30 WAYS TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST

Maybe living a meaningful, passionate life has nothing to do with its length and everything to do with its width.

1. Live in the moment. Forget the past and don’t concern yourself with the future. (Tanner Christensen)
2. Fully embrace the now, no matter what the situation. (Patrick Flynn)
3. Do the things you love. (Diego Felipe Villa Serna)
4. Learn to forgive and embrace unconditional love. (Ann Glasgow)
5. Live every day as if it’s your last, embracing each experience as if it’s your first. (Jennifer Fertado)
6. Believe in “live and let live.” (Satyendra Pandey)
7. Use quiet reflection, honesty, and laughter. (Erin Rogers Kronman)
8. Be other-centered. (Tricia Mc)
9. Find calm in making art. (Z.r. Hill)
10. Focus on today and how you can do your best to live it to the fullest.  (Amelia Krump)
11. Participate in life instead of just watching it pass you by. (Lindsey Wonderson)
12. Stay healthy, eat right and most importantly, be kind to all. (Tho Nguyen)
13. Pray, forgive yourself, appreciate others, listen to your gut, do things you enjoy, and remind yourself that we are all loved and connected. (Sandra Lumb)
14. Don’t sweat the small stuff. (Allison Gillam)
15. Question everything, keep it simple, and help whenever and however you can. (Lynda Corrigan Sutherland)
16. Try to enjoy every minute of every day. (Maria Ahlin)
17. Appreciate life’s every second. (Anna-Karin Boyaciyan-Demirciyan)
18. Step through new doors. The majority of the time there’s something fantastic on the other side. (Terri Mindock)
19. Remember that all is a gift, but the most precious of all gifts is life and love. (Debbie Teeuwen)
20. Keep your spirit free, be flexible, let go. (Leslie Brown)
21. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” -Baz Luhrmann (Adam Raffel)
22. Don’t attach to outcomes. (Wp Ho)
23. Spend as much time with a two year old as possible. (Jackie Freeman)
24. Enjoy each and every moment of life. Every day is a new challenge and opportunity to discover something new. (Chirag Tripathi)
25. Budget travel. It is always an adventure! You get to enjoy what fate has to offer with limited means. (Ruby Baltazar)
26. Be honestly thankful for every breath you take. (Jonathan Carey)
27. Just be. (Catherine Halvorsson)
28. “Trust yourself. Trust your own strengths.” ~Gaundalf the grey (Jonathan David Evan Fulton)
29. Pause momentarily before everything you do so that you notice everything you should or could notice. (Scott Hutchinson)
30. Follow your hopes and not your fears. (Jody Bower)
What have you done today to live life to the fullest?

Winged Victory cast sketch in oil

I set up my new winged victory today  to do a cast study sketch.

I hung a dark towel behind it so the light color of the cast figure would stand out, then I used a spot light from above as the one and only light source, That made the room kind of dark but it also produced a maze of cast shadows as you can see from the second picture.

Today's figure sketch

Red Chalk Drawing

Figure drawing practice, in red chalk.

Red Chalk Drawing

Saturday Morning, I got up early to get in some drawing practice, I did a bunch of loose figure sketches using Mike Mattesi's method of drawing force, then I went ahead and started shading in a few. 

The Giust Gallery sculpture reproductions, The Winged Victory of Samothrace

After doing much research I finely decided to purchase my first quality cast from The Giust Gallery located in Woburn, MA. They offer a wide selection of sculpture reproductions many of which are from the original castings, made by Caproni over 100 years ago. Since 1992 The Giust Gallery has been owned by Robert Shure (a renowned sculptor in his own right). Cast reproductions are made from gypsum plaster and water mixed. Casts require multiple layers to form the required thickness. The last layer is reinforced with burlap fibers or metal pipe.

