Altered Art Paintings - (Art Teacher Files)

As a private art instructor, my latest "project" with my students has been an altered art painting with text.  The original idea was to use sticker letters on a shiny paper, such as a map, and paint over the whole paper white, dry, then lift off the letters to reveal the map or print.  It was basically what is called a "masking technique".  However, I decided to change it.  I didn't have the letters, but I have a lot of stencils and letter stamps.  I wanted to use what I had.

We began during our first session by using acrylic paints, and the students altered and painted the backgrounds using various texture and painting techniques.  They particularly enjoyed laying bubble wrap and textured paper towel in the wet paint.  

The first painting below, was completed by using letter stamps with black acrylic paint.

The second student used stencils, sharpies and vintage music paper to create the letters.

 The Boyfriend refers to a popular song, so the sheet music worked well.  Although, I am not a Justin Bieber fan, allowing the students to bring some element of what they love, and then transform it into art, brings students into a deeper experience with the process.  It helps them "connect".
Any words, phrases, lyrics, quotes could be used in a project like this.  The letters could be made out of wrapping paper, maps, sheet music, old cookbook paper, the possibilities are endless.   The letters were glued on with acrylic matte medium and sealed with matte varnish.
Both of the students were very happy with their pieces and are going to hang them in their room.  

ideas for sword painting or drawing

A while back, I was sketching in my altered journal.  What I love about altered books and visual journals is that there are no rules, really.   That particular day, I was sketching swords.  I love swords.  From history, fiction, movies...  and I was trying to remember sword names .  Afterwards, I went back and added paint, and silver leaf pens.  I think most of these swords are from Lord of the Rings and Arthurian legend.  Swords are always named, that is fascinating.
There is an ancient Celtic tale concerning a sword named the Sword of Light owned by a god named Nuada.  It is also called the Sword of Truth.  Nuada loses his left hand and as a result can not rule due to the imbalance the loss of a hand causes.  Magically, he is given a silver hand, and with that gift, balance is restored, Nuada is able to rule once more.  I didn't realize at first how much this tale is mirrored in Star Wars with the young Luke Skywalker and his Lightsaber and electronic hand.

The sword of Light is the archetypal sword of a king which inspired both Excalibur of king Arthur and Aragorn's Narsil.  Which leads me to this painting by Alan Lee of Isildur after his sword Narsil is broken. 

Often, visual journals are a jumping point for artists.  I want to create a painting based on a sword.  Possibly with a Naiad (water spirit) or a dryad (tree spirit). Of course, the Naiad concept, the Lady of the Lake protecting the sword, has already been done.  Still, it could be done differently.  A sword being connected to a tree, that is another idea I like a lot. 

I like this painting of Gandalf with his sword Glamdring.

And this Russian artist's woodblock paintings are cool.  Here is the Sword of Light held by Luke Skywalker in an awesome mix of medieval folk and science fiction modern art.  

 Of course, there is the Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton, a pre-Raphaelite artist.  I have a large print of this painting in my dining room. 
















And one more by Alan Lee of a lesser known tragic hero from the Silmarillion.  His story ends in a depressing double suicide, but his sword was awesome, and he stands up against Morgoth and does not relent his hope in the supreme good of the Valar and Iluvatar.  And this illustration is beautiful.  After further pondering, I think I need a real sword in order to draw/paint the real essence of the weapon.

Using photographs for reference is fine, but  limiting.  They simplify a three dimensional object onto a two dimensional plane, and a good part of your subject is simplified too much as a result. Some of the essence of your subject is loss. And drawing from observation trains your eye and pushes you as an artist.  It is more difficult, but the end result is worth it.   Mental note:  MUST go out and sketch and photograph some dogwoods.  They are blooming and are absolutely beautiful. 

whiskey painting and botanical gardens

 This past Sunday afternoon, I attended a Cabarrus County Art Guild meeting (I LOVE saying I am part of the GUILD!)  A member from the official society for Whiskey Painters of America was there to do a demo.  We all had the opportunity to create our own miniature painting.  Whiskey painting is a style which was developed in the 1940's by a guy who would go to a local bar after work with his friends.  He always carried a tiny set of watercolors and some paper with him and ended up making it a daily occurrence that he and his friends would paint, using whiskey instead of water to wet the paints.  The whiskey reacts with the paint different than water, creating a vibrant hue and dries a lot quicker.  It totally changes the process.  I do not have whiskey (you can use any hard liquor) in the house, or else I would have created several more paintings by today.  I am not overly happy about the above pansy painting, but I guess its good for my first try.

