Author: veronica

On imposter syndrome, sensitivity and work

Posted on June 30, 2024August 3, 2024 by veronica

Below you’ll find a collection of essays I’ve written in my personal journal over the years. These essays cover topics and feelings artists experience yet rarely share.

Can you just do? On artistic sensitivity, self-doubt, jealousy, happiness, failure and work

As artists we’re able to fall deep in dark pits of self-doubt, uncertainty and melancholy. We question our purpose, hold on to negativity, and doubt our abilities because it’s hard. It’s really hard to work against the grit to pursue our calling – something that has been given to us at birth. Sometimes the psychological pressure we feel being a working artist is tougher to overcome than the financial burden we all face at times.

“DO” is the theme of LeWitt’s 1965 letter written to a fellow artist Eva Hesse, who was tormented with self-doubt. In this video Benedict Cumberbatch reads the letter that’s incredibly moving no matter how many times I listen to it.

On comparisons, failure & jealousy

Many artists are riddled with jealousy or a paralyzing fear of not being good enough or of not being able to achieve greatness. As a result we draw endless comparisons and feel bad about ourselves. I often see how jealous other artists are of me despite their achievements and accolades.

I think about the mastery of others differently, although I must admit that I also compare myself to others. First, I look at the talents of others as a high bar to reach up to, as a place to aspire to and to be inspired. I find other artists’ work incredibly inspirational to me, and I also learn from art and artists a great deal.
Second, I look at other artists I admire not to give up because they are good and I’m not. They are talented and I may fall into this trap thinking that there is no time in the universe to ever get close to their level of mastery. Perhaps, I’ll never will, but why would I give up on all the fun and joy that art brings me?! Why would I limit myself and stop painting just because someone else is better?! See, comparisons don’t move you forward, they stop you from even beginning doing something meaningful in your life, and as a result you end up achieving nothing, complaining about the circumstances you’re in. I release myself from this weird feeling of jealousy. I replace it with a feeling of gratitude I’m here to create!

Failure takes a big part in my life. For every finished painting there are a few that end up in a trash bin. I get rejected often. I also fail in some relationships with people, and fail to communicate my boundaries that get pushed, pushed to the wildest extremes at times. Failure is intense, frustrating, hurtful. Failure paralyzes. Failure grounds me to the floor so hard I can barely breathe. Over the years it’s getting harder to recover from it. However, failure doesn’t stop me from trying to achieve what I want. Failure is a signal to do things differently, to find a new approach. And finding this new way takes a lot of energy that often rivals my desire to let it all go in flames.

If you are a gifted person, it doesn’t mean you got something. It means you can give something away.
Carl Jung

On Artistic Sensitivity

Artists are also extremely sensitive people, and react to circumstances and opinions on a much deeper level than others. That’s one of the reasons why we see so many talented actors, writers, painters and musicians self-medicating a ‘weakness’ that’s been defined as a ‘mental illness.’ I think it’s more complicated than that. I see sensitivity in young art students. What I can control they can’t yet, and those emotions often arise and confuse them.

Yes, the sensitivity that artists have makes us different, different in having a natural gift that actually keeps on giving, if we nurture it. It can become the artist’s ‘strength.’ We’re able to see something beautiful in mundane places. We are able to move people emotionally. We go down in history as innovators in thoughts and movements. We make the world less ugly and more humane. Artists bring light and beauty into this world and it’s a wonderful contribution into this world if you ask me.

To read more about highly sensitive people: https://veronicasart.com/highly-sensitive-people-how-to-prioritize-well-being-to-tackle-personal-crisis/

To read more about why artists create art: https://veronicasart.com/why-artists-create/

To read more about awareness, mental health and illusion of reality: https://veronicasart.com/mental-health-connection-illusion-of-reality/

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” Michelangelo

On self-limitation & work ethic

As artists we’re creative. However, we often impose limits on ourselves via dated beliefs and social norms. In the beginning of our journey we may want to conform to norms. However, those norms and limitations stifle our natural creativity. Allow yourself to experiment with new materials, play with your ideas and paint what you want to paint! Also, take art classes to learn new or different skill. Despite having all the college degrees I have, I often buy new classes online because I want to learn new skills in digital painting, illustration, business, finance, etc.

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.
Stephen King

Also, it’s super important to work through your artistic problems. If I gave up on every painting I created I’d be in the same spot I started 25 years ago. By working through my problems, finishing up every painting I learn to problem-solve and evolve. I improve my artistic skill and creativity by not allowing myself to give up on something that’s frustrating at the moment. I usually take a break from work that doesn’t look good and come back to it at a much later date. This pause allows me to see things differently and I am usually able to fix problems on canvas within minutes instead of hours or days spent on it in the past.

“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” — Michelangelo

There is no cute formula for success in painting. It’s hard work every day. Other artists’ achievements inspire me to move forward, those artists become my guiding stars. That’s why I have no jealousy towards my peers, because I can see what’s possible in due time and practice. We fulfill our dreams with our own work, not the work of others.

I believe we succeed eventually, because we refuse to quit. Although it often feels like a dead end where there is nothing to go by, when words like ‘nice work’ or ‘good stuff’ can get you only that far. But a strong will, belief in myself, and the internal love for my craft keeps me grounded.

On a bad day 🙁

Powered by the ruthless force of frustration, I run with a steep incline, at the speed number that meets my level of emotional pain. The soles of my worn, running shoes fly over the rotating black belt; they build endurance, the survival tactic. And I run as my legs ache and they beg to slow down, but I refuse, I flush out my hurt with tears. My heart’s stomps blow my ears, and I override it with trance beat. My face deep red, I run. I track the whooping breath in my lungs. My insides burn like fire, and I run. My skin prickles, and legs are about to cramp. I’m acid perspiration. Unstoppable I become, feel the rise of resistance to my failures, to painful words and encounters, to the insensitive world that drowns, but teaches, teaches me to survive. And that’s how it feels on a bad day. Drenched in sweat, I run on a treadmill of artist’s life.

On a good day 🙂

The joy of painting runs inside me like the cobalt blue river. The snowflakes dance above its glossy surface and trickle down in my limbs. I feel the rise of divine energy and melt into another place, the forth dimension. It’s there, there I create. Through the looking glass I fall, where I hear no judgement and see no stop signs. The round clock on my wall quits ticking. Like a sweet fragrance of blooming roses, my joy flourishes and invigorates me. And that’s how it feels on a good day.

It’s one of those rare instances where you can see someone as powerful as Madonna being so vulnerable. Her speech explains so many things that underline her internal motivation for the work she has done as a female singer. She talks about sexism, misogyny, and feminism in the music industry receiving the award at Billboard Women In Music 2016.

“Be the Hero of your own story” by Judge Judy Sheindlin is a book for every young or young at heart girl to read. It explains the importance of independent thinking, and how you can open yourself up to opportunities. It’s available as a free download at Judy’s website: http://www.whatwouldjudysay.com/

On Happiness

Is happiness a persistent state? Numerous books have been written about this subject. A million coaches preach that happiness is your ultimate goal to achieve to live a meaningful life. Everyone wants to get it. And if you admit that you’re not living it, you are the one who doesn’t work on yourself. But is it that simple? Because it sounds like judgement to me.
Happiness can be illusive. It’s just a moment in time. A moment of curiosity, connection, love, awe and joy. Those moments could be numerous but emotions are not constant if you’re a sensitive person. Changing emotions are like a river that runs, turns and shifts quite often. Every bump on the road presents a change in emotion. Happiness is just one of the emotions in a big spectrum of feelings. Yes, we can prioritize this feeling to have beautiful daily experiences but there is no guarantee to feel it even when we work on it.
It shouldn’t be work… Recently I met a person who emanates happiness. I can see the sun rays beaming from his chest. Can he feel as deeply or understand someone else as well as someone who experiences other states of being? I think it depends on a person… I know a woman who is always happy like a little girl. That’s fantastic because life is easy and fun for her. But when I have a closer look at her personality, her emotional spectrum is shallow. She experiences a limited range of emotions that pass quickly for her. While she enjoys her happy days, she is unable to comprehend the other person’s point of view or emotion.

A range of experiences makes up a person. And when peace arrives, it transforms into a state of serene happiness. Because when you’re at peace, you feel connected to yourself. Happiness isn’t permanent but becomes notoriously present inside the person to become whole.

Omnipresent Love, colored pencil & mixed media on paper

On dreaming big

The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream.
Les Brown

As a child I didn’t learn to dream. As an adult I spent two decades of my life figuring out how to dream big. It involved a lot of inner work, parting with established rules and social conditioning. I became ambitious. A word that’s attributed to successful men, ambition often describes women in a negative tone as heartless go-getters. However, a healthy dose of ambition is necessary to grow professionally. As parents we should encourage development of natural abilities of our children to form lifelong interests, and as adults we should take responsibility for ourselves to develop ambition.

I believe that long-term success is never accidental. It’s hard work and sacrifice mixed with obsessive desire to overcome the impossible, mostly overcoming my own limitations. Some people spend years complaining and waiting for a miracle to dawn on them, but I think that’s finding excuses and not working on your fears get you nowhere. By challenging myself and accepting failures I’ve been taking many steps forward in becoming who I am today. However, what I’ve been missing in my life is a role model or a mentor. If you want to succeed in anything you dream about, find a strong mentor in your field. Mentorship helps model successful behavior. It also cuts down on frustration by doing the art business efficiently. You can waste years figuring stuff out on your own.

I also understood that gaining the right direction is a lot more important than speed. We want to have quick results, but life is rarely quick to deliver what we want. And understanding exactly what I wanted took a lifetime for me. Goals and aspirations may change over time. It’s ok. But if you’re serious about your career, concrete goals with due dates on my calendar make a big difference for me that give measurable results.

I often find myself in consistent hard work pushing through frustrations and failures daily, but I have also noticed that it’s not enough to break me through the ceiling. It’s not enough to have the talent. It’s not enough to work hard. It’s not enough to exhibit. You have to find greater meaning in anything you do, which benefits others and is unique to you. Now I know that the most important thing for my soul is to encourage art students to succeed professionally, and this is where you find me with my students, podcast and writing these days.

On finding support

When relatives and family are not great supporters of your art, search for like-minded people to support you emotionally, intellectually and professionally. Also, remember that your family’s absence of support is not because they don’t love you, but because they are also scared of your financial instability being an artist. This fear gets projected onto you and actually holds you back before you even start doing anything towards reaching your goals. Artists at heart who decide not to pursue creativity as a career often become depressed, because they remain unfulfilled and not seen for who they truly are. Therefore, it’s vital for parents to be supportive of their children’s attempts early on to give them the tools and the opportunities necessary to jump on a train on time and to encourage a positive mindset to achieve meaningful results in the future. It’s much harder (but still very possible) to establish yourself artistically later in life.

As a person, artist and teacher, I’ve seen a lot of discouragement and criticism that brings people down before they even think of pursuing something of importance to them. Over time it creates a timid mindset where you simply agree that it’s useless to dream big, or worse, you don’t even know that you can dream. So, instead of coming to the road filled with adventure and discovery, people turn to a comfortable sidewalk of boredom and in-the-box thinking. At the same time, when children get constant praise and 10 golden medals are given to all 10 places, there is not enough improvement and attempts to pursue higher goals. This is where a mentor comes in. He or she is capable of enough encouragement, yet can give a constructive critique, passing his/her skill and wisdom to the next generation of artists.

Every person searches for acceptance, understanding and love. We want to be accepted for who we’re. But the truth is that there is no personal growth, if we don’t look at ourselves from all sides. Surrounding ourselves with good friends who are able to encourage and nurture our gifts often help us overcome the worst pitfalls we have. It’s a blessing. We should nurture those friendships.

The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.
James Baldwin

On belief in yourself & purpose

Sometimes it’s difficult to find meaning in life if it’s not survival. Finding your own path or purpose is a different game. When we finally find ‘it’, fulfilling our purpose becomes a choice whether to pursue it or not. We can live in a depressive state of mind because of these two opposing reasons. If we don’t do what we love, life is meaningless. When we do what we love, problems and circumstances can be so overwhelming, we end up having a depression. What’s the cure? I think it’s about finding strength inside yourself. By being yourself and not looking for approval from the ‘outside’ world is a difficult task for many. I find my purpose in capturing the most beautiful side of the Universe in my art, and I’ve trained myself not to care what others think of my creativity.

One of the most important things in life is to believe in yourself. Don’t say you can’t do this or that. Don’t doubt your abilities. Believe that you can. And learn how to do it. This simple belief system has changed my life. Shifting my mentality, I opened myself up to learning and achieving so many things without relying on anyone else or finding excuses not to do it. Our insecurities, excuses and doubts kill our inner confidence, and if you can’t really believe in your abilities and yourself, your mind says ‘no’, people feel it, and you stay where you are. Dream big. Move mountains. Believe.

This simple word ‘happiness’ didn’t resonate with me for years remaining elusive and meaningless. The pressure to “feel happy” hovered over me like a guillotine, coming from all corners of the universe-the TV, magazines, family. Every outlet fixated on the idea of promoting happiness… Why aren’t you happy? Isn’t it funny how our culture sets the standards? You are either in or out.

I’m so incredibly fortunate I live a lifestyle that many cannot even dream of. I love my entire day from morning to late night. My lifestyle allows me to focus on my job-painting, and not to worry about tending gardens, providing for a large family, or simply looking for clean water, like in the African nations or Latin America. It’s my pure luck to live in a place with infinite opportunities.

I’m incredibly fortunate that I have the talent and I’m an artist. Although it’s been a very hard road to travel, today I understand that what I actually possess sets me apart from others. I used to be upset, thinking salespeople of vacuum cleaners (no offense to all sales associates, please) didn’t have to struggle with attitude, misery, and years of hard work during and after grad school. Now I see that although every job must be respected (a good plumber is always in demand), my work is no different from the work of others, yet it makes me different.

I contribute to society on the emotional level, not the material one. I know that my art leaves legacy, even if it looks insignificant and much less important than the invention of a light bulb or the Internet. I’m leaving a record of our time… Like any contemporary realist artist, I capture the beautiful in response to my surroundings and ideas. As I’ve learned to value myself for who I am, this blog entry is devoted to those artists who struggle to accept and value themselves. It is possible to stop the high-speed train at any moment, if there is enough willpower inside you to embrace change. Stopping my own self-destruction wasn’t easy. Thinking negatively about myself, crossing busy streets ignoring traffic, dragging one day to the next–all were unhealthy habits I couldn’t get rid of…Don’t let your memories, events or people dictate how you think about yourself. In your mind, let negative and disrespectful people go. No matter how you try to nurture your relationship with them, they won’t change their stance on life, and that will continue bringing you down (even if they don’t mean it). Stop feeling worthless by making room for people who appreciate you for who you are and value your opinion. As your outlook slowly starts to change, you begin to attract new and different people into your life; people who inspire you to create, live, and smile.

*Originally published in 2013.

interior space-veronica winters paintings

What makes an artist great is the ability to access the inner world we all have but that most others can’t access.
Rick Rubin

How to find your artistic voice

How long did it take you to paint that? “My whole life.”
Jackson Pollock

This is the most persistent question people ask artists to open up a conversation. They also want to gage the retail price of artwork to the number of hours spent working on it. Unlike the production of manufactured goods, this formula is not applicable to artists and art. It’s the fact that classically trained artists spend years, sometimes decades learning and developing a unique style and voice that can’t be measured by this simplistic formula of counting hours spent painting one artwork. Put professional artist in a room with anyone else interested in painting and ask to paint a tree. Both artists will spend equal amount of time on art creation but the result will be different. It takes years to become good, not hours spent painting one piece.

Art is within reach. We always find what we’re looking for if we truly seek it. It takes time and effort and our willingness to change to make things work in our favor. Learning to express ourselves visually is a need. Without having this inner need the artist remains an illustrator or a good craftsman.
To develop your unique visual language you must dive deep inside your soul to understand your WHY. Why do you create what you create? What does it accomplish? What do you want others to see in your artwork? These are the questions that are always there inside my painting process.

When I went to art school at the Oklahoma State University back in 2001 I was lucky to have an oil painting professor who was I dare say old, probably in his early 80s. He had his convictions teaching art – painting large, having few rules, not worrying about the subject itself. His artistic belief was rooted in the American abstractionism and skillful realist figure drawing.
He used to say, “It’s not WHAT you paint, it’s HOW you paint it.” I couldn’t disagree more with that statement back then. I thought that the subject of painting or the story behind it was vital to the very nature of painting. But I also thought that the unique way the artist handled the paint was important. I still think of the professor fondly.
Before and after graduation with my MFA degree at Penn State, I commuted to New York taking art classes in classical figure drawing. I felt I had no talent. I pushed myself hard to learn the skills. I believed that the WHAT in painting required solid understanding of figure drawing.
Two decades later painting full-time I believe that it’s not WHAT vs. HOW. Truly creative artists have mastered and combined both concepts in their art. So the subject is just as important as the unique handling of the paint. It’s important to experiment and innovate.
Today I tell stories in my art using figure, color and symbols but I’m also pushing the boundaries of traditional painting techniques. While I rely on art history and skills I gained to depict the world realistically, I like to experiment with color, mixed media to create unusual surfaces and effects. So it’s not just WHAT I paint but HOW I paint it as well.

Artist’s path can be thorny, most unpredictable and definitely complicated. People avoid living such a life, many artists never make it in the profession, choosing stable comfort instead, working jobs they dislike. But true artists at heart are artists at every aspect of their lives. We can’t resist the thrill of adventure, self-discovery and limitless learning. We love to capture beauty in ordinary places, of seeing beyond the obvious, of expressing emotions without words. And that, my friend, is a blessing. Musicians, poets, writers, painters and other creatives often live in a tormented reality that eventually bares the fruit of labor.

If you’re interested to learn about video courses, please go here: https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/ or visit art shop

Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils review

Posted on June 26, 2024August 2, 2024 by veronica

veronica winters colored pencil art-polychromos review

In this article you’ll find information about Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils and my experience using them on various drawing papers. I’m not an affiliate and I write reviews of art supplies I actually use in my drawings. Below you’ll find the Polychromos lightfastness ratings as well as some of my colored pencil drawings made with these colored pencils.

Properties of Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils

Lightfastness: most colors are lightfast/very good to excellent
Durability: excellent
Pigment saturation: very vivid/ excellent
Oil-based
Softness: medium softness/ very good

Faber-Castell polychromos colored pencil set of 120 colors

These colored pencils never break on me. Their durability, color saturation and lighfastness are consistent. Easy to sharpen, Polychromos have a range of beautiful colors with some pinks and purples that have excellent lightfastness ratings, which is difficult to find in other brands, especially in Prismacolor Premier.

Paper & other surfaces for Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils

Because they are not very soft, these colored pencils layer nicely and require minimal colored pencil blending. The downside is that you’ve got to find the right paper working with them. Because they are oil-based, they mix and blend more like soft pastels, meaning that the paper should have some texture to adhere the pencils to. And I find that when I work on uart paper, 800 grade or Canson pastel paper, Polychromos impress me a lot more.

They are great for detailed work and blend on their own working on slightly textured paper like Bristol Vellum. These colored pencils tend to glide off of smooth paper like Bristol smooth and seem to need more layering to develop contrast. So I always recommend to draw on Bristol Vellum paper with Polychromos to get maximum realistic detail. I also like them on Canson Art boards and Canson Colorline paper.

While I prefer Luminance and Pablo colored pencils, the Polychromos’ durability and excellent lightfastness make me a fan to draw the details in my art.

colored pencil manual veronica winters — https://amzn.to/3xoJjbi

innocence by veronica winters_colored pencil drawing — Innocence, Polychromos on 9×12 koh-i-noor bristol vellum drawing paper. In this drawing I didn’t do much blending. The colors blended on their own via crosshatching and overlapping.

veronica winters colored pencil — Nymph, colored pencil on UART paper,800grit, 9×12 inches

UArt sanded art paper and Polychromos is the best combination in my view. UArt is designed for pastel drawing and its surface feels like sand paper. Therefore if you use softer colored pencils on it, it will “eat” your soft colored pencils and blending would require solvents. 800 grade is the finest surface and is suitable for colored pencil drawing with Polychromos or other harder colored pencils like Pablo or Koh-i-Noor.

nicaraguan boy colored pencil drawing veronica winters

Because oil-based Polychromos act like pastels, the drawing process is similar to pastel painting in layers. It’s blocking in large areas in dark colors and then adding the lighter ones on top. The first, dark layers should be fixed to proceed to the next layer.

how to color like an artist_coloring book_veronica winters — https://amzn.to/4bbYT81

Faber-Castell Polychromos lightfastness rating chart

If you’d like to take your colored pencil drawing to the next level, check out these video courses: https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/

How to frame art on paper and canvas

Posted on January 29, 2024July 20, 2024 by veronica

*Written in 2018, Updated

In this article I’d like to share the basics of framing art on paper and how you can do it yourself inexpensively. Professional framing is your best option because it takes quite a skill to frame art on paper well. It also involves some understanding of color and color temperature to pick the right frame and mat that add beauty to the artwork and not subtract from it. Professional framing is expensive, and if you have to mount an entire solo show you know how draining that is financially, especially if you just begin showing your drawings in a non-commercial space. If you are not an artist, but you have just purchased an original drawing and want to frame it yourself, you’ll find your answers in this article below.

When I began drawing I knew nothing about framing and I found it frustrating to frame a lot of art for a show. Even framing one piece seemed too difficult because I didn’t know what to look for in frames, why they differed in pricing and what was best for my budget. And while I learned the ropes that I’m sharing in the article below, I find that every art collector has his/her taste and unique style, and while the frame must match the art, not the house, the interior design still plays a role in the collector’s mind. That’s the reason why I prefer selling art without the frame. However, a good frame dresses up a painting big time. It gives the art a finished appearance, enriching the artwork visually. So the ideal situation is to frame the art with a beautiful wood frame that compliments the original painting in style and color.

Takashi Murakami at Miami ARt Context, photo: V.Winters

Watch on YouTube:

How to frame art on paper

There are two types of framing choices you have to frame art on paper or canvas.

Art on paper must have a mat, plexiglass, backing and frame. Art on canvas/ panel/ wood needs a frame only.

Framing supplies

Every drawing/print/photo should have:

Acid-free mat
Acid-free white backing (mounting board)
Non-glare glass or acrylic plexi-glass (plexi-glass comes in different formats)
Wood or metal frame
acid-free tape to attach the drawing to the backing (in the corners) + tape thhe mat and backing together

Mats: white vs. color

The majority of framed work on paper that includes photography has a white mat and a simple frame around it. If you go to a museum, you’ll see plenty of examples there. While you can pick a frame to your taste playing with the styles and colors, the color of the mat should be reserved. And if you are not sure about the color, stick to a white or off-white mat.

A common mistake is to frame drawings with a black mat. While it may work for a specific, very dark artwork, most of the time it doesn’t. When I’m not sure about the mat’s color, I take my drawing to Michael’s and start placing various, pre-cut mats over the drawing to see what color works best for my artwork.

If you are not sure about color and it’s your first time framing art, always pick an off-white mat as opposed to a color one because it won’t overpower your drawing or print. If you still want to play with color, consider framing art with a double mat. White or off-white never subtracts from your drawing, while color mats may overpower your artwork visually. I often see drawings framed with black mats, and most of them kill art. You end up looking at the mat, not the artwork. White mats come in different shades of white, and you need to pay attention to its color temperature. Either warm white or cool white is fine as long as you match this color temperature with the color temperature of white in your drawing.

how to frame drawings_veronica winters — These are custom-framed colored pencil drawings. The one in the center has a metal sectional frame, while the other two drawings have custom-cut real wood frames and custom-cut double mats. Notice that while the color of each mat picks up on the colors found within each drawing, the mats are not too dark or too ‘heavy’ in hue.

A Single or a double mat?

This colored pencil drawing has a double mat. Gold is the inner color and light grey is the outer color. This light grey mat mimics the colors seen in the glass. Gold metal frame and regular plexiglass complete budget framing. This drawing would look much better if it’s framed with a wide, real wood golden frame having the same mat.

If you want to do a double mat, have a color mat as your inner layer and the off-white mat as the outer layer. So you have a quarter inch color stripe around the artwork but the overall color remains neutral or off-white. The hue of your color mat should pick up on one of the colors present in the drawing. This is where professional framers are really good at. They have the talent to pick the right colors for your inner and outer mats and match that with a beautiful frame of the right hue and style.

Prints can be framed with frames without a mat to have contemporary feel.

Tip:

Technically, any mat creates a barrier between your art and glass. Beware that photographs stick to glass eventually if they don’t have that space between the glass and the photograph. If you decide to stick a picture into a ready-made frame without the mat, add corners that would maintain necessary space between the photo and glass.

Standard vs. custom cut mat

how to frame art on paper — Here you can see that the distances between the frame and the image are not the same. On the left, the image has an equal width/distance maintained around the image. On the right you see a picture that has varied width of the mat around the picture. It’s done to fit a non-standard mat opening into a standard-size frame. *The image was taken at the Ringling museum in Sarasota.

Standard mat has a 3-inch width on all sides of the drawing. It gives your drawing necessary space between the mat and the frame. This 3″ distance can be altered however. A lot of times expensive artworks have mats with a much wider width that add richness to art. Sometimes you see framed photographs that have mats with varied widths (right image) that allows for placing prints and photography into standard frames (minimizing costs of custom framing).

Backing & Tape

All materials must be acid-free, which include backing (mounting board/foam board/foam backing) and a double-sided tape. If it’s not the case, your drawing will yellow over time. The tape holds it all together but it also yellows the surfaces if it’s not acid-free.

Beware that the ready-made frames you find in craft stores and Walmart don’t sell frames with necessary acid-free backings. Therefore, they are not suitable for professional framing and your original art or print will yellow over time. It yellows a lot faster than you think!!

Mat Cutters

Logan 650 Framers Edge elite mat cutter model for professional framers

You are lucky if your drawing is completed on standard-size paper and you can buy all the supplies at any craft store to do the assembly. But what if your drawing has different proportions and is far from standard mat openings? Most of the time you have no choice but go to a framer, so he can cut the right mat for you. However, if you do a lot of drawing and plan on selling your work, it’s a good investment to buy a professional mat cutter and learn how to cut mats yourself.
Mat cutters give the greatest flexibility possible in mat cutting. You can cut mats to any size. You can also cut it to fit the overall dimensions to standard frame, making a nonstandard opening. Logan mat cutters are not cheap but they save you lots of money in the long run. You can buy large sheets of museum board in any color and cut them to size. It takes practice to learn how to measure and to cut mats, especially the mat openings, which have a beveled edge as opposed to a regular cut. Correct measuring and cutting of mat boards is a skill that demands practice and patience.

The quality of a mat is determined not only by its thickness, but also by the cleanness of the beveled corners. If a blade is not new or cutting is sloppy, the inner corner edges look uneven. I think it’s best to learn the basics of mat cutting at a framer’s shop, or perhaps to find a detailed video of the process shown online. I used to cut mats myself using the Logan mat cutter, and I found this process quite frustrating at times because you’ve got to be perfect every time doing it. After doing it myself for several years, I prefer going to a framer or buying pre-cut mats online.

Glass or acrylic plexi-glass?

You can frame drawings with regular glass but consider the overall size of your piece. Glass is very heavy. It can shatter cutting into art. It’s also very reflective! So it depends where you are going to hang your artwork to minimize the reflections.
Plexiglass is light and durable. Many galleries require framing with plexiglass as opposed to glass to minimize possible damage during the transportation to a show. However, regular plexiglass scratches and becomes useless once even a tiny scratch is there. The cost of plexi often exceeds the price tag of glass. Another thing to consider is reflections. Pick a non-glare glass vs. regular glass. So you can actually enjoy looking at art from any corner of the room. Or consider framing art with a non-glare UV-protective plexiglass. Tru Vue Optium Plexiglass is the best museum-quality conservation plexiglass available today at almost any framing store online but beware that it’s really expensive and can easily cost you more than the frame itself.

veronica winters colored pencil, how to frame art — This is a colored pencil drawing on a 1-inch, wood panel. It’s framed with a canvas depth wood frame (rabbit width is 1 inch to accommodate the wood’s depth), UV, non-glare plexiglass. The result is that it looks like a painting, not a colored pencil drawing.

Metal or wood frames? Consider the lifespan of your display

There are three types of frames. Plastic, metal and wood. The choice is largely determined by your pocket book, but I strongly suggest not to give in into buying plastic frames or some craft-store frames that may look decent at first glance. Such frames don’t hold up well: they scratch, break and fall apart too quickly. They also don’t provide adequate support for big art in hot and humid climate bending and loosing its original shape quickly. The frame’s surface may look like wood but it’s paper wrapped around the plywood. It comes off and scratches easily. The hanging wire and hardware are not there to support artwork larger than 11×14″. I always regret buying plastic frames because one scratch prompts eventual replacement.

Clio Newton, b.1989, Sarah, charcoal on paper 81x59in | Sometimes you can see contemporary drawings framed as posters because they don’t have the mat or space between the art and the frame. It works here because of the figure’s scale giving the impression of her walking off of the wall. It also mimics framing of art on canvas. The frame is made of either metal or wood. It can look very similar in white hue.

Metal Sectional Frames

Metal sectional frames is great alternative to plastic frames if you work on a budget. They last for years and don’t scratch that easy and don’t fall apart. Sectional frames come in a variety of colors and styles, assemble easily and hold up their shape for a very long time. The only drawback is that most frames have small width and therefore provide economy framing, unlike the real wood frames. At the same time, metal sectional frames can be great for some contemporary art and photography. Many have canvas depth to frame canvas art as well.

In my experience, if the artwork is larger than 16×20″ acrylic plexi-glass or glass may not hold up well within the metal sectional frame if the backing is not thick enough. Plexiglass tends to pop out of the frame in large drawings and large glass sheets are also too heavy for these frames.

The back of an assembled metal sectional frame.

Wood frames

Tanja Gant, Bacchus @ Sirona fine art, Art Palm Beach | This colored pencil drawing has simple off-white mat and a wood frame.

Real wood frames come in a variety of styles. They are the most beautiful, durable and stylish. Wood frames have varied width and finish and the professional framer can really make it or break it picking the right frame for your piece. Usually the wider the frame, the richer your artwork would look in it. However, the style of the frame is more important than its width because it needs to complement your drawing. Well framed art always looks amazingly beautiful.
I buy real wood sectional frames that are cut to my dimensions and then assemble them into finished frames. It’s not difficult, but requires some patience and care to do it right. I buy all the supplies in varied sizes at American frame (frame samples of which you see in the images above). Frame destination is another company located in Texas that cuts custom frames.
If the frame is standard size (8×10″, 16×20″, 18×24″ etc), you can buy these frames at any craft store. However, the variety and quality of ready-made frames is not great in comparison to those found online.

Shadow boxes and canvas floater frames

how to frame art on paper_how to frame photography_shadow box and float frame

Sometimes canvas floater frames or shadow boxes may work better than traditional framing. Glass suspends the artwork in the middle and creates open space between the art and the frame.

9×12″ colored pencil drawing on 3 layers of acetate-like film. This drawing looks interesting in a white shadow box frame because the colored pencil drawing has the room to breathe.

Peter Anton @ Art Miami 2017 | This simple shadowbox holds the pieces as one artwork.

I framed this colored pencil drawing using a real wood frame without the mat. It also has a UV, non-glare plexi and acid free backing. It depends on your personal preference if you like to have a mat around the art or not that usually adds to the art presentation.

Framing companies where you can customize any frame, mat, online:

American frame: https://www.americanframe.com/

Top quality, great customer service, limited free samples of plexi and frames.

Custom picture frames: https://www.custompictureframes.com/

Very good quality, great customer service

Frame destination: https://www.framedestination.com/

Sell acid-free backing and other framing supplies both in bulk and in custom order.

Reusable art bags for shipping art: https://artcadis.com/

Reusable art bags for shipping art: https://www.framedestination.com/photo-storage/gallery-pouch.html

Other packaging supplies in great variety and low price: https://www.uline.com/

The best museum-quality plexiglass: https://tru-vue.com/solution/optium-museum-acrylic/

Everything framing: https://www.clearbags.com/

Check out visionary art for sale

How to frame art on canvas & panel

Here is a basic guide how to frame art on canvas. Framing of oil/acrylic paintings is much easier because there are fewer moving parts involved. You’ve got to pick the right frame and assemble it, if it’s not a ready-made frame. Art on canvas, panel or wood doesn’t need glass for display. Oil and acrylic paintings look best without it. Also, remember that these paintings would need canvas-depth frames unless it’s a panel. Usually panels are thin, unless they are cradled.

jeff robb_lenticular photo_context rt miami 2017 — Jeff Robb, lenticular photo at CONTEXT Miami 2017 | Here the photo has canvas depth and requires a canvas-depth frame.

Types of frames for paintings

Once again you have three choices: plastic, metal and real wood frames. Go for the solid wood picture frames because they last the longest, look beautiful and you frame it once. Metal sectional frames is a good choice for beginner artists, some contemporary paintings, especially abstract art.
The style of the frame should add to your painting. Some paintings look beautiful in golden baroque frames, others in minimalist black frames. Canvas float frames give an interesting effect to some contemporary pieces (see below).

I find a very big difference in quality of wood sold at different framing stores online. If you see rather a cheap wood frames it means that they use soft, cheap wood that scratches and bumps corners very easily! I ended up re-framing such wood frames. It's better to frame art with metal sectional frames in such a case. Poplar wood and pine wood are very soft. Oak is very heavy and solid wood. Always ask a customer service rep what wood they use for framing!

lowe art museum_miami univ_workshop of andrea del sarto_madonna and child infant st john — Lowe art museum, Miami university, artists in workshop of Andrea del Sarto, “Madonna and child infant with St. John | Classical gold/blue frame highlights the colors and theme of the painting.

Art by Mary Jane Ansell @ Miami Art Context 2017 | White frame gives a lot of space around the painting and extends it beautifully.

Most people consider their interior space and style, picking frames. While it should harmonize with the rest of the space, always consider how a framed piece looks on its own. Pick the frame for the painting, not your sofa. If the artwork has some warm, golden tones, pick a golden frame. If the piece has silvery, blue-grey tones, silver frame would be good.

art palm beach 2018 — Isabelle Scheltjens @ Miami Art Context 2017 | The color of the frame picks up on black hues in the artwork.

If the painting is standard size, you can find a ready-made frame in a craft store or online, but remember that canvases are between 3/4 and 1″ deep, and not every generic frame would work for framing of stretched canvas.

Mike Dargas @ Art Miami 2017 | The side of this unframed painting shows the canvas depth you must consider when you pick the frame.

Canvas-depth frame

Image: American Frame

In this image taken from the AmericanFrame you can see that the frames have three dimensions: H height, W width and R rabbet. Rabbet should be at least 1″ if you have a painting on canvas. Some canvases require even wider rabbet height.

Canvas floater frames

brad kunkle at art miami 2017 — Brad Kunkle @ Miami Art Context 2017

Canvas floater frames “suspend” your painting inside the frame without the edge touching it. Most picture frames cover the edge of the artwork. Personal aesthetic plays a big part in picking the frame. In this image you see a white floater frame that extends the whiteness of the canvas. The entire canvas floats within the frame.

White float frame | King Woman show_| Art by van Roos

White floater frame gives minimal appearance to the art that allows for a complete focus on the painting, not the frame. | Art by van Roos at King Woman art show in New York, 2017

In this screenshot taken from AmericanFrame you can see the difference in frame styles. Canvas floater frame has a deep opening to nest the canvas painting inside. These are the bars in the back to which the painting attaches. The frames to the right cover the edge of the painting where canvas slides into a channel. Most wood, plastic, and metal frames cover the painting’s edge by 1/4″ or less.

veronica winters colored pencil drawing — White wood canvas float frame completes the look of this beautiful colored pencil drawing

Standard vs. non-standard frames

Standard frames are 8×10, 9×12, 11×14, 16×20, 18×24, 24×36 and so on. If your painting is done on non-standard stretcher bars that don’t correspond to standard sizes, you have to order wood frames online to be cut to your specifications, and then assemble them at home if these are very large frames. If artwork is not very large, the shop does it. An electric screwdriver comes in handy, and you also need some hanging wire and hardware you can buy in a kit online or even at Walmart. AmericanFrame includes the kit with the purchase of custom-cut frames.

In this screenshot from American Frame website you can see how much the frame costs depending on its length. The great thing about this service is that you can order any frame cut to your specifications. You can also order samples and corner samples.

Still life with the corals and Venetian mask, oil on canvas, 24×36″, framed with custom-cut sectional real wood frame

Tip

Sometimes you can order samples of available frames and put them next to your artwork to see if the style of the frame works well with the painting. A lot of times it’s difficult to say how a specific frame would look like unless you have a sample in your hands. Usually the wider the frame, the richer it looks. Although some abstract paintings would look the best framed with thin frames.

You can also buy standard frames at any craft or art supplies store.

veronica winters painting_how to frame art on canvas and panel

This is standard 5×7″ frame.

Framed oil paintings at art museums

Paul Delaroche-the execution of lady jane grey-national gallery London — Paul Delaroche, the execution of lady Jane Grey at the National Art Gallery, London

These are examples of framed masterpieces I took pictures of. All of them have gold frames but the style of each frame varies. The color of the frame picks up on prominent hues seen within each painting. If these paintings had silver/grey elements, they would benefit from a silver frame. Also, the complexity of the frame matches the exuberant details seen in the painting. For example, the second image of Magdalene has simplified shapes and color that’s supported by a plain gold frame. The exuberant golden jacket of the king seen in the last image matches with more elaborate frame.

Raphael. You can see a super elaborate round frame of the Raphael’s painting. You can see a lot more framed art from Florence here: https://veronicasart.com/the-15-best-art-museums-in-the-world-you-must-visit/

In this short video you can see how I assemble custom-cut real wood frame using the provided hardware.

Consider wall space & art display unity

contemporary art portrait painting veronica winters — Midnight Dream, 38″ oil on canvas, Veronica Winters

If you plan on having a show, exhibiting a large number of works, consider framing art with similar frames to have display unity. In my experience, I framed art at different times with varied frames and my paintings don’t always look consistent as a group. It makes it harder to present as a coherent body of work in a solo show. I have to get creative arranging art pieces to have a sense of unity.

If you have a single piece of art, consider the size of your wall space and the artwork’s size. I often see small art displayed on a large wall where one picture gets lost and just looks too timid or “eaten” by a large wall space. If you have a large wall and small art, consider grouping small pieces together on a wall to create a gallery. Below you’ll find several examples of art displays.

Here are some of the commissioned wall art pieces at homes of my clients.

Framed pictures display @ Beverly hills hotel, Los Angeles

To Frame or not to frame?

Some art doesn’t require framing. When canvas’s edge is wide and clean, it might not need a frame, especially if it’s a sculptural piece. It gives contemporary, minimalistic appearance you might like more.

Glass sculpture @ Heller gallery, Art Miami 2017

javier bellomo coria_face_art miami 2017 — Javier Bellomo, Coria face @ Art Miami 2017

contemporary indian art santa fe — Indian art in Santa Fe

As you can see framing can be fun but takes time to figure out. Next time you are at an art show or a museum, pay attention to framing, take notes, and frame your pieces in accordance with your knowledge and taste. Good luck!

If you’d like to get more inspiration how to organize and display wall art at home, here is a great article “How to design the best gallery at home”.

russell young_marylin_art miami 2017 — Russell Young, Marylin @ Art Miami 2017

Complete video series:

Video #1 Part 1 – Learn what makes a painting great

Video #1 Part 2 – Learn what makes a painting great 2: composition, color, emotion

Video #2 Contemporary Art History

Video #3 How to take care of your art collection – coming soon!

Video #4 How to frame art – you are here!

Video # 5 Why you don’t need an interior designer to buy and display art in your home – coming soon!

Shop contemporary art here:

https://veronicasart.com/shop/

Realistic Colored Pencil Portrait Drawing Guide

Posted on November 23, 2023July 30, 2024 by veronica

This is the excerpt for your very first post.

Best brushes for oil & acrylic painting

Posted on November 6, 2023November 6, 2023 by veronica

If you’ve tried painting, you know how hard it is to find a good set of brushes. Many of them are flimsy or too soft to spread the oil paint around. Cheap brushes can shed the hairs like a cat. They don’t keep the fine point necessary to paint the details in oil painting. I went through many artist brushes trying to find something that works in my oil painting process. Here you’ll find information on how to pick a good brush for oil and acrylic painting, how to clean the brushes and what brands you can try to purchase the brushes from for your art studio practice.

Painting brushes differ in size, shape, and type of bristles

Size

The higher the number written on a brush, the larger the brush you get. For example #0000-0 brushes are for super fine detail, # 2-4 brushes are for small work, # 6-10+ are designed for a general application of paint.

Shape

There are rounds, flats, liners, chisel tips, filberts, and fans. The shape of a brush determines the stroke you can make with it. The rounds have a fine point and are good for small, detailed application of paint, flats are for a large coverage of paint or to make a wide stroke; fans are good for gentle blending of the edges and for creation of some textures like tree foliage. My favorites are the filberts because they give me a variety of strokes. Depending on the rotation of my brush, it can give me either a flat stroke or a thin, fine line that’s great for defining and maintaining straight edges.

How to pick a perfect brush for oil & acrylic painting

Types of brushes

In general, watercolor brushes are very soft and are not suitable for oil painting. They are too soft to maintain a point filled with oil paint. However, small round Kolinsky brushes are very good for painting details, and watercolor 1″ flats are great for blending large areas of paint right after a painting session to soften the entire picture.

There are three kinds of oil/acrylic brushes: the bristle ones, the synthetic ones, and a blend of synthetic and sable hairs. Both the bristle and the synthetic ones are necessary for oil or acrylic painting.

First layer of painting: the bristle brushes

Use stiffer, synthetic brushes for your underpainting because the first layer doesn’t brush over smoothly. Many artists help the oil paint flow by using some solvent ( Gamsol) mixed into the paint. Both the solvent and canvas surface wear out fine brushes using them at this step!

The bristle brushes are used in a first, rough layer of painting to put the paint on canvas and to mass out shapes. It’s difficult to paint the first layer with the synthetic ones on canvas, because they are too soft for this step and don’t spread the paint around easily. I find that major manufacturers produce similar bristle brushes that don’t differ much in quality. I would avoid the cheapest ones because they shed hairs a lot that get embedded into the wet paint, if you don’t take them out of your artwork during painting. However, If you paint on panels and not canvas, the bristle brushes may be too hard to paint with.

Second layer of painting: the synthetic brushes

When you paint with oils over the underpainting, it glides over the first layer much better but often needs just a little bit of medium to have the flow. This is the stage when you switch from stiffer brushes to the synthetic ones. I find that “Simply Simmons” brushes are cheap, over the counter brushes sold at Michael’s that are quite durable and have a nice point when painting. Craft, unbranded brushes is a waste of money because they don’t hold the paint and have no stiffness necessary to move the paint around or to make clean edges and details.

With each layer your painting becomes more refined in color and detail and so do the brushes. I use Robert Simmons oil brushes that are cheap, durable and hold the point well. I paint with #2 round and #2-4 filbert for most work. I also have #6-8 to paint larger areas. The Robert Simmons brushes’ quality is OK for its price. They don’t last for a year, but perform quite well in comparison to other more expensive brushes I’ve tried so far. I also buy them separately, if I need a particular size or a tip. Another brand I recommend is the Rosemary and Co for the majority of oil painting.

To complete big chunks of painting I like using a variety of filberts. The W&N Galeria set of brushes are great. They are quite soft but work well with oil paint.

Third layer of painting: synthetic and sable brushes

Having good brushes is critical to painting subtle transitions, texture effects and details. For detailed work, I like the Ebony Splendor by Creative Mark that are budget friendly. This brand has a variety of small brushes. However, the really good ones are by the Rosemary brushes & Co. This English company manufactures a great variety of brushes.

For a super detailed work I love to use:
1. the **Kolibri, artisan Kolinsky 3/0** sold at Natural Pigments
2. a variety of **3/0 or 5/0 Rosemary & Co oil painting brushes** sold on their site, which I prefer using the most.
3. I also use a **#0 liner “scepter gold II”, a sable/synthetic blend by Windsor & Newton to paint fine details.**
4. Recently I found the **Princeton, round, 18/0** to paint the tiny details as well but it didn’t last as long as the Kolibri one.

What about the brush handle?

I find that the brush handle length makes no difference in painting. In fact, if you do realistic painting with lots of detailed work, you want to minimize your hand movements to remain precise. I don’t see how long handles help artists do that.

I keep a wide, super soft watercolor brush (3/4 or 1″) for blending large areas to soften everything before I quit painting for a day. It doesn’t matter what brand it is as long as it’s a super soft brush like the watercolor brushes are.

If you want your brushes to keep their shape, it’s not only the quality of the hairs to pay attention to, but also how you wash them.

Thomas Gainsborough The Honourable Mrs Graham (1757 – 1792) 1775 , painting detail

How to clean the oil painting brushes

If you want your brushes to last, take good care of them. Squeeze all the unused paint out of your brush, using a paper towel. I Usually, I deep them in linseed oil first and then take the paint out with a paper towel.

Then you can use a solvent like Gamsol to swish them around in a glass jar, and then wash them out with a bar soap and warm water. I skip the solvent step most of the time because of the two reasons. One reason is a plain health precaution and another one is care for my brush hairs. The solvent dilutes the paint and damages the hairs. I find that cleaning with linseed oil and a bar soap works great and makes the brushes last longer.

To sum up, I take the paint off the brush with a paper towel and use the oil to take most of the paint off. I use a soap bar to clean them after every painting session. I wipe the water off of every brush, and rest them flat on a paper towel, so the excess water doesn’t run underneath the ferrules, damaging them.

One more thing. Brushes wear out a lot faster working on textured canvases. Use lightly textured panels or linen canvases to keep your brushes like new.

Presto!

Check out video classes here: https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/ or visit my shop. Thank you for stopping by!

The art of donation: is it worth it?

Posted on November 2, 2023November 3, 2023 by veronica

Over the years I’ve donated close to two dozen pieces, including my donations to CSN (the Community School of Naples), State College high, the Seeds of Learning, the humane society of Naples and many others. They were nice works, the artwork that had the potential to sell, yet I chose to let them go. In this post I’d like to share both sides of the coin for other artists to consider before donating your art.

In my opinion, it all boils down to your motivation, standing behind the very act of donation. Many artists feel sour and often become negative talking about the art donations they made in the past. Why?

#1 Artists feel used donating art.

Artists feel used. First, all fundraisers ask artists to donate their art for free. There is absolutely no profit going to the artist, only the promise of “getting your name out there,” or getting “exposure.” In my experience, name recognition or a promise of exposure is not worth it. I had zero contacts coming in from my donations.

#2 No real tax-deduction for artists.

Second, although it’s said that your donations are tax-deductible, they are, but not for the artist. Say you bought a piece for $100. If you donate it to a charity, you can write $100 off as your tax deduction. If the artist donates his artwork, he or she can deduct only the cost of art supplies used to manufacture the piece. The deduction sum doesn’t include the artist’s labor, level of expertise, tuition loans, years spent learning, etc. Therefore, when the artist donates, he or she gives it away for real, which looks unfair to the artist at times, because the institution seems to “make money” using the artist. Moreover, in my experience only half of organizations that sold my art for their purposes sent a “thank you” note to me. And none of them shared the information on price it went for or the client’s name without me asking about it.

#3 Devaluing of art.

Third, many think that your art donation devalues your art because it can sell for any price and you have no control over its pricing. It’s also a sign that you are a “weak” artist since you donate art instead of selling it. Therefore, if you aim to make money via donations, don’t do it not to get disappointed with meager results.

Most artists paint no matter what, walking against the grit of economic problems. The financial pursuit via donations is not the right path to take. Let's become financially successful in other ways, dear artists :)

Now I’m going back to my original idea: your inner motivation is the whole point of donation. I donate because I feel good helping others. It sounds cheesy, but I feel fortunate I live in a place where I can create, and I’m able to share my gift with purpose at heart. I feel that my art can change the world for the better, even if it looks like a drop in the ocean today. Like most artists, I’m proud of the fact that I’m not motivated by greed or a lucrative business to paint. However, making money is absolutely necessary for the artist to continue doing his or her work!

If you decide to donate a piece, work out the mutually-beneficial agreement with the organization. My tip is to set the base auction price and require half of that base price as payment to you if the art sells.

* This article was written back in 2015 but nothing has really changed in favor of artists.

Check out visionary art for sale!

What is positive and negative space in drawing?

Posted on October 31, 2023October 29, 2024 by veronica

To design beautiful compositions in painting and drawing, you need to understand the difference between negative and positive space in art. Every realist artist combines negative space into his drawing and painting to create visual balance and unity.

Definition

Positive space in art is the subject or object itself in art, such as a cat, cup, spoon, etc. Negative space is the empty space or background space that surrounds that object or subject.

what is negative space in art? — Look at this picture. What do you see a black vase or two white profiles? If it’s the black vase, you’re looking at the positive space. If it’s the profiles, you’re seeing the negative space. *Usually the positive space is the object(s) you draw, and the negative space is the background that surrounds it.*

Left: The vase itself is the positive space.
Right: The space around the vase shows the negative space.

My cat Neutron passed away a few years ago but I still melt over her cuteness. I marked the negative space in the picture. When I draw, I look at the distances that are created by the negative space to create accurate drawing.

How to use negative space in your art

The negative space can be an effective tool to define your center of interest in art. Every subject in your painting and drawing has edges. These edges are affected by tones and colors placed right next to or around it. Hence, the negative space can bring visual balance and unity to your composition with a specific tone, shape or shadow.

One of the most common mistakes beginners make, they forget to include their background space into the equation, and ask me what to do with it much later when they are almost done shading the object itself. In my mind I compose the image before I begin drawing. I consider everything: composition, values, textures, and colors not only of the subject, but also of the negative space itself.

To use both negative and positive space in drawing effectively, consider picking your main focal point or a center of interest in art first. This focal point must be big enough, taking the majority of your space. Add the background elements around this focal point to lead the eye to it.

Woman Reading a Letter, Johannes Vermeer, c. 1663 oil on canvas, h 46.5cm × w 39cm × d 6.5cm | In this painting the woman in blue is the subject and the focal point of the painting. The surrounding objects – the chairs, table and map create visual balance in the painting. Notice that the chair on the right is rotated towards the figure and a large map behind the woman sets contrast and mystery in art.

Prado museum | In this beautiful painting we can see how the artist creates a dynamic composition using both negative and positive space effectively. He places his focal point-the woman at a diagonal, creating movement. Painted in sharp focus, she occupies the most space in the picture. The background (negative space) has subdued colors and details. The edges are soft.

Negative space in art: examples

rose colored pencil by veronica winters — Pink rose, 9×12 inches, lightfast colored pencils on board | For example, in this picture pink rose stands out being the center of interest or a focal point set against the purplish background (the negative space). If the background were the same pink hue and sharpness, the flower would be lost visually.

self-portrait by Raphael at Pitti palace — Raphael, Self-portrait, Pitti Palace, Italy | In this painting we can see the most common use of negative and positive space in art. The portrait itself is the positive space and this empty background is the negative space.

how to draw glass — This is one of my still life drawings where I play with negative and positive space. The starfish is the focal point. The beads and marbles lead the eye to the subject of interest (positive space). The fabric becomes the negative space with its folds moving around the starfish to create visual interest.

surreal art and paintings of women — Invisible: frosted past, oil on panel with some aluminum leaf, 11×14. In this oil painting I use negative space to fill in the forms around and in the figure.

presence_veronica winters_16x20_oil on panel, contemporary romantic paintings of women — Presence,16×20, oil on panel with some leafing, unframed, available. I play with the negative space in this oil painting as well. The dress that is normally a positive space becomes part of the negative one. https://veronicasart.com/product/presence-painting/

Tips for using negative space effectively

Here I’m going to give you three additional tips on how negative space can enhance your art. I often use all of these strategies designing my colored pencil drawings and paintings.

You can create contrast in art using the negative space with purpose.
You can measure and check distances between objects visually while sketching or drawing the shapes to create accurate art.
You can improve your drawing accuracy or realism in your art by looking at the negative space.
You can come up with a unique drawing design using the negative space as an illusion.

1. Create contrast using negative space in your art

As a beginner in art, it’s easy to start designing your images around the concept of contrast that occurs between the negative and positive space. If your still life is dark, set up the light background behind it. If the object/focal point is light, it would appear much brighter set against dark, negative space.

oil painting techniques still life with starfish and peacock feather — In this small oil painting of a starfish I make my focal point – white starfish – the brightest object. I place the peacock feather at a diagonal to create visual balance and the background (negative space) is dark brown-grey to create contrast and balance.

2. Measure and check distances

You can measure and check distances between objects visually while sketching or drawing the shapes. This is a very useful skill drawing all subjects, especially people. I often check distances between the eyes or between a hand and a waist, etc.

When students draw the object, they tend to focus on the curvy line itself. As a result, the shape might be too long or lopsided, or foreshortened the wrong way. Instead of focusing on the object’s curve itself, look at the space between those curves. Realist artists visually measure distances between the lines, shapes or objects by checking the negative spaces between them to make the most accurate drawings.

Additionally, using tools like VeePN for TV can help you access a variety of art tutorials and resources online, which can further enhance your drawing skills. Streaming art lessons on a big screen can provide a clearer and more immersive learning experience. This way, you can improve your technique by observing and practicing alongside professional artists.”

I made this illustration to show you the idea behind visual measuring of distances using negative space in art. Focus on these black lines (negative spaces) to see the accurate distances between the shapes. These distances help you measure, copy and draw accurate outlines of the subject (cat).

The black lines show the idea of visual measuring of distances between the shapes using negative space.

3. You can improve your drawing accuracy or realism in your art by copying abstract negative shapes.

By focusing on negative space you can become more skillful drawing realistic shapes. Negative shapes look abstract in our mind. Copy those abstract shapes with as much precision as possible to improve the overall accuracy of your drawing.

what is positive and negative space-veronica winters art blog — In the image on the right I defined the negative space that consists of abstract shapes made by the positive space. It’s useful to learn to see these abstract shapes and copy them to create a more accurate drawing of a cat in this case.

4. You can come up with a unique drawing design using the negative space as an illusion.

This is AI–rendered image that illustrates the idea of using the negative space as part of your drawing.

Here is another render illustrating the illusion you can create using the negative space as an active part of your painting.

Pens are important tools for us to keep learning and take notes. Our custom **personalized pens** are unique and add lot’s of fun while learning the skills.

If you’d like to learn more about colored pencil drawing, check out free previews of my video courses here: https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/

Art supplies I often use in my drawing:

Drawing pad, bristol vellum
Kneaded eraser
koh -i-noor drawing paper, colored pencil
Tombow mono eraser
Drawing fixative
Sennelier fixative for charcoal and pencil has a super fine spray mist, matte, high-quality
Gamvar varnish for oil paintings, satin
Brush for varnishing oil paintings
Color Wheel
Canson Colorline drawing paper is available in many colors and various thickness. You might find better choices at art supply online retailers
Molotow metallic marker, gold
How to color like an artist, coloring book for children and adults
The colored pencil manual, art instruction book

Reasons why da Vinci Mona Lisa is still here: how to use your art supplies in oil painting correctly

Posted on October 23, 2023November 8, 2023 by veronica

Technical reasons why Mona Lisa is still here

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was a scientist and an inventor. In his mind, his remarkable abilities to perfect the oil painting techniques were secondary to his numerous other interests. That’s one of the reasons why so few da Vincis exist today. Tall, handsome, and charming Leonardo was great at building relationships and finding patrons for his military, scientific, theatre and art projects, which he rarely finished.

