Watercolors

Arun Dev asked:


Few things in the United States are as beautiful and breathtaking as the New England coastline, and there is perhaps no better way to portray this shoreline or the oceans dynamic splendor than with an oil painting. In the best seascape art you can feel the breeze, hear the seagulls and see the depth of the water; but it takes an extremely talented and experienced artist to recreate this sense on canvas. Throughout history artists like English J. M. W. Turner and American born Winslow Homer have captured the magical essence of our earth’s oceans and tributaries with their unique abilities, brush stroke techniques and use of color.  For most art lovers, the affordability of original artwork by classic artists is unfortunately untouchable, but the good news is there are many talented and passionate artists with works of art available and affordable for all budgets.  Following are several thoughts you should keep in mind when purchasing art.

Know what you are purchasing – always make sure you understand exactly what you’re purchasing. Take a note of what kind of material the artwork is created on (canvas, watercolor paper, wood, etc), as well as what kind of medium was used (oil painting, watercolor, pastel, acrylic, pencil, charcoal, ink). If you are unable to determine this by looking, don’t be afraid to ask the artist or dealer what it is.

Buy what you like – as long as it is within your budget (see below), feel free to purchase art which reflects your interests and personality instead of worrying about styles or trends.

Buy paintings that match your current interior - when shopping for art for a specific part of your home, try to keep in mind the color scheme, current decorations and the style of furniture utilized in your home, be it contemporary or conservative.

Never exceed your budget – it’s important to remember what your exact budget is at all times. If there are funds leftover after an initial art purchase, think of saving your funds for that must-have sunset painting you’ve had your eye on as you next investment.

Questions to Ask the Seller:

Who is the artist – many times you will encounter the artist themselves selling their own original paintings and prints, but other times you may be dealing with a reseller or dealer.

Is the artwork signed and or numbered – original works of art are typically signed by the artist.  If a signature is not readily visible, ask about the signature and if it is original artwork or a reproduction.  If it is a reproduction, inquire if the print is a limited edition (therefore numbered) as these are typically worth more than a simple print reproduction.

Ask for contact information – if you like the artist’s works don’t be afraid to ask for a business card, email, website or a gallery where their art is on display. Having the ability to see more of the artist’s work can give you a better sense of who the artist is and what motivates them.

Best Places to Hang Seascape Art:

Deciding on where to place your new art can be an even more difficult task than deciding on what piece to buy; but there are some rooms that are better suited to one particular painting or another.

Living room – A showcase piece of artwork typically is on display in this room as this space is valued as an area of importance for most owners.

Den/Great room – the most lived in room of the house (besides the kitchen), should display your most favorite paintings or prints as it is the place that sees the most action.

Kitchen – typically the heart of every home should present art that satisfy the needs of the heart and soul of its owners as any culinary masterpiece satisfies the stomach.

Bathroom – this room is a place of personal hygiene, self-image and quietude.  Artwork should reflect the personality and rationale of the persons using this room.

Bedroom – another private living area of the home which should truly reflect the personalities of the people who live there. Thoughtful, serene and age appropriate artwork is best utilized in this room of rest and personal reflection.



THOMAS

Onur Aksal asked:


The emergence of water-soluble colored pencils has allowed artists to combine traditional colored-pencil drawing and blending techniques with watercolorlike washes. Formulated for fine artists, this relatively new medium has so far been most popular among mixed-media artists, who are accustomed to combining materials to create their artwork.

This article is information-oriented rather than technique-oriented since, unlike watercolor or oil, water-soluble colored pencil is a new artistic medium and there’s no historical basis from which to study or teach the techniques. Hopefully, this column will not only reveal the methods some artists have used in tackling the medium but will give you the inspiration to try it yourself.

If you haven’t yet tried water-soluble colored pencils, consider their advantages: In terms of style and handling, they offer artists great flexibility, in everything from quick sketches to final artwork. First, they allow you to integrate drawing and painting into a single work of art without changing tools. This is convenient and also connects the spontaneity of drawing with the fluidity of painting, which is hard to achieve when you alternate between colored pencils and watercolors. Second, with water-soluble colored pencils, pencil and wash effects of the identical color can be achieved, an extremely difficult feat when combining different brands of colored pencils and watercolors. Third, outdoor sketchers and painters will appreciate the fact that a wide range of effects are possible with few supplies.

Once you try them, you’ll discover that water-soluble colored pencils can’t produce the same effects that either colored pencils or watercolors can deliver independently. However, you won’t be disappointed: You’ll get colored-pencillike and watercolorlike effects, plus all the wonderful surprises that result when two mediums–one dry and one liquid–are combined.

WHAT ARE WATER-SOLUBLE COLORED PENCILS?

Standard colored pencils are made of pigments in a methylcellulose gum binder. Wax and clay are added to give the pencil consistency. To make colored pencils water-soluble, manufacturers have replaced the methylcellulose gum binder with a blend of wetting agents that allow the pigmented system to be soluble in water.

I think you’ll find the medium closer to colored pencils in its working characteristics than to watercolor. As with standard colored pencils, you can apply water-soluble colored pencils in thin veils of color. The similarities to watercolor are less evident. Regardless of the brand, washes created with water-soluble colored pencils simply won’t have the smooth clarity typical of a standard watercolor wash.

There are two reasons for this difference: First, unlike the pigments used in water-soluble colored pencils, those used in the manufacture of watercolors are ground to an extreme fineness that allows washes to dry in a smooth, nongrainy manner. And second, water-soluble colored pencils contain wax and clay, which together offset the delicate pigment-to-binder ratio that characteristically occurs in watercolors. Still, you can obtain very appealing washes with water-soluble colored pencils as well as some unusual effects that incorporate the texture of pencil-drawn lines within wash areas.

WORKING METHODS

There are three basic methods you can use for applying water-soluble colored pencils, although they’re rarely used exclusively: dry-on-dry with wet blending; dry-on-wet; and wet-on-dry or wet-on-wet. As a painting develops, the differences between these working methods become less distinguishable so you may find that in a single painting you’re actually utilizing all of them.