And speaking of pansies, have you ever wondered why "pansy" is used to describe a weaker person?  A pansy is a very hardy flower surviving much colder weather than most other flowers.

And speaking of flowers, my friend and I visited the botanical gardens and greenhouses at UNCC today.   It was a GORGEOUS 80 degree day today.  The flowers were starting to bloom.  In a couple of weeks, I plan to go back to take pictures of the rhododendren which will be in full beauty.

 The above flower is a wildflower we use to find in the woods as a kid.  If you pick it, red liquid pours from the stem, we called it bloodroot, but I haven't researched the proper name.

 These are all from the greenhouses.  There are some really extraordinary tropical and desert plants grown there.  The big root, I just thought had a cool shape.

I have no idea what this is, but it looked edible...









It was a great day to ramble about.

King Arthur and The original Doodle Artist - Aubrey Beardsley

Although I was planning on writing about my recent whiskey painting workshop (which I will), or about my thoughts concerning KONY 2012, I am writing about Aubrey Beardsley.

Aubrey Beardsley is one of my favorite  artists , because he illustrated Le Morte D'arthur.  Beautifully.   And since we have been watching the BBC series of Merlin, it just seemed to work.
Merlin is a great show.  At first, it was the goofy, funny, non serious side of Arthurian legend.  The fourth season is becoming more dark and serious. Camelot, started out that way and is very intense (and I like that too.). Either way, it works because every writer since the beginning of Arthurian legend has done their own take on it.  There are so many variations of every tale, all from before modern times, that it is difficult to say any one is right.

Beardsley was a young sickly man, who died extremely young.  He became sick with tuberculosis at six years of age, and died at 25.   THAT is what makes him extraordinary.  He had 25 years and became an influential artist.  A man whose work will last for centuries.
He was commissioned to illustrate Le Morte D'arthur.  He was influenced by the art nouveau movement, as well as Japanese woodblock prints.  He came into contact with Oscar Wilde and illustrated Salome. What struck me is the original sketch of the cover of the book.  Yet another reason for me to love his art.  I love peacocks and feathers!






Anyway, Aubrey Beardsley WAS the original zentangle doodlist.  He created illustrations with awesome design, and punched the values by adding values, designs, doodling.... i love it.


His spiritual life is rather interesting.  After drawing some rather "scandalous" illustrations, he converted to Catholicism, and demanded for his work to be destroyed. .Interesting Info 
His request was refused, and it is all still "out there" today. Of course, by today's standards, they are rather tame, being pen and ink. 



So, if you are looking up  his work, there may be some nude illustrations.  But, his depictions of the scenes from Le Morte D'arthur show a sense of fluidity and fantasy, which add to the mystique of the legends.

Why I love Trader Joe's (MOM files)

Trader Joe's is an amazing place. I DETEST grocery shopping. I really do. I am not sure why, but I would rather clean toilets or scrub vinyl blinds.  I hate it that much. My dislike for the necessary chore reached new heights when I got into that crazy extreme coupon-ing. With me, it got compulsive. I used the rules online, but like most things, I found other ways to make it work, like doubling close outs and clearance items with double and triple coupons. By the end of a month, I had a closet full of toothpaste, shampoo, laundry detergent and cleaners, all of which I either got for free or literally pennies. I spent HOURS cutting coupons, shopping and stategizing . I thought it would be a fun game, but it stressed me OUT. And made me hate grocery shopping even more.

Although, my natural instinct is to let my pantry dwindle to practically nothing,and to survive on take out and dried beans,  I have found a better way.  It is Trader Joe's.  Here are some reasons why I love it.

1.   They have Greek Pomegranate yogurt! I LOVE Greek Yogurt, it is so creamy and yummy. Pomegranate is not my favorite flavor, but I actually get to eat it.  If I buy 20 strawberry yogurts, they will be gone the next day.  Not so with pomegranate, or honey flavored treats.

2.  Their music is awesome.   You can dance to it, and who wouldn't have all that excess energy to dance with all the free coffee samples.

3. THEY DON'T HAVE COUPONS!!!   Possibly, this concept is un-American.   Everyone paying the same price, that is almost socialism.  But it is liberating for me.  I don't have to feel guilty for not spending hours cutting coupons, or for forgetting them when I leave the house.

4. Being a mostly Italian-American girl, I am quite happy with the selection of foods overall.  I can cook a different shape pasta with a different flavored sauce every night of the week, and not ever have to go to any other grocery store.  Their italian cheeses, sausage, frozen pizza, and especially asiago cheese is better than anywhere in the area.  OH. I almost forgot that the mini almond biscotti tastes almost exactly like my Great  Grandma Lucy use to make.  I have them with my tea every afternoon.

