Category Archives for "archived"

0 Artists Showcase Plein Air Skills

Plein air painting defines any painting that takes place in the great outdoors. While many artists take digital photographs of vistas or beautiful surroundings so they can use the photo to work off of in their studio at a later time, plein air painters capture beautiful scenery on site using a variety of mediums.

Such painting takes dedication and a keen eye for beauty. Karen LeMonnier, one artist who took part in the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens Paint Out, sat down near a lone blooming hibiscus. She was drawn by the bright red color of the blossom among the more muted shades of earth tones. During the event, she produced one oil paintings with a bright red detail of the hibiscus flower.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20130914/ARTICLES/130919751/1109/sports?Title=Local-artists-savor-plein-air-painting

Plein air painters brave the sun, heat, insect pests, and more every time they look to paint. It is a challenging genre of art since the artists must create their work outside the controlled environment of a studio or gallery.

Likewise, painting is usually viewed as an individual pursuit, said Tim Malles, an artist who organized the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens Paint Out. However, Impressionistic painters painted together and created a community of painters.

Explore a wide variety of painting classes today. Interested artists and those just beginning to be interested in art can take such classes as watercolor painting, acrylic painting, oil painting, and more. Projects can be centered around students’ interests.

0 Woman Pursues Dream of Sewing for a Living

After she graduated from high school, Stewart wanted to enter fashion school. She loved sewing and had always had a knack at it, sitting at a sewing machine ever since she was a little girl.

Instead, life interfered. She put sewing on the backburner, always keeping it as a hobby, as she became a fitter and turner. From there, she owned an ice cream shop, dabbled in the advertising industry, and worked as a dry cleaner.

http://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/suzan-finds-sew-much-pleasure/2058590/

It wasn’t until three years ago that Stewart switched gears, looking to open up a business devoted solely to sewing — her favorite thing to do. Her new shop, I Sew, was such a success that she had to move into a bigger facility and hire workers just a year and a half after opening.

Now, she thrives while taking orders for projects that she and her fellow employees work on. She warns that it’s not an overnight process — everyone takes pride in their work and wants to do a good job. I Sew also offers sewing classes for anyone interested in the craft.

Sewing is a useful and artistic pursuit that could become a lucrative undertaking for those with the proper skills and training. Take a sewing class today to boost your knowledge of the craft. Classes can be tailored to suit specific techniques of the students and can range from beginning skills to more advanced projects

0 Exhibit Touts Precedence of Chinese Landscape Painting

The “Masterpieces of Chinese Painting” exhibit at V&A in London shows the fruits of Chinese artists’ labors, some of them created centuries before the “first” western landscape painting, created in 1473.

The Chinese pioneered landscape painting as a fine art form, using sweeping lines and dreamy colors to meditate on the world that surrounded them. In fact, the artists used such painting practices as a form of Buddhism, finding peace and harmony on the outside to reflect the peace and harmony they cultivated within. Even looking at such paintings is supposed to inspire inner meditation.

Da Vinci’s landscape painting is one of several from western artists that “appear” to be Chinese in technique and subject matter, the curator of the V&A exhibit agrees. Whether da Vinci “stole” the look from paintings he might have seen from the Silk Road is another matter entirely.

Today, many people paint outdoors with watercolors, using the artistic time to relax and appreciate the sights around them. This reflects on the Chinese practice of landscape painting, still beautiful and impressive to audiences today.

Sign up today for a class on watercolor painting to help you find inner peace. Even if you’ve never painted before, watercolor painting is an excellent way to discover and develop an artistic knack you never knew you had.

0 Sewing Groups Use Skills for Good Cause

The groups came together to make peace quilts, which addressed issues pertinent to the regions each group represented.

In addition to the peace quilts, the Respect event featured speakers about building peace around the region and world.