With each method, you can control the look of drawn areas and washes simply by manipulating the amount of pressure applied to the pencil and the amount of water used for blending. The results will range from delicate to very bold. The greater the pressure applied in the presence of water, the stronger the color will be–as more pigment is imparted to the paper. You can also combine scraping, lifting, or other color-removal techniques commonly used in watercolor painting. By varying your technique, you can push a work done in this medium from a colored drawing with subtle wash effects to a full, vibrantly colored painting.

DRY-ON-DRY WITH WET BLENDING

Try drawing with the pencils on dry paper using layering, crosshatching, or other techniques. To achieve wash effects, blend with a wet brush. Areas can be reworked repeatedly with more pencil and blended again. The dry-on-dry method offers the most control and yields the most subtle effects. Delicately drawn areas can be manipulated with careful wet blending. If you like to work slowly and meticulously, you’ll be most comfortable with this technique.

DRY-ON-WET

By dampening the paper before applying the colored pencil, you can obtain bolder color than with the other methods as well as a fuzzy, textural quality. A fair amount of control in drawing can still be maintained so long as you work on damp paper. If the paper gets too wet, however, the pencil tip eventually stays wet and then you’re basically working wet-on-wet–and you’ve ceded some of your control. Mop up some of the excess water with a dry brush in order to soften or blend areas and maintain control.

WET-ON-DRY OR WET-ON-WET

Although in some literature you’ll see wet-on-dry and wet-on-wet methods mentioned separately, I find the two indistinguishable: Once you wet your pencil tips and start drawing, you can’t really keep the paper dry–in the end, you’re essentially working wet-on-wet in either case.

A great deal of pigment is imparted when you wet the pencils, so you’ll obtain the boldest results by working in this fashion. There will also be some surprises. In fact, I think working wet personifies the true spirit of the water-soluble colored-pencil medium–garnering the best of drawing and painting.

You can begin by dipping your pencil in water and drawing on dry paper, or you can dampen the paper before working. Either way, you’ll have the most control if you use the least amount of water. You’ll find that a small puddle of water tends to accumulate around the tip of the pencil as you draw, which can then be distributed with a small brush or lifted with a tissue.

Of course, you shouldn’t limit yourself to the methods described here. Any technique that delivers appealing results–no matter how unorthodox–can be adopted and used with this new medium.

LIGHTFASTNESS

Lightfastness refers to the ability of a color to resist fading or other color changes under extreme exposure to light. If you’re concerned with the durability and permanence of your work, lightfastness should be considered when making color selections.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the organization that sets lightfastness standards for manufacturers of artists’ materials, is considering adopting a standard for colored pencils. Until such a standard is derived, artists who use water-soluble colored pencils can use lightfastness ratings provided by the manufacturer when they’re available (see the chart at the end of the article).

Most manufacturers have their colors tested in independently operated labs that are specially equipped to determine accurate lightfastness. Although you can’t test a color with the same degree of accuracy in your studio, here’s a simple test you can conduct at home to determine relative lightfastness.

Take a sheet of neutral-pH watercolor paper and cut it into 1″-X-4″ strips–one for each color you want to test. Cover the strip with a consistent coating of pencil and blend it with a wet brush. Be sure to leave white around the edges for labeling. Cut each strip in half, leaving two 1″-X-2″ pieces. Label each one with the brand, color name, and date.

Place one set of the colors in a drawer to keep it out of the light. Adhere the other set to a backing board and expose it to full sunlight in a south-facing window (west is the next best choice). After a few months, compare the exposed samples with the ones stored in the drawer, preferably under natural daylight. Any perceptible change indicates that the color in question isn’t lightfast.

PAPERS

Any paper that will take a wash without pilling or buckling is suitable for water-soluble colored pencils. Some artists might find that lighter-weight papers–under 300-pound–will produce better results when stretched. Since the range of techniques is so great with this medium, whether or not you stretch the paper will also depend on how much water you use in the painting process.

Texture is another factor to consider. Paper with at least some tooth–it can be earmarked for watercolor, drawing, or printmaking–is adaptable to both pencil and wash effects.

Don’t overlook color. Heavy pastel papers (Fabriano Ingres Cover, Canson Mi-Tientes, Strathmore Cover) come in a wide range of subtle shades and can withstand light washes without buckling. Bockingford, a watercolor paper from the St. Cuthbert’s Mill in England, has recently been introduced in four tinted shades of 140-pound cold-pressed (”Not”) paper–cream (pinkish), eggshell (greenish), gray, and oatmeal (yellowish). These sheets were developed in conjunction with Daler-Rowney USA and are now being distributed by the company. They offer great possibilities for obtaining unique color effects with water-soluble colored pencils.

As with any other medium, you’ll find the best papers for water-soluble colored pencils through experimentation. Try smooth hot-pressed watercolor papers, rough cold-pressed watercolor papers, vellum bristols, heavy pastel papers, and any of the printmaking papers recommended for etching or lithography. If the longevity of your work is a consideration, select papers made from cotton, linen, or pure sulfite fibers, which are also acid-free.

COMPARING BRANDS

Availability may be the most critical factor in determining which brand or brands of water-soluble colored pencils you try. See what your local art stores, as well as the various mail-order-catalog companies, have to offer. Experimenting with more than one brand will definitely expand your experience with this medium since some brands exhibit slightly different working characteristics and may suit your particular style better than others.

One characteristic that seems consistent, however, is wetting ability. I tried six brands of water-soluble colored pencils and couldn’t distinguish any significant differences from one to another in this regard. Each brand wetted readily when brushed with water.

Most retail stores have displays with pencils you can try before purchasing. And if they don’t, suggest they set one up. Try every brand you can find. Open the biggest set and look over the range of colors. Don’t rule out the possibility of crossing brands to obtain the colors and effects you want. The six brands I’ve listed below are all professional-quality materials–made with the fine artist in mind.



AUBREY

Onur Aksal asked:


“When I think about making a painting, I’m also thinking about telling a story,” says Chicago artist  Onur Sksal. Young, dedicated, and prolific, Onur is proficient in landscape and still-life imagery, yet a large number of his creations are figurative. “I get a much greater emotional response from paintings that include people than from those that don’t,” he says simply. However, he feels that a painting does not have to be an obvious narrative in order to tell a story. * “Even a portrait can tell a story,” Onur explains. “In certain portraits–those by Nicolai Fechin, for instance–you can see a whole world in the person’s expression. The way the sitter is smiling or looks sad, the clothes the model is wearing, and even the way he or she is painted–loose or tight, colorful or plain–say volumes about the individual. I love the way information in the painting allows the viewer to invent or discover facts about the sitter.” He goes on to say, “A truly good artist responds to the personality of the model and therefore might paint different people in different styles.”

