelangelo have done. If we did, we'd never be able to understand the message the artist left on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

David Clark's quest to solve the Sistine Chapel mystery started after his wife was killed shortly after they began a piece jigsaw puzzle of the ceiling. After five years of extensive research, he realized the ceiling is a brilliant diversion that hides a secret message by overwhelming the eye. Like a jigsaw puzzle it lures us to pull its hundreds of pieces together to make sense of the whole. However, its meaning cannot be found by putting the pieces together, but through finding the one piece Michelangelo left missing: the piece he lacks in his own life story.

Michelangelo's Puzzle will be told in 90 weekly pieces that when put together will reveal the meaning of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling on November 1, 2012, the 500th anniversary of the ceiling's dedication. Follow the story at http://sistinepuzzle.com/.


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Tips On How To Buy Paintings Online

You can get a good deal if you buy paintings online. The internet lets you take your time to browse through dozens and dozens of artwork without a salesman breathing down your neck. You can pick several items and compare their prices, colors, subjects and themes.

Before surfing for paintings for sale on the net, get some things together first. You will need a measuring tape, a computer, internet connection, credit cards or a PayPal account, pen and paper. Measure the space on your wall and the nearest piece of furniture like a bed or couch.

You should also measure the furniture to make sure you do not get a canvas that is wider or larger than your furnishings. Measure the wall's width and height too and the space between the top of your couch or bed and the ceiling.

Visit online art stores browse on several paintings. You will be able to find hundreds of artwork online from dozens of websites. When surfing on a website, check the site's credibility as a seller. Does the website look professional done? Do they allow PayPal payment options?

The website should have a secure payment or check out page that will not expose your credit card number to hackers. Surf on several art websites and use your pen and paper to take notes on your possible choices. Take note of the painting's colors and size.

Make sure you are picking canvas wall art that depict appropriate subjects and styles that will go with the room you are decorating. The colors of your painting should not be the same as your wall color but should contain accent colors found on your furniture, window dressing or other decorations in the room.

Canvas art sets are interesting pieces for modern homes. Find out if your wall space can accommodate these large canvas pieces. If you have a small home, buy artwork that is also small. Large canvas wall art can look impressive but will look funny in a tiny apartment.

Before you buy paintings online, make sure that your seller is credible. The website should have a contact number or business address. Look for these and contact the seller on the phone. Check if the address is authentic by running a search online.

See if the owner of the site maintains a blog with articles about art and painting. From their blog, you can see if they know their business and if they are legitimate art sellers. Find reviews about the online art store and read customer feedback from previous buyers.

Find a wide collection of canvas wall art at EverythingWallArt.com and discoverer countless choices of wall art, in different painting styles.


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Caspar David Friedrich

German Caspar David Friedrich was a skilled painter who was a key part of the Roamnticist art movement which was at its strongest in the 19th century before being superceded by the French impressionists. This article looks deeply into the career of Caspar David Friedrich and considers which were his finest oil paintings of all.

Friedrich's most famous painting was certainly his Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog masterpiece which depicts a character in the foreground looking out over a sprawling landscape which is covered by a sea of clouds, with various mountains on show at the furthest point away from him. Further to Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, other notable paintings from this artist included Monk by Sea, Tree of Crows, Winter Landscape with a Church, Morning Mist in the Mountains, On Board a Sailing Ship, Woman at the Window and Chalk Cliffs of Rugen.

German art has a history of achievement within various different art movements over many centuries but Romanticism is not something that they were particularly involved with in great numbers, which makes the contributions of Friedrich even more important. Other notable German painters included Albrecht Durer, Hans Holbein and Egon Schiele, which underlines the country's diverse artistic ability which has been spread over many different artistic styles.

Caspar David Friedrich has a common approach to his art of depicting small characters in the foreground of a large countryside scene which would enable the artist to get across the idea of perspective through the comparison between the foreground and background elements.

Whilst Friedrich was from Germany, other notable Romanticists included British JMW Turner who lived devoted himself to landscape painting with a painting style that included emotional feelings of the artist, which is what has made this art movement so popular. Turner became a highly significant landscape painter and was joined by Joh Constable.

Conclusively, Caspar David Friedrich was an important contributor to the Romanticist are movement which also took in great artists from Britain and France. Caspar David Friedrich was undoubtedly the most impressive German of this style and his achievements encouraged others for his native country to follow in his footsteps. The few other German romanticists who did exist around this time were in many cases close to Friedrich and he would open up his studio at this time to many who would share ideas and techniques in the hope of each developing their own careers.

You can read more about Caspar David Friedrich at Caspardavidfriedrich.net.

There are also Friedrich paintings at the Oil Painting Shop.


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The Life Story Of Vincent Van Gogh

On 30 March 1853, Vincent van Gogh was born in the south of the Netherlands, in the village of Groot-Zundert, in the province of North Brabant. He had two brothers and three sisters. Vincent was a thoughtful, silent and serious child.

In 1860, he went to the Zundert village school where there were about 200 pupils and only one teacher. From 1861 to 1864 Vincent and one of his sisters were taught at home. Then in the autumn of 1864 Vincent went to boarding school at Zevenbergen, about 20 miles distance from home. From 15 September 1866 to March 1868 Vincent went to Willem II College, in Tilberg. The successful artist, Constantijn C. Huysmans, taught Vincent to draw in a systematic way.

In July 1869, Vincent got a job at Goupil & Cie (an art dealer) in The Hague. In June 1873, he was sent to work in London at Messrs. Goupil & Co, 17 Southampton Street. This was a happy period for him and was earning more than his father. He started to become more isolated and had more zeal for religion. His uncle and father sent him to Paris to work in a dealership. This job lasted until 1 April 1876 when he lost the job because of his resentful attitude. He thought that art should not be treated as a commodity.

Vincent went to Ramsgate, in England, for an unpaid job as a supply teacher for a boarding school. He made sketches of the views of Ramsgate harbor. The job situation did not work out for Vincent so he left. At Christmas, he returned home and got a job at a bookshop in Dordrecht for six months.

Vincent's growing zeal for religion led him to study theology in Amsterdam, in May 1877. Vincent failed the entrance exam and left in July 1878. He then went on a three month course at a Protestant missionary school, in Laeken near Brussels, but also failed at that.

In January 1879, van Gogh got a temporary position as a missionary in Petit Wasmes, in the coal mining district of Borinage, in Belgium. He chose to live like those he preached to, sharing in their hardships and squalid living conditions. The church authorities dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood." He returned to his parents home in Etten and stayed until March 1880. His father made inquiries about sending Vincent to a lunatic asylum at Geel.

Vincent went to Cuesmes where he was a lodger with a miner until October. He made drawings of the people and scenes around him. On 15 November 1880 he registered at the Acamedie Royale Des Beaux-Arts (school of art), in Brussels. He studied anatomy, perspective and modeling.

In April 1881, Vincent returned to Etten with his parents where he made more drawings. In the summer he spent a lot of time with his cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker, who was recently widowed. He proposed marriage but she refused. In November, Kee refused to see him even though he was very persistent. At Christmas, he had a big argument with his father then left to go to The Hague.