Shipment to New Jersey took about 2 weeks and I couldn't have packed it better myself. It took some time and care to get through the foam box lining, shipping peanuts and taped on bubble wrap, but once I got the 19 inch tall The winged Victory of Samothrace  out of the box I couldn't have been more pleased.. The size, weight and detail of the figure are just what I was hoping for. 

They also make the Samothrace in larger sizes ( 29" & 39" inches) and a variety of patinas, the one pictured here is White Patina.

 

Museum quality sculpture reproductions

In the wake of  hurricane Sandy and the recent snow storm I've been putting in a lot of overtime at work. So besides being totally exhausted..... I guess I have a few extra bucks in my pocket to spend on what I consider a luxury as well as an essential tool for learning how to draw in the traditional way of the European academies.

That’s right I talking about the traditional plaster casts of European classic sculptures. So for all of us who can’t get out to the Louvre to practice drawing these things from life, this will be the next best thing.

My only problem was where to get museum quality sculpture reproductions at a fair price, as I was to find out, shopping on line for stuff like this can be a daunting task, with all the plastic cheap junk out there it's hard to tell what your really getting for your money without physically seeing it in the real world.

So after spending way too much time on line looking at these things, I thought I’d give a little review on what I came up with, perhaps what I've found will be useful for someone who may be considering buying casts to study but are hesitant, because of the lack of visual information available on line.

What is an Artist? | YOU Are an Artist!

Mr Bean in Art Class

Figure Drawing Practice

Mechanical Pencils

I put the charcoals away and started using mechanical pencils . With the variety of tools I feel like I have more control to draw lighter, keeping the drawing open longer so I can make adjustments and changes as needed.

Drawing Practice

Figure Sketches

I haven't had much time to blog lately, Hurricane Sandy has kept me busy at work,and even though I missed a few classes I've been trying to keep active by drawing at home. My mission is to practice figure drawing at least three times a week.

Here are some charcoal figure sketches  from class and my home studies.

                                                       

          

Figure Drawing Classes at the Arts Guild of New Jersey

I was happy to see that this semester the Arts Guild of New Jersey has offered figure drawing and portrait painting classes, just what I needed to get back into it after a long summer off !

The Newark Museums traveling loan exhibition, Angels & Tomboys: Girlhood in 19th-Century American Art

Angels & Tomboys: Girlhood in 19th-Century American Art is a major traveling loan exhibition, which is the first to examine nineteenth-century depictions of girls in paintings, sculpture, prints and photographs. Featuring approximately 80 masterworks by John Singer Sargent, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Cecilia Beaux and William Merritt Chase, the exhibition analyzes the myriad ways that artists 

vigorously participated in the artistic and social construction of girlhood while also revealing the hopes and fears that adults had for their children. While the sentimental portrayal of girls as angelic, passive and domestic was the pervasive characterization, this project also identifies and investigates compelling and transgressive female images including tomboys, working children and adolescents.

Words of wisdom by Pablo Picasso

The whole gang, hard at work in art class

Art Show

Arts Guild New Jersey is pleased to present its firstCOMMUNITY: Members/Faculty/Student Art Show

Arts Guild New Jersey is pleased to present its firstCOMMUNITY: Members/Faculty/Student Art Show, featuring the artwork of Arts Guild New Jersey's current artist members, and its talented instructors and students. The exhibition opens on June 10 and runs through June 30, 2012,   bringing together and showing appreciation for the many diverse people who are involved with the Arts Guild and who make its programs possible.

How Can This Be? by Pat Turturro Pastore

Join us for the free, public reception on Sunday, June 10, 1-4 PM. Refreshments will be served.

