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followurarts11 · 5 months ago

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Best Professional Art Classes in Singapore #1 follow Ur Arts

Best Professional Art Classes in Singapore #1 Follow Ur Arts

Introduction

Art is more than just a hobby; it's a vital part of our cultural fabric. Whether you're a budding artist or an experienced professional, art classes can help you hone your skills, explore new mediums, and express your creativity. In Singapore, a city known for its vibrant arts scene, finding the right art class can be a game-changer. This article delves into why Follow Ur Arts is the best choice for professional art classes in Singapore.

Why Choose Art Classes?

Benefits of Art Education

Art education offers numerous benefits beyond just learning to draw or paint. It enhances creativity, improves problem-solving skills, and fosters emotional expression. Art classes also promote cultural awareness and can be a therapeutic outlet for stress.

Personal and Professional Growth

Taking art classes can lead to personal growth by boosting self-confidence and providing a sense of accomplishment. Professionally, these classes can open doors to careers in design, illustration, and other creative fields.

Follow Ur Arts: An Overview

History and Mission

Follow Ur Arts was established with the mission to nurture creativity and artistic skills in individuals of all ages. Over the years, it has become a cornerstone of Singapore’s art education scene, known for its comprehensive and high-quality courses.

Location and Facilities

Conveniently located in the heart of Singapore, Follow Ur Arts boasts state-of-the-art facilities, including spacious studios, modern equipment, and a vibrant community of artists.

Types of Art Classes Offered

Painting

Oil Painting: Learn the techniques of oil painting, from basic brushwork to advanced color mixing.

Watercolor Painting: Discover the fluidity and transparency of watercolors with guided lessons.

Drawing

Charcoal Drawing: Explore the depth and texture that charcoal can bring to your drawings.

Pencil Sketching: Master the fundamentals of sketching with pencils.

Digital Art

Graphic Design: Delve into the world of digital design using industry-standard software.

Digital Illustration: Create stunning digital illustrations with expert guidance.

Sculpture

Clay Modeling: Shape and mold clay into expressive sculptures.

Wood Carving: Learn the intricate art of wood carving.

Unique Features of Follow Ur Arts

Experienced Instructors

Follow Ur Arts prides itself on its team of experienced instructors who are professional artists themselves. They bring a wealth of knowledge and real-world experience to their teaching.

Small Class Sizes

With a focus on quality over quantity, Follow Ur Arts maintains small class sizes to ensure personalized attention for each student.

Personalized Attention

Each student's progress is closely monitored, and instructors tailor their teaching methods to suit individual needs and skill levels.

Beginner Classes

What to Expect

Beginner classes at Follow Ur Arts are designed to introduce students to the basics of their chosen medium. These classes cover fundamental techniques and concepts.

Course Structure

Courses are structured to gradually build skills and confidence, starting with simple projects and advancing to more complex ones.

Intermediate Classes

Skill Development

Intermediate classes focus on refining skills and introducing more advanced techniques. Students are encouraged to experiment and develop their unique style.

Advanced Techniques

Students learn advanced techniques that push the boundaries of their creativity and technical ability.

Advanced Classes

Mastering the Craft

Advanced classes at Follow Ur Arts are designed for those who want to master their chosen medium. These classes involve intensive practice and in-depth exploration of complex techniques.

Portfolio Preparation

For those looking to pursue art professionally, these classes offer guidance on creating a strong portfolio.

Workshops and Special Programs

Weekend Workshops

Short, intensive workshops held over the weekend cover various art forms and techniques.

Holiday Programs

Special programs during school holidays offer fun and educational art activities for children and teenagers.

Guest Artist Sessions

Follow Ur Arts frequently invites guest artists to conduct special sessions, providing students Enrollment Process

How to Sign Up

Enrolling at Follow Ur Arts is straightforward. Visit their website, choose your preferred course, and complete the online registration form.

Fees and Payment Options

Various payment options are available, and the fees are competitive, reflecting the quality of instruction provided.

Class Schedules

Weekly Schedule

Classes are scheduled throughout the week, offering flexibility to accommodate different schedules.

Flexible Timings

With morning, afternoon, and evening classes available, students can choose timings that best fit their lifestyle.

Conclusion

Follow Ur Arts stands out as the best choice for professional art classes in Singapore. With experienced instructors, personalized attention, and a wide range of courses, it provides the perfect environment for artists to thrive. Whether you're a beginner or looking to advance your skills, Follow Ur Arts has something for everyone. Enroll today and start your artistic journey!

FAQs

What age groups can join Follow Ur Arts?

Follow Ur Arts offers classes for all age groups, from children to adults.

Do I need prior experience to enroll?

No prior experience is required. Follow Ur Arts offers classes for all skill levels.

How are the classes structured?

Classes are structured to gradually build skills, starting with basics and advancing to more complex techniques.

What materials do I need?

Most materials are provided by Follow Ur Arts. Students are encouraged to bring their own sketchbooks and any personal tools they prefer.

Can I visit the studio before signing up?

Yes, potential students are welcome to visit the studio and meet the instructors before enrolling.

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webdesign111 · 6 months ago

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Art Class Near me | Singapore Art Classes Near me - Follow Ur Arts

Introduction

Singapore's vibrant art scene is a haven for artists and enthusiasts alike. From beginners to seasoned professionals, the island offers an array of art classes designed to cater to every skill level and interest. This comprehensive guide explores the diverse Kids art classes in Singapore, providing detailed insights into finding the perfect class to ignite your creative passion.

The Importance of Art Classes

Enhancing Creativity and Skill

Art classes are not just about learning techniques; they are about unlocking creativity and honing skills. Through structured lessons and guided practice, students can develop their artistic abilities, exploring new mediums and styles.

Personal and Professional Growth

Engaging in kids art classes can lead to significant personal growth. For many, art is a form of therapy, providing a means to express emotions and reduce stress. Professionally, art skills can enhance careers in various fields such as design, advertising, and multimedia.

Exploring the Singapore Art Scene

A Hub for Artistic Expression

Singapore is renowned for its rich cultural heritage and dynamic art scene. Areas like Bras Basah.Bugis and Gillman Barracks are epicenters of artistic activity, offering a plethora of galleries, studios, and art schools. These districts are perfect for immersing oneself in the local art culture.

Art Events and Festivals

The city-state hosts numerous art events and festivals throughout the year, such as the Singapore Art Week and Affordable Art Fair. These events provide opportunities to engage with the art community, discover new talents, and gain inspiration.

Types of Art Classes Available in Singapore

Drawing and Sketching Classes

Drawing and sketching classes focus on the fundamentals of art, teaching students about line, form, shading, and perspective. These classes are essential for building a strong foundation in visual art.

Painting Classes

Oil Painting

Oil painting classes teach the traditional techniques of this versatile medium, known for its rich colors and textures. Students learn about color mixing, brushwork, and layering.

Acrylic Painting

Acrylic painting is popular for its quick drying time and vibrant colors. Classes in this medium cover various techniques such as glazing, impasto, and blending.

Watercolor Painting

Watercolor classes explore the fluid and translucent nature of watercolors. Students learn about washes, wet-on-wet techniques, and creating depth with layers.

Digital Art Classes

In the digital age, digital art classes for kids are in high demand. These classes cover software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Procreate, teaching students to create digital illustrations, concept art, and graphic designs.

Sculpture and Ceramics Classes

Sculpture and ceramics classes offer a hands-on approach to art. Students learn about different sculpting techniques and materials, from clay modeling to metalwork.

Printmaking Classes

Printmaking classes introduce various methods such as etching, lithography, and screen printing. These techniques allow artists to produce unique prints and explore different textures and effects.

Finding the Right Art Class

Assess Your Skill Level

Before enrolling, it’s crucial to assess your current skill level. Are you a complete beginner, or do you have some experience? This will help you choose a class that is tailored to your abilities and ensures you get the most out of your learning experience.

Define Your Interests

Art is a broad field with numerous specialties. Identifying what interests you most—whether it’s painting, digital art, or sculpture—will help you find a class that aligns with your passion.

Set Clear Goals

Determine what you want to achieve from your kids art classes. Whether it’s developing a new hobby, preparing a portfolio for further education, or enhancing your professional skills, having clear goals will keep you motivated and focused.

Community Centers and Local Workshops

Affordable and Accessible Options

Community centers across Singapore offer affordable art classes, making art education accessible to all. These classes are typically budget-friendly and cater to various age groups and skill levels.

Local Workshops

Local workshops and pop-up classes are perfect for those looking to try out different art forms without a long-term commitment. These short-term sessions are often hosted by local artists and cover a range of unique and niche topics.

Cost Considerations

Understanding Class Fees

Art classes for kids fees can vary significantly based on the type of class, the instructor’s experience, and the duration of the course. It’s important to understand what is included in the fees, such as materials and studio time.

Budget-Friendly Options

For those on a budget, community centers and online platforms often provide more affordable options. Many studios also offer discounts for package deals or early registration, making it easier to access quality art education without breaking the bank.

Maximising Your Art Class Experience

Practice Regularly

Consistent practice is key to improving your art skills. Set aside regular time each week to work on your projects and apply what you’ve learned in class.

Seek Constructive Feedback

Feedback from instructors and peers is invaluable for artistic growth. Be open to constructive criticism and use it to refine your techniques and improve your work.

Engage with the Art Community

Building relationships with fellow students and artists can enhance your learning experience. Participate in class discussions, group projects, and local art events to expand your network and gain new insights.

Conclusion

Singapore’s art scene offers a wealth of opportunities for artists at all levels. Whether you’re looking to develop a new hobby, enhance your professional skills, or simply explore your creative side, there’s an art class in Singapore that’s perfect for you. Embrace the journey, engage with the community, and let your creativity flourish.

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keirametzbrassknuckles · 3 years ago

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I saw the piece ‘Study for Figure IV’. It just. I don’t know. Grabbed me. The way he painted the figure, and the use of colours. Particularly the uses of red, orange and green as the backdrop (you’ll have to forgive me for my lack of art terminology use sorry). There was also a piece in one of my history books ‘Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion’ which also the use of red just captivated me. And I was fascinated by the mouths. Which is your favourite piece by him?

His pieces just grab you! That's exactly what they do! Even his most basic sketches just have this pull to them. I'm so glad you got the opportunity to see one irl. His work is something else; there's a powerful violence to his brushwork that is just breathtaking and sometimes he would be so rough with the canvas that he'd leave pieces of his brushes in the paint. Next time you see a Bacon piece look for that, it’s a fun treasure hunt!

"Three Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion" is the piece (or pieces) that made him famous. They're HUGE and visceral and you just want to run and hide from them. Imagine being in the gallery in 1945 and seeing THAT. I'd freak tf out too.

I have so many favorites. Three Figures has to be up there - I remember seeing it in class and just having this gut-deep recoil from it. It's rare to have a reproduction of a piece strike me like that.

If pressed I think "Painting 1946" is my absolute favorite. Its a cliche choice but there's something just so epic and fully realized about it when a lot of Bacon's work is so very dreamy and twists if you try and make too much sense of it (like those neuralnet landscapes or whatever). The visceral colors, the fully realized rug, the stiff almost rigor-mortis language of the body, the umbrella - this symbol of upper class British masculinity - overshadowing something so very sinister, even the flower at the figure's lapel (yellow carnation?)... so good.

He revisited this motif in 1971 (R)

And again in 1978 (L). Both of which I adore as well and I like to see all three of them together just to track the evolution of not only his practice but his relationship to the symbolism and thereby himself.

Honestly though I think "Blood on the Floor" from 1986 is the culmination of all of Bacon's paintings for me and also, in a large way, his life:

It's the room where the Three Figures were painted, it's the same lurid burnt orange background that he used so much and the room is empty. There's nothing to show for it all but some blood on the floor, this profound emptiness, this void with these bare lightbulbs swinging overhead. It's the aftermath of violence, of a party, of a life. It's being alone with your thoughts.

On a happier note; he did a lot of paintings based off of Velazquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X and the purple pope became kind of a ghost that haunts his oeuvre. A lot of his early portraits sort of become Pope Innocent X if you squint, this religious trauma kind of bubbling to the surface. But, to end things on a slightly lighter note: "Study for a Pope 1955" always cracks me up because it looks like the Pope is about to fucking throw hands and is only being stopped by this glass box hes stuck inside:

Look out! It's the Pope!

He actually did a kind of funny one called "Study of Red Pope, Second Version" in 1971 where the pope is presented as like a zoo animal trapped behind glass and being watched by someone - just in case you wanted more Pope shenanigans.

This got long I'm so sorry but honestly I could go ON AND ON and on and on and on...

