Self Portraits by Women Artists

The above painting was also spotted at the Getty and I figured it's time I did another artists self portrait feature this time concentrating on women artists.

Sculptures at Getty Museum

Browsing through the grounds of the J. Paul Getty museum, I like the juxtaposition of the dark bronze of the sculptures set against the beige white architecture of the building.

Peasant Woman

Another one of my favorites at the Getty. I suggest you click on the image to see it in full detail. I have not had time to look up the artist, but the skin tones on this painting are superb!

Art Supplies as Design Statements

I always get a kick out of creative ideas that make use of tools in unconventional ways. These color pencil flip flops for example are such an example. Who would have thought that pencils could make a fashion statement?

I also like the use of these plain jars all lined up in a row on a shelve. Simple, functional and nice to look at.

Photos via Lauren Milroy

Corregio

The Christ painting is by Correggio. Born Antonio Allegri, Correggio was named after the town of his birth. His ability to manipulate light and shade to create luminous atmospheric effects resulted in some of the most sumptuous religious paintings of the Italian Renaissance. Giorgio Vasari, a sixteenth-century biographer of artists, wrote, "everything that is to be seen by his hand is admired as something divine." Correggio was profoundly influenced by the style and technique used by the painter Andrea Mantegna.

By the age of twenty-nine, Correggio was probably working in Parma, the center of his greatest activity. The frescoes he painted in the dome of the cathedral there served as a model of dome decorations long after his death. Correggio inspired future generations of artists as diverse as the Carracci family, Rubens, and Boucher.

Source: Getty Museum

Francesco Salviati

The painter Francesco de' Rossi was the son of a weaver in Florence. At an early age, he chose to pursue his interest in drawing and painting instead of following his father's profession. His first major commission came at age twenty-one from Cardinal Giovanni Salviati, whose name he adopted. At age fourteen, Francesco Salviati trained with one of the leading sculptors in Florence. Five years later, he entered the workshop of his friend Giorgio Vasari, a painter and biographer of artists.

Salviati specialized in elaborate paintings that were typically Mannerist in their depiction of closely packed figures in spirited but physically impossible poses. This style earned him great fame even in France, where he worked for a year. Salviati also made designs for tapestries. His portraits remain notable for their direct characterization of the sitter and richness of color.

The chest (one of two) is by the sculptor Antonia Maffei (Italian). He was born into a family of sculptors and wood carvers and soon became the family's most famous representative. He was particularly known for his work in various churches, including chandeliers and altar gates. In 1590 he designed the choir stalls for the church of San Fortunato, Todi, including forty-eight seats richly carved with animals, flowers, statuettes, and foliage. Maffei's carving was particularly known for its deeply cut scrolling foliage, pronounced architectural motifs, and elegant grotesques.

Source: Getty Museum

A portrait of me by Graham Hanks

This is an oil painting of me by an artist friend named Graham Hanks who lives in the UK. I have to say this is the first portrait that anyone has ever done of me and it is a thrill to see how another person sees you and captures you on canvas. Graham also knows that I love Orientalist art and he has chosen and Eastern background as the backdrop. Then he took it even a step further by giving me Egyptian jewelery which has gold leaf applied to it. I LOVE IT!!!

To read more about him and his work visit Greywolf Art

Properties of Light

When painting a face think of the topography rather than the individual features. Ask what areas are protruding or receding and select your values and color accordingly. For example:

-deep set eyes - use deeper values
-prominent nose - use a deep shadow value
-focus on light side of face - lower value on lower part of face

Squint and distinguish light from shadow. For the light to look crisp and luminous, the shadow must be vague but still interesting. Use warm, dark colors. Warm tones suggest shadowy depth. Cool tones suggest light.
Reflected light

Reflected light adds that extra 'umph' to a painting. If you look at these grapes for example you will you will notice that near the 'underside' of the grapes they become lighter. This is because light bounces off the table and hits the 'underside' of the grapes. Light can reflect off a person's garment making the underside of the chin appear lighter and often even taking on a colour similar to that of the shirt. The hue of the reflected light depends on hue of the surface from which it is reflecting.



Half Tones

The area where light and shadow meet are the half tones. These are areas too dark to belong to the light and too light to belong to the darks. To avoid half tones that are too dull in color, rather than blending the light and dark area let it dry first. Then once dry introduce a third color that is a value in between the light and dark. This will maintain saturation in your half tones.

St. Matthew by Carlo Dolci

Great books to read:
Everything you ever wanted to know about oil painting by Marian E. Appellof

Andalusian Beauty

June 3 Update:
It's been a while so I figured I post another update on the horse painting. For this painting I used Flake White, Ivory Black, French Ultramarine Blue and a touch of Thalo Gree. Thalo Green alone is a very fugitive color, but mixed in with other colors in the background it adds just the right hue to complement the dark mane of the horse.


I have started a new painting for the Shea Therapeutic Riding Center's auction, which will take place in June. This center helps people with disabilities by offering them supervised riding classes that are geared to help address the various health problems they might have.

Since visitors to the center are all horse lovers, I wanted a pretty horse that might fit into any room and have chosen a photo by Tenebra Eluce of an Andalusian horse.

There will be some departures from the original photo as you can already see in the under painting.

The benefits of being an Artist

Well, it seems I am doing a lot of thing wrong these days. Thanks to Carolee Clark who shared this funny video on FB I now will have to forget blogging at 6am in the morning, painting from 9 am through 6pm Mon-Sun and really stop socializing. No wonder I am exhausted, Iam doing it all wrong!!!

