Showing posts with label roundcanvas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roundcanvas. Show all posts

Friday, December 27, 2019

Andrew Wyeth - Painter of the People

One of the most renowned artists of modern times, Andrew Wyeth continues to hold the American public enthrall with his almost photographic quality paintings. Using watercolors and egg tempera to create masterpieces from the familiar people and landscapes that he grew up around, Wyeth has an unmistakable style that infuses emotion into the mundane. Often using shades of gray and brown, his work combines subdued colors with his mastery of shadows to create incredibly detailed portraits and landscapes.


Born in a small town in Pennsylvania called Chadds Ford, Andrew was the youngest child of five. In the third grade he suffered a bad case of whooping cough which left him sickly for much of his childhood. His parents decided to educate him at home at that time and so his father, Newell Convers (N.C.) Wyeth became his main teacher.

The elder Wyeth was a well known illustrator whose work was featured in many magazines and in other mediums so Andrew was exposed to art from an early age. Seeing the budding talent in young Andrew, his father taught him the basic concepts of drawing and Andrew began working in watercolors. He was to do many watercolor studies of the sea and shoreline while at the family's summer home in Port Clyde, Maine. His first exhibit was of these paintings in 1937.

The success of that first show in New York City launched a career spanning seventy years. By 1950, he was named in Time magazine as one of the greatest American artists. One of his works, "The Hunter", was featured in the Saturday Evening Post. Wyeth paintings hang in museums across the country including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA., the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. In 1987, his "Helga" collection was displayed in the National Gallery of Art - the first time they ever exhibited the works of a living artist.

Despite his popularity and many awards, Wyeth's work was and remains a controversial topic among critics. His representational style contrasted sharply with the abstract art that was favored during the twentieth century. Art critics have often said that his work is too close to illustration and too sentimental in flavor. While some critics describe him as a genius, others are hostile and derisive of his work. His most famous painting, "Christina's World", is even deliberately left out of the listings of masterworks for The Museum of Modern Art where the painting hangs.

Mark Traston is an associate with Portrait Painting. The company specializes in turning a photo to painting. Each portrait artist specializes in a specific area including wedding paintings, pet portraits, and executive portraits.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mark_Traston/187410

Monday, August 19, 2019

Acrylic Painting Basics

Today I am going to talk primarily about working with acrylics. Now, I would guess that oils are much like acrylics - at least in the way I like to apply them and in the end result I like to achieve. I know that they can be applied more like watercolors, too, but that's not how I prefer to use them. I will say right off that what I like most about the acrylics is also what I like least. They do dry very quickly and since patience isn't one of my virtues, that's what I like about them. However, on warm days, or if I want to paint outside, they really dry too quickly. But, I keep a spray bottle of water handy to wet them on the palette and I have found that some of the mediums you can buy really slow down the drying time, too. Plus, I like the look of the gloss medium added to the paints in many situations. Over the last couple of years I have started to use one of the "stay wet" palettes that can be purchased in most art supply stores or from catalogs, and they really do work wonderfully in the studio for extending the life of the acrylics you already have on your palette.


I don't buy any one brand of acrylic paint over the other, but do prefer some colors in one brand over another. For example, Sap Green in Liquitex is a lot different than Sap Green in the Dick Blick brand. I'm not sure why. I don't usually get the student grade paints in ANY brand, however. I like working with a limited palette, mixing my own colors, starting with an underpainting and using the color wheel when deciding on colors for my paintings. I think all of these will make wonderful starting places for topics in the future.

As far as painting surfaces go, I like to experiment there, too. I've tried a lot of different canvas types, and sometimes I gesso them myself, even if it says its already been done. I do like the portrait grade canvas better, especially when I am doing people, as it is much smoother. I also like painting on gessoed hardboard and even Pastelbord, which has recently become a personal favorite of mine! This is a rather unusual surface, but one you acrylic painters really should try if you haven't yet!

For examples of this fantastically versatile medium visit http://www.hughbanksart.com/ to view pieces done on the various surfaces discussed in this article.

Well, this is a start. I've enjoyed discussing acrylics in this very basic way and look forward to breaking down the different elements in more detail in the future.

Debbie Hughbanks
http://www.hughbanksart.com/

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Debbie_Hughbanks/89611



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/528315