#art history things #gore tw

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ofravensandgenesis · 5 years ago

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IT IS FINISHED no seriously, this took ages. First couple of days were fine and motoring along with progress, then I was laid out for a week-ish with health problems. Then once I was well enough again I was back to being fixated on finishing this piece of my lad Joshua here for another handful of days, so I’m super glad this is done now. More talk about the painting, details and process under the cut:

Art Entry 01, Joshua Rook, Junior Deputy of Hope County. Regarding the painting’s execution, stylistic choices, practiced methods, and speculation on further experimentation for skill and stylization. _____________________________ Honestly I thought that the uniform’s large swatches of green fabric would be more difficult than it actually was. Turns out that was the easier part compared to the shoulder patch and metal badge. x’D The metal badge design is based off of and inspired by a custom-ordered cosplay badge design I found while looking for references, in this post here (link,) from v-i-d-e-n-o-i-r’s blog and Far Cry 5 cosplay. There are some differences in the painting’s rendition above, namely I flattened the middle section and made it all concentric polished metal instead of painted and the great seal rendition in the middle doesn’t have silver lineart either. Those choices are as much for aesthetic reasons of eliminating the blue ring so it was all a fairly simple mono-material-looking surface as it was for simplifying having to forego painting the foreshortening that a spherical dome might entail. Also just because the rest of the metal turned out looking good enough that an additional bit of shiny metal seemed like it’d fit right in for this. That being said, the badge design that inspired this one is rad and awesome looking—and I totally didn’t realize it wasn’t quite like the badges from in-game assets until after I’d painted it. x’D So, I decided to stick with this one since it’s simpler and has cleaner lines, and less engraving to pick out highlights on. Metal is very hit or miss for me to get right, so I’m very pleased with how this one came out! :D I think I did well on that one. The shoulder patch originally I was looking at real world references and ended up changing the shape once I actually looked at in-game references on Staci and Joey—who I discovered have slightly different details on their uniforms, like the font for their name tags—Staci’s has an old-timey-looking-font with serifs, Joey’s is a non-serif more modern-style font. Some pictures have them having different buttons on their uniforms either in color or shape (the former being exported assets, the latter being in-game gifs/screenies/etc.) This is also how I learned that the little landscape with the shovel, pickaxe and plough/plow are part of the great seal of Montana. I had no flipping idea that was what it was, looking at the patches in-game. The cosplay community does some great work for that, for which I’m grateful. I ended up looking up references of what the state seal’s design was so as to see the smaller details, and to find out what the motto meant ”Oro y Plata,” meant, leading to etymology googling adventures from there, as usual. All important details to paint though I think here, since Joshua’s deputy uniform is symbolically significant to him and will remain so throughout his story as part of his internal conflict for a couple of reasons. One thing I knew I should’ve done from the start, and reminded myself to do, was the fact that I should paint all skin sections at the same time, so as to ensure they all came out the same shades. I did not do this. x’D I’ll have to actually try to do that next time honestly. Same with the hair sections, while I like how they came out, I do feel the differences between the three major segments in terms of brushwork is not as coherent as I’d like, even if beard hair is not necessarily similar in how it lays to scalp hair, particularly with length and such taken into consideration. Still, not bad. Could’ve used more refs for the backlighting and figuring out how the highlights would fit best on the ponytail, but I think the hair curves turned out nice there in particular. Overall, Joshua’s hair ended up messier than I’d thought with how the locks all end up looping this way and that across his head, but it does actually fit him well as a character for his hairstyle to be messy and loosely held together, but functional. It did end up longer than I’d intended, so we have him likely ending up with a nerdy Jesus hairstyle when it’s down. x’D (Thanks to @undead-gearhead for that mental imagery, I shall take great amusement in that should I get around to drawing Joshua with his hair down.) Aside from that, I think I’m slowly improving on figuring out how to paint glasses, though I’m thinking in the future I should test more layered reflective light on them or something where the frames are in contact or close to skin, particularly around the glasses’ bridge across the nose and such. Then there are the other deviation details added—like using dark green instead of the black for the uniform accents. The faded black looks great in-game, but I do think the buttons pop more against dark green instead for this painting. I’m a little bit surprised how well the button-placket section came out, Clip Studio Paint crashed when I painted the first rendition of it, sadly losing all that work. I thought it’d be okay but turns out it didn’t quite get to auto-save that recently enough, but the second go around turned out quite well I think, possibly better. I was originally planning to try to put more textured brushwork across the flat sections of the uniform material, but decided to skip it for speed—I’ll test that elsewhere perhaps, though I think it came out well with the watercolor brushes layered on top of one another like that as is. Among the other smaller details, there’s some tweaks and such for how Joshua’s eye shape, eyebrows, nose shape, hairline etc came out compared to references of Greg Bryk in his role as Joseph Seed. I think Joshua did come out looking like he’s obviously related to the Seeds as I was hoping for, but I’m kind of on the fence that people would look at him and automatically assume it’s Joseph specifically that he’s descended from. I hope so, but either way, that’s how he’s written in-fic. x’D Overall, I would consider this painting a success, though as usual I do wish it’d been faster to finish. I do think this was good practice for detail work, and metal shading, also: buttons. Still haven’t figured out how to paint lips with more pink or red tones, I don’t like the way they look when painted sadly, unless it’s lipstick. That may end up being a stylistic element perhaps, along with how I paint the lines for fingernails and other such details. Fun fact: I have to leave the shading on the eyes for last, or else my brain goes “The eyes are done! We’re done! Call it a day.” I’m not sure why, but so far, leaving them as flats until the end seems to work a treat for keeping me focused on finishing the rest of the work with less mental dissonance. Now if only I could figure out why despite knowing I should do all the exposed skin portions at the same time, I don’t follow through on that naturally as far as inclinations go. Maybe it’s a layer organization thing and perception of wanting, say, the cloth to be done first before working “down” to the hands and such in the sense of working from the head down? I’ll have to think on that some more and test things in the next painting. Perhaps color coding the order of layers to paint will help? CSP does have a nice layer-icon-color function that I’ve dabbled with here and there. There are so many brushes, I really do need to test out more of them, I use, what, four or five total, but primarily somewhere around two or three. Hm, but what to do with texture, and how to utilize it so? Hmmm, as far as personal appeal for methodology goes, I might prefer to use textures in select pieces for more emotional emphasis? If I can figure out how to do that in a messier speed-paint style of things. Rougher textures for conflict, for example. That sounds like an interesting idea to explore, I’ll have to remember that for a later piece. Maybe more heavily textured brushes will also help with the mental itch to refine things to a cleaner-level of refining instead of leaving it in a more organically rough state. Hm, maybe it’s a “mental texture” aversion or something, as far as an interplay between the brush’s texture and the flow of the linework/brushstroke. Perhaps more uneven brushes echo that in a complimentary fashion to better allow less mental discomfort for me personally when trying to paint in a faster, looser fashion? Honestly, very tempting to go try that out sooner rather than later on some art ideas I have, but I’ve been missing my writing very much of late with two time-demanding paintings back to back. So, ideas for a later time to experiment with.

#Far Cry 5 #FC 5 #Far Cry 5 AU #FC 5 AU #deputy joshua rook #my art #ofravensandgenesis's art #art talk #chatter #writing about art #writing about fanart #queue

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jack-fruit · 5 years ago

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Paint the Stars

Hey gamers this fic is apart of my personal swap au which I also wrote this for. You really don't need to read that one to understand this one, but its short lol. All you need to know that's mentioned there is Aziraphale is a bat demon so like

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When the starmaker first learned to paint, he was going by Anthony. He had no reason to go by an alias, but he had grown rather fond of it after providing it to a rather polite demon. His decision to dip his fingers into what was the original sorry excuse for paint, however, had nothing to do with his name, but everything to do with his title.

He had hoped after the fiasco with Adam and Eve, She would allow him back into the expanse of space to make stars once again. She told him he had more to do on Earth, much to Anthony's chagrin. So he walked among man bitter and with hands itching to create.

They'd only been a few generations into humanity when a girl first found that mixing together egg yolk and red soil would make a substance that would trail bright and stick to the rock. She used it to make crude drawings, which Anthony watched, impressed.

It wasn't until there was a suitable array of colors avaliable that Anthony felt the tug of longing hard enough that he sheepishly approached a group painting across an expanse of cave walls and scooped up some of the yellow paint.

He created starbursts across stone and nebules across rock. He didn't have all the colors he wanted to work with, but the thrill of a challenge only spurred him on. He may have also been there to nudge the Egyptians in the right direction of finding blue paint, okay? Sue him- blue was one of his favorites.

It wasn't until around 300 BC that Anthony picked up a paintbrush. There had been other attempts at something similar before, but all the crude sticks and leaves could not capture the fine detail a brush of a fingertip could.

Anthony was perfectly content using his hands and fingers, just as he always had, but the man selling the brushes assured him they were intended for caligraphy. The angel picked up the thin bamboo with animal hair attatched to one end, and decided that perhaps a certain demon would get a kick out of it. After all, Az loved the written word, perhaps he would like a tool to help create it.

He had originally only meant to try it out. To make sure it worked as advertised, but as he dipped it into the ink that he'd purchased alongside it, he slowly realized things were not going to go as planned.

The gentle sweep of the brush across parchment was a sensation he liked almost as much as fingerpainting. And it kept his hands blessedly clean. He created a void in the paper, a sinkhole from which there was no return. He then got up, grabbed his paints, and wove a galaxy around it. He tucked the concept into the back of his mind, deciding to ask Her to let him abandon post for just a while to play around again.

He was going by Raphael when he realized that he could paint more than just space. He had been out in the cosmos for a few decades, having gotten the okay to return to where he belonged. He had ended up quite liking the brush idea, which is where the staff came from.

His staff was a long piece of carefully maintained bamboo that he was able to miracle from brush to staff with minimal effort. The staff worked a bit different from an actual paint brush, it didn't even have a proper brush end, really, but the angel would push his power through it in arcs and waves in ways he hadn't really been capable of before.

But he missed Earth, much as that fact irked him. He missed the browns and the greens and the greys. He missed the food and the wind and the sounds. Above all, he missed the sparkling darkness of a certain demon's gaze, which he would certainly never admit.

So he returned to earth and decided to give a new name a whirl. Raphael. When he told Az about it, he laughed, but did start calling him by the new name. It put something at ease in his chest, that approval.

Raphael had known that people painted things other than space, of course he did, but he never thought to do it himself until he saw a man painting a landscape.

"Mind if I join you?" Raphael had asked without thinking. The man looked at him, curious, but nodded his consent and offered Raphael the paints he was using. All earth tones, nothing like the angel liked to work with.

Withholding a sigh, Raphael decided to paint the same landscape. It was more challenging then the colorful and shapeless bursts he was used to, but it was easy enough to get. Sharp bursts of brown-green, yellow spikes of grass, grey-brown bark. It was the same concept, the pallete was just different, the angles a bit sharper.

"What are you doing?" Raphael jumped and whirled to face the fanged grin of his adversary. The original painter and his canvas had vanished.

"Why are you here?" The angel tried very hard not to sound pleased.

"I asked first, Starmaker," Az said, taking his brush from him and narrowing his eyes at the carvings on it. "Are these snakes?"

"Snakes are cool," Raphael hissed, turning back to his painting. "And I'm painting, now you."

"Oh just spreading some chaos here, michief there."

"Which I will inevitably thwart," Raphael noted. "You know, maybe-"

"No! No we are not..." Az's voice dropped to a harsh whisper, "we are not teaming up Ant- Raphael."

"Antraphael?" The angel teased momentarily, before his expression turned thoughtful. "That sounds like an angel I knew- a principality. Wonder what happened to him...haven't heard from him in ages."

"Doesn't matter," Az snapped, aggrivated. "I know what heaven is like. They find out you're helping the enemy and you know what they'll do? They'll toss you out, and thats if you're lucky!"

Raphael's brushstroke shot up, ruining the entire painting.

"Let's go get drinks," he grumbled, waving the project away. It would be years before he would finally rediscover, fix, and finish the damn piece.

The name didn't last, of course it didn't. Anthony knew Az was really quite uncomfortable with the name Raphael, despite his insistance of it being fine. The closest the angel got to an answer was 'reminds me too much of someone else. Not you.'

So he was Anthony again when he realized how truly and utterly fucked he was. It was the 19th century, and realism- true realism- was coming into style. The more detailed and real looking a painting looked, the better. And for the first time since paint had been invented, Anthony couldn't master a style of art.

Of course, he would eventually, but at the present everything he painted looked cheap and fake. The concept of shading was new to him, nothing cast shadows in space and his landscapes were more stylized than anything. Along with that, still life was a bit drab to him- lots of looking and staring at inanimate objects doing nothing and feeling nothing for hours.

In contrast, portraits had the opposite issue. The subject was too squirmy, and the constant annoyance and boredom that flared up would effect his brushwork.

Plants were a good compromise, just alive enough to entertain him, but not squirmy enough to distract him. He spent hours trailing greenery across his canvases, adding bursts of color where flowers decided to plant themselves.

He ended up surrounding himself with plants, expresing his annoyance if they began to wilt, which would quickly make them perk up once more. He accidently scared the plants, he thought, what with all his frustrated yelling and the torn canvases strewn across the floor, but it did lead to them looking exquisite. He'd be lying if said he hadn't been hamming up the dramaticness that came with destroying his less than perfect works.

Az had come over once, sitting properly in a plain, stiff wooden chair he summoned while Anthony sprawled out across his own sofa. Az was looking at a half finished painting of a plant.

"Do you ever paint anything other than plants?" Az asked suddenly. Anthony sat up and followed his gaze.

"Space."

"Other than space and plants."

"Like what?"

"People?"

Anthony snorted and fell back against the cushions, "nah, people move too much."

"Oh," Az said. The two fell quiet for a few minutes before Az spoke again. "Well if you like, I could...you know, model for you. If it would help."

"I- you- what?" Anthony sputtered. The demon scowled at him.

