Some things to think about when you Paint

When you are painting here are a few thing to consider:

1. How have I handle the  foreground? Is it weak ?
Weak foreground. The foreground appears as an afterthought. Wishy-washy, unresolved or inconsequential--it fails to set the subject onto a reasonable ground or to lead the eye to what the artist would have us see. Even in abstract or mystical work, a foreground needs to be implied and understood as a vital contributor to the whole.

2.  Is there variety?
Homeostatic conditions are boring.
Homeostasis means equidistant lineups of trees, rocks, blocks of colour, or other patterns that are too mechanical or regular.It's rare to find neat and ordrly arrangements of elements in nature.Just think of the difference between a natural forest, where trees are ween a natural forest, where the trees grow any which way, and a plantation, where the trees are planted in evenly spaced rows.

 Varying the space between the elements in your composition, the angles they lie at, and their sizes makes a painting more interesting. It includes trees growing out of the tops of people's heads. While sometimes seen in nature, homeostasis is a natural human tendency--a subconscious reordering and regularizing within the brain. "Even in front of nature one must compose," said Edgar Degas.

3. Does the general design lacks conviction. A woolly, lopsided or wandering pattern makes for a weak one. Often, the work has unresolved areas and lacks cohesiveness and unity.
 "Everything that is placed within the enclosing borders of the picture rectangle relates in some way to everything else that is already there. Some attribute must be shared between all of them." (Ted Smuskiewicz)

4. Is there a lack of flow.
Your  eyes should be direct thorough you work. Rather than circulating the eye from one delight to another, the work blocks, peters out and invites you to look somewhere else. "Composition," said Robert Henri, "is controlling the eye of the observer."
Effective compositions often contain planned activation (spots like stepping stones that take you around), and serpentine (curves that beguile and take you in.) make sure your eyes stays within the painting.

5.Too much going on.Simplify, simplify, oh yes and simplify. Overly busy works tire the eye, induce boredom and make it difficult to find a centre of interest or focus. Less is often more.If the painting is not working do not add anything; "Take something out," said the American painter and illustrator Harvey Dunn.
Remember gray is a good place for the eye to rest.

6. Is the size right ?  Effective small paintings often work well because they are simple and limited in scope. I know some of my small daily paintings just don't work on a large scale. But when artists make larger paintings they often lose control of the basic idea and want to fill the space making the painting overworked and busy.The larger the area to be painted the harder it is to have a good composition.

This last one makes me nervous as I start one of the larges oil painting that I have ever done 4 feet by 8 feet, lets hope I member all of the above points as I paint. Because that is going to be a ton of painting. I have been working on ideas, small sketches. Will they translate well into  large work?

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Four things Artist should ask

Artists need to pause and ask:

1. "What am I doing?"

2. "Who am I doing it for?"

3.  "What am I good at?"

 4. "What do I need to work on?"

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Help who painted this?

Is it illegal to draw or paint a picture of someone art and sell it as your own?

Did you know that whenever you make a drawing,painting or other artwork, you automatically own the copyright to it. Copyright is a form of protection given to the  creators of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and other intellectual works. What that means is that, as the author of the work, you alone have the right to do any of the following:

1.Make copies of your work
2. Distribute copies of your work
3. Show the work publicly
4.Make Derivatives of the work

What are derivatives?  When I was a stock broker I knew all about investment derivatives but it wasn't until I became a full time artist that art derivatives became a new word for me.

A derivative work is a new, original product that includes aspects of a preexisting, already copyrighted work. Also known as a "new version".

This quick course in art forgery:

1. Fake signatures in particular, how to dissect and analyze ways that works of art available for sale online, particularly at auction sites like eBay, are represented by their sellers. 

eBay, for example, does not actively police their auction offerings, but rather depends on emails from dealers, collectors, experienced bidders and related professionals to notify them of problems like possible misrepresentations, fakes, forgeries and similar issues relating to particular works of art. 

As things stand currently, any seller can describe any work of art in any manner that he or she chooses and as long as no one complains, that art sells to the highest bidder.

As a result, eBay and similar online auction sites are among the more dangerous places for uninformed or inexperienced individuals to buy original art.

  Here are a few ways to help you to know if your purchase is a forgery

1.Is the seller listed as living in the United States?China has become renowned as the world capital of art forgery.

If they list their email or telephone number check it out on one of the numerous reverse address search sites find out where that cell phone or email address is really coming from. Many times there will be an Internet listing on the scam artist.

If it is listed as coming from anywhere but the location they provided in the listing be wary!

2. It seems obvious but check to see if they have multiple listings of the same original.

3.If the price the normal selling price for this artist? All artist list lower prices from time to time but this may be a red flag. Go to the artist web site and send them an email to check. 

4. Check to see if the artist is listing under the "direct from artist" if they are selling on eBay.If not:

 Contact seller and ask if he/she can tell you anything about the origins of the painting and what inspired him/her to paint it. Or "are you the Artist?" If you get a no, or I don't know for either of those questions, walk away 5.If they are listing it as signed by artist and they are not the artist ask:" whose signature is on the painting. "

Enter that name into Goggle and if can find a website, email/phone number contact them and find out if the seller has permission to sell their work.

6. Ask the seller, via email if they have any other art for sell. If they respond check the spelling and grammar in their reply. Yes we all make typos but too many is a red flag.

7.  Know where the artist typically signs their art and compare the location of your signature to them. Most artists sign in particular locations on their art. Any discrepancy in location is a matter of concern. I almost always sign my oil paintings on the left in red.