As an inventor, he also loved to experiment with his art materials, using new, untested methods and processes that led to a number of disasters. His greatest surviving disaster-achievement is the “Last Supper” mural painted inside a church in Milan. It began to chip off the wall during his lifetime! It happened because he disregarded the traditional fresco painting technique. Leonardo painted the picture on a dry wall instead of a wet plaster, and experimented with oil, tempera and other materials combining them in a new, untested method. The mural has endured a number of renovations since then, but only restored and computer-generated models can show us his genius: perfectly sculpted figures set in triangular sub-compositions. The admission to the museum requires multi month booking to see the mural, which attests to his long-lasting enigma.

It’s not a surprise that da Vinci experimented with “Mona Lisa” that he began working on in 1503. Obviously, this painting had held a very special place in Leonardo’s heart since it had never left his hands until his death. Da Vinci’s drawing of the figure was absolutely perfect, and his creation of a soft landscape behind her using the sfumato technique was his signature invention. I’m not going to talk about the mystery of the sitter, the beauty of this composition, or the artist’s preoccupation with the painting. There is numerous literature written about these topics. Rather I’d like to illustrate the importance of art materials used in the oil painting.

The artist played with the technical aspects of the painting itself that deteriorated its surface at a much faster pace than it normally would. The exposure to light and humidity darkened and discolored the pigments. Fine details in the face got lost as dyes mixed with the paint faded. Her brightly colored attire changed to shades of browns and black that we see today. Further applied varnishes during the early restorations darkened the painting even more, and today it has a rather colorless appearance of yellowed browns.

Italian painter, Giorgio Vasari was the first to write a comprehensive book about famous artists preceding his generation that he titled “lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects.” In his notes he reviewed the “Mona Lisa” as follows:

“The eyes had that luster and watery sheen always seen in life … the nostrils, rosy and tender, seemed to be alive … The opening of the mouth seemed to be not colored but living flesh.”
Georgio Vasari

These are the words that describe the mastery of the artist that we sort of see here, only if we could take the sunglasses off to see the real colors.

So what happened to the painting? Because the artist painted on a poplar panel (soft, non-durable and susceptible to insect attacks wood) that was removed from its original frame, the surface couldn’t withstand the changes in humidity. It warped and cracked. In the 18^th century the braces were added in the back of the painting to stabilize the crack, and later the added frame and cross braces helped to stop the continuous warping of the panel. Over the centuries the panel had actually shrunk!

Today you can see the painting in the Louvre that’s kept in a bulletproof glass case. It’s rather small (21×30”) and it’s hard to enjoy the beauty of it, jumping over the heads of so many tourists surrounding it with phones. To preserve the priceless artwork, this painting is kept in a climate-controlled room with a 50% (+\-10%) humidity and 18-21C (68-70F) temperature. To compensate for fluctuations in relative humidity, the case is supplemented with a bed of silica gel treated to provide 55% relative humidity (source: Wikipedia)

These are computer-generated models of the famous painting showing us true colors the Mona Lisa probably had when Leonardo had just painted it. In these models we can see the pinks and the blues that Vasari mentioned that have faded over the centuries.

Source for the images: World Mysteries at http://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/digital-restoration-of-leonardo-da-vincis-mona-lisa/ Other sources: Art history lessons | the Natural Pigments at http://www.naturalpigments.com/blog | Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa

Mona Lisa in the Louvre

If you’re interested to learn more, the Louvre museum website is a great source. Here you can see Mona Lisa up-close and personal going through the digitized images completed by the Louvre museum:

Close ups: http://focus.louvre.fr/en/mona-lisa/

Overview: http://focus.louvre.fr/en/mona-lisa/understand/most-famous-painting-world

Scientific tests: http://focus.louvre.fr/en/mona-lisa/compare/scientific-tests

This diagram is taken from the **Natural Pigments** website. NP produces lightfast, high-quality materials for professional artists.

11 Classical Oil painting techniques rules

If you are serious about creating permanent oil paintings, always consider using the best art materials that includes the painting substrate. the longevity of art depends on the environment you place it in. The best conditions you can set in your home or office must include:

-constant room temperature

-low humidity level

Also, don’t expose your oil paintings and especially watercolors and drawings to extreme sunlight, heat oxidation and high humidity. These are the main causes for art deterioration.

-Don’t wash the surface with water!

-Don’t paint on super smooth or glossy surfaces because the paint doesn’t stick or form a permanent bond with the substrate.

-Don’t use a lot of medium as it weakens the oil paint. Use a little bit of linseed oil to help the paint flow.

-Ideally, it’s best to paint with a lead white, no the titanium white or worse the flake white. Lead white holds everything together like a glue and minimizes cracking.

-If you don’t paint large, stick to painting on professional panels, the surface of which doesn’t fluctuate as much as canvas.

-Have strong stretcher bars and frames that keep the canvas flat and unchanged.

-Use the linseed oil to form the most durable paint film, although it may yellow more than the walnut oil. The walnut oil is also a very good medium that dries much slower then the linseed oil.

-Don’t use the oil paint that contains the safflower oil.

-Always paint on a previously dry layer!

I hope these oil painting techniques tips will help you use your art materials correctly. Learning the rules helps artists create permanent paintings that you can be proud of and confident selling!

+ Updated. First written in October, 2016.

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5 Tips in Realist Oil Painting Techniques for beginners & beyond

Posted on October 21, 2023February 10, 2024 by veronica

Traditional oil painting techniques means painting natural forms from life. Academic studies are based on copying reality as close as possible to life through still life and figure painting. Classical painting method consists of daily drawing from life. That’s why when you visit the art studios at the Grand Central Academy of Art in New York, The Art Students League or the Ryder’s School in Santa Fe, you’ll see students copy objects and draw from figure all day long for weeks, months and even years.

I spent many years learning how to draw realistically and then how to paint with oils well. I must say that realist oil painting is a lot more challenging than drawing because color mixing is not the same as shading in colored pencil or painting in watercolor. In drawing artists shade via subsequent layering to build up a range of values. In painting we have to “guess” correct color, value and color temperature in one stroke! It requires good understanding of color mixing and lots of practice. In this article I’d like to explain several important factors that affect the quality of your oil paintings. Let’s dive right in.

contemporary realism still life with blue vase and starfish-oil on panel-12x16-veronica-winters — contemporary realism still life with blue vase and starfish, oil on panel, Check out a short Video course

1. Invest in quality art supplies & understand their properties

Painting with oils could be a lot of fun when you understand how to use the art supplies in oil painting correctly. Of course, you shouldn’t break the bank by buying pricey art supplies. Painting with high-quality paints really makes a difference in the end result. I’m going to mention budget art supplies that are still good quality. I’ll also explain what to look for buying them in art stores.

Oil Paint

I use professional-grade oil paint. It has high pigmentation, so one small tube lasts for a very long time painting daily. Gamblin colors, Natural Pigments, Michael Harding and Utrecht oil paints are high-quality, yet affordable.

If you want your oil paintings to last, you must use White oil paint that has PW6 pigment and nothing else in it. Most white paint contains additives that break down the paint much faster that leads to deterioration of your entire painting! For instance, Winsor&Newton titanium white has PW6 and PW4 mixed with safflower oil in it. Gambin colors are mixed with high-quality linseed oil. It’s not that important when you paint as a hobby or for practice but it becomes important when you sell art to savvy art collectors. I have written an extensive post about oil paint here: https://veronicasart.com/oil-painting-techniques-whats-the-lightfastness-of-paint/

Panels & canvases

In general, panels for oil painting are much better than canvases because they don’t fluctuate much as room temperature and humidity change. Canvases tend to curve and deteriorate, especially in humid climate. Canvases expand and contract a lot due to temperature changes causing paint to crack in the long run. That’s why you can see the cracks in master paintings in art museums today. If you’re a beginner, it’s not your concern, but if you paint professionally, you should paint on panels.

I recommend: Ampersand Gessobord (medium texture, professional white panels) & Jack Richeson toned gesso hardboard panels (toned surface is great to start painting in full color. It gives a warm undertone to colors!

Canvases have a very big advantage however. They’re light and easy to carry. Canvases can be stretched to any size. Large panels are very heavy and it’s difficult to find large panels selling online. When they arrive, the corners may be damaged.
Fredrix canvases have good quality-to-price ratio for beginner artists. Utrecht canvases (and other Utrecht art supplies) are high quality that don’t cost you a fortune. They are good for beginners in oil and acrylic painting.

Brushes & mediums

Brushes must have a spring to them, meaning that they should keep their point well while painting. It’s best to test the brushes at the art store as opposed to buying unknown brands online. A lot of them are too soft or don’t come to a nice point. Here I have an extensive post written about the brushes. I recommend oil painting brushes manufactured by the Rosemary brushes & Co.

Oil paint mixes with mediums for oil painting. All paints already have some oil mixed into the pigment in your tubes. You need a little bit of medium in the 2nd and subsequent layers of painting to develop transparency and vividness of color. I also use the medium to clean up the brushes during the painting process when I switch between the colors. Clarified, cold press linseed oil is the best for oil painting because it’s stable. One disadvantage, it yellows quite a bit over an extensive period of time. Walnut oil doesn’t yellow. It slows down the drying time of oil paint however. If you’re slow, this is a great medium to work with. I recommend Sennelier Clarified Linseed Oil. Buy a small bottle. It lasts for a very long time.

Varnishes & palettes

You’ve got to have medium-toned palette for oil painting. It doesn’t really matter if it’s wood or plastic. What matters is its size and hue. You need a large one to have enough space to mix colors. Medium-toned panels are great since most of the oil painting techniques involve painting on a medium-toned surface (The underpainting in browns or greens or grays preps the painting for color layers). I have a rectangular, 10×14 palette made in Italy –Feather’s touch palette. You’ll find a great selection on this site: https://www.jerrysartarama.com/

Varnishes come in sprays and liquid form. My absolute favorite is Grumbacher final varnish for oil and acrylic painting, matte. It gives me a very even coat in seconds. Many artists like Gamblin varnishes. Please know that both the surface and space must be super clean! Varnishes attract dust like a magnet and then it’s a pain to remove any tiny hairs from the surface. Usually, you varnish oil paintings in 6 months after painting or you could wait on varnishing your oil painting even longer. Spray two-three times outdoors in low humidity environment.

Also, have at least one palette knife to mix batches of paint.

Additional art supplies: https://veronicasart.com/5-great-art-supplies-to-use-in-your-drawing-and-painting/

2. Paint everything from life!

Paint still life with oils from Life. Direct observation is key. There is no better way learning to see how light turns the form!

Links to how to set up a still life: https://veronicasart.com/how-to-paint-still-life-step-by-step-oil-painting-techniques/

3. Precise prep drawing is a must to create realistic oil paintings

Drawing skills are super important! Prepare a full-scale preparatory drawing in accordance with classical oil painting techniques. You can read about it here: https://veronicasart.com/how-to-use-graphite-transfer-paper-to-trace-designs-for-drawing-and-painting/

4. Direct vs. Indirect painting

There are different approaches to color mixing in painting. The Impressionists painted without the use of black. Their paintings taught me to see colors in shadows. The old masters painted with black. I don’t know how Velasquez or Caravaggio would work without the use of black. Their high-contrast paintings taught me to focus on placement of shadows, not the details. Vermeer and Ingres have subtle, controlled palettes that reveal beauty through color unity.

caravaggio wall in borghese gallery-veronica winters art blog — Caravaggio art takes the entire wall space at the Borghese gallery. Photo: veronica winters

Direct oil painting technique

No matter what oil painting style you choose, never put acrylic paint over your oil paint! High-quality acrylic paint is ok underneath the oil paint. Always paint following the fat-over-lean rule with oil paint. Meaning that you start out with very thin paint using no medium and progress painting, building up thicker layers with more oil and linseed oil.

Direct oil painting technique is oil painting in full color right from the start. It doesn’t have the underpainting layer done in one hue. However, oil painting in full color often has 2-3 layers, depending on the artist’s style of painting.

Direct painting in full color became very popular among the Impressionists and landscape artists who began sketching outdoors in mid. 19th century. This change happened due to the simplification of the entire manufacturing process of oil paint. Artists could finally buy colors in tubes to carry them around to paint outdoors.

In this video I explain the difference between direct and indirect ways of painting. These are classical oil painting techniques that can be used in combination to achieve the desired effect.

Indirect oil painting technique

Indirect oil painting technique is the most used traditional oil painting method. It’s about creating an underpainting in one color only and then layering the colors in subsequent layers. This method has several variations.

It could be done in black-and-white (grisaille) or in low chroma greens ( white skin has a lot of green in the shadows). The grisaille oil painting technique allows the artist to develop values in shades of grey. Values are more important than colors because values express the 3D effect, the illusion of something being round on a flat surface. The same is true for painting in low-chroma green-greys. You can find many classical art studies in art museums when artists painted in grisaille only or made an earlier version of a finished, full-color painting. Ingres comes to mind here.

ingres odalisque — Grande Odalisque in Grisaille and full color by Ingres | http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436708

Here are two versions of the Odalisque painting completed by the 19th century French artist – Ingres. Usually, the grey monochrome painting looks like a finished work of art in its own right. Technically, it’s painted on a tinted, warm brown surface. So this warmth shows through the shades of grey. Every layer must be thoroughly dry before continuing painting. If you paint over the wet layer, you not only mix the colors you don’t want to mix, but also make the paint fragile and easy to crack in the future!

Grisaille means ‘grey’ in French. It’s an oil painting technique that has been used by artists for centuries. Grisaille means painting in monochrome or shades of grey. Usually it refers to creating underpainting. Sometimes other low chroma colors are added. For example one of the Italian painting techniques is painting in shades of low-chroma green. So shades of grey look greenish (because skin tones in white people look greenish).

The Ringling museum of art, De Heem, "Still life with parrots" — The Ringling museum of art, De Heem, “Still life with parrots” | Here you can see grey-green sections in the painting where the color layers wore off to reveal a complete underpainting!

My grisaille palette is Gamblin titanium white+ ivory black + Burnt Sienna. Burnt sienna is a warm brown that 'warms up' the greys.

Why do you need to know about this oil painting technique? You learn to see values as opposed to color and to create volume on a flat surface in just two colors! It trains the eye to see and paint a wide range of tones. In classical oil painting training artists painted in greys and then added colors over the underpainting.

5. Combining the effects: sfumato, glazing & scumbling

Glazing means applying oil paint very thinly over the dry layer. Glazing gives you the effect of transparency. This technique requires the use of linseed oil or walnut oil to dilute the pigments. Strong paper towel is needed to wipe off some of the paint to create the thinnest layer possible.

Glazing is useful to unite all shadow areas and to glaze the colors in progression, creating special effects. You can do glazing multiple times when each layer dries completely. Also, know that each new layer darkens the surface. So plan ahead and paint your values a bit lighter, knowing that they’ll be darker via glazing in the end. I show the glazing technique in a short video course painting painting the blue vase.

Scumbling means applying light, opaque paint over the previous layer. Scumbling is great to paint fog, mist or to lighten up any area, uniting the surface as well. It’s possible to create fuzziness on the fruit or softness on the cheeks you can observe in classical paintings.

Sfumato is an Italian term that means super soft shading. Sfumato gives haze or smoky effect to oil paintings. Leonardo is widely credited for the invention and use of this painting technique. If you look at his late paintings, the transitions between the tones are super soft with no visible edges, especially in the skin tones. The background is hazy.

You can achieve such effect by carefully blending every new layer of paint with a separate (clean from paint), soft brush. Paint application is different too.

Why do you need this technique? Objects go out of focus and fade as they recede in space. So you’ve got to soften the edges a lot to show this aerial perspective. Skin tones are also very soft. Personally, I’m far away from this method of painting as I like to have strokes in my paintings but I often look at da Vinci’s work to push myself to create softer shading.

If you’re interested in da Vinci’s work, I like this wide format, hardcover book by Pietro C. Marani titled “Leonardo da Vinci, the complete paintings.”

This is one of my most popular videos I made years ago explaining the underpainting techniques, grisaille, glazing, and other color painting techniques.

One more thing. Paint the same object from different angles and under different lighting conditions. This will help you understand how light turns the form. As you can see painting with oils requires thorough understanding of materials, subject and styles to become good at it. Hope this article gives you plenty of information to start painting with oils like a pro! Thank you for reading and if you’d like to keep in touch you can subscribe to my VIP list or follow my art on Instagram, and YouTube. Good luck!

To read how to varnish your art, go here: https://veronicasart.com/fixatives-varnishes-what-you-need-to-know-to-preserve-your-art/

Check out visionary art for sale

Colored pencil drawing on UART Paper: pros and cons to consider in your colored pencil shading

Posted on October 16, 2023November 26, 2023 by veronica

my-mother- -veronica-winters — My mother, 9×12 inches, lightfast colored pencils on uart paper, private collection

As I like to experiment with new art supplies once in a while, I gave a try using the UART premium sanded pastel paper. It comes in various grits and feels like a real sandpaper. It’s finest grit is 800, which is advertised as a perfect surface for colored pencil drawing.

All the drawings you see here were done on 800 grit paper, tan hue. This paper is produced for pastel painting and the 800 grit is made for colored pencil drawing. But is it really that perfect? Many artists say it’s their absolute favorite, but I found several considerable challenges working on it. Let me explain.

UART Paper review

a closeup of a drawing done on uart paper, 800 grit

Challenges & solutions:

1. The surface is not smooth enough for colored pencil drawing. The 800 grit makes the strokes look very textural, even when the colored pencil point is super sharp.
The solution isn’t using a paper stump for blending, rather applying Gamsol. It really “calms down” the surface and makes it a lot easier to shade with colored pencils after that. Gamsol melts the wax in pencils, spreads it around, and gives a painterly effect to my first layer.

Warning: if you are a beginner, you might be seriously frustrated with the result, because Gamsol creates loose edges on this paper, and its hard to keep the outlines intact with such approach.

2. So the second solution is to use a soft, clean brush and blend the entire surface with it. Fix this layer with a fixative, wait till it dries and continue working on it shading in colored pencil.

colored pencil drawing — Steps: 1. Here you can see the paper’s texture when I drew with colored pencil on it. 2. Here you see the painterly effect that happens when I use Gamsol over it. 3. Here you see me work on the eyes with the colored pencil again, after the first layer has dried.

3. It’s easy to make and to spread dirt on paper. This is the case when you begin shading in colored pencil, especially if you use dark colors. The solution: Use the kneaded eraser to pick up the smudges and put a piece of paper underneath the palm of your hand.

4. UArt paper "eats" up your pencils because the sanded surface has a lot of texture. The solution: test your colored pencils to see which ones respond better to this paper. I find that Prismacolors and Pablos work well. You can blend them with a solvent, and continue shading with soft colored pencils over this layer. Another option is to work with Polychromos because they blend and behave like soft pastels. They're quite hard, so they last longer shading on uart paper.

colorful-dreams-sm-veronica-winters-colored-pencil

5. Details. After the paper dries (if you use solvents), it’s much easier to continue doing colored pencil shading. However, if you have small details like the eyes or finger nails, etc., it requires precision and patience to fill those details well. I use Polychromos colored pencils for shading the details.
The solution: the solution is to draw larger in colored pencil. In this post you see several drawings completed on 800 grit uart paper. With my third drawing done on this paper titled the “Colorful dreams,” it became much easier to shade because I increased the scale of the portrait. The eyes are not as small in this drawing as in my previous attempts. Still, it was taking a lot more time to fight with the surface’s roughness as opposed to working on smooth Stonehenge.

6. Pretty pricey paper. Selling at nearly $40 for 10-9×12 sheets per pack, you really can’t allow yourself to screw up at all. UArt paper on Amazon.

nicaraguan-boy-sm-veronica-winters-colored-pencil — Nicaraguan boy, 9×12 inches, lightfast colored pencils on UART 800 grit drawing paper

Advantages:

The more I work on it, the more I like it.

1. It accepts many layers of pigment, and it’s really great for soft pastel painting! I used to work with soft pastels but switched to colored pencil drawing because I find it more fun and archival.

2. UART durable surface is much stronger than a regular 80 lb. or even 100 lb. paper. It stays flat at all times.

3. Colors look much brighter on this paper in comparison to drawing on white paper. Colors pop and look gorgeous!

4. Accepts various media. You can make a painterly underpainting with the colored pencils and Gamsol, or use the watercolors or watercolor pencils like Neocolor underneath your work as this surface accepts various media. In my drawing titled “My mother” the painterly effect on her leather coat was a happy accident. Once I used Gamsol on dark colors, it melted with the blues I used for the highlights and created the leather coat effect.

5. The paper is at its best when you work large. I discovered that 9×12″ is just too small to work on subjects with tiny details, like the boy’s face here where I had a hard time keeping up with the anatomic accuracy.

Because this paper is designed for pastels, the colored pencil shading technique should be close to pastel painting technique. What do I mean by that? Draw from dark to light. Shade with dark pencils first. Fix the layer. Continue shading with lighter colors over it. You’ll see the effect it’s producing. Quite awesome and so different from regular colored pencil drawing on white paper!!

Hopefully these pros and cons will let you make an informative decision buying the uart paper and having fun with it. 🙂

Other artists working on this paper:
Linda Lucas Hardy & Lisa Ober

If you’d like to take your colored pencil drawing to the next level, check out free previews from my video courses. Click on the image above to learn more!

Colored pencil shading on uart paper, step-by-step tutorial

how to draw on uart paper-veronica winters colored pencil — Cosmic joy, step by step drawing by veronica winters, colored pencil drawing on uart paper

Here you can see the steps drawing in colored pencil on uart, 800 grit paper.

In the first step I applied major lights and darks very loosely.
In the second step I blended everything with a soft brush. You can see a very dark left corner there. This is how I tested the solvent on it.
In the third step I applied Gamsol over the entire drawing, letting it dry. This is an underpainting.
In the forth step I began layering more color aggressively.

What I love about this paper that the colors looks super vibrant and I love working from dark to light on it. (I apply much darker colors on purpose to lighten them up in subsequent layers).

The UArt paper accepts many layers of color. In the final image I use a touch of oil-based paint pen by craftsmart to draw those tiny blue dots. This marker has a pearlescent quality that’s subtle and beautiful. I hope that this short tutorial helps you in your creative pursuits.

Check out all my colored pencil drawings!

How to improve art skills by taking great pictures for colored pencil drawing and painting

How to take great pictures for colored pencil drawing and painting

Posted on September 11, 2023February 5, 2024 by veronica

If artists paint in figurative realism style, most rely on photography these days. Model fees, time constraints, lighting and studio conditions – all add up in a puzzle we have to organize and manage, if we paint from life. While painting from life is a must for realist artists to get the skill going, perfecting photography is also a necessary skill. Because colored pencil drawing is such a slow medium to work in, almost all artists rely on their references to create art as opposed to drawing from life. Sometimes it takes weeks to complete one colored pencil drawing, and we have to rely on our photo reference to capture story, composition, design, color, and details. That’s why great photography becomes key to artistic success. Let’s master it!

How to take great pictures suitable for colored pencil drawing and painting

It took me years to understand how to see the light turning the form and how to pick pictures, capturing that light. I used to play with pictures from fashion magazines that looked incredibly beautiful, yet they were missing something I couldn’t quite figure out what. Some were OK for black-and-white drawing but none of them were good for oil painting. Why?

All magazine pictures are Photoshoped heavily, getting rid of important information necessary for artists to capture the form realistically. First, the Photoshop filters and presets get rid of warm/cool balance in skin tones, objects and even backgrounds that we normally see in nature. Second, copyright is a big deal, and we can’t use such images for our art to create the originals. Thirdly, a lot of times the “connection” between the subject and artist is missing. We have no emotional attachment to the photo that’s not ours that results in unfinished or poorly executed art.

Photo equipment:

My greatest investment into my studio equipment is my camera Nikon D500 with the interchangeable lenses. The quality of lenses is even more important than the the body itself. The higher the quality, the better the outcome. Over the years I bought several lenses for different tasks.

Nikon 105 mm- micro lens for extreme close up photography
Nikon Nikkor 85 mm – for portrait photography (that gives no distortion)
Sigma 12-24 mm – for interior photography (that has a wide angle with no distortion)
Nikon Nikkor 18-200 mm zoom lens – for general photography ( while it’s my heavy duty use lens, it gives the most distortion and requires extra work in Photoshop to even out the perspective, etc. Zoom lens have the most distortion especially noticeable in cityscape photography).

I also have an inexpensive Westcott reflector kit with multiple colored surfaces (silver, gold, white) that I use for portrait photography at times. I use the reflector to bounce the natural light back onto my model or object that removes harsh shadows or adds more light into the shadows.

You can also consider buying a backdrop equipment that I don’t need personally because I shoot models in natural environment, and when I do still life photography I make my own light box set up that you’ll see in the article below.

Besides having excellent equipment you also need to have a good eye to take great pictures, which you develop by studying the art of others and practicing your photography skills.

Advantages of Mastering Photography:

It develops your originality and vision.
It forces you to extrapolate and focus on what’s important in busy environments.
It teaches you to see how light shapes the form
The artist is the sole designer and creator of artwork beginning from the very first step of photography.
It’s a forgiving medium, giving you many chances to practice at all times. You become attuned to cropping and balancing techniques that artists traditionally use in their paintings.

Disadvantages of Using Photography:

It often flattens out the form to such a degree that you have a hard time re-creating the volume. That’s why it is best to start taking pictures with one directional light source that gives you definite lights and shadows.
Camera makes its choice. Even the best cameras don’t capture what you see as an artist, which involves emotion. By working from a picture, artists analyze the subject rather than respond to it freely.
There is a lot of distortion in the images depending on the lens and camera you use that is obvious in cityscape photography or in pictures of geometric objects. The same distortion is present in pictures of people or fruit, or whatever subject you have, but our eye doesn’t catch those distortions as quickly as we notice those in linear and geometric forms. Those “unseen” distortions will travel to a student’s drawing when the artist transfers the outlines rather than learns to sketch freehand from his reference.
You may have problems with exposure. Use the HDR (high dynamic range) function on your phone to level out the exposure. HDR combines two or three pictures into one automatically, giving you a single balanced shot. HDR function is very handy when the sky looks too bright or the background is so light that it makes your subject appear too dark. • You can take good pictures with your phone, although the quality won’t be the same as shooting with a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera. If you shoot with your phone, zoom in on your object as closely as you can. That will blur the background, giving your subject a boost in color and texture.

Subjects

leopard, how to improve art skills — This image is taken from Pixabay, a free resource for artists to use!

First of all, decide what you favorite subjects are, and isolate them from busy environments. Here are some ideas for your photography. Close-ups of textured subjects—these can be the most fun, unpredictable subjects for your photography and art.

They can be reflective surfaces and reflections, fabric patterns and lace, rusted door locks, wood grain, colorful feathers, candy, sliced fruit, marbles, flowers, kitchen utensils or tools, and even mechanical parts of clocks. Other popular subjects are glass; portraiture; animals, birds, and pets; food; florals; seashells and sea life; trees and landscapes.

Properties of light

Your goal of shooting in the “right lighting conditions” is to beautify your subject and to bring the best out in it. Ask yourself what attracts you to this object. It could be a specific texture, transparency, color, or an abstract pattern of light and shade that you see. You need to figure out what you love about your subject and how you can highlight its most attractive qualities in a specific light. If your subject looks boring in a picture, chances are that the lighting conditions were boring at the time it was shot.

Light temperature:

starfish, how to take good pictures — In this picture the evening light is warm (yellow) and the shadows are cool (blue).

The light can be either warm or cool. In the beginning it may be difficult to spot the difference, but if you ask yourself if it is yellowish or bluish, it makes more sense. Fluorescent lights tend to be cooler, while the tungsten lights are warmer. In nature, you see a beautiful golden light twenty minutes before the sunset. The light temperature affects how you see the colors and how they unify everything in the image. You also use the light temperature to understand the color on your subject: if the light is cool, it gives cool lights and warm shadows. If the light is warm, it gives you warm lights and cooler shadows.

Quality of light:

This picture has a soft, diffused light throughout. While the picture looks like fun to draw, it would be much harder for a beginning artist to create volume and to turn the form using this kind of lighting. (Pixabay image)

Natural light is the most beautiful light we have as artists. While the soft, diffused light may give the artist beautiful, soft skin tones in portrait photography or a dream-like mist in a landscape, this light is difficult to master for a beginner who is shooting pictures of glass, fruit, or flowers. The glass loses its sparkle and reflections, the fruit doesn’t have the volume or shadows, and flowers appear quite bleak. That’s because the diffused light gives you very soft, almost unnoticeable shadows and highlights, which, in turn, are difficult to reproduce in art for a student. Whatever the light temperature is, the goal is to avoid getting monotonous images that often happen in diffused light situations when you have an overcast sky.

Light direction and shadows:

how to improve art skills — This teapot has one directional light set up on the right at night. Such light gives strong highlights and shadows that are easier to re-create in a drawing.

The most effective way to study the light on a form is to have a singular, strong directional light source set up at 45 degrees, which is often called Rembrandt lighting. This light direction creates beautiful highlights and shadows that will add dimension to your objects.

If you go to an atelier school of classical painting, you’ll see students draw from plaster casts and still lifes set under a single directional light that doesn’t change direction for the entire drawing process. Such setups are vital to an artist’s understanding of how to turn the form. So when you take pictures inside, find and focus on one primary light source, like a table lamp, and consider its strength. Look at your subject and find definite highlights and shadows on and under it because it will give you this 3-dimensional quality you want to re-create in your drawing.

Set up a strong directional light drawing people. In this example the David’s Eye sculpture looks very three-dimensional because of the directional light that makes the forms pop.

In my video course I teach how to take your colored pencil drawing to the next level including set up and photography. Watch a video preview here:

Depth of field:

Shallow depth of field allows you to capture your object in a sharp focus, blurring the rest of the image. A soft background supports the focal point rather than competing with it. When you have a high depth of field set at f16 on your camera, everything is in focus, and oftentimes the image will look too busy and indistinguishable from other elements in the background where everything competes with each other. Always think what you’d like to focus on, then make it your priority by zooming in or fixing the depth of field.

Zoom in, keep it simple & use negative space as a design element:

This is a crystal pitcher colored pencil drawing. The background (negative space) becomes part of the design in the artwork.

Background affects the edges and creates abstract shapes. As a beginner, stick to plain backgrounds to isolate your subject and to show contrast. After a while you can start playing with the color and complexity of your negative space as well.

Use backgrounds and boxes for staged photography:

light box still life set up — Light box still life set up

If you don’t want to buy a light box, you can make a very simple setup next to your window. Use colorful but plain matboards, fabric, or paper as your choices. The result is a single image with a beautiful, natural directional light, a shadow, and a white or color background all around it.

Avoid flash photography:

Flash destroys the natural flow of light and its shadows. It flattens out the object and gives you strange, unnatural colors. Professional photographers know how to rotate their flash unit to get the right position of the flash, but most of us don’t!

Prioritize values over color:

When a student is learning to draw and paint, it is difficult to translate hues to tones. Convert your photos into greyscale to see values. Most students end up with middle-toned drawings because of weak contrast.

Well, I hope this article helps you to shoot beautiful pictures as references for your art!

5 great art supplies to use in your art studio

Posted on September 1, 2023November 23, 2023 by veronica

In this article you’ll find reviews of art materials I use a lot in my painting and drawing practice. These art supplies make a big difference in the final result of my art presentation.

5 art tools to keep in your studio:

#1 The color shaper set

5 art tools for your studio — These are great tools for oil painting, pastel painting and even colored pencil work (if you work on the Icarus board to blend the wax-based pencils).
1. When I paint, they help me clean a sloppy edge.
2. Its easy to take the extra paint off the area I put in by accident.
3. I can “carve into” the freshly applied paint to make a specific pattern or texture.
4. You can create an entire underpainting by applying the brown paint first and then lifting out some of the paint with the color shaper creating a drawing!
Made of silicone, the shapers have unique property of not absorbing the paint. Rather the paint comes off their tips easily and doesn’t need washing. Just wipe the color shaper off with a paper towel. Besides moving the paint around, removing or carving into it, the color shapers are great to blend the oil pastels or wax-based colored pencils (Prismacolor Premier) when heated, using the Icarus Art board. The color shaper set has several tips that you can buy separately or as a complete set. I find that I mainly use the taper point (round tip) size #2 in my art.

You can buy the color shapers at any art supply store online like Jerrysartarama or use this link to buy it on Amazon.

#2 Gloves in a bottle

gloves in a bottle review — This is a truly unique product that I love! I especially use it when I paint since the lotion provides relief from a very dry skin, making a protective layer between the skin and the chemicals. A modest amount of lotion works like gloves I use while painting. Its unique formula bonds with the upper layer of my skin and creates the invisible protection from harmful chemicals. It’s waterproof and doesn’t wash off, rather it comes off naturally shredding the dead skin cells. The bottle comes in two sizes. Give it a try!

Gloves in a bottle is a lotion https://amzn.to/3SxSE93

#3 Luminance, professional colored pencils

luminance review — Swiss-made, Luminance colored pencils is the Cadillac of professional colored pencils. All colors have supreme lightfastness rating. They’re very durable, highly pigmented and have the softness I love. The price tag is very high. Please don’t be tempted to buy them in strange places because they could be the fakes. Buy these from the established art supply companies only like the jerrysartarama. You can buy them in sets or as open stock.

#4 Professional panels for oil and acrylic painting

gessobord review — These are durable, archival and acid-free surfaces that are great for oil painting. Remember, paintings of the old masters have survived through the centuries because they were painted on panels, not canvases. If you paint professionally and want your art to last, paint on panels.
The cradled gessobords provide much greater support against humidity as the panels resist warping. Gessobords have a very slightly textured surface making them perfect for oil painting because the oil paint needs some tooth to adhere to to create a permanent bond with the surface. Avoid using panels that are too smooth or cheap canvases because the paint doesn’t adhere to the surface properly.
I also use gessobords for my silver gilding. I do sand the surface some with a 800 grit sandpaper but the silver leaf goes over the panel perfectly.
Toned, neutral gray surface of Richeson panels is great to begin painting without any additional preliminary work needed but I find their surfaces too smooth and thus questionable if the paint makes the bond with its surface.

#5 Grumbacher final fixative for drawings and scratchboard art

This is a really great product that’s different from cheaper brands. It makes a very nice, even sheen, eliminating the surface’s unevenness, finger prints, and other imperfections in scratchboard. Colors look nice and bright. It works great on paper too. And I use 2-3 coats on my colored pencil drawings.
Like other sprays, the final fixative protects your artwork from the UV-rays, moisture, smudges, and humidity.
The only downside is its smell. It’s not a product to inhale. So spray it in a well-ventilated area or outside in low humidity environment.

Don’ confuse the fixatives with the varnishes as the varnishes are used in oil and acrylic painting.

educational books, drawing instruction books, travel books — Art Lessons in Drawing, Painting & Beyond, 2014 | This is an art inspiration book filled with creative and technical advice coming from contemporary realist artists. Realist artists share their painting and drawing inspiration in the **Art Lessons book** available in print, on Kindle and as a digital download (pdf file) from: https://veronicasart.com/product-category/art-instruction-books/

Video courses

Art supplies:

Drawing pad, bristol vellum
Kneaded eraser
koh -i-noor drawing paper, colored pencil
Tombow mono eraser
Drawing fixative
Sennelier fixative for charcoal and pencil has a super fine spray mist, matte, high-quality
Gamvar varnish for oil paintings, satin
Brush for varnishing oil paintings
Color Wheel
Canson Colorline drawing paper is available in many colors and various thickness. You might find better choices at art supply online retailers
Molotow metallic marker, gold
How to color like an artist, coloring book for children and adults
The colored pencil manual, art instruction book

17 tips for artists to sell their art

Posted on August 24, 2023November 23, 2023 by veronica

I’ve decided to write this article because many artists want to find answers to this dilemma and think of sales as some sort of miracle that needs to happen. The advice you’ll find here is based on my experience being a full-time artist since 2005. While I’m always on a look out for new art marketing ideas as I need to improve my art sales, I’ve realized that I figured out a lot of things on my own that I can share with other artists today. It took me many years to understand the business of art, and if I had a mentor or the right person to talk to, setting up and advancing my career wouldn’t be as difficult as it’s been for me thus far. So this post is a note I could have given to myself 2 decades ago.

A lot of artists start doing art marketing by approaching the art galleries from the get go because selling art is not easy, and while it can work, there is a lot you can do to advance your career without gallery representation. Galleries close left and right, and the established galleries would take your art, if they’re sure they have the clientele to sell it to.

Don’t quit your day job that brings you mental and financial stability but try to pursue your artistic career with more purpose, so when the time comes, you’re able to quit your job without hesitation. In my case, I have several income streams and the most reliable one comes from teaching privately.

visionary art, cosmic dancer — cosmic dancer 18×24-oil painting on panel, https://veronicasart.com/product/cosmic-dancer-oil-painting/

So here are the top 17 steps to sell your art:

1. Be confident & believe in yourself

This is the most important thing to master in any career, especially art. The only substitute for talent is confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself and feel unsure about your own artwork, people won’t buy anything from you. You must be eloquent talking about your art in words people can relate to. Talking about ideas and feelings as opposed to materials and techniques makes sense to most people. I know artists who sell really well not because of quality art but because of their confidence. Watch a documentary about Jean-Michel Basquiat. He began his career as a homeless person in New York and ended up selling his art for thousands of dollars while being in his 20-s. Amazing!

2. Help others and network

This is the second most important step to find sales. I find it to be the hardest to pursue, but I also have to admit that Networking is incredibly important! It can propel your career fairly quickly, if you’re able to socialize in the right circles and sell your confidence to others. But it’s also important to know that not every event is yours and that selfishness won’t get you far. Help others. Take time to know the other person before asking for something in return. I think long-term relationships are friendships. And friendships are not easy to acquire and maintain for many of us. Be honest, authentic and giving, even if it doesn’t work out, but stay away from negative people who bring you down every time you see them.

3. Find a mentor!

Find a mentor who is a successful artist in your field. This is a giant building block I’ve been missing in my career. It’s so incredibly important to find this person who can be supportive of your talent, and teach you everything you need to know to become successful. Sometimes college teachers take on this role, but I think in order to build a real career, you must connect with the artist who does sold out shows, exhibits nationally and internationally and just knows ins and outs of art business. Mentorship will also keep you accountable if you get sidetracked. If you connect with the right person you admire and respect, please don’t waste his/her time on small tasks. You need to be proactive and independent, work in his/her workshop/studio and learn from that experience!

4. Always be in growth mode mindset

A lot of artists get frustrated and stuck after receiving a rejection. I agree it’s very hard, but I also learned to accept the fact that my art is not for everyone and any art contest is a gamble. I always look at the winners to understand if I can improve my craft. Also, I’ve learned to be picky about the art contests and shows themselves. A lot of them are not worth your time and money because they’re like vanity galleries. They make money on your paid fees. To participate in good and relevant contests, your art must be good to plow through competition.

5. Publicity must be consistent focus

Every artist hopes to get discovered somehow. This is a silly hope, considering how much noise we have in this world. I submit my art to publications regularly and always get excited when it gets noticed. It’s also a gamble but a lot of opportunities are free in comparison to art contests, and can actually help you sell art. If you’re an emerging artist, begin making submissions locally, and also consider free online publications. The larger the magazine, the harder it would be to get into it, but its readership brings new clients and opportunities. What I discovered by looking at opportunities in the Submittable database, many obscure literature magazines actually pay a publication fee to the artist. It’s not huge and runs between $25-100 for one artwork but it’s a lot better than nothing or worse, paying the fee to be published.

6. Working on your craft is a must

Well, if you’re satisfied with your work 100% all the time, it leaves very little room for improvement. Be excellent in your art form. It attracts serious art collectors to your art and it builds your own confidence!

7. Define what you do and what makes you different from everyone else

This one is not as easy as it sounds. It took me years to find my voice: to understand what I wanted to paint, why and how. Come up with a two-sentence elevator pitch to describe your art. This process of thinking to describe your art in just one line helps a great deal to narrow down what you can paint and what makes you excited to produce as an artist. I used to be all over the place, painting everything that came along my way. While I don’t regret it because I’ve learned so much, I wish I cut on years spent wondering around the bush. This is where clarity in your goals and strategy comes in handy.

8. Dream big, but also remain realistic in your goals

Your dreams must be big. You must be ambitious if your art career is important to you. At the same time, your goals should be doable, measurable and manageable not to get overwhelmed with tasks. I have a timeline and a calendar writing down jobs and events I must do to be on time.

9. Have a strategy, goals and sub goals that have due dates on your calendar

I have one strategy for a year, one big goal for a month and 4 sub goals to achieve that monthly goal. All of them are written down in my calendar.

10. Organize your work schedule that includes 1/3 to 1/2 of your time spent on marketing

Calendar your tasks. I’m a very organized person naturally but I still write them down to stay on top of things. We all have one thing in common-24 hrs in a day. So if you have no time to do what’s important to you, you must prioritize and re-organize your days.

Yes, unfortunately, a lot of time must be reserved for art marketing and that includes writing your newsletters, calling and meeting people, following up, posting to social media regularly, and submitting art to opportunities to be noticed. If you just sit in your studio painting, no one is going to knock on your door. Sorry!

11. Stay focused

Don’t sidetrack yourself with other tasks and opportunities that don’t lead you to your final goal/destination. This is very hard to do because we balance tons of art jobs and family. If you feel overwhelmed, just go back to your board and review your goals and strategy. Sometimes they need adjustment too!

12. Be prompt answering all correspondence and follow up with people yourself

Sometimes I contact artists whose art I could of bought but because they don’t find time to reply to their emails, I move on to another artist. Sometimes I email to artists to write about their art, and get no replies. Of course, it means that they also prioritize what deserves attention and what doesn’t, as we get tons of emails and messages daily. But in my experience, many opportunities came to me because I was quick to reply with answers. I also think it’s a good practice to follow up with people once. It’s very annoying to receive unfocused, unspecific messages from people who don’t value my time, and just keep messaging me for no particular reason. So if you write to someone, please be prompt and specific in your request and always address that person by his first name.

13. Follow other successful artists to understand what they do differently from your routine to increase exposure, publicity and sales

I keep learning every day by reading business books, subscribing to memberships, and following other artists to pick up on their strategies.

14. When you make a sale, under promise and over deliver

Don’t make promises you cannot keep. If you take on a commission, say you’ll be done in 2 months and deliver it in one. If you sell a piece, say you ship it in two weeks but deliver in one week. You get the idea.

15. Avoid scams and ‘for exposure’ venues and opportunities

I can’t even tell you how many scam emails and phone messages I get. These people have become very creative! Don’t pay for wall space, representation or shows. They have no incentive to sell your art because they’ve already covered their costs and made profit at your expense! Hang your art in a local cafe, spa or a bank instead.

16. Collect emails of your art collectors and supporters

Don’t include everyone into your email list, don’t share your list with others, and don’t bother people on your list every day. Communicate to build anticipation about your new projects, share free and relevant information and announce special events, etc.

I reach out to my past art collectors in personal communication and send real cards on special occasions.

17. Live in a fairly big place

While it can be managed, living in a remote area is not great, unless you’re an established artist. If you’re serious about your art career, get out of your small town. Why? It all comes down to networking and networking happens in the city art galleries, events, parties, and art museums.

I’m thinking of inviting other artists to share their ideas and art sales strategies. What do you think? Would you be interested in that? Write to nika@veronicasart.com and let me know your thoughts!

green eye & leaves, psychedelic art mandala, 6×6″ scratchboard, resin & glitter

Art supplies on Amazon

Drawing pad, bristol vellum
Kneaded eraser
koh -i-noor drawing paper, colored pencil
Tombow mono eraser
Drawing fixative
Sennelier fixative for charcoal and pencil has a super fine spray mist, matte, high-quality
Gamvar varnish for oil paintings, satin
Brush for varnishing oil paintings
Color Wheel
Canson Colorline drawing paper is available in many colors and various thickness. You might find better choices at art supply online retailers
Molotow metallic marker, gold
How to color like an artist, coloring book for children and adults
The colored pencil manual, art instruction book

How to spot art market fraud in contemporary art world

Posted on August 17, 2023August 19, 2023 by veronica

The uncomfortable truth about the art market corruption

Is this painting great? No. Discover why we face the fraud of contemporary art every day.

This is an opinion piece that you may not agree with. I’m going to explain some art market money laundering and Ponzi schemes prevalent at the top art market today. I’m a realist artist myself and I see how the majority of talented artists can barely make a living, while others are killing it in the contemporary art market. The obvious question is why some artists are incredibly successful while the majority struggle. This question is not about feeling jealous or insecure, rather it’s about observing and understanding the driving force behind successful artists so you can make informed decisions whether you’re an artist or art collector.

The first answer to this question is relationships. Artists who grow their network and connect to the most influential art dealers, gallerists and curators in New York, LA, London and other top art destinations can become famous early in their career. Artists who get exhibited in art museums in New York stand a much better chance of growing their artistic career exponentially according to Magnus Resch, the author of “How to become a successful artist” book.

The second answer to this question- why some strange artists become famous- is art market collusion. In essence, art investors pose as art collectors. This category of art collectors want to make money by buying modern and contemporary art at the art fairs and top art galleries, hoping to flip the art in a few years making a considerable profit. This leads to some remarkable art market corruption schemes at the very top tier of the art market you can learn about in podcasts, art law books and some YouTube videos. (I’m going to mention some of them below.)

There is no art market regulation. Therefore it attracts many speculators to it. In this post, I’m going to discuss several most used art market corruption schemes, however there are many more I’m sure.

First, let’s look at the numbers because art seems to be a profitable business overall.

How big is the art market?

Despite billions made in revenue, the art market is a relatively small market if you look at the numbers in comparison to revenues of some blue chip companies. For instance, FedEx annual revenue for 2022 was $93.512B. Walmart generated over $572 billion in revenue in 2022. In its 2022 financial year, Apple reported 394.33 billion U.S. dollars in revenues. The global art market for 2022 was $67.8B.

The global art market: the art market worldwide totaled $67.8 billion in 2022, growing by 3% year-over-year and reaching its second-highest level to date, according to The Art Market 2023, authored by Dr. Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics and published by Art Basel in partnership with UBS. The US was the top market, commanding 45% of global sales by value in 2022 and growing by 8% year-on-year to reach $30.2 billion! Significant growth at the high-end of the auction market, along with some growth in dealer sales, propelled the increase.
Other art markets: The UK and China ranked second and third among global markets respectively.
Dealer sales: art dealer sales went up 7%, reaching the pre-pandemic level of $37.2 billion. Nearly two-thirds (61%) reported an increase in sales year-on-year, and a majority (58%) even saw an improvement in values over 2019. About a quarter (24%) reported a year-on-year decline in values. The return of art fairs resulted in dealers making a growing percentage of their sales at in-person events in 2022.
Online-only sales: Online fell to $11 billion, dropping 17% from their 2021 peak of $13.3 billion, though still 85% higher than in 2019. Online sales represented 16% of the art market’s 2022 sales volume overall.
Auction Houses: The strength at the top end of the art market – Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips each achieved a record high in 2022, with combined annual revenues of $17.7 billion.
Source: https://www.artbasel.com/stories/key-findings-art-market-report-2023

Top 5 art galleries in the world:

Larry Gagosian of Gagosian Gallery, 17 galleries worldwide! $1B in revenue
David Zwirner of David Zwirner Gallery, 6 locations, $1B in revenue
Manuela Hauser and Iwan Wirth of Hauser & Wirth, 10 galleries, slightly under $1B in revenue
Marc Glimcher of Pace Gallery, 6 locations, $1B in revenue
Jeffrey Deitch of Deitch Project, 2 locations, considerably under $1B in revenue

Data Source: Magnus Resch

Art market fraud at the top tier of the art world

Money corrupts people. That’s human nature. The top tier of the art market is all about making money, not selling or purchasing beautiful art. Because of deregulation and tax laws in the US, art has become a place to write off taxes or to store millions in overpriced works. Art dealers, curators, advisors and top mysterious clients all participate in these art flipping or art market tax evasion schemes to make money and to avoid paying taxes. Let me explain.

Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a nonexistent enterprise is fostered by by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors.

Art market fraud refers to deceptive and dishonest practices within the art industry that are intended to deceive, manipulate, or mislead buyers, sellers, collectors, investors, and other participants for financial gain. This type of fraud can encompass a wide range of illicit activities aimed at misrepresenting the authenticity, provenance, value, condition, or ownership of artworks.

#1 Charitable donations to art museums

Let’s look at the charity donations to art museums. These charitable contributions have several angles. In the first instance, while the artist gets zero in return from donating his art to a charity (only the cost of art supplies can be written off taxes as a business expense by the artist), the art collector can write off the entire price tag spent on art by donating it to an art museum or other non-profit organization. Yep, the artist gets nothing but the art collector is getting paid via a legit art donation.

In the second instance, charitable art donations can be good for artist’s brand name recognition. To advance artistic career, artists must receive validation by exhibiting their art at the top art museums in New York City. What does it mean exactly? Art must be chosen for shows by leading art curators working in New York. According to Magnus Resch, New York is the center of the art world and the “Holy Land” of art institutions and galleries. The Holy Land consists of Gagosian, Guggenheim Museum, MoMa, the Whitney Museum, Pace gallery and Houser & Wirth. A commercial gallery’s director representing work of such artists, would say that it’s a stamp of approval from professionals who choose the artist by merit. The more art museums the artist concurs, the more validation he receives, the much higher price of art follows. As a result, galleries sell very expensive art because of formal validation, not the aesthetic principles of art or the artistic genius. Art market ethics is questionable here.

This leads to art museum purchases or donations that raise the value of art. Nothing wrong with that, only many mega wealthy individuals sit on museums’ boards and pump the artist’s price up by giving the artist a show and then donating the art from their personal art collection to that museum at a much higher price. Donation is a tax write off. Nothing more and nothing less. Big money donations to the art museums are simple tax write offs. Plus you get your name written on a bench or a plaque. How exciting!

donation to charity law — **Donation to charity:** Another means by which a taxpayer can shelter income is to donate appreciated property. If, for example, an individual is lucky enough to purchase a valuable work of art for an amount less than its fair market value, he or she may hold the piece for one year and then donate it to a qualified charity. The tax deduction which may be taken for this donation is based on the fair market value of the work on the date of the donation. As discussed in Section C of this chapter, valuation is an important consideration and a substantial penalty can be imposed if an underpayment of tax occurs as a result of overvaluation.
A taxpayer may take this donation concept one step further and set up a systematic plan of donations involving limited edition prints or books. In this situation, the investor purchases the prints, probably at a discount, or the books at cost, holds them for 12 months plus one day, then donates them to museums or charities. He or she then may take a charitable deduction in the amount of fair market value of the prints on the date of contribution and in the amount of retail list price of the books. However, two revenue rulings make it clear that the investor’s activity with respect to these types of art shelters makes him or her substantially equivalent to a dealer who sells the objects in the ordinary course of a trade or business. Rev. Rul. 79-419, 1979-2 C.B, 107. *Source: Art Law in a nutshell by L. DuBoff, 4th edition.*

ingres-Princesse-de-Broglie-1853-closeup-the-met-best-art-museums — Art: Ingres, Princesse de Broglie,1853, closeup, the MET

#2 How some obscure artists become famous.

Do you ever wonder how some strange art gets popular among the elite and good art remains in the shadows? Here is how you can become a famous artist participating in art market money laundering. Say, a wealthy person X must write off millions to avoid paying a big tax. So he must own an expensive painting, say a $15 million one without spending that much money on it. That wealthy person finds an underrepresented artist and buys some of his art for a few thousand dollars. But how do you make a $1k painting worth $10 million? Here is how. Such people are usually well connected and either already have or will find necessary people in the art world to realize their scheme. It means finding high end curators, appraisers and gallery owners who can decide on pricing of art. If the artist is underrepresented, they can’t justify price increase without a reason. Therefore they do something like this.

The unknown artist gets a massive marketing boost by hiring a PR firm to promote the artist’s work. These PR agencies place the artist in top publications, magazines and art influencer accounts using their connections. After a while, the artist gets a show at a high-end gallery where the right people shop for art at high prices. This process gives lots of credibility and social proof to the artist. As a result the unknown artist becomes “hot” as his artwork gets continuously promoted. The appraisers can put a high price on art from now on. At about that moment, the wealthy person X would cash in on his original investment because the art was purchased for pennies and sold for thousands. The investment is worth a million or two and can be donated to a setup charity. By spending some money on art and promotion, the artificially raised price becomes income after donation giving the investor profit not to spend it on taxes.

A variation of this business practice is when a ‘hot’ artist gets flipped a lot for higher prices in a pyramid-like scheme.

The most recent example of this Ponzi scheme is New York art advisor Lisa Schiff. She has got a lawsuit where two plaintiffs allege that she owes them $1.8 million related to the sale of a painting by famous Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie (b.1977). Ghenie is a hot artist represented by one of four top galleries-Pace. According to the Artnet news, the record for a Ghenie work sold at auction is $10.3 million for Pie Fight Interior 12 (2014), sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in May 2022. This lawsuit opened a can warms exposing Schiff’s business model of flipping art for profit for many years! In this particular case,

In 2021, Schiff told Barasch and Grossman that a Ghenie painting, Uncle 3 (2019), was available for purchase. After discussions they agreed to buy the painting. Barasch took a 50 percent share and Grossman and his spouse each acquired a 25 percent interest. No one got the art as it was shipped to a storage unit in Delaware. Source: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-advisor-lisa-schiff-hit-with-lawsuit-art-flipping-deal-2300709

Next year, the plaintiffs agreed to resale the art with the help of Lisa Schiff. They agreed on price of art – $2.5 million and to split the proceeds, after a commission to Schiff of $250,000. The art was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong and the sellers received $450,000. Schiff got the commission. The rest of the money, which was $1.8 million were never wired to the sellers by Schiff, hence the lawsuit.

The art world knows Lisa Schiff, an art advisor to the rich in New York who worked with high- profile clients. She was a well-connected, influencer seen at art fairs, on museum boards, and in New York and LA, running her upscale business from a gallery in Tribeca. Schiff was frequently quoted as an expert in the art press, until the day the lawsuit dropped accusing her of running a Ponzi scheme flipping really expensive art from one buyer to the next.
What’s common among such schemers like Bernie Madoff* or Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is their low sense of consciousness and unbelievably lavish lifestyle. Schiff maintained her business model and lavish lifestyle for many years at the expense of those art collectors/investors who chased hot contemporary artists to get a lucrative return on their investment within a few years.

*Bernie Madoff, a prominent New York financier, pleaded guilty in 2009 to running a Ponzi scheme that resulted in as much as $20 billion in cash losses and $65 billion in paper losses. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison and died in April 2021 at age 82. Sam Bankman-Fried’s case is ongoing in 2023.

#3 Art purchase as a bribe and exchange for a valuable position

In this art market money laundering scheme, you usually see inflated art prices on art selling at a high-end art gallery where an “art collector” comes in and purchases art in exchange for a big favor or a valuable position within the government or other entity. The Hunter Biden case illustrates this concept perfectly. I’m not going to discuss the political views and implications here, rather I’d like to focus on the art corruption scheme itself.

In this particular case, the art gallery sold Hunter Biden’s art to some art collectors for 1.3 million dollars. According to the Insider, one art collector bought 11 artworks for $875,000 according to the Insider. Upon close investigation, the names of at least two people who were art collectors became known- Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali & Kevin Morris. Eight months later after the Hunter Biden’ solo show opening, Joe Biden-the president- put Naftali to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

This case illustrates how valuable positions can be sold when you can’t do a simple money transfer in exchange for it.