In January 1882, Vincent settled in The Hague and visited his cousin-in-law, Anton Mauve who was a Dutch realist painter. Mauve introduced him to painting in oils and watercolors and also lent him money to set up an artist's studio. They had an argument and Mauve did not respond to Vincent's letters. Van Gogh now lived with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria Sien Hoornik, and her five year old daughter.

Vincent's uncle, who was an art dealer, commissioned twelve ink drawings of the city views and another seven drawings later on. Vincent soon completed these after arriving at The Hague. In June 1882, he was suffering with gonorrhea and was in hospital for three weeks. In the summer he started painting with oil paints. In the autumn of 1883 he left Sien. In December, because he was lonely he returned to his parents who had moved to Nuenen, North Brabant.

While van Gogh was in Nuenen he made many paintings and sketches of weavers in their cottages. His father died of a heart attack on 26 March 1885 and he grieved a lot. He stayed in Nuenen for two years and made almost 200 oil paintings and many watercolors and drawings. During this period he worked with mainly somber earth tones.

Vincent moved to Antwerp in November 1885 and rented a small room above a paint dealer's shop. He studied color theory and visited museums which inspired him to use a more colorful palette. He became a heavy drinker of absinthe and ate poorly.

In March 1886, van Gogh went to Paris to study at Fernand Cormon's studio. He stayed with his brother Theo in his apartment on Montmartre. During his period in Paris he painted scenes along the Seine and Montmartre, still life paintings, and portraits of friends. He also collected hundreds of Japanese prints and some were included in the background of some of his paintings. Other students at Cormon's studio included Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard, and Louis Anquetin.

Vincent and Theo became friends with Paul Gauguin in November 1887. Vincent stayed in Paris for two years and painted over 200 paintings there. In February 1888, he left Paris because he was worn out by the city.

Van Gogh travelled to Arles, in the south of France, arriving on 21 February 1888. He was inspired by the vibrant light and local landscape of Arles, as can be seen in paintings of this period. They have intense colors, especially mauve, yellow and ultramarine. Paintings of this period include Van Gogh's Chair (1888), The Night Cafe (1888), Bedroom In Arles (1888) and Still Life: Vase With Twelve Sunflowers (1888).

Vincent repeatedly asked Paul Gauguin to live and work with him at the Yellow House, in Arles. On 23 October 1888 Gauguin finally arrived. They started painting together but it was not long before their relationship deteriorated. They argued fiercely about art. On 23 December 1888, Vincent confronted Gauguin with a razor blade but then paniced and went to a local brothel. While there, he cut off his left ear, wrapped it in newspaper and gave it to a prostitute. Then he staggered home. Later on, Gauguin found him lying unconscious with his head covered in blood.

Van Gogh was in hospital for the next several days in a critical condition. Gauguin never saw Vincent again and left Arles. Vincent returned to the Yellow House but for the next month he was in and out of hospital because of hallucinations and delusions.

On 8 May 1889, Vincent entered the asylum at Saint Paul-de-Mausole, about 20 miles from Arles. The hospital is a former monastery and is surrounded by vineyards, olive trees and cornfields. In June 1889, he painted The Starry Night, one of his most well known paintings. During the year that he stayed at the asylum he painted many of his most compelling paintings.

In May 1890, Vincent moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, in the north western surburbs of Paris, to be treated by the physician Dr Paul Gachet. Gachet was also an amateur artist and had treated several other artists. Vincent painted some paintings of Gachet in June 1890. He painted about 70 oil paintings during his time at Auvers-sur-Oise.

Van Gogh's illness became worse and at times he was either unable or unwilling to paint. This was a source of much frustration for him because he was also an artist at the peak of his ability. On 27 July 1890, he walked into a field and got a revolver out, then shot himself in the chest. He managed to walk back to his rented accommodation but after 29 hours he died there (aged 37).

Robert Lynch is writing articles to attract visitors to his art web page.
Visit: www.artgallery.co.uk/artist/robert_lynch


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Michelangelo Dining at the Medici Palace

Every family has its troubles, and the Medici family was no exception. Michelangelo saw it on his first night at the dinner table, right after Lorenzo the Magnificent hobbled into the packed main dining room of the Medici Palace with his arm wrapped around Michelangelo's shoulder. Everyone stood and applauded, wanting to know who this new boy was - everyone except Lorenzo's 18-year-old eldest son Piero.

Piero de' Medici was one of those boys of privilege who was easy to hate, the kind of person who kicked dogs just to feel better about himself. A boy who loved to make people squirm as he ordered them about, knowing everyone had to treat him with respect no matter how nasty and arrogant he was.

When Lorenzo reached his seat at the middle of the table, he raised his hand and the room quickly fell silent. "I'd like to introduce you to Michelangelo, a promising young sculptor who will be living in our home from now on. I plan to raise him as if he were my own son."

Michelangelo was sweating under his new purple silk robe as he sat next to Lorenzo. The room was full of smart sounding people who told jokes in Latin. Sandro Botticelli, the famous painter, was there as was Marsilio Ficino, the Plato scholar, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, the author of Oration of the Dignity of Man, a veritable Bible of Humanism. Michelangelo had never seen so many beautiful people or so much food. The table was covered with plates of boar, venison, and peacock, and goblets of red Tuscan wine. He tried eating the meat but wasn't hungry with Piero studying his every move from across the table.

The first person who spoke to Michelangelo was Angelo Poliziano, teacher to the Medici children and also a famous poet who loved the sonnets and letters of Petrarch.

"So Michelangelo, I understand you studied under Senora Urbino for seven years. I'd be interested to know what he taught you about Petrarch's Secret Book."

Michelangelo shrugged his shoulders in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, but I don't know that book." He had read about Petrarch's love for Laura in the Canzoniere that was written in Italian but none of Latin works.

Piero de' Medici laughed at this response, then picked a piece of peacock meat from his teeth with his fingers. "That's because you're nothing but a peasant in a rich man's clothing. How could a mere commoner like you know anything about the Secret Book?"

Lorenzo pressed his palms firmly on the table and studied his eldest son. "That's enough, Piero. Since you are the expert, why don't you tell us what the Secret Book is supposed to mean."

"There is no secret to the book," said Piero. "Petrarch was just an old man who was troubled by love for a woman he could never have."

Lorenzo turned to his second son Giovanni, who at 15 was the same age as Michelangelo. Giovanni was a pleasant soul - an attractive, bookish, fair-haired boy who was preparing for a life in the church. He had already been named a cardinal two years before, and soon he would leave for Pisa to study theology and canon law. Eventually, 23 years later, Giovanni would be elected Pope Leo X. "And what do you think the Secretum is about, Giovanni?" said Lorenzo.

"I learned that greatness does not bring happiness," said Giovanni with his chin held high.

Not yet finished, Lorenzo turned to his adopted son Giulio, age 12, the illegitimate son of his murdered brother Giuliano. Giulio had lost not only his father but also his mother, which left him depressed throughout his life. And yet this Gloomy Gus proved capable enough to be elected Pope Clement VII ten years after his cousin Giovanni became pope. "And you, little Giulio. What do you think Petrarch's book is trying to say?"