Gallery Display Know How

When I was up at the Artists Alley Gallery for my show last week, I had some time to kill and walked around looking at the other artists work. There were several things that caught my attention as to what makes a strong statement and visually more appealing display set up.

Here are some things to think about:

1. Invest in good frames - cheap frames do nothing for your work! A good looking frame can enhance the colors within your painting and make the painting pop. A cheap frame on the other hand states that the artist does not care. If you can't invest in a better quality frame, you might better of using gallery wrap canvas that is nicely finished off on all sides.

2. Uniform frames - The walls that had artwork displayed in one style of frame and color looked much better than those that were a mix of designs and hues.

3. Group sizing - Hanging artwork in frames that are different sizes can become quiet a challenge. Small artwork should hang together and separate from very large pieces, unless you have enough work to create a cohesive looking set up.

4. Less is more. Edit - not every piece you have painted should hang on the wall. Select your strongest pieces only!

5. Make sure that the gallery provides you with tags that list the title, dimensions, medium and price of the piece. If you have a mix of giclées and original work, it should be noted on each label as well.

6. Have a theme going. There are those artists who dabble in about everything. Their subject matter ranges from landscape paintings to still life to portraits. It is better to exhibit by a theme. Similar colors, similar subject matter all send a message about your style and what type of painting you specialize in.

7. Artist Bio - some artist have a short bio nicely framed others have a portfolio for guests to browse through. In a gallery where everyone's work is begging for attention, you want to keep a visitor's interest peeked as long as possible so once they leave, they are still able to remember your work.

8. I like to have my business cards available where my work is on display for reasons mentioned in #7

9. Invest in top quality paints and painting supports and be immaculate about how you finish each piece off. Presentation is everything and no one wants to pay a high price for damaged or inferior looking goods.

So how did I fare you ask? Not so well. I was given more space this time around and had a hard time making it look cohesive. But the good news is that I finally know what to do and how to go about it. Next time you will see a top notch set up by yours truly! :)

Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema

A Coign of Vantage

The Finding of Moses

The Women of Amphissa

Life Imitates Art

Via English Russia

Any major city that attracts enough tourists, also plays host to a number of creative individuals who earn a little extra cash by posing as statues. Through my travels I have seen these street performers become very skilled at imitating art.

I remember when it started with the clad in silver or gold, break dancing or scaring passers by was the thing to do.

It is so nice to see that others have adopted the more "Life imitates Art" approach. Now the statues move slowly or just follow you with their gaze, inviting you to step closer for an inspection to verify if you have crossed the border to Looney land or really saw the statue move.

Via Cool Picture Gallery

Some become part of an installation.

©Samer

and others look like they should always been there...

Even the pigeons can't tell the real ones from the fake statues!

©Rob Gale

If you have ever had to hold still for a long period of time, you will understand the discipline it takes to pull this off convincingly. It as just as hard to imitate art than it is to imitate life!

Rebirth of Old Crayons

All Images Courtesy of Home grown Love

My children have grown up and moved out, but I still have tons of art supplies lying around the house, which they used when they were little. Among them tons of crayons!



What does one do with a whole bag of old, unwanted, crayons, many of them broken, yet perfectly usable? You recycle them of course! A mom at Home grown Love had the perfect solution to make toddler sized crayons! I just love the way they look!

Placing several of these puck size crayons in a little goodies bag, would also make great gifts to hand out to little ones that come to visit. I might even pass these out in goddies bags as an alternative to Halloween candy!

You’ll need:

• Crayons broken into small sizes(make sure to peel off the wrappers!)
  
• Muffin pan or candy molds (preferably one that you don’t mind getting a little crayon on! Also, some prefer mini muffin tins)
• An oven
  

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees F.

2. Break them into small pieces... & arrange them in each cup of the tin.

3. Bake until crayons are melted together

4. Turn off the stove and let crayons cool & congeal completely before moving the pan!

World Refugee Day June 20th

I just received my invitation from USA for UNHCR in the mail, booked my flight and hotel and am super excited about being part of such a special event. It also reminded me to share with my readers some information about the World Refugee Day and why it is important that we do not forget those les fortunate than us.

Afghan returnee children can now study after dark thanks to electricity generated by micro hydro projects. UNHCR/R.Arnold/September 2008

The United Nations General Assembly designated June 20 as World Refugee Day to recognize and celebrate the contribution of refugees throughout the world. Since then, World Refugee Day has become an annual commemoration marked by a variety of events in over a hundred countries.

This year’s World Refugee Day theme is “Real People, Real Needs”. Despite the efforts of many, the needs of refugees worldwide are far from being met. Behind the unmet needs are not just numbers but real people with real stories.

Events

From June 18-20 the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) will commemorate World Refugee Day for the ninth consecutive year in Washington, DC, in order to draw the public’s attention to the millions of refugees world-wide who are forced to flee their homes. We are again partnering with well-respected institutions to broaden our outreach and encourage even greater public participation in the celebration of World Refugee Day. Together with the National Geographic Museum and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Millennium Stage, UNHCR will sponsor events to highlight this year’s World Refugee Day theme, “Real People, Real Needs.”

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Please join us at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Millennium Stage on Saturday, June 20, for a special World Refugee Day performance. A special performance by Samba Mapangala & Virunga, Congolese and East African music. Free and open to the public.

World Refugee Day partners:

No Free Parking for Free Events