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ArticlesKEEPING A TRAVEL JOURNALWritten September 12, 2008by Julie Frye ©
Sketching the fabulous Notre Dame Cathedral from the banks of the Seine, the intricate Rouen Cathedral painted so prolifically by Claude Monet, capturing in pen and ink the famous Matterhorn from our balcony in Zermatt, notating while awestruck by the beauty of the Colorado Rockies; All these things have created for me the opportunity to relive these excursions abroad and in our own beautiful country. Drawing and sketching is a passion for me, and with only a few very lightweight materials the artist, whether beginner or more experienced, can create a wonderful memory to be relived over and over.
I have filled many a sketchbook over the years but my personal favorite for this type of journaling is the Kilimanjaro Watercolor Paintbook, 10 in X 5 ½ in. (I ordered mine from Cheap Joe’s) This sketchbook contains alternating sheets of drawing paper and watercolor paper. I use a variety of black and/or brown pens to record what I see on the drawing paper sheets. My favorites are “Pilot” ball point pen, medium black, and a medium-point felt tip called Expresso. (Both are available at supermarkets as well as Office supply stores) On the watercolor sheets, I use watercolor pencils after I have sketched the subject, adding the water last with a small soft brush to bring out the subtle color. (If adding water be sure you have used a pen that is NOT water soluble or it will smear!) I sketch directly with the pen and ink using no pre-drawing with pencil. This takes a little time and experience but if you START this way, knowing you can’t erase, you will look twice and sketch once! I did a lot of practicing sketching trees in my backyard, and then graduated to Encanto Park and Arizona Center, sitting unobserved on a park bench in the shade. Be bold, dare to branch out of the comfortable pencil, eraser mode. Sketching in this manner improves your eye-hand coordination and WILL IMPROVE YOUR PAINTING! Imagine all that and a fun keepsake of any trip you take, whether near or far! Try it once and you’ll be HOOKED! I have been fortunate to have been able to experience many parts of the world and I treasure the sketch journals I have created. I re-read them often and they give me much pleasure and satisfaction as I relive wonderful memories. MY ART STORYWritten September 12, 2008by Maxine James
I have never graduated from kindergarten. My favorite things were crayons which were so beautiful I was afraid to use them--they might break, and books with pictures. Through school my “pedestal toppers” were friends who could draw. My stick figures were no match. My first job was secretary/treasurer with a tool and die school and engineering firm, and at night I was being trained to be the first lady tool and die designer in the U.S. It was all pencils and rulers. It was my first taste of art and I was go-o-o-d. It all ended with marrying one of the students, the war, 3 children and waiting until retirement before getting into the art world. It started at the Washington Adult Center in the 70's. With a motorhome we traveled the U.S. and I plein air painted watercolors wherever we would stop. It was glorious. Then came Mexico, Hawaii, Canada and Switzerland.
Switzerland was a whole other story. Taking off from dirty, congested, noisy JFK airport, we landed in Zurich, (from night to day) gleaming, large, beautiful, gorgeous terminal. We had one bag each with half of my art supplies in each, but only one followed us. It was a tricky three days. Clothes don’t dry as fast as Arizona. The other bag went to Brussels. First was a 10-day workshop with James Godwin Scott and following--16 days traveling through all the numerous boroughs and languages that make up Switzerland. In a nutshell my memories of Switzerland include painting at the foot of the Matterhorn with three layers of clothing and gloves, mountains so high it took 3 lifts to get us up one, and miles tunneling through another; it was hard to put it all on the paper-size that we could handle; cheese; open-face sandwiches all in art form, beautiful chateaus, and no fences. If it were to be my only overseas trip, I’m glad it was Switzerland. USING A PHOTO TO PAINT A FINE ART IMAGEwritten September 12, 2008by Yolanda Martin ©
To have a source image with high resolution (300 pixel/inch) and 10 mp digital camera, if possible, is the key to
being able to work with any photo's or combined set of photos' components
satisfactorily in Paint Shop Pro or other photo editing or painting software program. After taking your photos with your digital camera, you download the photos from your camera's storage to your computer either by inserting the memory chip or using a USB connection from your camera to the computer. If you just have a photo print or other image then you can scan that into your computer to use. To begin with it is a digital photo or scanned image but after working with the photo and applying effects then it becomes a digital painting depending on how many effects and how much topical layer drawing and brush painting is applied. It is really difficult sometimes to determine where the source digital image (photo or scan) ends and the painting begins. Anything in the photo underpainting can be modified and to what ever level of detail you want to modify it resulting in the final art image. I always highlight eyes of my Pekingese images and do further modifications to enhance the photos. One terminology for this type of art is "Computer Software Art" since a lot depends on the art tools available with any particular program you are using and your knowledge and ability to use those tools and effects artistically. There is a computer and programs skill level required to be learned, and a working knowledge of using the computer and its programs in order to do what you want to do with the photo to create fine art images suitable for printing, frame finishing, and showing. The nice thing about computer software art is that there are minimal cost of supplies and consumables in the making of your art image. I think a good understanding of fine art fundamentals is also required in order to create something you can be proud of and of course you always continue to learn as you go. I read and study daily and am creating something all the time because I enjoy working with the computer and love working with the images of my Pekingese. "I DON'T LIKE IT..."by Yolanda Martin
What artist has never heard that judgment about something they have created?