"It taught me that love is the cause of all despair," said Giulio.

"Well, Michelangelo," said Lorenzo, turning to the newest member of his family. "Now you know what the secret book is all about."

Michelangelo looked puzzled. "All I know is no one seems to agree on what it means."

"You're wasting your time, father," Piero broke in. "He'll never figure it out. I'll bet he can't even read Latin."

The pain started in Lorenzo's gout riddled left big toe and shot up his spine to his shoulders. Everyone gasped as The Magnificent wreathed in pain. A servant ran to him with a glass full of crushed gemstones and he gobbled it down even though this never seemed to help.

"I'll tell you the secret, Michelangelo," said Poliziano in a raised voice trying to deflect the attention off Lorenzo. "The answer lies within you, just as it lies within each of us. But don't worry. I'll teach you how to find it."

Poliziano meant it. He was ready to teach Michelangelo Latin so he could read the Secret Book and other books about humanism. But just like Bertoldo, Poliziano knew he didn't have much time.

His friend Lorenzo was not a well man. The gout attacks were more frequent now, just like the ones Lorenzo's father suffered through...just before he died. And God help them all when they lost Lorenzo, for that would make Piero the Unfortunate the head of the Medici family and the first citizen of Florence.

David Clark's quest to solve the Sistine Chapel mystery started after his wife was killed shortly after they began a piece jigsaw puzzle of the ceiling. After five years of extensive research, he realized the ceiling is a brilliant diversion that hides a secret message by overwhelming the eye. Like a jigsaw puzzle it lures us to pull its hundreds of pieces together to make sense of the whole. However, its meaning cannot be found by putting the pieces together, but through finding the one piece Michelangelo left missing: the piece he lacks in his own life story.

Michelangelo's Puzzle will be told in 90 weekly pieces that when put together will reveal the meaning of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling on November 1, 2012, the 500th anniversary of the ceiling's dedication. Follow the story at http://sistinepuzzle.com/.


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Michelangelo's Fight in the Brancacci Chapel - Piece 22

Nothing fed Renaissance art like competition. Some of the greatest works of the period were created in head-to-head artist competitions. These were said to bring out the best in each artist, but sometimes they led to disastrous results instead.

It all started because Bertoldo di Giovanni dreamed of completing the last marble work of Donatello left unfinished after Donatello's death. The best way to get it done right, Bertoldo thought, would be to pit the two best young sculptors in the San Marco garden against each other.

Michelangelo and Pietro Torrigiano were already competitive. Until Michelangelo came to San Marco, Pietro had been the star. At 19, Pietro was three years older and far more experienced. But because of Michelangelo, Pietro wasn't Bertoldo's golden boy anymore - and he didn't like that. What's more, Michelangelo enjoyed teasing him about it.

Early one morning, Bertoldo took his two young sculptors to the cathedral work yard to show them his greatest unfulfilled dream - a seventeen-foot-long piece of white Carrara marble. Bertoldo's eyes watered when he saw what they called "The Giant" lying on its side, covered in weeds. Bertoldo still remembered the hopeful look in Donatello's eyes when he first saw that tall thin block of marble. It was the look of a man trying to recapture the greatness of youth.

This large hunk of marble was supposed to have been Donatello's swan song. At 75 Donatello was too old to work the stone, so he showed his assistant Agostino de Duccio how to reveal the prophet that lay buried inside the block of marble. But it was not to be, for Donatello died not long after the carving began, and finishing it proved way beyond the skill of Agostino. Ten years later, another Donatello protege by the name of Antonio Rossellino, tried to work the block, but he too was not good enough.

If Bertoldo had been a marble sculptor, he would have finished "The Giant" just as he had completed Donatello's unfinished bronze pieces. But Bertoldo couldn't carve the marble, nor did he know of any sculptors who had the talent or guts to try. He hoped that by telling the story to the two young sculptors, one of them would finish it someday.

Immediately, both Michelangelo and Pietro said they wanted to be the one to finish what Donatello had started.

Perhaps Bertoldo should have stopped there. But instead he led the boys south from the cathedral, crossing the Arno and heading for Santa Maria del Carmine. He must have felt there was one last way to illustrate the importance of his story, especially knowing that Michelangelo had one day dreamed of being a painter.

"Masaccio!" Michelangelo said as soon as he saw the fresco cycle in the Brancacci Chapel. He couldn't count the times he had sat on the floor of the nave of Santa Maria Novella drawing Masaccio's Holy Trinity. And now he was looking at his hero's greatest work, a commission Masaccio never finished, having died at the age of 27.

"Donatello used to tell me how badly his friend Masaccio wanted to finish this painting before he died," Bertoldo told the boys.

"So who finished it?" Michelangelo couldn't take his eyes off the work.

"Filippino Lippi. Just imagine what it must have been like for him to be able to finish what Masaccio began."

Michelangelo studied the brushstrokes Lippi had used to finish the scenes. "I could have done better than Lippi, in fact, as well as Masaccio." There wasn't an ounce of doubt in his voice.

It was all too much for his jealous rival.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" asked Pietro. "First you say you can carve as well as Donatello and now you think you can paint as well as Masaccio. Just look at this picture. There's no way you're that good."

"But I am that good; both in marble and paint. And you know it." Again Michelangelo's voice was certain.

"Sure," Pietro said. He towered over Michelangelo. "You'll never be that good."

"I will be, but you'll never be."

The frustrated Pietro shoved Michelangelo up against the wall.

"Don't touch me!"

"You're not that good," Pietro shouted. "You'll never be that good. You're nothing."

The older, bigger, and faster boy was first to land a punch. It hit Michelangelo square on the nose, cracking the cartilage and spurting blood over both of them. Michelangelo dropped to the floor, unconscious.

When Bertoldo carted Michelangelo back to the Medici Palace, Lorenzo the Magnificent flew into a rage. "I want that bastard Pietro sent away, exiled. I never want to see his face in Florence again!"

Piero Torrigiano fled to Rome where he became a soldier. He eventually found work as a sculptor in England. Finally he made his way to Spain where he was thrown into prison during the Inquisition for mutilating his own marble statue of the Virgin Mary. He killed himself before the authorities had the chance to torture him on the rack.

As for Michelangelo, he must have remembered his lost fight every time he saw his flattened nose in the mirror. And sadly, Bertoldo died shortly after the incident, never knowing whether anyone would ever complete Donatello's giant dream.

David Clark's quest to solve the Sistine Chapel mystery started after his wife was killed shortly after they began a piece jigsaw puzzle of the ceiling. After five years of extensive research, he realized the ceiling is a brilliant diversion that hides a secret message by overwhelming the eye. Like a jigsaw puzzle it lures us to pull its hundreds of pieces together to make sense of the whole. However, its meaning cannot be found by putting the pieces together, but through finding the one piece Michelangelo left missing: the piece he lacks in his own life story.

Michelangelo's Puzzle will be told in 90 weekly pieces that when put together will reveal the meaning of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling on November 1, 2012, the 500th anniversary of the ceiling's dedication. Follow the story at http://sistinepuzzle.com/.