"Mind out of the gutter, Anthony. It's simply that...look I can hold much more still than any human could, I would be an easy model to start with to get the human-esque form down."

Anthony was quiet in his consideration. Much as he loathe to admit it, it did make sense. And as much as he loved painting plants and stars, he did want to branch out, if only to prove he could. He was a stubborn bastard that way.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Just...stay there, then," he launched himself off the couch and collected his paints.

"Now?" Az asked, and when Anthony turned to face him, his dark eyes were curious and wide and just...beautiful.

"I- er- that okay?" Anthony asked, taking his brush and twirling it in his fingers. Az nodded; Anthony nodded back in reply. The angel turned his easel towards the demon and, with a slow breath, began to paint.

He had always found Az remarkable- with his intelligent eyes, his soft, slightly singed curls, the curve of his delicate pink lips...

He was practically in a trance, looking more at Az then his canvas. It felt like no time at all before he had finished enough for Az to move if he wished. The demon cracked his neck at an inhuman angle, then stood to look over Anthony's shoulder.

"Oh...Anthony," his breath ghosted across his ear and he had to surpress a shiver, "this is perfect, how have you been having trouble?"

Slowly, Anthony tipped his head back. He let his curls brush against Az's shoulder as he did so, and when he looked to the left he could see how close the demon really was. With his eyes that reminded him so much of his night sky that it hurt.

Oh.

Oh fuck.

"S'not done, still time to mess up," he said over his mounting panic. Az laughed that soft laugh of his and grinned, revealing those delicate little fangs perfect for-

Anthony's entire brain ripped like a canvas in a desprate attempt to get that image out of his head. In the meantime, Az had pulled away and offered him an apologetic farewell. Anthony was still sewing his brain back together when the door closed firmly behind him. He was still stitching his sanity back into place as he found himself setting up a new canvas. He was still lost in a daze as he found himself wondering how many years it would take to draw Az perfectly from memory.

The first time he wrote out the name "Anthony J. Crowley" had been on the deed to his studio. A studio he had not planned on getting at all, but when a giddy bat demon bounced up to him only about 60 or so years after the whole gay crisis thing Anthony had no choice but to follow. He wasn't sure if the blindfold made him more or less eager, if he was being honest.

"Watch your step!"

"I can't see, idiot, there's a blindfold over my face."

"Stop sassing me or I'll gag you, starmaker."

"Kinky."

"No!"

Anthony laughed, feeling a warm flutter in his chest as Az very firm stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Then, he removed the blindfold.

"Tada!"

"A...building?" Anthony raised an incredulous eyebrow at the demon.

"It's for your studio!" Az enthused.

"My-?"

"I originally bought it thinking about making a bookshop out of it, but then I realized thst would require me to, um, you know, sell my books? And so I thought instead I'd give it to you. I've already found a quaint little cottage for my books And I to stay, so I have no need for it, obviously-"

"Azzy..."

"No need to thank me, you're just taking it off my hands," the demon pushed on, shoving a deed into Anthony's hands and then bolting like the devil himself was after him. Anthony looked at the deed, then at the building.

It could use some paint...

1967, he'd been going by Crowley for 25 years as far as close friends were concerned. Well, close friend. After tonight, though...

He leaned heavily against the door to his studio, against the painted grasses and flowers that stretched across its surface, growing towards glow and the dark stars. Against his chest, Crowley clutched a jar containing a single, wild spark of hellfire. Uncontrollable, untamable, and all Az's.

'What, not going to offer me a lift?" Crowley had quietly asked, sitting behind Az on his motorbike.

Crowley moved as if he were walking through the thickest of oil paints. He entered his room, set the jar on his desk, then returned to the studio itself. Half finished projects were littered everywhere. Crowley looked at them and felt empty.

A soft, pained laugh. 'I know I go too slow for you, Crowley...' Then, the most heatbroken admission, 'I am... quite unsure if I will ever be capable of catching up with you.'

Crowley's whole body began to shake. Hands balled into fists, and then he screamed. He grabbed a wooden stool that Az could often be caught sitting on and threw it right into one of his paintings. It splintered and ripped and Crowley felt good.

He tore paintings from the wall, shattered frames against the floor. He ripped apart each brushstroke, each secret hope. He only stopped when he tore his paintbrush off the chain around his throat and tried to snap it. Lucky for him, past Crowley had enchanted it to be basically invincible, so his efforts simply drained him. He let it expand into his staff so he could lean heavily on it as sobs wracked him. He was angry, he was heartbroken, and he had never felt less holy.

In the years leading up to the apocalypse, Crowley hadn't been painting much. Any attempts to bring his brush to the canvas were hindered by the fact that the world was ending, and that in less than eleven years all these things he was making would be destroyed. Again.

He thought maybe after everything, after escaping heaven and hell, he would be able to paint avain. Yet, as he sat with a sketchbook in his lap in Az's livingroom he felt no spark, no drive.

Well, that wasn't true. He felt something, but it wasn't the need to create. He took a swig of wine and looked up to where Az was quietly contemplating his own glass.

"I-"

"It's Aziraphale."

"...what?" Anthony sat up straight for the first time possibly ever. Az flinched.

"My- my name...my angel name. I never," he bit his lip, "all the other demons were changing their names, but I never meant to fall. I liked the name the Almighty gave me, even if She...so, so perhaps you can call me Aziraphale from noe on? Since I guess I'm technically not a demob anymore..."

The name was familiar. It brought Crowley the memory of a flash of white wings and blue eyes watching him work. However, that image very comfortably faded to fit the face of the demon he so loved.

Aziraphale.

"Aziraphale," he spoke it in a way that made one think of blasphamy. He caught the demon's shiver. Slowly, Crowley set aside his sketchbook and his wine and he prowled forward.

"Crowley?"

"Yes, Aziraphale?" He breathed, close enough to count the lashes framing Aziraphale's dark eyes. They fluttered closed.

Lips pressed against lips, soft and full of longing and hope. It took Crowley a moment to realize he hadn't been the one to close the gap. He framed Aziraphale's face in his hands, like the work of art it was, and kissed back.

A gasp and then hands fluttered against his back, gripping at his jacket as the angel pushed him back in his chair, thoughts scattered so only one thing remained.

Aziraphale, Aziraphale, Aziraphale.

They laid in a bed conjured earlier that evening. Aziraphale didn't own one, since he was used to hanging upsidedown from the rafters when he slept at all. He made an exception tonight, though, and was now curled up fast asleep in Crowley's arms. He traced the blue-purple-red bruises scattered across his lover's skin and smiled fondly as Azirphale wrinkled his nose and turned in his arms. Slowly, Crowley untangled himself and moved towards the easel he'd put in the room back when Aziraphale was sleeping for a century. He had wanted to be around the demon, even if he was fast asleep with no plans to become concious again until he thought his books were in danger.

He brushed the dust off a blank canvas and set it on the easel. It was facing out the small window, revealing the expanses of space for Crowley to record again and again. He hesitated a moment before changing the angle of the easel, pointing it towards the bed where Azirphale was still curled up.

He looked over at where his brush had been reverently placed on the nightstand at contrast with everything else he'd been wearing previously. He looked at it and then shook his head. He opened a pot of red paint and dipped his fingers into it. The excess dripped from the tips before Crowley set then to the canvas, and he began to paint.

#good omens #good omens swap au #ineffable husbands #ineffable partners #crowley #aziraphale #good omens crowley #good omens fic

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zuziasuchor · 5 years ago

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Quite an interesting read. It was especially wonderful to gain an insight into their thoughts on dark grounds within Frankenthaler’s work- and particularly interesting to hear what Brendan had mentioned in a group crit, about working on top of a blue canvas. John Elderfield had also made an interesting view on landscape associations, and how certain marks may induce perceptions of landscapes yet others don’t:

In some way we’re programmed to respond to human imagery, and we’ll see it wherever we can find it. In terms of paint spread in a spatialized way, the work’s going to have some kind of reference to the natural world. It just seems inevitable; we look at landscapes, we look at skies, we look at water, and we, I think, are programmed to see these things even in abstract representations.PK How do we get from the kind of mark that evokes the human figure to the kind of mark that evokes a landscape? Is it a different kind of mark? Is it a different way of putting those marks together?JE Well, one good example is New Paths. The marking is extremely graphic, linear, and therefore more descriptive of a body than of a landscape. On the other hand, because it spans space, and because of the way it describes space as it goes back around, it definitely invokes landscape associations. There’s the sense of space moving from the foreground to the background, which is similar to our perception of landscape spaces.

In his painting there’s also continual transition. So in, say, Turning Road at Montgeroult [1898] at MoMA, the houses up top are completely sharp and legible, like a Pissarro, but then the landscape, the hillside, and the vegetation just dissolve into pure brushwork in the lower part of the picture, which is gorgeous. You know that they generically represent bushes or trees, but it’s also just the sensation. That is a touchstone of modernist experience; we want to have a sensation of the real world without being burdened with a particular image of it. Perhaps this looks forward to a certain kind of French literature of the 1940s and ’50s—the nouveau roman, or even Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea [1938] and Nathalie Sarraute—with its attempts to capture the phenomenology of lived life while bracketing out the real world, or narrative, or character, or any of those things you usually find in fiction. What’s the texture? What’s the sensation of being alive? That’s an important theme at a certain moment in modern literature; it also seems like a theme in these paintings by Frankenthaler. They have a tremendous sense of lived experience, a phenomenological experience, you could say, without having a fixed, recognizable image behind it.

On dark grounds:

“JE The appearance of dark grounds in her work is I think really fascinating.

PK Oh yes. Do you remember the 2013–14 Georges Braque retrospective in Paris and Houston? One of the things that the show reinforced was my awareness of Braque’s use of colors on dark grounds. We’re all conditioned by Impressionism to think that white makes colors brighter; I don’t think that’s always right—white makes paintings brighter, but it actually evens out the colors a little because there’s so much light coming through them. Braque figured out that to make the chroma more powerful, you put the color on top of a dark ground and then the actual hue leaps out at you. And of course what Frankenthaler’s done in New Paths is make white into a hue. Paradoxically, it looks whiter on black than it looks on white.

JE Well, in the early 1970s she made paintings where she started by tinting whole canvases with one color. This was a new technique for her at the time. She left slivers of the bare canvas exposed, so the canvas works as a color along with the painted areas. There’s been a lot written about white canvas starting to become common in Impressionism, but less has been written about the use of colored grounds. Degas used colored grounds, and he had his pupils each work from a ground of a different color—“You get blue, you get red, you get yellow.”

PK That was standard old master practice. Once you get to the sixteenth century, people work on a mid-value ground. Often it’s a brown, but it can be other colors. You think of drawings on red paper, drawings on blue paper. The idea is you already have a color and then you work up to the lights and down to the shadows. So what we’re seeing is a rediscovery of that for modern art.

JE Cézanne was using dark grounds in the 1860s and he eventually—really because of Camille Pissarro, I think—stopped using them. It’s interesting that Frankenthaler is engaging in various ways, across her career, with these different approaches to the ground of her paintings.”

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lovelylogans · 7 years ago

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For that headcanon thing, how about Roman?

roman! my dramatic boi!

realistic: roman as a painter is very important to me and please i will just have u consider: roman with a specific tunic/sash he wears when he paints just so he doesn’t get his usual ones dirty, roman with paint splattered on his face and hair bc he might have gotten very pASSIONATE about that last one, roman with paint on his hands and he forgets until he touches his own face and the other sides giggle at him and don’t point it out, on days his creativity is stifled he just throws paint at the canvas or at walls and doesn’t particularly care about brushwork or form, just color, and it’s like a prettier version of pollock. anyways. roman as a painter. give it to me

hilarious: u know the screechy outbreaks he does? he absolutely does them at scripts that are not cooperating. occasionally if he can’t remember the lines to a particular sonnet or poem he just screams them until the point he forgets and breaks off into a long monotone shout of frustration. when the sides hear roman yelling “ANON HIS THISBE MUST BE ANSWERED, AND FORTH MY MIMIC COMES. WHEN THEY HIM SPY, AS--grrrAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” they know he’s stuck and patton might offer to help him run lines

heartbreaking: you have no idea how much i want to delve into things for marionette but back when the sides didn’t get along as well and even now the other sides’ critiques of him hit so hard. he thinks he’s going to hear half-wit in his dreams from how much he thinks about it. he can’t help but think of patton’s little frown and the i would have thought roman would have realized we’re not original from that one end screen. and virgil. lord. roman feels so bad for being so mean to virgil, but he also can’t help but think of all the sniping little remarks virgil’s made over the years, too

doesn’t fit with canon: listen i know that thomas mentioned not being a great dancer in moving on but like......if you read my writing u might have noticed.......... roman dancing is very important to me. like. give me roman with the thicc dancer thighs and calves, and practicing his times steps under tables, and absently doing his frappés while at a counter. give me roman doing the dancer thing of obnoxiously stretching his legs up real high and never sitting normal in a chair bc he just can. give me one of the sides (logan, probably) realizing roman even stands differently and so roman casually runs logan through ballet posture (chin up but not too high, elongate the neck, drop those shoulder, tuck your tailbone, clOSE YOUR RIB CAGE, no don’t slump close it like this) and give me roman trying to show patton how to do a fish flop and give me virgil looking down the hall to see roman practicing his switch firebirds and telling him to keep it down only to learn how to do a proper jeté and just. give me a dancing boi

#ask #roman #super-writer-gal

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emmarobertsblog · 7 years ago

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Supporting Statement

How I have interpreted the theme of light.