This was first published in Insider on July 24,2023 by M. Schwartz. You can read the full article here: https://www.businessinsider.com/hunter-biden-joe-artwork-berges-gallery-elizabeth-hirsh-naftali-2023-7

#4 Murky Pricing at high-end galleries

Pricing is murky. When you enter a top art gallery, you won’t see prices for art sold at the gallery. When you go to Miami Art Basel, you see very few art galleries displaying prices on walls next to paintings. There is no art market transparency. Shrouded in mystery, prices are not publicized by dealers for a reason. Price varies depending on your looks and status.

Hot artists are not sold to first-come, rich art collectors. If you just walk in wishing to buy a particular hot artist, you’d be placed on a wait list with a promise that you need to buy a “less hot” artist first. Hot artists are sold to the most known art collectors first to bump up the price further.

art miami 2018_ron isaacs — Ron Isaacs, 3D wall art at Miami Art Context 2018

#5 Freeports

Freeports, also known as Free Trade Zones or Free Economic Zones, are specialized facilities that provide secure and tax-advantaged environments for the storage, trade, and exhibition of valuable assets, including art, collectibles, and luxury goods. These areas are typically located within a country’s borders but are considered to be outside its customs territory. Freeports offer various benefits, such as exemption from customs duties, taxes, and stringent regulations that would normally apply to imports and exports. In other words, the simplest way to use freeports is not to pay a sales tax on sold art by storing it in freeports, which speaks volumes of art market tax evasion.

Freeports have gained prominence as a solution for wealthy individuals, collectors, galleries, and art institutions seeking a secure and flexible space to store and manage their valuable artworks. They offer a range of services beyond simple storage, such as conservation, restoration, cataloging, and even private viewing rooms for potential buyers or patrons. These facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art security systems, climate control, and specialized expertise to ensure the preservation of delicate and valuable art pieces. The example of such facility is shown in the Tenet movie.

The primary advantage of using freeports for art storage is the ability to defer tax payments and customs duties until the items are brought back into the domestic market or are sold. This art market tax evasion feature can be particularly beneficial for collectors who acquire artworks from various parts of the world and wish to avoid immediate taxation or customs complications. It also allows for more fluid movement of art across international borders for exhibitions, auctions, and art fairs. Examples are:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Freeport

Geneva Freeport (Switzerland): One of the most famous freeports for art storage is the Geneva Freeport. Located in Switzerland, it offers secure and climate-controlled spaces for storing high-value assets, including artworks, fine wines, and precious metals. The Geneva Freeport gained notoriety for its confidentiality and lack of transparency regarding the ownership of stored items, making it a popular choice for individuals and institutions looking to keep their collections discreet.
Singapore Freeport (Singapore): The Singapore Freeport is strategically positioned in Asia and serves as a hub for art storage and trading in the region. It provides specialized facilities for storing art, precious metals, and other valuable assets. The Singapore Freeport is known for its stringent security measures, advanced technology, and favorable tax policies.
Luxembourg Freeport (Luxembourg): The Luxembourg Freeport is another significant player in the world of art storage. It offers a range of services beyond storage, including customs clearance, art logistics, and private viewing rooms. The facility’s location within Europe makes it an attractive option for art dealers and collectors seeking a central point for their art transactions. The LUXEMBOURG HIGH SECURITY HUB is a 22,000 m2, 4-story building with beautiful architecture. The facility has 24h-security and offers storage rooms, vaults and safes of custom sizes. https://lux-hsh.com/luxembourg/

In recent years, freeports have faced criticism and increased scrutiny due to concerns about money laundering, tax evasion, and lack of transparency regarding the ownership of stored assets. Some countries have taken steps to address these issues by implementing stricter regulations and transparency measures within their freeport systems.

This video gives a good overview of freeports to store super expensive artworks as means of tax evasion. It also explains some schemes in art fraud, manipulation, and price gauging. It explains some shady financial setups for trafficking of cultural assets through shale companies and freeports. For example, according to this video it’s estimated that the Nahmad family of art dealers stores over 4 billion in art at the Geneva freeport. Art Basel is the place for art dealers to make business.

Sometimes you can see the depiction of freeports in movies. They show such facilities where valuable items, like art can be stored, traded, or showcased. Some movies include:

“No Time to Die” (2021): In the James Bond film “No Time to Die,” there is a scene set in a fictional Cuban Freeport where a valuable art collection is stored. This location plays a significant role in the plot of the movie.
“The Thomas Crown Affair” (1999): This remake of the 1968 film features a scene set in a freeport where the wealthy protagonist stores his art collection, including stolen pieces. The freeport becomes a focal point in the investigation of a major art heist.
“Rush Hour 3” (2007): In this action-comedy film, there is a sequence set in a French customs warehouse that operates as a kind of freeport. The film’s protagonists discover valuable artworks stored there as part of the plot.
“The Good Liar” (2019): While the film primarily revolves around a con artist and his schemes, there is a scene involving a high-security storage facility in London that serves as a freeport for valuable items.
“Duplicity” (2009): This movie involves corporate espionage and features a subplot that revolves around a secure storage facility where high-value products are kept. While not a traditional freeport, the concept is similar.
“Danny Collins” (2015): While not the main focus of the film, there is a scene set in a storage facility where valuable items, including artworks, are stored. This scene contributes to character development and plot progression.

**“Tenet” (2020):** In Christopher Nolan’s movie Tenet, the protagonist travels back in time to the freeport in Oslo airport. The Protagonist approaches Sator’s wife who is an art appraiser. She sold Sator a forged Goya drawing for $9 million. As a result, Sator uses that forged drawing to blackmail her. The Protagonist plots to steal the drawing from a freeport facility visiting it as a potential art collector.

While freeports don’t play a central role in the movies, they serve as intriguing settings for some movie scenes or plot developments. Keep in mind that movies often take creative liberties, so the portrayal of freeports in these films may not fully represent the real-world complexities and operations of such facilities but somehow illustrate the nature of art market tax evasion.

#6 Art market forgery

There are numerous art market forgery schemes. While they’re somewhat different in motivation from all the previous art market collusion schemes listed, they do exist as forged art gets produced and sold to art collectors, art museums and private companies.

Art market forgery means creating or selling artworks that are falsely attributed to a well-known artist or created to imitate a particular artistic style in order to pass them off as genuine.

Misrepresentation of Provenance means providing false or fabricated ownership histories and records of an artwork’s past ownership to inflate its value or authenticity.

A very interesting documentary about a German art forger (born in 1951) who made over 35 million euros on forgeries. Because pricing of the top art market is so opaque, its sort of easy to sell art forgeries. The artist and his wife kept selling forgeries until their mid. sixties!

A single parent with two young children, the art forger made a living lying confidently about almost everything. He not only forged the modern art but also inserted forged provenances into the catalogs of the Tate museum’s archive. Amazing!!!

#7 Art Philanthropy

What is philanthropy? The original meaning of this word gets corrupted by human nature. Philanthropy raises the person’s profile. It also looks great on paper when the philanthropist is giving money to the foundations. The only problem is that that philanthropist controls the foundation behind the scenes. If it’s an LLC, these companies make and spend money as they want. During the money transfer to the foundation they get a tax break for a charitable contribution. In reality it’s same old tax evasion. If registered as charity, philanthropists donate to both nonprofit and for profit companies with direct interest in those companies that make them money. It’s a business, not philanthropy.

**Tax Shelter:** Another type of tax shelter involves an investment tax credit available under IRC § 46 for qualified rehabilitation expenditures. This is one of the few shelters which Congress appears to favor. It is a means by which the legislature can encourage rehabilitation activities that it deems beneficial. In these situations, the taxpayer deducts the tax credit directly from taxes owed. The amount of investment tax credit is 20 percent for certified historic structures and 10 percent for other qualifying structures. To qualify, most buildings must be non- residential at the time rehabilitation begins; however, certified historic buildings can be either residential or nonresidential. The building also must have been placed in service before the beginning of the rehabilitation, and it must have been substantially rehabilitated…*Source: Art Law in a nutshell by L. DuBoff, 4th edition.*

#8 Price gauging at art auction houses

Price gouging at art auction houses refers to the practice of artificially inflating the prices of artworks beyond their fair market value through various means, ultimately leading to higher auction results. This can occur due to a combination of factors, including manipulation, collusion, hype generation, and unethical practices by auction houses, bidders, or intermediaries involved in the art market. While not all art auction houses engage in price gouging, instances of such behavior can undermine the transparency and integrity of the art market.

Methods of Price Gouging:

Shill Bidding: Auction houses might use “shills,” which are individuals posing as legitimate bidders, to drive up the bidding and create an illusion of high demand. Shill bidders artificially increase the price of an artwork, encouraging genuine bidders to offer higher bids.
Pre-Arranged Sales: Some artworks might be sold privately before an auction but are then presented as fresh-to-market items. This tactic can create the perception of high demand and value, leading to increased bidding during the auction.
Chandelier Bidding: Auctioneers might falsely claim to have received bids from the audience, inflating the price of an artwork even if no actual bids were placed. This technique encourages real bidders to compete at higher price points.
Limited Information: Auction houses might withhold relevant information about the artwork’s condition, provenance, or authenticity, leading to higher prices based on incomplete or misleading information.
Hype Generation and Marketing: Auction houses often use elaborate marketing campaigns, glossy catalog descriptions, and celebrity endorsements to generate hype around certain artworks or artists. This can create an atmosphere of excitement and exclusivity, driving up demand and subsequently inflating prices.

Price gouging can have many negative consequences for the art market that include loss of trust of collectors and investors, loss of value of art, and damaged reputation of houses, dealers, etc.

Other art market scams:

In addition to price gauging, you must be aware of Online Auction Scams. These scams involve posting fake listings on online auction platforms, often using stolen images, to deceive potential buyers into making payments for nonexistent artworks. There are also scams involving undisclosed restoration or damage. The scammers conceal the fact that an artwork has undergone restoration or repair, or downplaying the extent of damage, in order to sell it at a higher price. Some art market participants also give false appraisals. By providing inaccurate or inflated appraisals of an artwork’s value to deceive buyers or lenders for financial gain. Finally, some can forge the Certificates of Authenticity by creating counterfeit certificates of authenticity or manipulating genuine certificates to falsely authenticate an artwork. Obviously, it leads to financial losses and legal battles by the art collectors.

In conclusion

You can call me cynical or too ironic describing the art world. After all it’s a web of connected art dealers, auctioneers, appraisers, art critics, influencers and gallerists – all participating in the art market collusion. My point is that art has nothing to do with art. All of these art market money laundering schemes are real and some thrive because of legit tax code in the US. Art as an investment is for people to do just that. To put money to work. Yes, they all say that they love and enjoy looking at art. Perhaps. And so many really talented artists live and work on the sidelines of these marketing machines and have no way of receiving a” stamp of approval” to either confirm or raise the value of their art.
Until the day we have a new voting system in place where people vote after seeing new shows or recent acquisitions at the art museums, nothing would change. We will continue to be mesmerized by exuberant pricing and ugly “art” hung in institutions telling us what’s great and what’s not. They will make you believe something that’s not true. You will continue being confused about what you’re seeing, saying to yourself that you don’t understand art.

The sad part is that the average Joe and Jane pay their taxes to support the government spending while wealthy people who can really contribute to the well-being of our society avoid doing just that.

If you’re an artist and want to take part in this marketing machine, now you know what to do. You can try getting into the shows at the art museums in New York or connect to a powerful player in the artworld who would promote your art.

As a side note, you can read about various cases and corruption schemes in this book. It’s a great read to understand other art-related issues as well. Art Law in a Nutshell, 6th Edition https://amzn.to/3Ds3SmJ Art Law in a Nutshell presents an overview of the legal issues concerning art. It covers the definition of art, and the theft and movement of art in wartime and peacetime. It examines the business of art for artists, dealers, museums, and collectors, including art as an investment, auctions, authentication, insurance, tax issues for artists and collectors, working artist issues, and aid to the arts. It also explains the intellectual property issues of copyright, trademark, moral rights and economic rights, right of publicity, and First Amendment freedom of expression rights. The latest introduction was written by a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge who actually wrote at least one of the opinions discussed in the book.

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The infamous fate of some famous artists

Posted on February 27, 2023February 28, 2024 by veronica

All artists strive for acceptance and appreciation. However, the meaning of appreciation may be unique to each artist. Many painters want to win in shows or receive recognition via art sales as a fair validation of their talent and hard work. I don’t think anyone wishes to perish in obscurity without the proper acknowledgment of his or her gift.

It’s interesting to learn that numerous famous artists admired today often struggled both financially and emotionally. Riveted by poverty and seclusion, they lived the creative life in obscurity. Studied in art history classes, admired in art museums, and owned by some wealthy art collectors today, many famous artists were often unknown or underrated during their lifetime. Only after their death, sometimes decades later, they found proper recognition in contemporary society.

If we look back at the art history prior to the 19th-century, the vast majority of artists worked on public paintings commissioned by the Church, the State, and the mega wealthy. Most of recorded artists were male with very few female artists immortalized on the pages of art history books.

vincent-van-gogh-shoes-18x21-1888-the-met-best-art-museums — Van Gogh at the Met, NY

The birth of new art movements

In the 19-th century Paris, the Salon was the most prestigious official space to exhibit contemporary realist art. Sponsored by the French authorities, the Salon has become the annual event since 1737.

The Paris Salon, officially known as the Salon de Paris, was a prestigious art exhibition held annually (and later biennially) from 1667 to 1974. It was a major platform for artists to showcase their work and gain recognition, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some famous artists who exhibited at the Paris Salon were Ingres, David, Delacroix, and Manet.

It was the only important exhibition existing in the country. Receiving acceptance into its annual show was crucial to the artist’s success and career. The Salon’s jury process was controlled by the most talented and skilled Academicians who picked the art for the show. Despite its authority and beautiful art the academy produced, it resisted innovation in classical art. This time period became a place of change when several new art movements emerged. As the importance of getting commissions from the Church and the State vanned around that time, it catapulted the artistic creativity and freedom of expression.

The Impressionists broke away from the classical tradition and became the first modern movement to organize their own, separate shows in Paris. Degas was one of the leaders in this organization. Russian classical school of painting branched out to the Itinerants movement in late 19th century. The art world exploded with new art styles and movements. The traditional, academic style of painting was suddenly losing its ground to the impressionism, post-impressionism, neoclassicism, romanticism, social realism, American realism, the pre-Raphaelites, pointillism, symbolism, art nouveau, and even photography. It continued well into the 20th century with the freedom of artistic expression in fauvism, cubism, expressionism, European avant-garde, surrealism, futurism, dada, collage, fantasy, abstract expressionism, and so on.

Famous artists who died before becoming famous

If we go back to the 19th-century art, although artists became independent from the State and the Church, which dramatically changed the subject matter and the painting style, many lived in extreme poverty. The amateur painter, Vincent Van Gogh struggled both financially and emotionally throughout his life and only his brother Theo recognized and supported his talent.

Classically trained Antoine-Jean Gros started out brilliantly with his painting Napoleon in the Pesthouse at Jaffa, 1804, but drowned himself in a river after 30 years of haunting criticism and artistic failure that followed. An engraver, painter, and poet, William Blake was discovered only a century later after his death. French realist artist, Honore Daumier painted most of his life, but received recognition as a painter during his first solo show at the age of 70.

A. Gros, Napoleon in the Pesthouse at Jaffa, 209x280inches. 532x720cm. The Louvre. Commissioned by Napoleon himself, this painting depicts his visit to sick soldiers in Jaffa during the French invasion of Egypt.

William Blake, Urizen, the Ancient of Days, 13 copies of hand-colored prints are known and attributed to the Romantic poet and engraver

Driven by the need to paint, Paul Gauguin abandoned his family, left France, and spent his last years in Tahiti. A cocktail of poverty, alcoholism, and syphilis brought him death at the age of 55. His fusion of symbolic imagery with the post-impressionist style became influential only after his death, discovered and promoted by the influential art critic in Paris.

If you’re interested in the events and relationship of two famous artists- van Gogh and Gaugin, read the Moon and Sixpence written by W. Somerset Maugham, which is based on true events.

Paul Gauguin, Reclining Tahitian Women, 1894, Oil on canvas, 23 3/5 × 19 3/10 in | 60 × 49 cm, de Young Museum in San Francisco; one of paintings of the Tahitian Women in the series

The Card Players, 25 3/4 x 32 1/4 in, Paul Cézanne, French, 1890–92 This version is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York | This painting is the first of five artworks created on the theme of card players.

One of the most influential painters of modernity, Cézanne (1839-1906) had submitted his artwork to the Salon in Paris for 20 consecutive years. His paintings were not accepted into a single show even once. Self-taught, the post-impressionist painter, Paul Cezanne enjoyed the process of painting in isolation. Out of frustration, with introspection, and in search of perfection, Cezanne had a habit of throwing away his now-famous-paintings, creating art in the country. Like a number of artists, Cezanne had a very difficult relationship with his father who wanted the artist to become a lawyer. Like so many painters, Cézanne got famous after his death. Today his artwork sells for millions of dollars per painting. The Gulf nation of Qatar purchased Paul Cézanne’s painting The Card Players (the 5th version) for a record-breaking $250 million. (By the way, there are more Cezannes in Philadelphia than in France, because of private collections’ acquisitions). One day the painter got ill, after being out in a thunderstorm. Cezanne spent his last few days of life painting, achieving what he always wanted to do – to paint until the end…

Innovation is often rejected in the beginning of a big trend. It takes time for the majority to catch up to trends that eventually become mainstream or fashionable. Artist’s success is rarely accidental. Yes, it could be a ton of hard work, but mostly it’s the ability to social climb or to be able to connect to the influential people in the field, promoting yourself tirelessly. Salvador Dali wasn’t social but he kept his career in trusted hands of his wife, muse and promoter- Gala. Wildly successful, Dali worked across continents and mediums to create personal art. Andy Warhol was a successful social climber who recognized the power of celebrity and often depicted celebrities in his silkscreens. Pablo Picasso knew how to attract attention to his art using his personality and connections. For instance, young Picasso immersed himself in the Parisian art scene in early 1900s. A city already buzzing with artistic innovation and experimentation, the artist actively participated in the art scene, befriending other artists and showcasing his work in various art galleries. This exposure fostered connections and helped him gain recognition within the art community [Source: Ian Leslie, “The Picasso Effect”]. Later, Picasso took a leading role in the Cubist movement that attracted lots of attention. The artist also developed strong relationships with some influential art dealers like Ambroise Vollard and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, who actively promoted and exhibited his work, contributing significantly to his commercial success and public recognition [Source: Museum of Modern Art, “Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris”]. Therefore, while we can admire the skill and creativity of each artist, a successful career is a lot more than just having a talent. Artist’s presence in a creative environment, dedication, extraversion and the support of key individuals within the art world can either propel the artist to the top or leave him at the bottom of desperation and poverty.

Originally published in 2012

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salvator mundi by leonardo da vinci_veronica winters blog, fake orb

The Salvator Mundi painting of Leonardo da Vinci: is it real or fake?

Posted on November 24, 2022July 30, 2024 by veronica

The authenticity of Salvator Mundi is a matter of ongoing debate among art historians. Some experts believe that it is a genuine work by Leonardo da Vinci, while others believe that it is a copy or a workshop painting. There is evidence to support both sides of the argument. The painting’s style is consistent with Leonardo’s other works, and it has been authenticated by some of the world’s leading experts on da Vinci. However, there are also some inconsistencies in the painting’s execution, composition and some experts believe that it may have been significantly altered over time.

In 2017, Salvator Mundi was sold for a record-breaking $450 million at Christie’s auction house. The buyer was a Saudi Arabian prince, who later donated the painting to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. However, in 2019, the Louvre Abu Dhabi announced that it would not be displaying the painting, citing “technical and logistical challenges.”

After reviewing the available information online, images and other literature I’ve found about this painting, I believe that the Salvator Mundi is not painted by Leonardo da Vinci. If not a skillful forgery, this painting may have the underpainting done by Leonardo with the rest got filled in by one of his students at best. The more I study this painting, the more inconsistencies I see in the Salvator Mundi.

In the following article you’ll find why the authentication process of da Vinci’s work is so speculative.

The Salvator Mundi oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519): is it real or fake?

da vinci salvator mundi after restoration — “Salvator Mundi” Oil on walnut panel, 25 13/16 x 17 7/8 inches (65.6 x 45.4 cm), Private Collection

The last artwork authenticated as Leonardo’s is the Benois Madonna located at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. It was over 100 years ago. With just about 15 paintings attributed to the artist, finding a new da Vinci is extremely rare. This is the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. Salvator Mundi or Savior of the World sold for the astronomical $450,312,500 (that includes buyer’s premium) at Christie’s New York. While you can find plenty of information online about the artwork’s ownership and how the Salvator Mundi arrived at Christie’s, I’d like to talk about this painting from the artistic point of view and what inconsistencies I see in it as an artist. While I’m not an expert on Leonardo’s art, I’m a realist painter who designs and paints classically-inspired art.

When art sells for millions we need to question its origin. When I listened to the interview with an art dealer Robert Simon I felt for the painting and believed it was real. Simon outlined a very slow process of discoveries made about the painting. After listening to the podcast, I got interested in researching the available documentation and imagery. The more I looked, the more doubtful I became of its original creation. Here is why.

Suggested Donation podcast: http://www.suggesteddonationpodcast.com/blog/2015/9/15/episode-21-robert-simon).

The over painted version of Salvator Mundi is on the left, while the restored version is on the right.

In his story Robert Simon describes the terrible condition he found the artwork in. Although he saw the beautiful hand that didn’t correspond to a harshly overpainted face stylistically, Mr. Simon had no idea it would be da Vinci at first sight. In the interview you’ll learn how slow the process of discovery was, working closely with the restorer Dianne Dwyer Modestini, Senior Research Fellow and Conservator of the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Both of them found clues that this painting could be by Leonardo. Eventually Robert Simon introduced this painting to the Leonardo’s experts in London to confirm the authenticity of the art.

References that suggested the existence of da Vinci’s the Salvator Mundi

In the scholarly article written by Joanne Snow-Smith she traces the whereabouts of the artist. Looking at the trail of paperwork registered in royal courts, she concludes that Louis XII, the king of France, ordered a direct commission to Leonardo da Vinci in 1507, made payments for it between 1507-11, and demanded its completion and turn over in 1513. So the original artwork was painted between 1507-1513. (Painting it on and off for many years is consistent with the artist’ habits). In 1513 da Vinci turned it in to the king’s intermediaries. Next year the king’s wife died and he donated the artwork to a convent in 1514 where it remained for over a century until it got to the Charles I royal collection.

Below you’ll find images with dates that don’t quite correspond to this timeline. For instance, Leonardo’s studies of clothed arms and chest were done between 1504-8 and many paintings with similar composition are dated before 1507. Joanne Snow-Smith proposes that Leonardo painted two copies of the Salvator Mundi based on similarities and differences in the etching, copy paintings and the Windsor castle drawings. ( Source: “The Salvator Mundi of Leonardo da Vinci” by Joanne Snow-Smith, Arte Lombarda Nuova Serie, No. 50 (1978), pp. 69-81).

So the Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi painting existed for sure, maybe even in two versions, which is also possible because the artist painted two versions of the Virgin of the Rocks. What raises questions if the etching was done from the original da Vinci’ painting hidden in the convent for a century. The etching by Hollar becomes important because it’s one of the strongest visual references to the proposed original, or perhaps, it served as a prototype for a beautiful forgery. Let me explain.

#1 reference: etching

**Wenceslaus Hollar’s etching, 1650** | Before the modern printing process ever came to existence, it was common practice to produce etchings of masterworks for wider distribution among the royalty, wealthy and public. It’s clear that Leonardo worked on the concept of this painting because he gave it to Louis XII in 1513, and one etching (3 versions of the etching) completed by Wenceslaus Hollar after the original were registered in the royal collection of Charles I of England. Hollar signs and dates his etching, with Latin inscription that ‘Leonardo da Vinci painted it.’ This etching was done from Hollar’s previous drawing that he could have sketched while on a visit to the convent. According to Robert Simon the etching has a large jewel in the clothing that was painted over and then re-discovered in the original painting during the restoration. Yet, there is no clear evidence that the Leonardo’s painting was indeed the prototype for this etching.

What is etching? Intaglio or etching is one of the oldest forms of printmaking where an artist would draw an image with a needle on a metal plate, engrave it with an acid, then charge it with ink to impress the picture on paper with the press.  A single image could have many stages or states in its development when the artist increases contrast by building up strokes in the shadows. Every new state goes through the same process of acid corrosion, inking and printing.  Because the artist hand-inks the plate and decides how much ink to remove from it, the final image may appear much lighter or darker. Not a single stroke can be removed, so artists exercised great control over the quality and quantity of their strokes. Master etchers among the old masters are Rembrandt and Durer. This printmaking process is taught in art colleges and I made a number of prints using this technique.

If we begin to compare this etching to the discovered Salvator Mundi we can observe three things. The eyes look in different direction. Christ has a definite beard in the Hollar’s etching unlike in the presented painting. The orb’s reflection is not what the scientist artist (da Vinci) would actually see but it’s similar in the etching, the da Vinci’s painting, and some copy paintings. If the etching was done from the original da Vinci, it raises questions how the artist could have ignored the effects of optics he studied so carefully. (Below you’ll find my photos of the orb and how it appears placed in a hand).

#2 reference: da Vinci’s sketches

The second strongest visual reference to the existence of the Salvator Mundi are the da Vinci’s studies located in the Windsor castle collection.

Two drapery studies – preparatory drawings for the Salvator Mundi by da Vanci – are in the royal collections at Windsor Castle, England, 1504-1508. These two drawings is a clear evidence that Leonardo studied the folds and disposition of Christ’s tunic and its sleeves. The drawings are modeled in two colors in chalk characteristic for the classical method of drawing in that period. These studies of drapery show that Leonardo was influenced by the Greco-Roman art and must have studied classical sculpture during his travels in Rome and wanted the clothing look natural and graceful. It also proves that he worked on the concept of his future painting.

We can see that the drawings show two different positions of the arms with folds falling somewhat differently. One of the hand positions is captured fairly closely to the original drawing in the etching and painting. These preparatory drawings become the strongest references to the Salvator Mundi painting. The hand is so beautifully painted, it does look like Leonardo!
(Images: https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/912525/studies-of-drapery-for-a-salvator-mundi | https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/912524/a-study-of-drapery-for-a-salvator-mundi).

#3 reference: artist copies

Albrecht_Dürer and school of da vinci_mundi — 1. Albrecht Dürer, c.1505, (unfinished), The Met 2. School of Leonardo da Vinci, c.1503 3. Cesare da Sesto, 1516, Wilanow Palace, Poland (Images source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvator_Mundi_(Leonardo) )

There are many copy paintings made from either the original or the etching, letting us believe that the artists were familiar with the original composition of the Salvator Mundi and painted either copies or their interpretations on the theme. By looking at these painted copies we can see striking similarities to the etching and the da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi in the depiction of both hands, the orb, and the figure positioning painted by various artists.

However, based on the existing documents and style, the da Vinci painting was painted between 1507 and 1513, while he was in the service of king Louis XII, which places some of the copies before da Vinci finished working on his painting. Unless da Vinci had conceived and began working on this composition before 1503 (Mona Lisa was begun between 1503-6), and other artists had already seen it, it’s difficult to believe that this composition is original Leonardo. Leonardo’s drawings of clothed arms are dated 1504-8. Therefore it’s either the fact that these paintings were done after a different painting (and not from the da Vinci’s), or Leonardo borrowed the composition and its elements for his work from the Flemish painters and the Vera Icon (Head of Christ) by van Eyck (now lost and existing in contemporary copies of his workshop). Or Leonardo made the first version of his painting before working on the Louis XII commission, which is less likely.

Salvator Mundi, Workshop of Hans Memling, Flemish, 1475-99, the Met. “Christ is shown here as the Savior of the World, holding in his left hand a cross-topped globe representing the earth, while his right hand is raised in blessing. **This was a popular image type in the fifteenth-century Flemish painting that merged the themes of the Holy Face (Christ’s features miraculously imprinted on a cloth) and Christ in Majesty**.” (Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437061)

Hans_Memling veronica holding her veil, 1470 and christ in turin — **Hans Memling, Veronica holding her veil,” 1470**, early Flemish painting (left) | **Veronica’s Veil with the image of Christ on display in, Turin, Italy**

What looks like Leonardo…

In classical art, the artist sketches the subject, transfers the lines and paints them in warm, brown paint on panel or canvas. He then layers color in subsequent layers. In the old masters technique, multiple layers were very thin to achieve the desired atmospheric effect. The da Vinci's sfumato technique involves multiple glazing of thin paint, so thin that some areas don't even show up in the X-ray examinations. In his podcast interview Robert Simon describes how they took a probe on the face of the Salvator Mundi to reveal 17 layers of paint!

His Face

By looking at some copy paintings above it’s easy to see that these artists were able to copy the beautiful hand, orb and delicate pattern of the clothing. However, none of them could copy the same glowing face of the da Vinci painting. The ambiguous face in the Salvator Mundi is so much like Leonardo. Illusive. Ethereal. Glowing. The artist achieved such appearance in his art by glazing very thin layers of oil paint. By mixing the paint with a lot of medium (linseed oil or other oil) the artist created the sfumato technique, the very style we see in the Mona Lisa, the Saint John the Baptist, and in the Virgin and Child with St. Anne. And by looking at the painting for the first time without studying it carefully, it’s easy to conclude that it’s by Leonardo because the painting art style is so similar to other works created by the artist.

If you look at the restored portrait closely, you’ll notice the discrepancies that Leonardo couldn’t have done himself. While the painting style is so Leonardonesque, the crooked tip of the nose and the cross-eyed appearance of Christ raise questions for me as an artist. Being a scientist, Leonardo’s anatomy drawings show exquisite understanding and perfection of human form of that period, so these anatomical discrepancies look like obvious flaws. Why would the artist paint the body of Christ with such symmetry and ignore the symmetry of the eyes and nose? One explanation is that the panel has cracked and warped so much in five centuries that it changed the appearance of the drawing in the nose and chipped off some paint in the eyes (which is hard to believe because the pupils look so uneven, and the shape of the eyes is different). I would like to hear the restorer’s explanation to understand this. If you look at this picture where I overlay straight lines over his face, you can see how crooked the nose is, which lines up with the mouth but not with the top part of the face. The eyes don’t line up either, each having a different shape. In other Leonardo’s drawings and paintings you can see a more complicated rotations of the head that demand a perfect line up of facial features.

Moreover, In the Hollar’s etching we can see that the Christ’s eyes look in a different direction compared to the painting’s straight gaze. The man also wears a definite beard in the etching unlike in the da Vinci’s painting that looks soft and illusive.

The face has a beard. The eyes look in a different direction than the found da Vinci.

**da Vinci faces from his paintings** from left to right: 1. Angel from the Madonna of the Rocks 2. Salvator Mundi 3. The St. John the Baptist 4. Virgin of the Rocks 5. The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (bottom) 6. Mona Lisa 7. La Belle Ferronniere 8. drawing for The Virgin and Child with St. Anne .

Moreover, the presented Salvator Mundi has a non-existent neck. When you look at the line up of faces from da Vinci paintings above, you see a different style of painting the neck. All of them are cylinder-like with considerable definition and naturalistic detail. In the Salvator Mundi painting the neck is obscure and ill-defined unlike in other da Vinci paintings. Also, all known paintings by da Vinci have the models rotating in space a lot. The Salvator Mundi portrait is so frontal it’s inconsistent with the artist’s work.

His Hand

The Salvator Mundi blessing hand is the most realistic, da Vinci-like element in the entire painting. Its elegant design and unbelievably well-painted anatomy make it the best hand by Leonardo I’ve seen in comparison to his other paintings. It’s the most believable element in the painting that looks like Leonardo painted it.

*The Salvator Mundi’s hand is the most beautiful element in the entire painting.*

Details of hands from other artworks painted by da Vinci.

His Hair

Details of the curly hair painted by da Vinci.

While we can see the Leonardonesque hair in this portrait where every strand is observed, this visual element is actually prone to copying by other artists (see the image above of Salvator Mundi, School of Leonardo da Vinci, c.1503 ). The Leonardonesque hair type was a very popular element in the Italian Renaissance painting. Therefore, its hard to say that Leonardo was the only artist painting these beautiful curls in this manner. Leonardo got his initial training in the Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop in Florence where he assisted the master artist in completion of art, working among many other students. Here we can see this manner of painting the curls.

Verrocchio,_Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_Battesimo_di_Cristo sm — Verrocchio, the Baptism of Christ. This is the first known work where da Vinci painted the angel to the left being a student in the Verrocchio’s workshop.

Verrocchio, Tobias and the Angel | This painting shows how Verrocchio himself painted the curly hair.

These are examples of other artists painting the curly hair before and after da Vinci. They have similar style that makes it fairly easy to copy the da Vinci’s hair. | From left to right: Italian painting details, Turin and Durer’s self-portraits.

The painting’s restoration process

1. The removed overpainting reveals the image beneath it. | 2. Overpainted version | 3. The restored painting

In general, paintings get cleaned by removing the varnish, which is a protective coating that traps the dirt and UV light, and protects the oil paint from damage. Usually the removal of old varnish, reveals a much lighter and brighter painting with the original, beautiful colors painted by the artist. High-quality paints wouldn’t fade as much, rather would become more transparent with age. What we see in the first image is the removal of the overpainted image that reveals the original painting underneath it. White lines look like gesso marks crudely painted over the cracks of the original painting trying to fill them in. Oil paint is applied over the gesso to create a painting. By comparing the first and the last image we can see how much restoration was done.

In the interview Mr. Simon says that the Salvator Mundi came to him in terrible condition: the walnut panel had a big vertical crack that was poorly repaired and repainted multiple times over. Smaller cracks and hastily repairs damaged the surface to a great degree.

Dianne Modestini made an incredible job cleaning and restoring the artwork. She didn’t just create a new version of Christ like we see in the overpainted image in the center. Rather, she stripped the painting down to its original state, fixing the “scratches.” The Da Vinci’s signature style – sfumato and the ethereal appearance of the face, are present after 500 years from its creation. The original color of clothing may have been different, however, probably having brighter blues in the beginning. Here is what the restorer says about the painting on Christie’s website.

Dianne Modestini explains that the original walnut panel on which Leonardo, who was known for his use of experimental material, executed Salvator Mundi contained a knot which had split early in its history. However, she concludes that important parts of the painting are remarkably well-preserved, and close to their original state. These include both of Christ’s hands, the exquisitely rendered curls of his hair, the orb, and much of his drapery. The magnificently executed blessing hand, Modestini notes, is intact. With regards to the face, Modestini comments, ‘Fortunately, apart from the discrete losses, the flesh tones of the face retain their entire layer structure, including the final scumbles and glazes. These passages have not suffered from abrasion; if they had I wouldn’t have been able to reconstruct the losses.

During the conservation process, pentimenti — preliminary compositional ideas, subsequently changed by the artist in the finished painting, but not reflected in the etching or painted copies — are observed through infrared imaging, and duly photographed. The most prominent is a first position for the thumb in the blessing hand, more upright than in the finished picture. IRR imagery also reveals distinct handprints, especially evident on the proper left side of Christ’s forehead, where the artist smoothed and blotted the paint with his palm. This kneading of the paint in order to create soft and amorphous effects of shadow and light is typical of the artist’s technique in the latter part of Leonardo’s career. reference: http://www.christies.com/features/Salvator-Mundi-timeline-8644-3.aspx )

da Vinci’s materials and the preparatory ground

Because the artwork’s creation is placed close to the Mona Lisa painting in its style and dates, one of the clues to the authentication of the Salvator Mundi would be the examination and analysis under a microscope of preparatory ground (gesso) underneath the oil paint. It’s known that Leonardo tinted the ground in two colors: blue under the top/ landscape area; red under the bottom area in Mona Lisa, La Belle Ferronniere, The Musician, and St. Anne. ( Pietro C. Marani, Leonardo da Vinci, the complete paintings, Harry N. Abrams, inc. publishers, p. 198). Such examination would also reveal marks of an underlying drawing traced in the ground. Christie’s website mentions spolveri — pouncing — can be seen running along the line of the upper lip. “The rest of the body has a much looser, brushy underdrawing, with further small changes of mind. This combination of careful preparation for the head and much greater improvisation for the body is characteristic of Leonardo.” The X-rays would show different positions or variations of features from the finished painting. Because da Vinci painted in very thin glazes, some elements like an illusive smile or hair may not show up in the X-rayed images.

On the Christie’s website you’ll find this statement. “Powerfully convincing evidence of Leonardo’s authorship was provided by the discovery of numerous pentimenti — preliminary composition ideas, subsequently changed by the artist in the finished painting, but not reflected in the etching or painted copies. The most prominent of these — a first position for the thumb in the blessing hand, more upright than in the finished picture — was uncovered and photographed during the conservation process.” Further examination with infrared imaging would show additional pentimenti- changes in the drawing, which are recorded on the Christie’s website as subtle changes found in the contour of the hand holding the orb.

While these discoveries of pentimenti and spolveri are good indications of the old master work, they are not exclusive to Leonardo’s method of work. And if we think of a careful forgery, this method of working on a painting could have been forged after reading a comprehensive book on Leonardo.

Da Vinci was famous for his experimentation with materials and techniques (Look at the terrible condition of the Last Supper mural). While most artists of his time painted on poplar panels, he chose the walnut one. (Half of his paintings are on poplar wood). He also was one of the first painters to use the walnut oil, which slows down the drying time of oil paint and thus allows for a prolonged painting period. While the walnut oil doesn’t yellow unlike the linseed oil, it’s less stable and may contribute to a weaker bond between many layers of paint and thus makes the painting more susceptible to damage in the long run.

Technical examinations and analyses have demonstrated the consistency of the pigments, media, and technique discovered in Salvator Mundi with those known to have been used by Leonardo. Syson notes particularly the use of precious lapis lazuli in the Christ’s celestial blue clothes, a practice that was unusual at this date, suggestive of the opulence of the commission.

Da Vinci was not the only artist to use precious pigments in his art. Florentine artist Giotto (c. 1266-1337) comes to mind. Therefore it can’t be a strong argument to authenticate the painting based on the precious pigments used, in my opinion.

What’s fake? (or added after Leonardo)

The da Vinci’s orb may not be by da Vinci

The orb’s reflection makes this painting the hardest thing to believe that it’s by da Vinci. It’s painted with transparency of glass that’s impossible to achieve, considering the shape and properties of the orb, regardless its material. da Vinci was a scientist who studied the effects of optics and light extensively. His knowledge of optics is shown in his atmospheric quality of layering paint on figures and landscape backgrounds. There are many scientific drawings made by Leonardo that show his curiosity and understanding of nature. As an artist he was exceptional at perfecting every aspect of painting: composition, atmosphere, color, anatomy, etc. In the following pictures you can see how the orb’s reflection looks like. I’m tempted to speculate that the Da Vinci’s original was unfinished at the time he needed to give it to the king Louis XII, and it was hastily completed by one of his students. Leonardo was notorious for not finishing his projects (and not just paintings), and like in the Mona Lisa case, it’s presumed the painting traveled with the artist, and he worked on it on and off for about 5 years. Or perhaps, the referenced orb was made of a different material rather than the one shown below.

da vinci orb a fake? — I took these pictures of the orb under different lighting conditions and points of view to illustrate the essence of a problem we see in the painting. The orb’s real reflection is very different from the painting’s. The orb can reflect in three ways. 1. The image of the surroundings turns upside down in the orb when you partially hold it or place it on a stand. 2. The orb reflects the surroundings without turning them upside down. In the second row you see my studio and me reflected in the orb. 3. The orb magnifies the palm of the hand big time (the last row). Depending on the viewer’s point of view, you may also see a weak reflection of the surroundings besides the reflected hand. But in no circumstances the orb can be as transparent as you see in the *Salvator Mundi* painting. **So if it were painted by da Vinci, the orb could have been made of other material to have the reflections shown in the painting.**

Isaacson believes that this was “a conscious decision on Leonardo’s part”,^[33] and speculates that either Leonardo felt a more accurate portrayal would be distracting, or “he was subtly trying to impart a miraculous quality to Christ and his orb”.^[32]Kemp, on the other hand, says the doubled outline of the heel of the hand holding the sphere—which the restorer described as a pentimento—is an accurate rendering of the refraction produced by a calcite sphere.^[27]

Both of these statements are questionable. At the same time, it seems close to impossible that Leonardo would override his scientific side in favor of a creative interpretation. ( da Vinci considered himself a scientist, not a painter by writing a letter to L. Sforza of Milan offering his services to the court as a military engineer, not an artist.)

Composition and background

Many are concerned with the provenance of the da Vinci painting due to its tight, unlike-da-Vinci composition and a dark, empty background. While the background itself is of a lesser concern here because da Vinci painted several artworks with similar, dark background, what’s unclear why the figure is so frontal and sits so close to the edge.

The_Lady_with_an_Ermine and st john the baptist by da vinci — The Lady with an Ermine, 1489 and St. John the Baptist by da Vinci | These two works are attributed to da Vinci. They both have a single figure placed in a very dark background, which is similar to the Salvator Mundi. However, the rotation of the figures is different. Leonardo loved to rotate the figures showing them at 3/4 view as well.

No realist artist would allow himself to place a figure so tight to the edge of the frame like we see in the Salvator Mundi. While this is a common mistake for a beginner artist, artists like da Vinci just couldn’t afford sacrificing composition to this degree. When the form is so close to the edge, it creates tension, which every good artist tries to avoid making. If the sleeve or hand gets cropped, it should look intentional and more definite (like we see in the Impressionists). In this painting we observe Christ’s hands and arms sitting so unbelievably close to the edge of the painting, the figure barely fits in the frame. The only explanation of such positioning is cropping of a wood panel at a later stage in history of this painting. Note that we can see the same tight cropping of the figure in the Hollar’s etching and other copy paintings! How would this be possible? Was the original painting cropped within the first 100 years of storage in a convent? What would be the reason for doing so? No adequate frame was found around to fit it in? Was the etching done not from the original da Vinci, which makes this painting forged from the etching itself?

In his art Leonardo rotated the figures to get a more dynamic and dramatic position of a model. He either twisted the figures or used three-quarters view in portraiture art. Was it his intention to reverse to the iconic imagery of the Medieval art to create a more universal image of Christ? There is a long history of iconography with frontal depiction of Christ that makes me think if Leonardo could make himself skip on his innovations in composition, reverting to this Medieval, symmetrical, iconic image of Christ.

Some argue that it’s work by Leonardo because of the triangular composition (hands and head form a triangle). However, triangles were widely used by many artists as a design element in painting. We can also argue that the Salvator Mundi is either a forgery or an inspiration for other artists by comparing its composition to the Durer’s self-portrait at 28. What’s interesting here is that although Durer was German, he traveled to Italy around that time and may have seen the da Vinci’s work-in-progress in person, because this self-portrait is drastically different from his previous two. Or we can argue that the forger tried to create this universal, frontal image of Christ basing it off of the etching and Durer’s portrait.

Dürer_self_portrait_28 — Durer, self-portrait at 28, 1500, oil on wood

Conclusion

The controversy surrounding Salvator Mundi is likely to continue for many years to come. Until the painting is publicly exhibited and subjected to further scientific analysis, it is impossible to say definitively whether it is a genuine work by Leonardo da Vinci. The lack of public exhibition has only fueled the debate over the painting’s authenticity. Some experts believe that the Louvre Abu Dhabi is hesitant to display the painting because they are unsure of its authenticity. Others believe that the museum is simply trying to protect the painting from damage.

The more I study the Salvator Mundi, the more questions it raises. And the deeper I go, the more puzzling the inconsistencies in its origin become. Despite my first impression that the portrait has the da Vinci’s signature appearance with every detail and magical golden glow, all the problems I’ve listed above make me think that it’s either Leonardo’s underpainting finished by his student (considered the Old Master’s work), or it’s a complete forgery. What’s clear is that it’s not enough to compare the da Vinci’s paintings visually. Only a thorough examination of all written documents as well as modern chemical analysis of the painting (and the etching) could authenticate the present Salvator Mundi by giving us the original dates. No matter how much time the experts would spend comparing this work to others done by da Vinci, there is still a lot of doubt in place if it’s his. And if it’s not a skillful forgery, Leonardo’s style is most definite in the face and the blessing hand, not in the orb, hair or fabric, which are fairly easy to forge by a contemporary realist artist or a restorer.

Of course, this painting and its origin may deserve the criticism it receives from people working in the field that includes many experts on da Vinci’s art. Perhaps it may receive some criticism from art critics like we see here by Jerry Saltz. However, if someone is not an artist, hasn’t held a brush long enough to understand how hard realist painting is, or has meager knowledge of art history should refrain from posting negative comments about the restorer on social media, which I’ve seen a lot. We can still enjoy the art and discover new secrets about Leonardo and his circle.

In 2021, a new documentary called “The Lost Leonardo” was released. The film explores the mystery surrounding Salvator Mundi and raises new questions about its authenticity. The film claims that the Louvre actually believes that the painting is a genuine da Vinci, but that they are refusing to display it because they do not want to anger the Saudi government.

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Resources:

Scholarly papers database http://www.jstor.org | Snow-Smith, J. (1978). The Salvator Mundi of Leonardo da Vinci. Arte Lombarda, (50), nuova serie, 69-81. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43105161

Pietro C. Marani, Leonardo da Vinci, the complete paintings, Harry N. Abrams, inc. publishers

Windsor Castle royal collection: https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/search#/page/1

Christie’s timeline: http://www.christies.com/features/Salvator-Mundi-timeline-8644-3.aspx

Christie’s http://www.christies.com/features/The-last-da-Vinci-Salvator-Mundi-8598-3.aspx

Old Master Dealer Robert Simon https://www.robertsimon.com/leonardos-salvator-mundi/

*I wrote this article on Nov.24, 2017 and updated it slightly in 2023 to include the most recent information on it.

How to start Scratchboard art: scratchboard techniques, tools & tips to make fur texture

Posted on October 6, 2022November 23, 2023 by veronica

This is the excerpt for your very first post.

Art Collecting 101: 7 ways to display art beautifully at home & office

Posted on October 24, 2020June 27, 2024 by veronica

How do you display art? While being an art collector may sound too serious, many of us have paintings at home. They may be small or by the unknown artists, gifts or simple prints that decorate our spaces. So we want to hang them prominently to add beauty and peace to our homes. There are several effective ways to display your art collection at home and office.

What’s to consider in wall art display

When you want to hang your painting, consider the following parameters:

#1 Consider the wall space size to make a statement with large art.

Large painting should take the majority of wall space in a room’s center. The art should have some of the colors seen in the room. Give one prominent art piece all the space it needs. Arrange other paintings around it.

Virtual walls interior illustrates how strong colors of the walls complement the drawing’s hues. the art takes most of the wall space above the couch.

Don’t place small artwork too high on a large wall

One big mistake people make is placing small artwork too high on a large wall, so it gets lost in the space. Consider hanging one large painting instead. It should take up most of your wall space. It’s easy to determine the length of the painting by measuring the length of your sofa. Art should take 3/4 of its length.

#2 Painting’s size. Display art in multiples or in tight arrangements.

You’re not doomed, if you have small paintings. Small art works great in intimate spaces with small walls in a corridor or kitchen, or in a cozy guest room. Small art can also be a part of multiples arrangement.

Zena Holloway, the Directed Art Modern at the art fair | This is a different kind of art display where photographs have equal arrangement on the right that balances out one vertical piece on the left.

#3 Other wall art display ideas

Consider other displays shown below.

This is a gallery wall display at an art fair that shows multiple paintings hung on one wall. Notice that they have identical framing, size and theme. Two large paintings balance the small ones in the middle of art wall display.

Pitti Palace art-Florence. Look at this exuberant wall art display of paintings that have different size, frame and format. Notice that gold is the unifying element in this wall art arrangement.

#4 Let main colors of the painting “connect” with the hues of your home accents

Color harmony. Color harmony is important in every space. Usually, if you have light and neutral walls, almost any artwork would fit into the room beautifully. Sometimes walls might have strong colors, and it’s tricky to find the right painting for it. Your chosen painting should echo some of the hues you already have in the space. Yet, sometimes it works great when strong colors of the wall complement the main color in the painting.

how to display art in interior space — A commissioned triptych at the art collector’s home in Pennsylvania. Let few colors of the painting “connect” with the hues of your home accents (curtains, pillows, vases, lamps). Art should take 3/4 of its length. The space was quite big and we decided to make 3 – 36”panels to fill the wall space properly. Notice how colors in the painting tie in with the furniture and decorum of this living room.

#5 Don’t mix gold and silver accents in one room

Try not to mix gold and silver (frames, chandeliers, furniture and accents) in one room. It’s overwhelming visually.

Abbotsford house | This beautiful room has a color play of green-reds mixed with some gold accents. Gold frames add opulence to one of the rooms in the castle of Sir Walter Scott, the 19th century novelist and ‘Great Scott’ who saved the Scottish banknote and rediscovered his country’s Crown Jewels.

#6 If you have an art show…

If you have an art show, hang you wall art at the 57-inch level.

#7 Frame art well

Think how the frame style complements both your art and interior space. Do you have contemporary, white space with clean lines and minimalist appearance or do you like baroque-inspired rooms? Framing should reflect your aesthetic to have coherent look.

John Duncan 1866-1945, Scottish artist, St.Bride,1913 | This ornate frame is a perfect extension for this beautiful artwork.

Jan van Eyck, Portrait of a man, 1433 | Gold frame complements the skin tones in the portrait and contrasts the dark background.

Check out this extensive blog post about framing here: https://veronicasart.com/how-to-frame-art-on-paper-and-on-canvas/

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If you’re interested in my Colored Pencil Techniques video course, visit: Veronica Winters Art School

How to draw textures in colored pencil realistically

How to draw realistic textures in colored pencil

Posted on July 17, 2020November 16, 2023 by veronica

Step-by-step realistic colored pencil drawing of a donut

To learn realistic colored pencil drawing techniques, you must consider:

drawing your subject and shapes correctly
understanding the difference between color and value in colored pencil drawing
making even shading
making creative compositions
understanding how the light turns the form

A full step by step demonstration of 10 donuts is part of my most recent art book The Colored Pencil Manual as well as my video course Complete Colored Pencil Techniques in 90 days.

Art supplies:

Prismacolor Premier colored pencils unless noted;
kneaded eraser
tracing paper (optional)
Grumbacher final fixative, for dry media, matte
a large sheet of printmaking paper, light gray (it can be replaced with Stonehenge Multi pad color either pearl grey or fawn). This project was completed on a very light gray printmaking paper that often doesn’t read as such in photography. It has minimal texture and the colors tend to blend on their own without employing additional blending techniques.
Color wheel – optional
The Color Chart is separate for each donut. In this example some of the textures are created with varied stroke applications, and Sakura Pentouch marker.

Sakura Pen-touch to place the brightest highlights. This pen can be replaced with another white marker of your choice.

how to draw in colored pencil on stonehenge — Stonehenge multi pad

Basic colors:

Prismacolor Premier colored pencils unless noted;

1. Terra Cotta 2. Sienna Brown 3. Mineral Orange 4. (Pablo) Yellow 5. White 6. Henna 7. Artichoke 8. Chartreuse 9. Yellow Ochre 10. Yellow Orange 11. 70% Cool Grey 12. Pumpkin Orange 13. Yellow Chartreuse

step by step colored pencil drawing of donut_veronica winters — Reference (top) with a color chart and step-by-step colored pencil drawing of a donut

Step 1

Tap all graphite lines with the kneaded eraser. It’s a light donut and graphite will show up once you begin shading. Begin drawing out the rotation of each fold with either terra cotta or sienna brown. While the color looks reddish here, it’s actually a warm brown that the author suggests you use for shading.

Step 2

Once you place the background colors (see the last two steps for instruction), you set the contrast to begin working on the donut. With a sharp point, place random white spots and shade around them with Pablo yellow. Add mineral orange into the brown to warm up the color.

Step 3

With every new step, you keep defining the edges to preserve the correct rotation and clarity in each section. You also work in short, directional strokes on every section to create volume. For that you need to keep rotating your drawing paper as you shade, so the strokes wrap around the forms and don’t become too linear.
Define the brown edges with henna and fill them in with this color in light pressure. Add warm, light greens—chartreuse and artichoke—shading around the yellow to create value transitions between the dark (browns) and the light (white). You shade from white to yellow to chartreuse to artichoke. After that the shapes turn to orange-brown shadows (that you’ve already done).

Step 4

Once the basic pattern of light and shade is in place, you can add variations to the colors seen in the light. The artist shades with yellow ochre, yellow orange, pumpkin orange, chartreuse, and Pablo yellow. Most of the time it is simply layering the same colors over and over again until the right contrast and volume are achieved. Add 70% cool gray into the form shadow in every section.
Texture: Reinforce the texture with white for small dots in the light and add just a few tiny highlights on the left side with the Sakura PenTouch

step by step drawing_donut veronica winters — Finished realistic colored pencil drawing of a donut

Don’t forget to use a final fixative on your colored pencil drawing. Spray it outdoors in a low-humidity environment. Wear a mask to protect yourself from harmful vapor.

Sign up to my mail list for art tips and news or visit the video courses page if you’d like to take your colored pencil drawing to the next level!

Video courses

ow to use graphite transfer paper for drawing and painting

How to use graphite transfer paper to trace your outlines in drawing and painting

Posted on July 13, 2020November 16, 2023 by veronica

Most realist artists use this drawing technique to have a perfect and clean outline drawing. There are several old-fashioned ways of image transfer like the oil transfer, charcoal powder transfer, etc. I find that using graphite transfer paper is the most efficient way of transferring your designs on paper and canvas. The image looks clean and clear.

You must have perfect outlines to begin drawing realistically. When your drawing is complex, it requires sketching, erasing, and sketching again. It ruins the paper’s surface that must stay nice and clean for even shading in graphite or colored pencil. That’s why I often sketch my idea on a separate piece of paper that matches my canvas (or drawing) size to transfer these outlines onto my drawing paper. This image transfer technique was called “cartoon drawings” by the old masters. Classical painters spent weeks doing studies and drawings before transferring them onto panels and canvases.

How to use transfer paper to trace your outline drawing

You need the graphite transfer paper for precise tracing of your lineart or cartoon drawing. If your art is very complex and you wish to keep the working surface clean, use this technique for your advantage.

Graphite Transfer paper brands and features

Saral Graphite Transfer Paper

Comes in 5 colors! Blue, yellow, graphite, white red
Saral transfer rolls are wax-less, non-toxic, and do not contain acid. The paper allows you to transfer your design from a sketch, pattern, template or by hand to almost any surface. May be used with acetate overlays, plastics and enamel, metal, cloth, wood, fabric, ceramic, canvas, stained glass, tole paintings, architectural work, scrapbooking, watercolor, fine art, and more.
Shows up equally well on light or dark surfaces.
12 inch x 12 foot roll; comes in a roll (similar to a wax paper roll).

Loew-Cornell Black and White Graphite Transfer Papers

Waxless, greaseless, smudge proof, erasable
Doesn’t bleed through paint, and it doesn’t smear.
Works for drawing and painting but not recommended for fabric and porous surfaces
Ideal for large projects due to its size. You can also cut it for smaller projects.
Reusable! I’ve been using my two sheets of graphite paper for years, and it still works fine!
Comes in as a single, large folded sheet of paper in one package. You need to buy two packages to have different colors. Package of 4 Sheets— Each sheet measures 9″ × 13″ | Single Sheet Package — One 18″ × 36″ sheet

Royal & Langnickel® White Graphite Transfer Paper

It doesn’t smear, having no wax or grease
Comes in one 18 x 36 inch sheet of white graphite paper per package.
Erases similar to a pencil and is very similar to the Loew-Cornell transfer papers.