View the original article here

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Michelangelo Beaten for His Dream

Michelangelo could have said nothing in response to Vasari's biography, and we would have never known that his father beat him for wanting to be a painter. Little has been made of the beatings in the countless books about Michelangelo, as if it was no big deal for a father to beat his son for not doing what he wanted. But given Michelangelo's need to set the record straight some sixty years later, it must have mattered greatly to him that the world know what happened to him.

This is the way I imagine it all went down.

To set the scene, it is the early spring of 1488. Michelangelo is 13, his father Lodovico 39. Perhaps Lodovico believes his own self worth depends on the success of his sons, and dreams of being a man of great means, of wearing fine clothes and holding his head high as he walked around Florence.

But the reality is he lives in a rented house on Via Bentaccordi, lacks the ability and gumption to work himself, and thinks less of tradesmen who make a living by getting their hands dirty.

Of course, that's all Michelangelo wants to do. He cares nothing of means, is never comfortable unless working with his hands, and dreams of being a great fresco painter. Although Michelangelo wants to please his father, he also wants to paint. And now that his friend Francesco Granacci has found a way for him to do that, he has to confront his father.

As Michelangelo makes his way through the streets on his way home he smells the tannins of the leather shops for which the Santa Croce quarter is known. He knows his father is waiting for him, having consumed a great deal of wine, as he always does on the days he skips school.

When Michelangelo gets home his father is seething at the door. "How many times have I told you not to skip school," Lodovico said smacking his son across the face with the back of his hand cutting Michelangelo's lip. "You'll go back to school and forget this silly dream of yours."

"No, father, I won't," Michelangelo said. "I'm quitting school."

"What did you say?" his father said raising his hand readying to strike again.

"I'm going to join Ghirlandaio's workshop and become an apprentice painter."

"Not in my lifetime you won't," said Lodovico delivering another blow to Michelangelo's jaw knocking him to the floor.

Michelangelo looks at a speck of mud on at his father's polished leather boot. Then he sits up, staring at his father.

"I have to paint," Michelangelo said. "That's all I want to do for the rest of my life."

"I don't care what you want," said Lodovico tugging down on his red satin robe. "You'll do as I say."

Michelangelo rises to his knees.

"But I can be a great painter if you let me try."

"You, a great painter?" Lodovico says laughing. " I've seen your drawings. You're not that good. As a matter of fact I think you're a dreadful artist."

"I believe I can be the best painter alive," Michelangelo said wanting to believe he can be.

"So you think you can be as good as Ghirlandaio, or Botticelli, or Leonardo da Vinci. You'll never be that good. You'll fail at painting just as you failed at school."

"You're wrong, father," Michelangelo said. "I can be that good."

"Look at you, begging on your knees, bleeding. You're a disgrace to me and your brothers. You're nothing. And you'll always be nothing. You'll never amount to anything."

Michelangelo slowly rises to his feet. "But I want to try," he said.

"And how are you going to do that, boy?" Lodovico said crossing his arms. "Do you think I'm going to pay Ghirlandaio to teach you after all of the money I've wasted on you already?"

This is the moment Michelangelo has been waiting for.

"You won't have to pay Ghirlandaio anything," he said. "He thinks I'm good enough to pay you, if you'll let me join his workshop."

Lodovico raises his right hand to his chin. "Pay me? How much is he willing to pay?"

How much of this is true? We know from Condivi that Lodovico Buonarroti beat his son for wanting to become a painter and from Vasari that he changed his mind and signed a three year contract with Domenico Ghirlandaio to teach Michelangelo how to paint. But we don't know how that happened.

Although the above scene is pure conjecture on my part, a confrontation like this makes sense to me. More importantly, I just can't believe a father would beat his son without saying something to dissuade him of his ways. What he said and how he said it we'll never know. But why wouldn't Lodovico plant the seeds of doubt, the fear of failure in his son, not wanting him to ever become a painter?

The beatings may have stopped when Michelangelo became an apprentice painter, but the real wounds may have been mental, not physical. Perhaps the greatest damage to Michelangelo's dream was done before he ever picked up a paint brush.

David Clark's quest to solve the Sistine Chapel mystery started after his wife was killed shortly after they began a piece jigsaw puzzle of the ceiling. After five years of extensive research, he realized the ceiling is a brilliant diversion that hides a secret message by overwhelming the eye. Like a jigsaw puzzle it lures us to pull its hundreds of pieces together to make sense of the whole. However, its meaning cannot be found by putting the pieces together, but through finding the one piece Michelangelo left missing: the piece he lacks in his own life story.

Michelangelo's Puzzle will be told in 90 weekly pieces that when put together will reveal the meaning of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling on November 1, 2012, the 500th anniversary of the ceiling's dedication. Follow the story at http://sistinepuzzle.com/.


View the original article here

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Lady of Shalott

Lady of Shalott was a stylish oil painting from British Pre-Raphaelite painter JW Waterhouse. This article discusses the Lady of Shalott painting in great detail and pays particular attention to it's symbolism as was common in the art movements of that period. JW Waterhouse himself was one of the major stars within 19th century British art and his reputation has remained strong up to the present day.

For this painting the artist took an existing poem and used certain extracts which talked of a female character who had decided to set sail by boat in desperation at the unrequited love which she held for Camelot. The sadness she was feeling at the time was represented by the three candles at the front of her boat, as two were out and this had great meaning at the time that Waterhouse painted Lady of Shalott in the mid 19th century.

Some believe this painting to be a combination of Pre-Raphaelite, with the desirable woman as main focus, and Neo-classicism which refers to the style of landscape around which the boat is surrounded. This art movement was around earlier than Waterhouse and it is certainly possible that it had some significant impact on at least part of his work. Waterhouse's career came towards the end of the span of the Pre-Raphaelites and as such his style took in much of what others had already achieved and then added considerably more thanks to his own creative mind and skilful techniques.

We can easily conclude that the Lady of Shalott painting is generally considered to be the most loved painting to have come from Waterhouse's career, at least within the British art public who have proclaimed it as a crucial piece within their homegrown Pre-Raphaelite art movement. Waterhouse was a master artist who created scenes of beauty based solely on the briefest of stories told by his favourite authors. The artist's ability to bring literature to life through his art has ensured his abilities have become well known right across Europe and in North America as well.

Lady of Shalott itself has gone on to become one of the most reproduced of all paintings from the 19th century and it is difficult to see interest in it reducing any time soon, what with art print reproductions becoming so affordable in recent years and also the greater frequency of Pre-Raphaelite exhibitions which helps to promote the best this art movement has to offer.


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Brain Injury and a Near Death Experience (NDE) Sparks Visions for an Artist

Many artists have been deterred from realizing their fullest potential. Multiple obstacles might stand in their way: poverty, illness, injury, lack of support from family and partners, isolation, and/or little or no recognition for their work. How do artists who have strayed from their paths get back on track and continue to pour passion, time and energy into work that sustains their spirit and beautifies the world?

