Magda Vacariu Art Blog

CURSURI PICTURA DESEN BUCURESTI

2012-01-30T21:51:00.003+01:00

Domnul Valeriu Mladin, profesor la Universitatea Nationala de Arte Bucuresti si unul din cei mai buni pictori contemporani romani tine cursuri private de pictura, desen si istoria artei. Detalii: valeriumladin[at]gmail.com

Informatii cursuri pictura desen Bucuresti: valeriumladin[at]gmail.com

WILHELM SASNAL

2011-12-26T18:51:00.000+01:00

Wilhelm Sasnal (born in 1972) is a Polish painter. Sasnal received his diploma of painting in 1999 from theAcademy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Sasnal is primarily a painter, but more recently turned to photography and film. Sasnal subjects are more or less banal everyday objects, portraits of historical figures, views of his home town Cracow, snapshots of friends and family members and very often existing images from the internet or mass media are his starting point. His approach is unpredictable and his methods range from graphic reduction and a pointedly two-dimensional, illustration-oriented style to seemingly autonomous gestures with brush and paint.

CONTEMPORARY WATERCOLOR

2011-11-21T23:04:00.014+01:00

Graham Dean

Marlene Dumas

Gerhard Richter

Peter Doig

Gottfried Salzmann, Paris: Pigalle la Nuite II, 1997

Christian Schoeler

Karen Kilimnick (Kilimnick works in water soluble oils)

Elizabeth Peyton

Annie Kevans

Cherry Hood

And this is my own take of the technique, I painted in oils diluted with poppy seed oil and linseed oil on canvas:

PETER DOIG

2011-10-21T12:20:00.001+02:00

'Painting becomes interesting, when it becomes timeless.'

'The building took me by surprise as a piece of architecture, but it was not until I saw the photographs I had taken of the building through the trees that it became interesting. That made me go back and look at it again. I was surprised by the way the building transformed itself from a piece of architecture into a feeling. It was all emotion suddenly.'

"A picture Doig had made in 1990 of a white canoe mirrored on a lake at night, sold at Sotheby's for £5.7m. It was the most ever paid for a painting by a living European artist. Doig didn't get the money - the painting had been owned by Charles Saatchi - but in that extravagant moment, he went from being a quiet critical success to an infamous commercial one. He was, suddenly, new evidence of the art world gone mad. How did that feel?
'It made me wonder: what am I doing this for?' The way he works didn't help. He cheerfully describes his finished work as the product of 'mistake, after mistake, after mistake', a painstaking process of failing better, and talks of wanting the layered surfaces of his work to be 'slightly repellent, on close inspection'." Read the whole article here: http://outsidetheivorytower.blogspot.com/2008/02/doig-tells-tim-adams-about-lsd-fame-and.html

MARKUS MUNTEAN AND ADI ROSENBLUM

2011-10-17T10:28:00.002+02:00

Markus Muntean, Born in Graz, Austria, 1962
Adi Rosenblum, Born, Haifa, Israel, 1962
They live and work in London and Vienna. They have been working in partnership since 1992 and have developed a unique joint signature style.

'This double authorship has the same function as the white frame or margins, which puts the painting into brackets. These white frames or margins of course have connotations in terms of comics or TV monitors. They allow us to deal with very painterly issues and iconographies, and questions of authorship'.

'We are fascinated by, and investigate, how far you can go with the construction of the gesture of the figure. Because, we think the more artificial it gets, the more moving it is, even though, in the normal sense it is the natural that is the thing that moves you'. The archetypal static poses of these contrived figures are familiar from both contemporary popular culture and art history. Reminiscent of characters from Renaissance paintings undergoing a sublime religious experience, they reflect Christian iconography, much of which refers back to classical art.' Adi Rosenblum

"Muntean/Rosenblum's work appropriates adolescent figures from fashion or lifestyle magazines, transforming them into strangely compelling scenes which question the possibility of spirituality in contemporary society." Read the rest of the article here: http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/artnow/munteanrosenblum/default.shtm

WATER MIXABLE OILS

2011-08-24T17:56:00.011+02:00

Robert Hannaford in his studio
Water mixable oils are a relatively new invention, and even if many professional artists were skeptical about them at the beginning, they became increasingly popular. Like me, many artists discovered them because they were searching for paints easier to use, or with less toxicity. At Adelaide Central School of Art I found out the rules of safe painting. Conventional oils are not dangerous as long as you work in a ventilated space, and as long as you don't eat them, or you don't let them come into contact with your skin. Toxic solvent and turpentine can be avoided with success if you are preoccupied with your health. Unfortunately many artists don't follow the rules, and I have never given much importance myself to toxicity, till I found out with sadness that the great artist Robert Hannaford got severely ill. I had the chance to meet the artist, he encouraged me to paint portraits and advised me how to start selling.

Robert Hannaford, Self-portrait, 1996

Alfie, how he was called by friends, had the bad habit to chew on his brushes while he was caught in painting. Alfie broke the first rule of safe painting, to not eat in the studio, especially the brushes and paints. The self-portrait bellow, which was a finalist in the Dough Moran Prize, was born from this story. Alfie had to be fed with a tube in his stomach and when he was able to paint, he used disposable gloves.