How to use transfer paper in your art projects

I sketch out my drawing on a sketch paper and then transfer these outlines onto drawing paper using an HB graphite pencil or a ballpoint pen. You can replace the pen or pencil with a stylus if you want to preserve your original reference sketch/photo for future projects. Check out the Soft-Grip Embossing & Stylus Set Complete by Royal & Langnickel (3 Pack) for that.

Is it cheating?

A lot of artists, especially beginners skip the sketching step, transferring the image direct from a photo onto the drawing paper. While it’s totally possible, beware that many pictures have lens distortion that’s especially noticeable in anatomy and photos with linear perspective like cityscapes. So you end up transferring the distortion into your art.

Also, you don’t learn basic drawing skills by simply transferring the image and not learning how to sketch it freehand. However, if your drawing skills are good, this drawing technique is very helpful speeding up the entire process.

Pick the right color of the transfer paper for your project

Basic steps in scratchboard art. In the first image you can see the use of white transfer paper on 5×7″ scratchboard. You can read about the scratchboard art here: https://veronicasart.com/how-to-start-scratchboard-art-tools-techniques-tips-to-make-fur-texture/

For transferring designs to both white and dark paper white transfer paper is ideal. Also, use the white or yellow transfer paper for your watercolor painting. Black transfer paper’s line doesn’t erase completely and is not suitable for watercolor painting!

Use black transfer paper with caution in your colored pencil drawing as well. I mostly use this black transfer paper for tracing my designs onto canvas/panels, and I often use white transfer paper for my colored pencil drawing, especially when I draw on colored paper because these white outlines show up well and blend with my subsequent shading. White graphite line will show up even on white paper, but you’ll have to observe your lines at a specific angle. I also love to use white graphite transfer paper to transfer my designs working on scratchboard art because the surface must be very clean!

To buy the graphite paper

Amazon
JerrysArtarama
DickBlick
Michael’s & other craft stores

Video courses

If you draw in colored pencil, I invite you to watch FREE previews of some of my lessons in my course titled “Veronica Winters complete colored pencil techniques in 90 days.”

https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/ Watch video lessons previews FREE!

Art Collecting for beginners: how to collect art like a pro

Posted on November 28, 2019November 15, 2023 by veronica

Contemporary art is a Wild West. Because there is no clear standard or assessment of creative genius available today, it’s often puzzling and frustrating to see how some childish art may be valued for a lot more than a beautiful painting. Contemporary art collecting is a multi billion economy where some artists make it big and others struggle for good. If you’re new to the art collecting world and want to get some insight, let’s have a discussion here! As an artist, art collector, and educator, I’m going to outline several characteristics that affect artist’s popularity, pricing and more. I’ll discuss the value of collecting art prints and what to look for in art pieces. I’m not an art dealer or museum curator, therefore views are strictly my own that reflect my understanding of contemporary art.

Copyright Rogan Brown, paper cuts | roganbrown.com

Why buy original art

There are many reasons why people collect art. It can be status, speculation, and love of art! I find that people collect American fine art simply because it’s their passion. They really love discovering new artists and following their careers. Art is an investment for many art collectors, especially the male ones. Primary goal is to invest in popular art that appreciates in value over time even more. Contemporary American art displayed at home shows taste and highlights luxury lifestyle. Another reason for art collecting may be to support the livelihood of contemporary artists. By doing so, you give them the opportunity to paint daily.

Be clear on your goal. Do you want to collect art for pure joy, investment or patronage of the artist? It could be all of the reasons mentioned above or just one.

Know what you like & what you want to invest in

I think it’s super important to educate yourself in art history and contemporary art to make good art purchases. Relying on art advisers, art brokers or gallery directors alone is a mistake because you end up relying on someone else’s taste, while you’re the only person who would live with the art piece at home. It’s good to hear their opinion and reasons for or against the painting, but the the final purchase decision should be yours.

last day of Pompeii detail Karl Bruillov — The last day of Pompeii, oil painting detail by Karl Bruillov

Study art history to figure out what you’re passionate about the most. Educate yourself in major art movements and artists of each time period. Understand the reasons why those artists got their fame. Figure out what time period interests you the most. Next, ask yourself if you favor old historic paintings or contemporary art. Do you like American fine artists or the Italian ones? Answers to these questions come with experience going to art exhibitions, museums, interaction with galleries and reading. It does take time and effort to develop taste and to distinguish between good and bad art.

“Any dealer who says, ‘you have to buy it now or it’s going to be gone,’ I generally won’t do business with,” art collector & ambassador Sondland said in the 2016 interview. “I try to go back and visit it again because, in different moods, art interacts with you differently. And I might be in a manic mood, I might be in a great mood, I might walk in and look at the painting and say, ‘I want to buy that.’ But then the next day, I’ll go and look at the same painting and say, ‘what was I thinking? It doesn’t inspire me.’” You can read the article here: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gordon-sondland-art-collection-1710738

glass object venice pavilion 2017 — Glass vase at Venice pavilion, Venice biennial 2017

Lorenzo Quinn hands sculpture in venice italy — Lorenzo Quinn, sculpture of giant hands in Venice, Italy 2017 | This contemporary sculpture brings our attention to the climate change and rising seas. Venice experiences rising tides flooding the St. Marco square.

Learn what makes a painting great:

Great art has a message expressed beautifully. When it’s not heavy on concept or idea, paintings and sculptures can still be strong pieces visually. This is where you need to recognize Quality in art. By Quality I mean creativity/voice+artistic skill+technical skill+high-quality art supplies & presentation. Most importantly, good art generates emotional response that continues to grow on you every day. It could be a memory of a place or event, a combination of lines and color or something else. Emotional interaction with the piece is very personal.

Below you’ll find several extensive articles about art history, movements and more:

Art movements, education, patrons and more: https://veronicasart.com/learn-what-makes-a-painting-great-video-1-part-1/
Composition, color, lines & emotion: https://veronicasart.com/learn-what-makes-a-painting-great-video-1-part-2-composition-color-lines-and-emotion/
Contemporary art: https://veronicasart.com/contemporary-art-learn-what-makes-it-great-today/

If you like American art and would like to collect fine artists of America, you can read the following articles here:

If you like Hyperrealism: https://veronicasart.com/contemporary-art-hyperrealism-10-amazing-artists-who-crush-it/
Contemporary women artists: https://veronicasart.com/17-contemporary-women-artists-the-best-of-real-and-surreal-in-painting/
Art Context Miami 2018 includes both American art and International artists: https://veronicasart.com/art-miami-context-art-miami-2018-contemporary-realism-painting-and-more/
Art in Palm Beach 2018: https://veronicasart.com/art-palm-beach-international-2018-highlights/

How to start art collecting

Scottish national gallery — John Duncan (1866-1945) Scottish artist, St.bride, painting detail, 1913 |The Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

Collect what touches your soul. I often visit commercial galleries and notice that not every painting creates emotional response in me. Sometimes I see dead paintings. Other times I can admire the technique and I rarely see the piece that moves me in a profound way.
Constantly educate yourself in the arts cultivating taste and aesthetics.
Be on mail lists of your favorite art galleries, museums and artists.
Attend receptions at galleries and auction houses. Make connections with professionals. Schedule studio visits with artists!
Know the artist you’re purchasing from. I think when the connection is personal, art grows on you even more.
If art collecting is a clear investment for you, research the artist on Sotheby’s or other art auction house to see a range of paintings available and at what price they sell. Price may vary considerably over time and in different gallery. It also may go up or down in value. Buy famous art from reputable sources like Christie’s or established blue chip art gallery to minimize cheating. If you like contemporary art, go to Artsy or Artnet to see the price range of your favorite living artist. A lot of established galleries don’t display pricing, intimidating possible collectors.
You can negotiate pricing above $10,000.
Art must be unique and have a signature of the artist along with the certificate of authenticity.
If artists don’t have gallery representation, contact the artist directly. If the artist sells through the gallery, you should contact the manager/director/owner of the gallery asking to view and purchase the art. Artists abide by the rules and have a relationship with the gallery, not selling their paintings directly but bringing the clientele to the gallery.

check out visionary art for sale

What established artists have:

Reclining mode by Karen LaMonte at the Smithsonian, Washington D.C.

Unique style, meaning that you can instantly recognize the artist’s work among the rest.
Education level. It’s not a requirement but it often plays into the level of artist’s work.
Sales record/collections list. If artists have notable placement in art museums or prominent corporate collections, it raises the artist’s status.
Artists work on their careers diligently. It’s not a hobby. Artists are often experts in their fields of study.
Consistent pricing.
Other achievements ( grant recipients, etc)

Art posters: to buy or not to buy

veronica winters art posters — https://veronicasart.com/product-category/art-posters-for-sale/

Art posters, open edition prints limited edition prints:

Art posters (prints of original paintings, drawings, etc) give people a chance to decorate their homes on a budget. Art posters also give artists a chance to raise some cash when selling originals may be difficult.

There are two types of art prints: limited edition and open edition. Open edition prints have no signature and are not numbered. So you have no way of knowing how many prints get printed. It could be just a few or 10k. It’s often doesn’t matter because it’s a nice way to bring art home and not to worry about the cost of owning the print. Open edition prints are affordable and make great art gifts.

Limited edition prints are limited in number. Different sizes may have their own limited editions. (Say, a 5×10″ print could be an edition of 20, while an 18×24″ could be an edition of just 10 prints).

A limited edition print must have artist’s signature and two numbers, like 1/500 (fist print in edition of 500). The smaller the number of prints, the more valuable the limited edition could be. Artist’s signature gives the series authentication. However, limited edition giclee prints are just computer reproductions. They don’t have much value unless it’s issued by a famous artist.

Limited-edition, signed giclee prints may accrue value if they’re issued by a famous artist but in no way it would equal to the value of original art (purchase price + appreciation over time). As a rule, giclee prints don’t have that much value, original art is valuable, assuming it’s a good one.

dali museum spain_lithography and sculpture_web — Dali museum, Spain | lithographs and sculpture (left)

Printmaking & lithography:

Hand-pulled art prints have a lot more value. These are signed and numbered lithographs, intaglios, screen prints and other forms of printmaking when every print (in the limited edition) is hand-pulled by the artist. This is a very labor-intensive process that requires knowledge and skill to do it well technically assuming the artistry of the image itself is good.

Lithographs get printed off of the stones. Silkscreens get printed off the silk screen. Intaglios are printed off of the metal plate. Andy Warhol made limited edition silkscreens. Rembrandt was a master printer, producing not only oil paintings but also intaglio prints. Lithographs are also inherently limited in number. They can be either black-and-white or in color. The process of hand-printing in color pulling the print through the press requires a considerable skill that’s often taught in art colleges. All hand-pulled prints must line up colors perfectly. They also must have even printing of colors, clean white borders and backing. All prints are numbered and signed by the artist.

Andy Warhol silkscreen print seen at the art auction in Naples, FL

colored pencil techniques video course by veronica winters — https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/p/veronica-winters-complete-colored-pencil-techniques-in-90-days

Factors that go into predicting whether an artist’s work will increase in value over time

Carole Feuerman’s sculpture in Venice, Italy

This is a grey area. Sometimes great artists perish and get rediscovered years or centuries later (Vermeer, Gaugin, van Gogh, etc). Other times the artist could be hot but it doesn’t mean he’ll go down in history passing his prime.

There are a few points for you to consider trying to figure out if you make a good investment in art.

Art is truly unique. The artist’s voice is so one-of-a-kind it stands out.
Art is in important collections in art museums, corporate or private collections of famous people or elite.
Artist has been serious working on his/her career for years and often exhibits nationally and even internationally. There is a considerable body of work shown across art museums and galleries.
Artist may have permanent public art installations.
Check out the following artists that conform to all the points above: Carole Feuerman, Karen LaMonte, Kehinde Wiley, Arantzazu Martinez, Philipp Weber, Kaws, Koons, Hirst.

Art websites to check out:

Sotheby’s
Christie’s
Artnet – contemporary art & auction research tool
1stdibs – contemporary art, fashion, furniture, jewelry and more
SaatchiArt – contemporary art, abstract to realism
MutualArt – auction price database search via premium membership
MyModernMet – well curated contemporary art, inspiration
The Colossal – curated contemporary art
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

If you find this post useful, share it on social media.

How to start your own art collection: 3 powerful reasons to collect art today

Continue your reading about the art collecting.

5 Tips that’ll make you better at oil painting

Posted on September 23, 2019November 14, 2023 by veronica

#1 Think of your idea & design

Idea, color, and design are three main variables of every painting I create. I sketch a lot and play with images in Photoshop to come up with my imagery. Nowadays I find that I’m more efficient when I use Photoshop to cut, paste and combine images to create a visual story that has visual balance, color and clarity.

As for images, I mostly use my references. As I travel, I collect my visual inspiration and organize them on folders on my computer. However sometimes I find a specific model/ picture on a copyright free sites- Pixabay, Unsplash. Freepick has beautiful images too. These are great free resources for artists! For example, I don’t do underwater photography and I can find the right reference there. So if you need pictures for reference or drawing, you may find lots of inspiration there.

#2 Study the anatomy daily

When I began my artistic journey two decades ago I thought I would never paint people. I sucked at it!!! I used to draw stick figures. Over the years I took more figure drawing classes than many of my peers in college. When I was in class, I saw how talented some students were and the only way for me to catch up was to double down on drawing the figure from life. I miss my studio time in New York. It was liberating and fun. A lot of learning happened there. I must say no art class can replace practice. Being alone in your studio painting for weeks, months, years is necessary to develop a unique voice.

Aphrodite, basic proportions of the female (and male) head

When you draw people, line up all the facial features, preserving proportions. This image shows you how to divide the face. It also shows how the eyes, nose, lips and eyebrows move because of the head’s tilt and rotation. You must keep checking the line up as you paint at all times. As the face turns, we see foreshortening of some features but the line up remains the same. One eye can’t end up on the forehead (move higher or lower) because of the rotation. I use my brush’s handle to check the line up when I paint.

oil painting techniques painting face — Here I check the line up of the eyes as I begin painting the face.

#3 Understand how color mixing works

Color is like a thread that holds all elements together to reveal beauty in art. I used to be a very chaotic painter with somewhat intuitive understanding of color and its importance in art…

I think of my color scheme before I begin painting. It helps me create visual unity in the end. However, I also allow myself to deviate from the plan if I see it’s working in a new way. Sometimes I repaint the entire painting like that, and other times I just follow the reference photo 100 percent. My understanding of color and color harmony keeps evolving year after year. I discover fresh color combinations by extrapolating and simplifying the information I see in front of me.

oil painting techniques color mixing — I pre-mix batches of color and make color strings by adding the titanium white to every original color string. This painting technique is necessary to control values in art.

Study art history to create beautiful contemporary art

I often study paintings created before and during the 19th-century to understand the use of color harmony by great artists. There are different approaches to color mixing in oil painting.

The_Inspiration_of_Saint_Matthew_by_Caravaggio By Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio – http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/caravaggio/matthew.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136502

The old masters painted with black and browns for the most part, placing one strong color front and center to make a statement. Notice how red fabric revolves around the figure moving us around the painting in a spiral. In this painting by Caravaggio you can see that he creates strong contrast. White and red appear much stronger due to value and color contrast made with brown-black.

I don’t know how Velasquez or Caravaggio would have worked without the use of black. Their high-contrast paintings taught me to focus on placement of shadows, not the details. I also learned to have have 1-2 “leading” colors muting the rest of them with the use of greys and browns.

woman holding a balance Johannes Vermeer, 1664 — Woman holding a balance Johannes Vermeer, 1664

Both Vermeer and Ingres had subtle, controlled palettes that revealed beauty through color unity and softness. Vermeer painted cool light coming from a single window illuminating the figure. His figures are not illuminated by the candle light, rather they bath in natural light.

Kramskoy_forest ranger close up , russian painting — Kramskoy, forest ranger close up | 19th century Russian art | This is one of the greatest Russian artists who painted life-like portraits of common folk. Here we focus on intense gaze of the man because his face has a lot of detail, light and color while the rest of the painting has soft edges and muted background.

ClaudeMonet-The-Houses-of-Parliament-at-Sunset-1903

The Impressionists painted without the use of black. Their paintings taught me to see color in shadows. Blues and purples in the afternoon shadows… Greens in the face…

Godward, lady in purple — Godward, Lady in purple

Painted by John William Godward, this painting is a great example of artistic excellence that shows us how the artist controls his color palette skillfully. Beautiful purples of the dress harmonize with the model’s scarf and flowers, blooming behind her. Her blue sash harmonizes perfectly with the color of the sea and the sky. White marble creates contrast and separates the figure from the background. Placed at a diagonal, a dark fan harmonizes with the woman’s large pillow set behind her.
The diagonals of her legs, torso and arms create a subtle movement inside the picture that lets us travel across the painting. Every element is in such balance and relationship to one another that we perceive it as an absolutely beautiful painting, admiring the realistic details we can all see. Such beautiful realistic paintings set a very high bar for any contemporary realist artist to live up to.

Color mixing in contemporary art painting

Color mixing is the hardest part to master in oil painting, in my opinion. Even when your drawing is pretty good, oil painting can still be a huge challenge because of a different approach to color mixing. That’s why even when you get the exact list of colors used in artist’s artwork, you can’t really re-create the same beautiful result you see on YouTube on in art museum.

Artists have various approaches to color mixing. Some paint in full color from the start, others work on detailed underpainting before moving to color. Some pre-mix colors, others prefer using tube colors. There is no wrong or right approach. The oil painting technique comes with experience and varies in accordance with artist’s personality.

Over the years I learned different ways of painting and I use them in a combination. I suggest learning from several artists that you admire by taking their workshops, classes or online courses. And then practice, practice, practice!

Oil painting in full color is much harder than drawing. Why? Because artists have to match color, color temperature and value in one stroke as opposed to achieving the same result via layering in colored pencils or watercolor. Therefore, we must have a system in place to make these decisions consistently as we paint.

Drawing in colored pencil leads to color vibrancy naturally because colored pencils don’t mix to gray. However, oil painting is a lot more complicated because the artist needs to give “light” to the paint. A few pure colors become beautiful by juxtaposing them with grays and neutrals, not by painting everything screaming bright with out-of-the-tube colors. This took me years to grasp!

1. To organize myself, I often paint in full color over the underpainting. Underpainting is like a good set up to establish line drawing and contrast.

2. I premix batches of color for large areas to have consistency and color unity throughout my painting.

The strip of grays represents the value scale. It’s mixed from 3/4 ivory black+1/4 warm brown with the increments of titanium white. I use the grays to neutralize my tube colors! It’s rare to see vibrant (high-chroma) objects. So most colors must be toned down to give realistic effect.

3. I premix color strings for skin tones as well. Colors vary depending on my project.

4. I use few colors to achieve colorful result. Less is more in oil painting. So, I know what color mixes I get by mixing them with each other daily. I used to keep color strings to remember my results. Now it’s intuitive based on my experience.

5. Use your palette knife, not the brush to mix the color strings. It’s the only way to mix large, clean batches of color.

6. To keep color mixtures fresh for more than one day, I wrap them up in wax paper. Airtight oil paint stays fresh for 3+ days on average.

Glazing is one of the old masters techniques when artists glaze transparent colors over the refined underpainting to build up hues in progression. One area can be glazed several times to increase depth and to enrich colors. Artists wipe off the extra paint to increase transparency and even application. Glazing darkens the surface, so artists must think of the end result in advance of using this technique. I show this oil painting technique in detail in my online class. Click on the link to see a preview.

7. I step back from my painting often to see major shapes and contrast as opposed to focusing on details.

8. I use a wide, soft brush to blend the strokes in the end of every painting session.

#4 Use good brushes

If you’ve tried painting, you know how hard it is to find a good set of brushes. Many of them are flimsy or too soft to spread the paint around. Or they shed hairs like a cat.🐈 Others don’t keep the fine point necessary to paint the details. I went through so many brushes trying to find something that really works for oil painting. You have no idea!

1. Use stiffer, synthetic brushes for your underpainting because the first layer doesn’t go smoothly and can be spread out with a bit of a solvent (Gamsol), not the medium. Both the solvent and textured canvas surface wear out fine brushes super quickly!

2. When you layer oil paint over the underpainting, it layers smoother but still needs just a bit of medium to have the flow. This is the stage when having good brushes is critical to painting subtle transitions and details. Here are a few cheap buys that work. I find that Simply Simmons brushes are cheap but durable and have a good spring to them for painting. For detailed work I really like Ebony Splendor by Creative Mark. This brand has a variety of small brushes. Rosemary brushes are fabulous. Also I find that painting on large canvas is much easier with W&N Galeria brushes.

3. I find that the length of the brush handle makes no difference in painting. In fact, if you do detailed work, you want to minimize your hand’s movement to remain precise. I don’t see how long handles help artists with that.

4. I keep a wide, super soft brush (3/4 or 1″) for blending large areas to soften everything before I quit painting for a day. It doesn’t matter what brand it is as long as it’s soft like watercolor brushes are.

5. It’s important to take care of your brushes to make them last. I’ve noticed that solvents tear them down quite quickly. That’s why I take the paint off with a paper towel and then use a soap bar to clean them after every painting session.

#5 Be kind to yourself

If you’re like me, I’m very hard on myself doing, well, anything. I try to do my best and if it doesn’t come out any good, I often feel devastated. By being aware of this problem, I try to refocus and see what I actually did right. I also enjoy the very act of painting. Every painting makes me one step closer to my goal. I’m lucky I can paint and it makes me feel grateful that I have this opportunity. What about you?

Basic Art supplies:

Transfer paper:

Loew-Cornell C101-1 4-Piece Grey Transfer Paper https://amzn.to/2Zx3Wyv

White transfer paper: https://amzn.to/3gAaPFo or https://amzn.to/2XMdBPg

Panels: Ampersand gessobord: https://amzn.to/2WWioP1

Da Vinci pro Panels: https://amzn.to/36qrgQf

Jack Richeson panels: https://amzn.to/3gfk6CI

Mono eraser: https://amzn.to/3e6SHRw
Kneaded eraser: https://amzn.to/3gaZWtH
Don’t buy the cheapest canvases! Their gesso is (white ground) is very low quality that affects everything from paint application to oil paint adherences to archival properties. Affordable, good canvas: https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-9265447-13717235?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dickblick.com%2Fproducts%2Ffredrix-gallerywrap-cotton-canvas%2F%3FclickTracking%3Dtrue%26wmcp%3Dpla%26wmcid%3Ditems%26wmckw%3D07106-1002&cjsku=07106-1002
Oil paint: Gamblin intro set: https://amzn.to/2zt5gbd

Linseed oil: https://amzn.to/3ebrixQ or https://amzn.to/2LWkdoP

Varnish for oil and acrylic paintings only: https://amzn.to/3bUJ2fh

Messenger, colored pencil drawing with glitter and resin, 16×20 inches, a close-up

If you find this article helpful, forward it to a friend. thank you! 🙂

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Two solvent-free colored pencil blending techniques

Posted on June 24, 2019November 14, 2023 by veronica

Most of you know that we can blend colored pencils with solvents or the colorless blender. In this article I’d like to share some other blending techniques that don’t require blending with Gamsol. While these blending techniques may not be brand new, I discovered these methods by experimenting with my colored pencil drawing.

Because blending with solvents may look harsh on drawing paper not every drawing is a good candidate for it. I think solvents help a lot when you draw on textured surface or the size of your drawing paper is very large and you want to cover and build the tones in the background. Not every artist likes blending with the solvents. So here is the alternative to that.

Colored pencil blending without the use of solvents

visionary art veronica winters — Plunge, 19x25in, colored pencil on paper | https://veronicasart.com/product/plunge/

In this drawing titled “Plunge” 19×25″ I used both blending techniques discussed below.

Finesse Colored Pencil blender pen is formulated to blend wax-based colored pencils like Prismacolor Premier and Caran d’Ache Luminance. It won’t do much blending for harder pencils like Polychromos but you’ll still see some blending occurring because all colored pencils have some wax in them.

This pen is very convenient because it has two tips and you can’t spill it like solvents. It’s also non-toxic and easy to carry around or store in a colored pencil box.

I find that it dries out quite quickly however.

I blend large areas in the background using Finesse. I continue drawing over the blended areas after that to make colors even more vibrant.

Winsor & Newton Pigment marker, white blender is a very soft white. It’s not suitable to make strong, white highlights but what I discovered working with it is more useful. Once I’ve done some colored pencil shading, I can blend everything with this marker. It does give some white tint to the surface but it also blends colored pencil well. So I use it when I want to both blend and lighten up the area. I think it could be replaced with a different brand to have the same effect but you need to always TEST your art maetrials on a separate piece of paper.

Winsor & Newton permanent markers and sakura pen | You can buy the W&N white blender separately. Also, you can try using the Sakura pen gives very strong white highlights.

I use W&N white pigment marker to blend and lighten up the entire area seen at the bottom right. I also blend some of the bubbles here.

Always test your ideas on a separate piece of paper before committing to actual drawing! It’s very frustrating to ruin your colored pencil drawing testing something new right on it.

Check out all video courses here:https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/

Why are artists depressed? Natural ways to find freedom from childhood trauma, addictions & negative thinking

Posted on June 15, 2019November 14, 2023 by veronica

self-portrait_facing-forty_the-dark-side-16x20_3-sm

Why are artists so depressed? The paradox of creativity and sadness

We experience depression at different stages in our lives. Sometimes it seems so permanent to our existence that we just learn to manage it, knowing it’s always there. Other times, it comes in unexpectedly after a traumatic event (like death in the family or a stressful event). However, artists are a lot more prone to depression because we are very sensitive people and mood swings “feed” our ability to create art. Yes, there are many happy artists, but there are a lot more unhappy ones.

Mood disorders are stigmatized. Depression is often associated with craziness, which is not the case. There are no voices, delusions or paranoia involved, depression is the state of a very deep, profound sadness and loneliness. There is a loss of joy and interest in daily activities.

According to various separate studies, artists have up to 18 times the rate of suicide seen in the general population, 8-10 times the rate of depression, and 10-20 times the rate of manic-depression. But this link between depression and creativity is not clear. I think that feelings that arise from depression actually help us create personal art, the one that matters in the long run. Moreover, by creating art we heal.

Famous people who either committed suicide or fight with depression:

The number of persons in creative fields believed or known to suffer or have suffered mood disorders is staggering. Over 50 percent of the 15 abstract expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko had mood disorders, suicidal thoughts and alcohol abuse. 18th and 19th century poets including Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf and Silvia Plath suffered from depression. It’s speculated that Vincent Van Gogh was bipolar. The Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had depressive thoughts that you’ll find written in his letters.

In modern world, famous singers, actors, fashion designers, and artists-Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Robert Williams, Kate Spade and Alexander McQueen committed a suicide, despite their fame and family support. Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia in “Star Wars”) struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. Bipolar, singer and songwriter Sinead O’Connor tried to kill herself 8 times in one year. Other famous people who deal with mood swings include Demi Lovato, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

It’s important to understand that a lot of artists who struggle with depression abuse alcohol, drugs and engage in risky behavior to numb the pain they feel inside. This is an emotional pain that doesn’t leave a person. This pain is self-destructive, and it often hurts not only them but also spouses, children and friends who have to deal with their depressive state of mind every day.

veronica winters oil painting — Everything that falls, 16x20in, oil painting on panel

Depression in artists and its causes

Depression and its effects are difficult to categorize. Mood disorders that include both depression ( unipolar disorder) and manic-depression ( bipolar disorder) is a scale of intensity levels. Some artists experience it once a year while others deal with depression every day. There are several types of bipolar disorder: bipolar I, bipolar II, rapid-recycling, mixed bipolar and cyclothymia. Common symptoms of bipolar people include loss of energy, sporadic sleeping and concentrating, while on the other side of the spectrum they have euphoria, feeling ecstatic or irritable. Bipolar artists flip between these two opposing states.

While I’m not a physician, I do believe that you must seek professional help dealing with this problem. However, many can’t afford health insurance or these services may not be covered here in the U.S., and therefore it’s up to us to find a solution. I do know that causes for depression differ and could be one or a combination of reasons that I list below. It’s important to understand yourself and to figure out why you have it because then you know what you need to heal firsthand, while seeking professional help. If not genetic, depression is widely psychological, and while prescription drugs may help you level out the mood swings and cope, understanding and treating your deep emotional wounds is necessary to see permanent change. When wounding is not deep and you experience mild melancholia, you may need just a few sessions with a psychologist. But if you’ve had some serious psychological trauma, please find an experienced psychologist to help you heal.

These are some of the causes for the depressive state of mind:

Deep psychological trauma in childhood
Physical abuse/ rape (Most deep wounding happens in childhood. Patrick Melrose TV series illustrates this problem really well.)
Rejection of you, your pursuits, your art, and as a result
Unhappiness/unmet expectations with work/ career
Hardships/day to day financial and psychological struggles
Traumatic event(s) that cause PTSD
Death in the family
Nonacceptance of your sexuality by family and friends
Postpartum depression
Genetic depression that runs in families

Childhood trauma

When a child experiences traumatic events, he begins the disconnect from his essence and the Source. This disconnect widens over time, especially if traumatic events continue to batter down the child to adulthood. Trauma can range from physical abuse to psychological abuse to neglect. When the child grows up, he forms his world view and the perception of reality. The adult has already developed unique patterns of behavior and thinking based on his response to trauma. Some common outcomes of trauma include anxiety, PTSD, fears, fobias, alcoholism, workaholism, sex addiction, eating disorders, drug use and depression. The trauma that happened in childhood triggers people to continue unhealthy behavior for good. Over time the adult tries to numb painful emotions with addictions. These addictions soothe the ‘wounded child’ for some time but when it wears off the person feels even worse than before. Not every abused adult becomes addicted to substances but all addicted people were abused at some point in their life.

According to Dr. Gabor Mate, childhood trauma leads to addictions. He says that the addiction is the response to human suffering. It’s an attempt to escape suffering or emotional pain.

People get stuck in the past in their minds and what becomes vital is to let go of of the past in order to heal from trauma completely. By changing the old patterns of behavior and replacing them with new, positive experiences, the person can set himself free from the past. As children we were all happy. The idea is to come back to that happy inner child by reconnecting to your true self. By learning how to love yourself first, we can become fully present to give love to others.

Gabor Maté CM (born January 6, 1944) is a Hungarian-born Canadian physician. He has a background in family practice and a special interest in childhood development and trauma, and in their potential lifelong impacts on physical and mental health, including on autoimmune disease, cancer, ADHD, addictions, and a wide range of other conditions.
Now retired from clinical practice, he travels and speaks extensively on these and related topics, both in North America and abroad. His books have been published internationally in over twenty-five languages. Maté’s approach to addiction focuses on the trauma his patients have suffered and looks to address this in their recovery, with special regard to indigenous populations around the world.

Support & Prevention: natural ways to free your mind

We often feel ashamed to talk about our emotions. As artists we often experience self-doubt. We question our abilities to create art because we’re not sure if we’re good enough. This limiting belief affects how we perceive the world and how we approach creating art. What’s there to make if everyone else is doing a great job already, right? And this is when self-doubt transforms into negative thinking over time. There are many artists who suffer from depression and anxiety. While the root causes may be very different for people experiencing that, artists often feel tormented and paint it on canvas. These negative feelings can feed the creativity and there is a lot of art from the past that shows just that. Edvard Munch’s “the Scream” comes to mind…Depression affects how we perceive our reality. Most of us have personal moments that became traumatic to our daily life. They shaped us to react to the world through the prism of our learned fears. Trauma could be as simple as harsh judgment or as difficult as rape. While it’s not our fault that we were mistreated it becomes our responsibility to overcome the problems we end up facing. People and events that hurt us won’t come back to ask for our forgiveness. Yet we become the prisoners of our own mind that was altered to survive. To free our mind or to let go of of all the negativity stored inside us we can turn to a friend, psychologist or daily meditation. But there is a lot more to emotional healing.

By overcoming your problems you free your mind from everything that makes you feel miserable. By making consistent, little positive changes daily you learn to fill your heart with love and new experiences once again. While regular therapy sessions can help you heal deep emotional pain, it can take a really long time that could stretch into years. However, by adopting different activities that give you enjoyment, you could speed up your recovery process.

illusion 24x36 oil on panel--veronica winters painting — illusion 24×36 oil on panel

Here are some of the things you can do to help yourself cope and get out of depression:

As artists we often feel helpless because there is very little encouragement, help or affordable mentorship available to us. Society and family often reject us that either builds stamina or sets you on a spiral of depressive thinking.

If you really want to get out of a vicious circle, make a decision to forgive people in your past, have a strong will to change yourself, and find a mission bigger than yourself. Stick to it!

Discover a goal/mission that helps others, not just you. Step out of your bubble to become part of a cause or community you care about. Get out of your home with ‘fake it till you make it’ attitude because giving makes your life meaningful. Remember, that there are so many others who struggle the same way you do and also need your love and support!
Find positive, like-minded individuals, artists, people of other professions who enjoy the arts. Let go off negative people in your life. They won’t change, but you can by letting them go and focusing on those who care. (If you live in a remote location, Facebook groups may help you connect with others).
Work to find something that brings you joy every day. This includes exercise, yoga, walking, reading. Sometimes it’s just talking to another human.
Share your story in your art. This art becomes personal and strong. Frida’s story comes to mind. Art has healing powers. Hannah Gadsby’s stand up does just that.
Focus on your artistic goals. Find a role model and grow to believe in yourself.
Give Love to someone you care about.
Make a positive note to yourself when you feel unbelievably happy. Open it up when you feel emptiness and sadness.
Watch videos on YouTube that will help you overcome your negative thinking. Tony Robbins comes to mind.
Suicide prevention:1-800-273-8255 https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

Art Therapy

By doing any art form you love like music, writing, painting, poetry, collage, sculpture, video, photography – it can help you re-process your negative feelings to release them into the Universe. Art has powerful healing properties because it caters to our emotions, not logic. That’s one of the reasons why we go to art museums. We want to release stress and to find inspiration. We put art on the wall to experience positive emotions. Why not letting yourself experience that more often? Your art activity could be as simple as page coloring or as advanced as taking drawing art course.

Hypnosis

It turns out hypnotherapy could be yet another tool to break us free from anxiety and negative thinking. Hypnosis is not a pixie dust, but it allows for considerable personal growth if you have innate desire to change some habits in life that no longer serve you. Mr. Browning explains that it’s about starting with a slight “course correction” in thinking that creates new neural pathways to replace the old ones in our minds. By overcoming your problems you become much stronger inside because you free your mind from everything that makes you feel miserable. As a result you become more present and self-aware. By making consistent, little positive changes every day you learn to fill your heart with love and new experiences once again.

In this interview with a certified hypnotherapist, James Browning we discuss mental blocks, creativity, anxiety, affirmations and so much more!

James Browning, CCHt received his formal education at the Hypnotheraphy Training Institute in Corte Madera, CA, the oldest hypnosis school in the U.S. Mr. Browning holds certifications of Master Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Regression Specialist, and Clinical Hypnotherapist.

“It’s time you forgive yourself for everything you did or didn’t do,” Mr. Browning said.

Hypnotherapy is not about losing your mind, allowing a hypnotherapist to take full control of it. It’s about allowing yourself to overcome the past, your pain points, insecurities, as well as giving yourself a chance to create positive space inside your mind and heart to feel secure, creative, productive, and to live your life to your fullest potential. Hypnotherapy would help you free your mind and let go of things that hold you back, if you’re determined and persistent in changing your life around.

By going to his site, you can listen to a number of free hypnosis audio lessons to reduce anxiety, stress, worry, and pain. Listen to self-hypnosis for improved creativity audio, improved self-image audio, relaxation audio, anxiety reduction & sleep induction: https://browninghypnotherapy.com/free-audio/

Ayahuasca treatment

There is an alternative way to accepted methods of treatment. People travel to Peru & Ecuador to experience the power of ayahuasca natural medicine. There is only one church in the U.S. that offers a very safe way to have transformational experiences working with sacred medicine. Check out the Soul Quest of Mother Earth in Orlando https://www.ayahuascachurches.org/ You can watch Unwell series on Netflix. One of the episodes is dedicated to that church.

I hope this article helps you or someone you know to understand yourself, grow spiritually and find a permanent solution to problems many of us face. My visionary art exists to give you a sense of peace and love.

Check out visionary art for sale

Other resources on the web:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/08/new-study-claims-to-find-genetic-link-between-creativity-and-mental-illness
Life and Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, paperback, 2004
The Van Gogh Blues: the creative Person’s path through depression, paperback, 2007

Artists create art, cope with depression

This article was originally published in the Voices of Central Pennsylvania, November 1, 2012 | http://voicesweb.org/artists-create-art-cope-depression

It seems like a stereotype—the artist struggles through emotional turmoil, the struggle feeds the works of genius—but there may be more than a fabled link between mood disorders and art. According to various separate studies, artists have up to 18 times the rate of suicide seen in the general population, 8-10 times the rate of depression, and 10-20 times the rate of manic-depression.

Depression and its effects are also difficult to categorize. Mood disorders that include both depression ( unipolar disorder) and manic-depression ( bipolar disorder) have vastly different intensity levels. Some artists are affected by it mildly a few times a year while others experience depression daily throughout their lifetime. Depression can even be genetic.

The number of persons in creative fields believed or known to suffer or have suffered mood disorders is staggering. Over 50 percent of the 15 abstract expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko had mood disorders, suicidal thoughts and alcohol abuse. 18th and 19th century poets including Emily Dickinson are thought to have suffered from depression. An artist doesn’t have to be internationally known to struggle with depression. Five local artists running the gamut from a rock musician to a landscape painter speak frankly here about depression and the arts.

June Ramsay is a multi-media artist with twenty years’ experience in hand-dying fabrics. She is also an oil painter whose works have been featured in the Arts Fest “Images” show.

Cole Hons is a rock singer, band leader, and poet who also has worked as a journalist for CDT and now is a New Media Writer/Producer for the Center for Sustainability at Penn State.

Roxanne Naydan is a pastels painter with a bachelor’s degree in fine art and a masters in visual art. She has illustrated the book of poetry, Selected Poetry of Lina Kostenko: Wanderings of the Heart (Garland Publishers, 1990), and her painting, “Eerie Orchard”, appears on the cover of the book of poetry The Narcoleptic Yard (Black Lawrence Press, 2009).

William Snyder III is a mixed-media artist with an MFA in printmaking from Penn State (2005). Snyder serves as the president of the SoVA Alumni Group and on the College of Arts and Architecture’s Alumni Society Board at Penn State.

Suicide is painless?

For some artists who deal with depression, a downturn in mood can lead to thoughts of suicide.

June Ramsay is genetically predisposed to depression and said she thought of killing herself for the first time when she was just 5 years old.

“I was sitting beneath the sink, looking at all sorts of cleaning products thinking ‘which one would do it,’” she said.

Those occasional suicidal thoughts did not simply vanish.

“Yes, there have been several times in my adulthood when thoughts of suicide have plagued me,” wrote Ramsay. “Sometimes, I can visualize hurting myself and that can lessen the urge, another time I actually did cut myself and that was enough to ease the desire to kill myself, and another time I called a friend at 2 a.m. and she talked me through it. She battled depression and anxiety too. She also survived a gang rape at a fraternity party during her first week of college, which is surviving a hell of a lot in my opinion. If she could get better and move beyond her pain, then so could I. It really helps to have someone to talk to, who really gets where you are coming from.

Psychological studies of artists demonstrate that Ramsay is not unusual among artists for her suicidal tendencies. A. Preti and P. Miotto released a study in 1999 that included 3093 eminent international artists from the past two centuries: 1300 writers, 692 poets, 267 dramaturgians and comedians, 210 architects, 531 painters, and 93 sculptors. Fifty-nine suicides were recorded from this sample. A suicide rate of 1.9 percent among artists was only slightly higher than that measured in the U.S. population in 2010 (1.24 percent) but that statistic did not include deaths from drug or alcohol abuse.

The Preti and Miotto study found that poets and writers were more likely than any other group of artists to commit suicide, but some subsets of artists have been found even more likely to struggle with suicidal tendencies. In 1995, three scholars in the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry put forth a study that showed half of the 15 20th-century abstract-expressionist artists suffered from mood disorders; with a suicide rate over 13 times higher the national U.S. average (1995).

Musicians were not included in the Preti and Miotto study, but they too can be deeply affected by mood disorders and fight off suicidal thoughts.

“To be honest, I have had flashes of suicidal imagery run through my mind in the past…just images, though,” wrote Cole Hons via email. “Never any serious planning or attempts. In my late teens & early 20s I had a romanticized idea of death–I used to dream of having some perfect night with a lover and then dying at the end.

“Looking back, I see that my adolescent self really bought into our culture’s idealized self-destructive artist bullshit– you know, the whole Jim Morrison trip…during that time, I was such a perfectionist that if I played a show where I didn’t perform my songs perfectly, I thought I deserved to die. I guess I was just so pathetically self-absorbed at the time, I honestly couldn’t see how stupid that would be. There’s this song I wrote later in that phase of my life called “See the Light” that is essentially about staring into that abyss and choosing to live.”

Hons revisited these feelings slightly later in life, and at that point, conquered them.

“I also went through a really dark period after my band and my long-term relationship broke up,” wrote Hons. “It was difficult for me to transition to being a parent with a regular day job. During this phase, I was plagued with dreams about hanging myself. I actually had a very vivid dream in the year 2001 where I was hanging by the neck in my attic for a long, long time—days and days—but just couldn’t seem to die. So I finally untied myself, stepped down and got on with my life. Since that time, I’ve been completely free of any suicidal thoughts and & feelings—thankfully!”

Hons made a short video called “Forgiving” for a contest in 2008; it is now being used by a Canadian health organization to help treat youth with depression, and part of their mission is suicide prevention. “They just stumbled across my video about 6 months ago and contacted me to ask permission to use it,” wrote Hons. “It made me really happy that it’s being used for this.”

What sometimes saves the artist’s life is concern for those who would be devastated by his or her death.

“Yes, I contemplate it even to this day, on occasion,” wrote Roxanne Naydan. “What prevents me is the negative IMPACT it might potentially have on my daughter Lilja.”

Spiraling into depression can be brought on by a variety of triggers—financial strains, hormonal changes, challenging life events, even the strain of living as an artist.

William Snyder III experienced depression for the first time as a freshman in college. Worrying about his finances and relationship anxiety overwhelmed the artist.

“I was lonely, self-focused with the loss in direction,” he said. “I experienced anxiety and tried to prove myself through drawing because it was the only thing I knew.”

Depression is thought to be linked to hormonal changes since twice as many women as men in the general public are effected. By the age 15, girls are twice as prone to depression as boys. Traumatic events in an artist’s life, coupled with depression and hormonal changes, can lead to a persistent change in mood.

Landscape painter Susan Nicholas Gephart was shaken by her brother’s death when she was 11.

“There was no counseling, just an effort to live on as if everything was ‘OK,’” said Gephart. This seemed to create a feeling of a security blanket being removed. I felt fearful and very shy about anything new, even into my 20s. As the years went on I became very interested about understanding the root of emotions, feelings, and what caused them. I read magazines and studied psychology in school. Poetry and painting became a regular way for me to express myself and try to relax.”

Depressive moods are also often tied to the seasons. Many artists experience picks of creativity during spring and fall, while winter blues are characterized by manic periods or melancholia. Changes in mood can be traced in both the amount of completed work and personal letters written by artists in the past. Artists’ correspondence is well documented in popular books. Early American poet Emily Dickinson’s spikes in creativity were recorded and dated in her numerous works; the winter seasons were marked with a prolonged absence of creative output.

“It’s a struggle that is deeper, harder, more intense. It’s a big grey cloud coming from nowhere often in winter,” June Ramsay said.

Just the act of engaging in the arts as a career can lead to depressive periods.

“There is indeed a constant struggle of feast and famine in the art world,” said Gephart. “The uncertainty of sales and even filling a class enrollment are never a for sure situation. The general public also perceives art as a game and not a ‘serious career.’ An artist can exhaust herself just trying to juggle so many balls to pay the bills. There is also the reality that once you create something wonderful, for you to continue to grow and gain respect in the art world, you must keep doing it over and over….forever.”

This state can become so exhausting, according to artist William Snyder, that artists seek work outside their field just to ease not just the financial but emotional burden.

“It came down to the time ratio between drawing and money,” said Snyder. “Drawing was so time-consuming it was equal to simple waste of time. My solid job changed that ratio. I found fulfillment [doing something else I enjoy besides drawing]. I began to think outside myself. I noticed that my art work shifted when I was no longer depressed.”

Working as an artist also means facing rejection, which can start the process of self-doubt, self-denial, heightened vulnerability and despair. Some self-medicate, abusing alcohol and drugs, while others like Gephart strengthen their knowledge of art as a business.

“Art is certainly an insecure job, but it can be balanced by the love of creating and believing things are possible,” said Gephart. “As an adult who has taught art for over 30 years to all ages, I have come to believe art can heal and should be for all to experience, just like reading a book or riding a bike. I was fortunate to stay home with my 3 children and raise them while I painted and did volunteer work hanging shows, etc. I learned more about the business of art on my own than in college during my BFA. Now, as a mentor to teen artists, I always encourage them to understand marketing or consider a duel degree with business and art.”

Easing the pain

A career in art may be the problem, but can also be the solution.

Cole Hons is a rock musician who sees his performances as an addiction to the experience of intense emotional release.

“Musicians are often extremely sensitive people who, just like anybody else, are exposed to suffering and pain,” said Hons. “Being so sensitive, many go looking for medicine. That might be alcohol and drugs. But in my view, the music itself is the biggest and best medicine of all.”

Because feelings of loneliness and emptiness are prevalent, some artists become obsessed with understanding human existence, think of life, death, and spirituality, and often find meaning in depicting these obsessions in art. The Abstract Expressionists were consumed with depiction of tragedy, death, and timelessness. By painting these themes artists find temporary relief from loneliness.

“I struggle every day. We are loners. We deal with some sort of pain. When I’m hurting I use reality to create that world through painting,” Roxanne Naydan said.

By painting what’s meaningful in their lives some artists also find psychological relief in the act of painting. Living on the edge of life, artists experience a positive influence of sudden mood changes as well: they imagine and create easily, capturing rapidly moving thoughts and emotions.

“Creative artistic people have deep emotions that just toss them for loop! As a mentor to teens and college age artists, I have come to see many of them struggle with feelings of sadness,” said Gephart. “Nothing they can pinpoint, just there. It has to make me think that partly the way their brains are designed opens doorways to struggle. I’ve also noticed that when they are creating, they seem at peace. Makes me wonder if we could all just paint, may be the bad stuff would slip away.”

In 1989, Johns Hopkins Hospital professor Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison interviewed a group of artists, 90 percent of which said that very intense moods and feelings were either necessary and integral or very important to the creation of art. Art is created in response to the environment and to the artist’s own emotional struggle. Art also has an undeniable therapeutic effect on our brain. May writers stated that they write to relieve themselves from a burden and communicate through their work.

June Ramsay created a poem and a painting using compost as a metaphor for depression. She worked her way out through painting. Experiencing serious health problems with her foot, Ramsay came to the point of acceptance through painting and finds release from her struggles.

“At the time, I was trying to think of ways that depression might have some positives, like what gifts could it bring to its sufferer,” said Ramsay. “I know there have been times in my life that once I got through the darkness (often with spiritual help, light, and encouragement of others) that I felt I had gained some type of enlightenment or awareness that I could have never gotten otherwise.”

“When the need for a cry is over I let myself back into reality by painting Nature,” Naydan said. ”I love my relationship with it. Nature calms and inspires me. I love painting the light. When there is a loss, there is a wish to recreate what you had and I resolve my longing through painting.”

Musicians and other performance artists also heal themselves through their arts.

“When people sing, play, or dance to music it’s similar to being in love. It’s the act of reuniting with others and experiencing healing together,” Cole Hons said.

Artists often use themselves as essential material for creativity. Some artists have said that they feel they have a heightened sensitivity, and that the energetic moods of a manic phase lend them the capacity to convey unusual thoughts and visionary ideas. Artists have heightened sensitivity and take risks that contribute to the creation of artwork.

“There is some type of heightened awareness, spiritual connection looking at nature and seeing the world differently,” June Ramsay said describing her her experiences during painting retreats.

The depressive phase also serves its purpose to the artist. It gives a chance for contemplation, self-analysis and search for life’s meaning. Deeper comprehension of feelings like love, sorrow, and pain leads writers to create characters with real emotions.

“Depression was the muse, the inspiration for me back then [during depressive phases],” said Snyder. “I didn’t see how great life can be.”

“It’s healing to paint. It’s like a private language where people can glimpse at your soul without speaking,” Naydan said. “There are moments when you are longing for something and I fill that void through painting.”

Depressed people can be intense, have erratic sleep patterns and experience persistent feeling of loneliness even when they are surrounded by numerous people.

“The insecurities that developed in my preteens transformed into a serious problem with insomnia into adult life,” wrote Gephart. “I would wake and think for hours unable to return to sleep. Writing and painting helped. There was often a weight of deep sadness. Partly the past experiences deeply hidden, some of it perhaps being hereditary with family depression, and diet and seasonal light sensitivities.

“As an adult with children and being an artist working at home, I paid special attention to eating right, getting sunshine into my eyes with walks out side, or reading by a sunny window. Most certainly the thing that I noticed most was when I painted, I felt happy in just a few brush strokes. It was in the mid 80’s that it became clear to me that the mere action or process of creating caused some kind of positive chemical change in the way my brain perceived my life in the moment!”

But medication is necessary for some artists to take the edge off and bring temporary balance into artistic life. June Ramsay relies on a combination of medication and therapy.

“I’ve got to find something to keep me stable for my kids’ sake,” she said.

Concern for their children has even brought some artists out of their depression.

“You can’t be selfish when you have kids,” Snyder said. “I don’t hold on to depression anymore as I think outside myself.”

Feelings of hopelessness among artists often come from daily struggle and elevated stress levels associated with the artistic profession.

Many artists are solitary by nature and it becomes enormously hard to succeed when so much “success” depends on developed relationships with clients. Creative personalities must be persistent, driven, and self-motivated to make a career. Yet, reaching success in an artistic career proves to be irrelevant in many cases.

According to some studies famous artists in various fields had continued experiences of melancholia despite having gone through years of hard labor and rejections. Thus, the artist must seek another avenue outside of success, to find acceptance within himself or herself.

“I’ve developed a philosophy of ‘Fear No Art,’” wrote Gephart. “I am art and it is me. We are one in the same. The tears and fears of my past are still in me, but by living through it, I have developed coping strategies that help me when I’m down. I am lucky to know that it will pass if I keep moving forward towards my hopes as an artist.

“Part of my daily comfort comes from God or a ‘Higher Power’ than me. As a mature adult I know that I at times am fragile and weak. When I feel overwhelmed, alone, or sad, I speak openly to God who loves me as I am. In times of joy and especially when I paint Plein Air, I revel at the beauty of this Earth and have an attitude of ‘gratitude’ for this gift of air, land, and water. I guess this is my bottom line of support during depressed times. Being able to focus on gratitude or know that you are loved as is, helps so much to recover from the fragile state.”

Art Miami & Context Art Miami 2018: realism painting and more

Posted on December 17, 2018November 13, 2023 by veronica

yigal ozeri at art miami — Yigal Ozeri, New York-based artist paints women in hyperrealism style.

cesar santos in art basel miami — Painting by Cesar Santos, Cuban-American artist

Art Miami & Context Art Miami 2018: realism painting & much more

Generating insane foot traffic, both Art Miami and Context Art Miami are two art fairs I visit during the Art Basel week in Miami. In December Miami overflows with tourists, curators, and art collectors, visiting over 20 art fairs in just one week! If you decide to take part in this event, you can buy tickets online and see all of the offerings beforehand. Context Art Miami (adjacent to Art Miami) features more contemporary realism art than its counterparts and thus interests me more than other art fairs. The art fairs represent both American artists and international ones alike, including galleries from China, Korea, and Europe.

One of the reasons I go to these art fairs is inspiration. What I find interesting is to look at innovation in art materials use, textures and design. Sometimes, I don’t really care about a particular artwork, but its innovative combination of materials or subjects feeds up my creativity. I also enjoy seeing the excitement and commotion around the arts, which is rare in Naples, Florida.

Salustiano at art miami 2018 — Salustiano

elisa anfuso — Elisa Anfuso, Female Italian artist painting personal stories in realism style.

Another reason for many artists to see the shows is to network in the arts. I must say that most gallerists are very busy at the art fairs and hate to be approached by artists when they try to sell exhibited art. Art fair participation costs run in many thousands of dollars and gallery representatives are there to work. So if you’re an artist, be respectful of the gallerists. Yet, if you’re there to show your work, come in early before the opening when the crowds are not there yet and the gallery owners are more inclined to meet you in person. Parking would be much easier as well.

The art fairs show a lot of abstract art and painting but also include large-scale portrait photography and 3-D sculptures. Art crowds often gather around animated paintings or video paintings, lenticular photography and lenticular painting (see the video) or art that plays with perception, examples of which you can watch in my video. Also, depending on a person’s taste the roundup of art like you see here is vastly different in social media. Those who have a minimalist aesthetic post abstract/minimalist art, and figurative realism artists like me post representational art.

art miami 2018, spoke art — Spoke Art gallery having a blast selling art at the fair in Miami. | This was the busiest gallery by far, selling limited edition prints like hot cakes!

3-D sculpture @ Chase Contemporary played with my perception of reality big time.

Address: Art Miami + CONTEXT Pavilions, One Herald Plaza @ NE 14th Street, Downtown Miami, FL 33132

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5 great art gift ideas for women and men

Posted on November 16, 2018November 13, 2023 by veronica

Tired giving same old sweater, candle or mug for the holidays? Looking for meaningful art gifts that inspire and stay in the family for years to enjoy? Here are 5 great art gift ideas for an art enthusiast.

#1 Timeless beauty: portrait paintings

Splurge. Celebrate life with portrait paintings that bring peace and beauty home. Big or small, realistic paintings create soothing atmosphere at home and office.

sunshine by veronica winters 16x20_romantic paintings of women — Sunshine, oil and aluminum on archival panel, 16×20 inches, unframed. Click on the image to buy.

# 2 Personal touch: unique art gift ideas for women

Custom-printed tote bags

The perfect prep to start her busy day. Our custom-printed, vivid tote bags let her carry stuff to work, beach or go shopping in style. These tote bags come with unexpected benefits: strong handles and high-quality printing. No zipper. Black handles. Identical print is on both sides of the canvas bag.

Order the custom printed tote bags here.

Art Books

Cheers to the art book that goes wherever she or he does! “Art Lessons in realist drawing, painting, and beyond” includes interviews, pictures and demonstrations from leading contemporary realism artists. Grow your creativity and skill, making art that inspires others. You can order this book on this site or Amazon. https://veronicasart.com/product-category/art-instruction-books/

# 3 Inspiring art posters

Kiss the empty walls good-bye! Affordable art prints help decorate home and office with unique and colorful images. Every art poster is custom printed in California and delivered to your door. Head to the Art Posters section to pick your favorite!