For this particular artist, Heather Ifversen, a life threatening head injury, caused by a fall in the bathtub, forced her to closely examine her life and dramatically change it. Brain trauma and a near death experience (NDE) and her subsequent convalescence and recovery awakened her enough so she could begin to live an authentic life again.

Ifversen's story is extraordinary and deserves to be told. She has chosen to illustrate this experience through narrative paintings. These paintings detail a profound and magical vision of the cosmos, and energies within it, which constitute the web of life. Central to her story is her self, and an astounding evolution which occurred during a period of six months or so, when she was contacted by beings made of light. Ifversen is still uncertain if these beings were real or a creation of her mind. Yet she seemed to have an ongoing conversation with them that had the effect of infusing her life with a new energy and most importantly - a drive to continue to create art. In her visions, which occurred during her waking hours, she first begged these light beings to help her regain life and full consciousness so she could come back and mother her girls, Isabella (12) and Finn (7). Slowly, as her consciousness began to reconstruct itself, and her motor skills, speech and portions of her memory returned, the one thing she was able to do in her bedridden state was to draw and paint again. "I strapped a paintbrush to my hand," recalls Ifversen, "and I began to paint the visions I saw in my head."

As she returned to life, she also reclaimed her identity as an artist. Her life as an artist had been eclipsed and almost lost as a wife, mother, caregiver and social worker. Tenaciously, like someone possessed by energies beyond her control, she clung to this identity that had always been hers. For these light beings who revealed to her the complex web of energies that form a backdrop to our existence had given her one more chance to live - and she was not going to waste it.

The work which was completed while recovering from brain trauma includes a staggering 60 paintings - completed during Ifversen's six month recovery. This art documents the strange and magnificent powers that lie behind the central truths of our world. Some may be inclined to be skeptical of Ifversen's story, but many, including energy workers and neuropsychologists might just be delighted by her revelations.

Anyone who travels the magical planes, works in the realm of faery magic, studies the mysterious pathways of the brain, or deals directly with people who have had Near Death Experiences (NDE) knows when these energies appear to be at work. In the case of individuals experiencing a 'normal life' -- a finely cloaked exterior often keeps them hidden from view. Perhaps the ordinary person is too distracted, or consumed by other matters, to see them as clearly as Ifversen has. The light beings she describes in her paintings are real enough to be painted.

According to Ifveren and others who've had these types of experience, these light beings work behind the scenes of the everyday, mundane world. Ifversen was walking between this world and that one for an elongated period of time. Having lost her ability to speak, read, or write, she chose to paint this reality. Happily, she returned to her brush, canvas and palette and used what little strength she had then to record her journey.

Elizabeth Kirwin is the creator and founder of FairesInAmerica.com, a website that gives insight into the fairy culture of the United States, a branch of neo-paganism that is on the rise. Kirwin is a professional writer, performance artist and Organic SEO specialist. Visit http://www.fairiesinamerica.com/ or email info@fairiesinamerica.com.


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Raphael's Paintings

Raphael, original name Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, was the last crucial artist to have come from the High Renaissance and his paintings remain exceptionally respected across the western world. This article discusses the career of this great artist and underlines some of the best of Raphael's paintings.

Raphael followed on from Michelangelo in art history and went against the latter's use of new ideas, preferring a more sedate style which fitted it with what had gone before. Raphael's career stood out because of the technical brilliance with which he was able to follow these traditional ideas.

Italian art has long since been something of great passion for many right across the world who regularly visit the country in order to see some of the great original works at first hand. For Raphael to elevate himself into the top five or so artists to have come from this prolific period underlines his great qualities as an artist and also the significant legacy which his career left behind. For those unable to visit Italy, there are always reproduction prints available online which tend to cover his entire career. Raphael paintings are best suited to framed giclee art prints, with larger versions better recreating the great detail that his original oil paintings had in them. Whilst most modern art followers prefer Da Vinci and Michelangelo, there is still a significant interest in the paintings of Raphael.

Raphael produced large amounts of religious paintings as was common at that time but he also created many portraits too, including those of Elisabetta Gonzaga, Pope Julius II, Bindo Altoviti and Baldassare Castiglione. The artist became highly regarded in his short years and quickly received some highly prestigious commissions including those mentioned here. All of Italy's rich and famous right across this period would always want their own images to be captured by the best artists around at that time, and few were better known than Raphael who was born in Urbino but became heavily influenced by the artistic developments which occurred in Florence.

We can conclude that Raphael's paintings combined all of the academic teachings that had been built up over the different periods of the Renaissance movement which spread across the 15th and 16th centuries. Raphael has always divided opinion between those who accepted his work as technically perfect whilst others saw little or no imagination and were far more inspired by the achievements of Baroque painters who followed straight after.

You can find Raphael paintings at Raphaelpaintings.net.

There is also further discussion on Raphael paintings here.


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The Life Of Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali was born on 11 May 1904 at Figueras in Catalonia, Spain. Dali started going to drawing school and had his first public exhibition, in 1919, at the Municipal Theater in Figueras.

Dali's mother died of breast cancer, in February 1921, when he was sixteen years old. It was a great blow that he experienced in his life.

In 1922, Dali started to study at the School of Fine Arts, in Madrid. He started to experiment with Cubist painting and Dada. Just before his final exams, in 1926, he was expelled from the School of Fine Arts because he had said that no one on the faculty was competent enough to examine him. Also in 1926 Dali visited Paris for the first time and met Pablo Picasso. Over the next few years Dali made several works that were strongly influenced by Picasso and Joan Miro.

Dali officially joined the Surrealist group in 1929. Dali's work had been strongly influenced by surrealism for the past two years, and had developed his paranoiac-critical method which involves accessing the subconcious for greater artistic creativity. Dali also had some important exhibitions in 1929. In December 1929 Dali's father threw him out of the home after a big argument. In the summer of 1930 Dali and Gala (his future wife) rented a small fisherman's cabin at Port Lligat, not far from his original home. Later he bought the property and expanded it over the years.

One of Dali's best known works was painted in 1931, it is titled The Persistence of Memory and shows soft, melting pocket watches. The inspiration for the soft watches came from when he was eating ripe camembert cheese. The meaning of the painting is that the assumption that time is rigid is rejected.

In 1934 Dali and Gala got married. Also that year Dali had an exhibition in New York that was a great success. Later in 1934 Dali was expelled from the Surrealist group, and his answer to this was "I myself am surrealism."

Dali exhibited in the London International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936. He delivered a lecture while wearing a deep-sea diving suit and helmet, and had to have the helmet unscrewed while he struggled to breathe.

At this point in time Dali's main patron, in London, was Edward James who was very wealthy. He bought many of Dali's works and for two years supported him financially. Also they collaborated on the Lobster Telephone and the Mae West Lips Sofa. In 1937 Dali painted one of his most intense pictures titled The Metamorphosis of Narcissus. It is a classic work of Surrealism.

Dali met Sigmund Freud (who was an influence on Dali), in London, in 1938. In 1940, Dali and Gala moved to the United States and stayed there for eight years. During this period Dali practiced Catholicism. In 1942 Dali's autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvado Dali, was published. In 1944 Dali wrote a novel about a fashion salon for automobiles.