Robert Hannaford, Self Portrait with Tubes, Oil on Board, 80 cm x 64 cm, 2007

After Alfie's sad experience, I felt that I needed a change, so I decided I wanted to paint in acrylics, as beautifully as my professor Chris Orchard. He was painting only in acrylics and he told me that he never managed to paint in oils. I found this impossible, as I have painted in oils since I knew myself, as a small child. And if he couldn't paint in oils, the opposite was true for me. After so many years of painting in oils, my trial to paint in acrylics was a big failure. The acrylic was drying too fast, and I wasn't able to blend any colors on the canvas. The palette seemed to dry in minutes, and my inspiration was vanishing if I had to stop continously to renew my palette with fresh paints. About paintings, what can I say, they looked unfinished, and the paint just refused to spread. Every time I ended up covering everything with oil, and a painting in acrylics became a painting in oils. After about two years of on and off acrylics, and after I asked Chris Orchard many questions, I succeeded finally to paint in acrylics.

Christopher Orchard, Air, Acrylic on Canvas, 124 X 135 CM, 2005

I was able to paint in numerous techniques, and my portraits in acrylics were mistaken for portraits in oil. For a while I painted only in acrylics, enjoying the advantages of clean and fast painting. After seven years of living in Australia, I finally was able to travel through Europe. All those magnificent masterpieces painted in oil revived my first love for oil. But now I was too used to acrylics and its advantages, so I wanted something else than conventional oils. I knew about water mixable oils from a visit to Deborah Trusson's studio, by the time when I was a student in Adelaide. This self-portrait bellow, painted in Artisan water mixable oils, was sitting on an easel in the center of her studio. Trusson had been shortlisted in the Archibald Prize with this work.

Deborah Trusson, Naked, water soluble oils, shorlisted for Archibald Prize 2005

The Artisan chromatic is very limited comparing to the pure and brilliant colors in high series I was used to. But the water mixable oils can be mixed with up to 30 percent conventional oils, so I continued using some of my special colors. Artisan seemed to not have quite the same coverage as the conventional oils, but in time, I got used to it.
In general, water soluble oils are exactly like conventional oils, they look the same, and behave the same, as long as you don't use water for mixing or diluting the color. Water is used only for rinsing brushes while you work, and cleaning after painting. Artisan oils come with a few mediums plus linseed oil for diluting. My favorite is the Artisan fast drying medium, which I use for the following advantages:
-the oil becomes creamier and easier to spread, easier to get very fine details
-the oil dries faster, so I can work at a painting practically every day (without this medium, you are lucky if you can work once at two or three-days, depending on the humidity level in the air and the thickness of the layers)
-this medium is useful for getting thin semi-transparent layers in the glazing technique; good for getting new colors and effects of shine and depth, for eyes, the porcelain face of a child, water, etc.

If you like experimenting, you can try water for diluting, you might get something which doesn't look like oil at all, but more like acrylics or watercolors, but be aware that the stability and durability of the paint might be affected in time when you break the rules.
Because water mixable oils don't need toxic solvents for thinning and cleaning, they are easier and more convenient to use in class rooms, in shared spaces, around children, or healthier for sensitive people. That's why I recommend Artisan colors to my students in the class room. This is what the people from Winsor and Newton say about the Artisan colors: " Purely based on the high grade of raw materials, Artisan could be considered an artists' grade, however, the inclusions of hues and the shorter palette, means that Artisan can be in fact be considered somewhere between and artists' and students' grade". :

Here is the basic palette I recommend to my students:
titan white (titan has a better coverage than zinc white)
cad yellow medium or light series II*
lemon yellow
yellow ochre
cad red light series II* (a bright orange)
cad red medium series II*
permanent alizarin crimson
french ultramarin
prussian blue
phthalo green
indian red
burnt umber
ivory black (a light black)

*Buy series II and avoid "hues", which are not made of one pigment. When you combine two colors to obtain other colors, it's better to mix colors made of one pigment only. Mixing two colors which are made of a combination of pigments can get you dark and dull colors. That's why you read everywhere that professional colors are a better choice, even for beginners. One pigment colors are easier to combine, and the results are more encouraging for beginners.
When you buy colors, get two colors for each primary, a cold and a warm one. For example lemon yellow (cold) and cad yellow (warm), or prussian blue (cold) and ultramarin blue (warm).
If you can afford buy more colors like:
zinc white (more transparent than titan white, good for mixing or transparent layers)
cad red dark seria II
magenta
viridian green
cerulean blue series II
sap green
cobalt blue
burnt sienna
Other water mixable oils are Holbein Aqua Duo and Grumbacher Max Artists Oil Colors, both for professional use. Holbein has a large range of colors, though Holbein Aqua Duo has the disadvantage of a higher price and some of the colors are not made of unique pigments. Artisan is though the most popular brand of water mixable oils in the world.

JOAN MIRO

2011-07-30T11:44:00.007+02:00

I wanted to see Miro's paintings in real life, and this summer I finally went to Miro Museum in Barcelona. From the first room I entered a marvelous world of magical shapes and colors and I was so taken, that I don't know when four hours passed. I wanted to observe the technique in some of his paintings, how he got that flawlessness and lightness. I was surprised to see that the artist wasn't actually preoccupied with the way the completed paintings looked. In some of the works, the paint barely touched the canvas, and the lightness came actually from the fact that the paint was applied sparingly, and the canvas was showing through the paint. Some paintings looked unfinished, and in others the paint was applied carelessly, like something much more important preoccupied the artist's mind. The same in Picasso's museum. Many works seemed finished in a hurry, like the artist wanted to put on the canvas, as fast as he could what he was thinking. It is interesting how at the beginning of their career, many artists display extraordinary skills and technique, but later on, the only thing that seem to matter is the concept. What always startles me at a great artist is the continuous search. They never cease to search all their life, for their truth, like it is the only thing that matters.

Blue I

Miró's paintings have a childlike quality, the objects and human beings are symbolically depicted and reduced to simple shapes. His paintings have also a dreamlike quality, they seem to come directly from the unconscious. Later on he experimented with found objects and unusual materials. ' My characters have undergone the same process of simplification as the colors. Now that they have

been simplified, they appear more human and alive than if they had been represented in all their details'.