My interpretation of light, is that it can be referred to everything and anything that you feel is necessary and it also depends on how you perceive it. The most used way of light, is through a light source such as light that illuminates a room and too bring light into a situation of concern or confusion.

Research:

One of the artists that I have looked at is Antony Gormley. Antony Gormley is is a British

sculptor. His best-known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in Gateshead in the North of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998. The reason I was influenced by Gormly’s work is due to his sketches and the way he creates physical models of his work. He draws more sketchy and rough – he adds in detail to help you understand how he works and what it is he’s created. I was also inspired by the fact that since the 1980’s Antony Gormley has used the dominate theme of the human figure, which I felt helped me considerably since I was looking at mental health and feel as though looking at the human figure would work extremely well and also helped me look at different techniques. With his work being physical figures it helps to build and create the environment and atmosphere and really helps you to connect with his work as you get a sense of emotions that he has portrayed throughout his work.

During the mid 1980s Gormley was using a range of materials such as concrete, iron and clay.

The second artist that I looked at is Kim Noble. Kim Noble is a woman who, from the age of 14 years, spent 20 years in and out of hospital. In 1995, she began therapy and was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (originally named multiple personality disorder).D.I.D is a creative way to cope with unbearable pain.

Kim has 20 main personalities. 14 of the main personalities are artists. I was influenced by her work, because she suffers from mental health, which I felt as though it would be intriguing to explore as she creates work throughout different personalities. After looking at her work I felt as though it very simple and she uses a lot of bold colours throughout her work which also look like silhouettes. Even though I found her

work interesting, I did also find her work quite disturbing, as it shows violence and messages written backwards on the walls and people being chained up, which create a quite dark atmosphere. I think her work is unique, I’ve never seen work like her which is why she stood out to me.

Since she has no formal art training, 14 of the main alters became interested in painting in 2004 after spending a short time with an art therapist. These 14 artists each have their own distinctive style, colours and themes, ranging from solitary deserts, sea scenes and abstracts to collages and paintings with traumatic content.

The third artist that I have looked at is Daniele Buetti. Daniele Buetti is a contemporary Swiss artist whose multi-media practice incorporates light installations, performance, photography, and sculpture in exposing the fragility of popular culture. In his series Looking for Love (1997-2000), he modified pictures of supermodels from journals and magazine, drawing tattoos, and scratching adhesions on their printed skin. “Light, no doubt, is the most seductive and the most magical of all the media,” he has reflected. “Flashing, colorfully sparkling spots enthrall us like moths drawn to the light.

I was influenced by his work as I liked the way he modified pictures of supermodels and I felt that he brought light to the idea of the perfect Image by choosing supermodel and underlined the idea of the perfect image and perfect mental state isn’t necessarily 100%

perfect all the time and that nobody should stand to surreal expectations. I was intrigued by Daniele Buetti’s work as I had never seen anything like this before and I felt that it was really inspiring and informative. I experimented with his technique and found it really challenging to create something that worked as well as a supermodel or magazine cover and also, I wanted to create something that incorporated his style of work.

The fourth artist that I looked at was Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon is one of the most important and celebrated painters of the last century, best known for his idiosyncratic approach to the human figure. Artist Francis Bacon is best known for his post-World War II paintings, in which he represented the human face and figure in an expressive, often grotesque style. Francis Bacon later dated the true beginning of his artistic career as 1944. It was around this time that he devoted himself to painting and began creating the works for which he is still remembered, with “Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion” seen as a major turning point. His large canvases depicted human figures— most often a single figure isolated in an empty room, in a cage or against a black background

I was influenced by Francis bacon as I liked the surrealistic art he created using the human body, I felt as though it was creative and unique. It captures a variety of different emotions and helps to create the surreal atmosphere.

For one series of paintings, Bacon was inspired by Diego Velázquez’s portrait of Pope Innocent X (circa 1650), but he painted the subject in his own style, using dark colors and rough brushwork and distorting the sitter’s face. These works came to be known as Bacon’s “screaming pope” paintings.

I also looked at a series of mental health such as: Schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and more. I did this as I wanted a better understanding of what I was working on and how I could incorporate the emotions and atmosphere into my work. I also took the chance to look at body art and also body image artist as I felt that it would be appropriate to see how I could incorporate into my experiments.

Outline of my brief

The objective of my brief was to create a graphical illustration that would be made into a

poster or a booklet. The illustration had to be tied into mental health and had to portray the atmosphere and emotions of how living with these disorders can affect your everyday life. It had to tie in with the project light. The outcomes that I produced feel as though I hit

the criteria of portraying emotions of living with the daily struggle of mental health. I decided to leave it open to how the outcomes would be presented further. I feel as though they would be disputed among social media and poster as I felt that is where they would work best, the social media would help to show the full I potential of the digitalized illustration as you’d be able to see the brightness of the pinholes better, but also a poster as it works really well on its own, and portrays the atmosphere and environment that I wanted to incorporate with in.

I was inspired by a variety of different artists throughout experimentation, but mostly Antony Gormley and Daniele Buetti.

Daniele Buetti inspired.

I liked how Daniele Buetti used existing photos and added over the top of them, I was also

really inspired by the pin hole effect and letting the light shine through the back as it attracts attention to the image itself and the surrounding.

Inpired by Antony Gormley

Inspired by Antony Gormley’s sketches, I wanted to make the spirals around her to seem as though they consume her and she's stuck with in herself, through thoughts, body image and mental state. I really like how he used a range of materials to create his work such as concrete, iron and clay, however I felt as though I would incorporate his work though digital context and make it so it shows the same impact but visual instead of physical.

Inspired by Mona Turnbull - The Prosthetics Event I was influenced by Mona Turnbull’s the prosthetic event as I really liked how she used the

human figure as a canvas through body painting. I coloured in one of the figures I created throughout Photoshop and then added illuminous colours. I focused the bright vibrant colours onto parts of the body that people don’t particularly like or would flaunt.

These are a few developments that I have created. I wanted to use the mirror as a place people could reflect and look at themselves and not feel as though they need to use the mirror to judge themselves and you should use it to flaunt your beauty and imperfections that make you unique, may they be visible or internal. I felt as though it worked well throughout the development, however I started to realise that it wasn’t sending the message that I wanted it too and started to look more like a Tumblr meme, rather than a positive poster towards mental health.

I feel like I started to make the poster too easy to guess what the subject it was about, it also started to take away the idea of having to challenge the poster towards your own mental state, imperfections and challenges throughout. It also doesn’t relate to other nationalities.

Final Project!

For the final design, I decided to go back to one of my previous developments, that beforehand I felt didn’t really work, after realising that it was more appropriate to the subject I was doing – mental health. I felt as though this one worked really well, the way the two-figure merge together makes them feel lost. Which then helps to bring out that idea of them being trapped in a body they don’t love or can’t accept, the spirals around the figure, acts as though it’s like a kind of force field its keeping them in, isolated from the rest of the world. Trapped within their own thoughts, unable to break through. Also without colour it helps to create the idea that its multicultural and it’s not just targeted towards one specific nationality. It also relates to more than one mental health as it about you, which makes you think about how you feel and whether this relates to you. Helps to bring light to the situation. The dots start to represent you becoming lost within yourself, being consumed by your own thoughts, body and state of mind, but also because they have the light shining behind them it brings the sense of relief and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

One of the reasons I also chose this one as it felt like It channels the idea of having a permanent aura surrounding you, but instead of it channeling good energy, it surrounds you with negativity and isolation. The idea behind it, is if you could see your aura, would it be bright and colour full or would it be negative and dark.

I felt as though this design worked best as the figures are becoming consumed within each other and the spirals.

The idea was to make you think about yours and others metal state. It also helps to give you a better understanding around mental health and how becoming lost and not being able to find yourself any longer and/ or the idea of being subjected to the perfect body image, or even everyone else’s judgment can affect you, also around body defects that you were born with can then make you feel isolated and trapped as society struggles to accept you for you + mental health such as Schizophrenia, DID and many more also tied in with the same effects.

Light? I didn’t want to make it too obvious and that was the reason behind the spirals and dots as it brings your attention towards the figures inside and starts to make you think about others, with disabilities and defects that they can’t change or feel as though they have to fit into society. The project is based on light, so I thought it would be appropriate to bring light to the situation and that would be the connection to light.

I thought this idea was unique and less Tumblr idea than the other one and its more of a challenge.

I want to develop it further, if i have enough time, place it into a box, giving the idea of being trapped and isolated. Inspired by Antony Gormely’s Boxes and Francis bacons cube. it could also look really unique as a light/ lamp shade and the illustration could then be casted onto the walls as it then projects the feelings though silhouettes and light. This would help to create a more focused atmosphere. I removed the typography as I felt that it didn’t need it and it feels more challenging to think about what it means and how it could affect you and others. Also, the idea of pin hole in the illustration help bring beams of light through the illustration- inspired by Daniele Buetti. Not targeted at specific person/ nationalities or even mental health disorders as it completely neutral and which leaves the door open to your own thoughts and ideas.

#light #light project

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coolfox826 · 3 years ago

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Painting Program For Mac

Painting Program For Mac Free

Paint Program Mac

Mac Painting App

Painting Program For Mac Free

Graphics Painting Program For Mac

Painting Program For Mac

Clip Studio Paint is a versatile digital painting program that is ideal for rendering and inking with its many useful and unique features. It is easy to learn and has many tools and custom brushes that allow you to paint and render any type of illustrations you want. It even include 3D models of characters, items and backgrounds that you could. Free Digital Painting Software for Mac and Windows. FireAlpaca is the free Digital Painting Software that is compatible with both Mac and Windows. It’s FreeFOREVER! Download the latest version NOW! Mac Download OS X (10.7 or later) Windows Download Windows 64bit (Vista or later) Windows Download Windows 32bit (Vista or later).

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you buy something we get a small commission at no extra cost to you(learn more)

Digital art software gets better and better each year.

The right software can help you paint faster and feel better about your artwork. Each program handles brush strokes and color blending differently, and the price tags vary from expensive to free.

Adobe Photoshop still reigns supreme as an all-round industry standard for digital artists. Yet there’s always new software coming out to compete against Adobe’s throne.

Choosing your art software is no longer about the biggest features, but rather finding an application that suits your specific needs as an artist.

Beginners who just want to practice are better off choosing a free program compared to professionals who want to learn software for an industry job. If your goal is to work for a game studio as a concept artist then you’ll probably have a different set of goals.

Painting Program For Mac Free

In this post we’ll take an in-depth look at 7 of the most popular programs for digital drawing & painting by comparing their features and seeing how they stack up.

But if you’re in a hurry here’s a quick overview to help you decide:

Professional Choice: Adobe Photoshop

Free Choice: Krita

Budget Choice: Clip Studio Paint

If you need a bit more info on these programs just keep reading.

Adobe Photoshop

Price: $9.99/mo Platforms: Mac, Windows

Adobe Photoshop is the most popular and widely used software for digital art.

It’s feature-heavy, regularly updated, and you can use it to create everything from concept thumbnails to comic book pages or even photobashed pieces.

Photoshop started as an image-editing program for photographers. Over time it slowly became a staple for many other industries, digital art included.

With this software you have a huge variety of painting tools, brushes, filters, plugins, and layer styles.

It’s an industry standard for all digital artists across the entertainment industry because it just works. If you want a career in video games, animation, feature films, or any general production studio, knowledge of Photoshop goes a long way.

The learning curve is pretty steep here. If you are a beginner you may feel overwhelmed by all the options and get lost in technical aspects of the program. But once you’ve learned the basics, your imagination is the limit!

You can do anything in whatever style you choose and edit photos to boot!

Being the most popular software for creatives artists, there’s a mass of Photoshop tutorials available online. Adobe even released a series of up-to-date free tutorials which will take you from beginner to expert level.

If you ever have a problem or question on anything, a quick Google search will get you a video answer or helpful forum post.

Concept artists like Photoshop’s custom brushes and often create their own. Detailed layer settings, regular updates, and a sleek user interface are the driving force behind Photoshop’s continued popularity.

You can rotate your canvas naturally to mimic the rotation of paper. And you can setup grids and rulers for complex scenes, or even bring in 3D objects to paint over. PSD files(Photoshop’s native file format) play well with other Adobe programs and this file type is an industry standard.

That means you can import PSDs into almost any other art software without a hitch. GIMP and Krita both accept PSD files along with many other programs.

This is why many artists combine Photoshop with other painting software. Depending on the workflow you’re going for you could do your concept and lineart in something like Clip Studio Paint, then bring it to Photoshop for coloring and final touch-ups.

Other digital art software doesn’t try to replace Photoshop but instead tries to improve on the interface for specific types of art(ex: comics, storyboards, environment paintings, etc).

Once you’ve signed up for a Creative Cloud membership you get a free, non-conditional seven-day trial version of Photoshop. This offer applies to Adobe’s other software as well. If you like Photoshop and want to buy it, there are four purchase plans to choose from.