From 1949 onwards Dali spent his time in Catalonia, Spain. He did not restrict himself to just painting but also experimented with unusual and novel media. For example he was one of the first artists to use holography in an artistic way, and some of his works have optical illusions. The period after World War 2 Dali described as Nuclear Mysticism, as Dali became a more devout Catholic and was inspired by the atomic age. In this period his work shows technical virtuosity and an interest in religion, science and optical illusions. Good examples of paintings of this period include The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1968-1970) and La Gare de Perpignan (1965).

From 1960 to 1974 Dali mainly worked on the Dali Theatre and Museum in Figueras. Dali's health deteriorated in 1980. His nervous system had been damaged by being given a dangerous mixture of unprescribed drugs by his wife Gala. His hands trembled a lot.

In 1978 Dali was elected to the Beaux-Arts Academy. King Juan Carlos bestowed on Dali the title of Marquis of Dali de Pubol, in 1982.

On 10 June 1982 Gala died at their castle in Pubol. When Dali was 80, in 1983, he was severely burnt in a fire at his home. In November 1988 Dali went to hospital with heart failure, and on 23 January 1989 he died of heart failure at Figueras. He was 84 years old.

If you like the art of Salvador Dali, please check out the paintings of Robert Lynch.

Visit: http://www.artgallery.co.uk/artist/robert_lynch

I am writing articles to attract visitors to my art web page.
Visit: http://www.artgallery.co.uk/artist/robert_lynch


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Use Art Materials to Create a Masterpiece for Your Home

Choosing a painting which suits your home can be challenging so why not create your own using art supplies.

Before you get started on your painting you will first need to find inspiration from somewhere and the secret to success is working out what kind of art will fit in most with your interior design.

There are so many places to gain motivation for producing paintings such as art exhibitions, fairs and galleries where you can evaluate whether what you see will suit the rooms in your property.

It can be difficult to create a piece for a specific area so you must understand whether you are just producing a painting to fit the room or going to the lengths of making the room fit the art.

Surroundings are very important for paintings because placing art in the wrong type of environment will often detract from its intended impact and overall aesthetic beauty.

If you find that you have created art which clashes with the interior of your home, try placing it on different walls or hanging it in various locations because it might not just suit a particular room.

Sometimes a painting just does not fit a house and in these circumstances it might be wise to try and adapt a room to accommodate the art you have chosen to create if you definitely want to exhibit the piece in your home.

A great way to make art more accessible is by placing it on a neutral background so if you have patterned wallpaper then you might want to repaint the walls white as this will enhance the impact of the painting instead of drowning it out.

When you think of all the galleries you have visited, the one thing they will likely have in common is that they will each have white walls so its best to follow their example if your serious about showing off your paintings.

If you are experiencing problems placing your art, then you might need to change the lighting in a house as watercolour, pencil and pastel can fade when exposed to direct sunlight or ultraviolet light.

The best way to find out where art fits in your home is by experimenting, so do not be afraid to move furniture and fittings around in the quest to find the ultimate exhibition place in your property.

Ensure that you use the best possible art supplies to create your art as these materials will have the biggest outcome on the success of a painting.

Buy the best art materials and art supplies from Turnham Arts & Craft. Click on the links to discover what products we offer!


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How Modern Art Began

When people talk about 'Modern Art', they usually think of a type of art which has completely broken with the traditions of the past and tries to do things no artist would have dreamed of before.

Some like the idea of progress and believe that art, too, must keep in step with the times. Others prefer the slogan of 'the good old days', and think that modern art is all wrong. But we have seen that the situation is really much more complex, and that modern art no less than old art came into existence in response to certain definite problems.

Those who deplore the break in tradition would have to go back beyond the French Revolution of 1789, and few would think this possible. It was then, as we know, that artists had become self-conscious about styles, and had begun to experiment and to launch new movements which usually raised a new 'ism' as a battle-cry. Strangely enough, it was that branch of art which had suffered most from the general confusion of tongues that succeeded best in creating a new and lasting style; modern architecture was slow in coming, but its principles are now so firmly established that few would still want to challenge them seriously.

We remember how the gropings for a new style in building had ended with the architects cutting the Gordian knot, and throwing the whole idea of style overboard. At first it seemed as if the engineers would take over. For, if Morris had been right in thinking that the machine could never successfully emulate the work of human hands, the solution was obviously to find out what the machine could do and to regulate our designs accordingly. The architects of modem 'sky-scrapers' are engineering firms.

To some, this principle seemed to be an outrage against taste and decency. In doing away with all ornaments, the modern architects did, in fact, break with the tradition of many centuries. The whole system of fictitious 'orders', developed since the time of Brunelleschi, was swept aside and all the cobwebs of false mouldings, scrolls and pilasters brushed away.

When people first saw these houses they looked to them intolerably bare and naked. But after only a few years we have all become accustomed to their appearance and have learned to enjoy the clean outlines and simple forms of modem engineering styles. We owe this revolution in taste to a few pioneers whose first experiments in the use of modem building materials were often greeted with ridicule and hostility.

One of the experimental buildings which became a storm-centre of propaganda for and against modem architecture is the Bauhaus in Dessau, a school of architecture founded by the German Walter Gropius (born 1883) which was closed and abolished by the National Socialists. It was built to prove that art and engineering need not remain estranged from each other as they had been in the nineteenth century; that, on the contrary, each could benefit the other. The students at the school took part in the designing of buildings and fittings.

They were encouraged to use their imagination and to experiment boldly yet never to lose sight of the purpose which their design should serve. It was at this school that tubular steel chairs and similar furnishings of our daily use were first invented. The theories for which the Bauhaus stood are sometimes condensed in the slogan of 'functionalism ' - the belief that if something is only designed to fit its purpose we can let beauty look after itself.

There is certainly much truth in this belief. At any rate it has helped us to get rid of much unnecessary and tasteless knick-knackery with which the nineteenth-century ideas of Art had cluttered up our cities and our rooms.

But like all slogans it really rests on an oversimplification. Surely there are things which are functionally correct and yet rather ugly, or at least indifferent. The best works of modern architecture are beautiful not only because they happen to fit the function for which they are built, but because they were designed by men of tact and taste who knew how to make a building fit for its purpose and yet 'right' for the eye.

To discover these secret harmonies a great deal of trial and error is needed. Architects must be free to experiment with different proportions and different materials. Some of these experiments may lead them into a blind alley, but the experience gained need not be in vain for all that. No artist can always 'play safe', and nothing is more important than to recognize the role that even apparently extravagant or eccentric experiments have played in the development of new designs which we have now come to take almost for granted.

In architecture, the value of bold inventions and innovations is fairly widely recognized, but few people realize that the situation is similar in painting and sculpture. Many who have no use for what they call 'this ultra-modern stuff' would be surprised to learn how much of it has entered their lives already, and has helped to mould their taste and their preferences. Forms and colour-schemes which were developed some forty years ago by the 'maddest' of the ultra-modern rebels in painting have become the common stock-in-trade of commercial art; and when we meet them on posters, magazine covers or fabrics, they look quite normal to us. It might even be said that modern art has found a new function in serving as testing-ground for new ways of combining shapes and patterns.