Onur credits his parents with allowing him the freedom to pursue his dreams. “Whatever crazy endeavors were up my sleeve,” he says, “my parents were behind me one hundred percent, encouraging me without pushing. Both of my parents were excited about my talent, but neither pressured me.” Onur’s father worked in an advertising agency, and since some of the artists he worked with had attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, he suggested his son apply for classes there. “I still remember how nervous I was when I went for my school interview,” Onur recalls. “Irving Shapiro, who was then the president of the academy, interviewed me, and he seemed so professional and intimidating–he was, and still is, a world-renowned master of watercolor and a noted teacher. I laugh about my nervousness now because Irving and his wife are such warm and wonderful people, and they’ve become good friends of mine. At any rate, I was accepted into the school.”

Bill Parks, Onur’s life-drawing teacher at the academy, was instrumental in his education: He encouraged Onur to enter a scholarship contest, which the young artist promptly entered and won. This first-prize award enabled him to attend the academy free of charge for a full year. Perhaps more importantly, Parks taught Onur the basics of drawing, color, and technique–along with the philosophy that you should enjoy what you do and that without this love, all the knowledge and talent in the world will not make you a true artist. “I wanted to stay in Parks’s class for four years, but lack of money forced me out in two,” says Onur wistfully, “so I feel I never reached the level of expertise I desired. It amazes me that most art schools require only one year of life drawing. To me, drawing is the most important part of being an artist, and once you master it, everything else becomes easy.”

At the start of Onur’s second year at the American Academy, he began a new association that was instrumental in his development. “Nancy Guzik–another student at the Academy–and I began to paint at The Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts after school and on weekends,” he explains. “We learned so much there just by listening to our teacher, Richard Schmid, and watching him paint.” Located in a large, old mansion in downtown Chicago, the Palette and Chisel Academy was started nearly one hundred years ago by former students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In its heyday, it was a well-known art center, and famous artists from around the world traveled there to paint with their contemporaries. By the time Onur and Guzik entered the picture, however, the place had declined somewhat, with only a few devotees still painting in the upstairs studio.

After Richard Schmid joined, though, membership grew rapidly. Onur’s admiration for Schmid and his work is obvious. He also acknowledges getting inspiration from other young artists at The Palette and Chisel Academy with whom he often paints the model and mounts shows in the school’s gallery–he calls them ‘the masters of the future”–including Guzik, Rose Frantzen, Dan Gerhartz, Romel DelaTorre, Clayton Beck, Stephen Giannini, and Susan Lyon.

Currently, Onur shares an apartment with Lyon, and their two bedrooms have been converted to small but comfortable studios. Decorated with reproductions of some of his favorite paintings, Onur’s work space is bathed in wonderful north light in which he works from a combination of life, photographs, and sketches. Whenever possible, he prefers to paint his subjects from life, but he finds that works depicting crowds, parades, and action are not feasible without photographs or sketches. His piece Girls in the Grass, for instance’ is a compilation of photographs taken at a festival, and the work In the Garden contains a model painted from life and an invented background taken from sketches and photographs.

Working in a number of mediums, including oil, watercolor, Conte crayon, charcoal, and pastel, Onur varies his style greatly–from extremely loose and thick to very soft and detailed. Often accomplished with large sable brushes loaded with Winsor & Newton, Rembrandt, and Utrecht oil paints, the majority of his pictures happen quickly and spontaneously, taking anywhere from one hour to a few days to complete. At times, he works in his studio for twelve hours straight, engrossed in a particular painting, but, he says, “there are other days when I take time off to read, play chess, or go to a movie. These breaks are just as important to my painting as actual work time since they give me a chance to build up my excitement and energy.”

Above all Onur strives to achieve an emotional response from the viewer, but he stresses that he is not painting a message”–his language is purely visual. Reflecting on his art career, Onur says his advice to other artists, or to anyone else, for that matter, comes from the teachers who have inspired him: ‘Enjoy what you’ve chosen to do and follow your heart. Taking advice from others on what you should or shouldn’t do with your life isn’t wise, since others can’t see into your soul. If your reason for wanting to become an artist is money, forget it–you probably won’t become rich.”

He continues, “Once you’ve made up your mind that being an artist is your choice, paint, paint, paint! My philosophy has always been to work toward my dreams, no matter what anyone says, and to have fun doing it. If you don’t enjoy working toward your goals, not only will you find yourself unable to work hard enough to reach those goals, but, if you fall short of your ultimate expectations, you’ll be left with nothing.

“Art is my full-time job,” Onur concludes, “and it has been for four years. I’m interested in other things, but I know I will always be a working artist. My love of art is too great for me to ever leave it permanently.”



BILLIE

Bobo asked:


he watercolors of Texas artist Dan Burt are radiant, animated mosaics built up from slashes, drips, and strokes of transparent paint. They remind you of the way light dances through stained-glass windows. His style is part California school and part Old World Mexico, with a dash of sun-splashed Texas Hill Country. But his harmonies and contrasts are his own.

Burt says of his use of color, “I try to achieve some kind of a conflict in the color–to create interest. For me that’s the only purpose of color in a painting.” For this reason, his hues don’t depend on the local source. They come from his memory, imagination, and intuition, and they’re always subservient to whatever value scheme he has in mind.

An ardent colorist, Burt doesn’t use tube blacks, grays, or earth colors. Along with the tube colors he does use, which he puts on a Robert E. Wood palette, he makes up trays with puddles of unmixed, dissolved colors, replenishing them as needed. There’s a system to his puddles: He uses four trays of color (the tops and bottoms of two John Pike palettes). The puddles on the first tray are made up of both transparent and granulating colors, among them viridian, cobalt blue, aureolin, and permanent rose. In the early stages of a painting, he uses these pigments for light-to-middle-value, broken-color washes, letting the colors mix on the paper.

On the second tray are puddles of darker, mostly staining colors, including ultramarine blue, new gamboge, Winsor yellow, Winsor green, and alizarin crimson. These are for the middle and dark tones applied in a painting’s later stages. On the third tray, Burt repeats some puddles from the second: alizarin crimson and Winsor yellow, for instance, plus he adds other colors, such as Winsor green. He might mix one puddle with another or spice up one with tube color for surprise combinations and accents.