#4 Uplifting as ocean’s breeze: Seascape Necklace handmade pendants with real starfish & sea shells

Add a bit of shimmer to her day. These handmade ocean pendants are totally one of a kind that keep fun memories near her heart! Made of resin and glitter, real starfish, sand dollars and seashells, these artful pendants come with sterling silver chains. Contact the artist for details about current selection.

# 5 For a serious beginner in colored pencil drawing: Colored Pencil Techniques Video Course

Give a gift to your mom, dad or that special person who loves to draw. This video course is perfect prep for every beginner in colored pencil drawing. For a limited time when you enroll into this course, you’ll receive promotional pricing and complementary support direct from the artist to complete your projects!

If you are serious about learning and would like to take your colored pencil drawing techniques to the next level, click here to watch a video and several preview lessons from the Veronica Winters Complete Colored Pencil Techniques video course! You’ll learn not only the basics of colored pencil drawing but also some important artistic concepts that make the Artist stand out from a crowd.

veronica winters complete colored pencil techniques video course — These are the video lessons included in the course.

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Highlights from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida

Posted on September 27, 2018November 13, 2023 by veronica

The State Art Museum of Florida, the Ringling museum has a neat collection of art, circus attributes, art books all in one place- a luxury winter home and gardens of the Ringlings.

John Ringling was a successful businessman who partly owned and operated the circus in the 1920s to become one of the richest men in the U.S. John Ringling and his wife Marble shared a passion for art, collecting art in Europe.

Highlights from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

Art Museum Highlights

The art museum has a pretty big collection of Flemish, Dutch, English & American Art as well as Italian, Spanish and French paintings and some sculptures. You can find their extensive collection online but the digital images are quite small and can’t replace the experience of seeing art in person. John Ringling built the initial collection between 1920s-30s that was later expanded by the museum curators.

Roman courtship

The tremendous size and beauty of this painting will leave you speechless. While this neoclassical style painting (with luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire) fell out of fashion by the 20th century, the artistic merit is obvious here. Strong design and composition, color harmony and a much lesser known story from Greek mythology will hypnotize you once you’re in the gallery.

Three sisters- three fates span the thread, while the oldest one cuts it, thus determining a man’s lifespan. I love how the cupid forms a circle around the couple with a bright garland of flowers. Soft greens of the fabric mimic the greens in a pillow, mosaics, and a marble bench.

Still life with plates

The Rringling art museum, Cristoforo Munari, Italian (1667-1720), Still life with plates, 1710, oil on canvas

This oil painting is remarkable thanks to realistic painting of textures. Various candied fruits, fruits, and breads looks incredibly rich and tasty. Their warm, orange tones contrast the cool blues of the vases and plates. During the 16th and 17th centuries sugar cane was very expensive in Europe and only the wealthy could afford purchasing it. The white pyramidal shape you see in this painting is the cane sugar itself.

Narcissus

While this painting’s chiaroscuro and fabric’s bright red are reminiscent of the Caravaggio’s work, the vivid blues of the sky are similar to the Venetian school of painting.

In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a beautiful young man who fell in love with his own reflection once he rejected Echo (who was unable to speak her love for him). When he died, Narcissus turned into a flower that we call the narcissus.

Still life with parrots

De Heem is one of my favorite realist Dutch painters. This school of painting loved to capture realistic textures of lavish objects. Such still life paintings expressed status and wealth of a person who commissioned the art. Rare parrots and seashells, exuberant silverware were expensive goods in the 17th-century Netherlands. The merchants often commissioned paintings to show off their wealth.

Sculpture

Circus Museum

Circus museum is a fun place to visit for adults and children alike who can learn about the industry’s history, actors, and circus acts in extensive displays that include wardrobes, props, wagons and posters.

CA’ D’ZAN House

Well, if you’ve visited Venice, Italy, you can certainly recognize its ornate Venetian Gothic style of the palazzi. The Ringlings had been traveling throughout Europe for decades and brought art and inspiration back home. Their winter home faces Sarasota Bay with a view. The house exhibits artwork, furniture and art objects.

Contact:

Home

5401 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, FL 34243

Open Daily 10am-5pm.

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de la Cruz Art Collection in Miami: Force and Form 2018 show

Posted on September 8, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

Located in the Miami Design District, de la Cruz Collection is a private, 30,000 square foot art museum displaying the contemporary art collection of Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz. Occupying a modern, 3-story white building, the art museum opened in 2009 to display the collection and to conduct lectures and workshops. Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz are the top 200 art collectors in the U.S., and it is amazing to see how much time, effort and finances this couple spared to build and maintain this art museum.

Force and Form

Force and Form brings together pivotal works from the collection to create a dialogue addressing a shift in artistic, as well as cultural, practice and form. The works respond to current issues of identity, gender, class, power, and the values that define our social fabric. The use of everyday materials and recycled imagery challenge traditional practices of sculpture, installation, and painting, while addressing the interaction between the human and mechanical gesture.

If you happen to see the galleries, the staff is incredibly friendly and accommodating to every person ringing the door bell. They are also eager to walk you through the installations. The downside is that the art show is hardly visual arts. Despite its monumental display and the scope of this art exhibition, most artwork is so conceptual, it leaves nothing for the eye to get excited about. And while the staff may explain the artwork to engage you some, this engagement would be limited to your perception and art appreciation in general. When I see such shows one of the questions that runs in my mind is how irrelevant the skill, talent, and knowledge have become in art production and sales. Almost anything can be named ART, while very few artworks deserve this definition. This is one of the reasons visitors feel confused looking at ART that makes no sense whatsoever and therefore doesn’t connect with the viewer on a visceral way. This purposeful deskilling of ART leads to and fosters public’s indifference to contemporary art in general, in my opinion.

Obviously, any private art collection is a matter of taste of the collectors, and should be viewed as such. It is nice of the couple to support the artists making purchases of their art. If you plan on buying art for your private art collection, I encourage you to rely on your aesthetics and support talented contemporary artists as well.

de la cruz collection 2018 — de la Cruz collection 2018 (Left: these white leaves are made of paper that are glued over the image to produce the 3-D effect. Top Right: Ana Mendieta is known for her feminist work that’s mainly installations in video and pictures.)

Artists in the Exhibition

Kathryn Andrews, Tauba Auerbach, Walead Beshty, Mark Bradford, Joe Bradley, Dan Colen, Martin Creed, Aaron Curry, Salvador Dalí, Peter Doig, Isa Genzken, Félix González-Torres, Mark Grotjahn, Wade Guyton, Guyton/Walker, Rachel Harrison, Arturo Herrera, Jim Hodges, Evan Holloway, Thomas Houseago, Alex Israel, Rashid Johnson, Alex Katz, Martin Kippenberger, Michael Krebber, Wifredo Lam, Glenn Ligon, Michael Linares, Nate Lowman, Adam McEwen, Ana Mendieta, Albert Oehlen, Laura Owens, Jorge Pardo, Manfred Pernice, Sigmar Polke, Seth Price, Sterling Ruby, Analia Saban, Josh Smith, Reena Spaulings, Rudolf Stingel, Rufino Tamayo, Kelley Walker, and Christopher Wool.

Contact:

Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00AM to 4:00PM. Admission free. Must call the doorbell to enter the museum (doors are locked even during the open hours).

23 NE 41 Street. Miami, FL 33137 | (305) 576-6112 | https://www.delacruzcollection.org/

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The Gilded Age Splendor: Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida

Posted on August 27, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

Located in Palm Beach, Florida, Flagler museum is a culturally rich and visually inspirational place to visit. Its 75 luxurious rooms, railway pavilion, beautiful grounds as well as lace and antiques collection are amazing and worth your visit. First, a beautiful home, then a luxury hotel, and finally the museum – Whitehall will pleasantly surprise you. Built as a wedding present for his wife, it used to be a winter home for the Flaglers between 1902-1913, attracting the wealthy into the area who were thoroughly entertained in the house.

The Gilded Age Splendor: Flagler Museum review

Who was Henry Flagler (1830-1913)?

flagler museum palm beach_flagler — Mr. Flagler, oil painting

The earliest land developer of Florida, Henry Flagler was a founding partner of Standard Oil corporation who also built luxury hotels across the state and a railway, linking the east coast of Florida from St. Augustine to Key West.

The rooms

John Carrère and Thomas Hastings designed Whitehall inspired by the Greek temples to Apollo. Symmetrical white marble columns, grand staircase, and the marble entrance hall evoke feelings of ancient beauty. Such visual architectural balance continues with the interior spaces. The New York firm designed the interiors of a 2-storied house. These rooms have designs and decorum of various epochs, including styles of Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, the Italian Renaissance, and Francis I.

In these pictures you can find some of the most beautiful rooms but not all! Novel steel beam construction, cast plaster ceilings, central heating, plumbing and electricity made the house a standout back in 1902.

flagler museum palm beach_rooms — Flagler museum, luxurious rooms and a bathroom! (bottom right).

Henry Flagler’s Railcar in the Flagler Kenan Pavilion

Built in 1886 for Flagler to travel across the state, you can find the original railcar in a special sunlit pavilion inside the museum. Flagler museum acquired and restored the Railcar No. 91 in late 1960-s. It’s a lot of fun to walk through its cozy rooms.

flagler museum lace — The historic museum has an extensive lace collection. I used to make lace when I was a teen and have a soft spot for lace designs today.

I hope this visual review encourages you to visit this historic museum soon! To learn more, please visit the official website of the Flagler Museum.

Contact: Open Tuesday-Sunday. https://www.flaglermuseum.us/

You can also buy a combined ticket for the house and the Breakers hotel, Henry Flagler’s second hotel in Palm Beach.

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10 beautiful art pieces at Lowe Art Museum in Miami

Posted on August 22, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

Situated on campus of the University of Miami, Lowe Art Museum is a neat find. The art collection has a little-bit-of-everything and spans across centuries, cultures and art styles. It’s worth your visit, if you swing by the neighborhood of Coral Gables and have a little bit of free time on your hands. Here are top 10 contemporary art pieces on display at the art museum.

Hands & Earth is a group exhibition of Japanese ceramics running between June 20-September 23, 2018. A private collection of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz is set as a traveling show to many art museums across the country. This exhibition has some most unusual and beautiful pieces of contemporary Japanese artists as well as the 20th century ones. Glazes and surface treatments are the most peculiar in this art show.

1. Kondo Takahiro, Seismic wave

lowe art museum_miami univ_seismic wave by Kondo Takahiro — Lowe art museum, Copyright Kondo Takahiro, Japanese, b. 1958 “Seismic wave” 2016, porcelain and glass

2. Pascale Monnin, Resurrection Angel

lowe art museum sculpture by pascale monnin_s — Copyright Pascale Monnin, Haiti, b.1974 “Resurrection Angel” 2011, pottery with raku glaze, wire, pearls and jewels. Soulful and fragile, this sparkling sculpture rotates around itself, suspended in a corner of a glass gallery in the art museum.

3. Tobacco Box, Japan

lowe art museum_miami univ_tobacco box japan — Tobacco Box, Japan, Edo Period, 1615-1868, 19th century wood, lacquer, mother of pearl, pewter. This elegant, stylized tobacco box captures the very essence of Japanese art and culture, evoking thoughts on simplicity, nature and beauty.

4. Masoumi Garashi, Untitled

lowe art museum_miami univ_shirt glass by masoumi garashi — Copyright Masoumi Garashi, Japanese, b.1972, Untitled, glass. Evocative of Karen Lamonte’ glass sculptures of hollow gowns, this glass sculpture makes us contemplate feelings of presence and absence.

5. Circle of Pieter de Grebber, Unequal Lovers (The trapped thief)

lowe art museum_miami univ_unequal lovers — 5. Circle of Pieter de Grebber (1600-53), Unequal Lovers (The trapped thief), 1650, oil on canvas. Humorous and theatrical, this painting depicts a satirical relationship between the lovers of different age and background that hints on exchange between youth and wealth.

6. Workshop of Andrea Del Sarto, Madonna and Child and the infant St. John

7. El Greco, Christ carrying the cross

lowe art museum_miami univ_el greco_christ carrying the cross — El Greco (1541-1614), b. in Greece, Spanish, “Christ carrying the cross,” 1595, oil on canvas. Most El Greco art is in Spain, but you can find some of his works scattered throughout the American museums. His amateurish style of painting led to a very honest, emotional depiction of his subjects.

8. Laura Donefer, Royal Amulet Basket

lowe art museum_miami univ_laura donefer_royal amulaet basket — Laura Donefer, American, b.1955, “Royal Amulet Basket” 2011, glass

Laura Donefer is known for her vivid, organic, blown and flameworked glass – the “Amulet Baskets.” These baskets are bursts of color, joy and energy.

9. William Carlson, Pragnanz Series

lowe art museum_miami univ_william carlson_pragnanz series sculpture — William Carlson, American, b.1950, “Pragnanz Series” 1980s, cast glass and granite

You need to experience William Carlson’s sculptures in person because you can barely see the intricate play of textures between glass and granite in pictures. The artist stacks and balances abstract shapes with amazing precision.

10. Dale Chihuly, Mosaic Persian

lowe art museum_miami univ_dale chihuly_mosaic persian_detail — 10. Dale Chihuly, American, “Mosaic Persian” 1998, detail, glass

Dale Chihuly is famous for his glass sculptures. Organic and colorful, the flowing shapes are reminiscent of the ocean’s floor.

Crappy Art Corner

Artists: Martin Disler (1949-96), “Untitled”, 1989 (right); Chryssa (1933-2013) “Americanoom”, steel and neon (top left); Jean-Paul Propelle and others.

Lowe Art museum is located on the grounds of the University of Miami.

1301 Stanford Drive,  Coral Gables
Coral Gables, FL 33124
305-284-3535
https://www.lowe.miami.edu/

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What is a certificate of authenticity for artwork and how to issue one

What is a certificate of authenticity for artwork and how to make one

Posted on July 25, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

Both art collectors and artists need to know what a certificate of authenticity for artwork means. It’s simply a written statement that proves that the painting/ sculpture/ drawing, etc. is genuine. A Certificate of Authenticity is the official document between an artist or a gallery and a collector that proves its provenance and details about the piece. Artists should issue this document once they sell their art. You can design this certificate in Photoshop or Canva and print it on a thick, high-quality piece of paper, or buy a standard size certificate to fill out by hand. Sign it.

What is a certificate of authenticity for artwork?

This document is a sign of quality, professionalism, and respect shown by the artist to his/her art collector. It’s also a record of provenance.

The certificate of authenticity should include:

Title of artwork
Medium
Dimensions of artwork
If it’s a print, put Limited Edition # of #
The purchase date
Your name and (the artist’s) hand-written signature
Write the collector’s full name
Include the artwork’s picture
Materials (optional). I like to show that I use high-quality art supplies in my work that insures the longevity of my art in comparison to so many other artists who don’t consider it a priority.
Sometimes I print a matching second page with a story about a sold painting. I think it adds extra dimension to my work and encourages understanding and art appreciation.

I also often include a couple of my business cards, a receipt, and an extra print of the sold piece, or one of my signed art books that’s often a catalog of my artwork the collectors can share with their friends. I value my collectors and offer complementary shipping with these surprise gifts as my way to thank them for their purchase because I’m truly grateful for their support.

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3 graphite pencil techniques for portrait drawing that work: tools and techniques

Posted on July 2, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

head study from Indian Girl by Palmer_veronica winters artist — Head study, graphite pencil drawing from a sculpture of “Indian Girl” by Palmer Available

Graphite pencil drawing is a fundamental skill necessary to master for every realist artist. In this article, I’d like to share several most useful tools and techniques for portrait drawing I use the most often. Keep in mind that that these graphite pencil techniques for beginners are applicable to any kind of pencil/charcoal drawing including graphite pencil drawing realistic landscapes, still lifes, faces, fur, etc.

#1 Graphite pencil blending techniques: use paper stumps correctly

Graphite pencil blending techniques: paper stumps help artists blend both graphite pencils and charcoal. **Never use the paper stumps for colored pencil blending! They will ruin the surface.**

This mood board shows a graphite pencil sketch and a very quick pen sketch to develop the concept drawing for my oil painting titled Faith.

This is a page from my Creative Techniques book that shows you basic graphite pencil blending and shading techniques. In the first step I block in the darks and leave out spaces for the lights. Both lights and darks become the two extremes between which I create a range of tones at a later stage.

graphite pencil erasing techniques — This step-by-step charcoal drawing demonstration shows the same graphite pencil shading and erasing techniques. Blending with paper stumps unifies the surface, blending everything to a medium gray tone (step 2-3). Therefore, I strengthen the darkest areas immediately after that. Various sizes of paper stumps give me the precision I need doing graphite pencil blending.

graphite pencil drawing realistic faces — Graphite pencil drawing realistic faces: in this quick sketch I show how to look at the light and map out the anatomy of the face preparing you to draw realistic faces in pencil, charcoal, pastels.

This is a very quick graphite pencil sketch showing the initial block in and quick graphite pencil blending.

Graphite pencil blending and shading techniques in portrait drawing are the same as in still life drawing shown above. I begin shading the drawing by placing the darkest darks first. I often draw on the Strathmore Bristol vellum paper that’s smooth and thick but still has some tooth to adhere the pencil to. Once I’m done massing out the shapes in a soft, 4B graphite pencil, I use the blending stumps to blend the large areas. In the left picture I blended everything with a paper stump. If you draw in vine charcoal, a soft brush works really well to do charcoal blending. It’s important to do graphite pencil blending in the “right” direction not to overwork the surface.

Drawing Paper

I’m amazed by the quality of this paper. It’s quickly becoming my favorite because Koh-I-Noor in & out pages are thick, smooth, and versatile. I love how easy it is to layer both graphite and colored pencil on it that hardly needs any blending! Also, I can place my drawings back into the pad for a beautiful presentation. I’ve drawn on Koh-I-Noor Bristol vellum, Bristol smooth, Colored Pencil and Black Drawing drawing papers so far. All of them are fantastic! While Koh-I-Noor Black Drawing has thin pages, the rest of them are thick, and all are smooth with a different degree of light texture present to grab the pencil. Give them a try!

#2 Graphite pencil erasing techniques: kneaded eraser & Tombow Mono Zero eraser

Kat with a shell, detail, graphite on paper

In the second step, I usually lift out the highlights with the kneaded eraser to create small spots of light seen on skin. This is the most useful graphite pencil erasing technique. Any brand of a kneaded eraser works about the same. The kneaded eraser lifts out the pigment without any residue to make soft edges around the highlights. These lights look natural and realistic. I often lift out more graphite pencil than I need to to come back to it with refined pencil shading around the highlights.

Graphite pencil drawing realistic textures:

Tombow Mono zero eraser is a great eraser that erases tiny graphite marks. You can create incredible textures and details. This eraser helps in graphite pencil drawing of realistic textures, such as thin strands of hair or tiny highlights in the pearls or lights on the face and eyelashes. This eraser works great in colored pencil drawing as well when I try to erase hard to reach, tiny areas in my drawings. I buy these on Amazon. So if you decide to give zero eraser a try, order two or three of them at once, you won’t regret it!

Drawing realistic textures in graphite pencil: Once I’ve developed a range of tones, I work on specific textures seen in the reference photo. In this drawing of Khaleesi you see the texture of clothing that I’ve done with rubbings. I placed a pumice stone under my paper and shaded over it with a soft pencil where the clothing should be. This rubbing gave me the initial texture I worked around in pencil to develop it further. I also did some lifting out with both kneaded eraser and the zero eraser on her necklace and hair.

To make texture in the jewelry on her neck, I used some magic tape. I placed it over the shaded area, made short strokes on the tape with a ballpoint pen and lifted it out to reveal this unique texture.

figurative art, portrait drawing, Khaleesi — Emilia Clarke as Khaleesi, 9×12″ | graphite on Koh-I-Noor Bristol vellum drawing paper available | There is something about the character that attracts you when you watch a movie. I think it happens because you find a part of yourself present in that person. Khaleesi has fragile beauty of course, but she also grows to become fierce and powerful woman. Drawing is an essential building block to any representational art form. Pencil drawing is something I practice as much as I can because it improves and informs me of shapes, colors and composition.

Drawing detail: hands with a shell | I often use the kneaded eraser to make soft lift outs, create subtle edges, and to clean up without leaving grease and residue on paper.

#3 Graphite pencil shading techniques: values & layering

Value scale

Every color has its own value scale going from the darkest dark to white. Some dark colors have a much wider value range as opposed to the light colors. (Think of ultramarine as a dark color and yellow as a light one).
You control your values while you keep graphite pencil shading. You need to create a range of tones from very light to very dark to make your portrait three-dimensional. Usually, students complete their drawing with a very limited range of tones. That’s why everything looks “average grey” or “too flat.”
Convert your color image into a black-and-white picture on your computer, and you’ll understand how dark the shadows should be. Then step back from your finished pencil drawing to compare it to your black-and-white reference.

Self-portrait facing 41, graphite study for warrior, 9×12, available | Graphite pencil shading techniques includes simple repetition of shading to achieve dark values in portrait drawing.

I layer the graphite pencil by erasing, enhancing the dark values, and refining the details. I work on subtle transitions of tone with harder pencils, especially if it’s a skin tone. I usually shade with 2-4H graphite pencils gently transitioning from medium to light tone.

Final fixative:

When graphite pencil shading is complete, I use a final fixative, spraying my drawing outdoors. I strongly recommend using professional-grade fixatives, like the Grumbacher matte final fixative for dry media or Sennelier HC10. It gives a very nice and even finish to my artwork that’s impossible to achieve with cheaper brands like Krylon. Spray art in low-humidity, at room temperature.

How often do you draw in graphite pencil? Drawing in pencil is a fantastic way to train your eye and hand to see values and gain precision necessary to build technical skills in realistic pencil drawing. When you become confident drawing in graphite pencil, begin drawing in color.

Check out all video courses here: https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/

Talent & Art: Dali Theater Museum in Figueres, Spain

Posted on May 20, 2018October 27, 2023 by veronica

Dali museum in Figueres, Spain | One of Dali’ melting clocks jewelry pieces shown at the Spanish museum

Review of the Dali Museum in Spain

There’s no doubt that Salvador Dali is one of the greatest 20th-century surrealist artists. Up to this day the artist defines every exhibition and art review dedicated to the surrealist movement. Although, the artist was bold to exit the group to develop his vision further, Dali was the leading figure in the surrealism movement. His surreal paintings are in numerous art collections and museums today, however if you look at his humble artistic beginnings, they were truly humble.

In the art museum located in Figueres, Spain I saw a number of his early paintings that closely resembled Picasso, Signac, Matisse and even some abstract painters. Dali’ early paintings were imitations of the modernists that showed no obvious “talent” or ability to become the famous artist. I dare to say that he made a bunch of bad paintings in his early career!

Salvador Dali early paintings look like copies of the contemporaries and modernists…

In his next period his work became quite consistent in theme and style but his paintings still lacked contrast, color, strong composition, and his unique subject matter he eventually developed and became famous for. His paintings of figures made of stones expressed his search for his voice as well as his desire to learn classical oil painting technique working from life. He made set ups of stones to paint from them like any realist artist would do. In the pictures below you can see Dali’s attempts to paint his unique ideas from life.

Dali-theater museum in Figueres, Spain | Salvador Dali paintings of stones

Inside the museum you find both paintings and installations. This is one of them. The top image shows a big prism/mirror through which you can see a display of objects below – they become a female face, which is a form of op art.

The art museum doesn't have many famous paintings inside. I think most of them are in private art collections and art museums in the US and Europe. However, it gives a good overview of his early career and experimentation before arriving at his famous surrealist art style.

dali museum spain_various painting styles — It’s quite amazing to face the Dali’s progression from bad art to beautiful surrealism. Here we can see Dali’s various painting styles before arriving at his signature surreal paintings of dreams and subconscious mind….

Salvador Dali surrealist jewelry in Spain

dali museum figueres spain dali jewelry-veronica winters art blog — Dali museum in Figueres, Spain | One of Dali’ jewelry pieces shown at the Spanish museum

While the Dali Theater-museum in Figueres doesn’t display top art collection of Salvador Dali painting, a surprising gem is a separate building of the museum filled with surreal jewelry pieces! Dali’s talent and vision manifests itself in his original, animated jewelry. It combines the use of painting, metals, precious stones and built-in mechanisms to animate jewelry pieces, creating a surreal feeling. In his surreal jewelry we see emotion of the beating Ruby heart. We can watch an icon-like piece with an opening and closing door. There is a revolving, sparkling cornstalk with flapping angel’s wings.

dali museum figueres spain-- surreal jewelry by dali--ruby heart-veronica winters art blog — Ruby Heart at the Dali museum in Spain. The red part of the heart has the movement imitating the heart beat!

It’s not enough to have a talent. Over the years I had a chance to teach art to numerous wonderful students, including several super-talented high school students who could have become skillful artists someday. None of them went to an art college after graduation for various reasons. Talent itself isn’t a prerequisite to have a successful artistic career. Talent doesn’t equal to an obsessive desire to succeed as an artist. There are lots of people with artistic talents who are not strong enough to push themselves forward when it gets really tough. There is not enough introspection and drive. Those artists can create to the point of meeting requirements only, and leave the profession way before they can develop fully to succeed. While it looks like a negative statement, obsessiveness becomes a necessity in creative profession to overcome daily challenges. It also enforces perseverance, develops social skills and builds goals along the way. Artists become artists when they understand that they can’t live without the very process of art creation.

By looking at the Dali’s career trajectory we must consider our own impatience with ourselves and what talent means in short term and in the long run. If he gave up in the beginning of his career, he wouldn’t be famous surrealist painter making history today. When I browse through my files of old artwork, I can’t believe the fact that I can paint so much better today. Improvement is not instant. There is no magic dust in the process of learning. It’s all about steady work and commitment to the art form. We all want to have quick results, but to get there patience with yourself is a requirement. When students call me to study art, I don’t look at their “talent.” While Talent will be developed and cultivated, I teach art because people need art education. Art, theater and music are about introspective work and emotion. Society values merchandise over experiences. Public school is largely about cranking formulas and testing. There are not enough classes to feed the soul. I simply wish to expend my students’ worldview with art because talented kids is the future.

dali museum figueres spain-jewelry of medusa-blog — Jewelry piece by Salvador Dali

Dali museum in Spain: https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/museums/dali-theatre-museum-in-figueres/ (If you decide to visit this museum, be aware that the tickets are sold by day and time due to great popularity and a constant influx of people. Plan ahead and buy them online to ensure your visit.)

Dali museum in Figueres, Spain | One of Dali' jewelry pieces shown at the Spanish museum

Dali museum in St.Pete, Florida:

Further reading: https://veronicasart.com/dali-art-surrealism-symbolism-at-the-museum-in-st-petersburg/

Visionary Art for sale

Hyperrealist oil paintings and colored pencil drawings_veronica winters blog

Contemporary art hyperrealism: 10 amazing artists who crush it

Posted on May 12, 2018October 25, 2024 by veronica

Hyperrealist oil paintings and colored pencil drawings

Even if you are not an art geek, you can’t deny the fact that hyperrealist art commands attention and let’s us appreciate the incredible artistry of new generation of artists. Although hyper-realism is still a gentle spring in the river of contemporary art cacophony, it’s been gaining prominence among art collectors, galleries and art museums alike for the past two decades. An offshoot of photorealism, contemporary art hyperrealism takes photography to a whole new level when we see not only a faithful copying of reality, but also a highly artistic interpretation of the subject, light and meaning that result in beautiful works of art.

Aesthetic, visual perception, cultural impact and unique narrative play a great role in creation of hyper-realistic paintings today. Unlike almost mechanical copying of reality we observe in photorealism painting, contemporary hyper-realists focus more on creative design, story, and emotion, painting from their combination of references. Although photography is an integral part to this creative process, knowing how to take great reference and to use it well is a highly artistic skill that’s unique to every contemporary artist you see here. While subjects may vary greatly from still life to portraiture to imaginative realism, the hyperrealism art is about creation of new reality – the illusion so real, you want to reach out and touch it. The following artists share their unique vision with us, inviting viewers into their personal reality. By reading their statements here you can understand how individual and complex their emotional journey is to arrive at their present state of visual excellence in art.

Contemporary hyperrealist artists

Sheryl Luxenburg

This painting is about growing up and reaching adult maturity. Really about the fact that it often can take aging to our senior years, to finally understand what this means.

Canadian hyperrealist painter, Sheryl Luxenburg works in watercolor, airbrush, and acrylic paint to depict women in intense psychological states of confusion, dread, conflict, anger or numbness that often mirror the artist’s past emotions. Her female figures are pressed against misted glass or submerged in water to express a fatigued state of mind we may experience in distress. Luxenburg’s interest in human condition comes from her vast practice as a licensed psychotherapist specializing in trauma and PTSD.

Contact: www.sherylluxenburg.com

Jason de Graaf

For me my paintings are a way of communicating with the world. Not necessarily about communicating concrete ideas about anything but more to express my sense of humor and taste, my perspective on life, the human condition, the art world and the absurdity.

Dramatically lit, hyperrealistic paintings of a Canadian artist Jason de Graff are carefully constructed still lifes that become alternate reality. Depicting specular reflections with incredible mastery, Jason often arranges his objects horizontally to balance all the shapes out with ardent perfection. Utilizing cool color palette, hyper-realistically painted glass, books, berries and even earbuds almost feel alive, having an unexplained connection to each other, telling a story. Strategically placed a pop of color – red in gummies, marbles and berries alike infuses the artist’s paintings with striking visual balance and enigma. Every acrylic painting shows Jason’s incredible sense of color, mood and design. In de Graaf’s artwork we see familiar objects that take on new roles and attributes to mesmerize us.

Contact: http://www.jasondegraaf.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/jason_de_graaf/

Jacob A. Pfeiffer

The objects I include in my paintings are often deeply personal and remind me of something joyful or silly that I have experienced. Creating whimsy and beauty in my art is most meaningful to me. With my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I try to infuse my subject matter with visual puns, wordplay and metaphor in order to offer the viewer a respite from the serious times that we live in.

American hyperrealist painter, Jacob A. Pfeiffer works in warm and neutral palette of colors to create humorous and simple oil paintings that make us ponder over levitating sacks of fruit, bowling balls, goldfish or shoes, which strike a perfect relationship to objects below them. These realist paintings show the influence of Magritte when objects are taken out of their expected context and placed into a new environment irrationally. In his work however, Pfeiffer manages to create a deliberate, psychological relationship between such objects. For example, we see a goldfish in a fish tank with three paper planes hoovering over it. Titled “Flying fish,” this realistic painting makes us think of the importance of the environment we may be in to actually be able to fly, or perhaps the fact that the fish can’t fly per se. In “Party crasher” we observe a play of words and objects, creating a visual riddle in his painting. Classically trained, the artist brings humanity into his hyperrealistic painting that becomes a lot more significant than a plain recreation of reality.

Contact: http://www.jacobapfeiffer.com/

Jane Jones

contemporary art realism painting — Jane Jones, Rose Duet, 29 x 36, 2018, oil on canvas

Every one of my paintings is a prayer for the appreciation and preservation of nature. For an artist, nature is a vast subject. My choice is to focus on the details that I find so intriguing; flowers. When they are infused with sunlight the colors are breathtaking, and the curves, curls and sweeps of the petals create a mesmerizing dance. Frequently I include rocks in my compositions as reminders that everything upon which life depends, comes from the Earth. I am concerned about the disruption of the balance of nature, and have to believe in and paint the everyday triumphs of nature. The aesthetic pleasure of illuminated colors and forms is obvious in my paintings. I am also interested in beauty. It is something people respond to, is uplifting and hopeful…the desire for it is universal. Flowers occupy the elevated level of beauty, which moves us and evokes notes of aspiration to vibrate within us.

Jane Jones is an American artist who paints colorful flowers with poetic simplicity. Gorgeous textures and vivid colors of tulips, irises and roses stir our imagination. Thanks to home gardening in Colorado, the artist is able to capture the crisp light on her favorite subjects with remarkable clarity and detail. Painting in classical tradition, the artist manifests her love for nature in beautiful compositions that exhibit an unbelievable sense of balance among flowers, fabric and background space.

If you’re interested to learn about Jones’ oil painting techniques, go to the artist’s website to browse a selection of helpful materials. Contact: http://www.janejonesartist.com/

Sharon Sprung

hyperrealism painting — Sharon Sprung, The Screenwriter’s Daughter, oil on panel, 36 x 42″

My paintings are a carefully observed negotiation, manipulated layer upon layer in order to create a work of art as equivalent as possible to the complexity of real life. They are an attempt to control the almost uncontrollable substance that is oil paint, and the equally untamable expression of the human condition.

American artist Sharon Sprung paints from female models directly to create colorful oil paintings that unite subjects with their space. Her nude, semi-nude, and clothed models have no predictable luster, rather they convey sensuality coming from personal strength, confidence and resilience. The painted women look comfortable posing or at rest, modeling in space of the Art Students League of New York where the artist is also an instructor of painting.

Contact: http://www.sharonsprung.com/

Jesse Lane

Throughout my body of work, I tell stories of recovery. Adrenaline is about accepting loss. While the water is beating down on the figure, his pose remains somewhat graceful. Rather than becoming beaten down, he seems to thrive off of what’s hitting him. Struggle can do that to us. While it beats us down at first, eventually we rise up stronger because of it.

Jesse Lane creates unbelievable, hyperrealistic colored pencil drawings that often become his self-portraits, showing signs of personal survival, acceptance, and strength. Both male and female figures are exposed to dramatic lighting conditions reminiscent of Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Set under a strong, directional yellow light, the artist’s close-up portraits are more than hyperreal – they are emotionally intense. Colored pencil drawing is an incredibly slow process and such large-scale work commands the artist’s dedication and love for the art form to produce realistic figurative drawings.

Contact: RJD Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY | http://rjdgallery.com/artist/jesse-lane/

Karen Hollingsworth

hyperrealistic oil paintings — Karen Hollingsworth, Rescue

I’ve struggled with these questions (defining meaning in art) since the beginning of my art career. I usually think of myself as a pretty introspective person, and someone who searches for meaning in my life. But since the 1st time people asked me to explain the meaning in my paintings I have struggled to find it. The way I find my subject matter for my paintings seems to be a real gut instinct. I see something, in my real life, nature, other artists work, even an interesting tv show or movie. And it stirs my imagination and I start to build a concept for a composition. I’ll work with a drawing, adding and subtracting elements intuitively, till I get this rush of emotion that tells me I’m onto something good. I keep working with it, using photography and Photoshop to put together something that actually makes me joyful. Then I begin the painting using my reference photos.

But after the process is over, painting finished and sent away, I sometimes get a clearer insight into what might have motivated me. For many years my paintings were based on a series I called ” WindowScapes”. They were what I like to call “gentle rooms”. Not fussy, simple furniture and wood floors. A room I would find peaceful. Behind the furniture, would be a window, also simple, double hung, divided light, commonly found in homes. But then the drama comes in by adding an open window with white curtains flowing in a breeze, and through the window a soothing scene. Gentle oceans and soft mountains. After composing these images, it always felt like I had cured what ailed me.

Later, I started to understand that to me , the world , like the oceans and mountains, was beautiful and exciting, but because I feel so vulnerable at times, I created a world where the safety and separateness of experiencing it from through a window made me feel protected. And I’ve experienced some losses in my life, and I believe the empty chairs in my paintings might be spaces for those losses. Or maybe the empty chairs are waiting for me or the viewer to fill with ourselves.

For the last 10 or 12 years, I’ve been trying to move towards a vegan diet. I’m terribly disturbed by what happens to animals on factory farms. I hate needless suffering, especially to defenseless animals. So my images are about escaping! Animals getting free from these horrible tragic lives. And as I write this, I realize that I also feel the weight of suffering in my own life and my need to escape from it, so I personally feel this need to escape my suffering too. I don’t want to get too preachy, but when I realized that a meat based diet was the reason for so much disease in our lives, and destruction of our planet, and created so much suffering to the animals and humans who have to work in the slaughter houses, it just seemed like a no brainer to me. I stopped contributing to it by eating a plant based diet, and began to create images with animals that hopefully will cause people to have more empathy for these wonderful creatures we get to share our world with.

So the painting I’m showing here is titled “Rescue” through the kindness and courage of the sheep and the crow, a rescue mission is in progress to save the bunnies. Under the dark of night, with only the light of a partial moon and bright star, these hopeful creatures have taken their future into their own “paws”. I wish them only the best!

Contact: http://www.karenhollingsworth.com/index.html

Sharon Siew Suan Kow

hyperrealism colored pencil drawings — Sharon Kow, In This Quiet Moment, 14 x 20 inches (35 x 50 cm), colored pencils on paper

There is something about quietness. That particular moment where we are able to hear our innermost thoughts. A time for reflection, contemplation with a hint of melancholy. To retreat into the quietness is not selfish, it is a dissonance that we need to appreciate what we have, to mature and transfigure us. Being an artist, a moment of quietness is priceless. It is a time when I can be my true self, to listen to my inner voice. I let out all of the anger, bitterness and sadness that were buried deep inside without hurting anyone else. It is a way to purge out all those negative thoughts and thereafter, move on with a positive mind.

Sharon is one of few hyperrealist colored pencils artists working in Malaysia. What’s even more fantastic that the artist became one in her early forties, grasping the drawing concepts so quickly. While her hyperreal drawings rely on photography, the artist portrays more than snapshots of color and light in her art. Many of her pieces depict close-ups of elaborate mechanical constructions, such as an old typewriter, broken clock mechanisms, rusted chains and metal parts. Such colored pencil drawings communicate a feeling of subtle melancholy and introspection with Time playing a crucial role in all human experiences.

Contact: http://sharonsskow.com/

Emanuele Dascanio

hyperrealistic drawing — Emanuele Dascanio, The Father doesn’t want a divorce with Die Mutter, charcoal & graphite on paper, 80x65cm

I focus more not on the specific pieces of art, but more on the way to do art. I try to do something that mirrors our constantly changing world, our vision and the way we live. It’s introspective and emotional. I balance art with science and emotion to create my images. I don’t call myself an artist, rather an authority to make order of things. The dust on paper is not very important, but how I make order of this dust to appear as a complete image is my job. While my images represent something different, I love to take some reference from the past because only if you know where we come from, we know where we are going.

Italian hyperrealist artist Emanuele Dascanio works in charcoal, pencil and paint to depict life as he sees it – gigantic and powerful. Spectacular lighting creates mystery in his hyperrealistic drawings and paintings that depict people and still life alike with sensual realism. Classically trained, the artist also uses photography to capture fast-moving details, such as running water or purged juice on the fruit to incorporate these effects into his art. Influenced by Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, the artist mostly draws from life to create sublime images of light and dark.

Contact: http://emanueledascanio.org/

Sergey Piskunov

hyperrealistic artists — Sergey Piskunov, Girl in pink II, oil painting

The water’s surface reflects the combination of cold blue and warm peach encountered at the intersection of two elements. This painting gives us the opportunity to see a familiar world at an unusual angle that is hauntingly beautiful and striking.

Ukrainian artist Sergey Piskunov paints portraits of women submerged in water, cellophane and even facial masks. Some sexual, some not the lighthearted portraits look incredibly real with facial expressions and color choices capturing the mood of joy and fun.

Contact: https://www.facebook.com/piskunovart/

In conclusion, artist’s personality and dedication to the art form determines the nature and outcome of the painting process. While being introspective, every generation of artists reflects on the world, leaving social, cultural or even political commentary in art. In this roundup of hyperrealist artists we can observe a testament to deliberate process that’s emotionally charged. So let’s cross our fingers for this art form to create a positive change in our tumultuous world.

Please contact all artists directly.

Other hyper-realist artists to check out:

Marcello Barenghi, Heather Rooney, Tjalf Sparnaay, Douglas Flynt, Yigal Ozeri, Clio Newton, Mike Dargas, Alyssa Monks, and Collin Bogle.

Check out visionary art for sale

To continue reading:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hyperrealism – definitions

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealism_(visual_arts)

Contemporary art: learn what makes it great

Koh-i-Noor colored pencils & drawing paper review

Posted on March 5, 2018November 12, 2023 by veronica

In this article you’ll find information about Koh-i-Noor colored pencils and Koh-i-Noor drawing paper. I also include the video of these products you can find below. I’m not an affiliate and I write reviews for the art supplies I actually use in my drawings. Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth is a Czech republic manufacturer and distributor of art supplies and stationery. Founded in 1790 by Joseph Hardtmuth of Austria, this company makes affordably-priced, quality art supplies.

Koh-i-Noor colored pencils review

Lightfastness: varies, but good overall
Durability: fair
Softness: varies, on softer side
Price: very competitively priced
Pigment saturation/vividness: good

Koh-i-Noor Polycolor colored pencils, 72 colors

koh i noor polycolor review _veronica winters blog

I have a large, 72 colors set and I’ve done several colored pencil drawings using this set. Overall, these are good colored pencils for art students. They are not as creamy as Prismacolor Premier or Luminance but layer quite nicely that requires minimal blending drawing on smooth paper. So they’re ok for beginner art students.

Hardness/softness:

The softness is good but not great. Because they are not super soft like Prismacolor Premier, you can create lots of details drawing with Polycolor. I think they are good to draw details over the initial layering done in softer colored pencils. Drawing backgrounds and shading over large areas can be very time-consuming. Occasionally, they break during sharpening.

Color/pigment saturation:

Because they are not as creamy as Luminance or Prismacolor, they don’t have exceptional saturation/vividness. However, these pencils will pleasantly surprise you with their range of beautiful colors and fair color saturation. Some colors seem to be softer and more vivid than others in a set.

Price:

Koh-i-Noor Polycolor box sets are very competitively priced and are worth your dollars if you are a student on a budget. However I’d choose Prismacolors over this brand for higher pigment saturation and softness.

Lightfastness chart:

Here you can take note of the lightfastness rating. Koh-i-noor colored pencils vary in its ability to withstand the light, which is similar to the Prismacolor Premier. Most Polycolor colored pencils have a very good lightfastness rating. So, if the lightfastness is important to you, you can weed out all the fugitive colors out of the set from the get go (1-2 stars are fugitive colors).

This is one of the drawings completed using the koh-i-noor Polycolor colored pencils.

Koh-i-noor woodless colored pencils review

These colored pencils are very similar to Koh-i-Noor Polycolor. They seem to be a bit softer, layer nicely, and some colors seem to be richer in pigment saturation than others. It’s nice to sharpen them to a fine point and then use the pencil on details and large areas alike, but their main problem is breakage. Two pencils broke in half by themselves when I began drawing with them.

This is one of the drawings completed using the koh-i-noor woodless colored pencils and a white pen on colored paper.

Koh-i-Noor Tri-Tone

These are really fun pencils to color with! Each colored pencil consists of 2-3 hues you can color with by rotating the pencil to change the color. They are pretty soft and vivid. You can really explore your funky side drawing with Tri-Tone. I think they are great for general coloring and gift-giving. They can be fun for both teens and adults to make small drawings or to work on a coloring page, but their main downside is considerable breakage during sharpening. The lightfastness is pretty good according to the manufacturer’s list.

Koh-i-Noor Drawing Paper review

koh i noor drawing paper and colored pencils_veronica winters blog

I absolutely love koh-i-noor drawing paper and its my favorite now! I only wish the manufacturer could come up with a bunch of bright colored papers. Koh-i-noor manufactures drawing papers with several surfaces: Bristol smooth, Bristol vellum and colored pencil. All of them have thick pages and accept multiple layering, which is great for colored pencil drawing. The surfaces are smooth, yet the minimal texture of Colored Pencil Drawing and Bristol Vellum papers aids to smooth and even layering that requires no blending with solvents, and some minimal blending with a pencil blender like Caran d’Ache full blender. Link to Amazon.

Koh-i-noor black drawing paper has very thin pages but the surface is truly amazing to work on. It is very smooth with just the right paper tooth to grab the color. The in & out pages feature is also really great because I can take a page out, draw on it, and then put it right back into the album for storage.

Here you can see how these koh-i-noor drawing pads look inside.

These are some of my drawings completed on koh-i-noor drawing paper.

The silent one, romantic pencil drawing by Veronica Winters — The Silent One, 9×12″, romantic pencil drawing, private collection, koh-i-noor bristol smooth

Check out all video courses here: https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/

contemporary art history, contemporary art history_learn what makes it great

Contemporary art: learn what makes it great

Posted on February 24, 2018December 16, 2023 by veronica

In the first video you got introduced to classical painting created before the 20^th century. In this article let’s talk about some contemporary art to figure out why some “childish” paintings cost millions while relatively good art remains undervalued. Before I say anything about it, I’d like to note that I’m not an art critic, and I’m here not to judge artists, rather I’d like to explain what’s great about contemporary painting, so you’d consider my understanding of art to make your own decisions. I also encourage you to reach out to mentioned artists directly via their websites or Instagram. This video and writing are created as part of my mission to educate and inspire others to value art.

Video #2

Art & art marketing are two opposing forces

When everything is entertainment and the entertainment is everything, provoking the public to engage with contemporary art becomes a necessity. Artists compete with the media and each other and often try to engage with the audience, either shocking you with their art, or innovating the process somehow that generates publicity, sparks a conversation, and engages you. Performance art, installation art, shinny sculpture or moving video image attract us a lot more than a silent wall painting. Contemporary art museums try to catch up with the social media and modern times, making installations that encourage interaction, taking of selfies and other social media activities. Contemporary art paintings often don’t make any sense unless they are explained. As viewers we are often forced not to rely on our senses judging the painting’s visuals that’s inherited from concept painting or abstract expressionism. We have to search for meaning in shown art in artist statements or curatorial writing.

Jeff Koons announced his art sculpture as a “gift” to Paris of the ‘Bouquet of Tulips’ that would cost a 3.5 million euros to install that would be funded by a fundraising. One of the wealthiest artists in the world, Koons donated his concept to the city that doesn’t cover the cost of construction.

Quality of art hardly matters these days, and many artists are sold based on their publicity stunts and marketing efforts. Therefore popularity and name recognition that we call ‘branding’ becomes vital to the artist’s career. (We can look at great art marketers – Jeff Koons, Marina Abramovic, or Damien Hirst).

While performance art can be powerful caring a message, it largely relies on a shock value to deliver that message. By following this link, you can see how low we as people can go, to take advantage of others. https://www.elitereaders.com/performance-artist-marina-abramovic-social-experiment/ Over the years I saw several installations by Abramovic, and they varied significantly in their message, shock value and impact.

Marina Abramovic’s 6-hour performance art showed a quick escalation of sexual harassment and violence among people by letting them do whatever they wanted to her body.

Not all artists travel this road and focus on cultivating their clientele based on their artistic vision and skill. If art is not political or socially charged, it’s much harder for an artist to get noticed based on vision, and this is the cornerstone for a lot of creatives out there. Does the artist change his mindset to work for the market attracting attention in new ways, or stays true to himself, creating art for the art’s sake?

Art buying tiers and social behavior

Art buying has its own tier system. The lowest tier – is the tier of consumerism. Because we see artistic creations all around us, it desensitizes us and makes good art look unattractive, cheap and unnecessary purchase. We don’t buy originals, rather get posters and merchandise that makes practical sense because we either can’t afford the original of the contemporary artists we like, or we don’t want to make a commitment buying original art. Regardless the intent, most people buy prints. However, there is not much value in giclee prints in the long run. However, print sales support the aspiring artist, giving him/her a chance to develop artistically and not give up doing art. Limited edition signed prints hold more value for the collectors as well as allow artists to cover some of their studio costs.

Some prints doe have value. These are hand-pooled lithographs, silkscreens and other prints made based on traditional methods in printmaking. Printmaking is the original art form where you can get a few multiples or additions.

The middle tier – is where the market agrees to pay the artist anywhere between $100 and 1K for original art. The upper middle tier is where most artists want to sell their art because it covers the cost of living. These art collectors who buy original art at this price point love art and have the means to appreciate and support the artist.

In the top tier purchases we see hedge fund managers and the ultra rich, who are mostly driven by financial investment rather than art appreciation. Today we see famous contemporary art selling at epic prices. Money becomes the absolute that determines the value of the artist and his work at the Sotheby’s and other art auction houses.

(A Jean-Michel Basquiat painting rocketed to $110.5 million. The previous record was $105.4 million paid for Andy Warhol’s “Silver Car Crash, Double Disaster” four years ago. Pablo Picasso, Garcon a la pipe, 1881-1973 went for 104.168 million, Edvard Munch, the Scream, 1895 sold for $119.922 million). Obviously, these are the sales where art is bought and sold as an investment only. Most buyers are Wall street hedge fund managers, Russian oligarchs, oil magnates and other billionaires that push the art prices up. To understand this motivation isn’t hard. To see why visually terrible art sells, you can watch a documentary on Netflix titled Blurred Lines: inside the art world. Exit through the Gift Shop that shows you how an unknown street artist made his first million by taking risks and employing smart marketing tactics.

Jean Michel-Basquiat, Untitled, 1982, Courtesy of Sotheby’s New York

Willem de Kooning, Woman III, 1950s | Abstract expressionism

So how do we decide what’s good or bad art? I’d like to encourage you to make your own judgement as opposed to relying on experts and art critics, if you’re not buying art for investment purposes only. You either love it or not. You decide what’s meaningful to you, what moves and engages you on a much deeper level that’s not associated with publicity stunts, big name investment or marketing gimmicks.

The Smithsonian museum, Reclining Dress Impression with Drapery by Karen Lamonte, glass. I took this picture in the museum blown away by the complexity of its form that’s made of glass. http://www.karenlamonte.com/Artist-Talks-Lectures

Art is a business

Capitalism is unforgiving. This system of art sales leads to art market manipulation and the sales of art that’s not art but is represented as such to the wealthy by powerful dealers and curators. This is one of the reasons why we see ugly paintings at contemporary art fairs and art museums today. Art is a business and a collusion of sorts.

Art galleries, curators and dealers have their own tiers. Many of them are vanity galleries that charge artists thousands of dollars for representation and those artists who can afford it become part of the fairs. Their art is not great or even good to be called art, but because they have a way of paying for their space, they receive representation from small curators and dealers who offset their costs, making a living this way.

Financially strong and established galleries take on new artists who have consistent art production and sales as well as develop good relationship with the gallery owners. Competition among artists for getting into a really good gallery that takes care of the artist’s sales and pays 50% of the retail price is fierce. Competition for a spot under the sun encourages jealousy and rivalry among many contemporary artists I know, but not all. Many artists remain humble and sweet to their kind and tend to help out when asked properly.

Art is a tough business for many small and medium size art galleries because of high overhead costs that often eat most of the profit. Many small galleries close, move or go out of business as people shop for art online more. And just like the retailers, they experience a loss of clientele. This trend gives independent artists an opportunity to sell their art directly to clients bypassing the middleman. Therefore, learning the art of business and online marketing for the artist is just as important as making art.

Andy Warhol silkscreen print found at the auction in Naples, FL

Art education today

There is purposeful deskilling of art in college education. As a result of deconstructivism, abstract expressionism and concept art movements, artists have been forced to create art out of limitation, writing confusing artist statements about their work. The devaluing of representational art led to numerous colleges and universities to keep professors raised on concept art. Therefore college art education is limited to knowledge of its instructors. It’s often enough to look at their art to understand what you’ll be learning in class. If your aim is to study classical painting techniques in such universities, you’ll see lots of resistance and little instruction in this area as the main goal of college art education in studio painting is to work on your concept in art as opposed to growing your skill, vision, and business mindset. A student who decides to learn classical oil painting techniques often faces confusing opinions that don’t lead to constructive criticism because there is no standard left in art to aspire to. There are no rules or apprenticeships available to follow the footsteps of the established master painter as it used to be for centuries before the modernism. If a student aims to study realism, he is often a loner who receives no business or artistic tools necessary to make it in the art world after graduation. While we can see a rise in the classical training ateliers today, the art world is still largely dominated by abstract and conceptual art that you find in the educational system at college level.

As an antidote to this established system we see a revival and surge of realism in painting and education now. Atelier schools, artists’ studios and some universities have been popping up all around the country in the past decade. Such spaces include the Grand Central Academy of Art in New York, Anthony Ryder’s school in Santa Fe (www.theryderstudio.com ), and Nelson Shanks’ school Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia. (www.studioincamminati.org), etc. Many realist artists teach their oil painting techniques both online and in studio.

I must say that not every abstract is bad, just like not every conceptual piece is boring, or realist painting is great. My point is that artists should have a choice in their college education as opposed to ‘fitting in’ in the environment that doesn’t allow for personal growth in the direction the artist aspires to go to.

Because art conforms to no previously established rules and standards in art education we find it very hard to determine and value art today. To read any modern or contemporary artwork we have to look at artist’s mission, background and upbringing besides the visual element itself, which we call ART. Branding is often more important than art.

contemporary art painting — Copyright Roos van der Vliet, Storytellers XII, acrylics on canvas |http://www.roosvandervliet.com/

This contemporary portrait painting by Roos van der Vliet from the Netherlands is a wonderful example of great personal vision coupled with amazing acrylic painting technique. By looking at her paintings of women we ask questions about identity and alienation that we often feel being in a crowd of people, yet standing alone.

Major art patrons a century ago:

The Frick collection
Andrew W. Mellon collection
The Phillips collection in the U.S.
The Tretykov gallery collection in Moscow, Russia and so on.

Art players and influencers today:

Charles Saatchi & Larry Gagosian as well as other top art dealers
contemporary art museum top curators
Art investment firms and houses such as Sotheby’s.
Loot at MEI/Moses Fine Art Index explains the appreciation of art as a financial investment.

In this article you can read about art influencers:

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-gatekeepers-tastemakers-decide-call-art?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10281912-Editorial-08-08-17&utm_term=ArtsyTopStoriesWeekly

Nicole_Finger_Gossamer_24x36_oil-hooked on art podcast

5 Artistic Elements that make great art

Here I’d like to talk about 5 major artistic elements that contribute to creation of great art. A lot of people consider art being great based on just two factors – the realistically painted tiny details and the overall brightness of a picture (paint). I’d like to shatter this myth by explaining that both of these factors are not sufficient to make quality art. It’s very easy to create paintings with bright pigments coming out of the tube. What’s much harder to achieve is color mixing of muted colors that create harmony. The same goes for details. Details are just details, if a painting doesn’t have a story behind it, or composition is weak, or it simply looks too decorative, it’s not great art.

MARCO GRASSI HOFA gallery at art wynwood miami, 2023

Looking at contemporary art we can either get carried away by the artist’s technical mastery or by the unprecedented innovation. It doesn’t mean that traditionally executed painting is not innovative, innovation is always there in a new way of seeing things. Most importantly, we find something in a painting that resonates deep within us and enhances our lives whether it’s abstract or realist art.

The most important artistic elements that contribute to creation of great painting and 3-D art are personal vision, emotion, innovation, use of color and design as well as the technical ability to communicate the feeling.

A great example of contemporary art painting that combines vision, innovation and great skill is the art of Cesar Santos |https://www.santocesar.com/ | YouTube Santos is a contemporary Cuban-American artist who has painted a series of paintings titled Syncretism. This famous contemporary artist combines various, often opposing artistic tendencies in a pleasing balance. Cesar Santos’s realistic paintings integrate oil paint, charcoal and crayons, and portraits feature common people that become removed from their usual surroundings and placed in oil paintings with new space for them to live in. The artist’s amazing skill in classical painting helps him create powerful art that looks fresh and modern.

Copyright Cesar Santos, Magdalenes niece, oil on linen

Cesar Santos, James, 36×28″ oil and crayon

Ali Cavanaugh | www.alicavanaugh.com

Ali Cavanaugh paints her four children as watercolor portrait abstractions. Her original watercolor paintings have the feeling of spontaneity and freedom, yet the faces remain anatomically correct and alive. The artist paints on kaolin clay boards look like frescoes displayed without glass.