Blue II

"I feel the need of attaining the maximum of intensity with the minimum of means. It is this which has led me to give my painting a character of even greater bareness."

"Throughout the time in which I am working on a canvas I can feel how I am beginning to love it, with that love which is born of slow comprehension."

"Miró's art has a poetic imagery: stars, fantastical creatures, playful distorted forms drawn in sharp lines and bright blue, yellow, red or green. They aim the receptor's soul and not his mind."

Blue III

Catalan Peasant with a Guitar

Dancer

Miró showed talent from a young age, though he had to study business and even worked as a clerk for two years. He had to suffer a nervous breakdown to finally be able to get his parents approval to study art. You can read more on his life and see more images here: http://joanmiro.com/

CULORILE ULEI SOLUBILE IN APA

2011-07-18T18:04:00.002+02:00

Robert Hannaford in his studio
Version of this article in English here: http://magdavacariu.blogspot.com/2011/08/water-mixable-oils.html
Uleiurile solubile in apa sunt o inventie relativ recenta, si desi au fost inca de la inceput privite cu scepticism de multi artisti profesionisti, au devenit din ce in ce mai populare in toata lumea. Ca si mine, multi artisti le-au descoperit pentru ca erau in cautarea unor culori de ulei care sa fie mai usor de folosit, sau care sa nu necesite solventi toxici pentru curatare si diluare. La Adelaide Central School of Art am aflat regulile pictatului in siguranta in atelier. In general uleiurile conventionale nu sunt periculoase atat timp cat se lucreaza intr-un spatiu bine ventilat, si cat timp nu sunt ingerate, sau nu se lasa sa vina in contact cu pielea. Solventii toxici si terebentina, folosite de multi pentru diluare si curatarea pensulelor pot fi evitate cu succes cu un pic de vointa. Din pacate multi artisti nu respecta reguli extrem de simple si nici eu nu am dat mare importanta toxicitatii niciodata, pana intr-o zi cand am aflat cu mare tristete ca marele portretist Robert Hannaford s-a imbolnavit grav. Avusesem sansa sa-l cunosc pe marele artist doar cu cateva luni in urma, el ma incurajase sa ma apuc de portretistica si ma sfatuise cum sa incep sa vand.

Robert Hannaford, Self-portrait, 1996

Alfie, cum il numeau prietenii, avea obiceiul sa roada capatul de la pensule cand era in febra pictatului. Bietul Alfie a nesocotit regula numarul 1 in siguranta pictatului, si aceea, de a nu ingera niciodata sub nici un pretext culorile cu care pictezi. Mancatul e un NU, NU in atelier, mai ales cel al pensulelor sau al culorilor. Din aceasta poveste, in care Alfie a suferit enorm, s-a nascut un autoportret care a fost finalist pentru premiul Doug Moran, cel mai important premiu pentru portretistica in Australia. Alfie a fost hranit cu un tub direct in burta si cand s-a putut ridica din pat a pictat cu manusi chirurgicale.

Robert Hannaford, Self Portrait with Tubes, Oil on Board, 80 cm x 64 cm, 2007

Dupa experienta nefasta a lui Alfie cu uleiurile, simteam ca am nevoie de o schimbare, asa ca am trecut la acrilic. Profesorul meu, Chris Orchard, picta numai in acrilic, si spunea ca nu a reusit niciodata sa picteze in ulei. Mie mi se parea imposibil, pentru ca pictam in ulei la Scoala Populara de Arta de cand ma stiam, copil fiind. Si daca el nu putea picta in ulei, viceversa avea sa fie valabila pentru mine. Dupa atatia ani de pictat in ulei, incercarea de a picta in acrilic a fost soldata cu un mare esec. Se usca pur si simplu prea repede si nu apucam sa amestec nimic pe panza. Paleta parea sa se usuce in minute, mi se taia tot elanul, daca trebuia sa ma opresc mereu sa-mi refac paleta cu culori proaspete. La ulei imi facem o paleta dimineata si pana seara nu mai aveam nevoie de altceva decat de alb. De tablouri ce sa mai zic, aratau mereu neterminate, oricat lucram, si acrilicul pur si simplu refuza sa se intinda pe panza. Pana la urma cedam de fiecare data si acopeream cu ulei. O pictura care ar fi trebuit sa fie in acrilic devenea o pictura in ulei, si frustrarea mea crestea. Dupa vreo doi ani de numeroase incercari si experimentari, in care de multe ori eram tentata sa arunc paleta cu acrilice de pereti, si dupa ce l-am innebunit cu intrebarile pe Chris Orchard, am reusit in sfarsit sa ajung la anumite performante.

Christopher Orchard, Air, Acrylic on Canvas, 124 X 135 CM, 2005

Acrilicul nu mai avea secrete pentru mine, si puteam picta in nenumarate tehnici. Imi doream sa termin portretele la comanda foarte repede, asa ca alegeam acrilicul. Portretele mele realiste in acrilic ajunsesera sa fie confundate cu cele in ulei. Am pictat o perioada doar in acrilic, dar intoarcerea in Romania, mi-a dat in sfarsit si din nou sansa (dupa sapte ani de locuit la capatul lumii in paradisiaca insula a Australiei) sa colind prin marele muzee ale Europei. Toate acele capodopere magnifice pictate in ulei, mi-au reaprins dorul pentru prima mea dragoste, uleiul. Acum insa ma obisnuisem cu acrilicul si avantajele sale, uleiul conventional mi se parea foarte greu de folosit. Stiam de uleiurile cu apa de la o vizita in atelierului lui Deborah Trusson cu ani in urma, pe cand eram studenta.