The fourth tray holds puddles of opera pink, scarlet lake, and cadmium yellow. He likes to use these colors, and their complements, in and around the focal point of the painting in its early stages for what he calls “shock effects.”

Burt uses sable brushes because, he says, they hold more water (and therefore pigment) than do synthetic brushes–an important consideration for his wet-in-wet style. He especially likes large sable rounds (Nos. 9 and 12) and sable flats (1″ and 1 1/21).

Burt uses the same approach for all his paintings, whether of a Mexican church or a Gulf Coast shrimp boat. In his Kerrville studio, sunlight from a patio window streams in over his left shoulder and Aaron Copland music surges forth from a radio. The artist stands over a full sheet of cold-pressed, 140-pound paper that’s propped up on his easel at a height not far above his knees. His subject–already captured on the paper in minimal, spidery graphite lines–is the Mediterranean-looking facade of a San Antonio apartment building.

Clutching his large sable brushes, he works with his fourth tray of shocking” colors and their complements in and around the center of interest in light values, wet against dry, and with the first tray of paints, laying in the painting’s lightest tones wet-in-wet. He makes a bright, airy patchwork of these transparent and granulating colors, being sure to leave generous white areas of paper throughout. He drops diluted paint into the washes, charging complements into them and again letting them mix on the paper. These color notes–made from the first tray–are light, clean, and fresh; they’re middle values and take up very little space in the composition–mainly the sky and foreground. Most of the picture at this stage is still untouched white paper.

Now, Burt moves to his second and third trays, which are darker, staining colors; they’ll carry the bulk of his design–in this case, the massive, rambling exterior wall and the palm trees that flank the building. But he still leaves small white areas on the paper for the light tones. He sloshes ahead, nearly filling the page with a great mottled mix of colors. “I use broken color mostly, these dark tones,” he says. He drops one of his yellows and some alizarin into a wash of ultramarine. “I’m trying to let the painting paint itself–changing the colors yet keeping the large shapes in the same dark value and also keeping it wet,” he says. “When the painting stays wet, things can happen. When the paint is dry, things don’t happen. Here, I have a mixture of Winsor yellow and Winsor green, but after using it, I’ll drop some alizarin into it in order to make it grayer: There’s a time to be shocking and there’s a time not to be. But before you hit the panic button and blot up the mess you think you’ve just made, wait. Watch what happens. Watch the paper.”

Burt’s brush stays on the move, finishing the frond of a palm tree at one end of the sheet, dropping to the foreground to swipe in a shadow, interrupting the drying of a color near the top of the wall with some wet, contrasting hue. He paints negative space, continuing to preserve an amazing variety of white shapes that will later read as sections of wall and roof and window–jutting planes catching the sunlight.

He also eliminates many of the whites saved from the previous stage. He does whatever it takes to make his dark pattern coherent at a glance. It’s uncanny the way his great expanse of dark, for all its richness of color, its contrasts, and its modulations, still manages to stay dark. Burt says, “When you work wet-in-wet, the hues tend to stay in the same value.”

Up to now, everything put down on the paper serves as a backdrop for the painting’s center of interest–in this case, a cluster of figures in the building’s entrance shadows. Burt, like many painters, concentrates his darkest darks on the composition’s focal point, where, typically, has also saved his whitest whites. By this time, he has already put down his highest chroma colors, such as opera pink with scarlet lake and opera pink with cadmium yellow, and complements Winsor green, Winsor yellow, or cobalt blue. For his darks, Burt relies on ultramarine blue with alizarin crimson and Winsor green with alizarin crimson. He says that as the painting progresses, the puddles become richer, or more complex, in color.

Burt rarely layers his color, but in the final stage of a work he may occasionally paint over a dried color to punch out a shape from its background. In this work, he sculpts a figure in the doorway’s shadow with a juicy mixture of alizarin and ultramarine. He then adds a few more inky accents of mixed blacks using Winsor green mixed with alizarin crimson–shadows in the architecture and in the foliage and calligraphic dots and dashes that enliven the picture surface.

Finally, chaos has turned to structure. The contrasts sing. The painting is finished. “My whole idea has been as much as possible to be spontaneous, to let most of the colors mix on the paper,” Burt says. “I’ve tried to keep the value patterns distinct–the light tones, the middle tones, and the dark tones–so that by the time I put in the darkest darks, they’ll really act as darks.” Burt believes it’s the value contrasts that make the subject stand out. He has saved whites, jabbed in dark accents, and engaged the eye with color conflicts in every portion of the picture space. “But,” he concludes, “even though there’s a lot to entertain you all over the work, your eye will still go to the focal point.”



RONNY

Melanie Smith asked:


Each of us would love to send out a greeting card on special events to people we value. When Christmas season comes, undeniably everybody would have plans to search out one of the finest greeting cards from the stores and mail it to relatives, friends, and loved-ones in order to share our happiness with them. On the other hand, we will launch a much more unique greeting card than the generally store bought one. Instead of purchasing cards from the stores and shops, you can fashion your own cards for people you love, one that will touch their hearts deeper than the off the rack cards.

One doesn’t have to be scared hearing about hand made cards. Do not distrust your ingenuity at any spot. It is very simple to make Christmas cards at home and it is inexpensive and cost-effective too. These days many craft shops provide a separate section exclusively for card making, so you can effortlessly get all those supplies you need, which are essential to make homemade Christmas cards, and try to make your very own card using your ingenuity.

As a replacement for buying the Christmas cards from the stores, you can make your own card integrating all of your wonderful ideas and thoughts, and try to make an impression from your loved-ones with your innovation. If you are going to give off the rack cards to your loved-ones, they might be less happy since they will never mirror your authentic love and words.

Materials Needed:

? Chart papers

? Watercolors

? A Paint brush

? Crayons

? Scissors

? Pencil for sketching

? A few items to be used for decoration purposes

Instructions:

1. Cut the chart paper according to your preferred card size. Fold it in half. Mark the front as well as the back part of the card.

2. Sketch a design on the front part of your card with the use of a pencil. You can sketch some original designs or draw up an image from a certain reference.

