I am captured by the creative genius that spills out of garden sheds. Artistry, in particular. It seems that the blank mundane canvas of the common timber structure allows imaginative and intense focus on painterly expression. Perhaps it is the physical solitude of the shed which enables its inhabitant to travel the heights and depths of their own artistic perfection.
Damian Hirst spent almost three years in his garden shed in Devon painting a collection. The paintings, most of which had never been seen outside the shed, featured in the Wallace Collection in London, 2009. “For two years… the paintings were embarrassing and I didn’t want anyone to come in,” he said. Although he is now working with oil on canvas rather than animals in formaldehyde, the focus of his paintings remain – skulls, sharks jaws and cigarettes. Hirst holds the world record for the largest sale of a single artist at ?111million but has returned to his college roots to concentrate on oil painting, from his garden room!
Dublin born self-taught artist Paul Kelly burst upon the Irish art scene in the early 1990s, winning the James Kennedy Memorial Award for portraiture at the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) at the age of 23, and, nine years later, the Artist of the Year Award of the most prestigious honours in UK/Irish fine art. Enjoying tremendous commercial success with sell-out exhibitions at the Gorry Gallery in Dublin, he still worked out of his own garden shed studio at home.
Read more…
A simple clown face is an relatively easy and fast design to paint, if you stick to the basic, key elements. Whether or not you paint the whole face a color – traditionally white for a clown – before you start creating a face is up to you and how much time you have. If you’re at a party, it’ll help speed up your ‘production line’ to have an assistant who can do the ‘under layer’.
So, where to start? Think of a clown and what do you think of first? A bright, prominent nose. But don’t limit yourself to red; using other colors for the nose will immediately make the faces you’ve painted different.
Adding dimension to your pages is simple. Just add a few little dimensional items and will be amazed at the character that it brings out. Here are just a few of the many different tools that you can use to add to your pages.
You can add as many or as few that you need to create the style and look you love.
Read more…
Never was there a more fitting time for face painters to get their brushes and paints out as we close in on the glitziest street party of the year, when the dazzling sequinned outfits adorn the daring and, for the more modest, sensational wigs, long dresses, wacky jester costumes and beautiful jewelled, sequinned and diamante masks are the order of the day. Are you a beginner on the verge of breaking new ground with a Mardi Gras face painting party? If you’ve already hosted your first, then you will have a better understanding of what to expect. That first time is always the hardest, but it is also one of those great feeling moments when you realise that it wasn’t so difficult after all and you actually had some real fun! Here are a few tips.
Read more…
Definition:
The term for how atmospheric conditions influence our perception of objects in the distance. As objects get closer to the horizon (or further away), they appear lighter in tone, less detailed, and bluer or cooler in color.
It’s something that’s easier to understand visually than in words. Take a look at the phototowards the right of this page and you’ll immediately see how the coastal hills appear lighter in tone as they march down the coast.
Aerial perspective applies to the sky too. Directly above you it’ll be much bluer than at the horizon, where it can fade to nearly white.
Is your website doomed before it even gets off the ground? A badly-designed website can turn off potential customers before they even think about buying your product. Here are some website design mistakes that you should avoid.
Read more…
Photo © Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc
Paint the outline of the butterfly wings, trying to get both wings more or less symmetrical (this will get easier with practise). Paint from the side of the ridge of the nose, up and across the forehead, above the eyebrows. Then down from the nose past the mouth almost to the end of the jaw. Now ‘join up’ the two lines using as much of the cheek as possible. Don’t worry too much about how much space you leave for the butterfly’s body at the nose; you can always paint over part of the wings if necessary.
Definition:
A monochrome filter is a filter made from a piece of plastic in a primary color. Looking through it at objects reduces the colors you’re seeing to tones of whatever color the filter is, enabling you to easily see and compare how light or dark the tones or values are.
Dark red is generally used for a monochrome filter, but if your subject’s got a lot of red in it, try a strong blue.
The easiest way to make one is look in a craft supplies store or stationer’s for a plastic folder or file divider in a suitable color. Cut it to smaller size if you prefer, and stiffen the edges by gluing a piece of stiff card onto it. Or paint up a piece of stiff plastic or glass with a transparent red.