One of the interesting things about an artist being brave enough to create something, anything at all, is understanding the affect it might have on others ...... repulsion, disgust, anger, dislike, negative feelings, neutral nothings, positive feelings, likes, tranquility, approval, attraction, ..... etc the full gamut of rational, irrational, and imaginary numbers from -1 to +1 range of feelings and emotions and maybe even some thought processes too if it stimulated the intellect.
It requires courage to express how you feel about something another has created and to let the artist know either in appreciation or critical disapproval. Sometimes an image is meant merely to be a catalyst for change and actually accomplishes its mission. Sometimes, that which we first dislike intensely slowly changes us and with the passing of time we discover that we have developed an appreciation and even fondness for it ..... and that works in reverse also. As an artist, we always value and try to learn from what we have created regardless of its merit or worth as judged by others, if for no other reasons than the investment of time and energy we used in creating it. So.... let's give this Phoenix Bird graphic which I created to use as my Web Site Avatar and a PAG Mascot and have named "Inspire" some time before we decide to repudiate and reject it. Isn't it wonderful that we all don't think alike and we individually have different likes, dislikes, and sometimes vastly different cultural backgrounds? ..... and can co-exist peacefully and productively with mutual respect for each other? I like this Phoenix Bird, "Inspire", which has externalized itself from within my being, and for some reason or other it is satisfying my soul at this time and inspiring me to create and study more about art. It is flamboyant, jubilant and it inspires me and maybe other viewers. I believe this controversial and digitally divisive, or "digital divide" defined as the troubling gap between those who use computers and the internet and those who do not, animated graphic of mine does engage all web site viewers attention, interest, and their pro or con judgmental behaviors at whatever level of social evolution they presently exist. The graphic uses seven discrete visual components for "systematic desynthesization". The Phoenix Bird graphic and its animated version are used on the PAG web pages of this web site as both a colorful flourish accent and iconography authenticating and identifying this web site's designer and developer. The Phoenix Bird graphic and its animation is a web site's method similar to how an artist would sign their paintings or other works of art with their own copyright protected identifier. In education and in business professions (my experience in life), visual aids exist artistically, if possible, and their primary purpose is to explain a difficult concept or break through a barrier closed mind set and that is what I see my "too busy" and "bad" design graphic doing..... especially when animated because the palette with its colors flies quickly from cameras to laptops as the earth turns and the color wheel is spinning visually representing the many artists at work using colors they individually mix either on the traditional palette, with a program using the laptop, or within the camera's light detecting sensors and electronics. I believe that the "Phoenix Bird graphic" as I have conceived and have created in a rather bizarre "geeky busyness, bad design judgmental interpretation" is a catalyst for change in my own mind's eye self development and the image is cognitively and conceptually stimulating me to reflect on "State of the Arts", so to speak, and whether I have a place to fulfill in the macrocosm or microcosm of it and of my own self concept and life's progress. The graphic is also recalling and invoking Nemesis, a greek mythological goddess and the spirit of divine retribution. I hope you appreciate that coming up with a modern technology design for ART Circa 2008 using the seven components (digital camera, laptop, palette, earth, bird, color wheel, and URL address text) and to animate the graphic was a challenge for me. The unifying factor of all seven components is intellectual, intuitive, and is conceptually abstract and developmental rather than being simply concrete, plain, and readily apparent on the surface. The graphic dynamically illustrates the modern artist at work, year 2008. All creative artists, collectively, are symbolized by the immortal Phoenix Bird, a mythical imaginary legend dating back to art antiquity. The Phoenix Bird has evolved over the centuries and now has 16 million colors available to use, a world filled with computers, and the digital camera providing rapid reproduction of the many art images that artists world wide have created.. We live in a world with many wars and peace, as well as our planetary survival, elusive. Isn't it a wonderful feeling and sense of freedom as an artist to be able to create freely without limitations or concern that someone might not ..... like it ? .... to be able to understand .... and to learn? To peacefully coexist in world civilization productively and progressively non self destructive?
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