3. Add some color in your design by using watercolor and crayons. Use the right thickness of brush in painting your design.

4. In the interior of the card, you can create other accessories such as a tiny battery-operated light so that the card will light up every time the person opens it, or you could also fasten some music clips so that the card will play a melody each time the person opens it.

5. You can also make use of ornamental stuff such as colored papers, sparkling letters to beautify further your homemade Christmas card.

6. Finally, write your warmest Christmas message inside the card

The recipient of your homemade Christmas greeting cards will surely appreciate it a lot because these homemade cards reflect your sincerity and affection. On the other hand, one must also realize that homemade cards require some time to complete while off the rack cards can be bought quickly from stores and shops. Therefore, it is imperative that people who are determined to make homemade greeting cards for Christmas will need some extra patience to get them done nice and right.



ADAM

Bobo asked:


For years I’ve been teaching workshops on the subject of painting figures in watercolor, and invariably I hear the same questions over and over again from students. Their questions are usually not about getting a likeness but rather about how to get children to sit still, how to work from photographs, and how to decide on a background color. For many students, the biggest stumbling blocks are simple procedures that shouldn’t be obstacles at all.

Let me try to help move some of those stumbling blocks out of your way so you can enjoy and profit from the business of painting children’s portraits in watercolor.

1. GET TO KNOW YOUR SUBJECT. The most successful portraits are always those that capture the personality of the child. They show a certain tilt of the head, a smile, or a gesture that’s characteristic of the individual. Discovering these special qualities can be accomplished in a very short period of time if you know how to handle yourself during the first meeting with the child. I always make a point of going to the client’s home, whether it’s down the street or on a buffalo ranch in Wyoming, rather than asking them to come to my studio. While my studio is certainly better equipped and more comfortable for me than the client’s home, I need to see the children in their own surroundings: It gives me a more accurate sense of their character and the opportunity to select more meaningful props and background material.

I also prefer going to clients’ homes because it makes them feel more at ease. When children are relaxed and comfortable, their expressions aren’t strained. It’s important for everyone to be cheerful and optimistic during this first encounter, so I talk to the children and reassure them that what I’ll be doing will be easy and fun for them. I need to help them get over the fears any person might have–whether young or old–about being painted.

Before I begin making sketches or taking photographs, I walk around the house with the children, asking them to show me their bedroom, favorite toys, and pets. I take mental notes about any repeated expressions or gestures, and I evaluate the possibility of using objects and decorations in the home as props or background material for the painting. No matter where I’ll be working, I make it plain I don’t want any other family members in the room with me. The “helpful” participation of parents can be an annoying distraction to both me and the children.

Most importantly, I focus on the children and watch what happens. I don’t go into portrait sessions with preconceived notions about the poses or props. Children have a wonderful ability to be free and open about the way they present themselves. If I ask them to sit the same way they do while watching television, they’re only too happy to oblige. Or when I ask children to show me their favorite “lookout spot” up in a tree, they’ll climb up faster than a cat and, without prodding, show me how they can hang upside down. (Just try getting a corporate executive to do that!)

2. MAKE CHARACTERISTIC DRAWINGS. When I travel to a client’s home, I carry a hardbound 11″-X-14″ sketchbook, a variety of drawing pencils ranging from 2H to 5B, a small pencil sharpener, and a kneaded eraser. The sketchbook is durable and easy to carry, and after it’s filled it becomes a record of the many people I’ve had the good fortune to meet.

When drawing children’s portraits, I keep in mind their overall body proportions (as illustrated in Figure 1) and the ways in which they differ from the proportions of an adult. (Figure 1 omitted) For example, the head of a child is bigger in relation to the child’s body, and the features of the face dominate the lower haft of the skull. While adult hands and feet are comparable in size to the face, a child’s hands and feet are smaller when similarly compared.

I ask my subjects to pose in a well-lit area, and I try to have the natural light coming in from one side of the body to make the shapes and contours of the face more discernible. I need to be at eye level with the children, so if they’re more comfortable on the floor with a toy, I sit on the floor with them.

I keep my sketches quick and open-ended, and I like to work on two or three at once. It’s unfair to ask children to sit perfectly still, and if they freeze up I run the risk of missing their spontaneous and animated expressions. I draw them from whatever angle is comfortable for them. If one happens to be a real wiggler, there’s nothing like a television program or videotaped movie to settle the child down. I often have a couple of videotapes of children’s movies in my tote bag for just such an occasion. I used to carry a cast-iron frog named Fred with me, and he almost always guaranteed me twenty minutes of drawing time. As I draw, I add written notes about my client in the margins of the notebook. These notations about personality and special features become invaluable to me later.

There’s no way to compensate for a lack of drawing ability–especially when dealing with children’s portraits. A quick pencil sketch of posture, hand position, or shading can be the most valuable reference an artist can have when painting. That’s why I encourage all my students to enroll in a life-drawing class and attend regularly. The skills you learn will be quickly put to good use when you try to draw a five-year-old who moves even faster than his golden retriever. And when the child’s mother asks you to put the retriever in the painting, you’ll be especially glad you learned how to draw quickly and accurately!

3. TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOGRAPHS. Even the best-natured children become weary, restless, or downright cranky after posing for a couple of hours. That’s why the camera has become an essential tool for almost every artist who paints portraits of children.

There are several common mistakes artists make when taking pictures of children. One is taking the picture with the children too far away from the camera, and the second is taking it from a position too far above them. In the first case, the resulting photographs don’t offer enough useful information about the subject, and in the second the figure is totally distorted by the radical angle of the shot.

A third common mistake artist make when taking photographs is not posing children in proper lighting. These pictures turn out either too dark or too light, or there are strange shadows cast by the nose and chin. Using a flash can result in lifeless photographs and, ultimately, lifeless portraits. A flash aimed straight at a child’s face will flatten all the features and burn out any delicate color changes. Working from photographs taken by a professional studio photographer can be equally disappointing because the lighting used during the shoot is meant to soften contours and remove color “imperfections,” leaving little for the artist to work with.

The best lighting for natural skin color and descriptive contours is soft or diffused daylight; a hazy, slightly overcast day produces soft shadows and is therefore ideal. The light available during either the morning or late afternoon is preferable for outdoor photography since too much sunlight can yield severe shadows and squinting eyes. If I have no choice but to work in the middle of a sunny day, I pose the children in a shady area under trees or a porch roof.

