Reedy River Park Oil Painting

With a digital camera I went capturing some great reference photos at Reedy River Falls Park in Greenville South Carolina. It's a wonderful restful park to enjoy a day with the family.

When using a reference photo a dilemma that usually occurs in my artworks is fitting the photo to the canvas. For sure, for sure I'm cropping my reference photo to get that just right composition. This always requires some mathematical measurements. I've created a simple little tool to use for my canvas that is generally twenty inches by thirty inches square.

The canvas is the best place to start for the measurements of this squared tool. A reason is because this is the place where the final artwork is going to reside. It's where all the eyes of art collectors will be resting upon, the finished artwork. The photo reference is printed out on a full sheet of eight and one half inch by eleven inch sheet of paper. What is needed is to get the canvas ratio size to match with a same size ratio on the photo reference.

The art technique is to keep the ratio the same size of your canvas. This is done by simply taking the measurement of the canvas. Divide both the height and width by a number until the measurement of height and width reaches a dimension that will make up a composition to my liking within the photograph.

I will add more to this.

Visit from a Young Artist

Recently I had friends stop by to see how I was doing during an illness. Young Hayleigh, her father Justin and Thomas brought their friendship and a yellow Kordana Rose plant. My wife loves Kordana Roses. There going to look absolutely lovely in front of the house next spring.

Hayleigh besides dancing also likes art and likes to draw with pencils. So I gave her a paper and pencil and asked her to draw me some artwork. She sat down at the table and sketched me a cat. It's a wonderful pencil drawing of a cat with whiskers on his nose. Pointy ears and dark round eyes. In fact it looks a lot like my neighbors cat that walks through the yard looking for little mice. And that is what else Hayleigh drew along with the things her cat likes. Her cat likes cat food, fishes and mice. Oh, there's also the sun her cat likes on those lazy days. I do too.

Thank you Hayleigh for a wonderful drawing. I'm going to keep it on my refrigerator so I can see it everyday.

Your View - Web Site Design

I've been reading "The Elements of User Experience" by Jesse James Garrett. This book is an eye opener on how I should view Draw-N-Paint's web site programming future from your perspective. This is important because you who are desirous to learn artist drawing techniques are on the top of my priority list after reading this excellent book. Draw-N-Paint's web design needs to have web art lessons that are presented in an easily and most understandable format for all to benefit and I need to see it from where you're sitting. Strange, how can one individual be in over a million billion different locations on the earth at so many numerous random times?

Draw-N-Paint's online art lessons start from artist Grid Drawing Patterns. Draw-N-Paint can answer many of your art questions about these but in what format? I'm not an MIT graduate or really advanced in programming but I do know about html web page code to a degree. Most formats for presenting art information are readily available like static images, slide shows or video. But when putting it all together which type of media will be most helpful for teaching between you and Draw-N-Paint? And how is each format best to be arranged on each art lesson's page? No worries, no problems, questions like these only mean that my brain will be expected to overload on different occasions.

From reviewing Draw-N-Paint's web site stats, analytics and other web site helps I'm be able to see if I'm on the right course. It exciting to know I can share what I know about drawing and painting through this media. It is a joy to steer Draw-N-Paint's web design from your view point for teaching visual arts. Ah yes, pour me another cup of coffee, there's going to be a many long memorable and very rewarding nights.

Gaining Demographic Insight from Adds

Knowing the demographic location of potential art collectors is one of the must know items on the selling list. Basically, people are not going to purchase pieces of art unless they know it's available so you have to help them find it. An example of this is retail. For many many years retailers have been placing adds in with demographics in mind to sell all kinds of products and services. They place those adds in strategic locations.

Really, how many adds does one see in a given day in the newspapers, on television, on road side bill-boards, on the Internet and the list goes on and on! Adds are in every place in front of the face hoping all eyes will see them. It just doesn't stop! But isn't that one way of how they stay in business?

There is one thing that can be learned from adds. By looking at the type of products or services that those adds are displaying and where it is located some insight can be gained. Ask yourself in what form and where is that add appearing so that people can see it? Concepts in advertising are true, tried and tested methods in gaining buyers for their products or services. With this in mind one needs to ask, "Who is it that would be the most interested in my style of oil painting?"