The cheapest is the Photographers package which is $9.99(only available annually) and it includes Lightroom CC. If you want to buy a monthly plan you can get Photoshop for $29.99 a month.

If you want to go the extra mile and get the rest of Adobe’s software, the entire suite costs $74.99 monthly(or annual for $49.99 p/m).

Bonus Tip: Students 13 years and older get a 60% discount on the full Adobe suite plan!

People love Photoshop for its versatility and wealth of free knowledge online. Adobe has thrown millions of dollars into development so Photoshop isn’t going anywhere.

It’s a solid, professional choice for aspiring digital artists and concept artists.

Corel Painter

Price: $350 Platforms: Mac, Windows

Corel Painter is characterized by painterly brush strokes and a traditional artist’s feel to the interface.

Painter is for artists who love loose, messy brushwork and want to capture the beauty of traditional mediums on a digital canvas. It comes standard with 900 brushes covering every possible situation you could imagine.

As you might guess from the name, Corel Painter is focused on painting. But this should be great for artists who only want software to draw or paint digitally.

It has a 2.5D brush toolset that mimics real-world brushes giving you full control over the final “style” of your work.

Painter has been a serious alternative to Photoshop for several years and is the company always listens to user requests. They’ve been working hard to add new features every year and have added a bunch of artist-suggested tools into their latest release.

For example, some users complained of UI sensitivity and slow response times. Those issues were fixed with the 2019 version along with an entire UI design overhaul.

Paint Program Mac

Icons were redesigned to be more intuitive and the interface was changed to a darker theme.

Among all the new features with that version, the most celebrated was the pinned color wheel.

You can position the color wheel wherever you like on the screen giving an instant look at color options without swatches. This spectral feature means you can work in detail without the circular brush icon obscuring your view.

In Painter’s web series “Paint like Bob Ross” you can learn how to paint digital landscapes in 30 minutes using their brushes—a great introduction to conceptualizing landscapes for beginners.

The software is feature heavy and beginners might still feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of brush options and settings. But Corel is worth learning because it is another trusted industry staple among character designers, concept artists, and visual development artists.

Corel Painter has been around since 1992 and you can find an extensive library of free tutorials on their website. Or if you search on YouTube I’m sure you can find plenty of free tutorials there as well.

You won’t find as many resources compared to Photoshop. But Corel Painter is still a beast in the concept art world, or just the digital painting world in general, making it an awesome choice for hobbyists or newbies just picking up digital art for the first time.

As of this writing, a brand new copy of Corel Painter costs $350 making it an expensive once-off purchase. Although you can get a free 30-day trial to demo the software and see if it’s right for you.

Krita

Price: Free Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

Krita is a free open source digital painting program designed for cartoonists, illustrators, concept artists, and pretty much all digital artists.

The software was initially developed as a general image editing competitor to Photoshop but focused their efforts on digital painting starting in 2009. The Krita community donates monthly to the software efforts helping it to stay free and funding development of new features

If you have a background in some other digital art software(Photoshop for example) then Krita’s tools will be a little familiar and a little not-so-familiar.

Whether you’re switching or just getting into Krita it’s worth the time to watch a few tutorials to find out how everything works.

Krita hasn’t released many official tutorial videos but they have created detailed documentation online. If it’s your first venture into digital art then start off learning about the basic UI and toolsets.

Use the pop-up pallet to select your brushes, erasers, and colors intuitively. All other tools are stored in the panels to the left and right. Krita supports PSD files so that you can switch between Photoshop and Krita with ease.

And there’s a ton of freebies online like free brush packs that mimic everything from charcoal to watercolors and so much more. The beauty of Krita is the free price tag and the immensely supportive community around this software.

Krita has been criticized by some professional artists for its lag, seemingly unintuitive design, and uneven brush softness. Although the criticism has merit, the program’s core features work well and you will learn them with practice.

Also worth noting this has to be the absolute best choice for anyone on a Linux machine. Photoshop does not support Linux outside of a virtual emulator but Krita can run natively in any Linux distro.

This is a huge +1 for Krita since it’s really the best digital painting alternative for our Linux & Unix friends.

If you don’t have the cash to burn on digital art programs Krita is the perfect choice.

Use the program while you save up some money to grab another program. Or just stick with Krita and use it free for life! Many professional artists like David Revoy create all of their work with Krita and their stuff looks amazing.

Best thing about Krita is that it’s simple for beginners to learn and it doesn’t confuse you with a ton features or fancy tools. Krita’s purpose is digital painting and that’s precisely what it does well.

Clip Studio Paint

Price: $49 Platforms: Mac, Windows

Clip Studio Paint is the most popular software for creating comics and manga artwork.

Clip Studio Paint was originally named Manga Studio but changed names in 2013. It originated in Japan as specialist software for manga, illustration, and animators.

The program has long been a worldwide affordable alternative to Photoshop for digital artists but got more recognition with the name change.

The most notable drawing difference between Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop is the brush tool. In Clip Studio the brush tool instantly corrects any minor wobble you make while drawing on a tablet, leaving you with smooth clean linework.

Clip Studio is optimized for comic book creation and has various tools to speed up the process.

A canvas layout tool makes paneling quick with perspective rulers and a library of predefined formats. The pen tool lets you to work in a versatile vector format which means your creations can be scalable without quality loss.

In the most recent release there’s a new library of 3D objects and posable models. This is useful for concept artists who like to use references to get poses down quickly.

You can drop in a 3D model, pose it using an intuitive joint system, change the camera angle, make the character fat or thin, and choose between genders. After you’ve drawn over it you can use that same model’s shading as a reference for lighting.

Then when you’re done just delete it. Easy-peasy.

With CSP your art will always have a crisp digital finish as the software doesn’t strive for a traditional look. Although it’s possible to give your brush strokes a blended texture using brushes, Clip Studio Paint is not designed to mimic traditional mediums.

The standard version of Clip Studio Paint also comes with some very basic animation features. You can quickly test character movement over 24 frames without the annoyance of switching programs. But this is not really the best software for animation so it works best in conjunction with other programs for that purpose.

Now Clip Studio Paint comes in two versions: PRO(standard) and EX(full-featured).

Unless you’re planning on putting all of your projects through Clip Studio Paint and creating various manga & comic books, you’ll probably be happy with the PRO version. The EX edition has only a few extra features that would benefit expert users.

Mac Painting App

EX lets you save manga & comic pages in a ‘book’ which acts like one editable file. You can then bulk save them for printing which shaves off a ton of time and organizational effort.

The animation feature also gets an upgrade with EX and you can create an unlimited number of frames(instead of the standard 24).

EX comes with filters for 3D assets too turning them black and white for easier integration into your scenes.

Generally speaking, the PRO version is the same and EX minus the above features. It’s unlikely you’ll need those features as a digital painter or concept artist. Only serious comic and manga artists would find the EX features useful.

Try out either version with a free 30-day trial of both PRO and EX versions. If you don’t like it then just move on. The free version does give plenty to toy with so you’ll know whether you like CSP or don’t.

And it’s worth mentioning that the PRO edition is an affordable option at only $49 flat fee, while EX comes at a premium of $219.

Although sometimes you can get CSP at a discounted rate from annual sales so keep checking their prices.

GIMP

Price: Free Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

GIMP is another open source program built as a free Photoshop alternative.

Back when computer graphics were slowly becoming “a thing” it was up to software developers to create graphics for companies. With Photoshop costing a lot more back then, buying it was out of the budget for many companies.

GIMP was built to fill the need for a cheaper option to digital imaging editing software.

Unlike other free digital art software, GIMP was designed to be a full replacement for Photoshop. This means you can use it for digital painting but it’s really meant for graphic design, photo editing, text effects, and similar features.

Likewise this program has all the tools you need for digital art. If you are looking for Photoshop’s functionality without the price tag you’ll be happy to with GIMP’s default functionality.

If you know a little about software development you can also add to GIMP’s code by creating your own plugins for the system. But the default setup is more than enough for artists.

Many versions of GIMP have been released over the years, but their team of volunteers hasn’t been able to keep up with the sheer financial power of Adobe. The user interface is definitely unrefined and will be very confusing to beginners.

There are loads of GIMP tutorials created by their loyal users and there’s enough content to help you learn everything you need about the software.

Although GIMP doesn’t have a dedicated support team to answer your questions, many issues are well documented on various forums and you’ll be able to troubleshoot a solution with a few Google searches.

The painting tools are reasonable, although in my opinion Krita is a stronger option if you just need painting.

Granted you can find plenty of free GIMP brushes all made for digital drawing & painting.

But really this software is the best all-round alternative to Photoshop. If you see yourself doing a bit of design work, some painting, and some photo editing, try out GIMP and see what you think.

ArtRage

Price: $79 Platforms: Mac, Windows

ArtRage is a digital painting powerhouse that’s perfect for traditional artists moving digital and for existing professional artists.

Unlike other digital art programs, ArtRage has stepped away from the complicated user interface and ditched the blocky side panels. They want your focus on the canvas creating great work.

When you open the program you’ll find a semi-circular brush picker on the bottom left of the screen and a color picker on the bottom right. Both give you immediate access to the most important tools.

Small “pods” containing extra options hover just above the circles, minimizing extra clutter.

After you’ve picked your color and brush you can start drawing on the canvas. The UI automatically disappears(although this setting is optional) and without the UI you get a full screen canvas to work on without any distractions. Pretty cool!

If you’ve never used digital painting software before then ArtRage is fantastic. It’s beginner friendly and super affordable.

You can start off slow, familiarizing yourself with the various brushes, and slowly work your way up to painting full scenes and character designs.

If you are coming from Photoshop you’ll find the minimalist layout refreshing and easy to pick up. The brush presets are so good that you don’t need to waste time adjusting them much at all.

One of ArtRage’s most exciting features is called “real color blending”. It calculates realistic color mixing as you paint and it’s useful for digital painting in an oil or watercolor style.

If you want to try your hand at digital painting for the first time, this software will hold your hand and take you from hobbyist to professional if you put in the effort.

It doesn’t have all the gadgets and gizmos that some prominent art programs have, but it’s got all you need to make fun paintings(and a little extra).

ArtRage is budget software and friendly to those getting started. You can also use the demo version for an unlimited amount of time. The demo doesn’t let you save anything, which of course is a drag, but you can use that to familiarize yourself with the program.

If you decide you want the full version it costs $79 and you’ll receive all future updates included with your license.

If that sounds a bit expensive you could go for ArtRage Lite which is only $29.90. The lite version is great for beginners and includes all the painting features of the full version.

Think of this much like Krita but aimed for simplicity. It’s cheap enough that you could run ArtRage for life and it’s certainly refreshing when you come from a big bulky art program.

Paint Tool SAI

Price: $49 Platforms: Windows

Lastly on this list is Paint Tool SAI: a simple painting program that’s exceptionally popular among anime & manga artists.

Paint Tool SAI was first released in 2008 to a wave of popularity. It quickly spread among the art community who loved the clean brush strokes and unique interface.

SAI is a small, old program and has not been significantly updated over the years. It only runs on windows and has a limited set of features.

That being said, it’s aged remarkably well and is easy for beginners to pick up.

Many artists use SAI to achieve a digital watercolor effect where the blending modes can mimic watercolor, but the overall feel is smooth and sleek. Others use it primarily for lineart, or for creating a ton of anime.

You’ll find that Japanese artists almost exclusively use SAI for their artwork. It’s a very popular choice in Japan, likely because this software was originally developed by the Japanese Systemax Software.

SAI’s learning curve is minimal and if you’re coming from Photoshop you’ll pick it up almost instantly. It’s still very detailed though and great to use as a sketching program.

Use the pencil brush to get realistic sketches down on a textured canvas. Then switch over to brushes and color your line art to completion.

Now there are some minor limitations like that new projects are limited to 256 layers per canvas. It’s also known to slow down with larger file sizes and glitch when trying to preview .gifs in the explorer window.

They also have a weird system of brushes where you can import textures to merge with brush styles and create totally new brushes. I haven’t mastered this setup but you can find a ton of textures in this post with dozens of free brush assets for SAI users.

Painting Program For Mac Free

SAI is a Japanese program and is priced in JPY(Japanese Yen). It costs ¥5400 which roughly equates to $49.

Compared to other software on this list, SAI is a tad on the pricier side considering the last update was in 2016.

Small complaints aside, considering the price tag and the anime-centric fanbase I’d say SAI is an awesome choice for anime lovers the world over.

Graphics Painting Program For Mac

Get started using SAI by following some easy beginner tutorials on painting in the program. If you put in the time you’ll be a pro within a few weeks.

A fantastic program for anyone serious about anime-style art or any kind of digital painting. Biggest downside is you’ll have to be a Windows user.

Painting Program For Mac

Although if I had to cast a vote for the absolute best digital painting software, that title falls with Photoshop.

Here’s hoping even more digital art software comes out in the next 10 years and gives some stiff competition to Adobe’s reign.

0 notes

annalisacoppolino · 7 years ago

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A Court of Hope and Legacy - episode 6

To read the previous episode click here.

Also on Wattpad.