But what should a painter experiment with and why can he not be content to sit down before nature and paint it to the best of his abilities? The answer seems to be that art has lost its bearings because artists have discovered that the simple demand that they should 'paint what they see' is self-contradictory.

This sounds like one of the paradoxes with which modern artists and critics like to tease the long-suffering public; but to those who have followed this book from the beginning it should not be difficult to understand. We remember how the primitive artist used to build up, say, a face out of simple forms rather than copy a real face; we have often looked back to the Egyptians and their method of representing in a picture all they knew rather than all they saw.

Greek and Roman art breathed life into these schematic forms; medieval art used them in turn for telling the sacred story, Chinese art for contemplation. Neither was urging the artist to 'paint what he saw'. This idea dawned only during the age of the Renaissance.

At first all seemed to go well. Scientific perspective, 'sfumato', Venetian colours, movement and expression, were added to the artist's means of representing the world around him; but every generation discovered that there were still unsuspected 'pockets of resistance', strongholds of conventions which made artists apply forms they had learned rather than paint what they really saw. The nineteenth-century rebels proposed to make a clean sweep of all these conventions; one after another was tackled, till the Impressionists proclaimed that their methods allowed them to render on the canvas the act of vision with 'scientific accuracy'.

The paintings that resulted from this theory were very fascinating works of art, but this should not blind us to the fact that the idea on which they were based was only half true. We have come to realize more and more, since those days, that we can never neatly separate what we see from what we know. A person who was born blind, and who gains eyesight later on, must learn to see.

With some self-discipline and self-observation we can all find out for ourselves that what we call seeing is invariably coloured and shaped by our knowledge (or belief) of what we see. This becomes clear enough whenever the two are at variance. It happens that we make mistakes in seeing. For example, we sometimes see a small object which is close to our eyes as if it were a big mountain on the horizon, or a fluttering paper as if it were a bird.

Once we know we have made a mistake, we can no longer see it as we did before. If we had to paint the objects concerned, we should have to use different shapes and colours to represent them before and after our discovery. In fact, as soon as we start to take a pencil and draw, the whole idea of surrendering passively to what is called our sense impressions becomes really an absurdity. If we look out of the window we can see the view in a thousand different ways. Which of them is our sense impression? But we must choose; we must start somewhere; we must build up some picture of the house across the road and of the trees in front of it. Do what we may, we shall always have to make a beginning with something like 'conventional' lines or forms. The 'Egyptian' in us can be suppressed, but he can never be quite defeated.

This, I think, is the difficulty which was dimly felt by the generation that wanted to follow and surpass the Impressionists, which underlies the search for new standards by artists of such uncompromising honesty as Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin, and which finally forced young artists to take up experimenting as a means of finding a way out of the impasse.

You can see that the attitude and beginnings of modern art have little to do with the creative process of current contemporary artists such as Doug Hyde.


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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Encaustic Adventure II - Bees Do It!

We owe the small, unassuming busy bee our gratitude for providing us with the wax we use in our Encaustic work. Although beehives produce a specific type of wax, in our work we enjoy a variety of waxes. They come in chunks or pastilles, cakes and granules, slabs and flakes.

Flakes are shaved from a slab; beads are produced by droplets hardened on a conveyor belt; granules are liquid wax sprayed onto an air-cooled tower and then congealed.

Their color varies from clear to white, bright yellow to dark brown. The beehive wax is at first clear but takes a golden hue with the bees' movements in the hive. Chemical bleaching oxidizes the wax and turns it white. However, this type of bleaching makes the wax brittle, which is not very favorable to artists. Another way of whitening the wax is by sun-bleaching it.

There are petroleum waxes, paraffin, microcrystalline and Encaustic medium (which is made up of damar resin and beeswax). This seems confusing at first but once we delve into their properties and uses you will realize that working with Encaustic is actually a matter of becoming familiar with the materials and choosing what attracts us the most.

Pure beeswax flows well when melted, mixes well with pigment and can be easily scraped or incised.

Paraffin is refined from petroleum. It is prone to cracking and, therefore, is not really recommended as a medium. I use paraffin to clean my Encaustic brushes while some artists use it in their Encaustic work (all waxes are compatible with each other).

Microcrystalline is also refined from petroleum and is close to natural wax. It is more plastic and slightly tackier than beeswax when used in Encaustic work. It can be soft and tacky or hard and brittle and depending on whether you paint thickly or thinly. I find that 2/3 beeswax to 1/3 microcrystalline helps me obtain more texture in my work.

Those who use microcrystalline on its own claim that there is less of a need to fuse between layers due to its tacky quality.

Encaustic medium hardens the wax, which makes it more resistant to nicks and scratches and easier to fuse (heat). The medium is a mix of damar resin and beeswax. You can buy it ready-made or make your own with a mixture of damar crystals and clear wax. Given the time-consuming nature of the do-it-yourself process - melting the crystals takes longer, then the mixture needs to be filtered through cheesecloth to remove the natural impurities - it is easier to purchase the ready-made product, which comes in bricks or small slabs.

Carnauba Wax is extracted from a palm tree that grows in northern Brazil. Its color is yellow to brown and thus leaves a yellow tone in the clear beeswax. If used in small amounts (about 4% of the clear wax) it will harden the wax.

Candelila is derived from a reedlike plant that grows wild in Texas and Mexico. Its color is light yellow to light brown. Due to its significant resin content it is hard and brittle. As with Carnauba, you can harden the wax by using around 4% of Candelila. This is also a lustrous wax.

Coloring the wax:

When I start a painting I prefer to use the clear wax (either pure or mixed with microcrystalline or medium). Once the basic layers are down, I start using the colored waxes. However, you can start your first layers with colored wax too.

I color my wax with oil paints. The amount I use will determine the transparency or opaqueness of the wax. Bear in mind, though, that some colors are basically transparent and will always be less opaque than those that are naturally opaque. I am talking about colors such as Alisarin Crimson, Phtalo Green, French Ultramarine Blue, etc. An opaque color would be Ochre, Zinc White, Cadmium Red, among many others. Some artists lay the needed oil paint on paper towels for a few hours to draw out the excess oil before mixing them with the wax.

You can also use powder pigments instead of oil paints off the tubes. When using the powder you may want to use a mask in order to prevent breathing the pigments in. Dispersion pigments (milled powder plus linseed oil) will also mix well with the wax.

Commercial Encaustic paint is made of beeswax, damar resin and pigment and is very vibrant. There is an incredible variety of these colors, and they come in discs, bricks or tins. If you purchase the brick or discs, you will want to break them into smaller pieces to mix with the wax. I find it more economical to use the oil paints or powder pigments but purchase those colors that cannot be obtained with the latter: a stronger yellow, a more vibrant orange, a tingling red, etc.

If you purchase the tins, you may place them as is on your griddle. The discs can then be replaced separately and you re-use the tin. If you paint big, the size of the discs may not give you the needed amount of paint before you need to add or replace the color.

