Art Prints Etc Blog

What is the correct definition for Art Photography?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:07:00 +0000

Art photography is relatively young. Photography the way we know it only exists for less than 100 years. Some early attempts can be dated back to few centuries B.C. but the modern photography is just a baby compared to more traditional forms of art. Maybe that is why there are no universally-accepted definitions of the related terms "art photography" "artistic photography" and "fine art photography".

So, what would be the right definition of it? Here is my take on this:

If the definition is not clearly defined by an overwhelmingly accepted authority in the field, then it is up to the people to determine what fits the best. On the side note, maybe because this field of Art is so young I haven’t come across an organization or a person that had enough recognition to unite and direct all the artists in this field (on the other hand I do not think that other areas of art has anything like that as well).

Thus, doing a little research on the Web can show what people are looking for and thus can show what they think the right term and the right definition is.

Here are the two things to look for:

1. Most widely accepted term and definition of Art Photography
2. Terms used the most to locate commercial prints on the Web.

Well the answer to number one is ‘as clear as mud’. Here is Wikipedia.org take on it:

“Definitions on the Web
Among the definitions that can be found on the Web are:

The Library of Congress authorities use "art photography" as "photography of art," and "artistic photography" (i.e., "Photography, artistic") as "photography as a fine art, including aesthetic theory".

The Art & Architecture Thesaurus states that "fine art photography" (preferred term) or "art photography" or "artistic photography" is "the movement in England and the United States, from around 1890 into the early 20th century, which promoted various aesthetic approaches. Historically, has sometimes been applied to any photography whose intention is aesthetic, as distinguished from scientific, commercial, or journalistic; for this meaning, use 'photography'".

Definitions of "fine art photography" on photographers' static Web pages vary from "the subset of fine art that is created with a camera" to "limited-reproduction photography, using materials and techniques that will outlive the artist". Discussions of "fine art photography" in Usenet newsgroups, Internet forums, and blogs have not come to a consensus regarding the definition of the term.”

So there is no point trying to figure it out right now, since there are so many people already trying. Not sure if it is really matters as long as everyone can settle on one term and one definition.

So what about number two? Well, this is what people are looking according to Google’s keywords suggestion tool:

Art Photography is the most popular search term, followed by Fine Art Photography with five to ten times less search volume and followed by Artistic Photography with fifteen to twenty five times less search volume than the ‘Art Photography’. Thus, looks like Art Photography is the most popular term. However, who knows what people are defining it as and what they actually looking for when they do the search – A local artist, photography art prints for sale, definition of the term, a gallery, etc…?

Interestingly enough black white photography and photo art are in second and third position based on the search volume.

There you have it ‘Art Photography’ appears to be most widely used and is probably the eventual winner of the right term status. The only thing that remains is to come up with the correct definition.

And here are a few artworks of mine to make the post a little more eye pleasing:

See more photography art here:
Art Photography

How much Paul N. Norton worth?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:54:00 +0000

Well the first question is who is Paul N. Norton?

"Paul N. Norton (February 15, 1909 in Moline, Illinois – 1984) was an American artist. The son of a railway clerk, Norton painted more than 500 watercolors in his career, and also created many memorable logos for companies such as Dairy Queen, Pella Windows, and others. His paintings can be found hanging in the White House, U.S. Capitol, the Iowa Governor's Mansion, and Tahoma Vista Village among others."

Recently it seems there is a spike in number of people trying to figure out how much Paul N. Norton's artworks worth. And there seems to be a lot of art prints floating around. As with any art it is only worth what people are willing to pay for it, but I did some research and here is what I found out. Disclaimer: This is a guideline and personal opinion only – this is not a proof or solid fact, so use it wisely.

I will not mention all the sources that I had to researched over the years for one simple reason, there are too many and not all of them look very reliable. The feeling I got from my research is this:

High quality art print on watercolor paper can range from $50.00 to $500.00. The price is based on how rare the print is and this is including the frame. I have not yet come across artwork that is not a watercolor so I would say as long as it is a watercolor it and it is an original it can probably go as high as $5000.00.

Limited edition prints will fetch more, but again I haven't seen or heard about any of them. However, there are many high quality prints on watercolor paper and the most common question is "Do I have an original or a copy". Most of the prints have brown protective paper glued to the back, but an easy way to determine if it is an original or a print is to use a magnifying glass. If you see dots it is not an original. Watercolor paint is absorbed by the paper and sometimes even 'bleeds' through it if a lot is used, so dots or sharp end at the edges is a good indication that you are dealing with a high quality print rather than original.

Please do not e-mail or call me to find out how much your Paul N. Norton art worth. You can post a comment here and I'll reply. If you have sold an original or art print please share you experience here – solid figures are appreciated.

In the end the best advice is – contact your local art gallery and they should be able to give you an estimate, if not then you are working with the wrong gallery.

My Paul N. Norton watercolor print for sale.

Sincerely,
Mikhail Onanov
Artist

Exhibit or exhibition – what is what and what is right?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:42:00 +0000

Recently someone asked me if there is a difference between exhibit and exhibition and what is it? I can see why this question comes up since many artists use these terms interchangeably.