The exhibition includes over 50 unique artworks in a variety of mediums. Artists: Natalie Addeo,Julie Barkin, Stacy Bober, Jill Caporlingua,Angelito David (Faculty),Tracie Fracasso(Faculty), Michael Anthony Galante, Janice Gossman,Alison Hooper, Ray Horner Jr. (Faculty), Francesca Iannelli, Stephen Jelinek, Sheila R. Lenga, Bruny Lynch,Cindy Malhotra, Donna Marlowe, Frank B. Marshall III,J.D. McGuire (Faculty), Art Morales, Paul Moran, Eric Muise, Pat Feeney Murrell, Pat Turturro Pastore, Prapti Paul, Barri Rifkin, Cindy L. Salsbury, Vince Salvati,Julian Tejera (Faculty), Jean Wright, and Sue Zwick.  

Member support helps to sustain Arts Guild New Jersey.The Guild's instructors are all noteworthy artists with impressive backgrounds and extensive teaching experience. Some teachers work for universities and colleges such as the prestigious Mason Gross School of the Arts and Kean University, or for other non-profit art centers.Many of Arts Guild New Jersey's students have been loyally enrolled in classes year after year; others included in the exhibition are fresh additions to the community.COMMUNITY: Members/Faculty/Student Art Show is a celebration of Arts Guild New Jersey and the people who make it a premier NJ organization for the visual arts and art education.

Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays, 1:00-4:00 PM. The exhibition is wheelchair accessible. For more information on the exhibition or gallery, call 732-381-7511 or visit www.agnj.org. 

Which subjects sell best for paintings ?

I looked up “Which subjects sell best for paintings” and this is what I came up with!

1. Traditional landscapes.
2. Local views.
3. Modern or semi-abstract landscapes.
4. Abstracts.
5. Dogs.
6. Figure studies (excluding nudes).
7. Seascapes, harbour, and beach scenes.
8. Wildlife.
9. Impressionistic landscapes.
10. Nudes.

Oil painting inside when its nice out is tough !!

I got up early to put some time into this painting, although I would like to work on it all day, I find it too difficult to paint inside when its nice out, so after five hours I think I’m ready for some mountain biking. Besides the little faces fingers and feet are starting to irk me !!

Jack Richeson Orange Synthetic Oil Color Round Glazing Brushes

I had to call a time out on this painting because I couldn’t get the small details with the brushes I have, so I ordered a few small Jack Richeson Orange Synthetic Oil Color Round and filbert glazing brushes from ASW.. They just came in today so I should get back into it tomorrow

Freedom Tower, a glimmer of beauty in all the madness.

I work in a really bad industrial section of Newark NJ...."Here let me paint you a picture".... the building I work in sits on top of a landfill,  to the left is a prison, to the right is a raw sewerage treatment plant, in the back there's some plant that melts animal bones for soap products and in front there is ....of all things a garbage transfer station. 

As if breathing all that wasn't enough to make for a long day, were located at the port,with the busiest diesel truck traffic in New jersey ! Sometimes I would pay for a breath of fresh air. Anyway I always keep my camera around looking for something worth taking a picture of in this dump.

Here are a few pictures I stopped to take on my way to work yesterday morning of the Freedom Tower going up in Manhattan. I can only wonder how many people drove by and didn't even notice this glimmer of beauty in all the madness.

Fredrix Cotton Canvas Pad - 16x20" Review

Ten sheets of genuine artist canvas, primed and ready to use with any medium. Economical as a practice medium, yet entirely reliable for permanent work and mounting.




Framed canvases can become a storage problem as they quickly accumulate while learning to paint, I find Fredrix 16x 20 Canvas Pads to be well made and useful for oil sketch practice, color charts and for figure painting class. They are easy to carry around and store in minimal space, a great value and useful tool for any artist

Color Evaluator II - #5002

I was reading a post in a portrait artist forum and some people are using ( red acetate) red color glasses to see tones more clearly and to highlight drawing mistakes.

They say when you look through the lens to take note which areas stand out as the lightest on the model and then check to see if those areas are standing out as lightest in your work.

Looks like a useful and inexpensive tool.  I’m thinking about getting a pair only $7.99 at Cottagemills.com

http://www.cottagemills.com/default/colorevaluator.html