Archive for July, 2010

Tips For Mixing Oil Paints

Oil Painting dates back to the ancient Roman times. In the ancient times, most of the Cave Paintings were done using Oil Paints only, though the art form and its techniques evolved with time. One of the oldest mediums of Painting, Oil Paint has been able to deliver optimally beautiful results. The trend continues even today and selling Oil Paintings is a big business to be in.

No doubt, Oil Paints have been able to make their mark quite well in the world of art. In fact, when we say painting it is an artwork of Oil Paints we are usually referring to. Oil Painting is all about striking the right mix of colors and their proportionate application on the Canvas. Most artists may though initially get frustrated with the output, if they are not able to mix the right colors. Mixing Oil Paints requires certain amount of understanding of the way, the colors work.

Choice of a color by an artist is a personal decision, depending upon the purpose of the painting and the mood of the artist. Sometimes artists use colors to arouse emotions, or simply because they like certain color (s). Utmost care however, should be taken so that the colors do not conflict with the basic theme of the Oil Painting. This is where a Color Wheel comes in as a savior.

A Color Wheel has six basic colors, which include Primary Colors, Red, Blue, & Yellow, and Secondary Colors, Green, Orange, & Purple. The Color Wheel has extra “in-between” colors as well, that are the blends of these basic colors. The in-between colors are called Tertiary Colors. Now, here are the tips for mixing Oil Paints:

o Primary Colors. Pick the Primary Colors i.e., Blue, Red, and Yellow, as base colors. As long as you have these colors, you can mix any color you want.
o Mixing Oil Paints. Mix these Primary Colors in the Palette and make sure that they are evenly mixed.
o Black & White. Make different shades and tints from these colors by adding Black and White respectively. Using too much of Black or White though, can take away the vividness of hues.
o Thinning. Now mix Turpentine or Artist Grade Mineral Spirits to create thin and fast drying Oil Paints. Thinning gives a fine wash and a transparent touch to Oil Paints. The use of Mineral Spirits is generally preferred, as they are less flammable in comparison to Turpentine.
o Texturing. Finally, change the texture of the Oil Paint by using Sand, Plaster, or Sawdust. It is done to thicken the paint.

Some of the accessory basic tips for mixing Oil Paints are:

o Palette. Keep your Palette clean and organized, in order to avoid undesirable shades from mixing up.
o Brush. Clean the Paint Brush before mixing any different color, again to avoid undesirable mixing ups.
o Pigments. Be careful while using Pigments such as, Cadmium, as they are toxic.
o Hues. Look out for Hues, as they are not the true Pigments and do not mix with the Oil Paints like them.
o Patience. Be patient while mixing Oil Paints, and follow the above given steps carefully.

Annette Labedzki received her BFA at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. She has more than 25 years experience. She is the founder and developer of an online art gallery featuring original art from all over the world. It is a great site for art collectors to buy original art. Is is also a venue for artists to display and sell their art . Artists can join for free and their image upload is unlimited.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Annette_Labedzki

The Best Way to Sell Art Online

If you create beautiful art work, chances are there’s a market for your work online. When you sell art online you not only reach a national audience, but an international one as well. Selling art online can help you target a wider audience for your work without spending a significant money on advertising and marketing.

When most people attempt to sell art online, they set up a free standing website or sell their art through an auction site such as eBay. Unfortunately, most buyers on eBay have a bargain basement mentality and expect to purchase art at a fraction of what it’s really worth. It can be frustrating to get so little return on an item you worked hard to create. Although all artists should have a free standing website, it can be a challenge to drive traffic to one unless you’re well versed in search engine marketing or are prepared to spend a great deal of time marketing through social networks and forums.

Is there an easier way to sell art online? A simple, inexpensive solution is to sell your art in an online art and craft gallery that carries high quality work. By selling in an online gallery, you gain greater exposure for your work from the traffic the gallery brings in. This means less time and expense spent marketing and more time to create new pieces of art. It allows you to do what you do best – create art without the pressure to constantly market. Setting up your art work to sell only takes minutes when you’re selling through an online gallery whereas it can be very time consuming to build and maintain a free standing website. An online gallery also supplies you with a shopping cart and the ability to accept credit cards so you can start selling right away.