In the art community either one will work when talking about a public showing of artwork, many other places will accept either one as well. So, from the point of view of communicating with others, it really doesn't matter. The difference is in the definition and if one wants to go an extra mile and use these terms correctly.

If we keep the use of these words to the artist's world, then:

Exhibit - is an artwork that is part of collection of other artworks or a sole artwork being presented in a public showing. In other words exhibit is a single piece of art that is part of the Exhibition.

Exhibition - is a public showing of art (usually multiple artworks but can be a single artwork). In other words exhibition is a way of showing multiple (or single) exhibits to the public. Exhibiting - is a process of showing artworks that are part of an exhibition.

Interestingly enough even Wikipedia has definition for exhibition where exhibit and exhibition are considered equally the same:

-- Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" (the French word) or "show". In UK English, they are always called "exhibitions" or "shows", and an individual item in the show is an "exhibit". --

Hope this will clear things up a little,

My on-line Art Exhibition

Sincerely,
Mikhail Onanov

Oil paintings – more oil paint or less?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:20:00 +0000

How much oil paint to use and what are the criteria for using more or less oil paint when creating an oil painting? The answer might not be so simple but there are a few general guidelines that can be followed. Here they are:

Portraits - it is obvious that the face on the portrait has to be flat, there are many reasons why, but unless it is an abstract painting any 'ups' or 'downs' will create additional shadows base on where the light source is located and can ruin the artwork. As long as the face is flat everything else is just based on style -Either enough oil paint can be used to just barely cover the canvas, when the canvas texture is still visible up-close, or more can be used to make sure that the texture is hidden. The first approach is safer since the paint most likely will not crack, the second one requires more experience but the basic rule is - to prevent cracks the later layers of paint should be thicker than the previous ones.

Besides faces the rest of the painting can be done virtually in unlimited number of ways. The most common approach is to keep the thickness of paint consistent throughout the oil art, and it used a lot in the classic impressionism paintings by many famous artists. It doesn't have to be this way.

Paint can be used to put emphases on some objects in the composition and to create a 3D feel to artwork. Here is an example of landscape oil paintings where the center of the painting is flat, but the trees and leafs were created using much more oil paint making them appear closer. In some parts of the painting the paint is up to half an inch above the canvas surface.

Shadows in this case is not an issue, since in this landscape painting different position of the light source will create an impression of seeing this park at the different time of the day. The one thing that will work against this painting is a direct light source aimed in the middle of it, it will hide all the intended effects and will make painting look good instead of exceptional. This never happens in life, homes or galleries never have a light source directed to the middle of the painting, and if it is not aimed from the side then it will be from above.

Portraits can be 'enhanced' the same way. The face has to be flat, but no one said that the rest of the painting has to be flat as well. The rest of the painting is left to artist’s imagination and a lot can be done there. Again, combination of colors, texture, light source and many other things is what makes the painting 'work' and if it was as simple as following the rules then everyone would be a great artist.

See more Oil Paintings that are done using some of the techniques described above.

Sincerely,

Mikhail Onanov
Artist

Edgar Degas – Nudes for everyone or you rather race a horse?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:22:00 +0000

Degas – poor with high expectations from his parents – sounds like a perfect recipe to become famous artist. The one thing he had on his side is his death. In his lifetime he sold only one artwork to a museum, but there are many, not as fortunate artist, that sold none during their lifetime, and now their art sells for millions of dollars. So why is Edgar Degas famous anyway?

There are many ways to interpret his popularity after death but it is better to start with his life. He was 'all over the place' – paintings, sculpture and pastels. He picked probably a passion and topic that was not so popular at the time – history paintings. The thing that worked against him the most is his believe that an artist could have no personal life. Combination of these factors worked very much against him plus, as any artist knows, you need a little bit of luck on your side and he probably had none. But then the competitions was pretty tough too, Monet as one of them, and impressionism was still new.

Edgar Degas made it, too late, but still... It gives hopes to other artist out there, and it is sounds more and more like 'Forest Gump' life story. In the end, many years later, when many artworks were lost to social cataclysms or end up in private collections, there were not so many left, and eventually some artcritic or a good businessman came across Degas work and decided that they are as good as any and can compete with well known artist at the time. Sculptures, Dancers, Horses and other art, which was not covered much by other artist, this was the perfect opportunity to present his work as unique and "one of a kind".

In the end Degas is known for his dancers, horseracing, sculpture and nude artwork, but during his life he was always leaning towards history paintings. Every artist would like to be famous, but "do you rather be famous for who you are or what people are told you are?" Better to be famous whichever way than being no one, but civilization is not over yet, and who knows there might be another artist around the corner that will be "it" soon.

Art is strange, fascinating, dangerous, exciting and wrong subject to write about, because there is no right, no wrong and no maybe – it's just art – someone makes it someone not, someone sells, someone not, someone is not an artist and not famous and someone is an Artist and not... Too many unknowns but one thing is certain it is ART.

Sincerely,
Mikhail Onanov
Artist

Creating watercolor paintings with oil paint.

admin@artprintsetc.com — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Can a watercolor painting be created using oil paint? The answer is yes, to some degree. The question is - is it worth the effort and when should this technique be used?