Deborah Trusson, Naked, water soluble oils, shorlisted for Archibald Prize 2005

Trusson fusese finalista in faimosul premiu de portretistica australian Archibald, cu un autoportret pictat cu Artisan, uleiuri solubile in apa. Am intrebat-o pe profesoara mea de pictura de aceste uleiuri, dar ea s-a aratat extrem de sceptica. Am renuntat atunci, dar acum in Romania fiind, era timpul sa le mai dau o sansa. Am fost incantata ca pe www.colorit.ro au inceput sa comercializeze Artisan, marca folosita de Trusson. Paleta cromatica de la Artisan e foarte redusa si eu eram obisnuita cu nuante pure si stralucitoare in seriile 3, 4 sau 5 cu preturi pe masura. Era timpul sa ma descurc cu mult mai putin. Stiam ca pot folosi pana la 30 la suta uleiuri conventionale, asa ca am continuat sa folosesc cate putin din culorile mele mai deosebite. Artisan parea sa nu aiba chiar aceeasi acoperire ca uleiurile conventionale profesionale, dar in timp m-am obisnuit.
In mare, uleiurile solubile in apa sunt la fel ca si uleiurile conventionale, arata la fel si se comporta la fel, atat timp cat nu se lucreaza cu apa. Daca doriti sa aveti rezultatele uleiulul traditional, e preferabil sa lucrati doar cu mediile solubile in apa. Cel mai mult imi place mediul sicativ Artisan cu uscare rapida, un "glazing medium" echivalent cu Liquin Original (de la Winsor and Newton) pentru uleiurile conventionale. Acest mediu are urmatoarele avantaje:
-uleiul capata o consistenta mai cremoasa, si e mai usor de lucrat, si pot fi obtinute cele mai fine detalii
-usuca mult mai repede, asa ca se poate lucra la o pictura in ulei practic in fiecare zi (fara acest mediu sunteti norocosi daca puteti lucra la doua-trei zile in functie de brand si de grosimea straturilor)
-util pentru tehnica glazing, care presupune realizarea unor straturi subtiri semi-transparente, pentru a scoate la iveala noi culori si efecte superbe de stralucire si adancime; pentru ochi de exemplu, tenul de portelan al unui copil, sau apa unui lac, etc.
Daca doriti sa experimentati, puteti incerca si sa le diluati cu apa, atunci veti avea rezultate care sigur nu vor fi apropiate uleiului, ci mai degraba acuarelei sau acrilicului, deci e posibil sa obtineti ceva cu totul nou si neasteptat. Am citit de un artist care le-ar folosi cu foarte multa apa pentru efecte extraordinare, dar nu uitati ca exista intotdeauna riscuri cand nu respectati regulile, si pictura e posibil sa nu fie durabila in timp.
Pentru ca uleiurile solubile in apa sunt foarte usor de folosit, le recomand studentilor mei la clasa. La noi se gasesc Artisan de la Winsor and Newton pe http://www.creative-art.ro/index.php (in Brasov) sau puteti comanda pe http://www.colorit.ro/. Aceste culori de ulei sunt foarte accesibile ca pret, (in jur de 15 RON pentru un tub seria I si 21 RON pentru seria II), si pensulele pot fi spalate doar cu apa si sapun, de aceea lucrul este mai curat si sunt mai comod de folosit in clasa decat culorile de ulei traditionale. In plus nu necesita solventi toxici pentru diluare, exista medii speciale Artisan si ulei de in, in aceeasi gama, care se pot folosi cu aceste culori de ulei. Artisan sunt culori de ulei de studiu dar prin pigmentii si consistenta lor sunt foarte apropiate de culorile de ulei profesionale. Iata ce spun cei de la Winsor and Newton despre aceste uleiuri: " Purely based on the high grade of raw materials, Artisan could be considered an artists' grade, however, the inclusions of hues and the shorter palette (colors available) means that Artisan can be in fact be considered somewhere between and artists' and students' grade and is therefore priced accordingly". Din pacate asta e si dezavantajul acestor uleiuri, ca nu au o paleta destul de bogata pentru artisti profesionisti. Dar pentru studiu sunt mult mai multe decat avem nevoie. Paleta Artisan include 40 de nuante, in timp ce paleta necesara pentru studiu include in jur de 15 culori. Iata paleta minima pentru studenti:
titan white* (are o acoperire mai buna decat zinc white)
cad yellow medium sau light seria II*
lemon yellow
yellow ochre
cad red light seria II* (este un portocaliu inchis foarte frumos)
cad red medium seria II*
alizarin crimson
french ultramarin
prussian blue
phthalo green
indian red
burnt umber
ivory black (un negru deschis)
*Cumparati doua sau trei tuburi de alb, albul se termina primul intotdeauna
*Culorile din seria II sunt facute din pigmenti veritabili. Ele nu trebuie inlocuite cu variantele "hue", imitatii care dau culori urate in combinatii.
Pentru cei care isi pot permite pot achizitiona si urmatoarele culori:
zinc white (util pentru tehnicile transparente, e mai putin opac decat titan)
cad red dark seria II (un rosu inchis, in cazul in care lucrati cu mult rosu)
magenta
viridian green
cerulean blue seria II (un albastru deschis, in cazul in care va place sa lucrati cu mult albastru)
sap green
cobalt blue
burnt sienna

Alte uleiuri solubile in apa de grad profesional sunt Holbein Aqua Duo si Grumbacher Max Artists Oil Colors. Holbein are o gama foarte variata de culori. Totusi Holbein Aqua Duo au dezavantajul unui pret mult mai ridicat si a unor culori care nu sunt facute din pigmenti unici. Artisan ramane totusi cea mai populara marca de uleiuri solubile in apa din lume.