Aksel poured himself another cup of thyme tea and leaned back in the armchair crossing his legs, comfortably enjoying the warmth seeping in his hands as well as that of the morning rays on his face in his spot by the hearth, pretending utter calmness. He let the liquid cool down without taking a sip. Hushed voices reached him from the narrow corridor beyond the closed door of the parlor. Aksel tipped his head toward Tamlin. He was staring out the window as if the landscape had turned suddenly very attractive. Aksel swallowed some cold tea and ignored the knot in his stomach. Everyone had done their best to make him feel a wretch since he’d come back. And they had succeeded. Aksel was bristling with anger, and guilt, and doubt. It was pointless now, though, and no one truly blamed him—except his sister of course. He’d had no way of knowing what was going to happen and, even if he had been there, there was no guarantee Aksel would have gotten the information they needed. Nyle would probably be dead anyway. This is how he was called. The boy who had poisoned himself and died in name of a cause he had possibly been lured into joining. Tamlin had known him, Keran had been his friend; they were sure of Nyle’s goodness. But as Aksel saw it, the boy must have been stalwart in his convictions to elude Tamlin’s glamouring and go as far as to kill himself to protect his fellows. Marcus and his wife finally resolved themselves to enter the room. They were the portrait of mournful parents: a glassy-eyed, woeful mother and a betrayed but otherwise suffering father. The two sat on the couch facing Aksel, hands clasped together. Marcus was the first to speak. “You must understand, just a night has passed, we’re not ready to—” “I’m not here to condemn anyone,” interrupted Tamlin, moving away from the window to place a comforting hand on Marcus’ shoulder. “Time is vital, now more than ever. We must stop these people, stop them from corrupting the minds of young Fae like your son, Marcus. I understand your grief, believe me, but I need to know everything you can tell me about Nyle. I knew him since he was born and I’m certain he wouldn’t have done this without someone whispering venomous words into his ear.” Tamlin sat down beside Marcus and urged, “Was there anything unusual about him? Was he hanging out with someone new? Did he ever talk about humans, or mention some place he used to frequent lately?” The wife of Marcus burst into tears. Aksel put his cup down on the table just to divert his eyes and give the woman a sliver of space. “I’m sorry,” rasped Marcus over her sobs. “We don’t know anything at all. Nyle has—had—been distant and acting weirdly for some time. We had no idea where he spent his time or with whom. We didn’t see him much lately.” The man cleared his throat with a cough, unable to resume his speech. Tamlin squeezed his shoulder again in sympathy and declared, “I’ll make him justice, Marcus, I promise. I’ll find those rascals and punish them as they deserve.” Marcus was nodding; and Tamlin didn’t look intentioned to probe him further. Aksel had kept a respectful distance from the verbal exchange as well as from the minds of the High Lord’s friends, but he needed to clear any reasonable doubt. Trust was not a weakness he allowed himself that easily. Invisible, crystalline shards as hard as diamond slithered forward in the air and dug in like icy thorns as Aksel projected his mind toward the wife of Marcus. She was so desperate that penetrating her consciousness wasn’t much different from sticking a needle into her skin—swift and painless. She didn’t even notice it. Aksel moved carefully around her thoughts, the diamond slivers spreading on every surface of her mind forming blooming crystals, each one with a unique structure that made it different from the others, each one featuring hundreds of facets able to capture images and memories in their reflection. Aksel’s assessment didn’t last longer than a shake of hands, and his adamantine hooks retracted. He didn’t believe Marcus’ memory held anything more than what he had already learned from his wife. “High Lord, we should go and leave them grieving alone,” suggested Aksel with both his words and his actions as he stood from the armchair. “Sure,” Tamlin agreed. “I’m sorry for your loss.” He didn’t say anything more before they left. It wasn’t necessary. Aksel walked outside the house leaving a couple of steps between himself and Tamlin. When they reached the place where their horses had been left tied to a post, Aksel said, “Do they not deserve the truth? You let them believe their son was an innocent led astray when he most likely was not.” “We do not know,” snarled Tamlin. The High Lord breathed in and continued, “Someone once said, death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. They’ve already lost their only son, I didn’t want to take away their fondness for him, too, and taint his memory with bitterness and regret.” Aksel didn’t reply to that; it was Tamlin’s choice. “So we have nothing—again. I hope Suri and your son are having more luck.”

There had been lots of people present when the Blessed had hit, and the survivors had willingly agreed to let Aksel examine their memories of the night before. It had been a grotesque and exasperating task to go through. Now that Aksel had a clear picture of the onslaught, though, he could rummage among fragments and crumbs of the events searching for a lead, a clue, anything that could help. Aksel concentrated better when he moved, so he wandered in the hallways of the manor passing busy maids at work and went looking for a quiet place. He halted before a room on the first floor. The door wasn’t locked so he turned the knob and stepped in. The light of day had started its retreat but the inside of the room was quite distinct. A wooden easel stood near the window surrounded by white linens covering what presumably were stacks of canvases lined up against all four walls. Aksel lifted an edge of fabric to look at the paintings below. There were many of them, with different subjects, different ways of blending colors; he could quite glimpse the different moods of the artist who had painted them at different times. Some of them were florid and detailed, with small, precise strokes; others were simpler but also beautiful in the fluid brushwork of a spontaneous artist’s hand. Aksel’s attention was drawn to little portraits of what looked like faeries with pigs’ features—one blonde, the other read-headed—wallowing in the mud. He let out a small laugh. So this must have been his mother’s painting room, when she lived here. And Tamlin had left everything untouched. He had taken care that the canvases were protected and the room looked like it was regularly cleaned. He had kept her paintings. Did this mean he still cherished what had once been between them? The happy moments maybe. This room was full of them. But Aksel suspected there was more to it. He had spied Tamlin looking at his mother, when the High Lord thought no one would be watching. He didn’t display the cold contempt he offered the rest of her family; his eyes revealed wistfulness, not hatred or acrid regret. He looked—thankful. Perhaps Tamlin had kept a small part of her in his heart—even if just to remind himself of the mistakes he’d made and to learn from them to be a better man. Perhaps, despite all they’d been through, bad things included, he preserved some sort of affection toward her. Not true friendship yet—but one day it could be. Forgiveness was not a single act after all, but a matter of constant practice. Aksel left the room exactly as he had found it and closed the door. He kept meandering through the elegant hallways of the manor for a while, and then sauntered toward the library where he would probably find the High Lord. Aksel didn’t know exactly how to approach him but he felt the need of a confrontation; an idea had been cruising his head that might be their answer. Aksel found Tamlin seated at a desk, drooping over some papers. The sound of his polite cough slightly startled the High Lord lost in thought. “Am I interrupting something?” asked Aksel. Tamlin crumpled the letter he’d been reading in his fist and straightened. “Yes—thankfully.” Aksel strolled to the desk and jerked his head at an empty chair. “May I?” Tamlin sighed and gestured limply with his hand. “Please.” Aksel nestled into the chair, nonchalantly angling his body as to cast a sidelong glance at the words hastily scribbled on the papers in front of Tamlin. The High Lord detected his attempt, though, and covered them with his arm as he spurred him, “What do you need?” Aksel smirked. “It’s not about what I need—it’s what you need that we should discuss,” he suggested with a less covert gaze at the papers. “They’re already in turmoil, aren’t they?” Tamlin was still and grave as a stone. It wouldn’t take long. Other letters would arrive. The other High Lords would make themselves heard, demanding explanations, advancing recriminations. “The only way to get out of this mess with your hands clean is to offer them a culprit, otherwise your competence and commitment will be questioned.” “They’re already being questioned,” snarled Tamlin. “My position is irreparably damaged—culprit or not!” Aksel fought to stay down in the chair that felt like an embrace of needles. The prickling was almost unbearable but he would not pace nervously in front of the High Lord. It was true, the situation was delicate, but not totally screwed. Aksel tried to bring him to reason. “I understand that, but it’s not only your reputation that’s at stake here. We’re talking of maintaining the order—saving innocent lives.” Tamlin narrowed his green eyes on him, nostrils flaring, and willed him to keep explaining. “These Blessed”—the word felt like sour milk on Aksel’s tongue—“have been planning carefully each move, they won’t be easily unmasked. And then, if we cannot find them, I was thinking, maybe we can get them to come to us instead.” “Drive them out of the den,” murmured Tamlin tasting the possibility. They nodded at each other with a sneer. A trap. This was something they could control; not just sitting idly and waiting the next move of their enemies, battening down the hatches. “Look who’s finally getting along.” Both Aksel and Tamlin snapped their heads toward the approaching smooth and elegant steps and saw him appearing, hair aglow with the thick light of dusk and metal eye whirring with amusement. “Well, well, well,” Lucien crooned. “The enemy of my enemy bullshit really has a point, then.” “Lucien,” Tamlin drawled. “What a pleasure.” “The pleasure is all mine,” purred the red-headed Fae shifting his gaze to Aksel’s face, where it lingered a few awkward moments on the narrow shape of his lips. “It’s been a while.” “Hi Lucien,” slurred Aksel dragging his eyes off the sassy grin of the other male. Lucien moved closer to the desk strutting around and rested a hand on the back of the chair casually brushing his warm fingers against Aksel’s sleeve. Aksel willed himself to breathe normally. “Hi to you, boy.” Thank the Cauldron, Tamlin mercifully engaged him in conversation veering to safer attitudes. “As much as I appreciate your visit, I assume it’s not for fun.” “Not this once I fear. I’m bringing bad news, my friend.” Tamlin tightened his jaw muscles and yammered, “Never enough of that, it seems.” Lucien slumped onto the chair next to Aksel’s and stretched his long legs propping them on the edge of the desk, ankles crossed. He acted as naturally as he would in his own house. “How are you?” he asked addressing Tamlin. “How do I look?” countered the High Lord. Lucien grinned wryly. “Like trampled crap.” Tamlin’s face contorted in a smile against his best efforts. “It is good to have you here again.” The moment passed as fleeting as a shooting star and he shifted back in his stern features as he asked, “How are things out there?” Lucien faltered, considering, as his russet eye stayed on Tamlin and the gold one roamed over Aksel. “Guess you already know,” Lucien replied hinting at the stack of letters still half hidden under Tamlin’s arm. “Not good—not good at all.” The handsome lines of his profile were visibly crossed by tension as he explained further, “I came as soon as I could after I learned what had happened here. I thought it would be more useful to test the waters first, though. My acquaintances in other Courts are reporting alarming accounts; rumor has it that a new gathering of all the High Lords will soon take place—no delegates.” This wasn’t good indeed. All the High Lords reunited under the same roof meant troubles. There was only so many occasions in which this would occur without implying utter exigency. And this clearly wasn’t one of them. “What do your Watchers say?” Lucien asked Aksel. Aksel rubbed his chin between his fingers and carefully selected his words, as he always did when the fox was around. “Pretty much what you just said; though I have them engaged otherwise at the moment.” “Uh,” whistled Lucien. “And how would that be?” Aksel pretended to think about it, and then he stated elusively, “Let’s just say they’re... exploring uncharted paths.” “Always stingy with words,” Lucien cackled. He turned serious, though, when he said, “Anyway, you need to do something, Tam. The High Lords are going to use you as scapegoat. Someone’s already insinuating that you suspected of last night’s attack and did nothing to stop it. They’re wondering how these outlaws gathered in your territory and swelled their ranks with you none the wiser; and of course, they’re taking for granted that the other members of the Blessed who escaped are from the Spring Court too. Let alone the fact that you had one of them under your custody and he’s now conveniently dead!” Lucien paused to sigh with anguish. Aksel had seen this coming. People were always more prone to believe in devils rather than saints; and even after all that Tamlin had done to atone for his father’s crimes and his own, they would still wonder if he was not the champion of justice he wanted everyone to see. They would only look upon him and recognize a powerful High Lord with a dubious past and a possible ax to grind. The High Lords, though—they were another thing entirely. Their eagerness to blame another was only surpassed by their relief for not being the target of the accusations. “In fact, we were just considering our next move,” rumbled Tamlin motioning his jaw from side to side like he was trying to tear flesh from the bones of a freshly killed animal. “A counterattack.” Lucien pulled back his muddy boots from the desk and put his feet on the floor leaning forward with interested expression. “And how were you planning to do that with no hint of their whereabouts?” “My sister’s working on that with Keran,” Aksel tossed in. “Yes,” confirmed Tamlin. “But Aksel was also suggesting to lure them out, set an ambush.” Lucien tapped the point of his left boot repeatedly, and then said, “Well, it looks like a start. I’m listening.” “There’s no definite plan yet. Lucky for us you showed up. Want to help?” Tamlin asked. “Sure,” replied Lucien without hesitation. Aksel wasn’t eager to spend time in close quarters with Lucien, but he had to admit his help would be precious at this juncture. “Fine then. We should—” The words got stuck on his tongue as Aksel began to feel dizzy. A buzzing sound awakened a dormant part of his brain, sending a light jolt down his spine. The buzzing increased in a matter of seconds going from mere nuisance to outright headache. Aksel focused on the source of the noise, and sent a matching signal down the same route. It fell silent. “What?” Tamlin demanded. Lucien was watching him with a perfectly groomed eyebrow raised in question. Aksel pushed away from his chair and strolled toward the door as he replied, “Start without me.” “What?” repeated Tamlin with more firmness. “Where are you going?” “I need to do something—but I trust Lucien with the plan.” Aksel didn’t stay long enough to see Tamlin’s sharp canines flash out as he snarled after him, or the smug face of Lucien at his last remark. The dizziness had almost worn off but Aksel still felt a little woozy. His legs kept pushing him upstairs, knowing their destination by intrinsic impulse. He didn’t have to direct his movements as his muscles and bones worked to take him exactly where he needed to be. As Aksel kept moving, though, something stirred far deeper inside him, where a subterranean river of irrational thoughts ran, branching off into his unconscious. Sometimes it happened that the current scraped away things stuck on the bottom and forgotten, bringing them afloat once more: this was what it had felt like to see Lucien again. The more the recollection of the warm touch of Lucien’s fingers brushed his mind, the more Aksel warned himself not to let that river drag him down in its turbulent waters. This wasn’t the time for abandonment to the past. Aksel shut the door of his bedroom and leaned his back on the frame. The room was still and perfectly silent—too much. He held his breath and peered into the dark corner behind the broad wardrobe of solid oak wood and into the shadowy bathroom next to him, but the place seemed empty. Aksel let the fatigue of the last two days wash over him and dragged his leaden limbs to the settee placed at the foot of the bed. His head sank into the plush padding of the armrest as he lay out and weaved his fingers together on his chest. The quiet surrounding him had a musical quality to it. Not simply absence of sound—but a voiceless melody of peace. It wasn’t quite like the bountiful, timeless, comfortable hush of a library that he loved above everything, though. Aksel fixed his eyes on the ceiling above, and endured the vexatious feeling of being watched. Spying and prying into other people’s privacy were his bread and butter but he found deeply disturbing staying on the side of who’s being observed, rather than observing. A sardonic and curt laughter rolled to his ears like a feminine but surprisingly rough sound. The low, familiar voice of Yune beckoned him. Aksel would usually make some witty remark about her damn eerie stealth, but now he was too tired for that. He blinked, trying to push away the need of sleep and the foggy mist clouding his head, then sat upright on the settee. Aksel turned toward the opposite direction. She stood in plain sight near the open window. The amorous bel canto of the evening birds was now filling the room carried by a light breeze. Aksel had not heard the window being unlatched; he had not been aware of it until he had noticed the goose bumps caused by the cool air on his exposed neck, and the prickling feeling of prying eyes on his skin. Yune was watching him with an unreadable expression in her bottomless magenta eyes. Aksel took in the clean-cut planes of her face, searching for a hint, and found none. It always struck him as the gracefulness of her exquisite features perfectly matched the tragic sorrow that laid under her every word and glance. She looked like the lost princess of an ancient kingdom with her flawless moon-white skin and the smooth waterfall of lavender hair, a body tailored from the hand of a Goddess to be worshiped and admired. How someone could even dare thinking of harming such a magnificent creature escaped his understanding. They looked at each other like they had all the time in the world and no rush was needed. Aksel knew his best emissary would speak only when she reckoned it right—when she thought he was ready to listen. Yune moved toward the settee as if she wanted to sit next to him, but then changed her mind and remained in front of him, just standing. Aksel didn’t feel like being looked down on so he stood too. Yune was a few inches taller than him nonetheless. “If you want to rest we can speak later,” Yune suggested with no mockery in her voice. Aksel tried to stand straighter as he answered, “I don’t need rest.” “Everybody does,” she scolded him. “Even you.” “Thank you for your concern, but you’re not my mother,” remarked Aksel. “Lucky for you I’m not.” Her full bottom lip quivered slightly with amusement and worry. Then Yune warned him, “Once I tell you what I’ve discovered you won’t sleep for a while, maybe it’s best if you recover your strengths and focus first.” Aksel dismissed her advice with a wave of the hand and waited for her account; if he had been curious before, he was now yearning to know what she’d learned—and damned be sleep. “Tell me everything.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Keep reading EPISODE 7