Of course, at some point, you’re going to want to set up your own free standing website and link it to your online gallery site. Until then, you may want to consider using an online gallery to sell art online.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristie_Leong

Facts About Metal Art

Art that is constructed of metal is extremely durable and will last you for years to come. By merely touching the metal, you can get a sense of it’s strength and sturdiness. There are several different types of metal which can be manipulated into various shapes and sizes to create a unique piece of art.

You can purchase metal art for your home, office, or outdoor garden area. Depending on where you find that perfect piece for your application, you can generally find art made of metal for a relatively reasonable cost. There are many retail stores that sell mass produced metal art. However, if you are looking for something a bit more unique, you can contact a local artist. There are even places that will customize a piece designsed specifically for you!

There are several different ways that you can display metal art. You can find pieces that are specifically meant as wall art which can be mounted anywhere indoors or outdoors. There are also pieces designed to sit on a table, floor or mantle. You can also find metal art with stakes built into the bottom of the piece which allows you to display your art as lawn decoration. Whatever your application, be sure that your art is safely secure as larger metal pieces tend to be heavy. If you are looking at purchasing metal art that is going to be placed outside, make sure that your art is protected by having it powder coated, or painted with a weather proof paint.

Not only can art made of metal be atheistically pleasing, it can be practical as well. Towel racks, coat hooks, trivets, furniture, sconces and chandeliers are only a few examples of functional pieces.

Metal art placed around your home, office or outdoor area is sure to give any space a stunning visual display that evokes elegance and charm.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stacy_Hunt

How to Choose an Online Gallery

How to choose an online gallery? When looking for an online art gallery it is a good idea to have some kind of question checklist. Here are some questions you might consider. How much will the gallery cost to run? Is there a commission I have to pay on my art sold? Will I get enough traffic and how much art can I display? Will I be given my own personal art website and biography page? Is it difficult to set up? Can I check my client traffic statistics. Is there a free trial period so I can see if I like the system? This should help you concerning how to choose an online gallery.

Five Tips for Selling Your Art Online

1. Presentation – Present your art in the most professional way possible. Ideally, showcase your art in an online gallery.

2. Traffic – Even if you have the most beautiful art in the world in your gallery, you will have little success selling your work unless people know where you are. Market your art through free ads, paid ads if you like, pay-per-click ads, blogs, forums and articles. Write “how to” articles about art, which is a great way to generate traffic to your site. Also, have business cards made up and distribute them in as many ways possible.

3. Critiques – Ouch! – If you’re way too sensitive and thinned skinned, get over it. Criticism is one of your best money-making friends. Why? Because you want to find out what people like and don’t like about your art so you can fix it and make your art more salable. Go out of your way to get criticism of your art by asking friends, strangers (safe strangers!), forum groups, art teachers, art professors and even art appraisers if you want to spend the money.

Leonardo da Vinci asked for criticism from a man off the street. He asked the man what he thought of his “Last Supper” painting, which was not yet finished. The man said he really liked the chalice cup. I believe Leonardo readily removed the chalice from the painting because it was not supposed to be the focus of the work. Leonardo was wise enough to appreciate and receive objective criticism which helped finish his masterpiece.

4. Constant Improvement – Creating your art should be a constant learning process, ever improving because the more knowledge you have of the laws and rules of art the better your painting skills, hence greater financial return on your art. To what is needed to improve your artistic eye and skills. Look at great art and try to see why their colors, their lights and darks, shapes and compositions work so well. Take an art class. Read art “how to” books. Grow in your knowledge of what makes great art.

5. Pricing – Too High, Too Low – Check out your competition, art similar to your own work. What are their prices? Get opinions from people about your art pricing. Remember, be thick-skinned for they are only helping you decide on the correct pricing for your art. Test your pricing. If it sells too quickly (how wonderful!), perhaps you could raise the price. If it is not selling, then your pricing is probably too high. Test, test, test. Oh, you might consider having prints made of your originals because it would give you a whole new extra pricing market. Some people would rather pay for a print than to pay more for an original.

So, hopefully the art gallery question checklist and the 5 tips for selling your art online will help you get your art selling. Enjoy your divine gift, the unique ability to express yourself through art.