Watercolor painting itself is very demanding and its techniques are quite unique. The water in the watercolor paint changes shape of the paper and appearance of the paint when it dries. Watercolor is also not 'forgiving', since mistakes cannot be hidden by painting over. Thus, it is very complex and tricky media to use. On the other hand oil doesn't have these limitations, not to say it has no difficulties on its own, but it lucks the effects that can be created with the watercolor paint, or is it?

The idea is what if for example an oil painting of foggy or rainy day needs to be created? With watercolor paint, considering an artist is proficient with it, it is very easy to paint fog or rain. Watercolor allows for scattering of light creating transparent layers that are perfect for painting fog for example. What about oil?

Yes, same effect can be accomplished with oil paint. It has many limitations that watercolor paint does not, but for this particular example it can be done. See picture of the original oil painting on canvas on top and here is the closeup of the top right corner.

It is oil painting of downtown Chicago on a rainy day. The watercolor effect in this painting is accomplished using oil paint. It has a slightly different feel to it then watercolor painting, but the effect is the same and it fits the painting very well.

It is obvious that oil paint will not replace or cannot accomplish the same thing watercolor paint can and vice versa, however if an artist is proficient with both medias , then watercolor look and feel can be accomplished even with oil paint. This works well for specific landscapes when dim light conditions are portrayed in the painting.

One thing to note, it is somewhat tricky and complicated to get watercolor effect using oil paint, and requires some research from the artist. The way it has to be done is also depends on the painting itself, such as landscape, colors used, etc... so there is no simple direction s on how to accomplish this. However, any artist should be able to figure it out after a number of tries.

Here are some additional examples of oil paintings on canvas where watercolor effect is produced using oil paint.

Sincerely,
Mikhail Onanov
Artist

Impressionism – Dos and Don’ts

admin@artprintsetc.com — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:44:00 +0000

Impressionism is one of the latter art styles. There are some criteria's and techniques that define it, but are they really a must have or just a definition?

According to Wikipedia.org –
"Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists exhibiting their art publicly in the 1860s. The name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satiric review published in Le Charivari."

Thus the term initially defined a single painting.

Then, again according to Wikipedia.org it was used more broadly –
"Characteristics of Impressionist paintings include visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles.
The emergence of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by analogous movements in other media which became known as Impressionist music and Impressionist literature.

Impressionism also describes art created in this style, but outside of the late 19th century time period."

So, what do you need to do as an artist to insure that your artwork fits the definition of impressionism? Interestingly, not much.

The term is so 'widely' defined that virtually any artwork, unless it can be absolutely positively defined as abstract (or it's variation such as cubism, etc...) can fit the term.

Most artists nowadays use visible brush strokes (yes you can see them in virtually any painting if you are close enough).

Most artist use open composition.

Almost anyone knows how to use light and make emphasis on it. Outside of abstract oil paintings (or probably broader definition of abstract and oil paintings) you can not really create an artwork without using light and making emphasis on its qualities.

Most of the art will cover ordinary subject mater, unless it is futuristic artwork.

All art is about perception and experience and again most artwork is about experiences we (humans) have.

No artist will probably agree that their visual angles are not unusual, thus most are using unusual visual angles.

Thus, this really leaves only handful of exceptions – abstract paintings, etc... and one rule. But even the rule is really more of a guideline than a rule. The rule is: "In pure Impressionism the use of black paint is avoided."

So, take a hard look at all the paintings you have the chances are 90% of the artwork that is not abstract is actually impressionism.

And here are some examples of impressionism art:Impressionism Oil Paintings on Canvas.

Mikhail Onanov
Artist

Want to sell your Art? – move to the right place.

admin@artprintsetc.com — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:56:00 +0000

I have traveled a lot within United States and abroad. One thing I have noticed is that there are some places where it is easier to sell real art and then there are some that require a 'different approach'.

Right now I’m in South Carolina in a little town called Hilton Head Island. This is very popular tourist destination and there are art stores all over. The city is very nice and it has its own unique appeal and charm. However, looks like most of the art stores are oriented towards tourists hunting for cheap souvenirs.

There is no demand for high quality artwork in the place like this. I can understand why, it is hard to carry large original and expensive painting around and most of the people here are from out of town, thus it makes sense that small framed watercolors, pastels or acrylics are in demand and large oil paintings are not. I would think that people buy these in lieu of taking a photograph, and it is just a fancy way to say – 'hey I can actually buy a paintings instead of taking a picture'. So, the theme of most of the art here is all about local attractions – lighthouse, marina, boats, ocean, etc...

On the contrary, same theme can be found in New York City for example, but it probably would be higher quality artwork created not just for home décor and souvenir purposes, but create as a real art.

Which brings me to the point, it seems that to make a few quick bucks and sell many low quality art – tourist destinations are the way to go. For more serious art major urban metropolitan areas would probably work much better. It seems like it is easier to get name recognition in larger cities that have many art galleries, then in small tourist towns.

I would think quantity wise it is easier to sell a lot of paintings to tourist, considering that they are fairly inexpensive, which most of the time would imply low quality, however seems like no one was able to become famous by doing that.

In the end if you are already well known and established artist it really doesn't matter where you live, but if you are on the way up chose your location carefully and move to the right place if you can.