You will need a griddle or an anodized aluminum palette to melt you waxes. Those who use the latter will usually melt the commercial color on it, as needed. The disadvantage I found in this method is that you can only melt so much of the needed color and if you paint big, the amount you can mix may not be enough and you'll have to keep melting that color until satisfied with the quantity; you may not be able to prevent other colors on the palette from slightly (or more than slightly) mixing with each other; you will have to keep cleaning the palette when using different colors.

When using a griddle I use cut soda cans for the waxes. Each color is then completely separate and I have enough for different size supports. When needed, I add clear wax to that can and keep going.

You can also use other containers, depending on how much wax you will want to have available. Smaller quantities of wax will fit into muffin trays or tuna cans.

As you can see, once you decide to plunge into this fascinating, addictive medium, there are a few details that need to be mastered. Learning new ways of using Encaustic will keep your neurons healthy and young for many, many years to come!

If you would like to see 21 free videos that answer questions regarding Encaustic, visit http://belafidelfineart.com/

Bela Fidel is an artist and teacher in Encaustic and oils. Her work has been collected both nationally and internationally.
To learn more about Bela visit http://belafidelfineart.com/


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Portrait Painting Artists Sketch Faces

The first and most important step in portrait painting is to draw many sketches until you feel the sitter's personality is captured. The personality may be completely captured by your judgment call or reviewed by the sitter and both of you settle on an agreed decision. Use a live model to pose for you. This is portrait sketching at its best. A photo may substitute should you not be able to get anyone to pose.

The purpose of sketching faces is to outline general features; then detail and refine. I had a personal experience which taught me a lesson. Before completing your portrait painting check with your client to be sure the sitter is in agreement.

Why?

I had described exactly how I wanted my portrait to be done and I asked the portrait painting artist if she could do it. If it was not within her talent range to give me what I wanted, do not take the job. She said she could it. We agreed to 50% down and 50% on completion.

She completed the portrait. I was very disappointed as she did not fulfill my requirements. I refused to pay the balance of the agreed amount. I was very angry. I lost my money, but more importantly the portrait never got done.

Till today, I truly feel that if the artist had me review her work as she progressed with the portrait we would have both been very happy. She would have had her money, I would have had my portrait, and I would have done much advertising for her.

Artists may have their tempers, but the paying customer has their rights to the best product that an artist can produce. Artists like any other business person needs to give good customer service.

Thank you for listening to me. Let's go back to being a portrait artist.

Let us take a moment to reflect and think. It was not uncommon years ago for a person to be painted surrounded by those effects which defined the individual. For instance, if the person was a hunter, there would be dogs nearby. If the person enjoyed gardening, he or she would be surrounded by their flowers.

A decision needs to be made if there is to be a background or not for the person you are sketching for a portrait.

This should be an easy decision:
A significant background symbol representing their interestsWearing apparel which identifies the personA piece of jewelry which marks their identityAn emblem or medals signifying their accomplishmentsBirthmarks or tattoos

The personality of the sitter needs to be captured on canvas with or without a significant symbol. If using symbols, do not let them take away from the sitter. The person is the focus point on the canvas.

After making portrait sketches consider where light and shadow will be noted in the portrait. Light and shadow are critical for emphasizing or de-emphasizing facial lines and expressions.

What size will you be drawing and painting? A standard rule says the subject should be 2/3 of the canvas.

Mixing flesh tones:

The complexion of the human face has many colors. Experiment with pigments to get different shades of flesh tones.

When I do get what I consider the 'correct' shade I make extra and store appropriately or write the formula in a notebook so it may be mixed again when needed. It is not necessary to purchase flesh tinted paint.

It will take time and practice to become a good portrait artist, but it can be done. Find yourself a mentor who will be a great help to you. Learn all that you can from that person but at the same time your experiments and personal experiences will lend towards original works.

For more information to improve your portrait painting artist skills visit the hobbies section at http://www.Infotrish.com and review Portrait Painting with Acrylic & Oil Paint.

Tricia Deed, writer for http://www.infotrish.com/ brings you through internet marketing hobbies for your leisure, recreation, and business opportunities. I invite you to visit my web pages to review the various hobby companies. Do take advantage of their free giveaways.


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Drawing With Charcoal, the Oldest Medium in the World

When you hold a piece of charcoal between your fingers you are doing exactly the same as the mysterious people, or even person, who created the works of art in Chauvet's cave, southern France. The cave paintings depict all kinds of animals hunted at the time in a fabulous three dimensional detail which would subsequently vanish from art until the renaissance as much as twenty thousand years later!

In this article I will not discuss the mystery of Chauvet's cave, it's purpose is to give beginners a guide to charcoal as an artist's medium. The best charcoal is usually willow, it is made by heating the wood in a kiln, when the wood starts to burn the amount of oxygen supplied is reduced by covering the wood with sand, it is a delicate process that is much dependant on mother nature being kind with the right weather conditions. When you hold charcoal it has a slippery feel, you will find that it will break easily into smaller shards and when you work with charcoal I recommend that you break pieces up so you have a variety of chunks, some thin and pointed, others stubby with flat sides.

Work on good thick, cold pressed, medium to heavy textured paper. The paper will need to absorb the charcoal, hence the requirement for a rough surface. Now you are ready to draw. With charcoal you are looking for the source of light on your subject. This is the paper your charcoal will never touch. It is the most important element of any charcoal drawing and provides the strange glow that no photograph could ever reproduce. Work around the light. I personally start with fine lines to contain shapes and then shade these in. As your work progresses let the lines become less evident, on portrait work charcoal is an excellent medium for capturing the texture of skin. A lot of work can be done with your finger tips. For example draw a heavy line and then see what effects can be obtained with your fingers. You can smudge the line one way only, thus keeping a sharp edge with the other side fading into the light, or you can gently smudge both sides, this give the effect of a recess where the light cannot reach. You can dab at the line with your fingertips. This will give a dappled undulating effect. Always remember, as you work, the effect of the light on your subject.

You will find that charcoal is a forgiving medium. If you are not happy with an area of work it can be almost completely erased using a normal rubber eraser. I say almost because you should always try to keep the pure white areas completely untouched. When working fine detail of tone I recommend a blob of blu tack. This can be used as a very fine point eraser. You can for example highlight the light reflection in an eye just by gently dabbing with a pointed blob of blu tack on an area you have shaded. If you wish to show reflected light on skin then very gently sweeping a larger piece of blu tack over the area will achieve the desired effect by gently lightening an area.

Finally you should alway fix your work. Fixatives can be bought from any art supplier. It is basically an aerosol can which you use to spray a thin layer of fixative over your work. This gives a fairly good resistance to smudging or loss of tone. Fixing does not stop you working on your picture but it will make you have to work a bit harder with the eraser!

As an artist there is so much to learn. I do not think you can learn about light and dark with any other medium better than charcoal. It is also good to know of the very ancient footsteps you will be following with your burnt willow stick.

Mark Robb is a practising artist based in Haworth. If you have enjoyed the article above then he invites you to browse the website http://firstforart.com/ where you will find all kinds of art materials, art prints and further advice and tips to help you become a better artist


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