BILL VIOLA

2011-07-08T23:49:00.000+02:00

When I saw a Viola video for the first time, it stroke me. I realized that I wanted to express the same thing. I haven't read anything from the numerous books and articles on his work. What I saw at his personages, was that lighting from within. There is so much more than we can see, the expression on the face of a person is not something physical, just the change of some muscles of the face, but an expression of something eternal in ourselves.
"For the Persian poet Rumi, each human life is analogous to a bowl floating on the surface of an infinite ocean. As it moves along, it is slowly filling with the water around it. That's a metaphor for the acquisition of knowledge. When the water in the bowl finally reaches the same level as the water outside, there is no longer any need for the container, and it drops away as the inner water merges with the outside water. We call this the moment of death. That analogy returns to me over and over as a metaphor for ourselves." Bill Viola

LANDSCAPE - NATURE, URBAN, ABSTRACT ETC.

2011-06-04T14:13:00.013+02:00

Carla Klein (b.1970)

Peter Doig

Daniel Castan

Gottfried Szalmann

Brett Amory

Scott Naismith

Sergio Aiello

Lena Emmertz

Huang He

Arthur Bernard

Emil Nolde (more images Emil Nolde here: http://magdavacariu.blogspot.com/2010/07/emil-nolde.html)

Kandinsky

Matisse

Monet

KRIS LEWIS. JONATHAN VINER

2011-05-29T13:05:00.001+02:00

Kris Lewis (born 1978) is an American realist artist of Latvian heritage.

All these personages have something in common, a striking beauty, almost unreal, and also youth, an untouchable, eternal youth.
Jonathan Viner (born in 1976) is an American artist and illustrator living and working in New York.

SOL HALABI

2011-05-22T19:15:00.000+02:00

Sol Halabi (born in 1977) is an Argentian artist who paints in mixed media including tar and beeswax.

KEN CURRIE

2011-05-20T10:31:00.002+02:00

Ken Currie (born 1960) is one of the most influential living artists in Scotland.

In "Unfamiliar Reflection" (2006) Currie looks back into the past, but also forward to his own aging and death. His work reminds me of Goya, there is a certain darkness and decay, which makes us even more aware about the fragility of our lives, but also there is something more, sometimes a strange glowing appears, it is the artist's faith in the eternity or our soul.

WHAT IS ART?

2011-05-05T08:49:00.002+02:00

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~Scott Adams

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary. ~Pablo Picasso

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. ~Twyla Tharp

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. ~William Faulkner

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. ~Pablo Picasso

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. ~Stella Adler

Painting is silent poetry. ~Plutarch, Moralia: How to Study Poetry

Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen. ~Leonardo da Vinci

It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet. ~Kojiro Tomita

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. ~Amy Lowell

To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist. ~Schumann

We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. ~Pablo Picasso

I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things. ~Henri Matisse

The artist uses the talent he has, wishing he had more talent. The talent uses the artist it has, wishing it had more artist. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one. ~Charles Horton Cooley

Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer

To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art; men can only make us feel small in the wrong way. ~E.M. Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy, 1951

Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail. ~Theodore Dreiser, Life, Art, and America, 1917

The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep. ~Paul Strand

All art requires courage. ~Anne Tucker

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. ~Oscar Wilde

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do. ~Edgar Degas

It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work. ~Henry Moore

Pictures must not be too picturesque. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. ~André Gide

Anyone who says you can't see a thought simply doesn't know art. ~Wynetka Ann Reynolds

But that's what being an artist is - feeling crummy before everyone else feels crummy. ~The New Yorker

Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass. ~Fran Lebowitz

Great art picks up where nature ends. ~Marc Chagall

When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college - that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared at me, incredulous, and said, "You mean they forget?" ~Howard Ikemoto

Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame. ~G.K. Chesterton

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit. ~John Updike

The artist is the opposite of the politically minded individual, the opposite of the reformer, the opposite of the idealist. The artist does not tinker with the universe, he recreates it out of his own experience and understanding of life. ~Henry Miller

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist. ~Oscar Wilde

Let me ask you something, what is not art? ~Author Unknown

The painter puts brush to canvas, and the poet puts pen to paper. The poet has the easier task, for his pen does not alter his rhyme. ~Robert Brault,www.robertbrault.com

An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he - for some reason - thinks it would be a good idea to give them. ~Andy Warhol

The buttocks are the most aesthetically pleasing part of the body because they are non-functional. Although they conceal an essential orifice, these pointless globes are as near as the human form can ever come to abstract art. ~Kenneth Tynan

God and other artists are always a little obscure. ~Oscar Wilde

For me, painting is a way to forget life. It is a cry in the night, a strangled laugh. ~Georges Rouault

Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The progress of an artist is a continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. ~T.S. Eliot, Tradition and the Individual Talent, 1919

There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Art is... a question mark in the minds of those who want to know what's happening. ~Aaron Howard

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for. ~Georgia O'Keeffe

Man will begin to recover the moment he takes art as seriously as physics, chemistry or money. ~Ernst Levy

Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea. ~John Anthony Ciardi

As far as I am concerned, a painting speaks for itself. What is the use of giving explanations, when all is said and done? A painter has only one language. ~Pablo Picasso

The world today doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do? ~Pablo Picasso

Sometimes, to pursue a new idea, the artist must forfeit his deposit on an old idea. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

I want to reach that condensation of sensations that constitutes a picture. ~Henri Matisse, Notes d'un peintre, 1908

Great art is as irrational as great music. It is mad with its own loveliness. ~George Jean Nathan, House of Satan

Art is the colors and textures of your imagination. ~Meghan, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999