It’s important to keep the photo session casual and fun. If I can get the children to play with me while I’m taking photographs, the results will be much more satisfying. I use a 35mm Nikon camera with a standard 50mm lens and Kodacolor 100 film. When I’m working away from my studio, I take along a small Olympus camera just in case something goes wrong with the Nikon. Using both cameras, I take between 70 and 100 photographs, being careful to include profiles, close-ups, and hands. If there’s a family pet or a specific background that has to be included in the painting, I take ample shots of that as well. In short, I take more photographs than I think I could possibly use. Nothing is worse than beginning a painting and discovering I don’t have enough information to work with.

Occasionally, a client will request a portrait painted from an existing photograph that the family is especially fond of. Frankly, I see little merit in copying someone else’s work. I let my clients know I prefer the intimacy and originality that comes from using my own photographs and sketches.

4. KEEP THE COLORS CHILDLIKE. Watercolor has always seemed the perfect medium for children’s portraits because of its pristine colors. I organize mine in the compartments of a John Pike palette so I have a choice between a warm and a cool version of each. Here are the tube colors I use most often:

Reds

Warm: scarlet lake or cadmiumred medium

Cool: alizarin crimson or permanent rose

Yellows

Warm: cadmium yellow medium

Cool: cadmium lemon

Blues

Warm: cerulean blue

Cool: phthalocyanine or Winsor blue

Browns

Warm: burnt sienna

Cool: raw umber

In addition, I use lots of raw sienna and yellow ochre for the flesh tones, and I make my darkest values by adding Payne’s gray to other colors. There are many suitable colors, but I find the transparent colors best for skin tones since too much opaque color can make skin look chalky and dull.

One frequent mistake made in painting children’s skin is using too much blue or gray. The liveliest sense of color is achieved when a harmony of warm and cool colors are used. Remember, however, that blue skin tones become more pronounced when placed next to warmer, rosier tones.

I avoid using dark gray in recessed areas like nostrils, inside the ear, and in the folds of the skin around a smiling mouth. Although these areas appear darker, they’re warm tones that are generally not as dark in value as you might think. I paint all the shadow areas of the skin with subtle veils of color, and I consciously avoid the tendency to make them too dark and heavy when working from photographs.

Choosing a suitable background color for the painting can be confusing. When selecting any color for a painting, I consider the focal point and the overall look of the picture and ask myself whether a color would reinforce or detract from that focal point. I often use color swatches I pick up at paint and hardware stores to help me make better choices. I can hold the chips up against the painting to better judge both the color and the value.

5. KEEP THE BRUSHWORK LIVELY. When working on children’s portraits, the key is to keep the colors and brushwork as lively, fresh, and spontaneous as the personality you’re trying to present. For this, there’s no better medium than watercolor. However, fresh and lively colors become dulled and muddied when too many corrections are made. To avoid the common problems of dull and muddy color combinations, overworked brushstrokes, and harsh edges, you have to learn the best way of handling the medium and you have to plan ahead. Let me describe the procedures I’ve developed during many years of practice.

After meeting with my client, I take my photographs and sketches back to my studio and do some compositional studies of how I might arrange the figure, props, and background in the painting. Regardless of the medium you’re using, I recommend making a thumbnail sketch before beginning the finished painting to indicate general masses and values. You may have a good idea about the character of the features, but how much of the figure will you show? What about the hands? What color is the background, and what additional items will be included in the painting? All of these questions (and more) should be considered before the brush touches the paper.

After I’ve made my thumbnail sketch and settled on a plan, I draw those elements lightly in pencil on a sheet of watercolor paper that I’ve previously soaked, stretched, and allowed to dry. I produce a fairly detailed drawing on the watercolor paper, putting down all the shapes I see, from the shape of the small highlight on the nose to the shapes in the background. I never work from just one photograph but from several photographs and sketches.

I never project my photographs directly onto the paper, but I often put a sheet of gridded tracing paper over my best photograph of a child’s face, draw a corresponding grid pattern on my watercolor paper, and then carefully transfer the lines indicating the outlines of the ****** features. This procedure helps me get a better likeness of the child and avoid drawing too many pencil lines on the paper.

I almost always work with the painting surface tilted in an upright position because I find that the pigment settles more cleanly and easily when it’s pulled by the force of gravity. I also like being able to step back from the painting and see how it’s progressing. Since the finished picture will be viewed from about eight feet away, I make a point of looking at it from that distance as I work.

For portraits I recommend using a paper that can take scrubbing and erasing. Even the best-laid plans sometimes require change. My favorite paper for watercolor portraits is Arches 140-lb cold-pressed paper because of its workable, textured surface and the slightly warm white hue that complements skin tones. Generally, I paint with a one-inch flat and a No. 10 round sable brush. The collection of brushes I use includes some Pro Arte brushes and one Utrecht Giant round.

I begin by painting pale washes of the skin tone and then apply light washes to indicate the clothes, props, and background. If I’m unhappy with the color combinations or placement of elements, I can adjust them at this early stage.

The next three hours of the painting process are the most critical as I move from painting soft wet-in-wet shapes to more sharply defined ****** features. Rewetting the paper so my brushstrokes have soft edges and easy transitions between colors, I bring up the values in the face from light to dark. If I paint a feature and it looks too hard and lifeless, I paint over it with a brushload of clear water to soften and blend the edges.

I continue working on the clothing, props, and background–everything in the picture except the person’s eyes. I leave the eyes for last since they’re the smallest and most crucial details of the portrait. By the time the portrait is finished, I’ve usually worked for a total of 12 hours over two or three days.

On average, one out of every three or four portraits turns out to be a failure, and I have to tear up what I’ve done and start over again. I don’t hesitate to do that if I have any serious doubts about a painting.

DEMONSTRATION: CHRISSY

Step 1. Here are the photographs and sketches I made while visiting one of my clients. In all of them, I was trying to capture the child’s natural gestures and posture while she sat in sunlight outdoors.

Step 2. After photographing and sketching Chrissy, I soaked and stretched a piece of 140-lb Arches paper and, once it was dry, made a light drawing of the figure with a No. 2 pencil. I then painted light washes of color over the entire picture. By keeping the skin tones light at the beginning of the painting process, I can easily make corrections later without sacrificing the freshness of the watercolors.