  A major red flag would be if an artist normally signs on the front of their art, but the piece you are looking at is only signed on the back-- not on the front a good indication this is some kind of copy.

8.Check out the Sellers store, if he is selling more than 10 non art items, or his store is listed with a non-art related title he is not an artist. Artist may sell other things with their accounts occasionally but true artists sell primarily ART. Check the feedback to see how much of the positive feedback is coming from Art Sales. If they are going to consistently sell other things they will open a different store.

Having said this other place to buy original artwork directly from the artist:

Daily Painters

Daily PaintWorks

Contemporary Fine Art International

Etsy

Thanks for stopping in.

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Watercolor Demo, Heirloom Tomato and Dragonflies

A painting demo done in watercolor of an Heirloom Tomato and two dragonflies.

To Bid on this painting click here.

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Demo

Watercolor Demo,

Expressionist painting of waterlillies in watercolor.To view more of my watercolor stop in at my blog Art on Paper.

Thank you for viewing my artwork.

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Colbalt as a drying medium for oil painting

When I read Robert Glenns Twice Weekly Letter today this comment was at the bottom:

A drop or two of cobalt driers in the medium is the time-honoured method of speeding up drying in oils. Used sparingly, your paintings won't crack or crumble. Don't use Japan driers--they're too violent. While a lot of great artists don't agree with me, a good shine can be the final touch of quality. An uneven shine interferes with this illusion. Poor priming can be the culprit. Further, earth pigments (the siennas, ochres and umbers) tend to "sink in" more than other pigments and leave dull areas. This can often be corrected with a light spray of retouch varnish (comes in an aerosol can) right after painting. This helps in the drying too.

Now I have used Ihave used drying mediums like Liquin and Galkyd I have never used cobalt as a drying medium, so I thought I would learn more about it and share with you.
COBALT DRIERS:

Cobalt driers or as they are also known; Cobalt Siccatives are made from metal salts dissolved in either solvents or a combination of solvents, oils and resins.

The best Cobalt Siccatif available today is called "Cobalt Naphthenate" which replaced cobalt linoleate.

 Cobalt driers are VERY POWERFUL. If used in excess they can ruin a painting. Most experienced painters would agree that NO MORE than 5 drops of cobalt drier should be used per each 2 1/2 fluid Oz of any given medium.

 Basically Cobalt Driers are diluted in the oil painting medium if you are using one, or directly into the blobs of paint on the palette, but I do not recommend the later, because it is harder to control the amount of drier you are using. In short, Cobalt Driers are used to improve and speed the drying rate of oil colours.
Cobalt Drier is used with oil paints to reduce the time it takes for the surface of the paint film to dry.

Driers are best used with techniques that call for thin applications of paint, as in glazes. If your technique includes a thick impasto then cobalt driers are not for you. There are other driers that will work with thick bodied paint surfaces.

Pros:

• Reduce the handling time.
• Ease of use.

Cons:

• Not to be used in water based paints or varnishes.
• Can cause wrinkling and cracking when used in excess.

How does it work?

Using a paint drier with a drying oil, such as linseed, accelerates the absorption of oxygen. Drying oils dry through a process called oxidation. The oil molecule has one or two sites on it that bond with oxygen forming a new molecule. As this process occurs, these new molecules bond together in a process called polymerization. A solid film is left when the process is complete. This process will take place without the addition of a drier but will take significantly more time.

How much should you use?

The amount depends on the percentage of active ingredient in the Cobalt Drier solution you purchase. You will need to experiement with the painting medium and oils that you use. Begin by adding just a few drops to the oil and medium as you mix your paints on the pallette.

Warning:

Cobalt is a very toxix substance. In large concentrations it has been shown to be very harmful to one's health.

Keep this and all painting materials out of reach of children and use sparingly and with caution.

 For more information on art materials and safe studio practices check back. I will be reviewing different mediums for oil painting this month.


Cobalt Drier is used with oil paints to reduce the time it takes for the surface of the paint film to dry.

Driers are best used with techniques that call for thin applications of paint, as in glazes. If your technique includes a thick impasto then cobalt driers are not for you. There are other driers that will work with thick bodied paint surfaces.

Pros:

• Reduce the handling time.
• Ease of use.

Cons:

• Not to be used in water based paints or varnishes.
• Can cause wrinkling and cracking when used in excess.

How does it work?

Using a paint drier with a drying oil, such as linseed, accelerates the absorption of oxygen. Drying oils dry through a process called oxidation. The oil molecule has one or two sites on it that bond with oxygen forming a new molecule. As this process occurs, these new molecules bond together in a process called polymerization. A solid film is left when the process is complete. This process will take place without the addition of a drier but will take significantly more time.

How much should you use?

The amount depends on the percentage of active ingredient in the Cobalt Drier solution you purchase. You will need to experiement with the painting medium and oils that you use. Begin by adding just a few drops to the oil and medium as you mix your paints on the pallette.

Warning:

Cobalt is a very toxix substance. In large concentrations it has been shown to be very harmful to one's health. Keep this and all painting materials out of reach of children and use sparingly and with caution


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No Monkey's Here

This edition of Applause focuses on two local purveyors of art. Host Dee Perry visits Dave Rankin at his Cleveland Heights studio for a conversation about his work. An exhibition of Rankin’s watercolors “Visions of the North Coast,” is on display at The Art Gallery in Willoughby through January. An interview with Marcie Bergman, the new director of the Cleveland Arts Prize, concludes this episode of Applause

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