Mikhail Onanov - Oil Paintings on Canvas
Artist

Is Original Art a commodity, a luxury item or simply a wall decor?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:58:00 +0000

Markets collapsed around the world and many billionaires have lost most of their fortune virtually overnight and they are billionaires no more. The remarkable thing is that even with the decline in the art prices some managed to keep their billionaire status thanks to their valuable original art collections.

So is art really a commodity?

There are many definitions of commodity, but one fits art particularly well - "something useful or valued". Well all art, or at least most of it, is useful for home décor, and all art, or at least most of it, is valued. It doesn’t matter if art is created by armature or well known artist, original paintings are never cheap. The value varies from hundreds of dollars to many million dollars, but none can be obtained for a few bucks unless it is a cheap reproduction.

So is art really a luxury item?

Yes and no. Many original artworks are affordable and simply a good investment, some are excessively expensive and they are luxury items. However, a definition of a luxury item is - something that not many people can afford, but those who can afford it have to actually use it. Unfortunately many famous artworks in private collections are just simply sitting in the volts. They are put away next to cash, gold and other valuables, so at that point art is simply an investment vehicle and not luxury item anymore.

So is art a wall décor?

For the most part it is, but it is kind of difficult to accept the idea that a million dollar painting is on the wall simply for decoration purposes.
It is interesting how the commodity definition fits art best out of the three. In most cases they are always exceptions, and there is no such thing as a definition of art, since everyone seems to have their own way of defining and describing art. Most likely art is little bit of all of those things and more, so that is why it is so hard to define.

Billionaires are probably some of the smartest people in the world, or some of the luckiest ones, and many chose to have large portion of their fortune kept in original art. When economy collapsed and many stocks are now worth less than the paper they are printed on, or less than the fee brokers charge to sell them, art is still standing strong.

This is truly remarkable - original art that used to worth thousands of dollars yesterday still worth thousands of dollars today when everything else that was considered valuable took a big dive.

Original Art

ArtPrintsEtc.com

Oil Portrait Paintings – Real or from Photograph?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:51:00 +0000

What is the difference between a portrait oil painting done from a photograph and the one created in a life session? Is there a difference and which one is better?

I guess to answer this question a few things have to be considered first:

1. Creating portrait from a photograph is a faster more affordable way to get a portrait done.

2. Oil paintings take time, long time, a quality oil painting takes usually up to three months to make. Not because it is a slow process, but just because it takes time for paint to dry up. Other media, such as acrylic, require less time to dry up so they can be done a lot faster.

3. A portrait created from a photograph is a skillful copy of the photograph, and it is just that. A portrait created in person by a professional artist is most of the time not just a portrait but a work of art.

So, based on the above it is easy to do cons and pros:

Painting from photograph:

Pros
Fairly fast process and you do not have to be present in person. A photograph can be shipped anywhere in the world nowadays and the portrait can be ordered over the phone, on-line, etc...

It is more affordable than real portrait and doesn't require scheduling appointments and waiting for an Artist to become available.

You get to chose how you look. You can pick a photo that you like the most and that is what you are getting back in form of a painting.

You getting a signature of a well known artist, or at least possibly well know to be artist on your portrait, and one day it can worth a lot of money to someone.

Cons
If a portrait is done from a photograph (and it doesn’t have to be a portrait, it applies to any painting done from a photograph) you just getting a copy, yes it can be a very professionally done copy, but it is a copy.

In many cases it is better to just enlarge your photo and frame it, and it will look as good as the painting, but it will cost less.

Real Portrait:

Pros
You are guaranteed to get a work of ART. It doesn't really matter if it is done a professional artist or an armature, it is real art.

It is an investment. If done by a well known artist or an artist that is going to be famous the portrait is not just a portrait any more it is 'money in the bank'.
Original paintings do not get boring over time like a photograph does. Some photographs have memories associated with them and can stay 'fresh' forever, but a copy of it will get boring soon enough.

It is a status thing, very few people can say that they have an original oil portrait done by a professional artist in a life sessions.

You will learn more about yourself every day you look at it. It will look different every time and the thing that real paintings have is every time you get to discover something new about them.

Cons
Real portraits take time, be prepared to wait for a few months, after all you want the artist to be in the 'creative mood' when a portrait is created.

You do not choose what you are going to look like. You getting real you, and even with many artist now accepting the idea that they should make people look a little better than they actually look (no one wants to see a portrait of themselves on a 'bad' day), it is still a pure view of the artist. This is how the artist sees you, and there are no second chances.

They are more expensive, not just cost wise but the time you have to spend away from other things that you need to be doing, so these are for wealthy.

There are exceptions (there are always exceptions):
TV made impossible things possible. When a person is on TV an Artist now can capture their character and emotions and translate them in to a portrait even if it is done form photograph. (This is harder with politicians since by the nature of their work they tend to hide their emotions).

I'll let you to decide what is better and why.

Let me know what you think about original oil painting of Oprah Winfrey above. You can always leave a comment here or visit Oil Portrait Paintings to see more oil portrait paintings and drop me an e-mail.