5. All of the milk products and the eggs are from animals which are not given hormones for growth or antibiotics.  This means my adolescent children will not grow into some mutant specimen of humanity with super-hero powers. While super mutant powers may sound cool,  if you know anything about superheros, you know the side effects of mutancy are often rather nasty.  In addition, you can't always choose your superhero powers.  If you have ever heard of  villains named Sylar or Magneto, you may understand why mutant sons may not be a good thing.

6. Another advantage is that my children love me more.  It is because of the Jo-Jo cookies.  They may look like oreos, but they are even better.  They don't even care if there is no strawberry yogurt.

There are so many other reasons that I could add, because for some reason, everything is soooo yummy there.  But my favorite reason of all is that my husband will go with me there.  He doesn't mind going shopping with me when the food is so fresh, good, and inexpensive.  Quite possibly, it is a marriage builder as well.  Just see how happy we are together, right after a Trader Joe's excursion.  The white walls may be boring, but we had an adventure that day, anyway.

Visual Journaling

I have been thinking that I need to organize my blog posts into a couple of different blogs.  The problem with that is that I would end up with 60 different categories.  It probably would be good to have a new blog for my art and visual journals.  I hope that I am able to use visual journals in some type of workshop format, for the use of art therapy in the future. 

With my journaling, I try to do a thematic approach, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to keep any cohesive theme to my pages.  Just like my blog, my journals end up being slightly  schizophrenic in nature. 

 

artistic doodling

 steampunk collage

more traditional watercolor, and conte crayon using a photograph I took in a local garden as a base.

Thomas Cole and the Hudson Valley

I love art which is inspired by literature.  One piece, which I have studied, and have used to teach middle school students about art history is Thomas Cole's  "The Last of the Mohicans".  The novel's setting is Glen Falls, NY, which happens to be in the Hudson River Valley area of upstate NY, nestled in the Catskill Mountains.  Cole was a landscape painter intrigued with the passage of time on landscapes, civilizations, and individuals.  Born in England, Cole became inspired by the open untamed landscapes of America, particularly the mountains of upstate NY and New England, while on a steamboat trip up the Hudson River.  The Catskill Mountain's bright autumnal hues awed him.  He became not only the most famous of the Hudson River painters of the mid 19th century, but is considered the founder of the movement.  Here is  Cole's Cool Interactive Website.

The Hudson River School was the first organized movement of fine art in America, although influenced by a few of their European contemporaries, including Casper David Friedrich,  they were determined to create their own style depicting the sweeping potential and optimism of the yet untainted country.  I personally see the influence Cole and Friedrich must have had on each other's work.  One of the motifs of both of these artists, tend to be ruins from past civilizations.  Although, Cole, unlike Friedrich,  often has the contrast of peaceful, content pastoral life in the wake of the old delapidated buildings.  He concentrated less on the longing, but more on the contentment. 

Normally, I would not be so attracted to those themes, wanting truth more than pretty little scenes, but with Cole, the wild aspect holds his work together.  Plus, I love how the beauty of the hills where I grew up helped to establish the credibility of American Art in the "art world".

Cole inspired Jasper Francis Cropsey, who painted this scene.  These are the mountains that I lived at the foot of for the first 18 years of my life.  We hiked and explored those hills, and actually owned a quarter of an acre of Mount Eve.  There were old Native American caves in the mountain, as well, although they were too dangerous to set foot in. The small pointy mountain is Mount Adam.  The longer one is Mount Eve.

The style of the Hudson River Artists spread throughout the country, as exploration and new forms of transportation opened up the wild frontier. First, up to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and onward.  Another celebrity of the movement, Bierdstat pushed westward.  He created an almost fantastical, mythical quality to his work.

What I think is interesting is how these landscapes were painted.  They were often pieced together from different places, and different sketches that were done "plein air" (real observation). The places they went to observe, sketch and paint, were too dangerous, or the climate too intense to allow the whole painting to be completed outside.  This, I believe, allowed a certain sense of realism, while at the same time, forced the artists to go beyond a photorealistic approach.
The same locale where Sleepy Hollow is a real town, and where Rip Van Winkle had his little nap, is where American art emerged beyond folk art. I think that is so cool. (although the folk art of the country is indispensably important as well, but that's another rambling for another day).

THE Tattoo...

Well, the ἰχθύς tattoo is officially a real flesh and blood tattoo!  I really enjoyed brainstorming ideas and sketching out designs that could potentially last a really long time.  He loves it, and I agree that it looks cool. Just updated it..better pic.