The groups’ peace quilts were symbolic of a larger effort for everyone to come together from across the world to push for peace. Just as every stitch makes a quilt, one speaker said, every effort to come together will eventually bring the right combination of people and resources together to inspire peace. A common theme was that if everyone just does a little bit — such as supplying a bit of fabric or performing a few stitches to unite two pieces together — eventually, a larger tapestry and better world view will be created.

http://www.newtownabbeytoday.co.uk/news/your-community/chatterbox/sewing-groups-promote-peace-1-5591610

Each one of the peace quilts displayed symbols and colors that were typical to the region that each group hailed from. They will continue to be displayed at subsequent peace and rally events.

Sewing can take on all shapes and forms and community activism is no different. Enroll today in a class on sewing to explore all the incarnations the craft can take on. Students will be able to set their own agendas as a part of the course, meaning that they can influence everything from what they learn to which projects they complete. This can include quilting, fine art projects, clothing alterations, and more.

0 Museum Hosts Day of the Dead Art Exhibit

The Day of the Dead is marked differently in different cultures. In Mexico, where artist Fulgencio Lazo is originally from, it is viewed as a celebration to commemorate the lives of deceased loved ones.

Lazo and a group of artists worked together to make an enormous sand painting to mark the Day of the Dead. Using techniques he learned in his hometown of Oaxaca, Lazo is making a painting that stretches across the museum’s lobby floor. It is covered in brightly colored sand, painstakingly laid using sifters, stencils and by simply sprinkling the grains over the intended pattern.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/10/20/2848262/tacoma-art-museum-altars-sand.html

Lazo says that he enjoys spreading his culture along with his sand paintings. Many people have a hard time understanding why the Day of the Dead is so festive in Mexico, but the art helps to explain it.

Displayed along with the sand painting are altars made by local students and groups to honor the deceased. These altars include photos of those who have passed away beside things that the person liked, such as flowers, foods, and pastimes.

Sign up today for a class on assemblage art to better understand all the interesting forms art can take on. For example, artwork doesn’t always have to be represented in paint. The display at the Tacoma Art Museum proves that it can be in any medium. Classes can be easily tailored to explore special areas of interest to the students.

0 Tattoo Artist Expands Work to Canvases

Green explained that more tattoo shops have opened up in her town, meaning there’s less business for her. That doesn’t bother her, though, because she’s taken up painting.

She has never had formal training in art besides a few classes in high school in the 1970s. Green has been tattooing for more than 40 years. Though she draws some of her inspiration for her acrylic paintings from tattoo designs, most of her new artwork is a departure from the usual tattoo themes.

http://qctimes.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/visual/body-of-work-artist-adds-canvas-to-skin/article_dcbbf586-6723-5318-abcf-d5eaea9ada66.html

Green also likes to stretch out, painting on some canvases as large as 5 feet long. Tattoos are required to be art on a much smaller scale. Green has found freedom in painting large, colorful paintings depicting everything from African scenes to paper airplanes flying in various formations to gears. She never likes doing the same thing twice, forcing herself to move quickly out of her comfort zone.

On the African pieces, for example, Green did research before painting them, learning new things. They now hang on the walls of a nearby hair salon.

Get out of your own comfort zone by signing up for a class on acrylic painting. Lessons are available for all different schedules, accommodating your busy life. Acrylic painting is one of the easiest ways to get hooked on art. Teachers will go over such basics as color theory and mixing for beginners. More advanced students have the ability to decide on what they want to focus on.

0 Watercolor Painter Inspires Those Around Her

McClung suffered from a stroke not too long ago, forcing her to put up her paintbrush while taking time to recover. During the therapy process, she found happiness in abstract art, including using her bare hands to push plaster over boards.

McClung discovered that it was the very act of art that brought her joy, not just painting beautiful things. She mused that the act of creation brought artists closer to spirituality.

http://cedarrepublican.com/living_better/water-color-artist-uses-talents-to-inspire-friends-neighbors/article_ee688f47-3879-5d0e-bcba-1352da5bb127.html

Doing the abstract art during her stroke recovery made McClung realize that she wanted to do new things. She started offering art classes for her neighbors, feeling that her fellow residents in an independent living facility needed a healthy hobby to cheer them up. Her efforts have produced hundreds of artwork, brightening walls in her home as well as others.