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photograpia · 7 years ago

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Travel Thursday: (US 2017) The J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

I was in the United States for almost a month this year getting some clinical experience by shadowing physicians in psychiatry and internal medicine. It was a working trip for the most part- but I was blessed to have family and friends who made the most of the downtime when not in the clinics by exploring art and food with me.

A day after I had landed at LAX, my godmother (whom I hadn’t spent time with since a trip to Universal Studios in 1996) called and asked if I was willing to go on a spontaneous two-day adventure. She had planned for us to relive the Universal Studios trip 21 years prior on the second day (and we did, though we were sorely disappointed that the ET ride was no longer around) and told me to choose whatever I wanted to do for the first day. Without a second thought I picked what had always been on my art bucketlist: A trip to The J. Paul Getty Museum.

The J Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses some of the best European art in the US. Jean Paul Getty was an American industrialist, making his fortune in oil. He was an avid collector of art and antiquities, and at his death left the J Paul Getty Trust foundation as the wealthiest art institution in the world. The museum is in the Brentwood neighborhood in LA, an affluent area with homes with beautiful architecture peppered across the hills. A trip to the Getty begins with a tram ride that stretches uphill, showcasing just how lovely the area is.

Then when you emerge at the top, this is what greets you. It was a perfect day- not a cloud in the sky, sun up, a gentle breeze blowing- and for a moment I completely forgot how jetlagged I was.

Note that the Getty Center is HUGE. (Map for reference below). So before doing any exploring, we decided to fuel up at the Cafe.

It needs to be said that the Cafe selection at the Getty is pretty great. It’s cafeteria style with multiple stations- deli, kitchen (full, farm-fresh, from scratch entrees), fiesta (it’s in LA), grill, oven, and a HUGE salad bar (again, in LA).

I had my first bottle of kombucha since landing in LAX. It was a blueberry bottle from local LA-based brewery Kombuchadog- all the dogs featured on the labels are rescue pups, which is a touch I love! Yes, I am a regular kombucha drinker even if I realize it tends to smell like dank feet. I also do so carefully, because as a medical student I am aware that in excess it may lead to lactic acidosis. Kombucha carefully.

For lunch I had a grilled chicken sandwich with air-fried fries. In this moment I was reminded about how enormous US serving sizes are compared to the tiny Asian plates I grew up with as reference. But I digress. That was a pretty good (and freshly-made!) meal, giving us sufficient energy to explore the grounds.

We didn’t have all day at the museum, so we began with the sculptures in the East Pavillion. These three were my favorite:

Bust of Juliette Recamier, Joseph Chinard

The Family of General Philippe Guillame Duhesme, Joseph Chinard

Dancer, Paulo Troubetzky (I repeatedly turn to this image during tough parts of the semester, reminding myself to carry on with grace.)

I have always always loved museums, but have learned through the years that the people visiting them always also play such a big role in the experience.

It is fascinating how one piece can be understood in so many ways and invoke different emotions. Sometimes it’s passion. Sometimes it’s awe.

There were so many beautiful paintings that I stood before for such a long time in the South and West pavilions. These are some of them and the history behind them.

Study of Clouds with a Sunset near Rome, Simon Denis, 1801

I know I sound like a broken record saying this, but my all-time favorite Philippine national artist is Fernando Amorsolo. His mastery of the use of light and the integration into local landscape scenes is unparalleled- and I often find myself looking for work similar to his when I travel.

Denis painted this in Rome, and the weather an impending storm. It isn’t hard to see that in the oil painting, but his technique is seen in precisely how easy it is to see that from the use of light and textures. There is light contrasting with darkness to show the stark contrast in the change in weather. The strokes are done in a manner that you can see how fluffy the clouds are- but also how moist and heavy they must be, full of rain. Denis has a whole series of cloud paintings to hone this skill set (this is the 78th one), and it is a testament to how practice makes perfect.

Spring, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1894

It was the detail in this painting that really caught my attention. It’s a huge painting- almost as tall as the wall from which it hung- but a closer look shows such vibrant colors and such attention to detail. Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a Dutch painter who specialized in Merovingian and Egyptian scenes but after a trip to Rome began painting what he envisioned as lively scenes from Pompeii, as is depicted here. The women and children carrying flowers in this procession are a reference of the Victorian custom of May Day, but juxtaposed against ancient Roman architecture. Almost half a decade after Spring was painted, it inspired certain imagery used in the iconic Cecille Demille film Cleopatra.

Portrait of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven Years of Age, Jean Etienne Liotard, 1756

I’m not even going to pretend to have a deep reason for liking this painting- I saw it and loved it because it was about a girl and her dog. I liked it so much I ended up buying the magnet at the museum gift shop and it is currently on my refrigerator, holding up the Rustans sticker sheet for the Goodness Gang vegetable plushie I have yet to claim.

Historically though, this portrait is a good example of changing attitudes toward children in the late 18th century Europe, and how commissions for children began then. Liotard used pastels for this portrait- as he often did for portraits of children because it was easy to manipulate quickly in case of interruptions- and let’s be real- with kids there’s bound to be a number. Also need to point out that while Maria is seen here as shy, her dog appears unabashedly curious and is looking straight out to the artist AND SMILING.

Pepilla the Gypsy and Her Daughter, Joaquin Sorolla, 1910

It was my boyfriend who introduced me to Joaquin Sorolla’s work on his last trip to Spain. Sorolla’s work is mostly impressionist and he’s best known for his beach scenes (an example below). I loved this because of the warm Mediterranean colors and the tenderness that it shows. This made me miss my mom.

La Promenade, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1870

You remember that scene in Frozen where Anna and Elsa are preparing for the ball, and Anna jumps by the giant portrait of a girl on a swing in her excitement? No disrespect to any one who hates Frozen, but that delight pretty much encapsulates what I feel each time I stand before a Renoir. And I personally really love Frozen as a film, so this is a compliment more than anything.

Promenade (not the name the painter gave this piece) is a homage to the artists he was working with. The light and luminous palette with the feathery brushwork is akin to Claude Monet. You see the greens and browns of Gustave Courbet. The subject- a jaunt through the garden, is inspired by the work of Jean-Antoine Watteau and Jean-Honoré Fragonard that Renoir studied at the Lourve. The couple gazes at each other- to convey a sort of intimacy and depth.

Jeanne (Spring), Edouard Manet, 1881

Jeanne in this portrait is Jeanne Demarsay, a popular Parisian actress from the 1880s. She’s best remembered for having sat for portraits for both Manet and Renoir (Portrait of Mlle de Marsy).

Spring was one of Manet’s last works, and is one where you can clearly see his mastery of the art form. It is a dance of the modern (seen in the fashion, that Manet pieced together himself) and the traditional (the painting style, that early Italian Renaissance profile). It is such a sensual and bright portrait.

Portrait of Leonilla, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1843

It needs to be said that if Leonilla were not a princess, this pose would have never been allowed for a portrait of its time. Reclining on a low Turkish sofa at a veranda, this scene was often in reference to harems and odalisques. That this was made at Leonilla’s insistence says so much about her strength and tenacity as well. Known for her great beauty and intellect, she sits confidently in ivory silk, casually reaching for the pearls on her neck while holding a steady, strong gaze.

Irises, Vincent Van Gogh

Two weeks ago I saw the film Loving Vincent, which is art in itself (the first fully painted animated feature film) and looks back on the circumstances surrounding Van Gogh’s death. I also found it to be a subconscious treastise on mental health, which I think is of value to consider when one looks at Van Gogh’s art.

Irises was one of the first paintings Vincent Van Gogh made after he checked himself into the asylum n Saint-Rémy, France. He had been going through bouts of depression and self-mutilation prior to this and his art became part of his healing at the asylum. It was inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and is notable for the curves and waves of the irises- people remark that it is as though he fully understood what it meant for flowers to move. I love this painting more so after realizing the context- that despite the circumstances and the darkness he evidently felt at the time, he managed to create art that showed such air and life.

My jetlagged but thrilled self at the gardens, heart full after being surrounded by such art. If you find yourself in LA and haven’t gone yet, you must must must go visit the Getty!

#travel #art #arthistory #monet #renoir #getty #travelthursdays

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ultranos · 4 years ago

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Holy shit this is stunning. I love the use of color and black canvas. And the fire looks practically like brushwork (I, um, have a weakness for ink-brush line art so my brain just went “!!!!” at this)

I’m really glad you enjoy the story. (And I’m laughing at the research comment. I do try. I don’t pretend to be perfect, and people should call me on it if I screw up, but yes. Better than the source material is a goal.)

(also re: your tags of the english major in you wanting to analyze the story both @raksha-the-demon and I had the immediate reaction of “YES PLEASE DO THAT” lol)

probably, the quality will be fried as i post this but that’s ok

i read a really good atla fic over the course of the past week and i am…a fan i gotta say. i tried to draw azula

https://archiveofourown.org/series/1845337

salt and ashes ( @ultranos , @raksha-the-demon ) is a collection of stories featuring a zuko-azula roleswap au done in a really interesting, heart-wrenching way. character voices are done very well

if you like interesting character explorations, somewhat better research of the cultures ATLA is based on, found family, some very interesting takes on bending, and some very grounded topics, you might like this one

there was an alternate book 2 hairstyle i drew initially but at that point you couldn’t tell it was azula at all lmao

Keep reading

#atla #salt and ashes #salt and ashes au #i cannot render my feelings in a textual fashion

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caveartfair · 6 years ago

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5 Places That Inspired Vincent van Gogh’s Art

Farmhouse in Provence, 1888. Vincent van Gogh National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh led a turbulent, restless life. From a young age, he moved incessantly, searching for both artistic inspiration and an environment that would calm his gnawing nerves. “It always seems to me that I’m a traveller who’s going somewhere and to a destination,” he wrote to his brother, Theo, in August 1888. By the time of the artist’s death in 1890, at age 37, he’d lived in over 15 different cities across Europe.