#1 Story & Emotion

Art is not created in vacuum. Artists absorb, filter through and reflect on personal experiences. They challenge our views, question values and bring beauty and emotional peace into our world. Story and feelings in the painting define the artist’s voice or style.

Sean Mahan | seanmahanart.com

Copyright Sean Mahan, Lost and Found, graphite/acrylic on wood

Sean Mahan is a figurative artist who paints a “sense of wonder about innate human sweetness.” The artist creates images of girls and boys busy with mundane tasks yet removed-from-this-world-expressions that produce a feeling of contradiction. Mahan paints in acrylic and graphite on wood to produce his contemporary art paintings.

Art as personal expression

We can look at art as personal expression. A lot of artists can’t articulate verbally why they paint because it comes from within and shows what we experience inside us. We paint emotions in visual symbols. If we are bitter, art shows that. If we are loving, art expresses it. A vast majority of art is created as means of personal expression today unlike the classical art.

Artist’s aesthetic plays a big part in a painting style. For classical artists beauty is the highest aim in any subject we paint idealizing the figure, which is the opposite to aesthetic of so many modern and contemporary artists. Ugliness finds its home in art just as beauty once did. (Look at Willem de Kooning’s paintings of women vs. William-Adolphe Bouguereau’ art).

This is one of the first artists I’ve discovered almost two decades ago. His unique artistic voice has captivated me ever since. The Canadian artist, Rob created amazing colored pencil drawings of illusion and magic realism art. I’m very saddened to write that Rob committed a suicide in late 2017.

Rob Gonsalves | www.facebook.com/RobGonsalves.Official

contemporary art — Copyright Rob Gonsalves, The Arboreal Office

Christian Schloe | www.facebook.com/ChristianSchloeDigitalArt

surreal art — Copyright Christian Schloe

This artist creates soulful digital artwork so sincere that it feels just as powerful as a real painting. His sense of color and design helps articulate powerful emotions of love, contemplation, curiosity and melancholy.

Art as ideology

A lot of art has been created to celebrate the country’s ideology and order. For instance, the Soviet Union art of the 50-s can be easily called propaganda art, but it also served a higher purpose lifting people’s morale to work for better good. The country took great care of its artists by giving them free studios, organized big exhibitions, commissioning and paying for work. The downside was the limitation on the subject of painting.

The Soviet art

I took these pictures back in 2015 during a large-scale exhibition happening near the Kremlin. An extensive review of the Soviet art created in the 50s-70s shows people at work building a new era of prosperity for the people.

We can also look at art that’s created as a rebellion against its government and social order. Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei often criticizes his government. The U.S. is also so divided politically that these feelings of division branch out to art. We can find paintings of both Hillary and Trump at art fairs, galleries and exhibitions.

Art can also become more sarcastic as we see in this painting of Trump and Putin by Tony Pro https://www.tonypro-fineart.com/dataviewer.asp

tony pro_trump painting — Copyright Tony Pro, Donald Trump, oil on linen, 16 x 12″

Martín Mancera, Putin, mixed media,78in galeria casa cuadrada art wynwood- veronica winters art blog — Martín Mancera, Putin, mixed media,78in galeria casa cuadrada art wynwood 2023

Art as social commentary

Some artists like to leave social commentary and to reflect our culture back at us. Famous modern art artist Andy Warhol commemorated consumption in his famous paintings. Contemporary artist Alex Gross paints images of people with the message of antisocial networking, media control and online self-absorption. He often incorporates worldwide brands, pop culture and cliché symbols into his paintings. www.alexgross.com

Alex Gross, Zeitgeist Oil on Canvas 37.5 x 60.5 2015

#2 Artistic vision and Technical Innovation

Artistic vision is the most important element in contemporary art and is the hardest to develop, producing consistent paintings and 3-D art.

The innovation takes different forms:

Unique vision often leads to innovation in the depiction of a form.
Unique vision pushes artists to explore the surfaces and materials to create contemporary art.
Unique approach is present in the narrative figurative painting.
Unique vision channels the artist in art installations designed to create personal experiences. Check out the infinity rooms by Japanese artist Kusama, feminist art by Judy Chicago, and numerous video installations or immersive experiences like by Studio Drift.

Kehinde Wiley | www.kehindewiley.com

Exploring contemporary painting we must notice figurative paintings of African-American artist Kehinde Wiley. His paintings are steeped in European art history and portraiture. They also reveal his sense of color and design. The artist often presents ordinary-dressed African-American men and women as aristocracy in his vibrant oil paintings, removing the figures from expected environment of the streets and placing them into a culture of high art. His most recent project is the unveiled official portrait of Mr. Obama for the Smithsonian.

Obj. No. 2006.14 Photo No. s55076.CT.1
Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977), Willem van Heythuysen, 2006, Oil and enamel on canvas, 96”H x 72”W Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund. Photo: Katherine Wetzel © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

martin r. herbst, hidden treasures at art fair 2018

Carole Feuerman

Carole Feuerman is a contemporary hyperrealist sculptor who creates indoor and outdoor sculptures that symbolize strength and balance. In her studio in New York, she makes casts from real people, then paints over them and adds Swarowski crystal beads, hair and eyelashes.

Another contemporary artist who creates 3-D art is Rogan Brown. His wall art pieces present us with intricate designs and delicate paper cuts reminiscent of natural organic growth we could observe under a microscope. There is a great sense of poetry in his paper sculptures that evoke feelings of death and rebirth. We want to get lost in these dreamlike multilayered forms.

# 3 Composition & movement

Strong contemporary art features great abstract design captured in shapes, colors, and diagonals, which create visual movement on canvas. As viewers we often don’t pay attention to painting’s design, captivated by other elements like details, color or facial expression, but the creative composition is a cornerstone to all great art. Movement lets us travel across canvas and leads us to the center of interest in contemporary art. Movement can be achieved in many ways that include placing often repetitive elements that create rhythm (Magritte, van Gogh) or atmospheric effects (Turner).

Contemporary Russian artist Serge Marshennikov is one of the best figurative artists working today. His sense of movement, color, and anatomic accuracy shines in paintings of semi-nude women. The models are intentionally placed at diagonals, letting viewers travel across the form to never leave the canvas. The artist’s understanding of color harmonies and color temperature in skin tones and the surroundings is truly amazing. While Serge lives and works in St.Petersburg, he is represented by several art galleries in the U.S.

Copyright Serge Marshennikov| Work-in-progress where we can see the unpainted areas and how real the female figure looks resting on a pillow.

Copyright Serge Marshennikov, Serenity, oil painting | This figurative painting is a masterful depiction of form, where legs, feet, body and arms are placed at diagonals to create movement.

Copyright Serge Marshennikov | Amazing details of fabric and lace are juxtaposed against the nude figure to create this sense of gentleness and fragility young women have. Airy and colorful in white, this fabric has soft strokes that define texture, supporting the figure.

#4 Color

Sophisticated color mixing may be hard to understand for a beginner in art. Here I’d like to explain the difference between professional painting and not so much so.

Color harmony plays enormous visual significance in contemporary art just like it did in the masterworks. Representational artists spend years to learn how to mix colors and to design their color harmonies. Usually it involves learning how to mix the subdued colors that support the leading hue. A lot of contemporary art paintings have garish hues coming out straight from a tube. They are too bright, flat and unnatural-looking to any serious contemporary artist who paints from nature in realist tradition. The difference between professional artist painter and an amateur one lies in his understanding of paint, edges and light. By carefully controlling these three elements professional artists are able to create beautiful contemporary art.

One of the famous contemporary artists who has mastered the color is Ed Minoff. His seascapes give us a chance to feel the power of nature in beautiful, subtle color harmonies. Such understanding of light and atmosphere comes from numerous studies and direct observation. Painting from life is a must for every aspiring artist who is serious about learning the traditional oil painting techniques. Edward Minoff works and teaches art in New York.

Edward Minoff | www.edwardminoff.com

#5 Painting Methods

Painterly strokes vs. Classicism

When we look at oil paintings, some appear hyperrealistic created with very smooth brushstrokes and others look loose with definite brushstrokes. This range of paint handling depends on artist’s personality and training. Both painterly and classical contemporary art can be equally good, if it’s painted with professionalism and from the heart. A lot of people don’t like the unblended brushstrokes, especially beginner painters, but this very type of painting is hard to achieve. Such loose brushstrokes look effortless to us, but this manner of painting actually carries years of experience learning to apply paint freely in just the right color and tone. Looking back at the art history Sargent and Zorn come to mind, employing loose, masterful brushstrokes to achieve freshness and realism in their paintings.

John Singer_Sargent_Lady_Agnew Scottish National Gallery — John Singer Sargent, Lady_Agnew

Classical painting technique shows no visible strokes. Van Eyck and David are great examples in art history. A complete blending of strokes comes with deliberate application of paint and brushing over it with a soft, clean brush after that. Also, painting with smooth brushstrokes often involves the glazing technique. These are multiple layers of paint applied very thinly to create an effect of light and luminosity. This oil painting technique involves lots of planning to foresee the end result painting in glazes (Vermeer, van Eyck).

Jacques-Louis_David death of marat — Jacques-Louis_David death of Marat

Jane Jones

www.janejonesartist.com

Contemporary still life painter Jane Jones works in realist tradition, painting flowers in luminous glazes. These flowers glow with light painted on panels. Careful compositions show remarkable mastery in achieving visual balance. The chiaroscuro effect of light and dark captivates the viewer instantly. If you’d like to learn about the artist’s oil painting technique, check out Jane’s art book, DVDs and more!.

Copyright Jane Jones, Survivors, 68×43″ oil painting

Painterly application of paint is a strong skill that’s often taken for granted. Being able to mix and apply paint in a single correct stroke involves lots of practice. We can explore painterly contemporary figurative art by Jeremy Mann. His personality is channeled through his aggressive and energetic strokes depicting streets and interiors, while the gentle hues in figurative painting capture his softer side. In his art, we can observe a thorough understanding of color impact and how it reverberates across the entire canvas.

Nadezda_Jeremy Mann contemporary art — Copyright Jeremy Mann, Nadezda, oil painting

jeremy mann abandoned dream, contemporary figurative painting — Copyright Jeremy Mann, Abandoned dream, oil painting

Contemporary painting often involves a mix of painting techniques that we can see in this artwork by Katherine Stone | www.katestoneart.com . Thin glazes create an effect of transparency and depth in the hair and background, while a more painterly strokes make textures in a doll and a girl’s face.

Copyright Kate Stone, A Certain Slant of Light, oil painting

Stylized art

An abbreviation of traditional methods and personal exploration leads to stylized art. When we look back at modern art, Gustav Klimpt and Mucha take prominent place in the world of art history. Their combination of materials is innovative for sure, but more importantly these artists’ work is based on a thorough understanding of human form. Their stylization doesn’t come from limitation (which is so common in contemporary painting), rather from their desire to find a unique voice in art that’s based on solid understanding of anatomy, color and composition. Therefore, their art is simply inspiring.

mucha, art neuveau — Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), The precious stones: topaz, ruby, amethyst, emerald

One of the examples in contemporary art painting stylization includes painting by Marco Grassi.

Sarah Joncas | sarahjoncas.ca

A Canadian artist, Sarah Joncas stylizes her figures and patterns to create art in paint. Inspired by animation processes and techniques, her art carries this simplification of shapes, color and tones, supported by exquisitely balanced compositions. Beautiful female figures and portraits are often juxtaposed against city views, nature or flowers to set the mood.

Copyright Sarah Joncas, fever Break,18×24″, oil and acrylic on panel

Abstract art vs. Realism

Traditional Realism involves a faithful depiction of light on a form studied from direct observation and Nature. But whenever we step away from it, other art forms take place.

Abstract art is about strong design and color management. We can learn to appreciate contemporary painting by learning to see textures/impasto techniques that create visual movement on canvas. Famous modern abstract artists include Jackson Pollock who pushed the boundaries of concept painting in vigorous strokes and textures. His abstract expressionism art shows understanding of color and design. Splattered paint on large canvases creates rhythm and energy.

Contemporary abstract painting by Joanne Miller Rafferty is beautiful, mature, and experimental in its nature. Abstract landscapes are spontaneous yet refined juxtapositions of color, gold leaf, and shimmery texture. They are lifescapes with the artist’s distinctive way of observation. Her acrylic paintings are collage pieces that begin at the horizon line and end at the personal experiences of viewers gazing at Joanne’s art. The artist has experimented with the use of leafing, gold leaf, and silver, copper, and variegated varieties. Using a mixture of acrylic color combinations on top of leafing creates new effects that Joanne has discovered in her creative processes. Her painting techniques are included in the Art Lessons book.

Copyright Joanne Miller Rafferty, Timeless #2, 60×40

Realism and Hyperrealism

christian alexander albarracin-paper sculpture-blink group gallery-art wynwood

I hope that this roundup of famous contemporary artists and their art gives you some ideas and direction how you can explore and grow your appreciation of contemporary art by paying attention to your emotions, story, composition, color and design in art. Contemporary art serves the humanity as a record of our history. It also creates a lasting memory of feelings and events, and allows us to communicate raw emotion.

Check out visionary art for sale

Great art websites to browse figurative art, sculpture and more:

ARC salon, the Met, National Gallery of Art, the Hermitage. Let me know if you have more resources/websites in mind.

Action step: Next time you look at contemporary art, ask yourself what three unique qualities you see in art. Is it a story, design, color, or simply a strong feeling that moves you? Analyze what draws you in and why.

Complete video series:

Video #1 Part 1 – Learn what makes a painting great

Video #1 Part 2 – Learn what makes a painting great 2: composition, color, emotion

Video #2 Contemporary Art – you’re here!

Video #3 How to take care of your art collection – coming soon!

Video #4 How to frame art

Video # 5 Why you don’t need an interior designer to buy and display art in your home – coming soon!

Art Palm Beach International 2018 highlights

Posted on January 23, 2018November 11, 2023 by veronica

Art Palm Beach International 2018 is a much quieter show in comparison to the Art Basel and Art Context Miami. The foot traffic commanded a much slower pace that actually allowed for thorough examination of contemporary art. Situated at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, the annual show consists of galleries showing art and sculpture with some installation work between January 18-21, 2018. As you often see in such fairs the quality of art hardly matters to be promoted and sold since there is no standard in art to adhere to in the first place. Craftsmanship doesn’t equal sales. We don’t listen to music or singing that is off key, but we are conditioned to look at terrible ‘art’. Not all presented contemporary art was bad at the fair, but visitors had plenty of chances to feel confusion and doubt in their understanding of art including me. In this article I to highlight some of the best pieces that were shown there as well as the worst ones, and a few artworks stuck in between the two categories.

It’s challenging for the artist to combine new materials with the traditional ones to record his vision that stands the test of time. Paintings look fresh if the artist is able to innovate and to play with the surface itself where the canvas size matters. A new trend in painting and 3-D art is added sparkle with Swarovski crystal, diamond dust or glitter. I think it cheapens the art for the most part and makes it too decorative. Neon light messages get incorporated into canvas art, and wall art installations may surprise some tech gigs. Innovation, thought and craftsmanship all contribute to the quality of painting and 3-D art. Here you see these elements at play in different proportions and scale.

If you’d like to learn more about the shown pieces, please contact the artists and galleries directly, I made every effort to identify each picture with the name of the artist or gallery representing him/her. If you see a mistake or want to add a name, please write to nika@veronicasart.com

Art Palm Beach International 2018: highlights

Video of selected works

In the video you see a hand-carved/etched glass with a neon sign “Keep working sucker” by Zac Knudson, 30×51″, Evan Lurie Gallery, and a solar Icd units in plexiglass titled “Perceptual Mirror” 28x17x2″ by Sungchul Hong, Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts.

Fake Fulfillment Center, Shawn Kolodny

Fake Fulfillment Center at ArtPalmBeach is a 3000-square-foot multi-sensory art installation by New York based artist Shawn that confronts the reality of modern addiction in a fun way. It consists of a short maze with rooms depicting and confronting the overwhelming drug addiction in our society.

Activation room: raise the caliber

Artists DetroitWick and Crow Studios transform pieces of guns that remain after they’ve been voluntarily turned in through gun buy back and amnesty programs or seized from crime scenes in America, into beautiful sculptures of lucite and prints. Percantage of sales is donated to the Caliber Foundation.

Debra Steidel

Ethereal and delicate vases reminiscent of the ocean are expertly crafted by Debra Steidel. Their textures look like sand and waves. Coral forms pull you in to touch the form and to feel the breeze of the waves. Visit steidelcontemporary.com to learn more.

Arinze Stanley

Marco Grassi

Isabelle Scheltjens

This painting is made of glass-fused mosaic! Like in some Dali paintings, Isabelle Scheltjens achieves unusual optical effects with her technique. The abstract image seen up close becomes a giant face observed from a distance.

Unfortunately I don’t know the name of this artist who made this sculpture, but by looking at this man it makes me think of life and balance, and how challenging it maybe to achieve at times.

Martin C. Herbst

B.1965, the artist creates a series of painted sculptures that are made of oil/lacquer on mirror-polished stainless steel. They range from 55 to 11 inches in diameter. Herbst paints a face on one half, and the other half of the sphere remains unpainted and becomes a distorting mirror (image below). The spheres rest on hidden rings and depending on the positioning of the sphere, the painted images change quite a bit. The idea for the spheres came to the artist from Italian painting by Parmigianino titled “Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror.”

The series hidden treasure explores the mystery of reflection. We see a woman’s face as a reflection found within the aluminum folds. Mirrored painting moves and disappears in the folds depending on your point of view.

A sculpture found on the floor at the Art Palm Beach 2018.

Pablo Dona

Pablo Dona creates whimsical installations pink, yellow and blue that are reminiscent of happy childhood. The artist aims to create a sense of magic that every child sees in commonplace objects and surroundings. Installations and photographs of tea cups, books and teacup sets with tiny people engaged in conversation, boat riding, swimming or walking have clean pastel colors that invite us to come back to that pure land of childhood. Whether you want to find it or not, you can contemplate your memories over tiny figures, rubber ducks and marshmallows.

Irene Wijnmaalen

These portraits of women have mesmerizing effect where you just keep looking back at the faces. Influenced by the Dutch painting, Irene creates moving portraits of women that seem to be lost in time.

Erin Anderson

B.1987, this young artist shows off her incredible talent painting figure on copper sheets. The artist creates visual comparisons between the figure and systems in nature. The metallic texture of the background is fascinating and creates movement and unusual shine, while figure painting follows classical art ideals and techniques.

Tanja Gant

Tanja Gant keeps us high on our toes with her colored pencil drawings that have a unique interpretation of ordinary subject, which goes far beyond realism and technical skill.

Sungchul Hong

B.1969, Korean multidisciplinary artist Sungchul Hong creates sculptural art out of strings. He prints photographs on elastic cords that he stretches over canvases or within steel frames. The images of grasping arms and hands look beautiful from a distance and puzzling up close. The construction of such images feels disruptive and you want to step back to see the unified piece. Artists often feel disconnected from the world, working alone in their studios. This sense of disconnect reveals itself in separate strings. In the video you can notice his wall art installation -blinking solar LCD units titled “Perceptual Mirror.” Grids of identical solar lcd units make changing flickering patterns that communicate life’s impermanence and isolation.

anthony brunelli fine arts_sungchul Hong_ string hands 2

Annalu Boeretto

B. 1976, Annalu Boeretto lives in Venice, Italy but exhibits her liquid sculptures internationally. Her mandala-like wall art mesmerizes us with light and lightness, natural beauty and liquidity. Influenced by the long history of Venetian glass blowing and water ways, she creates wall art from different materials that have beautiful sense of lightness and transparency common to water and glass. Fiberglass, resin and ink become Annalu’s materials that “freeze” pieces of nature in art. To learn more: www.annalu.it/

Pablo Caviedes

Pablo Caviedes, “On the map”We can look at this image and just see a face, but when a giant plate turns sideways the face becomes the U.S. map.

Jae Yong Kim

B.1973, the artist makes playful ceramic donuts. Each has a unique number of glazes and finishes that also include the Swarovski crystals in some. Fun shapes and colorful glazes create a visual feast so much so that you want to run to a donut place to eat some right away.

Mr.Brainwash

Mr. Brainwash established a name for himself in a single show that he organized and promoted to a celebrity crowd in LA many years ago. Coming from video taping of street art, Banksy art in particular, this man decided to become an artist himself, making these large canvases that carry instant message in street art style.

Alexi Torres

B.1976, Cuban artist Alexi Torres creates oil paintings that appear woven. These highly unusual brush strokes make this work very different from other figurative paintings.

Zena Holloway

Underwater photography is not an easy fit. B.1973, Zena Holloway takes pictures of celebrities and models underwater. Staged photography involves a lot of prep work with a team and a connection with models to get the shots just right. Her latest projects Sea Women and Body of Water aim to raise awareness of the effects of overfishing and pollution in the oceans.

Oliver Cole gallery: Michael Kalish

Artist and sculptor Michael Kalish makes vivid roses from reclaimed materials that include the license plates. These metal cuts that make up the flowers are suspended above the flat surface to create extra dimension.

Roberta Coni

Roberta Coni paints women inspired by Flemish painting. Her portraits don’t have the technical skill of the old masters, however, Coni’s eyes have piercing beauty.

Anja van Herle

Decorative and colorful, these sparkling paintings look like fashion ads where a woman’s skin is Photoshoped and lips have heavy outlines. The female faces are playful but not enigmatic.

A borderline “genius” art? If you don’t root for cuteness, it’s hardly artistic.

Crappy Art Conner

Sorry, guys, but this is hardly good art.

These pieces are whimsical and fun, but can we really say they are highly artistic creations? Perhaps to some who love toys or want to return to candy-land childhood.

This concludes the roundup of contemporary art you could have seen at the Palm Beach art fair. Hope you’ve enjoyed looking at various kinds of contemporary art.

To continue reading:

Contemporary figurative realism and more at Miami Art Basel Week 2017

Contemporary figurative realism and more at Miami Art Basel Week 2017

Posted on December 23, 2017November 9, 2023 by veronica

Art Basel Miami Beach is one of the largest art fairs held in the country every December. These art fairs also include Aqua Art Miami, Art Miami, CONTEXT Art Miami, Art Spot Miami, Design Miami, Form Miami, Fridge Art Fair Miami, Pulse Miami, Scope Art Show, Spectrum Art Fair and many more!

Art Miami and CONTEXT Art Miami are two of the art fairs shown under the umbrella of the Art Basel week in Miami Beach that I visit. Unlike last year, this time many galleries have emerged representing figurative realism. Also, there were more Asian galleries as well as galleries showing photography. Let’s dive in.

Art Miami and Context Art Miami at Miami Art Basel Week 2017

This video is a visual roundup of Miami art galleries, international galleries, 3D art and figurative realism art in Art Miami 2017. You’ll find the images and artists’ names in the article below.

Figurative realism artists and galleries

Brad Kunkle

In Brad Kunkle’s figurative paintings the feminine is symbolic of the intuitive that helps us connect to our purpose. By teaching us to study and to interpret artwork, the artist wants us to be more conscious of life and intuition and to feel the magic of life through his paintings. Brad Kunkle depicts women in a palette of warm browns set against the shiny silver leaf to express his idea of female softness and confidence.

To learn more: bradkunkle.com

Yigal Ozeri

Yigal Ozeri’s figurative realism is so stunning, it takes a while to believe that these are realistic oil paintings. Born in Israel in 1958, the artist works in New York creating large-scale paintings of women set in lush landscapes. The cinematic quality of his work forces us to stare and study every inch of the oil painting to believe that these are in fact realistic paintings. The artist is represented by Zemack Contemporary Art Gallery.

Clio Newton

Born 1989, Swiss artist Clio Newton creates hyperrealist, gigantic drawings of women in charcoal that are larger than life. The artist captures women with unbelievable anatomical accuracy in black and white that become towering statements of the artist’s talent. to To learn more: www.clionewton.com

Alonsa Guevara

Alonsa Guevara, Fernanda’s Ceremony, 80×32 in, oil on canvas | Anna Zorina Gallery, NY.

Originally from Chile, Alonsa is one of young figurative painters who shows her work during the Miami art fair. Alonsa’s fruit portraits are about desire. The desire to move people. Paintings of nude women that are often self-portraits are mixed with lush fruit and flowers that represent the fertility and life, mystery and birth.

To learn more: www.alonsaguevara.com

Mr. Brainwash

If you wish to understand how this street artist Mr. Brainwash made a name for himself and sold art for millions without any previous knowledge or background in art, you must watch the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, 2010. His work continues to appear during the Miami art week to capture the art enthusiasts.

Mary Jane Ansell

Mary Jane Ansell is a British artist, who presents figurative realism in a new way, mixing up the baroque influences with military costumes and emotion. She creates the narratives around strong women that appear lost in their own quietness and self-reflection.

Mike Dargas

Oversized, hyper-realistic paintings of German artist Mike Dargas depict women’s faces soaking in either chocolate or honey. Discovered on Instagram, the artist often exhibits at the Opera gallery now. To learn more: mikedargas.com

FABIEN CASTANIER gallery is one of the Miami art galleries that shows work at the art fairs as well. The male sculpture is by Mark Jenkins and Speedy Graphito is on the walls.

Bernardo Torrens

A self-taught Spanish artist paints female nudes in monochromatic colors. He is represented by Louis K. Meisel Gallery.

Carlos Rolon

Carlos Rolon, decadence upon decadence, oil and gold leaf on canvas. Born in Chicago, the artist paints stylized yet delicate floral compositions heightening the baroque luxury with shiny gold leaf.

Fernando Botero

Colombian artist Fernando Botero is one of the most popular representational painters and sculptors today who is known for his humorous ‘fat’ figures that are also expressions of political criticism.

Marco Grassi

Playful and colorful, figurative realism art by Marco Grassi is a visual treat. He’s a popular contemporary artist often shown at big art fairs internationally. These portraits of girls have freshness and vigor heightened by the gold leaf shine.

Silvio Porzionato

Italian artist Silvio Porzionato paints large-scale portraits with amazing skill, dragging paint across the background to reveal the humanity of the face and hands.

galerie bhak_art miami 2017 — Korean art gallery – galerie Bhak at Art Miami Beach 2017 | Oil on Aluminum, Scratching

Bringing Korean artists to the Miami art fair, this art gallery is a pleasant surprise. Figurative realism art becomes a lot more than painting where non-glamorous people star in paintings made of scratches and aluminum.

Face, Oil on Aluminum, Scratching, 259 x 200 cm, 2016

Face, Oil on Aluminum, Scratch, 259x200cm, 2016, detail

3D art, sculpture and animation

In the video you see some animation paintings/digital media represented by the Priveekollektie Contemporary Art and Design gallery located in the Netherlands. In Bloomed wall, we study the movement of nature reminiscent of the Dutch still life painting in a series of ‘paintings’ that play animated flowers, birds, and more.

Flutter-Hologram-Pendulum-by-Dominic-Harris | represented by www.priveekollektie.art In this 3D Hologram two butterflies fly inside a jar when exited by the movement around them. They sit down at the pendulum, which represents life hanging in balance.
To learn more: www.priveekollektie.art

Carole A. Feuerman

American artist Carole Feuerman belongs to the Hyperrealism movement making life-like sculptures. She casts real people to produce sculptural hyperreal artk that symbolizes strength, survival, and balance. To learn more: www.carolefeuerman.com

Tiny nails map out the painting’s surface of this female face with thin threads moving in various directions to make up the tones.

Josepha Gasch-Muche

German artist Josepha Gasch-Muche makes glass sculptures from razor-sharp industrial liquid crystal display glass pieces! She breaks and arranges thin sheets of glass into strands to make geometric shapes. The artist is presented by the Heller gallery at Art Miami 2017.

Metis Atash

B.1979, German artist Metis Atash comes from the consultancy business in Germany to become the creator of sculptures that represent the duality of life and beyond. To learn more: longsharpgallery.com

Peter Anton

Peter Anton is a popular sculptor whose obsession is chocolate, ice cream and sweets! To learn more: www.peteranton.com

Liquid Art System

Photography

Jeff Robb

British photographer Jeff Robb experiments with three-dimensional imaging by taking pictures of the female nudes frozen in action and placing them in his lenticular photography. The lenticular photographs give us a mirage of volume and slight movement of a figure depending on the spectator’s point of view.

Ruud van Empel

This is one of few photographs that stood out from a crowd of paintings at the Miami art fair. The unusual part is seeing a black kid set in a beautiful, not diminishing way. And even more surprising part is that the artist is white – Dutch photographer Ruud van Empel. A child with mesmerizing eyes doesn’t really exist because the artist’s pictures are multilayered images. Photoshoped from many photographs, these black girls look like painted figures – symbols of childhood innocence. This deliberate deconstruction and reconstruction of digital imagery gives the art a mesmerizing quality.

To learn more: www.ruudvanempel.nl

Javier Bellomo Coria

Javier Bellomo Coria is an Argentinian artist who finds his influences in photography and architecture to create figurative paper sculptures. Realistic portraits look like gigantic puzzle paintings seen from the distance, yet when you walk around one, you find another image – a landscape printed on the other side of the artwork. The multi printed image is cut into numerous pieces and assembled again to reveal human fragility and multiplicity.

To learn more: www.javierbellomo.com

javier bellomo coria_art miami 2017 — A close-up view

Russell Young

Russell Young, Marilyn, acrylic screen print with diamond dust, Femme Fatale series. Russell Young’s oversized and glamorous depictions of iconic celebrities and figures are chosen based on a personal tragedy of each celebrity. Death, addiction or other fatalities brought them down only to glamorize their status even more. Just like Warhol, the artist knows how to attract attention to his work, combining the diamond dust with the iconic imagery everyone is more than familiar with.

This painting concludes my explorations in figurative realism at the Miami Art Basel Week 2017. Hope you like discovering new figurative painters and gain some insight into contemporary Miami art scene and beyond!

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15 places to see in Naples and surroundings in Florida

Posted on November 12, 2017January 6, 2024 by veronica

Are you about to visit Naples in Florida? Located on the Gulf of Mexico in Southwest Florida, it’s often called a paradise because of weather in winter months. I’m local visionary artist and I’d like to share some must-see attractions and sightseeing in and around town.

Main sightseeing attractions in Naples, Florida

5th Ave South

5th Avenue South is one of Naples’ most interesting shopping areas being packed with art galleries, fancy shops, and locally owned clothing boutiques. This is the best attraction in Naples. Situated next to the beach, the 5th avenue offers small boutiques, restaurants, the ocean and a beautiful feel of the tropics. Kids can get some ice-cream, parents can shop in small stores, and couples can spend their time at the beach or at upscale art galleries. It’s a fun and unique place all around, especially at night with the Christmas lights on! The street is the place for art festivals during the winter season as well as many other events.

Covered parking is free. http://www.fifthavenuesouth.com/ Location: 5th avenue south, Naples

aldo castillo gallery art naples-veronica winters art blog — Aldo Castillo art gallery in Naples, Location: 634 5th Ave S, Naples, FL 34102. Open till 9pm

This nature-inspired shop has unique furniture pieces that are art. The Cocoon furniture and art gallery is one of my favorite art galleries in town.

Christmas trees in lobby of hotel on 5th-sightseeing — Christmas trees in a lobby of the hotel on 5th

3d street & Naples Pier

3d street & Naples Pier– the historic district that can be reached on foot via a 10-minute walk on the beach from the 5th avenue beach entrance. The 3d street offers a row of upscale art galleries, boutiques and restaurants. It’s a charming place decorated with flowers, fountains, and shopping! http://www.thirdstreetsouth.com/

Located at the west end of 12th Avenue South that goes to the 3d street, Naples Pier is a long, wooden boardwalk with many fishermen on it, who can surprise you with their catch, and you can see many pelicans diving into water there. Dolphins are frequent visitors too! There is no fee to visit the pier.

The hurricanes

The pier was destroyed in the most recent hurricane in 2022…

It was surreal to see the boats stuck in trees after the hurricane passed, 2022

Clam Pass beach park

Clam Pass beach park– is a nice alternative to the Delnor-Wiggins one. There is a 15-minute, leisure board walk that stretches from the parking lot to the beach with tall, luscious green mangroves growing all around it. I love the quietness of that place. You can get a free ride to the beach that’s provided by the Naples Grande hotel. The hotel also has a tiki bar by the beach with condiments and rentals. There is a $10 parking fee, but you can park for free by the Waterside shops area and have a sweet, 5-minute walk to the ride. The park opens at 8 a.m. and closes right after the sunset! Bugs bite after the sunset. It’s best to have your bug repellent on at night. The beach is beautiful with lots of wildlife, and it’s a lot less crowded than the Vanderbilt beach or other locations. It’s situated in central Naples close to a shopping center, restaurants, and hotels.

Location: Seagate Drive & Crayton Road; http://www.colliergov.net/your-government/divisions-f-r/parks-and-recreation/beaches-and-boats/clam-pass-park

Another entry to the same beach that’s not restricted by the hours of operation is situated next to the Naples Cay entry and Venetian bay, and the park entrance is called ‘Gulf Shore beach access.’ A nice feature of this park is that you’re not monitored to get out of there right after the sunset, unlike in other parks (Clam pass).

Delnor-Wiggins Pass state park

This is a beautiful park with all the necessary facilities to spend a nice day out. I love the sand and the birds there, and it’s even possible to see the running turtles and swimming dolphins. There is rental equipment, bathrooms, picnic areas, etc. It has a $6 admission fee entering the park by car. Parking is difficult to find during the season at this beach. It opens at 8 a.m. and closes right after the sunset! https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Delnor-Wiggins Location: 11135 Gulfshore Dr., Naples, FL 34108

realism oil painting of ocean sunset — Sunset, 36×48″ Complementary delivery in Naples area, available

The Vanderbilt beach

This is the most popular beach in town for some odd reason. My guess it’s because of concentration of hotels facing the write sand and blue ocean. It’s always crowded there, especially during the season. Finding a parking spot is a headache there.

Location: End of Vanderbilt Beach road. Open 8 am to sunset.

Naples Botanical Garden

Botanical Garden in Naples during the Christmas season

Naples Botanical Garden-is a nice place to spend your morning with a friend, walking among orchids and tropical plants. Depending on the season, the gardens have varied plants in bloom, and it’s a beautiful nature preserve. Open: 8-3 p.m. but check their website for current schedule since it varies depending on the season. Admission also varies depending on season and just keeps going up.

Location: 4820 Bayshore Drive | Naples, FL 34112. Web: https://www.naplesgarden.org/

Naples Zoo

Naples Zoo is a great fun place for families with kids and couples alike. It’s a rather small zoo and my tip is to learn about the times when they have the shows (like feeding the crocodiles and giraffes) that culminates with a big show in the afternoon that you don’t want to miss! Bring plenty of water with you, and go on a short boat ride to a small island with monkeys!

Location: 1590 Goodlette-Frank Rd, Naples, FL 34102

There is an awesome trail path/walk, situated next to the zoo!! It”s a board walk in the nature. The entrance is fee with plenty of free parking there.

The Venetian Village

The Venetian Village is a rather small, upscale shopping center, situated next to the beach that has a few upscale restaurants overlooking the bay. The shops are unique and parking is free.

Location: 4200 Gulf Shore Blvd N, Naples

The Waterside Shops

It’s an upscale shopping center situated behind the Barnes and Noble bookstore, with unique, open-air architectural design and fountains. You can find major brands selling their goods here that include Apple, Louis Vuitton, De Beers, Lulu lemon, Ralph Lauren, Saks Fifth Avenue, etc. The shopping center also has some popular restaurants.

LV-Louis Vuitton-sightseeing in Naples Florida--blog

Location: 5475 Tamiami Trail North. Every store closes at 7 p.m. but they keep longer hours during the winter season.

Revs car museum

Surprisingly good. Big. Fun. If you like looking at shiny cars from different time periods, it’s a great place to spend your afternoon. The car museum offers docent tours and closes quite early. You must reserve your tickets online to get to the museum.

Revs Institute’s Cars & Coffee event returns during the season from 8:30am – 11:00am. This family-friendly public event is open to anyone. The museum is open for walk-ins during the event, this allows purchase of tickets without a reservation, to enjoy the outdoor event and explore the automobiles from Miles Collier Collections inside the building.

Location: 2500 South Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 34104

https://revsinstitute.org/

Naples Museum of Art

Naples Museum of Art | Artis Naples. Situated next to the waterside shops, this art museum has an awkward art collection with a few big names. The best pieces are by Dale Chihuly. You can also find a few small Magrittes there. The art museum offers a free community day once a month. $10 adult admission, children 17 and under come free. Free parking. Check the hours and other info at their website. Web: http://artisnaples.org/ Location: 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd

Mercato

Mercato is a small, upscale shopping center in Naples. It consists of restaurants, bars, galleries and a movie theatre. Many people love to dress up and head over for a dinner here. It’s a fun atmosphere with night lights and music. It also has a fancy yoga studio, art galleries and spas. Covered parking is free. Location: 9110 Strada Pl, Naples.

Sightseeing around Naples, FL

Captain Jack’s airboat tours

Captain Jack’s airboat tours are so much fun, you won’t be disappointed. You must get on this boat tour if you come to Naples! You will see lots of animals there and may be able to pet a tiny crocodile. This picture is taken from their website.

The picture is taken from their website.

1-844-326-2628 Toll Free | 1-239-695-4400 Phone | Hours: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm daily, 365 days a year, boats depart about every 30 minutes

Tickets & Gift Shop: 200 Collier Avenue, Everglades City, FL 34139 (map)

Mangrove Tour: 905 Dupont Street, Everglades City, FL 34139 (map)

Animal Sanctuary, Grassland & Swamp Buggy Tours: 32330 Tamiami Trail East, Ochopee, FL 34141 (map)

Web: http://www.captainjacksairboattours.com/

The Koreshan State Historic Site

Located in Estero, The planetary court is surrounded by pine flatwoods’ habitat and has a religious colony settlement, the Koreshan Unity, whose last members deeded the land to the state in 1961, according to the Naples Daily News. The Unity of 200 followers relocated from New York to Florida in late 19th century, who believed that the universe existed within a giant, hollow sphere (according to the park’s site). The park is good for fishing, hiking and boating. The park is open from 8am to sunset. the historic settlement is open till 5pm. There is a per vehicle fee.

Location: 3800 Corkscrew Road, Estero, FL 33928; (239) 992-0311

Web: https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Koreshan

Marco Island

Marco Island is a stretch of pristine beaches similar to the Naples ones, but with its own charm. Located on the Gulf of Mexico it offers natural beauty and luxury accommodations. It also has a free to visit Marco Island Arts Center.

Well, that sums it up. Have a blast in Naples, Florida! 🙂

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King Woman: contemporary art show review

Posted on October 21, 2017November 9, 2023 by veronica

King Woman

King Woman is a contemporary art show held at the Pen+Brush nonprofit art gallery in New York in October, 2017. The title reflects epic impact you receive visiting the exhibit. Occupying two floors, the exhibition features a number of large artworks in contemporary painting, photography and sculpture. This art show is a rare gem, sparkling in an overall landscape of mediocre contemporary art. Both abstract and realistic, art is united in a single vision where a woman is King. The curator of the show is Mashonda Tifrere.

She said, “My goal for this show is to highlight work by women who question history and deny limitations, persevering in their art despite social mores and norms. These artists have also found a way to acknowledge their gender but at the same time move beyond it by owning it in an unabashed way – showing that women can be more than Goddess or Queen, that they are capable of being ‘King,’ at the pinnacle of power and strength and skill.”

Art transcends the gender roles, and while it shouldn’t be about the division between the sexes, it’s important to see women have equal say, being presented in art exhibitions. While we don’t see male artists showing in groups where their art challenges stereotypes and disparity they often face, women seem to unite in their message channeled through their art. Being vulnerable is beautiful. Women artists often feel unimportant and invisible however, their art becomes powerful once the forces are united in the show like this one.

Carole A. Feuerman

Carole Feuerman is a pioneer hyperrealist artist who actually began the the hyper-realism movement in the 1970s. She portrays women in steel, bronze and resin so lifelike, you can’t help but reach out and touch the sculptures. Tiny eyelashes, hair and droplets of dew make her figures appear incredibly real. Large and small, her figurative sculptures can occupy a small space in a room or in the entire garden. The sculptures are often integrated into their environment, like you can see in Venice. https://veronicasart.com/venice-biennial-2017-a-crappy-show-with-rave-reviews/

On the artist’s website Feuerman explains her work.

“She creates visual manifestations of the stories she wants to tell of strength, survival, balance, and the struggle to achieve.”

Chrysalis, 2017, resin, 33 x 36 x 18″

Ingrid Baars

Artemis, 2017, C-print face mounted on dibond, edition of 7, 45″x 59″

This incredibly powerful photograph is inspired by African culture, fashion and women. Romantic at heart, the photo manipulation is the image of striking beauty and ethereal contemplation.

Yvonne Michiels

Royal Flowers, 2017, Fuji Crystal on dibond with perspex

Based in the Netherlands, the artist creates incredibly moving digital collages of women with floral crowns. At first sight her portraits of women express confidence and beauty. Women’s faces look so magnificent, you stare at the image speechless, yet we can feel some hidden vulnerability behind the perfect looks.

Roos Van Der Vliet

These intimate portraits of women feel incredibly sincere. Dutch artist paints women realistically to express her inner desire to replicate reality as close as she can. Her paintings give a sense of a woman who is hiding yet she wants to be seen. Painting process is always a path to understanding oneself. Here we see the artist making discoveries about her own vulnerability.

Reisha Perlmutter

Iris, 2017, oil on canvas, 40 x 60″

Reisha paints women floating in colorful water. Abstracted patterns of body and water channel their healing powers where women are allowed to dwell freely in their ever changing environment.

Victoria Selbach

Kali Ma, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 50″

This painting surprises with its size that creates instant sense of power and control found in a figure. She looks like a goddess or warrior who is ready to concur the world.

The list of artists in King Woman includes:

Rebecca Allan; Azi Amiri; Ingrid Baars; Hunter Clarke; Donna Festa; Carole Feuerman; Lola Flash; Meredith Marsone; Yvonne Michiels; Stephanie Hirsch; Kharis Kennedy; Kit King; Lacey McKinney; Jane Olin; Reisha Perlmutter; Renee Phillips; Trixie Pitts; A.V. Rockwell; Victoria Selbach; Lynn Spoor; Swoon; Tiara; Roos Van Der Vliet; Elizabeth Waggett; Lynnie Z

Where:

King Woman is the contemporary art show that runs between October 12th-December 9th, 2017 at Pen+Brush nonprofit art gallery in New York (29 East 22nd street). To read more about the show: http://www.penandbrush.org/articles/press-release/upcoming-exhibition-king-woman

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19th century Russian portrait painting by veronica winters

19th century Russian Art & Portrait Painting: eyes are the window to the soul

Posted on October 20, 2017November 6, 2023 by veronica

In this article, I’d like to introduce you to some of my favorite 18th and 19th- century Russian portrait artists and paintings that I fell in love with when I was a child. These realistic portrait paintings made a considerable influence on my aesthetic and desire to learn the traditional oil painting techniques. Some of these paintings represent the collision of classical ideals with Romanticism that is evident in artists’ choice of subject and color schemes.

Art became a source of inspiration early in my life. Many oil paintings were printed in public school textbooks. Russian art occupied the last few pages in those textbooks that were printed in color and on thick paper unlike the rest of the material in the 1980s Soviet Union. Besides one art class I had in the elementary school, we didn't have art education in public school system back then. So those color reproductions and my parents' art book collection became my first introduction to classical Russian art. Some Russian children could study the arts in a separate art school with classes held in late afternoons in order to get a certificate. Only having that certificate of completion allowed the children to apply to the Academy in either Moscow or St. Petersburg to study art at the college level.

Russian Portrait Painting in late 19th-century

Ilya Repin (1844-1930)

Ilya Repin is one of the most famous Russian artists of his generation. Excellent figurative painter, he is one of my favorites for his moral views and social purpose he channeled through his art. His portraits depict a variety of characters that all share the enormous artistic power and thoughtfulness.

Ilya Repin, Portrait of Garshin, 35×27,” 1884, the Metropolitan Museum of Art

This portrait is one of several that Repin made of Russian artists and intellectuals following his return from his graduate study in France. The artist begged the Academy to let him return home, so he could work on the national themes in his painting.

Here is an excerpt from the Met about this painting. "Russian author Vsevolod Garshin specialized in short stories expressing his pacifist beliefs, love of beauty, and aversion to evil. In the early 1880s he became friends with Repin, a leading progressive painter who shared his concern for contemporary political and social problems. Four years after it was created, Garshin, scarred by the suicides of his father and brother and his own mental illness, threw himself down a stairwell and died." http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437442 )

Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757-1826)

Russian artist Borovikovsky — Vladimir Borovikovsky, Portrait of Maria Lopukhina, 1797, 72×53 cm, State Tretyakov gallery, Moscow

Created at the end of the 18th century, this painting reflects the sentiment of the epoch where a man is part of nature. The artist fuses the model with a natural, but decorative landscape behind her where Russian landscape becomes more prominent than it used to be shown in Russian painting. This oil painting has a thorough balance of color. The blues of tiny cornflowers in the background are reflected in her beautiful blue sash, and the gold of the rye mingles with her jewelry and the golden sash accents. The color of a dull pink shawl wrapping around her figure is similar to the quiet roses blooming by her side. Her white gown finds similar tones with a couple of trees, repeating the diagonal of the figure.

Otherwise standard, diagonal three-quarter view of the woman depicts the beauty of a young Princess Lopukhina (1779-1803) who belonged to the Russian royal family of Tolstoy and died of tuberculosis in her early twenties. Her masterfully painted face shows beautiful restraint. Soft transitions between warm and cool tones, light pinks on the cheeks, greenish shadows, the riveting depth of the eyes, and gentle, rosy colors of the mouth – everything breathes with life. I love this portrait for its quietness, elegant confidence and a masterful balance of colors and shapes.

Borovikovsky created numerous portraits after his work in the military and graduation from the Academy in St. Petersburg. He found fame among the imperial court including Catherine II.

Karl Briullov (1799-1852)

Karl Briullov, The Last Day of Pompeii, 183 x 256 inches, 1830-33

Karl Briullov was the last great classical portraitist in the 19th-century Russia. Classically trained at the Academy in St. Petersburg, the artist was influenced by the classical ideals of Rome. Painter of royalty, Briullov had a fantastic skill level that he showed off in his most famous historical artwork titled “The last day of Pompeii, 1830-33” that brought him a widespread fame throughout Europe at that time. Realism and idealism, classical and neoclassical ideals collide on a huge canvas that depicts people in action, running for their lives during the eruption of Vesuvius.

After receiving the highest honors at the Academy, Karl Briullov won a golden medal to travel to Italy. Immersed in the classical tradition of painting, the artist had spent three years studying each figure for the Last day of Pompeii, completing numerous drawings. There is beautiful movement,detail and balance in every man, building and element in this painting.

Karl Briullov, Portrait of the princess Elizabeth Saltykov, 1841, The State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Russian artist also produced many paintings of royalty and idealized Italian women caught at work, picking up grapes or washing clothes. Although those paintings are beautiful technically, they lack vision and reflection of some social changes in the country. Those changes got recorded soon thereafter by the Itinerants.

Nikolay Pimonenko (1862-1912)

Nikolay Pimonenko, Yule fortune telling, detail, 1888

This painting has such a bold use of color! Strong, single light source illuminates two peasant girls who read the fortune. In the old tradition, girls placed the melting wax into a cup with cold water to capture the “frozen” profile of a future husband. Here they look at the wall projection cast from the melted wax, trying to figure out who the man is. I love how spontaneous and fresh the brushwork is and how vivid colors harmonize together to depict this festive mood.

Ivan Kramskoy (1837-1887)

Ivan Kramskoy, a leader of the Itinerants movement, was one of the strongest portraitists in his generation of artists. Like other Russian artists in the movement, he believed in public duty and service to people through his art. Although he loved painting those themes, Kramskoy was a great portraitist. In 1869, he exhibited his portraits at the Academy for which he won a rank of the Academician.

One of his most famous paintings depicts a woman without a name. She looks composed and confident. Every texture is richly painted: the feathers, silk, fur, and velvet. Light yellow light envelops the distant buildings and describes the contours of the figure. Notice, how the artist puts the same color into the hat’s feather and her face to carefully harmonize the painting.

Ivan Kramskoy, Stranger, 1883, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Russian art — Kramskoy, the forester, 1874 (84×62 cm or 33×24,5 inches), The Tretyakov State Gallery, Moscow

The gaze of this peasant man is just riveting! Tragedy, disturbance and hidden force reside in his enigmatic eyes. The artist shows a specific type of a man who doesn’t like to settle or to tolerate the abuse of the forest by men. Or perhaps the painting is about poor villagers who are tired of their endless suffering and are getting ready to revolt against their wealthy masters.

Russian artist Ivan Kramskoy — Ivan Kramskoy portr. of artist’s daughter Sofia 1882

This portrait was painted in the end of the 19th century that marked the transition between the classical and modern art. The artist depicts his daughter in less controlled manner with loose strokes and colorful shadows that show the classical mastery of the anatomy and oil painting techniques. Her thoughtful face possesses no classical idealization, but expresses inner strength and depth of character that’s so hard to reach in realistic painting. The restrained position of her hands and mouth depicts a very young woman wrapped up in her thoughts. Trained by her father, Sofia became a professional artist as well. She received recognition for her artistic skills but had a very complicated life after the Soviet revolution.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, Portrait of Ivan Shishkin

Ivan Shishkin was a great landscape painter who posed for this masterful portrait by Kramskoy. The background and the pose are so simple that all our attention goes to the face of the artist, which channels so much humanity and life that seems impossible to describe in paint.

Vasily Tropinin (1776-1857)

Vasily Tropinin came from a family of the serfs and received his freedom only at the age of 47. He often depicted scenes of ordinary peasant life that feature women doing hard or meticulous work. Those paintings have jovial mood, celebrating ordinary, domestic life.

Russian art, Tropinin — Tropinin, the lace-maker, 1823 , The Tretyakov State Gallery, Moscow

I’m fond of this painting because it shows the old Russian tradition of lace-making, something I learned how to do in my teenage years, taking a class for a year. A pretty, peasant girl creates intricate lace pattern with numerous bobbins and thin threads. Captivated by her task, she quickly glances at the viewer only to return to her work. I love the gentleness captured in her face and a hint of a smile that’s subtle and kind.

To Read about Russian genre painting, go here: https://veronicasart.com/19th-century-russian-artists-and-genre-art-the-itinerants-movement/

To check out my art, go here: https://veronicasart.com/

How to manage emotions as artist, woman and entrepreneur veronica winters

Why are artists sad? How to manage emotions as artist, woman and entrepreneur

Posted on August 27, 2017November 8, 2023 by veronica

Have you ever struggled managing your emotions? Have you felt rejected, lonely, depressed, fearful or angry? I bet you have! Our feelings make decisions over 90% of the time despite our vast capacity to think logically. Negative emotions bring us pain, often take us to the past, or simply stop us from doing what we love! Training my mind, conquering my feelings, and taking control of the situation has become one of my top priorities in life for the past decade.

Why are artists sad?

It’s often said that time cures everything. Pain disappears and we heal. The expression “some wounds never heal” actually means that we can’t always overcome or let go of our past. I felt worn out by my past. I traveled to Thailand back in 2012 to understand the principles of Buddhism that I thought would bring me closer to the truth and alleviate the pain I felt inside. And the Buddhist truth states that much suffering is caused by our “disturbing emotions.” I wanted to find a cure from emotional pain I suppressed inside me. Buddhism, mindfulness and meditation are wonderful and useful to practice but these concepts were not an easy fix for me.

What helped me greatly are a few books that I list in the end of this post. I used to suppress my feelings because they were considered not important or irrelevant in my family. I suffered from a very low self-esteem most of my life that perpetuated problems and blocked me from doing what I didn’t know I was even capable of doing. Books on psychology opened a new world to me where I discovered how truly lost I felt in my own perception of myself. Overtime I uncovered my behavioral patterns and trauma that ‘motivated’ me to act in certain ways, causing emotional upheaval.

How behavioral patterns affect our thinking

As I’m not a psychologist, I simply want to share some information that I learned to understand how it affected me and my perception of reality. What is a pattern? Basically it’s a set of learned patterns we acquire in childhood through positive and negative reinforcements that determine our behavior today. These are unconscious actions we take that can be compared to a computer program. Our brain gets programmed to behave in certain ways based on the behavior of our parents in family and society in general.

As children we learn to adapt and deal with various situations, forming these behavioral patterns. Remaining unconscious about our patterns, as adults we often find excuses or blame someone else for a repetitive situation we find ourselves in. However, if you’re more aware of yourself, you’ll notice that you often end up in similar situations, or attract a certain kind of people into your life. For example, a woman might leave one abusive husband only to find herself in a new relationship with another one. Or you can’t find a job. You study and get a new degree. You look for another job and can’t find it again. Or you talk to a relative hoping for him or her to respond to you with warmth and care but encounter the same cycle of responses and behavior. It upsets you and triggers a number of negative emotions in you. You also may experience a conflict situation, and your pattern is to avoid the conflict altogether by appeasing people rather than trying to solve a problem causing that conflict. The same conflict situation that arises with different people and different situations has a single root – you. You also observe and experience the same emotional reactions that are caused by similar situations or people in your life. As a result you lose control of yourself and become filled with negative emotions. These are the moments when you are often accused of having “thin skin” or “lack of patience” on your part. The same patterns of behavior can be on re-play for decades in your life!

Most people don’t like change and feel happy where they are. We tend to spot problems of others, but we are often unable to either recognize, acknowledge or get rid of our own psychological patterns that keep holding us back and limit our spiritual growth. Once we become aware of our patterns, we can break them to form new, healthy ones. Although it’s very difficult to break deeply engraved patterns on your own, it is possible to recognize your cycles of behavior that lead to cycles of actions. One of my cycles was to worry deeply or to take negative comments, opinions and jealousy of others very close to my heart. It caused a chain reaction in me where I not only argued with those people constantly but also degraded myself that made me feel even more worthless. I also attracted selfish personalities who constantly demanded attention with no emotional support provided when I hoped to get it. To turn it around I began building my sense of self-respect inside. This conscious effort transformed my life where uninvited opinions of others became just their opinions with no true value to me. This led me to disengage with people I didn’t want to be with and to form new relationships with people with whom I shared mutual respect.

Another ‘big’ transformation I’ve experienced is self-acceptance. After so many years of struggles and self-punishment of not being good enough I accepted my body, my looks and what I do as a career. This led me to understanding of others. Actions and reactions of people around me (even not the most graceful ones) make sense to me today although I may find it hard to deal with them. There is also understanding that difficult people come to your life for a reason and are there to teach you a lesson. This process of reclaiming your freedom and trusting yourself first and foremost involves taking a full responsibility for your actions.

our life is what our thoughts make it, quote by marcus aurelius

How to manage emotions to feel your best

Despite all these breakthroughs and inner work, I still have a very hard time dealing with my intense emotions at times. As artists we are very vulnerable and sensitive people because we create personal art. Daily pressures cause distress.

That’s where Tony Robbins‘ videos can really help. In his teachings he quickly grabs your attention with his practical approach to changing your emotional state. I found his emotional management techniques to be so simple, yet profound and applicable to any situation you may have. While I’m including some of his teachings below, you can find plenty of information and listen to his audio on YouTube.