Members of an art collective that McClung belongs to donate time and supplies to her classes, eager to impart artistic happiness to everyone. McClung starts slowly with her new students, talking about the color wheel and other basic topics. Then, she lets creativity take charge.

Enroll today in a class on watercolor painting. Experienced instructors will offer tips and techniques on different effects that can be achieved by using watercolor. Creating with the medium can be inexpensive and simple, making it a great option for those just delving into the art world.

0 Artist Helps Homeowners with Faux Finishes

Beck started making art when a homeowner asked her to try to cover a stain on the stucco exterior of the house. The homeowner wasn’t picky about Beck matching the exact color and finish of the stucco. He just didn’t want to look at the stain anymore. He had already hired Beck to paint other areas in his house, creating faux finishes throughout each room.

Beck had a degree in art and agreed to paint the homeowner’s favorite flower — a bird of paradise — to cover the stain.

That was where it all started. Over time, she covered the entire back of the house in a bright mural that featured exotic plants and animals and tropical scenes. It worked perfectly with the homeowner’s outdoor patio and pool area.

http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/spring/news/article/Spring-homeowners-can-go-faux-with-artist-s-help-4879361.php

Beck is passionate about talking to her clients and finding out what types of murals or decorative paintings will work best in their homes based on their interests.

She first got interested in faux finishes by redoing a wall in her own home. After three times, she reveled in her success and bought books to further her experience.

Murals can be anything from a large street piece to brighten a blighted neighborhood to a personally painted artwork for private homeowners. Enroll today in a class on mural paintings today to explore this rewarding and potentially lucrative art form. Decorative painting classes are also available for those wishing to spruce up their homes or improve others.

0 Community Activists Re-Imagine Picasso Painting

The sew-in, sponsored by Salford’s Working Class Movement Library, will host artists and activists alike. All will work together with needles and thread to create a sewn version of artist Pablo Picasso’s famous “Guernica” painting, a work of art done in protest of fascism.

The activists in this project are responding to threats of a march by a pro-fascism group. To protest this march, many people with varying degrees of sewing experience and ability are joining together to make the artwork.

Organizers say no experience is necessary to take part, and share that they have accepted many men who are interested in learning the craft, as well as participants who reflect fondly on sewing with their relatives.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e696-Guernica-resewn#.UlcPeShAtUQ

Many activists in the group enjoy using their sewing talents to create meaningful artwork. They protest a variety of different causes and situations ranging from the possible fascist march to the U.S. prison in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay. Sewing isn’t a prerequisite for making protest art. Having a passion about a cause is the most important thing — the skills will follow.

Interested in sewing but never had the time to learn? Take a minute to enroll in a sewing class. Instruction can be tailored around your schedule and focus on the specific techniques you’d like to learn. This can range from learning to thread a needle to stitch by hand to learning how to thread a sewing machine.

0 Painter Looks to Move Viewers

That’s why it doesn’t bother her if the photographs she takes of landscapes around her community don’t look exactly like the end product if she chooses to paint them.

Hubbard uses the photographs less as a blueprint of a painting and more of a bit of inspiration. For example, one photograph documents a pasture in the light of day, capturing a horse grazing and a tree standing tall out in the field. Hubbard did derive a painting from it, but she transformed the landscape to a night view, eliminated the horse, and changed the tree to a different type. The photograph elicited a normal, ordinary feeling. The painting, on the other hand, inspired a magical feeling, one of mystery and soothing calm.

It’s not important to Hubbard that she paints her artwork true to the photograph. She focuses more on taking the image to the next level, working to make her canvas express emotions that pull the viewers in more than they perhaps would have with the original image. Hubbard uses oil paints as her primary medium.

Interested in taking your oil paintings to the next level? Take a class on oil painting today to learn the techniques that will bring emotion and feelings to your work. Classes can be built around the skills you want to learn, like how to compose the artwork on your canvas to convey whichever emotion you’d like.

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1343097774/Morton-painter-attempts-to-stir-souls-with-her-painting