5 Star Bonus Information: Here is a simple formula for victory that works. Take three promises from the Bible that cover any problem you are facing. Select a time during the day to speak these three promises out loud for at least and hour each day. Why at least an hour? Because God’s Word is like a hammer according to Jeremiah 23:29. As you speak God’s Word you will be hammering away to demolish and destroy that problem rock or mountain in your life.

Also, as you hear yourself speaking those promises of God, faith will come to your heart to believe those promises you’re speaking are true in you. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17 KJV). The more time you spend doing this, the quicker the rewarding results.

So, who originated this simple formula for victory? Not me. A Christian man was in trouble financially. He had a poverty self image created by the wrong teaching he had received from his church pulpit. The Lord graciously told him how to get out of debt. He told the man to take three scriptures (Psalm 34:10, 2 Corinthians 8:9 and Philippians 4:19) and speak them out of his mouth four hours a day.

He did not do what the Lord instructed him to do right away. Finally, on the verge of bankruptcy, he decided to do it in his room four hours a day. Within six months he began to see a change in his situation. Eventually, he was completely out of debt. The Word of God, which is like a hammer according to Jeremiah 23:29, cracked opened and demolished that mountain of a poverty image that was such a curse in his life.
Again, the more time you spend doing this, the quicker the rewarding results.

Remember, this little victory formula will work not just for financial problems, but for any other problem area in your life: healing for your body, peace of mind, wisdom, joy, deliverance from any bondage of sin or whatever. Just find three promises in God’s Word that cover your problem and go for it. God’s Word works!

Do you want to learn about an online art gallery I have used and recommend?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_C_Jones

Art Gallery Lighting Tips

If you are confused as to what lighting solutions would be best for your art gallery, then the following tips would certainly be of help to you. Art galleries have very unique demands when it comes to lighting them up. Unlike most rooms that require a fine balance of task, accent, and ambient lighting, art galleries mainly rely on accent lighting to accentuate the art on display. While keeping the ambient lighting simple, you need to concentrate mainly on getting the accent lighting right for the actual artwork in the room.

Ideally, you must have a picture lighting system that can be easily reconfigured to light up relocated or new art pieces displayed in the art gallery. For several decades now, monorail lighting and track lighting are being used for lighting art galleries. Check the CRI (Color Rendering Index) A lamp’s CRI is nothing but its ability to display the colors of illuminated objects and falls in the range of 1 (monochromatic light) and 100 (the sun). Fluorescent bulbs that we commonly use have a very low CRI while incandescent lamps come with a high CRI. However, incandescent lamps are not really suitable for art galleries since they do not have the exact directional characteristics required for illuminating art galleries.

Low-voltage track and cable systems are commonly used for this purpose, as they use halogen lamps that are known for their almost perfect color rendering abilities with precise beam control. Another important factor that needs to be considered is the color temperature since it decides how colors would appear to the eye under a specific lamp. It is believed that warm colors would look more vibrant under ‘warm’ light sources while cool colors would look more pleasing under ‘cool’ lamps.

Pay attention to the beam spread abilities of a lamp. The size of the lighted area is one of the major lighting problems when illuminating an art gallery. For instance, a large cone used to illuminate a small art piece may not only look odd but also distract your attention from the artwork to the illuminated wall. It may not be always possible to change fixtures but you can certainly resolve this problem by choosing a lamp of the right beam spread. Simply put, beam spread refers to the width of the cone of light a lamp produces as you move away from the light source.

Beam spreads of lamps are specified in terms of spots and floods. While the term ‘spot’ refers to a beam spread of less than 15 degrees, ‘flood’ describes a beam spread in the range of 15 to 30 degrees. You must avoid directional cans as far as possible, since such recessed fixtures may not give enough light to illuminate an especially large piece despite their ability to rotate.

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Install Indian Rupee symbol or font on your computer

Install Indian Rupee symbol or font on your computer

Step 1: Open this official link to download the Rupees font http://blog.foradian.com/rupee-font-version-20.

Step2: After download Rupee font, install rupees font in your system fonts.

Step3: Open notepad and select Rupee Foradian font from the font list.

Step4: Type special character from your keyboard `.

Note: This symbol is exact before 1 number from your keyboard on left side.