Art is your personal diary where you may color your thoughts and emotions on a page. ~Sara, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999

Art is a shadow of what a person is thinking... a small glimpse of what they hold inside. Little secrets, regrets, joys... every line has its own meaning. ~Sarah, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999

Art is your emotions flowing in a river of imagination. ~Devin, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999

Art is an adventure that never seems to end. ~Jason, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999

Art is pictures straight from the heart. ~Ben, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999

If Michelangelo had been straight, the Sistine Chapel would have been wallpapered. ~Robin Tyler

Art is the triumph over chaos. ~John Cheever

All great art comes from a sense of outrage. ~Glenn Close

Art is indeed not the bread but the wine of life. ~Jean Paul Richter

Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. ~Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Orthodoxy

One of the best things about paintings is their silence - which prompts reflection and random reverie. ~Mark Stevens

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things. ~Pablo Picasso

Art hath an enemy called ignorance. ~Ben Jonson

What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art. ~Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Art... does not take kindly to facts, is helpless to grapple with theories, and is killed outright by a sermon. ~Agnes Repplier, Points of View, 1891

Art disturbs, science reassures. ~Georges Braque, Le Jour et la nuit

As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life. ~John Lubbock

It is frequently the tragedy of the great artist, as it is of the great scientist, that he frightens the ordinary man. ~Loren Eiseley, The Night Country, 1971

Art is spirituality in drag. ~Jennifer Yane

The artist's talent sits uneasy as an object of public acclaim, having been so long an object of private despair. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

Coloring outside the lines is a fine art. ~Kim Nance

Reflexes and instincts are not pretty. It is their decoration that initiates art. ~Martin H. Fischer

What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself - life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose. ~Willa Cather

An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world. ~George Santayana

Art is like a border of flowers along the course of civilization. ~Lincoln Steffens

Art is not a thing; it is a way. ~Elbert Hubbard

An artist's career always begins tomorrow. ~James McNeill Whistler

The artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. ~Pablo Picasso

Surely nothing has to listen to so many stupid remarks as a painting in a museum. ~Edmond & Jules de Goncourt

Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere. ~G.K. Chesterton

Artistry is an innate distrust of the theory of reality concocted by the five senses. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

Grammar stops at love, and at art. ~Terri Guillemets

The true painter strives to paint what can only be seen through his world. ~André Malraux

An artist never really finishes his work; he merely abandons it. ~Paul Valéry

Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is. ~Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark, 1915

A subject that is beautiful in itself gives no suggestion to the artist. It lacks imperfection. ~Oscar Wilde

An art critic is someone who appreciates art, except for any particular piece of art. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

An artist cannot talk about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture. ~Jean Cocteau, Newsweek, 16 May 1955

The artist does not see things as they are, but as he is. ~Alfred Tonnelle

A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened. ~Albert Camus

For the mystic what is how. For the craftsman how is what. For the artist what and how are one. ~William McElcheran

O, how much simpler things would be
If eyes could paint or brush could see.
~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

Art is a kind of illness. ~Giacomo Puccini

A great artist is always before his time or behind it. ~George Moore

A man and his art are like a fool and his king. ~Corri Alius

A painting is what you make of it, besides which, 'Moon, Weeping' has a better ring to it than 'Paintbrush, Dripping.' ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum. ~Claes Oldenburg

Science is out of the reach of morals, for her eyes are fixed upon eternal truths. Art is out of the reach of morals, for her eyes are fixed upon things beautiful and immortal and ever-changing. To morals belong the lower and less intellectual spheres. ~Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist, 1891

While I recognize the necessity for a basis of observed reality... true art lies in a reality that is felt. ~Odilon Redon

The first assumption of an art critic is that the artist meant to paint something else. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

The question of common sense is always what is it good for? - a question which would abolish the rose and be answered triumphantly by the cabbage. ~James Russell Lowell

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. ~Aristotle

Art is when you hear a knocking from your soul - and you answer. ~Terri Guillemets

Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that critics don't like - then cultivate it. That's the only part of your work that's individual and worth keeping. ~Jean Cocteau

Picasso would give up cubism just to capture your curves. ~Konfal Blyther

Any great work of art... revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world - the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air. ~Leonard Bernstein, What Makes Opera Grand?

There is in every artist's studio a scrap heap of discarded works in which the artist's discipline prevailed against his imagination. ~Robert Brault,www.robertbrault.com

Art, as far as it is able, follows nature, as a pupil imitates his master; thus your art must be, as it were, God's grandchild. ~Dante Alighieri, Inferno

A portrait has one advantage over its original: it is unconscious; and you may therefore admire without insulting it. I have seen portraits which have more. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827

The fine arts once divorcing themselves from truth are quite certain to fall mad, if they do not die. ~Thomas Carlyle, Latter Day Pamphlets, no. 8

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable. ~George Bernard Shaw

A man paints with his brains and not with his hands. ~Michelangelo

Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid. ~Jules Feiffer

All the other colors are just colors, but purple seems to have a soul. Purple is not just a noun and an adjective but also a verb - when you look at it, it's looking back at you. ~Uniek Swain

Architecture begins where engineering ends. ~Walter Gropius

Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling. ~G.K. Chesterton

Why should I paint dead fish, onions and beer glasses? Girls are so much prettier. ~Marie Laurencin

Art is Man's nature. Nature is god's art. ~James Bailey

The artist gazes upon a reality and creates his own impression. The viewer gazes upon the impression and creates his own reality. ~Robert Brault,www.robertbrault.com

Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together. ~John Ruskin

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.   ~Salvador Dali

What is important is to spread confusion, not to eliminate it.    ~Salvador Dali

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating: it is either good or bad.    ~Salvador Dali

LUIS CORNEJO

2011-05-04T19:46:00.001+02:00

Beauty, fashion and ... Mickey Mouse, the values of contemporary society.

