It’s the closest thing to actually being there. The controls to zoom are on the lower left.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Sistine Chapel virtual tour
Sistine Chapel virtual tour
It’s the closest thing to actually being there. The controls to zoom are on the lower left.
It’s the closest thing to actually being there. The controls to zoom are on the lower left.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Everything you ever wanted to know about Vermeer !
At essential Vermeer.com
It is extrremely unlikely that Vermeer had on his palette in any given work session all the pigments that were available to him. Painters were known to use specific palettes set out each day according the passage to be painted. The wooden palette to the left represents the seven principle pigments which Vermeer commonly employed; 1. white lead, 2. yellow ochre, 3. vermillion, 4. red madder, 5, green earth, 6. raw umber and 7. ivory balck.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday Night Oil Painting Class
Last night was our final class at the Arts Guild of Rahway until the fall.
With no air conditioning it’s probably for the best, although if anyone would like... maybe we can get a kiddy pool, hibachi and some coronas an have a tailgate pleinair painting session in the parking lot this summer ! ( Jersey style Ray! )
Anyway.... I’d like to thank Ray Horner and all my art buddies for there positive uplifting energy and support. I’ve learned so much from everyone.
I wish you great success in all you endeavors this summer and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again in the fall !
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Frank Frazetta passed away at 82
It saddens me to say that Frank Frazetta passed away yesterday. When I found out I reflected back to a blog I wrote in September 2009 on Frank's work inspiring my early passion for art.
( I'm gonna have to go back and finish up those two paintings of his I started.)
It's clear that Frank Frazetta’s oil paintings had a profound impact on many people and artists as well.
He painted how he wanted to and didn’t care what other people thought. Perhaps there’s a lesson in that. If you stay true to yourself in your work, other people will make the connection too.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Artists need to be around other artists to grow
A good friend of mine in art class....... “ and a very talented artist I might add ” has decided to paint her passion..........Food !
Why not ..... they say to paint what you know and love... right ?
Tonight she’s painting a bowl of pasta and I have to say it looks good enough to eat. Even after she dropped it down a flight of stairs at the end of class ! Lol !!
I haven’t discovered my passion for a particular subject matter just yet, but she’s got me thinking about it.
And as simple as that may sound...... it’s one of the best things about working with other artists.
People freely sharing there thoughts, knowledge, ideas and maybe even a passion or two. I don’t get that in to many gatherings these days. Most of my friends just want to get drunk and watch football.
Ok ...there’s nothing wrong with that ( I love football) but at the end of the day it’s not going to make me a better artist.
Artists need to be around other artists to grow. The support and encouragement shared between artists is a necessity to endure the pitfalls of self doubt.
Take away this positive influential camaraderie and one can easily become discouraged into isolated artistic stagnation. .....(Haha ....I laughed when I read that back !) ...But its true.
Monday, May 3, 2010
What is Art ?
A scene from the movie Mona Lisa Smile, set in 1954 where Julia Roberts tries to get young art students to look beyond the paint and open there minds to a new idea.
Trying to Make Sense of Modern Art
We had another discussion in art class this week about Modern Art. Who defines it and most of all, why are some absurd works labeled genius by art scholars.
Two works come to mind, the Crucifix in urine and the Virgin Mary painted in feces.
My first thoughts were dear God why? What would possess a person to do something like this ?....I really do want to understand Modern Art, but stuff like this is just confusing and difficult to comprehend.
So I sat down and put some thought into this one, as it would have been narrow minded of me to just rant on about how much I hate them. So without Googling any answers I’ll start with what I said when I first viewed them. “Dear God why! and What would possess a person to do something like this !?”
Well......are they making a mockery of my religion?..are they mad at God...did they loose there faith... are they cursing at God ? What would possess someone to curse God.....Have I ever cursed God for anything ? Let me think about that for a moment. If I did I certainly didn’t mean it.
I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who hit there thumb with a hammer by accident and had some choice words for God. I can’t be the only one. Of course we don’t really mean what we say.......still sometimes the pain pushes those curse words out.
Could that be what’s going on here? An expression of pain? Pain deeper then that smashed thumb, deeper then a broken heart piercing the very soul and shattering all faith. What king of hammer can shatter a persons faith?
You only have to turn on the news for a few moments so see all the suffering in the world. Murder, rape , child molestation, war, cancer, aids...it just doesn’t end. How can God allow all these horrible things to happen, it makes no sense.
So as these horrible cruelties of life unfold unto us all. I have seen that for some people as well as myself, our faith in God deepens. We put our trust into God to help us through our grief and to help us live with the sorrow.
While others are stripped of there faith and as crudely as the words are spoken after the hammer strikes the thumb, they curse God and abandon religion as they feel that they too have been abandoned.
No expensive oil paints on fine linen could support the raw emotion of the loss of a child, parent, sibling or dear friend........ the materials had to be as crude, shocking and repulsively imaginable to put the viewer into that precise moment when the heart is broken and the faith shattered. So in closing I’ll ponder these two quotes by Ellen Key and Louis Kronenberger and continue to try my best to view Modern Art as open mindedly as I can. I may not always like what I see, but I do want to understand and respect the artists intent.
The more horrifying this world becomes, the more art becomes abstract.
Ellen Key
In art there are tears that lie too deep for thought.
Louis Kronenberger
Two works come to mind, the Crucifix in urine and the Virgin Mary painted in feces.
My first thoughts were dear God why? What would possess a person to do something like this ?....I really do want to understand Modern Art, but stuff like this is just confusing and difficult to comprehend.
So I sat down and put some thought into this one, as it would have been narrow minded of me to just rant on about how much I hate them. So without Googling any answers I’ll start with what I said when I first viewed them. “Dear God why! and What would possess a person to do something like this !?”
Well......are they making a mockery of my religion?..are they mad at God...did they loose there faith... are they cursing at God ? What would possess someone to curse God.....Have I ever cursed God for anything ? Let me think about that for a moment. If I did I certainly didn’t mean it.
I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who hit there thumb with a hammer by accident and had some choice words for God. I can’t be the only one. Of course we don’t really mean what we say.......still sometimes the pain pushes those curse words out.
Could that be what’s going on here? An expression of pain? Pain deeper then that smashed thumb, deeper then a broken heart piercing the very soul and shattering all faith. What king of hammer can shatter a persons faith?
You only have to turn on the news for a few moments so see all the suffering in the world. Murder, rape , child molestation, war, cancer, aids...it just doesn’t end. How can God allow all these horrible things to happen, it makes no sense.
So as these horrible cruelties of life unfold unto us all. I have seen that for some people as well as myself, our faith in God deepens. We put our trust into God to help us through our grief and to help us live with the sorrow.
While others are stripped of there faith and as crudely as the words are spoken after the hammer strikes the thumb, they curse God and abandon religion as they feel that they too have been abandoned.
No expensive oil paints on fine linen could support the raw emotion of the loss of a child, parent, sibling or dear friend........ the materials had to be as crude, shocking and repulsively imaginable to put the viewer into that precise moment when the heart is broken and the faith shattered. So in closing I’ll ponder these two quotes by Ellen Key and Louis Kronenberger and continue to try my best to view Modern Art as open mindedly as I can. I may not always like what I see, but I do want to understand and respect the artists intent.
The more horrifying this world becomes, the more art becomes abstract.
Ellen Key
In art there are tears that lie too deep for thought.
Louis Kronenberger
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