Each location deeply influenced the passionate, volatile painter’s life and work, and together, they provide the framework for a new biography, Living with Vincent van Gogh: The homes and landscapes that shaped the artist (2019), by scholar and curator Martin Bailey. Below, we highlight five places where Van Gogh embedded himself, unfurled his canvases, and developed his unique, feverish, and spellbinding paintings.

The Hague, the Netherlands

Vincent van Gogh, View of the Sea at Scheveningen, 1882. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Vincent van Gogh, Sorrow, 1882. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

In 1869, at age 16, Van Gogh left his rural hometown of Zundert, the Netherlands, for the more cosmopolitan, seaside city of The Hague. There, he began his first apprenticeship at the Goupil gallery and was exposed to modern art (19th-century paintings by French, Italian, and Spanish artists) for the first time. At other exhibition spaces across the city, he fell in love with the bucolic, soft-hued landscapes of the Hague School of painters, especially Anton Mauve. A number sketches from this period survive, which reveal Van Gogh clumsily but resolutely experimenting with cityscapes and landscapes.

In December 1881, when the artist was in his late twenties, he returned to The Hague. (In between, he’d spent 12 years as an itinerant art dealer and burgeoning artist.) By this time, he’d committed fully to artmaking and began sketching urban life, with a focus on the city’s poor and downtrodden people. One of Van Gogh’s most striking, empathetic figurative works, Sorrow (1882), comes from this period. It depicts his muse and lover, a prostitute named Sien, as naked, pregnant, and clutching her body. During this stint in The Hague, Van Gogh also injected color into his palette for the first time, and began creating vibrant, thickly impastoed oil paintings. As Bailey points out, one of the artist’s finest early canvases, View of the Sea at Scheveningen (1882), depicts the roiling, blue-grey ocean not far from his home. To this day, grains of sand are embedded in the painting’s surface, evidence that Van Gogh painted it en plein air on a windy day.

Nuenen, the Netherlands

Vincent van Gogh, Autumn Landscape, 1885. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

The Potato Eaters, 1885. Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh Museum

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in the Snow, 1885. Vincent van Gogh "Van Gogh and the Seasons" at National Gallery of Victoria

At age 30, in December 1883, Van Gogh followed his family to the Dutch pastoral village of Nuenen. While he had a fraught relationship with his parents, the painter established his own private studio space on their property—in the former laundry room—where he could work in peace. He also cemented a business arrangement with his brother, Theo, that provided him with financial stability and calmed his nerves; Theo, who was an art dealer, would send Van Gogh a regular allowance in exchange for any paintings he produced.

In this stable and mostly calm environment, Van Gogh made strides in his work. He spent concentrated time perfecting his oil technique. Landscapes from 1884, which depict the surrounding countryside and the church where his father was a pastor, show the artist experimenting with modulation of color and the representation of glowing, autumnal light. Peasant life also provided endless artistic fodder for Van Gogh, and inspired what Bailey considers his first masterpiece: The Potato Eaters (1885). With a dusky palette, thick brushwork, and exaggerated figures, he depicted a lively peasant dinner table. He wanted the work to be gritty and honest, harnessing the “smells of bacon, smoke, potato-steam,” he explained. “These folk…have tilled the earth themselves with these hands…so it speaks of MANUAL LABOUR and––that they have thus honestly earned their food.”

Autumn Landscape (1885), one of the last paintings Van Gogh created in Nuenen, flaunts his artistic growth during his two years in the town. The composition is more detailed than past landscapes, and his hues more luminous. “My palette is thawing,” he wrote to Theo around the time he completed the piece, “and the bleakness of the earliest beginnings has gone.”

Paris, France

Terrace in the Luxembourg Gardens, 1886. Vincent van Gogh Clark Art Institute

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Felt Hat, 1887. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, 1887. Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh Museum

Van Gogh’s two-year stay in Paris, between February 1886 and February 1888, radically transformed his work. For the first time, he was introduced to Impressionism, whose loose, active brushwork and bright palette he incorporated into his own practice. “In Antwerp I did not even know what the Impressionists were,” he wrote to his friend and fellow artist Horace Livens. “Now I have seen them and though not being one of the club, yet I have much admired certain Impressionist pictures—Degas, nude figure—Claude Monet, landscape.”

Van Gogh had spent short periods of time in Paris before, in the 1870s, while working for the art gallery. Now, however, he was focused on advancing his painting technique. For a brief time, he studied under the then-famed painter Fernand Cormon, whose students included Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Émile Bernard. But Van Gogh’s true education came through the artists he rubbed elbows with. Toulouse-Lautrec and Bernard became his friends; he met Paul Gauguin; and, for a time, he lived down the street from Impressionist Auguste Renoir.

As Bailey points out, two self-portraits Van Gogh made just nine months apart reveal his swift progress. In Self-Portrait with black felt Hat (1887), he rendered himself with a dark palette and tight, traditional brushwork, whereas in Self-Portrait with gray felt Hat (1887)—forged less than a year later—the artist appears as a medley of pronounced, active strokes of brilliant blue, accented with hot orange and bright white. The canvas evidenced Neo-Impressionism’s grip on the artist, and the beginnings of his own unique and influential style.

Arles, France

The Sower, 1888. Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh Museum

The Harvest, 1888. Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh Museum

Sunflowers, 1888. Vincent van Gogh The National Gallery, London

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889. Vincent van Gogh The Courtauld Gallery, London

While Paris had proved artistically fruitful for Van Gogh, it also exposed him to pressures and unhealthy temptations. In Living with Vincent van Gogh, Bailey suggests that rising tensions between the artist and his brother, Theo, as well the high cost of living in Paris, likely instigated his move to Arles in February 1888. “I left Paris very, very upset, quite ill and almost an alcoholic through overdoing it,” Van Gogh later wrote.

Arles was a quaint, colorful city surrounded by the Provencal countryside’s fertile olive groves, orchards, vineyards, and wheat fields, along with bursts of sunflowers and a close proximity to the sea. This abundant landscape provided endless inspiration for Van Gogh, who completed around 200 paintings (more than three per week) during his 15-month stay in the area. Canvases like Harvest in Provence, The Sower, and The Red Vineyard at Arles (all 1888) show golden fields flecked with red and blue under radiant yellow skies. His palette became bolder and brighter in this environment.

“When the vegetation is fresh it’s a rich green the like of which we seldom see in the north,” he wrote several months after his arrival in Arles. “When it gets scorched and dusty it doesn’t become ugly, but then a landscape takes on tones of gold of every shade.”

Van Gogh settled into a home he affectionately referred to as the “Yellow House.” It, too, became the subject of several paintings, including depictions of its bright façade and the artist’s own bedroom, complete with a sun-yellow bedframe and blue walls covered in paintings. In the fall of 1888, it was also the site of domestic drama for Van Gogh, when he invited fellow artist Gauguin to stay with him there. But a mere nine weeks after his arrival, Gauguin left angrily. The row left Van Gogh emotionally and psychologically fragile, and not long after, he famously cut off most of his left ear. The episode resulted in several searing self-portraits, including Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889), and set off a string of increasingly debilitating mental crises for the artist.

Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France

Starry Night, 1889. Vincent van Gogh The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889. Vincent van Gogh The Metropolitan Museum of Art

After a series of mental breaks in Arles, Van Gogh voluntarily committed himself to Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, an asylum 20 miles north of Arles. Life inside the hospital was dim: “One continually hears shouts and terrible howls as though of the animals in a menagerie,” he wrote of the environment. But the surrounding landscape was stunningly beautiful, offering both emotional respite and artistic fodder. The window of Van Gogh’s room framed a scene he would paint almost 15 times: rolling fields swelling with olive trees and cypresses, bordered by the Les Alpilles mountains.

He was also allowed to take excursions to the surrounding fields and country towns, and it was likely one of these occasions that inspired his most famous painting: Starry Night (1889). The work shows a dark, turbulent sky intercepted by bright, shimmering stars and a glowing moon. As Bailey notes, the work is emblematic of Van Gogh’s tortured mental state while in the asylum, but also his resilience. Each time he recovered from a crisis, “he would return into the light, once again taking up his brush,” writes Bailey. “This vibrant painting stands as a powerful testament to the artist’s struggle to overcome the challenges of living and working in an asylum for the insane.”

Van Gogh painted through his suffering, but in the end, he couldn’t bear his increasingly tormented mind. A year later, in 1890, he took his own life in the small town of Auvers in northern France. But his paintings would live on—proof of one artist’s artistic genius and relentless commitment to his craft.

from Artsy News

#Artsy News

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grrrenadine · 8 years ago

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Monthly Media: April 2017

I veered into horror (and horror-adjacent) territory this month, so..beware!

……….MOVIES……….

Evil Dead II (1987)

Much like its unlucky, plucky protagonist Ash, this film is all about energy, ingenuity, an impish sense of humor and a devil-may-care attitude. With its frenetic pacing, charming practical effects (stop-motion!!) and a cheesy lead performance, it’s a giddy, surreal exercise in splatstick — and thoroughly, overwhelmingly delightful.

Army of Darkness (1992)

(aka The Evil Dead...in the Middle Ages!) Simultaneously terrible and lovable, this film falls into the trap of many a parody by becoming the very movie it’s spoofing (in this case, schlocky medieval fantasy). There’s a lot more Hollywood polish here compared to the two previous installments, which is unfortunate, but it’s still so much fun that you can forgive it nearly everything.

Escape from New York (1981)

Dialing down on genre cliches (good) but also on dramatic energy (bad), this movie has many enjoyable elements — a gritty backdrop, realistically lame action, bizarre fashion choices, conflicting character motivations — but, taken as a whole, doesn’t really work. I can, however, give it bonus points for the lone female character’s awesomeness and for Snake’s petulant attitude. (Also: “Snake Plissken” is the dumbest/coolest action hero name ever, Y/Y?)

Alien (1979)

A classic, and justifiably so; ingrained in mass consciousness to the point where you get a sense of deja vu watching it. What did surprise me is how likable and distinct the characters are, especially in comparison to Aliens (which I’d seen before). Ripley, of course, gets special mention. Long live Ripley!

The Thing (1982)

The thing is, it’s more rewarding to think about The Thing than it is to actually watch it. What’s the titular creature’s endgame? Where does the human host end and the alien virus begin? Is director John Carpenter pro or contra alpha masculinity? And, finally: what’s up with that fantastic, ambiguous ending? The horror aspects of the film are gross rather than scary, but the suspense is killer: beneath the skin of a genre piece lurks a commentary on how nobody really knows themselves, let alone fellow men. It’s a cold, sad movie — hard to love, easy to obsess over.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Jewish tragicomedy of errors meets gothic horror in a story of two dudes who run afoul of a shapeshifter while out on the English moors. One gets killed, one gets maimed; what happens next is what you’d expect...except not quite, as the movie’s all over the place in terms of both plot and tone. I’d give anything to re-write the female lead, but overall it’s a fun flick with a dark, cynical message — and the first genuinely good werewolf movie I’ve seen. A-rooo!

Wiener-Dog (2016)

Too little dog, too many humans. (Honestly though, this song number is the movie’s best bit).

Get Out (2017)

A black photographer goes into a backwoods cabin for a weekend with his girlfriend’s (white, liberal) family, where things start seeming just a little bit...off. Part racial satire, part queasy thriller (with the uncomfortable setup providing better scares than the resolution), it’s a smart film that’s wonderfully shot and acted and also happens to be uber-relevant today.

Fate of the Furious (2017)

F&F8 hits the same beats as the previous installments and emerges similarly entertaining and logic-free (at this rate they’ll be driving in outer space next). Anyway, the franchise deserves major props for its diversity and the inventive action set-pieces — but also a rebuke for its two-faced attitude towards women: the further they’re removed from the plot, the more disposable / objectified they are. It feels emblematic of modern Western misogyny: wanting to have the cake and eat it, too.

David Lynch: The Art Life (2016)

The rundown of Lynch’s early life, narrated by the man himself; watching this was a very meditative, trance-like experience. (Also: I fell asleep at one point).

……….TV……….

Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. (entire run)

The good: smooth angular animation, lovely use of color, fun allusions to classic horror — plus an evil parrot voiced by Udo Kier (whaaat?!). The bad: on/off relationship drama, oft-lackluster episode plots, and — worst of all — unfortunate ethnic stereotypes. Ultimately this show’s watchable chiefly due to its high degree of bizarro and the weirdly compelling arch plot.

Clerks: The Animated Series (entire run)

Focused on pop-culture spoofing and meta humor — things shows like Community would do better years later — this series was sporadically funny but lacking in much the film’s naivete and interest in the mundane. Also: there’s a very fine line between being subversive and being off-color, and this show jumped across said line more times than I could count.

……….BOOKS……….

Carnet de Voyage (Craig Thompson, 2004)

I’m a big fan of Craig Thompson’s work, and this travel diary (chronicling his journeys across Morocco, France and Switzerland) sports the lovely brushwork, raw emotion and existential pathos that are uniquely his. It’s no Blankets, but it is a worthy work (and it made me embarrassed of never sketching during travels).

#mk monthly media #scooby doo #evil dead #the thing #alien #awil

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