ELAINE DESPINS

2011-04-25T08:44:00.001+02:00

There is something I really like about Elaine Despins work, there is a certain darkness, the passing of time which reminds us of youth with sorrow, but also there is so much force and passion in her paintings. Life is powerful, no matter what, there is always new life, besides death and decay.

http://www.picturetrail.com/picksel

ANTON CHRISTIAN

2011-04-22T22:46:00.002+02:00

Affection, Acrylic on Paper, 2010

Dona Maria Vilalobos reads for Lope Vernandes Pacheco from the bible, Acrylic on Paper, 2009

Mit Gott tritt ein, bring Glueck herein, Acrylic on Paper, 2009

Tell me the Reason for Your Presumtion!, Acrylic on Paper, 2009

http://www.antonchristian.com/

Strange and dark creatures, and though there is tenderness and affection, there is nothing ugly or evil about them, I can only stare at them unceasingly asking myself what is going on.

ALEX KANEVSKY

2011-04-22T22:00:00.000+02:00

http://www.somepaintings.net/Alex.html

ART GLOSSARY

2011-04-20T10:07:00.001+02:00

abstraction - Artwork that is altered by the simplification or rearrangement of visual elements.
acrylic - A paint which uses liquid acrylic plastic as a binder for the pigment; water soluble before dry.
artist’s proof - A print that is outside the regular edition or numbering process, but printed at the same time, from the same plates, and usually retained by the artist for personal use.
batik - A method of dyeing cloth which involves using wax to prevent the dye from dyeing certain areas. Batik patterns are often intricate, requiring multiple wax and dyeing processes.
bronze - A metal alloy made of tin and copper. It is used in the creation of sculptures.
composition - A subject matter; also the creation of something by arranging parts to form a unified whole.
cross-hatch - Technique of placing lines close together in opposite directions to create dark areas in a drawing.
cyanotype - A process of photographic printing that produces a blue line on a white background; a photographic blueprint.
dry media - Pencil, chalk, crayon and other media not requiring use of a fluid.
edition - The total number of impressions made at one time from the same plate.
egg tempera - A painting medium in which pigments are bound together with egg yolk.
fresco - A technique of painting in which pigment is applied to a thin layer of wet plaster; as it dries it becomes part of the wall.
giclée - (zhee.clay) A term for making fine art prints from a digital image using ink-jet printing onto a canvas or photo-based paper.
gouache - An opaque watercolor.
impasto - Paint applied in heavy layers or strokes, making it thick and textured.
intaglio - A method of engraving where the design is depressed below the surface of the metal plate.
lithograph - The process of printing from a flat surface, treated so as to repel the ink, except where it is required for printing.
monotype - A one-of-a-kind print made by painting on a sheet of glass and transferring the wet image to paper by rubbing the back of the paper with a smooth implement.
pastel - A colored crayon made from chalk and pigment (the deepest tones are pure pigment). It is considered a painting technique because the colors are applied in masses rather than lines.
patina - A greenish film which forms on copper and bronze after weathering as a result of oxidation.
pointillism - French impressionistic technique where the use of tiny dots or strokes creates an image only visible from a distance when the eye blends the colors to form outlines of the work.
serigraph - Also known as silkscreen; this is a color stencil printing process in which paint is forced through a fine screen onto the paper beneath.
trompe-l’œil - French term meaning “trick of the eye.” This is an art technique in which extremely realistic imagery is used to create the optical illusion that the objects are real.
wash - Technique used in watercolor, brush drawing, and oil painting to describe a broad, thin layer of diluted pigment or ink.
watercolor - A transparent paint made from mixing powdered color with a binding agent and water; the most unforgiving painting technique due to the fluidity of the medium

ALYSSA MONKS AND LEE PRICE

2011-04-05T22:43:00.003+02:00

http://alyssamonks.com/

http://www.leepricestudio.com/

XIA XIAO WAN

2011-04-05T12:02:00.002+02:00

"Chinese artist Xia Xiao Wan has pushed beyond the boundaries of the visual arts by turning flat artwork into three dimensional form. The holographic effect is achieved by using multiple layers of clear glass. Each sheet of glass is decorated separately, then put together on floor racks. With a 360 degree viewing angle, every viewpoint offers a unique and personal experience otherwise unavailable with 2D art."

There is no hope and nothing good in the strange creatures of Xia Xiao Wan. War, violence and brutality, aging and decay. It is the monstrous face of ourselves when we forget how to be human.

LUCIAN FREUD

2011-03-31T09:14:00.004+02:00

Girl with a White Dog, 1951-52 (first wife of Freud)

Grandson of Sigmund Freud, Lucian Freud (born in 1922) is one of the most important living artists. His main subject is the human figure, and his raw, naturalistic style of painting depicts his subjects "not because of what they are like... but what happen to be".

Lucian Freud - Pregnant Girl - 1961

Double Portrait, 1985-86

Around 1956 Freud started loosen his style, going from fine sable brushes to stiff hogshair brushes. Around the same time, Freud who used to work sitting, started painting only standing up, adding an energetic feel to his paintings. He started using the heavy granular pigment called cremnitz white for painting the flesh.

Freud works slowly and only with live models. He was 85 when he completed Ria, naked portrait. He worked on this painting for 16 months, every day (seven days a week) from 18.30 in sittings of 4 hours. At 2 pm he had another sitting with another model. Amazing. Read the story of this portrait here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3668104/Lucian-Freud-marathon-man.html

The Painter Surprised by a Naked Admirer, 2004-05

LOUISE BOURGEOIS

2011-03-08T21:20:00.004+01:00

"I am not what I am, I am what I do with my hands."
"It is a great privilege to be able to work with, and I suppose work off, my feelings through sculpture."
"An artist can show things that other people are terrified of expressing."