Sincerely,
Mikhail Onanov
Artist

Pastel Drawings – Are they Art?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Pastel Drawings are they real art or just a tool that artists use to advance their skills? For most drawing with pastels, charcoal or pencil is associated with sketches and rarely with real artwork. But the next time you take a look at a pastel drawing consider this famous drawings are sold regularly for thousands if not millions of dollars. So why are pastels are not so widely known - or in other words - popular?

So why drawings do not get attention they deserve? Well here are few reasons why:

A lot of artists start with drawings or sketches because it is an easier way to learn to draw and very forgiving in a lot of as well. For example you can simply erase wrong line in pencil drawing. The oils usually come next as more advanced level in Art. Thus in memories of a lot of Artists drawings associated with the beginning of their carrier, an entry level if you will, so most do not come back to it after they become established artists. However, the masters that did, created some exceptional artworks that will be highlights of the Art's history forever.

Another aspect is that pastels and charcoal usually are really good for figure drawings since they are the best media to draw skin and so most think that this is the only thing these media are really good for. However, especially with a lot of color pastels available on the market now, there is no limit to what you can draw with pastels.

One other thing that works against drawing is that they are done on paper; not the most durable material to begin with. This is probably the reason why a lot more old oil paintings are available now than drawings.

What works against pastels the most is they are messy. It is very easy to leave a mark or a spot on the paper when drawing with pastels. Watercolor is also very messy, not as bad as pastels or charcoal, but interestingly enough they are also not such popular form of art and always considered second best to oils paintings.

Because of all these reasons artists are hesitant to work with pastels, and they are creating somewhat negative public opinion about pastels. After all who are the best experts on Art - obviously artists themselves.

However, with help of technology, better days are coming for drawings. Paper is now more durable than ever, drawing can be easily framed and protected under the glass and if laminated, then they can survive virtually forever. Since it is very inexpensive to laminate even a large drawing and laminations services are widely available everywhere it is only matter of time until drawings will catch up with paintings in popularity and price.

Tatyana Belyavskaya
Artist
Pastel Drawings

Why is it better to use standard canvas sizes?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:08:00 +0000

If you are buying art or if you are an artist it is better to purchase or create artwork on standard canvas sizes. The reason why is quite simple on both sides of the transactions. Here is why –

If you are a buyer -

When you purchase art and if you are planning to purchase more than one artwork for you home décor, it is better to purchase standard canvas sizes. There are few reasons why:

There are frames available at retail stores that can be a lot cheaper than custom frames. Not all of them will work well with every artwork, and some artwork will have completely different and better look and feel with a custom frame, but never the less, some artwork looks great with just a standard frame from the retail store.

If you do decide to go with a custom frame, there is a chance that the frame you chose is not working to well with your home décor or maybe you just ready to renovate and update your interior. What can work well for redesign is swapping frames between artworks. You will be amazed how you can get a different look and feel from that same 'old and boring' painting - that is if you got an 'old and boring' paintings to begin with.

Also standard size art will make your décor look more organized and classic, when you have all different sizes all over it will look like an art gallery, and not cozy house. Also with standard sizes it is easier to create different wall art compositions – like arranging paintings or drawings in groups of two, three, etc...

If you are an Artist -

Most of the artist do not have their own frame shop, so if you are selling your artwork framed you will be in a better position to get a discount from a frame shop when you are purchasing larger quantity of frames that are the same sizes.

Same as with buyer you can give your artwork a new life by exchanging frames between artworks. And you can offer the same art with different types of frames since they are all the same sizes. People like different taste, so having different framing options available always helps.

With standard canvas sizes shipping and handling can be a walk in a park. Once you packaged one item, you can use the same materials and approach to package and ship another. Plus you don't have to figure out new shipping charges every time since same sizes will most likely have the same shipping cost.

Find samples of standard sizes canvas oil paintings here:
Oil Paintings on Canvas

Mikhail Onanov
Artist.

Photography Art Prints – how are they made?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:48:00 +0000

Nowadays just about anyone can take a good quality photographs with a digital camera. Or take a few hundred pictures and the chances are few will be good, and even one or two outstanding.

Here are a few tips, tricks and techniques on how to make art print poster ready photographs and print ready digital files. Don’t get overwhelmed, there is a lot of information here, but a lot of it is just intuitive. Well, a bit of patience will always help.

First thing – Photo Size

If you taking a digital photo of you family or friend the largest size you would print is usually 5 by 7 inches, maybe 8 by 10 at the most. Even small size digital photographs (2MB or less) are ‘good enough’ to create a decent print. But if you want to create prints that are 16 by 20, 20 by 24 inches or larger you need more pixels (in pixels 20 by 24 inches photo is actually about 40 times larger than 3 by 4 inches photo assuming they have the same resolution).

So, when you are taking a photo for photography art print or poster you have to determine first the largest size of art print or poster that you are planning to make. To play it safe set your digital camera to largest size possible. Even an average digital camera will allow you take pictures up to 10MB in size, which is about 3600 by 2700 pixels. All newer computers can handle 10MB files fairly easily, plus you will ‘loose’ a few megabytes when you upload you photograph to a PC (I’ll cover MAC in a separate article) and when you edit it.