Lets look at one of many avenues for advertising such as magazines. Not that I would want to advertise in a magazine because it is like really expensive. But this illustration fits by focusing in on the advertising concept to get the idea. Which magazines are the most in-line or the best fit for my style of art work? Should I focus on automotive magazines if I'm doing oil paintings of wildlife such as deer? With the proper magazine or advertising avenue identified the next step is to ask, "Who is it that is most interested in that source of advertisement?" Yes, your now getting closer to those interested in buying your art works. This is just one example of many sources that can be used for a starting point in locating demographics of potential art collectors of your works.

Being close to finishing the next painting I will give this advertising concept a try and let you know the steps of the process I took and what it has accomplished.

Grid Drawing Pack 01

It's a little time consuming sending out grid drawing pattern requests received from all by e-mail. There's only a few grid patterns right now but many new additions are on the way. There's got to be a better way and there is a better way. So it's become necessary to create a package of grid drawing patterns instead of e-mailing out individual grid patterns.

This actually works out with benefits for you the requester and me the sender. You now get seven grid drawing sheets instead of just one or two in one e-mail. And I only have to send one file versus multiple files from different folders that I have to track down in a computer system that takes it's sweet little time in running. The first grid drawing pattern package has in it the following patterns, (1) Wooden Bucket Water Fountain, (2) Toy Wooden Train, (3) Single Rose, (4) Egg Ball Block, (5) Blank Grid Pattern, (6) Sunflower and (7) a Scramble Grid Pattern that you will have to complete to figure out what is.

There are only two requirements that are necessary in order for you to receive this free grid drawing package and other future grid drawing packages. One, you have to request the grid drawing pattern package by filling out the request form on this web page. Yep, click here. Second, it will be necessary to have an unzipping program such as WinZip or some other similiar program to decompress zip files in stalled on your computer.

Transporting and I Thought it was Dry Paint

Giving oil paintings a few days to dry is sometimes not enough. I thought it would be completely safe to to have my oil painting "Vigil of Caesar's Head" photographed for documentary reasons. This oil painting had been sitting on the easel for at least two whole days solid. It's in winter time where the air is as dry as can be. Yes, I even did the unforgivable act of touching the painting surface with my finger to make sure it was dry and checked the finger tip for wet paint. All indications pointed to a good dry canvas.

Before venturing off I called Eli Warren to be sure he was available for the session. I covered the oil painting and loaded it into the car. I was on my happy way for a thirty minute one way ride to the studio. Well on arriving I uncovered the painting and was in shock and despair. There it was, that little bit of section of the painting had transferred it's self from the canvas to the covering that I used.  I just learned an important lesson.

Do not ever transport a painting with a covering that will make contact the painting surface. In this case the covering was a large green plastic bag. Ah, first time, I though it would be safe. The lesson is, just using a large plastic bag is not enough security to guard against accidental damage to paintings. What I needed was a transport box but I couldn't find any that where big enough for a twenty four by thirty six inch canvas. Then when all hope had just about failed I remembered a company called Uline. They make Artwork Shippers that will fill just about any need of the visual artist in transporting or mailing of paintings. Ah yes, happy once again.

Vigil of Caesar's Head Completed

Why is it when your young time seems to go so slow? Then you get old and time just escapes your grasp and is squeezed more and more out of your life? Time has been precious while working on the oil painting "Vigil of Caesar's Head". Concept of the composition came from a wonderful artist location where thousands of other oil painting compositions await for the next artist. Your sure to find an artist haven from visiting Caesar's Head State Park in South Carolina. From day one it's been a wonderful painting experience.

Computer graphics just doesn't do it justice but when looking at "Vigil of Caesar's Head" you get the feeling of being pulled into the oil painting. It's similiar to looking at a picture of the Grand Canyon versus actually being on the edge of the canyon looking out at the scenery. You can be a bird circling in the air around the massive rock formation moving back and forth in the painting. Or you can fly to the distance hills just below the clouds enjoying your imaginative views.

When looking at this painting your vision is pulled to the rock formations center where Caesar's Head is. The contrast of colors acheives this demand from the art viewer. Dark rich colors from the trees springing up against a bright colored cloudy sky pulls at you. The focal point is enhanced by highlighting the rocks just below and to the left of Caesar's Head.