Louise Bourgeois passed away on 31 of May 2010. She lived an incredible life of 98 years. She had continued to create artwork until her death, her last pieces were finished the week before. The New York Times said that her work "shared a set of repeated themes, centered on the human body and its need for nurture and protection in a frightening world."

There is a film on her life and work called The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine .

Nature Study

Fragile Godess

Arch of Hysteria

'My art is a form of restoration'

In a rare interview with one of the world's greatest living artists, Rachel Cooke asks Louise Bourgeois to reflect on her extraordinary career

Rachel Cooke
The Observer, Sunday 14 October 2007
Article history

RC: You moved to New York early in your career. What effect did this have?

LB: I was a 'runaway girl' from France who married an American and moved to New York City. I'm not sure I would have continued as an artist had I remained in Paris because of the family setup. In coming to New York, I was suddenly independent from them. I did feel the affects of being French. There was both isolation and stimulation. Homesickness was the theme of the early sculptures.

RC: Do you think women artists have an easier time of it today, particularly in terms of the market?

LB: To survive as an artist is difficult. The market is only one issue, and it follows its own logic. Even though what I do does enter the market, it doesn't interest me. I am exclusively concerned with the formal qualities of my work. It is about the need and the right to self-expression. There are plenty of good artists that don't have a market at all. In terms of the market, things have improved for women, but there is still a big disparity.

RC: The main focus of your work, according to some, is the relationship between an entity and its surroundings. But you have also been influenced by human relationships. Can you explain more about this aspect of your work?

LB: My works are portraits of a relationship, and the most important one was my mother. Now, how these feelings for her are brought into my interaction with other people, and how these feelings for her feed into my work is both complex and mysterious. I'm still trying to understand the mechanism.

RC: In the Fifties and Sixties, the art market ignored you a little. Was this frustrating? Was it connected to your sex? How and why did things change?

LB: The Fifties were definitely macho and the Sixties less so. The fact that the market was not interested in my work because I was a woman was a blessing in disguise. It allowed me to work totally undisturbed. Don't forget that there were plenty of women in a position of power in the art world: women were trustees of museums, the owners of galleries, and many were critics. Surely, the Women's Movement affected the role of women in the art world. The art world is simply a microcosm of the larger world where men and women compete.

RC: Today, your most famous works might be your 'spider' structures. Is this pleasing? Can you talk a little about how they came about?

LB: The spiders were an ode to my mother. She was a tapestry woman, and like a spider, was a weaver. She protected me and was my best friend.

RC: Your parents worked with tapestry, and you initially studied mathematics. Some critics have traced both these influences in your work. How separate is the mathematician in you, from the artist, or are the two intimately connected?

LB: My love of geometry is expressed by the formal aspect of my work. From the tapestries, I got this large sense of scale. I learned their stories, the use of symbolism and art history. The restoration of the tapestries functioned on a psychological level as well. By this I mean that things that have broken down or have been ripped apart can be joined and mended. My art is a form of restoration in terms of my feelings to myself and to others.

RC: You work on a grand scale. Why?

LB: I want to create my own architecture so that the relationships of my forms and objects are fixed. Sometimes I need the large scale so that the person can literally move in relationship to the form. The difference between the real space and the psychological space interests me and I want to explore both. For example, the spiders, which are portraits of my mother, are large because she was a monument to me. I want to walk around and be underneath her and feel her protection.

RC: How do you feel now about Robert Mapplethorpe's famous photograph of you?

LB: I am still fond of Robert Mapplethorpe's portrait. People seem to like it very much because they thought Robert and I were both 'naughty'.

RC: Can you tell us a little of how you have worked over the years? Do you work only when inspiration strikes?

LB: I only work when I feel the need to express something. I may not be sure of exactly what it is, but I know that something is cooking and when I am on the right track. The need is very strong. To express your emotions, you have to be very loose and receptive. The unconscious will come to you, if you have that gift that artists have. I only know if I'm inspired by the results.

RC: A retrospective at the Tate. This isn't the first, but how does it make you feel? Have you ended up making any reassessments of your career?

LB: When I see all the work that I have produced, I realised how consistent and persistent I have been. But I'm much more interested in what I'm working on now.

MARK ROTHKO (1903-1970)

2011-03-06T18:42:00.003+01:00

"I’m not an abstractionist. I’m not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on."

"It was with the utmost reluctance that I found the figure could not serve my purposes. But a time came when none of us could use the figure without mutilating it."

"Since my pictures are large, colorful and unframed, and since museum walls are usually immense and formidable, there is the danger that the pictures relate themselves as decorative areas to the walls. This would be a distortion of their meaning, since the pictures are intimate and intense, and are the opposite of what is decorative."

"The fact that people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions.. the people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when painting them. And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships then you miss the point."

"I paint very large pictures. I realize that historically the function of painting large pictures is painting something very grandiose and pompous. The reason I paint them, however – I think it applies to other painters I know – is precisely because I want to be very intimate and human. To paint a small picture is to place yourself outside your experience. However you paint the larger picture, you are in it."

STUDENT ARTWORKS

2011-03-04T10:07:00.004+01:00

Here is a drawing in pastel from my Monday Drawing Class at Reduta Brasov. The author of this drawing is a 12 year old, but she attends the adult class due to her extraordinary qualities.

Marbles, Pastel on Paper, 50 X 70 CM, 2011, Teodora Titescu, 12 years old