Second thing – Editing Photo

I use Photoshop to edit photographs and create print ready files for prints and posters. There are many different photo editing software out there and majority if not all of them have the basics needed in the beginning. I just purchased standard edition Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 for a friend for about $80 at Costco a few months ago, and usually it is more than enough. A professional version can cost a few hundred dollars and has many more features, but it only makes sense for a professional photographer to buy it.

Once you have uploaded your files to a computer you are ready to start editing. If Photoshop opened by default at the time of upload, close it and open it again in edit mode. (There is probably a better way to switch to edit mode, but I found this to be the easiest for me).

Resolution

When you open your photo the first thing you want to do is check your file resolution. Many products will open photo for editing with default resolution – 72 dip (72 pixels per inch). This is not enough for large photography art prints or posters, so you want to set it to at least 300 dip (300 pixels per inch, the higher the better, but higher resolution mean larges file sizes, and if they too large you might not even be able to save them is web formats like jpeg). Once you have set your resolution it is time to set your print file size.

Quick tips:

1. Determine Scale – If your largest print will be let’s say 20 by 24 inches, then you have to keep in mind that when you scaling down to smaller sizes it has to be proportionate to the largest one, or the photo will either have to be deformed in width, height or both. You then will lose consistency in your prints, and sometimes even make them look bad.
Also, it takes longer to make adjustments and edits with large file, so I usually start with a medium size, but before I save the file, I scale it up to the desired size.

2. Remember about borders – most of the photography prints or posters have a border around them. This is done on purpose, since they look better in a frame with a border. So, the image size would be actual picture size, plus the size of the border (In other words, if you printing 20 by 24 inches photo with 1 inch border on each size, your actual photo size is now 18 by 22 inches, and that is the size you need to use for scaling). You can also use border to your advantage, if a photograph can not be scaled to a smaller size using the same proportions, then you can increase or decrease the border to maintain the proportions.

3. Background - Another thing to remember, I seen great photographs were rejected just for that, when you select an object from a photo and remove background and just replace it with a filler (let’s say white color background) remember about the border. Will your print still look good with the border around it, or is it better to make a background different color then the border, so you can tell where the photo ends and border begins?

There are hundreds of different way to edit the photo, so this is really just up to your taste and the end result you have in mind. Software’s manual will be the best guide for that.

Crop

So you have a photo and it is perfect, but you need to crop it on with side or both. What is the best way to do this? Again, you have to know you final size for the largest print, and make sure that after you crop the photo it can be scaled up to the desired size without being deformed. Thus, when crop before you select your changes check to see if the end result can be scaled up easily, or if it is at least close to the desired size. (If I’m planning to create three different photography art print sizes, then I’ll use the medium one for editing, I also would zoom in as much as it makes sense, since with a lot of digital editing it is easier to see details that way).
If you can not get the photo to the right sale due to the things that you absolutely have to crop to make the photo perfect, then see if you can adjust it and keep the end result acceptable. For example, you end up with 20 by 24.01 inches file after crop, if you chose not to contain proportions and adjust the file to 20 by 24 inches; the chances are the image will not be distorted much. But once you have done this, it becomes you ‘master’ photo, so only use your ‘master’ now to scale up or down to a desired size.

Third thing – Proofing and Saving

Proofing –

If you made digital adjustments to your photograph, especially if you used tools to do it for you, you need to make sure there are no surprises. The best way that works for me, is I zoom to the actual size of the print and manually examine the entire photo. Many times unexpected details would appear even on an original photograph. So do your ‘do diligence’, check every part carefully.

Saving –

There are dozens, if not hundreds, different formats that that can be accepted by printers. Usually, tiff format is used for very high quality fine photography art prints and posters, jpeg on the other hand should be good enough to create large prints that are s good in quality as the prints you will find in most retail stores. So, check on preferred format with whoever will be printing these for you, or if you have an ability to print them yourself, then trial and error seems to work well for me.

Fourth thing – What Makes it Photography Art versus just a Photograph?

I have asked this question myself number of times, but I do not think it there is a definitive answer. I would say if people like it and buy it, then it is photography art print and not just a large photo.

Attached below are a couple examples:

1. Red Rose – This is digitally modified photograph of a rose – it has been modified quite a bit – background, color, flower edges, etc… I’ve mostly received negative critique on this print from professional photographers (gray background, unclear edges, etc…), but I made it into photography art print and it sells well.

2. Original Rose – this is actual the original photograph f the rose, with only background removed. ‘Red Rose’ print was made from it.

So you’ll be the judge of what the photography art is and what isn’t. In the end if you feel like creating something, then just go for it, at the minimum your reward would be your own satisfaction.

See more photography art here:
Photography Art

Dmitry Raguimov
Artist

Monet and Manet – who is who and who is better?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:32:00 +0000

In my childhood when I first heard about Monet and Manet (Claude Monet and Édouard Manet) painters and saw their artwork, what was available to see at the time, I was thinking that they are the same person. Their paintings looked very much alike and the similarity in the name added to the confusion. So who is who and is one better than another?