You can’t change people around you by telling them to change. You can either change your perception of this person/situation, or the way you behave around such people.
Whenever you feel hurt, angry, lonely, depressed – every emotion we normally consider as a negative, Robbins treats it as a neutral and just a signal/ call to action to change something in your life. It’s important to acknowledge your emotion, rather than to suppress it to see the message that your brain sends you.
According to Robbins it’s important to identify the core emotion first, what you really feel behind the first feeling that arises like anger.
If you ignore your signal the feeling intensifies. Therefore, to set a new outcome, change your perception (the way you perceive or look at things) or procedure (the way you communicate needs/behave/expect).

If you feel uncomfortable, it’s important to change the state, clarify what you want, and take action to communicate that desire.

If you feel hurt, it means you have an unmet expectation that brings a sense of loss to you that’s very painful. Either change your expectations or communicate your desires differently.

If you feel anger or resentment it means your important standard is not met by you or another person.

Fear (fear of failure, anxiety) arises as a signal asking you to prepare to deal with something.

Frustration – change your approach to achieve your goal.

Disappointment – something that you’ve been expecting is not going to happen.

Guilt or regret– you’ve violated one of your own standards.

If you feel inadequate or unworthy – your mind asks you to get up and do something better, or change rules that are too harsh.

Feelings of hopelessness, depression, overwhelm – decide what’s most important for you to accomplish now, make a list with order and handle the first one. Do something immediately to take control of events. Pick one thing and master it.

Feeling lonely-we need to find a connection with people.

5. We give meaning to everything. But ask yourself what does it really mean? Choose meanings that empower you in life as opposed to assuming things that dis-empower you.

Spiritual growth is an ambiguous sentence, in my opinion. My interpretation is simply learning to become free from emotional and physical constraints we all experience, and I hope my writing helps you find or clarify your path in your journey. These days when I’m in doubt, pain or struggle, I train myself to refocus. I used to dwell in my thoughts on re-play. But as soon as I stop thinking that particular thought that upsets me, my day improves. I try to find something, anything to be grateful for around me in that moment. I also open my notebook with goals and ask myself what I’m doing today to get closer to them. It shifts my focus and changes thoughts. Try it and let me know how it goes for you, ok?

Understanding and managing emotions books:

Emotional Alchemy: How the Mind Can Heal the Heart by Tara Bennett-Goleman
The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D.
Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss
Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss

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Learn what makes a painting great Part 2: Composition, Color, Lines and Emotion

Posted on August 5, 2017November 8, 2023 by veronica

In this video in the series you’ll learn about composition, color, emotion, painting techniques, use of lines, and other artistic elements artists used to produce their greatest works of art. This video will help you understand the qualities of great art, especially painting created before the 20th century.

You’ll find my video notes below!

Jacques-Louis_David_madame recamier — Jacques-Louis David, madame Recamier, 5’9″x7’4″, 1800, the Louvre

The use of composition in art

All beauty is the result of fine proportions.
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), architect

Greeks were one of the ancient civilizations to invent and use the mathematical proportion, linear perspective and the concept of divine proportion and scale in art and architecture. We can marvel at the divine beauty of the Parthenon and Pantheon. Because of a conversion to Christianity, these postulates were abandoned in the Middle Ages and completely forgotten for centuries. The Italian Renaissance revived the Greco-Roman principles in art and architecture several centuries later. The principles of the mathematical perspective were devised by Filippo Brunelleschi in Italy.

Man is the measure of all things becomes the mantra of the Renaissance artists in the 1400-1500s as they explore the concept of rational thought by creating art that’s three-dimensional, visually balanced, mathematically proportioned and color unified.

Composition becomes central to the creation of representational art.

The use of Pentagram in Art

pentagon and decagon in a circle veronica winters video series — Pentagram and decagon in a circle

In this diagram you see the fundamental principle of geometric division of space or the divine proportion. A symbol of unity, the circle holds a pentagon inside with the 5-pointed star of Pythagoras drawn inside it. Renaissance artists used this model to place their figures in a visually pleasing composition.

(Source: Rhythmic Form in Art by Irma Richter, Dover Publications)

Raphael Ansidei Madonna pentagon composition, veronica winters video series — Raphael, Ansidei Madonna, 1505-1507 | pentagon composition

The school of Athens, Raphael, veronica winters video series — The school of Athens, Raphael, 1510, fresco in Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican, Rome | pentagon composition

This painting represents the exaltation of rational thought. The artist paints his contemporaries as models to represent ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle standing right in the center of the composition. We see Leonardo as Plato, Bramante as Euclid, Raphael as Apelles and Michelangelo as Heraclitus. Raphael incorporates the architecture of the room by creating a balanced composition that proportionally relates to the interior. The fresco has 5 circles. The height of figures and their placement corresponds to the mathematical divisions seen in the picture.

Also see:

Poussin (French), “A dance to the music of time” (pentagon composition)

Besides using pentagons, artists create symmetrical and asymmetrical balance with triangular compositions, the golden section rule, and several other devices.

Masaccio_ the holy trinity perspective — Masaccio (Italian), The Holy Trinity, fresco in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1428 | perfect linear perspective

In this painting the iconography is standard. The unusual part is its perfect linear perspective. It marks Masaccio as the first Renaissance painter who achieved visual realism of the figures because he showed a natural receding of figures in space.

Adam's Creation, Sistine Chapel_ceiling'_by_Michelangelo — Michelangelo (Italian), “The creation of Man,” Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome

In this famous painting by Michelangelo, the curving S-shape creates an equal movement and balance of shapes on both sides of the painting.

Also see:

Caravaggio (Italian), “The inspiration of St. Matthew” 1602. This painting features the S-shape design as well.

rogier_van_der_weyden_descent from the cross composition — Rogier van der Weyden, “Descent from the cross”

We can see examples of triangular compositions in religious art where a cross divides the space in half or is placed at a diagonal. In this painting the artist arranges the figures in a way that mimic the shape of the cross. The diagonal of Christ repeats itself in Mary’s shape.

virgin and child van eyck composition — Jan van Eyck, “The Virgin and Child” | triangular composition

The triangular shape was a popular element to design a composition. It creates balance with a line falling from the apex of the pyramid diving the picture in half.

claude lorraine_the embarcation of st. ursula golden section — Claude Lorraine (French), “Embarkation of St. Ursula,” National Gallery, London | the golden section

Lorraine consciously designed his paintings following the rules of thirds or the “golden section,” which is widely used today by photographers and artists alike. The artist also “framed” his landscapes with trees placed on both sides of a painting to create a circular motion, so a viewer never leaves his picture. He was a master, creating a complete balance between the light and dark masses of trees, buildings, water and sky.

Also see:

“Landscape with Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Sylvia,” 1682.

The Arnolfini marriage — Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini wedding” 1434, National Gallery, London

The artist strikes an equal balance of shapes around the middle where we see the figures join their hands.

Emotion

Canova, Venus and Adonis, sculpture detail,museum’s copyright

Emotion is the strongest reason for artists to create art and for people to look at it or to own it. Art is a visual expression of our soul. We respond to a painting or a sculpture instantly using our feelings as opposed to logic, and that’s what makes us human. Meaningful art helps us connect with our inner life. It reminds us of particular memories. Art is not only a cultural and historical object, but also a remedy that speaks a universal language.

Artists have a vast emotional landscape to reach deep to convey a story in a meaningful way. It’s the feeling that draws us into the picture. Because we all have a unique set of experiences, we respond to the art in different ways. Some paintings leave us untouched, while others haunt us with their beauty, melancholy, joy or fear. Painting is a record of artist’s interior life, and his/her ability to see beauty in both the beautiful and the ugly.

Because feelings can’t be quantified in immediate dollars and cents unlike consumer goods, many don’t see value in art, think it’s useless, and try to cut funding for school art programs and art organizations. As a consumer driven society we are conditioned to ignore craftsmanship, uniqueness and beauty produced in singular products because a cheaper version of artistic creation is all around us for free on social media, TV, magazines, shop posters, book covers, pillow designs and so on. We see art but we don’t really study it. Only our encounter with the original painting has that immediate impact, raw emotion that enriches us as human beings.

Images:

Caravaggio, Head of Medusa, oil on canvas, 24×22”, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

(In Greek mythology, the terrible Medusa had the power to turn anyone who looked at her into stone: a power she retained after being killed by Perseus.)

Frans Hals, The Jolly Toper, 1628-30, oil on canvas, 32×26”, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Flaming June, Frederic_Lord_Leighton_(1830-1896) — Sir Frederic Lord Leighton (1830-1896), Flaming June, 47” square, 1895, Puerto Rico

Vasnezov Sirin and Alkonost. The song of happiness and sadness — Vasnetzov, *The song of joy and sorrow*, oil on canvas, 133×250 cm, 1896, The Tretyakov gallery, Moscow

Russian painting vasili perov — Vasily Perov, Trine (*Troyka), oil on canvas, 1866*

Also see:

Isaak Levitan, Over the Eternal Peace, 1894, oil on canvas, 150x206cm, the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Ivan Shishkin, Winter, 1890, oil on canvas, 125 x 204 cm, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Ivan Shishkin, In the Wild North, 1890, oil on canvas, 161 x 118 cm, Museum of Russian Museum, Kyiv

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893, tempera and casein on cardboard, 36×29” (91x74cm), Oslo, Norway

Romantics:

Caspar David Friedrich, two men contemplating the moon | The Met | http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438417

In this section I’d like to mention the 19^th century Romantic Movement. Romanticism grew as a rebellion against the static, cold ideals of the Greco-Roman art, religion and social order. Romantics were liberals who produced art that excited viewers with emotions, especially the fear and the power of wild, changing Nature as the source of the sublime. Romantics channeled these ideals via painterly movement and color. They wanted to reflect on real life, not some distant ideals. Artists celebrated freedom of creativity that found its support from new patronage of successful entrepreneurs and business class.

The funeral of Atala,1808,Girodet_de_Roussy-Trioson — Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, *The Funeral of Atala*, 1808, oil on canvas, 5’6”x6’10” (1.67×2.10 m), the Louvre, Paris

Caspar_David_Friedrich_-the polar sea — German Romantic, Caspar David Friedrich, the Polar Sea (The Wreck of Hope), 1824, oil on canvas, 38×50” Hamburg, Germany

Also see:

Spanish artist Goya (1746-1828), The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Los Caprichos, 1798, etching and aquatint, 8×6”, the Met, New York. Goya creates horror scenes with monsters and owls, depicts his nightmares that’s said to criticize Spanish society as corrupt and demented. The artist supported the French revolution being against the king of Spain. yet Goya was very popular as a court painter to Charles IV. Late Goya shows highly emotional art, already being a thought after portraitist, painting royalty as individuals with psychological insight into their personalities that lacked idealization on purpose.

Goya, The Family of Charles IV, oil on canvas, 9’2”x11’, Prado Museum, Madrid & the Third of May, 1808, oil on canvas, 8’9”x 13’4”, 1814-15. (In this painting the artist shows the execution of Madrid citizens dying for Liberty).

Swiss painter, Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) painted somewhat erotic, moody and supernatural pictures of dramatic Shakespearean scenes and dreams that ignited fear. In his painting the skill of drawing is given away in favor of emotions and imagination. He painted several variations of the painting The Nightmare, oil on canvas, 102x127cm, Detroit institute of arts

Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) The nightmare. 1790-91 version

Another Neo-Baroque French painter, Gericault (1791-1824) explored human extremes and violent action in his art. He painted people in action with the exuberance and energy of Baroque artists.

Mounted Officer of the Imperial Guard, 1812, oil on canvas, 9’7”x6’4”, the Louvre, Paris. He completed this artwork at just 21 years of age.

Other Romantic artists to check out are Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) and J.M.W. Turner.

Color

1880_Frederic_Leighton_-_Self_portrait — Sir Frederic Leighton, Self-portrait, 1880

We can divide representational art into two opposing groups. One is dominated by the composition design think of Michelangelo. And the other is led by the use of color and light. While thoughtful design stands for rational thought in art, beautiful play of light and color evokes strong feelings.

Those of you who have tried oil painting know how hard it is to achieve color unity. It’s not only the skill of color mixing, but also the artistic vision and sensibility to color. In masterpieces we see hues that interact and support each other. The complexity of color comes with deliberate color mixing, dragging or glazing of the paint, overlaying, and letting one hue dominate and complement the rest. (Ingres, David, Simon Vouet). The tradition of color descends from Titian to Rubens, to Van Gogh and Picasso. Seurat developed his own scientific color system – pointillism that didn’t get traction among artists, however.

Mary Cassatt, Sleepy baby, pastels on paper, 1910, impressionism

The Impressionists redefined the use of color, not painting with black in the shadows. Unlike the majority of artists who worked in the studio, the impressionists painted outdoors, capturing the weather conditions at different times of the day. That’s why you see numerous paintings done of the same subject but in various lighting conditions. We can look at Claude Monet’s waterlilies and Edgar Degas’ dancers to understand how artists were interested in atmospheric and light perception of places and people – the impression, rather than the actual copying of details. The impressionists revolted against the Academism and its annual Salon painting competitions to organize their independent shows that exhibited unconventional, colorful art.

In Russia we see a rise of national landscape painting with artists like Shishkin and Kuindzhi who depicted vast, luscious and vivid landscapes of the countryside. Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Gauguin become the post-impressionism artists who focus on the spiritual in painting channeling it through color and symbols.

kuindzhi birch grove 1879 — Kuindzhi, birch grove, 1879

Arkhip Kuindzhi (1842-1910), the moon night | Impressionism & realism

Use of shapes, lines and negative space

michelangelo drawing of Libyan Sibyl — Michelangelo, drawing of Libyan Sibyl

Line is the most vital element in visual art. Contour lines describe form and the initial drawing design. Drawings exist as personal records of artist’s idea and thoughts, having unique handwriting, gesture and energy. Line drawings can be very expressive if an artist varies shape, thickness and completion of the line. Rembrandt’s drawings capture everyday activities in sketchy but confident, almost child-like lines. Drawings of Michelangelo are beautiful studies of models where the lines define the physical anatomy and monumentality of male figures frozen in action.

Da Vinci’s drawings perfectly describe the subject with soft, gentle lines reminiscent of the softness we see in his paintings. It’s amazing to see how Ingres describes figures in his hollow drawings of just contour lines with minimal shading.

Japanese printmakers, Hiroshige and Hokusai became the two masters of woodblock printing in the country. They exercised great influence onto the Impressionists with their approach to composition design and the simplification of shapes. Hiroshige’s artwork is very linear and creates simplified shapes and patterns with the lines of varied quality.

Hiroshige, “Travelers passing Mount Fuji” woodblock print, 1831, Honolulu

Alphonse Mucha, *The precious stones: Topaz, Ruby, Amethyst, Emerald*, details, 1900, color lithograph, 26×11” each

The leading Art Nouveau designer and painter, Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) used geometric shapes, mosaics, and diagonals to create beautiful lithographs of women as idyllic symbols. Czech artist gave birth to his unique “Style Mucha” with his posters of a famed actress Sarah Bernhardt that made him prominent in French Art Nouveau. His use of definitive, contour line is central to his illustrative style.

Austrian artist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) employs lines, patterns and shapes to create a unique visual experience. His figures are made of patterns with contour and geometric lines defining form.

As spectators we often don’t pay attention to the artistic use of negative space. Negative space is simply the background you see behind an object. It often affects how we perceive what’s in front of us by carefully controlling the tone, color and shapes in the background space. Let’s look at one of Spanish realist artists – Cotan who uses the negative space to his advantage.

Juan Sanchez Cotan, Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber, 1602, oil on canvas, 27×33”, San Diego Museum of Art

Because the Spanish court and the Catholic church employed foreign painters like Titian in the 16^th century Spain, native artists were not popular among the two major patrons, and therefore they were able to develop their still life painting that was nonexistent before the 1590s. Cotan (1561-1627) becomes a pioneer in still life painting. A deeply religious man, he painstakingly arranged simple objects at a curve, juxtaposing bright objects against the dark tones, where rich background reinforces the realism of foreground shapes.

Similarly , Caravaggio used the dark background to bring his subjects forward. He defined and mastered chiaroscuro – the balance of light and dark in his paintings. So much so that when a viewer stands in a dark interior of a church he sees abstracted patterns of light and shade. When the light is turned on, the entire painting changes to a story we see in a design. His mastery of color, negative space and contrast play with our perception of reality. (David and Youth bitten by a lizard).

Texture, paint and brushwork quality

Jan van Eyck (Dutch), painting detail that shows glazing techniques with seamless brushwork.

Caravaggio, St. John the Baptist. | This painting shows the effect of glazing where color (red) is built up in many layers of thin paint (glazing).

Our eyes travel across canvas to notice the unusual texture and brushwork, or purposefully to see none. Strokes of paint can describe the textures and shapes of fabric, skin and space. They can also generate an emotional response to the subject itself. The artistic ability to do it freely takes years of experimentation and practice, like we see in Sargent’s painting. Sargent’s art has spontaneous brushwork quality that’s actually deliberate and skilled. He was masterful at hitting the right ‘note’ in a single stroke, and when he was not, the artist wiped it off with a rag, and did it again. His paint strokes have relaxed elegance and fluidity.

Metz art museum-Sargent-veronica winters art blog

Classical oil painting techniques

Traditional methods involve several painting oil painting techniques. Here I’d like to mention glazing used by Ingres and David as well as the impasto oil painting technique perfected by Rembrandt. Glazing creates depth and sophistication in color by using thin, transparent layers of paint. The impasto technique creates texture in thick, opaque strokes. These two seemingly opposing methods are often combined together in a single work of art, like we see in the Rembrandt’s paintings that create the glow in his portraits. The Jewish bride.

Rembrandt, the Jewish bride, oil painting detail showing the impasto technique.

Impasto (to put in paste, Italian) is applied thickly on a canvas or panel with a brush or a palette knife that raises the paint surface and makes the strokes visible. Impasto creates textures in clothes, jewelry, and skin that looks like a suggestion of the fabric or skin rather than a direct representation of it. The relief-like surface makes the lights pop more to attract our attention to the focal point. Rembrandt, Velazquez, Titian and Goya used this technique.

Jan Van Eyck (Dutch, 1390-1441) was a fundamental figure in northern Europe, the first to perfect the oil painting technique. He had strong interest in optics and light effects to create painstakingly detailed realism. (Ghent Altarpiece, oil on panel, detail). In this kind of art you don’t see any brushwork to convey realism. The artist uses lots of glazes to build up the color.

A lot of artists use a combination of techniques that include glazing, impasto, scumbling and more that produced different visual effects to convey realism of texture and form.

Alexander Roslin: Marie Suzanne Giroust, 1734-1772, konstnär, gift med Alexander Roslin.

Action step:

Pick an artwork that you really like, and try to explain why you enjoy looking at it in terms of composition, color, and subject. Practice your understanding of paintings, and your art appreciation will grow exponentially! Have fun with it!

I hope you’ve enjoyed watching my video and discovered how story, composition, emotion and texture – all contribute to and influence on our perception of famous paintings. A great painting offers a lot more than a good composition, realism, or vibrant color. A great painting gives you an emotional experience, something poetic and spiritual that transcends time and place, and allows you to understand yourself and the world around you!

Coming up next: Video #2 Contemporary Painting

In my next video you’ll learn what to look for in contemporary art.

Check out visionary art for sale

Complete video series:

Video #1 Part 1 – Learn what makes a painting great

Video #1 Part 2 – you are here!

Video #2 Contemporary Art

Video #3 How to take care of your art collection – coming soon!

Video #4 How to frame art

Video # 5 Why you don’t need an interior designer to buy and display art in your home – coming soon!

Bibliography:

The Metropolitan Museum of art, http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection

History of Art, 5^th edition, H.W. Janson

The gilded age, E. Prelinger

Rhythmic Form in Art by Irma Richter, Dover Publications

Wikipedia & tons of art history classes in college! 🙂

Legal Notice

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Veronica Winters reserves all rights to her intellectual property.
It is a violation of US and international Copyright law to reproduce, or copy, Veronica Winters’ original paintings, drawings, writings, or trademarks.
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art appreciation: understanding the qualities of great art

Learn what makes a painting great: Video #1 Part 1

Posted on July 14, 2017November 8, 2023 by veronica

In the first video in the series you’ll learn about some of the greatest works of art, art movements, ideas and artistic elements. This video will help you understand and appreciate the qualities of great art, especially painting created before the 20th century.

Video Notes:

Overview:

Art Movements 0:42

Art Patrons 1:49

Art Education & female artists 2:21

Why do artists create art? 3:26

Artistic Elements : Story & Subject

Story & Subject 4:29

Biblical Scenes 5:16

Historical & Mythological Painting 9:03

Formal Portraiture 14:42

Landscape art 20:33

Genre art & Dutch still life 23:13

Next video: Video #1 | Part 2

In my next video you’ll learn about major artistic elements that artists use to design their paintings. They include composition, emotion, color, and the use of shapes, space and some painting techniques.

Painting detail of angels, art in Turin, Italy

Complete video series:

Video #1 Part 1 – Learn what makes a painting great – you’re here!

Video #1 Part 2 – Learn what makes a painting great, part 2

Video #2 Contemporary Art

Video #3 How to take care of your art collection – coming soon!

Video #4 How to frame art

Video # 5 Why you don’t need an interior designer to buy and display art in your home – coming soon!

Bibliography:

The Metropolitan Museum of art, http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection

History of Art, 5^th edition, H.W. Janson

The gilded age, E. Prelinger

Rhythmic Form in Art by Irma Richter, Dover Publications

Wikipedia & tons of art history classes in college! 🙂

Check out visionary art for sale

Venice biennial 2017: a crappy show with rave reviews

Posted on June 10, 2017November 8, 2023 by veronica

If you regret that you haven’t seen the show yet, don’t. Venice Biennale 2017 is monumental in concept and degraded on visuals, heavy on installations, and weak on any form of beautiful painting, huge on scale and tiny on emotion. Chief curator of the Pompidou center in Paris, Christine Macel arranged the exhibition in a number of pavilions -realms which flow together with concept art titled “Viva arte Viva!”

While paid entrance to the biennale invites you to visit vast spaces of the Arsenale and the Giardini, a number of other pavilions are scattered throughout Venice in medieval palazzos and gardens. Art in those palaces looked better than the one in the official biennale. Each pavilion usually represents a single country with its native artists exhibiting their talent to the multilingual public.

Venice biennial 2017: the Arsenale. 9 chapters or realms, 86 countries, 120 artists – one feeling of confusion. The show opens up with large-scale installations situated between a long stretch of bare, tall brick halls of the Arsenale. Arsenale is the medieval Venetian warehouse for arms and boats.

This is one of the top art international shows that obliterates visual beauty in favor of concept. Boring to the eyes and craftsy at best, the viewer has to read lengthy statements in provided brochures to “get” the idea behind the pieces. I love Venice for its beautiful architecture, history and art, yet the biennial rejects even a slightest idea of having representational art on its grounds. The exception is the Venetian pavilion itself that defies the curator’s voice with sparkling jewelry, chandeliers, gowns and sophisticated glass that highlights traditional artist labor and skill.

A woman’s head is picking out from a hole in the floor with piles of clothes arranged in a circle.

The Romanian Pavilion

Like in the naked king fairy-tale, fooling of people takes place in the exhibition stating what they see is ART. Rooms after rooms visitors encounter piles of materials, fabric, metals or abstract sculptures, that often have profound meaning expressed through riveting writing. However these endless primitive installations and videos leave the spectators confused on what ART means.

Art exists to call our attention to something, to make a statement, or to leave a record of times lived. Curated as apolitical and without a clear message, the biennial misses to deliver on any of these points.

The German Pavilion

More rooms

Visual arts are called visual for a reason. Because the artist’s call to attention and its impact is visual, conceptual art rarely leaves considerable emotional impact. Even when the concept is strong, it’s weakened by the absence of the visual perception we all share. Therefore, such installations should get a specific classification not to be promoted as art. Today’s notion abolishes any standard for an artist to aspire to, and for people to understand or appreciate. Why did we keep high standard in music or dance and completely abolished the one in art? It’s not the absence of artists willing to travel years in education to achieve something worthwhile of people’s attention, it’s about few art critics and curators, influential art shakers who pick and choose, add and subtract – curate according to their tastes, business practice and economic whims.

The pavilion of Shamans

Art installations that catch attention

On the upside, the exhibition is gender-even, nationality-diverse, with the majority of the unknown artists representing both influential and obscure countries. There are a few art installations at the main complex of the biennale that caught my eye.

The Zimbabwe Pavilion

The Russian pavilion

Russian Pavilion: Change of Decorum. Growing aggression, terror, irrational life of people, control and manipulation of masses are the themes of the art installation with drones, people, soldiers and androids living in the “transparent world.”

The Chile Pavilion

Artist Bernardo Oyarzun explores the theme of the current representation of the Mapuche community, a group of indigenous inhabitants of southcentral Chile and southwestern Argentina. Dark room features an installation of over 1,000 Mapuche kollong masks, traditionally used in ceremonies. Note that 40 Mapuche artisans produced these handmade masks commissioned by the artist who installed them in the pavilion.

The Argentinean Pavilion

“Making art is not a luxury. It’s a way of surviving that humans as a species have developed: we are, so far as we know, the only group of living beings capable of calling the attention of others to the meaning of life. That’s something to celebrate.” – Claudia Fontes

Other rooms

The Mongolian Pavilion

The Venetian Pavilion

This is a visual Venice guide about the city and its history. To shop on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QSvpFr

Art seen off of the biennial in Venice in 2017

A nice surprise is a solo show by Carole A. Feuerman situated in a peaceful corner of a green garden at the Giardino Della Marinaressa, by the Venice Biennale (open and free to the public). The artist makes hyper-realistic, life-size sculptures of women in painted bronze and steel, resin and oil that look so life-like, you just want to reach out and touch the sculptures!

Kendall Island, lacquer on bronze, life-size sculpture

Project by Lorenzo Quinn on the Grand Canal in Venice. His monumental sculpture of white hands raises awareness about the climate change and the rising sea levels.

Street art in Italy

I must mention the performance that I saw on the streets of Turin. A young man pounded the keys of an old typewriter with rare obsession. Here is one of his finished pieces.

The artwork made using an old type writer.

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Salvador Dali paintings: perfect mix of surrealism & symbolism at St. Pete museum

Posted on March 1, 2017February 4, 2024 by veronica

Salvador Dali paintings & surrealism

Art is not created in vacuum. It forms as a product of cultural, economic and emotional baggage of the artist. Salvador Dali’ inner world is vast and complex, and his surreal symbols are hints to unpacking his creative mind and soul. Every artist starts his journey in the beginning.

The Dali museum in St. Petersburg divides its art collection into several sections – his early paintings of anti-art, surrealism, nuclear mysticism, and op art pieces. Housed in a sunlit, modern building, the show introduces us to Salvador Dali’ mind with his early paintings he completes at the 13 years of age. Early Dali art may shatter your perception of someone’s talent. It doesn’t look great. Dali early paintings show different styles and influences, mainly borrowing from the French impressionism and Fauvism movements. This is useful for artists to understand because we all create silly and unskillful art in the beginning.

dali artwork basket of bread — Salvador Dali, the basket of bread. | Here we can see that the artist masters the classical painting techniques that opens him up to the development of his own, surrealist art style and subject matter.

Salvador Dali art style evolution: from surrealism to symbolism to op art

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) is the most famous surrealist artist. His surreal paintings were my major influence in the past. I was fascinated with his skillful ability to express his psyche visually, painting the melting life inside him that went far beyond his dream state. With a remarkable skill, he renders tiny details on small panels and huge canvases alike. In his surreal art, Dali elongates the natural forms and de-personifies people with sightless, stretched or egg-like faces. He scatters the symbols throughout his paintings of complex stories and turns the rational world upside down in his vivid, barren landscapes.

Why Dali left the surrealism movement

Deeply influenced by Sigmund Freud’s work “The Interpretation of Dreams,” Spanish artist explores the irrational and his dreams in the beginning of his career. Horrified by the rootlessness of the World War I, the surrealists rejected the rational mind and explored the irrational one instead. Although Dali is the most famous surrealist artist in the group, not many of us know that he broke away from the surrealist movement due to irreconcilable differences steeped in social and political views. The museum in St.Pete explains that Dali didn’t like the surrealists’ ideas of commune living and sharing, and his desire for self-promotion and individuality led him to part with the movement in a decade after he first joined the group in 1929. The artist gets fascinated with the optical illusions in art, creating his double image paintings still challenging our perception of the rational and irrational.

Dali Nuclear Mysticism & Op Art

Dali becomes a notorious artist who redefines himself and his mission after leaving the surrealists and entering the times of abstraction and subjectivity. He brands himself as a classical artist who loves Renaissance and aims to infuse his art with spirituality and classical ideals, unlike the abstract painters of his generation. He comes up with a new term the “nuclear mysticism,” and begins to paint huge canvases filled with the universal subjects, religious and historical themes. Influenced by the advances in science and technology, Salvador Dali’s late works (1949-1989) transform the surrealism style into monumental optical illusions, historical symbolism and the reverence for the universal. Besides having a number of solo shows in Spain and America, in 1974 he opens up his own museum in Figueres, Spain to house his art.

dali artwork — **“Slave market with the disappearing bust of Voltaire,” 1940** shows us two images. In this double painting we see a bust of Voltaire as the symbol of reason hiding within the two female figures in the slave market. Here Dali argues that we’re enslaved to rationality, while the artist tries to open up a different channel for our perception, painting the irrational dreams and the unconscious. Dali suggests that the rational mind can’t always lead us to the truth. What do you see?

Dali artwork Lincoln — **Dali, the portrait of Abraham Lincoln** at the Dali art museum in St.Pete.

dali artwork nuclear mysticism — In his late works, Dali paints optical illusions in art on a monumental scale.
#1 the double image painting shows **“Gala contemplating the Mediterranean sea which at twenty meters becomes the portrait of Abraham Lincoln.”** Gala is a symbol of perfection and the Lincoln’s head with the crucifix give references to death and the fleeting nature of beauty.
#2 **“The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus”** shows the vast discoveries of humanity as well as Dali as an explorer. He paints Columbus as a young man stepping out to a new world.
#3 **“The Hallucinogenic Toreador”** depicts Venus 33 times. The goddess of love and beauty, the second figure hides a Toreador face within her body. The toreador represents masculinity, a boy represents and artist, and a dying bull shows death. The bust of Voltaire symbolizes reason, and at the top left we see Gala’s face again. This painting represents Desire and Death.

Dali symbolism in surrealism as an expression of his fears

Fear of women

Art is not created in a vacuum. It arises as an emotional product of cultural, economic and psychic world of the artist. Dali’s inner mind and heart is vast and complex, and his symbols become the hints to discovering and understanding the artist’s soul. Through his art, Salvador Dali reveals many of his fears. He often paints his sexual fear of women. Numerous surrealist paintings project the artist’s sexual anxieties in his self-portraits with soft, stretched heads and figures. He depicts women deformed, stretched or as the cut-outs during the surrealist period. He depicts his nanny as an old figure with a cut out body supported by the crutches. Women often turn their faces away from the viewer to conceal the artist’s emotions and insecurity towards the sex. It’s interesting to note that in his late works women become Venuses, saints and symbols of the female beauty for the artist.

Dali horse sculpture at **The Museo Soumaya i**n Mexico City

Fear of his father

In his surrealism paintings, Salvador Dali often explores the authoritarian rule of his father, depicting his father faceless and indifferent. He reveals his intense relationship with his short-tempered father in many surreal paintings. For example, he paints small, father-and-son figures in art representing his former closeness with the parent. These small and distant figures give a feeling of warm memories the artist longs for. These surrealist landscapes often have the airless, orange-yellow glow that contrast the dark blue sky sky and the mountains.

**“Archaeological reminiscence of Millet’s Angelus”** is an important surrealist painting for Dali. Inspired by the Millet painting, Dali saw this artwork (right) as a reproduction during his childhood and its figures haunted the artist for life. Dali paints his version of Angelus (left) depicting two primordial people – male and female. We also see Dali twice in this painting as a boy with his father in the center and with his nanny at the bottom of the figure. The primordial couple symbolizes human relationship and destruction, showing the deforming, anguished figures set in a melancholic, colorful landscape. His painting projects an intense feeling of loneliness, loss, grief, longing and inevitability.

Moreover, Dali shares his family’s tragedy in his surreal paintings. The artist had a brother. Also named Salvador, he died as a toddler less than a year before Dali’s birth. This family tragedy was deeply embedded within his psychic and affected his perception of himself for good.

Dali other symbols & meaning

Dali’s art is full of symbols, and some of them are explored in the museum. They include:

Dali crutches meaning: During the surrealist period, Dali paints extremely elongated figures supported by the crutches. The crutches represent his fear of impotence, death. In his paintings, rotting, limping bodies suggest the horrors of wars.

Dali melting clocks and The Persistence of Time meaning: melting clocks represents the fluidity of time. The “Persistence of memory” is influenced by the discovery of the atomic energy and the sub-atomic world. Dali breaks the word into rational sub elements where Time stops limiting us. The image of the melting clock came to the artist after seeing a piece of cheese melting under the sun. Dali saw time as a fluid and relative thing, and his melting clocks represent the passing of time and the relativity of our perception of it.

While I don’t have the image of the Persistence of Memory,1931 located at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, I can show you some variations on the theme I found in other art museums.

**Dali museum in Figueres**, Spain | One of Dali’ original jewelry pieces shown at the Spanish museum

Dali melting clocks sculpture shown at **The Museo Soumaya** in Mexico City

Dali melting clocks sculpture, The Museo Soumaya, Mexico City, Mexico

Dali Elephants symbolism: Elephants are often associated with strength and wisdom, but Dali also saw them as symbols of the unconscious mind.

Dali museum, Figueres, Spain | Dali elephant and melting clocks jewelry

Dali Lobster symbolism: Lobsters are another symbol of the unconscious mind, and they are also associated with sexuality and transformation.

Dali Ants meaning: Ants are often seen as a symbol of industry and cooperation, but Dali also saw them as symbols of death and decay and decomposing prey.

Dali Burning giraffes meaning: Burning giraffes are a symbol of Dali’s own personal fears and insecurities. They are also a symbol of the fragility of life and the inevitability of death.

Dali Piano symbolism: Piano represents a fond memory of summer concerts at the beach, and a scary memory of books his father placed on the piano that had the illustrations of the sexually transmitted diseases.

Dali Roses symbolism: roses represent female beauty and sexuality for the artist.

Dali Venus meaning: Venus represents female love and beauty.

Dali Melting, broken eggs symbolism: these are symbols of memories in the mother’s womb.

Dali Keys meaning: keys represent unlocking the unconscious mind.

Dali sculpture at miami art context 2023 — Dali sculpture at Miami art context 2023

Gala: artist’s muse, wife & promoter

Salvador Dali was a tireless self-promoter. Together with his Russian-born wife and manager – Gala (Elena Ivanovna Diakonova) they worked on connections, marketing, and new job opportunities for the artist. Dali might not have achieved his fame during his lifetime, if he and his wife didn’t pursue those relationships and connections. The couple lived between the U.S. and Europe, while Dali not only painted and exhibited his work in galleries, but also worked on his jewelry, opera sets and costume design. He also contributed to the art scene with his book writing, numerous illustrations, holograms production, and the creation of the dream-like sequences for the Hitchcock’s film Spellbound.

While exploring the art museum, it’s interesting to see how close Dali and Gala were, how she influenced the artist, and how strong their partnership was despite their open marriage arrangement. Considerably older and not a striking beauty, Gala captured Dali’s heart at once when they first met in 1929. She had an affair with Dali and later became his life-long muse. Gala divorced her husband, French poet and one of the founders of the surrealists, Paul Eluard to marry Dali.

We can recognize Gala’s face in many of his paintings where she models for the artist both clothed and nude. Gala becomes a symbol of the female perfection for the artist. In the Dali museum at St. Pete you see Gala in a double painting of “Lincoln” and as virgin Mary in “Columbus.”

Dali dies in 1989 after receiving the international acclaim with his retrospective shows in Germany, Spain, U.S.A, Holland, England, and Japan. Every artist begins his journey in the begging but not every artist reaches the end with fame. As artists, we go through many stages and only the persistent and social ones seem to win. Dali succeeds threefold.

Dali late artworks — Late works: **“The Ecumenical Council”** shows Dali in the left corner and Gala as St.Helena. She connects the artist with the spiritual world above. Influenced by Velasquez, the artist paints on a huge scale with the monumental themes of science, history and religion.

The Dali museum houses a very good, once private art collection of A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse. They started their Dali collection in 1943. In 1982 the Dali museum in St. Pete was inaugurated. The art collectors ran out of wall space and decided to build this museum and gift their art collection to the public. What’s amazing to see here is how many paintings they acquired from one artist that included both huge canvases and tiny pieces, all of which hung in their house in Cleveland.

I recommend to sign up for the virtual tour of one of the Dali’s paintings on the 3d floor (free with admission). It’s really fun. Also, download the museum’s app that guides you through the collection. Check out their special events schedule and evenings at the museum. Official websites: St.Petersburg http://thedali.org/ and Spain https://www.salvador-dali.org/

To read about the artist’s museum in Spain: https://veronicasart.com/talent-art-dali-theater-museum-in-figueres-spain/

Visionary art for sale

Frida Kahlo Art show at Dali Museum in St. Petersburg in 2017

Posted on February 20, 2017November 4, 2023 by veronica

Frida Kahlo endured 34 surgeries in her 47 years. She lived a life haunted by tragedy, painting her pain. Sometimes I ask myself what if she didn’t go through a horrific accident at 18, would she become the most famous female artist after all? Would she paint some other pain in her life? This museum show is small but well-presented. It summarizes Frida’s relationship with her art, her husband Diego Rivera, and her pain.

Every aspect of Frida’s life is set against her both physical and emotional pain. And lots of it. Surreal paintings and drawings focus on the breaking point in her life – the car-train accident. A broken metal handrail pierced through her pelvis that led Frida into a dark place of endless suffering, surgeries and miscarriages for many years to come. She documents her suffering on small canvases, often painting in bed.

After many surgeries, Frida spent a lot of her time in bed. She refused to eat food and became very weak. Frida was forced to eat food through a funnel to recover that she illustrates as torture in this painting.

Frida Kahlo symbolism

Despite the obvious lack of technical skills, Frida’s art is highly symbolic and powerful. It’s one of the reasons why most US museums keep showing her art in rotation. Similar to French surrealists, Frida explores the symbols of her dreams in art. Frida also saves herself from endless suffering by painting symbolic pictures that represent her thoughts. We often see her husband Diego Rivera, blood, fetuses, bed, and animals as symbols in her paintings.

For example, in this painting the artist documents the pain of her miscarriage with 6 symbols: the lifeless fetus, her pelvis, the snail pace of recovery, the fragile tulip, the medical machine, and some anatomical structure, illustrating the nature of her problem.

In the art show we can also study a number of pages taken from her childhood journal. Tight sentences fill the pages with stories and doodles, in which we can see Frida’s desire to travel across time and space creatively.

Below you see a sketch of her accident.

Frida’s art is her self-portraits. By comparing her paintings to the black-and-white pictures, I think she paints herself too masculine with a hint for dark mustache and her signature arching eyebrow that looks like a wing. While nude or semi-nude artist appears serious, or even cries in her self-portraits, Frida’s photographs show the artist dressed colorfully, and even with some noticeable flare. She wears long skirts, shawls, jewelry, and the real flowers put in her hair that all point at her girly, untouched by the inner sorrow cheerful personality.

The electric train with two cars approached the bus slowly. It hit the bus in the middle. Slowly the train pushed the bus. The bus had a strange elasticity. It bent more and more, but for a time it did not break. It was a bus with long benches on either side. I remember at one moment my knees touch the knees of the person sitting opposite me. I was sitting next to Frida. When the bus reached it maximal flexibility it burst into a thousand pieces, and the train kept moving. It ran over many people.
I remained under the train. Not Frida. But among the iron rods of the train, the handrail broke and went through Frida from one side to the other at the level of the pelvis. When I was able to stand up, I got out from under the train. I had no lesions, only contusions. Naturally the first thing I did was to look for Frida.
Something strange had happened. Frida was totally nude. The collision had unfastened her clothes. Someone in the bus, probably a house painter, had been carrying a packet of powdered gold. This package broke, and the gold fell all over the bleeding body of Frida.
When people saw her they cried, “La bailarina, la bailarina! With the gold on her red, bloody body they thought she was a dancer.
-The testimony of Alejandro Gómez Arias

“A few small nips,” 1935.” When Diego had slept with her younger sister, Frida began to have her own affairs. Inspired or perhaps traumatized by the newspaper’s crime report, the artist paints a horrific crime scene showing blood and stabbing of a woman. The blood spills on the frame as well. The museum interprets the artwork’s symbolism as stabbing infidelities of Diego.

We tend to idealize people once they pass away, give them heroic qualities and subdue their pitfalls. In this show I wished to see the subtle layers of her personality that I couldn’t pick up from her art. Did she feel like a victim who suffered and longed for pity from people around her? Or did she consider herself a hero who overcame her physical and emotional struggles? Did she have any close friends who supported her artistic purpose besides Diego? Why did she stay with Rivera despite his countless infidelities? Was it love or weakness? In her art and photographs we see Diego almost too often, and not enough of her surroundings or people who may have helped her heal.

The art show is up at the Dali museum in St.Pete till mid. April. I recommend downloading the museum’s app that guides you through the exhibition. http://thedali.org/

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6 drawing mistakes & how to fix them fast!

Posted on December 6, 2016November 8, 2023 by veronica

As I’ve been teaching drawing since 2004, I see the same mistakes every beginner makes in his art. I’d like to list the most common drawing mistakes and how to fix them fast.

6 drawing mistakes & solutions:

1. You have crooked lines that make your drawing look uneven.

Fix: Work on the perfection of your drawing by checking the accuracy of your shapes in a mirror. When you look at your image in the mirror, your mind reads the information differently, allowing you to see the mistakes. The same happens when you look at your art upside down.

Look at your artwork upside down or in a mirror to catch the mistakes.

2. Your drawing lacks clarity.

Fix: Always shade right to the edge of your outline without leaving the uneven, white spaces. When we shade we have the tendency to lose the edge. As a result our drawing falls apart by becoming uniformly soft, lacking focus and definition. While not everything should be defined or outlined, most students have a problem of not “connecting” numerous lines that leads to uneven shading.

The solution is to outline the edge with the line of the correct value (tone) and shade right to that edge to restore the original outline.

drawing-mistakes-and-how-to-fix-them — The black lines show you where the unevenness of shading happens, creating the ‘broken’ lines that destroy the sense of the form. Shadows must look uniform without any white spots present in between your lines!

3. Your drawing looks messy.

When we sketch the lines graphite tends to smear all over the place. It’s important to keep the drawing clean to give a nice impression of a finished work even if it’s not finished. While it sounds obvious, you won’t believe how many students make messy drawings!

Fix: If you draw in colored pencil, it’s vital to keep all the graphite pencil marks super light and avoid smudging as much as possible. Kneaded eraser is your best friend. It doesn’t leave any residue on paper and erases softly.

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4. The objects in your drawing escape or fall off the page.

Start your sketch with the envelope where you mark the top, bottom and sides of your objects. Then draw inside those markings without “leaving” the envelope.

This sketch shows how to start drawing correctly by sketching out the "boundaries" of the object first, and then breaking them down to smaller shapes. — This sketch shows how to start drawing correctly by sketching out the “boundaries” of the object first, and then breaking them down into smaller shapes.

5. You focus on drawing the contour so hard, but it never looks right when you’re done.

Fix: always make directional lines first, and position your shape over that line. This technique gives you the right rotation & position of your subjects in space.

creative-techniques-book-sample-pages49 — This is a page taken from the ‘Creative Techniques’ art book that illustrates the concept of subjects’ rotation in space. The line in the center gives the direction to the object, or places it in space correctly. Then you simply draw the object over it.

6. You don’t know where to start shading.

Fix: start shading from your darkest shadows! Then continue to your mid tones and finish up with the lightest shading around the highlights.

This is another page from the book that shows you this concept. You block in the darkest areas first, and then erase the highlights and make tonal transitions. — This is another page from the book that shows you this concept. You block in the darkest areas first, erase the highlights, and make additional tonal transitions.

Hope it helps! And now you can go and create your masterpiece following these tips. 😁

Step by step drawing tutorials can be found here.

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Drawing paper: https://amzn.to/3QNYl1e

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17 contemporary women artists: the best of real and surreal in painting

Posted on November 27, 2016September 28, 2024 by veronica

Contemporary women artists

Realism is coming back! Lost to decades of abstract art, contemporary figurative painting is experiencing a rebirth in a variety of styles. Contemporary figurative artists are becoming more popular among the gallerists and collectors alike, and with that the female artists rise and take part in more art shows than ever. Let’s look at the roundup of some female painters who continue the tradition of classical painting with a twist.

Every artist is a unique voice. Art is a record of human emotions, experiences and history. In this interview every female painter answers a single question. What they want others to see in their art. Let’s look at their answers!

famous contemporary artists — Please note that all artwork is copyrighted by the artists mentioned in this post. Contact them directly. You will find this article about famous contemporary women artists in the American Art Collector, March issue, 2018

Margo Selski

By using a safe and familiar composition, my goal is to lull the viewer into a false sense of comfort and familiarity, where they are drawn to images which, upon further viewing, become curious, uncomfortable and perhaps even dangerous.

Margo Selski creates a fairy tale universe depicting her family secrets in the surreal paintings. These are tightly balanced, emotional riddles often starring her children dressed in elaborate clothing. While the narratives seem fantastical, they are autobiographical since every artist depicts parts of herself in art. Every painting shows duality that creates tension. Every painting is a world of fragile self-exploration and heightened emotions. There is a sense of passing time that flows through fantasy that becomes a hidden reality. Influenced by Flemish painting, the artist also plays with the medium, creating false craquelure where lines look like cracks in old paint.

https://www.margoselskiartist.com/

Anne-Marie Kornachuk

I want people to see a real figure, in a moment of intimacy, surrounded by the abstracted beauty of the fabric.

Canadian artist Anne-Marie Kornachuk paints women in swirling gowns. Colorful fabric shimmers around the figure to seduce us with visual beauty. Influenced by Baroque painting, the artist creates a dynamic flow between the silky fabric and dark background. Her female figures seem to be confined within the boundaries of canvas, yet they are free to jump, making beautiful patterns of light and dark.

The artist’s striking paintings and oil painting techniques are featured in the art inspiration book titled Art Lessons in Realist Drawing, Painting & Beyond.

To learn more: https://www.annemariekornachuk.com/

Roos van der Vliet

What I want to happen between a viewer and my work is not really up to me. It is something personal between the two of them, it goes beyond me. I do tend to influence this moment of course by always trying to let my portraits stare directly at the viewer, by letting them tell a non verbal story, solely by their eyes. It can’t be heard but you can sense some of it by watching them closely. People often walk by art without really looking. I hope that my paintings almost force the viewer to stand still and look back.

female artists 21st century, women painters — Storytellers xvi, acrylic on canvas, 2016

Female artist from the Netherlands, Roos creates realistic portraits of women with soulful eyes who are also constricted by their own hair. The enigmatic gaze of every Storyteller acrylic painting almost forces us to stare back at the model. Just like in the Margo Selski’s paintings, we can sense polar duality in the images. It’s a mental struggle between the invisibility and popularity, the known and unknown, the outer appearance and inner world. Interested in representing the world realistically, Roos makes every effort to depict the soft flow of hair and the honesty in the model’s eyes as human as possible.

http://www.roosvandervliet.com/others.html

Kelsey Beckett

Kelsey Beckett is a talented artist-illustrator who stylizes the female form to reveal romantic fragility in her contemporary figurative painting. Influenced by Manga, her oil and acrylic paintings are beautiful expressions of color, form and composition.

http://kelseybeckett.com/

Yuka Sakuma

Yuka utilizes traditional materials like natural mineral pigments and Japanese ink to create paintings of women in Japanese style. To be more precise, these are artworks of beautiful, little girls that project innocence, playfulness and immaturity that usually gets lost with age. The artist creates a world of innocent childhood in her drawings where images of little girls often express emotional duality. Yuka is one of contemporary female painters who utilizes muted palette and flowing hair to express ethereal feelings.

https://www.instagram.com/sakuma.yuka/

Marina Dieul

I want others to see “joy” in my art. Joy of creating, joy of seeing beauty in little things, joy of inventing possible stories and meanings… It looks like people can feel it, I have an endless number of testimonies from collectors and followers saying that my art make them smile.

Marina Dieul was born in France but moved to Montreal, Canada almost two decades ago where she paints playful images of cats, mice and other animals. Her trompe l’oeil paintings express curiosity and amusement and we can’t help it but smile looking at paintings of cats chasing mice. Marina’s dramatically lit portrait paintings often depict children that give us a sense of wonder and innocence as well as show incredible artistic skill. The female artist won many prestigious awards with her figurative paintings. To learn more: www.marinadieul.com

Kei Meguro

Japanese female artist, Kei Meguro creates pencil drawings of women she calls ‘babes.’ A lot of them are drawn from famous models or celebrities but exemplify her unique style that’s influenced by traditional Japanese art. The simplification of form and a near absence of any color are balanced with incredible details in the eyes and hair. The artist’s anatomical accuracy as well as fragility of the faces mesmerizes viewers. Unlike other contemporary female artists painters, Kei processes her drawings in Photoshop, cleaning up the smudges and adding layers of textures and color.

The artist graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York where she developed her illustrative style and now works for major fashion and design companies.

https://keimeguro.com/

June Stratton

My paintings are imagined blends of beauty and nature. These paintings are often intentionally idealized representations of emotional impressions from my dreams – entwined with elements of the earth, sky and water that surround my real world. I use symbols and my feminine viewpoint to tell a very loose, abstracted narrative. As in my dreams, my muses cannot see all things, are sometimes unable to speak and frequently appear to be floating.

Resemblance, oil, silver, arches paper mounted on panel

June Stratton’s art is ethereal. These are paintings of young women depicted in soft hues of blue and silver that resemble water. While not always anatomically correct, her beautiful figurative paintings project magic and fragility. These paintings are visual stories where figures melt into the background only to reappear in a new dimension. The silver-leafed fractions add specks of light to her images.

junestratton.com

Audrey Kawasaki

The girls/women I paint are fictitious characters. They are all a manifestation of this one imagined person. Through her, I’d like the viewers to feel her confidence, strength, and independence. But she is also fragile and vulnerable and has all the weaknesses we all have. I like to play with that juxtaposition and balance. Things are never black and white. There’s a whole array of greys in between, and I like to explore that complexity.

It Was You, oil, graphite, and ink on wood panel 24″x24″, 2014

Audrey Kawasaki’s figurative paintings are beautiful renderings of female form and landscape. Art-Nouveau-elegant, sensual curves flow one into another to depict innocence and eroticism, seductiveness and melancholy, passion and coolness. Her use of patterns and shapes is reminiscent of Gustav Klimt, while manga-influenced figures show beautiful renderings of women who live in a magical universe.

http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com/

Mary Jane Ansell

Based in the UK, Mary Jane paints hyperrealist paintings of fashionable women. Modern and confident, the figures often feel lost in quiet self-reflection. Mary Jane uses the indirect oil painting technique as the artist layers paint to achieve gradual likeness, depth and detail. Her female characters have beautiful, glowing skin and realistically painted clothes.

http://maryjaneansell.com/

Teresa Oaxaca

I would like for viewers to get more interested in learning about aesthetics.

women painters — “Somnambulant Clown”, 32×48 inches, oil on canvas

Dolls, dolls, dolls! A beautiful obsession, a dream, a collision of past and present. The Washington D.C. based artist, Teresa Oaxaca creates large paintings that inherit the exuberance of the Baroque and Rococo periods. Her oil paintings become records of lush compositions with clowns, women, fabric, and dolls reminiscent of rich artistic history. Classically trained at the Florence Academy in Italy, the female artist mesmerizes us with her skillful drawings and vivid oil paintings that depict figures talking, crying or smiling at us. Dressed like a beautiful doll herself, Theresa embodies her paintings visually during the artist receptions and workshops held internationally.

http://www.teresaoaxaca.com/

Anna Wypych

What intrigues me the most is inner strength. My main goal is to make people – viewers of my works, feel and see their own inner strength.

Leaving toxic habits.” oil on canvas, 100/80cm 39,5/31,5 inch, 2015

Anna Wypych is a Polish figurative realism artist who paints women as allegories of human condition. Sensitive to her environment, she employs gentle color palette to convey her thoughts and psychology of people around her with undeniable sincerity. Sometimes she paints multiple figures in a single painting like in a photography that dance, jump or interact with each other. Semi-nude figures seem to be variations of one person that moves across space.

http://annawypych.pl/

Julie Heffernan

Julie Heffernan’s imaginative painting is a mix of history, allegory, figurative and still life. The female artist has created numerous self-portraits. Presented as a tall, skinny, half-nude woman in the elaborate skirts or without them, she is surrounded by the forest, animals or shiny palace rooms. Her most recent artwork-magical landscapes addresses the climate change and how humanity slowly kills the planet that’s different in mission from her earlier paintings.

http://www.julieheffernan.net/statement

Katherine Stone

When I look at my favorite artists (or read my favorite authors, or listen to my favorite musicians), what appeals to me is that they have created a little universe with its own laws of aesthetics, its own language, its own habits and forms. The artists have plunged deeply into their vision. So I guess what I want people to see when they look at my art is a recognizable voice.

A Certain Slant of Light, 20×13″, oil on panel, 2015

Katherine Stone is a Canadian realist artist who paints children and still lifes. In her figurative paintings you won’t find excessive cuteness or sweetness usually captured in children. We rather see peaceful and subdued colors with a careful observation of light. A truly amazing craftsman, the artist often uses dramatic light (chiaroscuro), glazes and other traditional painting techniques to convey realism in art. Her still life paintings are often symbolic of life and death, and the irreversible passing of time.

In this painting we look at a portrait of Maddie, Katherine’s visual inspiration and model since her cousin’s daughter was a toddler. The artist’s literal inspiration for the painting comes from the Emily Dickinson poem. Soon we see how both the artist and the poet become sensitive to a short presence of daylight in winter.

http://www.katestoneart.com/

Kerry Simmons

When people look at my art, I’d like them to see beauty, to experience the work as something that enhances and adds to life’s experience.

Kerry Simmons is one of few female artists painters who works and illustrates in colored pencil, pencil or oil paint, living and working in New York. Some of her drawings depict women as allegories, or the Barbie dolls that evoke a sense of melancholia, isolation and abandonment. They are intense self-portraits even when the physical model is different from the artist but somehow carries the resemblance to Kerry’s beautiful face. A very talented figurative painter, her paintings emanate quietness and mystery.

http://www.kerrysimmonsart.com/

Tanja Gant

I’m hoping that when people look at my work they see beyond the technical part. Sometimes my portraits are “snapshots” of people I’ve met and who have inspired me and other times my work tells a deeper, personal story. I would like my work to leave an impression and make people question the reasons behind each drawing.

Tanja is an amazing talent. Self-taught, she has the ability to capture every person’s character from a unique vantage point. She often draws her family members and weaves her personal experiences into her colored pencil drawings. The artist makes work that encourages asking questions. You can marvel at her colored pencildrawings here: http://www.tanjagant.com/

She is also one of the artists explaining her techniques at Art Lessons in Realist Drawing, Painting & Beyond.