Step 3. Keeping the paper damp so the shapes I painted would have soft edges, I put down all the lights and middle tones. I made a point of keeping the brushstrokes quick and broad to give the portrait all the vitality of an active young girl.

Step 4. I always save the detailed work of rendering eyes until the last stage of the painting process. I rarely use masking fluid because I prefer to paint around light areas such as whiskers and loose strands of hair.

The completed painting: Chrissy, 1992, water-color, 20 X 17. Private collection.

FIVE TIPS ON BUSINESS PRACTICES

1. CONFIRM YOUR APPOINTMENTS. A few weeks in advance, confirm the portrait sitting in writing and make note of the date and time, the price, medium, and approximate size of the painting, and the deposit required. On the day before or the morning of the sitting, call again to reconfirm the appointment.

2. BE ON TIME. Frazzled nerves created by being late for a portrait sitting can interfere with concentration–both yours and the client’s. Timeliness is also important in meeting a delivery deadline. If the family wants the painting completed within a time frame that doesn’t work with your schedule, be up-front and tell them you can’t meet the deadline. Then tell them when you will have it ready. If the painting is to be given as a gift on a date you can’t meet, make up a gift certificate the client can present instead, stating that the portrait will be ready on a specific date.

3. BE FLEXIBLE BUT NOT SUBSERVIENT. Clients have every right to be pleased with the finished product, but don’t compromise your integrity. If they ask for something you feel you can’t or won’t do, offer recommendations of other artists who may be better able to meet their requests.

4. BE OPEN TO CRITICISM. After the painting is completed, listen to any suggestions or criticism offered, even from the child. Clients may not be artists, but they’ll pick up on a drawing error or missed judgment call. Many of these points can easily be corrected and then mentally filed for future reference. With every suggestion or criticism made, see the opportunity for growth.

5. LOOSEN UP! Many artists say that accepting commissioned work inhibits their spontaneity. It needn’t. If the painting is going badly or the client is unhappy, loosen up and start over. Very often, all that’s needed is to schedule another portrait sitting. Few clients remember the inconveniences of portrait sittings when faced with the finished painting of someone they love.

Mary Whyte graduated from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has earned a national reputation as both a landscape and portrait painter in watercolor and oils, and her paintings have been included in juried shows organized by the American Watercolor Society, Allied Artists of America, and The Greenwich Workshop in Southport, Connecticut. She teaches portrait- and figure-painting workshops throughout the United States and maintains a studio on Seabrook Island, South Carolina.

ds-dom.ru



DICK

Onur Aksal asked:


I make my living as an illustrator and, like many commercial artists, the paintings I create are intended to solve a problem, express or clarify an idea, or render a product. However, I’m not interested in precise renderings of specific objects. I want my paintings to be as loose and spontaneous as possible–just tight enough so that the viewer can tell what they’re supposed to be.

My favorite subjects are still lifes that include lace, fruit, flowers, and people, and I often surround these with my own unusual fabrics and antique ceramics and objects. I try to create a mood and a sense of light in my paintings. When I’m painting a still life or figure, the picture should look a bit romantic without losing its feel of reality.

I try to create a look that makes even the most commonplace objects special. This desire affects all aspects of the composition. Because I want the painting to be unified, I work hard to integrate the background with the foreground; I don’t want the objects to look flat, or as if they have been pasted on the paper. Most photographers find shadows difficult to work with because they have no color, but as a watercolor painter I love them. In shadow areas, I can use color freely but still maintain a feeling of reality in the painting. One thing I have in common with photographers is the importance I place on proper lighting. I have a lot of photographic equipment, including a camera, tripod, lenses, and photographic floodlights, which I use to illuminate every setup.

My favorite surface is Arches rough 300-pound paper, which I staple to a hollow-core board. I use Winsor & Newton brushes in a variety of large sizes. I feel that the brushes have a great deal to do with the look of a painting: The pictures appear detailed but really are, as I’ve mentioned, quite loose. A lot of people use small brushes when working with watercolor, whereas I tend to use bigger brushes in such a forceful way that they lose their points quickly. I usually torture my surface, so I like heavyweight paper. The combination of the Arches paper’s roughness and the way I work chews up brushes, and I always seem to be buying new ones.

Most of my paints are made by Schmincke, Holbein, and Winsor & Newton. Typically, my palette includes aureolin, Opera, indigo, cerulean blue, magenta, purple-violet, brown madder, Winsor red, peacock blue, alizarin crimson, yellow ochre, viridian, ultramarine blue, and burnt sienna, and I often don’t use all the colors I set out. I never use black or white.

Once I’ve determined the direction of the painting, my approach is the same whether I’m doing a commissioned portrait, an illustration, or a completely personal picture. In the past, my style was more realistic. It was rather opaque and tight, and not very wet or watery; I mixed the color on my palette and then added water and color to the paper. However, during the past five years I’ve consciously loosened up my style a great deal–in terms of both process and color. In the past, if I wanted to paint an object red, I would mix reds on my palette; now, I might try the modern synthetic colors, usually using many reds and allowing them to mix themselves on the paper to achieve the intense color I want. I feel as if I’m enjoying the painting process more since my style has become freer, and I continue to look for ways to experiment. This shift in style has really changed my illustration career. I feel that the way I work now is unique and commercially more desirable.

I welcome opportunities for improvisation, and I’ve found that my loose style allows me to take advantage of accidents rather than be discouraged by them. Although I value spontaneity and looseness, my preliminary drawings are very tight. Every highlight, every shadow, and every detail must be in place before I start washing in the color. That way, when I’m in the painting stage, I can ignore details if I wish.

My process, then, usually begins with a very detailed graphite drawing. Usually, making the drawing takes just a few hours, although for Hydrangeas, the paper was so large that I spent an day or two on the drawing. On the average, my paintings take anywhere from one day to one week to complete.

When I start to paint, I rarely begin with the background first. Many watercolorists paint light to dark, but I start with the dark shadow areas and fade out to the lighter ones, putting in more color as the paper dries. I never use glazing techniques. The most important and unique part of my painting process is that I paint with water first and then place the color right on the paper, allowing the color to mix freely. I create a wet area by painting with a brush loaded with water, not by wetting the entire paper. By doing this, I can create soft edges and manipulate the paint.