Small biography tidbits from wikipedia.org –

Claude Monet –

“Claude Monet was born on 14 November 1840 on the fifth floor of 45 rue Laffitte, in the ninth arrondissement of Paris. He was the second son of Claude-Adolphe and Louise-Justine Aubrée Monet, both of them second-generation Parisians. On 20 May 1841, he was baptised into the local church parish, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette as Oscar-Claude. In 1845, his family moved to Le Havre in Normandy. His father wanted him to go into the family grocery store business, but Claude Monet wanted to become an artist. His mother was a singer.”

Édouard Manet –

“Édouard Manet was born in Paris on 23 January 1832, to an affluent and well connected family. His mother, Eugénie-Desirée Fournier, was the daughter of a diplomat and the goddaughter of the Swedish crown prince, Charles Bernadotte, from whom the current Swedish monarchs are descended. His father, Auguste Manet, was a French judge who expected Édouard to pursue a career in law. His uncle, Charles Fournier, encouraged him to pursue painting and often took young Manet to the Louvre. In 1845, following the advice of his uncle, Manet enrolled in a special course of drawing where he met Antonin Proust, future Minister of Fine Arts, and a subsequent life-long friend.”

So one was born into royal family and another into family of a singer. What I found interesting is that both Artists in their early paintings kind of follow the same style. They were born around the same time, so I’m assuming this was pretty much the trend back then, and in their early artwork you can see influence from their teachers. It appears that the preference was portraits and paintings of people.

What happened next is that you can clearly see with Monet that even in his early work he start concentrating on the landscape in his painting as much, if not more, as the people – for example "Woman in a Garden" and "Woman with a Parasol". It seems that the landscape paintings were more appealing to Monet than any other types of paintings.

Manet on the other hand started more like a rebellion. His early artworks were considered controversial, since he painted nude women in some of his artwork – for example "The Luncheon on the Grass".

So one came from "nowhere" and loved to pain landscape even when painting for living, another came from royal family and could afford to paint controversial painting on his way to become famous.

The most interesting thing happens at the end, but throughout their carrier as an Artist you can clearly see how Monet concentrated more and more on landscapes and Manet keeps on creating controversial and 'populistic' paintings. Opposite to Monet, Manet has a lot of portraits, war related paintings and other paintings that go along with social and political life in the country.

I would say that if comparing early works of Monet and Manet, Monet is obviously better. Not because he has a better painting techniques or his paintings standout more, both are actually very much the same in the early works, but one thing that Monet had that Manet did not is a clear sense of direction and style that will eventually make Monet very famous.

There is a very big change towards the end of Manet’s carrier, looks like he is trying to follow Monet’s footsteps and started painting landscape and still life paintings. But, it was too late, Monet was The Artist in this field.

Overall I think the only reason we know about Manet is because he was a populist and could afford to created controversial paintings with his royal family connections and backing. We would probably never hear about him otherwise since there were a few thousand artists in France at the time who had better paintings, but never got popular or famous due to the luck of their family’s political and financial power.

Monet on the other hand is the real thing, the real ARTIST, who chose a style from the beginning and concentrated on polishing and improving his painting technique and skills throughout his life. One obvious thing that helped him to stand out from the crowd is his unique painting style that he developed.

In conclusion – we know about Manet just because he had great PR strategy, we know about Monet because he is real Artist.

Impressionism and Contemporary Art

Mikhail Onanov

Artist

How to create Mixed Media Artwork Paintings

admin@artprintsetc.com — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:16:00 +0000

There is probably unlimited number of ways to create mixed media artwork. I want to share some tips on techniques on creating one specific mixed media painting type – oil and airbrush canvas artwork using fabric to create more depth and texture.

When I create figurative paintings of women I always try to make them more intimate and not as ‘vulgar’ (for the luck of better word). Also, using fabric for additional texture allows me to create a true 3D effect. Paintings end up having a lot of vantage points and look different virtually every angle and every lighting condition, so it can take a life time to get really familiar with it.

This is how I do it:

I take stretched canvas. I prefer 36 inches wide by 48 inches high – they are fairly inexpensive, large enough for the task and not too big to stretch when, primer oil paint or airbrush is applied.

I prime it first; any primer should work since it will only be used to create additional texture. Then I wait about a week or so, letting primer to dry out as much as possible.

The next thing is to glue fabric or cloth on top of the canvas. I use glue that will not go though the fabric and case paint to change colors later when it is applied on top of the canvas and the fabric. This is the time to decide how challenging and exciting artwork will be. The more bends and twists fabric will have the more complicated and rewarding it will be to paint over it. So, I always keep in mind that the final artwork has to look like the fabric was glued on top of the painting, and not like painting was done on top of the fabric. Again, I let it sit and dry as much as possible.

Now the exciting part – actual painting:

1. I always assume that the surface is flat, so if there are bends or bumps in the fabric I visualize what the women’s figure would look like if painted directly on the canvas, and just follow those lines.

2. In the ‘valleys’ between the fabric bends and twists – these areas will get less light and even some shade (especially when artwork is lighted from above ). So they need to be kept that way. I do not make them lighter or the effect of fabric glued over the painting will be lost.

3. The ‘hills’ (or ‘mountains’ if a lot of texture was given) will get more light then the rest of the painting, but to create the effect of fabric glued on top of the artwork I make them even brighter.

These are the three basic techniques to create figurative mixed media painting. There are obviously a lot more needed to insure that artwork looks intimate, exquisite, real but not provocative, but it is better left to an Artist to decide how to do that.