Victoria Herrera

I strive to serve as a reminder to the viewer of the beauty that exists in nature, which we often take for granted. Also, the piece should serve as a vehicle for the viewer to pause, observe and find solace in it.

femaile artists 21st century, women artists — Victoria Herrera, Frances Hope, 40 x 40 inches, oil on linen

Victoria Herrera is one of realist female artists who creates large-scale artwork to entice the viewer to pause, step in, and to self-reflect on the emotions and the meaning of life. Every new oil painting is a masterful fit in capturing gentle yet seductive petals with high-contrast design. The artist often incorporates semitransparent shapes and circles into the backgrounds as a record of her near death experience. Her oil paintings of flowers serve as transformative experiences to capture simplicity, nature and God.

victoriaherrerafineart.com

With such wonderful roundup of contemporary female painters American art scene is destined to flourish and thrive. Stay tuned for more reviews of the contemporary figurative artists!

Check out visionary art for sale

Seascape Necklace Handmade Jewelry

Posted on November 17, 2016May 29, 2023 by veronica

Handcrafted, art ocean necklaces on a mission

Playful | Marine | Colorful

Color your life with the beautiful energy of the ocean!

Thank you for your interest in our company. It’s the artist’s belief that beauty saves the world. With her handmade, artful ocean necklaces you feel as beautiful and inspired as remembering your best vacation days spent by the sea shore, catching waves and chasing dreams.

As you heal and recharge, you’re able to create beauty around you for others to enjoy too. Color your life with the beautiful energy of the ocean! Will you join us in the pursuit of living in color, bringing the healing beauty of the ocean to others? Will you invite your friends to collect and gift unique, ocean crystals?

Click to Shop Here

Our materials

Every handmade necklace is made of real seashells, starfish, sand dollars and marine charms.
Each piece is unique like an artwork.
Each seashell necklace is beautiful like the ocean’s wave that allows a woman to highlight her individuality and taste.
Every seashell necklace carries elegance and practicality.
Every statement necklace can be worn as a choker, on a cord, or on a sterling silver chain.
Sterling silver chains are of the highest quality, imported from Italy.
Handmade jewelry is made of epoxy resin, which is a synthetic thermosetting polymer that contains epoxide groups. The artist mixes two components-the hardener and the resin to “freeze” the seashells in glass-like, durable substance. Discovered in 1930s, resins are widely used in a variety of applications today.
Unique gifts are created with high standard in mind.

About our company

Seascape Necklace opened in 2016 after years of education, practice, and passion for all things handmade. Russian-American professional artist, Veronica Winters has been creating art for two decades of her life. Ever since her upbringing in Moscow, she’s been fascinated with beauty around her. When she moved to Naples, Florida the idea of making something elegant, affordable, and ocean-inspired that women could wear every day downed on her, and she began experimenting with the epoxy resin, a very durable material once cured correctly. “I got fascinated with the beauty of seashells and wanted to create the ocean-themed jewelry with the inspiring feel of nature, tropics, and the beach.” Like your best vacation memories, these handmade beach jewelry pieces preserve the best recollections of a sunny beach. The handmade seashell necklaces pop with sparkling color and capture the ocean’s beauty and healing energy in the unique gifts of nature – the ocean crystals.

The artist casts real seashells, starfish and beads in resin, which is a skill that involves time, patience, high-quality materials, and the exact room temperature to produce the handcrafted pieces. The casting of one piece is done in two to three days plus a day for quality assembly and photography.

Transforming the healing energy of the ocean into her real seashell necklaces, keychains, and bracelets has become her artistic expression. “I wish to create perfect summer keepsakes of the warm beach.” The artist is proud to offer one-of-a-kind, beautiful, handcrafted, high-quality products at an affordable price that people could gift and share.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about the company.

Handmade Ocean Necklaces Product Line

Due to inherent nature of these pendants, every handmade necklace is unique and varies in arrangement and color.

Ocean Crystals

Art jewelry | Oval seashell pendant necklace, 1.5” silver chain $34.99

Art necklace | Square seashell pendant necklace, 1” silver chain, $24.99-$29.99

Starfish necklace | Rectangular seashell pendant necklace, 1.5” silver chain, $34.99

Enchanted Wave Crystals

Star | starfish or sand dollar seashell pendant necklace, 1.5” silver chain, $34.99

Flower | starfish or sand dollar necklace seashell pendant necklace, 1-1/4”, silver chain, $34.99

Best friend necklace | Seashell pendant necklace, 1”, silver chain, 34.99

Dream wave crystals

Key necklace | Key custom keychains, 1.5”, long fashion chain or keychain, $19.99-25.99

Custom Keychains for Men, 1-1/4”, $29.99, comes with a key ring

Glass bottle vial necklace | Ocean in a bottle necklace, 1”, fashion chain, black cord or silver chain, $13.99-18.99, styles vary

Kids Jewelry | slightly less than 3/4″, silver chain, $18.99, styles vary

In the News:

Testimonials:

I bought a handmade shell necklace from Veronica as a special birthday gift for my mom. It was delivered overseas quickly and has been worn over and over again. I would highly recommend these special, one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry.

Clare Roberts

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this necklace!! It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! The colors and workmanship are awesome! Can’t wait to show it off. I will definitely be checking back for new pieces. Thank you!

This was my second purchase and this necklace was as beautiful as the first!! I have received so many compliments on both pieces. I will be checking back very soon for new additions. Also shipping and receiving was so fast!

Kathleen Bessent

My granddaughter was thrilled to receive this necklace. The design and style fits her personality perfectly. Plus it reminds her of the many family vacations to the beach each year. So glad I could find this unusual necklace, one appreciated by the younger age. Will buy more in the future.

I could not resist purchasing this necklace for myself. The star fish surrounded by shells and pearls give the impression it is still floating amongst other sea creatures in a delicate gentle sea. I love this necklace and wear it often.

Deanna Schwartz

How to clean the sterling silver jewelry:

Click on the image to watch how to clean your sterling silver jewelry the easy way. And don’t forget to use a very soft brush and a toothpaste that contains lots of fluoride.🙂

♥♥♥ Shop for unique gifts today! ♥♥♥

Video courses

Posted on November 16, 2016August 2, 2024 by veronica

Enter ”LOVETODRAW” at checkout to get 12% off of any VIDEO COURSE.
Hurry. Limited to the first 50 students only.

Go to all video courses

Mentorship

Art student mentorship is available on a very limited basis. We meet in zoom to discuss your art, progress and any question you might have in drawing or painting. Email communication is available as well. One hour session is $65, which could be split into two half an hour sessions. To discuss your options and to set up a schedule, please email to nika@veronicasart.com . For a limited time I provide email feedback for my Colored Pencil Techniques course.

#1 Comprehensive Colored Pencils Techniques Drawing video course

Designed for beginners in colored pencil drawing, this video course consists of 18 video lessons. In this video course you study how to draw various objects in colored pencils. Each video lesson builds up in progression, focusing on a single object to draw.

Complementary, downloadable pdf file includes line art, color swatches and materials list. For a limited time the artist provides every student with feedback via email. To check out the previews and enroll, click on the image above to follow the link.

donuts by kathy-testimonialocolored pencil techniques video course-veronica winters

This free video explains what’s inside the course.

#2 COLOR CRUSH Course for Colored Pencil Artist, video course

**Design your perfect color harmony in colored pencil drawing by taking this course**

#3 Portrait drawing: creating emotion in colored pencil, video course

colored pencil portrait drawing by veronica winters — Click on the image to go to this PORTRAIT DRAWING VIDEO COURSE!

Uncover the secrets to portrait drawing in colored pencil! This unique video course builds up in progression to prepare students to see and capture light on a model, and draw portraits in colored pencil from pictures. Even if you don’t draw from the references, you still get plenty of ideas and information how to create vibrant portraits working in colored pencil.

The projects consist of lessons- narrated video recordings where the artist draws on various surfaces and explains valuable colored pencil techniques. Some portrait drawing demonstrations include a downloadable reference.
This course has downloadable color charts/ color list for every demonstration. Click on the image to see a complete curriculum for this class! Enroll today.

Watch free preview of this course…

#4 Realist oil painting techniques secrets for serious beginners & beyond

This class is available as online video course now! In this class you’ll see me paint a single still life using traditional oil painting techniques, such as:

glazing
grisaille (indirect painting) and
painting in full color.

I’ll walk you through every step of the painting process that includes:

prep drawing
underpainting
using grays to neutralize chroma (tube colors)
painting in full color
painting textures (in a shell)
painting glass (in a blue vase)

I also include a step-by-step guide (pdf file) that complements the videos. Download it! This class is for serious beginners and more advanced students who already have good understanding of drawing in color, and wish to proceed to the next step – oil painting. This class will give you classical approach to realist painting that you can apply to your daily painting process. It took me many years of schooling and practice to learn this classical approach to painting that’s summarized in this video. Take advantage of this opportunity. Start learning today!

# 5 Step-by-step colored pencil drawing tutorials

Direct link to step-by-step demonstrations: https://veronicasart.com/product-category/step-by-step-drawing-tutorials/

Or you can purchase a buddle of all digital art books and demonstrations for one price here: https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/p/downloads-tutorials-art-books

You will benefit from these colored pencil demonstrations the most, if you’ve already had some experience in pencil drawing. These demonstrations are not made for the absolute beginners in drawing. Every step-by-step demonstration includes the art supplies list, color chart, and images in steps to complete the exercise.

The demonstration comes as a digital pdf file that you can save to your computer and work from at your pace. A few demonstrations have drawing videos that are available for download in addition to a pdf file (sold separately).
When you complete your payment, an automatic email is sent to your inbox. Please check your spam folder as many of my files go there! If you don’t find the e-mail with the demonstration, please e-mail me. nika@veronicasart.com Don’t worry. I’m happy to send it manually.

#6 Art Instruction books

Direct link to books https://veronicasart.com/product-category/art-instruction-books/

These art instruction books feature step-by-step drawings completed in various media, including colored pencil, graphite and even soft pastels. The advantage of buying a digital file rather than a Kindle book is that you can open and see large images on your computer screen. Also, if you have black-and-white kindle, it makes no sense buying the art book that explains how to draw in color.
Every book sells as a digital download that you can save to your computer, and open the file whenever you’re ready to work on your art in colored pencil or paint!
If you live in Europe or any other country, please order art books on Amazon in your country. I can’t ship books overseas.

Watch art instruction videos & previews:

I flip through the book to show you all the pages!

Watch it now. Every art student makes this single drawing mistake!

One of previews free to watch on YouTube. This colored pencil drawing tutorial is included into the comprehensive drawing course.

Testimonials:

“A committed artist, author, and teacher, Veronica Winters’s illuminated artwork and attention to detail pushes her to create realistic images that breath life into everyday objects. We are honored to present lessons by Veronica in the quarterly publication of COLORED PENCIL Student”

–Sally Ford, Founder & Editor, COLORED PENCIL Magazine

I attended Veronica’s soft pastel’s class, and she was very inspiring. She gave good individual instruction, building confidence in her students by creating a non-competitive environment. Veronica’s instruction is straight-forward and she has a true desire to help you. I attended her class after decades of doing no art, she inspired me to continue my journey and I have since had my art accepted by and displayed in the Von Liebig Art Center in Naples.

–Clare Roberts

Veronica has been an instructor in our Adult Education program for several years offering a variety of drawing techniques in both classes and workshops. Her classes include teenagers and adults, beginners and more experienced artists, and she provides professional and individual instruction to each student. We feel fortunate to have Veronica teaching in our program.

–Marie L. Doll, Executive Director, Art Alliance of Central PA

The experience of learning to draw with graphite and colored pencils with Veronica as a teacher for me was like learning to grow down and up in the world of art. Expressively up, because with each drawing advice I applied more the nuances of finding the skilled way to make a drawing shine through with life, and fruitfully down because for each finished drawing while looking for her to give the ‘teacher’s final remark’ she would always add: How do you like it?

–Kristina Egumenovska, Fulbright Visiting Research Student, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University

In a very short time, Veronica has helped me to develop confidence in my artistic ability. Even though I am a beginner, I am progressing rapidly under her direction. She is patient and knows how to nurture a student’s natural talent, while helping the learner to stretch and grow in new areas of understanding (such as how to see and draw proper shapes and tones; working with perspective; how to see, work, and play with color). She is a fabulous artist herself, and learning from her is fun, educational, and inspirational.

–Stelli Munnis

As a teaching artist, Veronica inspires students with her own beautiful paintings and drawings, as well as with her personal attention and gentle, thought-provoking, well-planned, and thorough method of instruction.

–Stephanie Hosier, Assistant Director, Galaxy: The Arts in Education Program of Central Intermediate Unit # 10

I just wanted to say thank you for all your help so far – I’ve really been enjoying the class. This has opened up a whole new world for me. Drawing was something I always wanted to learn how to do, but I used to think you needed to be born with some sort of natural talent. I love finding things I want to draw, and I draw as often as I can at home. It’s something I definitely want to keep doing in the future.

–Brianne Hennel

I was admiring your art and your ability to bring out the full potential of colored pencils! I have to say, I am very impressed. I myself love using colored pencils- they are my favorite medium. By the way, your art work is very inspirational.

–Lauren Foley

Would you like to see your testimonial here? Shoot me an e-mail: nika@veronicasart.com 🙂

Copyright

I reserve all rights to my intellectual property. It is illegal to forward, print, electronically copy, or distribute any digital content from this website or from downloads without prior written permission. If you copy, or forward any content, in any form, or grant access to the digital products to someone else, then you’re guilty of copyright infringement and this is a violation of U.S. and international copyright laws. Violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The miracle of traveling to Nicaragua: how it changed my perception

Posted on May 10, 2016November 7, 2023 by veronica

In June 2012, our group leaders Jeff and Stelli Munnis organized a mission trip to fly to Nicaragua. Through the Seeds of Learning, a non-profit organization supporting the education projects in Latin America, we worked on the school building project in a small town of San Ramon, situated in the beautiful mountainous area, not far from Matagalpa. Chamba and Mina were the local leaders, responsible for the project’ completion and our well-being. 🙂

Our group arrived to the country to complete the interior and exterior wall painting, the construction of a separate kitchen (Nicaraguan mothers volunteer to cook lunches for their kids daily), and the building of some pathways with benches around the school. I must say that our expectation how the school is supposed to look like has nothing to do with the ones build in Nicaragua. Those are small, simple buildings with few rooms and fenced windows.

Since I came back from Nicaragua, I’ve been asked a number of questions that I’d like to answer here.

One of school building projects in Nicaragua organized by the Seeds of Learning.org

What did I bring from my trip?

I bought a few handmade pieces from the local artisans that included a couple of handbags and some jewelry made of real, colorful seeds. But what I really brought from my trip were the intangible things. Mainly, a change in my attitude about life. It was an intense period in my life when I had to look inward to understand myself and my needs, to clarify my goals and purpose, and to just appreciate life a whole lot more than I used to.

How much was it?

In short, $2100 including the ticket … Some questioned my decision to spend my money on this kind of a trip that didn’t include the luxurious accommodations and a beach resort, rather made me look at the incredible level of poverty, made me sleep in a hot and humid room with a bunch of strangers (our group members were the strangers to me at first). I also took cold showers (there was no hot water in the houses), drove over the pitiful roads, had stomach pain, sweated for hours under the blinding sun, inhaled the paint fumes with the dusty, polluted air, missed out on my daily news intake, as well as running, baking, drawing, painting, and not drinking the hot Earl Grey tea. I can go on and on.

What did I gain?

A lifetime of raw experiences and a change in perception… I saw pure joy and happiness derived from simple pleasures – the interactions with friends, family and strangers that reminded me of my native country. The Nicaraguans had no access to infinite shopping, the Internet, gaming, or workaholic lifestyle. I didn’t encounter the unspoken, spiritual emptiness often observed in the West. As many choose to live the American dream owning a house, two cars and a dream vacation each year both good and bad comes with it. Owning a house often defines our identity. We work for it. When the house is lost due to fire or other accident, it feels like everything is gone. We feel as a failure. It happens as we often focus on getting the nice things, become the slaves to our endless need to work to support our lifestyle. This is the exact opposite of the Nicaraguan culture. Their focus is family, the cultivation of relationships and friendships. I was never interested in possessions or the accumulation of stuff, coming from the former USSR where everything was rationed, and in this country I found a similar focus on friendships.

Of course, Nicaraguans also have problems. Poverty is one of them. Yet, diving into a different culture was like breaking out from a shell that guarded my settled world. It was refreshing to look at the sincere enjoyment people had in their daily interactions with each other. It became the time to acknowledge their struggles that often involved hard, manual labor, and to appreciate my lucky existence living in the U.S. It was about seeing the humanity in simple things and actions, finding value in life, and accepting myself and others.

In Nicaragua we all had some rough times that reinforced our gratitude for having the very basic things back home, like warm running water, electricity, air-conditioning, and the rudimentary appliances that cut on our time doing the housework. But most importantly, I woke up from my sleep, redefined my beliefs, habits, and stopped being so self-destructing and unkind to myself.

+ Originally published in the summer of 2012.

To learn more:

Stelli Munnis http://www.stellimunnis.com/about/ and Veronica Winters talk about their art installation Eyes to See, filmed by WTAJ TV, State College, PA on Nov.2, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNBNSozqy4Q
To see a video of the trip, go to YouTube and type in “Americans in Nicaragua” https://youtu.be/V4JWJ0X8P-M

To donate to the Seeds of Learning or to go on a trip like mine, visit: www.seedsoflearning.org

Eyes to See: U.S. Volunteers in Nicaragua, photo book, 160 pages

In this beautifully illustrated book, Stelli Munnis http://www.stellimunnis.com/about/ and Veronica Winters share what it’s like for Americans volunteers to travel to Nicaragua with the nonprofit organization, Seeds of Learning. Although volunteers travel to Nicaragua to build or renovate a school building, the real work happens when things are torn down. As the barriers between people are removed, and the walls individuals erect inside themselves are torn down, they become authentic and caring with one another. Volunteers return to the U.S. feeling different about themselves, others, and the world. They can’t help but feel deeply moved and touched by the hearts and spirits of the Nicaraguan children and people. The book contains over 100 full-color photographs that capture the spirit of what it’s like from the perspectives of volunteers, the children and people of Nicaragua.

My pictures represent a journey to a country with little means yet abundant friendliness. It is a place filled with strong women, free-spirited children, and laid-back men. The Nicaraguan way of life is slow-paced, hard labored, and dedicated to familial relations and friendships. It’s also a place where coffee growers, farming communities, and local co-ops harvest the land and live simply.

Images of children take a special part in this book. They had a natural, unspoiled ability to pose for my Nikon without any preconditions or special arrangements that others typically require when being photographed. They were neither rude nor aggressive; rather, they were kind, well behaved, and loving. I was drawn to their natural beauty and eagerness to communicate with our group of strangers and foreigners. This experience was deeply touching and filled my heart with love and gratitude.

The lush tropical landscape, verdant mountains, and blue skies with billowy clouds provide the backdrop to many of my photographs. It was my intent to capture the spirit of the Nicaraguan people and their rustic lifestyle, while also showing the architecture, housing, and utilitarian objects used in everyday life.

My sole purpose for creating this book is to let curious hearts see and understand the country. It’s a powerful and transforming experience to travel to the second poorest country in the western hemisphere and witness how people there live. It my sincere desire that my photographs will inspire many Americans to travel to Nicaragua with Seeds of Learning or donate to their organization. They are committed to providing children and communities with a tangible opportunity to improve their lives by having greater access to education.

Thank you for your interest in our work and for supporting this project!

-Veronica

19th Century Russian Artists and Genre Art: the Itinerants movement that changed the landscape of Russian classical art

Posted on February 23, 2016November 6, 2023 by veronica

As Russian art is not studied in most art history classes in the U.S., I’d like to introduce you to the Peredvizhniki movement – a group of Russian realist painters that appeared in the mid 19th century to question the predominance and value of Russian classical painting. Peredvizhniki translate as the “movers” or “trailblazers”.

19th century is a fascinating time period in the art history of the Western Europe. Both the Church and the State lost their former influence in the patronage of the arts, which allowed for the birth and development of several new artistic movements in Europe. While Russian art remained quite reserved, developing new ideas slowly, it did break away from the cold Academic painting by embracing the depiction of common people and the countryside in Russia.

Peredvizhniki (the itinerants) organized as a group in 1863. Similar to the Impressionists in France, the group of male artists organized traveling shows exhibiting their new work. They painted the common folk like serfs in the countryside, Russian landscape, and portrait art. Their goal was simple. Russian artists wanted to bring the arts to its people. They refused to depict the Bible scenes and Greek mythology, and focused on painting the world around them instead. They often showed inequality between the rich and the poor, the noble men and the inferior women. They also brought to people’s attention a widespread abuse of children, who often engaged in hard, manual labor. As a result of such movement, Russian art preserved its traditional approach to painting in terms of the oil painting technique but considerably changed its themes.

19th-century Russian Genre Art

Here are some famous Russian genre paintings completed by the Peredvizhniki movement.

Ilya Repin (1844-1930)

Russian art, Repin — Ilya Repin, They Did Not Expect Him, 1884-88, The State Tretyakov Gallery

Ilya Repin grew up in poverty and hardship, living among the military as his father served in the military. He showed passion for the art at 13 and began to take art classes at a studio of a local artist. Soon, he became so good that he received commissions to paint the icons, which gave him financial freedom to fulfill his dream. In 1863 the artist travels to St. Petersburg to study art at the Academy. Not admitted the same year, he works on his drawing to get admission the next year. Repin becomes quick at gathering medals and awards for his studies and achieves great success with his final Academic project. At the same time he completes a commissioned piece – “Barge haulers.” After his travels in France, he comes back home to paint with the Itinerants.

Repin believed in moral and social purpose in his art and painted peasant life like no other artist of his time. He depicted daily struggles and overwhelming poverty of workers and peasants who lived in stark contrast to well-dressed high society of the Imperial Russia. In this painting of Barge Haulers we see the never-ending bank of the Volga river where the blinding sun is as strong as the people below it.

Pavel Fedotov (1815-1852)

Pavel Fedotov was born in a large and poor family in Moscow and spent his childhood years among his neighbors. His parents put him into the cadet corps at eleven years of age where the artist showed himself as a brilliant student. He began to sketch the caricatures of his teachers and teacher aids on the pages of his notebooks. When he graduated as the ensign of the Finnish regiment, he was found of music and poetry, translated articles from German and sketched his friends. Being very poor, he couldn’t participate in his friends’ parties and continued to work on portraiture and caricature. After a considerable conviction of his friends, he left the service and entered the Academy to study art.

His art instructors doubted his talent because Fedotov ignored the academic principles of battle painting composing horses and soldiers, and spent his evenings painting genre scenes remembered from his childhood. The artist lived in modest conditions, sending part of his service pension to his family back home. However, his sense of humor never let him give up on himself and eventually his talent got noticed by a famous Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov, who wrote him a letter asking to give up the Academy and work on his genre painting.

Russian art, Fedotov — Just knighted. Morning of the official who received his first cross, 1848, oil on canvas, 48x42cm, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Pavel Fedotov left the Art Academy, and in 1847 showed his first painting “Just knighted. Morning of the official who received his first cross.” The artist loughs at a proud clerk who is shown after his party, living in devastating poverty. The second painting “The Picky Bride” followed the same year to impress his former teachers from the Academy.

Fedotov, choosy bride, Russian art — Picky Bride, oil on canvas, 37x45cm, TheState Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, 1847

Pavel Fedotov, Matchmaking of a major, oil on canvas, 58 x 75 cm, 1848, The Tretyakov State Gallery, Moscow

The artist exhibited his masterpiece titled “The Matchmaking of a Major” in 1848 that prompted him an honor award of the Academician. He depicts a beautiful bride running out of the living room as soon as she saw her future groom appear in a doorway. Richly dressed, her mother catches the bride by her gown. This paining brought the artist fame and financial success. Fedotov wished to travel to England to study genre art, but his friends noticed a change in the artist in 1852. Soon, he was placed in the asylum where he died the same year.

In his short life, the artist left tremendous legacy in Russian art by opening a new direction in Russian genre painting. Most of his oil paintings, sketches and portraits can be seen at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow today.

Vasily Perov (1834-1882)

Vasily Perov received his school education from a local deacon, who taught the boy math, language and the Bible. The boy showed great success in calligraphy and his teacher named him Perov (‘Pero’ sounds similar to a ‘feather’ in Russian). Perov’s parents didn’t allow their son to enter a local art school, but let him take some private art lessons. Thanks to one of his relatives, Perov enters the art school later in 1852 and studies there to receive awards. After his graduation, he spends two years in Paris but ‘unable to paint anything worthwhile’ in his words, he begs the Academy to let him come back home. (Best artists received scholarships to spend 1-2 years in Western Europe after their graduation at the Academy).

russian art, perov — Vasily Persov, Easter rural procession, 1861

Besides masterful portraits, Perov paints great genre paintings that capture the reality of Russian life and its people. His art explores the disparity between the rich and the poor as well as the hypocrisy of the church clergy. Despite his fantastic abilities and successful exhibitions, the artist didn’t consider himself worthy of attention. He lived modestly and died in poverty. Most of his paintings can be viewed at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow today.

Perov, Three students carrying water, 1866 | Here the artist depicts children carrying water in freezing conditions of Russian winter.

Russian painting — Perov, The drowned woman, oil on canvas, 68 x 106 cm, 1867, The State Tretyakov Gallery

In this painting, the artist shows an indifferent policeman sitting and smoking over a dead body of a poor woman (presumably a prostitute) that happened so often that the officials expressed no interest in the lives of the disadvantaged.

There are more Russian artists who contributed to the legacy of Russian art in the Itinerants movement that included Ivan Kramskoy, Vasiliy Polenov, Vasiliy Surikov, Vladimir Makovsky, Mikhael Klodt, etc. Female painters were nonexistent until the 20th century Russia.

Makovsky, to the marriage, 1894 | Russian artists often critiqued the tradition of arranged marriage. In this oil painting we can see the desperation of a young bride who has to marry a wealthy, old man.

To continue reading about the 19th-century Russian portrait painting, please follow this link: https://veronicasart.com/19th-century-russian-art-and-portrait-painting-eyes-are-the-window-to-the-soul/

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How to paint realistic shadows in colored pencil, graphite and paint

Posted on December 17, 2015November 4, 2023 by veronica

If you’re interested in realistic drawing and painting techniques, you must study the shadows. The right placement and depiction of shadows helps artists create the three-dimensional illusion on a flat surface. The concept or the formula of seeing the light and how it turns the form is the same across various media. Let’s dive in.

How to draw realistic shadows in colored pencil, graphite and paint

The distribution of light

To understand how to draw realistic objects on paper, you need to study how the light turns the form. This image illustrates the idea. Artists observe the light direction and try to find the highlights, form shadows, cast shadows and the reflected light on an object.

What are the shadows?

There are two types of shadows: the form (or core) shadow and the cast shadow.

how to draw shadows — The distribution of light on a sea-biscuit

The form shadow is present on the object itself, and is of the darkest value (tone). It appears where the light turns into darkness. You can see the form shadows on various objects including faces, fabric, flowers, etc. The form shadow makes the objects look three-dimensional, and if you don’t see it, the objects remain flat in your artwork.

The cast shadow(s) is situated right under the object and is always attached to it.

While the form shadows give the objects the roundness or volume, cast shadows give the physical presence to objects. They “make” the object look heavy set in the environment it’s in. Sometimes the cast shadows are a lot more interesting to draw than the object itself.

Adjusting the light

If you see no clear shadows in your still life or a photo, it’s much harder to create the 3-D illusion on paper. While we usually have no problem spotting the cast shadows seen on tables or windowsills, found under the fruit or vases, we do often find it difficult to pinpoint the location of the form shadow present on the fruit/object itself. Strong, directional lighting helps artists find the form shadow. Play with the light to see a variety of shadows on and under your objects.

Seeing shadows in glass:

Not every object confirms to the same formula I’ve described above. For instance, drawing reflective objects and glass requires a different approach or formula to create the 3-D illusion on paper. It involves observation and copying of major abstract shapes and reflections found within the glass object.

How to draw realistic highlights in pencils

When we look at realistic drawings and paintings, we try to figure out how artists achieve such level of realism in their art.

There are three elements that make drawings and paintings look three-dimensional on a flat surface:

Accurate shapes or perfect drawing of objects
Clear understanding how the light turns the form
Correct placement of highlights on objects, fabric and people.

What is a highlight and how do you find it?

Highlights are the lightest lights or the whitest spots you find on your objects. Always analyze the light direction and the light source. Is it coming from the left or right, top or bottom? You’d find the lightest areas on all objects being the closest to that light source.

This image shows a general distribution of light on reflective objects with the light coming from the right. As a result, the shadows are on the left.

The placement of highlights on your object is logical. Analyze the light direction. If it comes from the left, then your highlights would be on the object’s left hand side. If the light comes from above, then the highlights accumulate on the object’s top.
If it’s a vase, a cup or a bottle directional highlights would appear on the object’s surface where the object usually curves or changes direction.
You may see *secondary lights* in your set up as well. Usually they’re light but not as strong as the highlights. Make sure they remain secondary and don’t “compete” with your major few highlights. This way you create the **hierarchy of light and shadow.**

Aphrodite plaster cast | Here the light comes from the left, illuminating half of the face. Therefore all highlights remain on the left side of the face.

How to draw highlights in graphite drawing

Placement of highlights in graphite drawing, david's eye drawing — **Placement of highlights in graphite drawing.** My drawing study of the David’s eye, 9×12″ graphite on white Strathmore drawing paper. The highlights are pulled off of the page with the kneaded eraser to make the brightest areas white.

pencil portrait drawing — A study of Kat II, 9×12 inches, graphite on paper. | Here I used the kneaded eraser to lift out the lights and to create texture in her hair.

If you’re interested to take your art to the next level, take a video class to learn more about the techniques of colored pencil drawing and painting here.

How to draw highlights in colored pencil drawing

Drawing on white paper:

Drawing on toned paper:

white-fabric- — A study of fabric, 9×12 inches, lightfast colored pencils on Stonehenge paper | Here the light comes from the left. Therefore **the lightest part of the fabric with its highlights remains on the left side where I used white and off-white colored pencils to shade the highlights.**

This is the drawing completed on bright orange paper. Here you see white highlights. There are light yellow or light blue colors placed underneath the white first to create colorful highlights.

The white highlights look white by shading with some light yellow or light blue colored pencils and then drawing with the white one over them.

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How to improve realist painting working from pictures

Posted on October 27, 2015November 3, 2023 by veronica

Many artists draw from pictures today or at least use them as a reference material. I use them a lot in the creation of my visionary art, especially when working in colored pencil. Being aware of the advantages and the limitations using photography, makes you a better realist artist because you learn to adjust your process to accommodate it to your practice. So here I list a few advantages and drawbacks using the pictures in painting and drawing.

The advantages of using pictures in art creation:

The convenience of working from a picture is tempting. We want to snap a picture of a model instead of paying her for many hours of posing.
There are those lucky moments when the moment is just right to capture a moving subject or a facial expression.
Fast-changing weather conditions are easy to capture in photography when I travel, and I either have no time to paint or have no capacity to carry my art supplies to the top of a mountain.
Working from a picture in colored pencil is almost easier than drawing from life, especially when it’s about capturing the reflective surfaces or real flowers. I usually keep the real object as a reference, but end up drawing it from a picture.
By taking pictures yourself in a controlled set up, it’s possible to get nice images. For that I take a cardboard box used for shipping and cut two sides out, to which I glue the white tissue paper that diffuses the light. I place my object inside it and I light it up with one, two or three lights, depending on my idea. My set up is similar to this one:

This photo is taken from this website: http://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/10-tips-to-get-started-with-still-life-photography–photo-8278

oil painting techniques shadow box — This is my basic still life painting set up where I don’t aim taking paictures, rather I use it to paint my still life objects direct from life.

This is a striking image of a cloud with the fairly balanced tones between the sky and the ocean. Yet, the color is really off here, too blue and too dark to paint a large painting well without having a sketch made from life that captures the real colors I saw at the beach while taking this picture.

The disadvantages using the pictures for realist painting:

The sky is washed out, the land is too dark. This happens a lot in the pictures of the amateur photographers. You need to learn to compensate for the colorless sky by either adjusting your camera settings by 1-2 stops, or taking more pictures of the sky itself separate from the land. Many phones have the HDR function in them these days and combine several shots into one, giving the right light balance between the land and the sky.
It’s imperative not to draw from the copyrighted images or use the photos without the written permission of the photographer. It includes the photos made or taken as the movie stills. Years ago I lost a lucrative deal with one of the companies that wanted to feature my artwork on their product. I knew nothing about the copyright rules and drew a movie character they liked, but as you may guess, the image didn’t get cleared by their legal department.
If a picture you paint from is not yours, you can’t enter your artwork into the juried shows, unless the artist has the permission from a photographer to do so. And even then, some national contests prohibit the use of someone else’s photography because the artist must be the sole creator of his work.
Although painting from pictures is convenient, it has hidden difficulties. Even if the quality of your camera is good enough to capture reality, it misses out on a lot of information artists put back into their drawings or paintings. In other words, the camera filters through some information that the artist responds to when he paints directly from life.
Cameras distort reality. Colors, shapes, and shadows never look the same as we see them with the naked eye. Most lenses distort the linear perspective to such a degree that I never use a printed picture as my map to transfer the image. I have a nice Nikon D80 that gives me a wonderful range of hues. I can also change lenses on it that gives me additional advantage in painting with the relative accuracy. Yet, I still use my pictures selectively, and I don’t buy into everything I see in them.
The distortion in color and perspective also changes your perception. Camera makes a choice instead of the artist making it. As artists we make decisions what to see and what to leave out in images. For instance, you see a thin horizon line and a single tree in the wind. You feel the air’s blowing coolness; you see a wide range of greens in that tree. You notice a huge cloud looming over it. Snap a picture. What do you see? The sky in the picture registers too bright in comparison to the dark, green land and the shape of that enigmatic cloud is now too light and incomplete. You lose the subtle shifts in color of the sky’s along with its incomplete cloud shape. In the picture, the tree also misses your real perception of it. The range of greens that you see with your eyes doesn’t look the same in the photo. Finally, you lose your feel of nature, the violent and mighty power it exhibits while you are in the moment with its wind and the rain.
This is especially important for artists who paint realistically in oils or acrylics. Our perception of reality is instant, and we respond to it swiftly by mixing the right colors without over-analyzing the information. When we paint from pictures, we tend to analyze the same reality a lot more, which is already adjusted by the camera for us. My paintings done from life always have freshness and liveliness that is virtually absent in paintings done solely from pictures. Only the experienced artists can paint from pictures very well, because they have the knowledge to place or replace the elements that the camera doesn’t catch or overemphasizes.

How to take good pictures: examples of bad ones:

There is no sense of the directional light source here. It’s hard to turn the form shading such dull objects.
The lens’ distortion makes this picture great to draw a cartoon, but not a fine portrait.
Everything is uniformly gray in this picture with no clear focal point. Nevertheless, this photo can be used as a reference to understand the atmospheric condition.
Pictures taken with a flash cut on the natural shadows and throw off the colors. Never draw from pictures taken with the flash!
The sky is really boring here. The absence of an exciting focal point also makes it rather dull to draw.
While the sky looks OK, the foreground is so dark it makes it impossible to use it as a reference to see the shifts in tones drawing the tree.

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How to paint realistic still life step by step: oil painting techniques tutorial

Posted on October 14, 2015November 3, 2023 by veronica

6 steps to learn realist oil painting techniques

If your goal is to learn realist oil painting techniques, you have to paint from life. For that artists set up a still life of various objects under controlled light in front of their easel. The artist studies the light and shade by developing a complete drawing and then transfers the outlines onto a canvas or panel to paint. Because it’s a controlled set up, the light remains unchanged and the artist can work on his/her painting almost indefinitely.

1. Draw from life

If you want to become a realist artist, please draw from life as much as possible. You can’t skip this step! Numerous problems can be resolved by learning to see the shapes and proportions, by designing compositions, and by shading your objects from life. Later you can partially substitute life drawing for painting from your pictures. Just be aware that pictures distort reality. We respond to the information in front of us very differently when we paint from life.

2. Make a shadow box

To set up a still life, make a shadow-box out of black foam board (see the pic above). The color of your background can be changed at any time by placing some fabric, colored carton, or any other colored paper you like to paint as your background color. The size of the shadow box can be changed as well, depending on your space and the size of your still life.

Put a direct light source-the lamp next to the shadow-box ( it’s located to the left here), and play with the light, looking at changes in the cast shadows and highlights on objects. It’s much easier to paint objects with dramatic light as opposed to even, diffused light. While the diffused light can bring a different mood with soft and subtle shadows creating peaceful atmosphere, it’s much harder to control and paint these subtle shifts in color and tone for beginners.

If you have no time to build the shadow box because you itch to draw and paint now, make a set up with a simplified background space that cuts off all the unnecessary information behind your still life. In the photo below you see a small box placed behind the starfish that’s covered with some fabric.

3. Make a preliminary sketch

It’s much easier to begin painting when the artist has done the prep work. Work out the outlines on a piece of sketch paper of the same size as your canvas. When the outline looks correct, transfer it onto canvas using either white or black transfer paper with a pen (image 2 & 3).

4. Create the underpainting (indirect painting)

The strip of grays represents the value scale. It’s mixed from 3/4 ivory black+1/4 warm brown with equal increments of titanium white.

After you have transferred your drawing, check for mistakes one more time. Fix them in 2H graphite pencil. Now you’re ready to paint.

Indirect painting means creating an underpainting in one color first and then layering paint in color. The underpainting can be done in black-and-white called grisaille, in green tones or in warm browns. Here I'm showing you the grisaille method of painting. The grisaille method is useful for still life painting and although many old masters painted the figures the same way, I find the gray underpainting to be too cold for the depiction of skin tones. I have a YouTube video titled "keeper" that shows this method of painting in greater detail.

Mix the value scale (titanium white or lead white+ ivory black+ a touch of brown to warm up the black) with a palette knife. No color is added at this point. Begin painting your objects using the grays. Focus on shadows and paint them first, then create transitional values leading to the lights. By painting in grays you focus on tones/values as opposed to color. As each color has its own value scale, you train yourself to convert the colors into the tones. This is not easy to grasp and requires practice.

Let your first layer dry. Complete the second pass of black-and-white painting, refining edges and tones.

5. Paint in full color

Paint in color by glazing and layering paint over the grisaille layers. I usually have 2-3 color layers in my painting. I finish up by adding texture in my last, top layer.

6. Varnish

After the gazillion of hours spent on my painting, it’s finished! I let it dry for 6-12 months before varnishing the oil painting.

Interested to learn more?

If you’re interested to learn more about the indirect method of painting step by step, glazing and color layering, you can watch my video course I recorded a decade ago that shows these concepts and a lot more!

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Step by step drawing in colored pencil how to draw a gecko

Step by step colored pencil drawing tutorial for children: gecko

Posted on October 10, 2015November 3, 2023 by veronica

In this step by step drawing demonstration you’ll learn how to layer color in colored pencil shading on toned or colored paper. You will also see how to use solvents to blend the colored pencil drawing. This is a fun drawing project to complete for both kids and adults alike.

Materials:

Canson Colorline paper. This paper can be replaced with a similar, professional toned paper.
Prismacolor Premier colored pencils (colors are listed in steps); they can be replaced with other soft, colored pencils
Gamsol or Caran d-Ache full blender-optional
white transfer paper

Step-by-step colored pencil drawing tutorial demonstration

Step 1 Define the shape and shadows

Sketch out basic outline of gecko on a sketch paper. Then transfer the outline onto your colored paper using white transfer paper. Keep the fine drawing paper clean of any residue at all times. I usually transfer the outlines using white transfer paper manufactured by Loew-Cornell. This paper lasts for years, and the lines are very easy to erase with the kneaded eraser. MAKE SURE YOU USE THE SMOOTH SIDE OF YOUR DRAWING PAPER!

When you have transferred the outline, strengthen some lines in colored pencil to separate between the shapes. The color of my colored pencil depends on the subject’s basic tone. If the subject is light, I use cream colored pencil to strengthen the outlines, if the subject is dark, I use dark brown to outline some shapes.

Use dark brown like raw umber and dark green to map out the dark spots and shadows on the lizard’s skin.

Step 2 Block-in the background

Block in the background with indigo blue and the same dark brown you’ve used before. (A combination of any dark colors would work well here). Add grass green and apple green in the background’s middle tone. Then add spring green in the light.

To strengthen the pattern on the skin, shade with a combination of violet, indigo blue, and dark green.
For the eye, use a sharp point of indigo blue and dark brown to outline the circle and to draw the iris. Shade the darker values (tones) on the left side of the eye, while deliberately using lighter tones on the right.

Notice that all colors look a lot more vibrant on colored paper as opposed to colored pencil shading on white paper.

Step 3: Blend the background

When you’ve completed shading in the background, use a solvent (like turpenoid or Gamsol) to blend the background and a few spots found on the gecko’s skin. Let it dry completely!

Make sure you use a small brush to blend the image with solvents that is not used for anything else. Solvents melt wax in the wax-based colored pencils making the surface smoother and darker.

Be careful using the solvent. Although Gamsol is a mild one and doesn't have the smell, don't inhale it anyways. Use a modest amount spreading the pigment around. To replace the solvent you can buy the caran d'ache full blender and shade the background with it.

Step 4: Colored pencil shading

When it’s dry, shade with the same colors in the background and add a few more over the entire background space. The colors are poppy red, aquamarine, light aqua, and limepeel. OVERLAP the COLORS to get rich tones!

Now let’s draw the body. You can shade the light areas of the skin with parma violet and cloud blue, using a very heavy pencil pressure.

It’s important to see how the skin pattern curves around its body.

Don't make straight lines and repetitive shapes. Create volume and dimension by curving the uneven lines around its arms and feet.

Step 5: Work on details

Use a touch of canary yellow and light pink to shade the reflected light on the gecko’s bottom.

Step back to look at it from the distance and check your drawing for contrast, color and shapes. If needed, re-apply the background colors once again with heavy pencil pressure. Step back. Check tones and edges. Is it dark enough? Outline a few edges in its head with sharp pencils for additional crispness and focus.

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What is lightfastness of oil paint? 4-step guide

Posted on October 10, 2015November 3, 2023 by veronica

While I’m not an expert in art conservation, I am a full-time artist. After years of painting, conversations with other professionals and some research, I can guide you in choosing your oil paints for your art. Feel free to research this topic further via my references at the bottom of this post or by contacting the products’ manufacturers. A lot of information listed here is coming from podcasts with the Natural Pigments’ director George O’Hanlon.

Picking the right brand of oil paint can be a challenge. Some brands are promoted so heavily by the art supply companies that artists buy their paints without having a second thought. When I was a student, the quality of paint hardly ever mattered to me and my most common determinant was the price. Today as I take care of my art my buying choices are strongly influenced by the overall quality and lightfastness of oil paint.

There are several important properties of oil paint artists should pay attention to. The most necessary information can be seen written right on a tube of paint. Don’t buy the paint that doesn’t have the following data printed on it.

1. Transparency vs. opaqueness of oil paint

While some oil colors are transparent, others are opaque or semi-opaque. If you see an empty square, or a half-empty one, or a filled square on the back cover of oil paint, it gives you information about the transparency of oil paint. Some brands just say “Transparent” or “Semi-opaque” as opposed to assigning a specific symbol to it. So when I chose my paint for glazing, applying the transparent layers of paint, I look at the square/ or a note on transparency to determine if my paint is naturally good for glazing. Some transparent colors are Gamblin’s ultramarine blue, Michael Harding’s bright yellow lake. The transparent colors look almost glass-like when mixed with linseed oil.

Opaque or semi-opaque colors are often good for scumbling, layering light opaque paint over the dark area.

2. Pigments used in oil paint determine the lightfastness (resistance to light) and longevity of your art.

This is the most important principle in choosing your paint. The pigments used in oil paint are described in letters and numbers. For example, PB15-phtylocianine blue is rated lightfastness I. PW1-lead white is lightfastness I. PR2-Napthol red G- lightfastness II, etc.

While some basic colors have just one pigment, there are many colors that consist of several pigments mixed together along with oil, fillers, and binders. These “new,” not historical colors give artists a lot more color choices, but every pigment present in such paint tube should be checked for lighfastness separately. For example, Winton flesh tint has 4 pigments in it (PW6, PW5, PY42, and PV19).

Here is extensive pigment information database that lists oil paint properties including the lightfastness of paints: http://www.artiscreation.com/

Each company performs its own tests. This information is written on the tube, and it reads either as +, ++ or +++, or lightfastness I, lightfastness II, or lightfastness III and so on. The higher the number (3-4) the less lightfast the paint is.

By nature, browns and ochres are often more lightfast than some funky colors, like alizarin crimson or turquoise. Those colors that have lightfastness 3-4 are fugitive and fade pretty quickly. If you paint professionally, those colors should be avoided.

Artists can perform their own tests by exposing 1/2 of paint to the sun (while the other half is covered by black tape or cardboard). Lift the tape in a month of continuous light exposure to see the change in color. Artist Virgil Elliott has tested numerous colors of various brands. You’ll find a lot of useful information on painting in his book Traditional oil painting and in his facebook group.

3. Type of oil mixed into the paint.

All tubed paints have some oil mixed into the paint. Linseed oil is the most stable oil that is also used widely as paint medium by artists. It’s long-lasting and dries quite quickly.

Safflower oil, poppy oil, and walnut oil are less stable oils often used as vehicles that are mixed into the oil paint. Avoid using safflower oil.

4. The amount of fillers and binders added to oil paint.

Various amounts of fillers and binders are mixed into the oils as well. They dilute the pigment by “stretching” the paint, making it cheaper to the consumer. Such pigments have a much longer shelf life. Fillers and binders greatly affect the consistency and texture of paint. It could affect the drying speed of paint as well.

Rublev colors, manufactured by Natural Pigments, don’t have any fillers in their paint, making the oils more stable and with high tinting strength. Like other professional-grade paints, they give artists a lot more pigment in a small tube as opposed to cheaper oil paint put in a large tube. But because NP have no extra binders, their shelf life is very limited and it’s best to use the paint within a year. I could barely squish the paint out of the tube after that.

Professional brands of oil paints include:

Rublev colors by Natural Pigments
Old Holland
Michael Harding
Gamblin
Chroma
Utrecht
dardecor (Spain)

These are great resources for further research:

The atelier movement– a closed group on Facebook-exists for artists interested in classical painting. The group’s administrator is classically trained artist-Graydon Parrish.
Artist Virgil Elliot: http://virgilelliott.com/
Douglas Flynt’ blog
“The artist’s handbook of materials & techniques” by Ralph Mayer: http://www.amazon.com/The-Artists-Handbook-Materials-Techniques/dp/0670837016
Sadie Valerie blog: http://www.sadievaleri.com/blog/
The Natural Pigments website: https://www.naturalpigments.com/art-supply-education/painting-for-posterity-with-modern-oil-paints/

Check out my oil painting video class that teaches classical oil painting techniques! I recorded it a decade ago but the rules are still the same.
https://veronica-winters-art-school.teachable.com/p/realist-oil-painting-techniques-secrets-for-serious-beginners-beyond

Listen to this video while you paint! The owners explain a lot about the properties of oil paint and the old masters techniques.

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Gun violence in America: how we can make a positive change

Posted on October 8, 2015January 16, 2022 by veronica

The second I saw the face of an alleged school shooter in Parkland, Florida, my mind threw me back in time when I worked as a visiting artist in rural schools of Pennsylvania. The arts grant allowed for artists’ placement in public schools to teach their particular art form to every kid in class. The school children usually had a very limited exposure to the arts, living in small towns or rural communities. Those were sobering moments in my life because I began to see how poverty, incarceration of family members, and the ‘no child left behind’ policy affected children every day. Parents and politicians often blame the teachers for bad education, but teachers are not the real problem. I saw care and commitment. The problem was the educational system and poverty. In such work, I met a teenage boy who seemed focused, polite and content on one day, and the same kid would emit incredible amount of anger on another day. Sometimes, I felt like he could hit me for no reason when I stood next to him, and one day he got handcuffed in class by a policeman to be escorted out of the classroom. While I wasn’t his target, I felt shaken. Later I learned that someone from his family was jailed for drugs, and his crazy behavior was the result of his family conditions at home. The teenage boy became the outcast because both his family and society failed to protect his broken heart…

As cruel as it sounds, it’s not the last mass shooting happening this year. We almost get accustomed to these chilling events when parents drop their children off at school, and some kids never come back home. Instead of looking into the gun laws and prohibiting the military-style weapons from purchases, we are offered prayers, condolences, and the denial of the obvious. Politicians will always serve their agenda, financially depended from the NRA.

The U.S. is the only highly civilized country in the world that shows consistent outbreaks of gun violence. Its free and democratic society allows people to shoot on the streets, in movie theaters, college campuses, schools, and even churches. I’ve never seen so much violence in my life as I see in the news here, but we can’t really blame the media for that. Gun ownership is more than the right. What I see is daily conditioning of the young, growing up watching unbelievably realistic violence in movies, killing people in video games, and seeing cruelty online. Often times the depiction of heroes or “cool” men with multiple weapons somehow justifies their actions, raises them to the pedestal of manliness, and shows them as the singular and the most just defenders of American freedom. The Hollywood movies impress me with depictions of cruelty happening on big screen. Why does “the Game of Thrones” receive such accolades when every few minutes someone is violently killed or mutilated? Of course, there is an argument that it’s the reality of our world and humanity, but I have to say that teens live and learn from that, develop ideas and become accepting of the horrific events, instead of learning to appreciate the acts of kindness, love, and forgiveness. This twisted social norm affects generations.

While viewers get horrified and sob over the innocent people killed in the movies like “the Hunger Games,” we as a nation have no problem sending our children to war. Barely out of high school, these children become the “army proud” and “army strong,” serving our country or maybe serving the views of the elite controlling the end game. In a high school graduation ceremony of my son, I witnessed complete insanity. After all the students received their academic awards, only two of them deserved a standing ovation. Those students stood on a podium to accept the society’s loud appreciation for going to become soldiers. No academic achievement caused even a quarter of loud applause they received. Why are we so proud of sending children to fight and get killed? This country is my home, but its actions often make me shiver.

I believe that the real change will come with the new generation taking charge of the U.S. Congress. It will come when the culture embraces emotional health and beauty in school classrooms by offering classes that take care of our feelings, not just brains. When we see a lot less violence in the movies and video games. When we feel the need to be responsible for the community and people around us. We never know where or how we will lose our lives, but the immediate solution is to offer love and care to others every day, no matter how hard it may be. Maybe then there will be a place in time and space when everyone becomes peaceful and kind, and not overwhelmed with grief, frustration and pain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting

How long did it take you to paint that?

Posted on October 8, 2015October 31, 2023 by veronica

“How long did it take you to paint that?

Every artist is asked this question. Viewers have no idea what it takes, and artists don’t know where to begin answering this question, because it involves…Well, it involves an entire explanation how long it takes to become good. Artwork creation doesn’t always look like a lot of work, yet a single painting incorporates years of unseen work. People ask this question because they want to have a conversation with the artist and they don’t know what else they can ask to have it.

In general, people try to calculate or connect the objectivity of high pricing with the time artist spends painting a particular artwork. On the surface it looks expensive or overpriced, and a prospect buyer wants to understand where the number comes from. Artists, however, think of a lifetime of effort, hard work, bills, tuition and many other business costs they accrue working in their studios. Therefore, weeks, months and years can’t be quantified into a certain number of hours spent on one painting.

In the beginning of the career many artists have to wrestle with the financial burden and make significant sacrifices learning the craft. The costs often include expensive college education. Besides having the obvious tuition and living costs, artists don’t become artists in four to six years after college graduation. The artist career often starts with zero job prospects or security, and builds up to something meaningful over a very long period of time of hard work, dedication and social climbing. For many artists it means a continued struggle, a reconciliation of the need to paint with making money to pay the bills. However, if the artist is good at art marketing and relationships building, the struggles most artists face may be reversed into significant opportunities quickly.

It takes A LONG time to learn how to paint realistically. There are no cute formulas or shortcuts. No one learns it overnight no matter how much talent the artist has! It’s a skill that takes significant effort and focus. Until very recently, there were no realist schools available to get the comprehensive education from, which magnified the problem and effort to achieve a certain skill level. Of course, there are exceptions and we can find super talented, self-taught artists, but such instances are rare. Those who have no time to do their art every day don’t become artists. Fear of instability takes their need to paint away from them.

There is a notion that artists just hang out at art festivals, fairs, or their shows enjoying the limelight and attention. Well, maybe for a little bit but… exhibiting at festivals involves a lot of effort, persistence, and investment. On average, a popular festival’s booth fees run around $450-$700/per show, and the artist is responsible for other costs (application fees, hotel, gas, transportation, and the cost of a professional booth itself that runs around $2,500 on average). Many artists hit the road for months, traveling from one state to the next, working over 8 hours a day. Work at the art festivals includes not only the artist’s time present at the booth all day, but also the time and effort to set up and to break down (usually early in the morning and late in the evening,) time to carry, pack, unpack and pack again a number of heavy, framed paintings.

Professional artists also have other costs that include:

Custom framing. Artists invest into their frames because it gives them professional presentation that is often required, by the way, to display their work in juried shows.
Time to market artwork. E-mails, presentations, social media, research, writing, contacting galleries and editors takes consistent and relentless effort.
Artists hire models to paint the figure from life.
Art supplies. Artists spend hundreds of dollars on art supplies every year as they keep practicing for years. This is a continuous expense, like going to a grocery store each week. When the time is right, the artist transitions to professional, durable, lightfast materials that cost a lot more that cheaply manufactured canvases and paints. Professional art supplies let artists create long lasting, museum-quality pieces, unlike the junk that would fall apart or fade within years. Often times if the artist doesn’t share this information with the buyer, no one can tell visually if the supplies are archival or not.

Other office expenses that include professional photo equipment, storage files, a scanner and a printer, camera and video equipment, etc..
Some artists chose to advertise online or in magazines.
As a surprise to many, the artist’s retail price includes a 50% mark up, sometimes 60-65% that galleries take selling artist’s work. That means that the artist gets only half of his/her money after making a sale.
The final cost to the artist is not the financial, but the emotional one. In the U.S. artists don’t have much respect unless they are famous. This leads to stereotypes and generalizations. Often called “lazy artists,” “starving artists,” “stupid artists,” or “flaky artists.” We have become the 2nd class citizens because we often allow it to happen, and because art has become the all encompassing word that incorporates everything into it. Art is everywhere today.

We don’t even pay attention to it, but art is everywhere today: in magazines, book covers, album covers, calendars, and even on plates. As the society has moved from scarce product production to consumerism, artists get pushed to the sidelines. A lot of work gets devalued by the Chinese manufacturing, cheaply made goods, mass-produced items, and unlicensed reproductions. This trend reinforces the people’s desire to buy a cheap print or new piece of technology rather than a small original artwork. As a result many folks don’t appreciate art, because they simply don’t identify with it, don’t find the emotional connection, and don’t really need it. TV, wall posters, and other goods and entertainment have replaced the enjoyment of looking at a single original painting.

In other words, ART has lost or changed its original meaning, evolving into other facets of artful creations that redefined the uniqueness and value of art. Bogus art may receive lots of publicity due to smart marketing campaigns that confuse people. Those souls who love the arts just get lost trying to understand what’s really valuable and what is not. It’s rare to see someone admitting that he or she doesn’t get art or lacks education to have an opinion. And that’s why art appreciation should be taught in schools as a relevant subject along with math and the sciences.

Art creates unique experiences. Art takes care of our emotional life. Often described as healing, art reflects on our inner life. No matter the art style or medium, Art makes us human to experience joy and beauty. Art can be a protest and a wing of change. When we look at history of human civilization, we often study it through art.