I naturally seem to leave a lot of clean white paper for the highlights during the painting process. Also, once the painting is basically completed, I often wash out some of the color with a variety of stiff brushes and scrape out additional highlights with a razor blade. As I’ve said, I like accidents, and I think the spontaneous way I work encourages them. However, I keep white paint in a drawer to correct dark areas when necessary. When I find myself reaching for the white paint too often, I know it’s time for me to start over.

When I get an illustration assignment, I usually have a designated space to fill. The art director presents me with an idea to convey in the painting and often gives me the specific proportions to work with. With those guidelines in mind, I’m free to design the work–which entails not only painting, but getting or making any necessary props. I often spend a good deal of time shopping for objects I can use to decorate the setup and create the desired ambiance.

As a result, I’m very involved in all aspects of the picture-making process, and I’m also very familiar with every object that will appear in the painting. I do all my own food styling–if I need to paint a particular dish, I simply cook it and style its appearance. This can lead to disaster, though, as it did once when I had to paint a portrait of a woman decorating a wedding cake. Although I knew I could purchase the cake, I wanted to save money and do it myself. I finally managed to carve a tiered cake out of styrofoam and frost it, and then I attempted to make the flower decorations out of frosting. After spending six terrible hours trying to make flowers, I had only been able to come up with four awful, awkward shapes that resembled belly buttons! Finally, I gave up and bought silk flowers, which I then dipped into frosting and sugar. It looked elegant, but it cost more than a real wedding cake would have.

Being an illustrator isn’t easy. I work at least eight hours a day, every day, and often I’ll go for weeks painting seven days a week from about six o’clock in the morning until eleven o’clock at night. I’m not an artist who paints just because it feels good–I’m in this to make a living.

STEP 1. My process usually begins with a very detailed graphite drawing. In this piece, the paper was so large that I spent more than one day on the drawing. Usually, the drawing takes only a few hours. Every highlight, every shadow, and every detail must be in place before I start washing in the color.

STEP 2. I rarely start with the background, and this picture is no exception. When I begin, I paint with water first and then add the watercolors to the paper, allowing the color to mix itself. This allows me to create clean color and soft edges. Here, you can also see the photographs that I used for reference.

STEP 3. I wet the area on which I had drawn the vase and then went in with the color. A lot of watercolorists paint from light to dark, but I start with the dark shadow areas and fade out to the lighter ones.

STEP 4. In this detail, you can see how precise yet how loose the painting is. Some people use small brushes, whereas I tend to use bigger ones and in such a forceful way that they lose their points quickly. On the average, my pictures take anywhere from one day to one week to complete. Since it was so large, this piece took about one and a half weeks to finish.



LAURENCE

Mike asked:


Are you looking for unique gift for your best friend or parents or wife or loved one this Christmas? Tired of searching unique gift ideas?. We have one great idea, yes what about giving your wedding anniversary photo as wedding portrait painting to your wife? what about giving your family photograph as family portrait painting to your parents? what about giving your college days photo as painting to your best friend?. Painting from your own photo is perfect personalized photo gift.

I am very sure that they will be thrilled with your portrait painting gift. Now you ask, for this you have goto studio to take photo with all family members and then you need to find good portrait artist who paints from those photograph. But not this much difficult now.

You can now order handmade portrait painting from photo in online web store. You can also see their previous paintings done for their customer and select the store for your family portrait.

You pick photo from your album or you can select multiple photos and ask online store people to merge as you want. You also need to pay 20% advance for start the portrait and you can pay balance 80% after you see your portrait painting’s proof copy. So you have no worries about result.

You can select any photographs to paint like your child’s photograph or your wedding photo or your family photographs with pet or even you order portrait for your house photograph or boat photograph.

Web stores offers portrait paintings in oil, pastel, watercolor, charcoal and pencil mediums.You can suitable medium for your photo or web store people also help you to choose medium for your photo.

So now gift your loved one with hand made portrait painting and it will be surly treasured for ever.



LOUIE

Jiaur Rahman asked:


“His paintings are enveloped in a misty film, creating a strange magical effect and the grimy familiar everyday world is suddenly elevated to a beautiful, romantic plane. Rahman’s youthful exuberance and his wide-eyed optimism reflect in his paintings” .

- The Telegraph

“Since 1998 Basically I am working and experimenting with transparent

watercolour medium. I like to paint Figurative landscape and Indian rural

culture more than other of my styles. My subject is no limitation. I like to paint

all the subject, thyme which I see and imagine.

My others supporting medium is acrylic. When I feel bore in watercolour, then

paint with acrylic medium”.

- Jiaur Rahman



JAY

vijay asked:


All mediums carry their own exclusive characteristics. It is really difficult to state that one medium is superior to another one. Basically it is resolute by the artists to make use of its exclusive properties and apply the medium that is most excellent suited for him. Now we would take a look at some of the features of the chief three mediums.

1) Oils – Oils appeals to be the mother of all painting mediums. Once your painting is executed on the wall it shows enough texture to confirm that it is an original. The situation of paint and the color also is precisely the same when being applied than when it dries. Therefore, the artists can be evaluating perfectly with the outcome of painting.

2) Watercolor – This is known as lucid (transparent) medium as white is no where added to the body. The pigments are quite thin and transparent. Watercolors normally have a brilliancy that surpasses solid mediums. Unfortunately, in this medium some properties are not simple to handle and meaning of edges are as well not simple to manage when working on wet paper. Another most significant thing is some people do not appreciate it to be framed behind glass. It doesn’t display that the painting is a real one and frequently been mistaken for a print.

3) Acrylics - These act pretty much the same as oils apart from that it doesn’t need toxic solvents. However, it is still an actual messy sort of medium. One of the setbacks that are a main issue is the fact that it dries too quick thus making it hard to blend, giving an in general hard edged look.

Hints:

If you have a preference to put in an extremely thin layer of linseed oil to your canvas just before you apply the paint, you would for sure work less on trying to rub the pigment on. This would further give you a more feasible surface as the paint would slide on. Also you might not require varnishing your painting as it will end up with a glossy look.

Remember that you are the only person who knows the difference between a palette and a canvas. As far as the pigment is concerned they are both mixing surfaces, meaning you could even mix your paint on either one.



ALVIN