See examples of my figurative canvas artwork using mixed media here, (4 of them are figurative women mixed media paintings created using cloth or fabric glued to the canvas that the painting was painted over) - Figurative Mixed Media Oil on Canvas Paintings - Women

Mikhail Onanov
Artist

Oil Paintings versus Acrylic Paintings

admin@artprintsetc.com — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Everyone probably knows that oil paint dries a lot longer than acrylic paint. However, not so many people realize that when oil paint is drying it is changing color.

When a large quantity of oil paint is used for oil painting it can take a year for it to completely dry and settle. Here are a few tips on how to handle oil painting before it is ready to be displayed or sold.

Day 1 – Day 10
The issue in the first few days is how to protect oil painting from dust and other debris while the paint is still fresh.

One approach is to cover oil painting with a cloth or plastic wrap, which for obvious reasons can be tricky and might not work 100%.

Another approach is to cover oil painting with thin layer of lacquer. It dries faster and will protect the painting from duct and debris. The flip side is – the oil underneath will take a lot longer to dry. It will actually be drying from the back of the oil painting through the canvas (if the oil painting is on canvas). This technique should only be used by experience artists, since applying lacquer on top of the painting will also cause oil paint to change its colors a little.

Acrylic paintings do not have this issue, however acrylic paint seem to work better on canvas board not canvas, or it works well when used for watercolor drawings since it can be diluted with water.

Day 11 – Day 100
After a few days have passed oil paint on the painting can still be sticky, but it is more or less stable enough for the painting to be unwrapped. Now, the other issue is sunlight.

Obviously direct sunlight is bad for any painting, but in the first month or so after an oil painting is completed the paint is still fresh and it seem that the sunlight is doing a lot more damage during that time. Keeping the painting in dry and dark palace (not dusty) should take care of this issue.

Again, Acrylic paintings will not have this issue since they dry so fast.

Day 100 – Day 367
Now, the best thing is to leave oil painting alone for a while. If you planning on taking pictures of the oil painting to publish, created prints or post on the Internet, just wait. The colors have not settled yet, and they will be different when oil painting is ready (mostly there will be a slight difference, but the difference can be obvious depends on the paint brand and colors used).

If it is absolutely necessary to take photographs of the painting before it is ready, then they should be retaken later on when all the color on the oil painting have settled.

Acrylic paintings do not change colors over time due to drying out, however all paintings change colors with age.

Day 368
The oil painting is now ready for expositions, galleries, shows and to be sold. If you are selling a painting make sure to take a lot of good quality pictures of it for your portfolio and possibly for reproductions such as art prints posters.
Based on the amount of oil paint used this process can take less or more time, but in general a year is a good amount of time for oil painting to settle.

Here are some examples of Oil and Acrylic Paintings:
Oil Paintings On Canvas

Acrylic Paintings

Mikhail Onanov

Artist

Is there such thing as Real Art?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:03:00 +0000

In my other topic a conversation about "Real Art" came up. I think it deserves a topic on its own.

So what is Real Art? I searched the Internet and failed to find an acceptable definition of what real artwork is. I guess it is just the nature of Art - anything is Real Art to at least one person - the creator. So, usually any attempt to come up with a definition ends up in a conversation about difference of opinions.

Has anyone come across a "decent" definition of Real Art?

Sincerely,

Mikhail Onanov

Art Prints, Oil Paintings, Acrylic Paintings, Pastel Drawings and Photography Art

Signed Art Prints - is it the next big thing in the Art World?

admin@artprintsetc.com — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:17:00 +0000

Hello World,

I've been an artist for over 30 year now, and recently I’d started noticing big advances in printing quality and photographic / poster art prints technology. Looks like just about anyone with a good digital camera and a decent printer can create a nice photographic or art print or poster and actually autograph (sign) it to. So, I started wondering if this is the next big thing in the Art World – signed art prints or signed art posters?

Have anyone noticed the trend?

I mean most of my friends are now “professional photographer” because they owe a 10 mega pixels or so digital camera and out of 100 pictures even an amateur (like me) can get one good one.

So, what will stop amateur Artist to start creating their own signed art prints and art posters out of their garage and sell it on already crowded internet? (I believe search for Art on Google returns about 1,440,000,000 results – don’t think anything else does).

Original Oil Paintings or any original Art like watercolors, mixed media, drawings, etc are even harder to get to the people. There are only a small percentage of art buyer who actually looking for “real” artwork for sale, most people are just decorating their space with whatever looks more appropriate for the interior and whatever is cheap.

So I’m trying to beat the crowd, I have very nice collection of Original Oil Paintings of City of Chicago – mostly cityscape urban environment like Chicago (Windy City) skyline and I’ve started selling signed art prints, art posters and photographic prints as well as my original oil paintings. I’m thinking this would be a more affordable option, yet autographed art print (even in open edition) is a collectable item and real artwork, where regular art prints and posters are not.
Please share your ideas and comments and feel free to checkout my website for some samples of art prints, art posters, fine art photography and original oil paintings at: Signed Art Prints and Posters and yes please feel free to critique my work.

Sincerely,

Mikhail Onanov

Artist