Portrait painting art

When a portrait is commissioned there is an assumption made the image will look like the subject. Here is where the discrepancy between 'art' and 'rendering' come into play.

If it is a photograph you want then go to your local camera shop where there is a service that will transfer you favorite photo onto a stretch canvas. There are photoshop filters that can be applied to make it look like it was painted onto the canvas. This is a form of art I like to subcategorize as a rendering. The subject is rendered exactly as they look.

If it is an art piece you desire then hire an artist. Look through the artist's portfolio to see their quality and style of art. Remember art is a style, a perspective, a point of view of the world through the artist eye. Sometimes the medium itself lends to different results.

Art is the application of thought onto a two or three dimensional surface. It reflects the mood of the artist and/or the viewer. Sometimes mood can be as simple as the expression of beauty that surounds us everyday or it can emote joys or sadness. The portrait can look like the subject or be an abstract, or an impression. It is the viewers emotional response, and/or what the subject is emoting and/or how the artist feels about the subject that makes it art.

Depending on style, medium, and skill; art should have some emotional impact on the viewer no matter how close the resemblance a painting has to its subject.

For the artist:
If it is a rendering the patron wants, then get out the tracing paper and projector. If it art they want, then be consistent with your style and paint with passion.

Blogging 2010

It seems like a life time (or two) that I learned to type on a manual typewriter. A pile of wadded up paper would accumulate like a snow drift against the side of my desk's wastepaper basket in an attempt to create that one perfect paper. Futile I know, for when you retype corrections for one mistake, three more are created.

Now enter the age of computing. An age where your thoughts can be written down and instantly posted. Not only that, but with spellcheck dogging my typing heals every step of the way, redlining every mistyped word I am forced to go back and correct my creative spelling. Amazing.

The last 4 years has seen the rise of the smart phone. This year you are witness to the birth of the smart tablet. Others will follow, but for now the best thing on the market for editing and reading content on the go is the iPad. Even photos can be edited on the iPad. However if you need Photoshop, you are still going to need a traditional laptop or desktop computer.

I created this account and edited it on my laptop. However, now that it is set up I can input new pages any time any where on my iPad.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

New addition to the blogging experience. Safari extension adds blogging to it's list of things to do while browsing in Safari.

Laters,

Russell

Golf in the noon day sun

There's a saying that "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out into the noonday sun". Include golfers in that phrase and add "but, golfers don't even come in out of the rain".

It was very warm out today. Not even hot yet because it was just under 90°F. A good sauna, walkersize, and tanning parlor all rolled into one.

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) once stated "Golf is a good walk spoiled". I think he had it wrong; " A walk in the park is a waste without a game of golf to make it interesting".

No matter your skill level it's a fun way to spend an afternoon.

If you are in the Van Nuys area follow me on Twitter. I'll try to update more frequently when I play more often. To participate, join twitter to follow and post your own availability.

Painting flowers ...more than a pretty face.

Flowers.....While I am struck by the delicate beauty of these fragile creations of nature, there is more here than a pretty picture. The same as a portrait painting is more than an image of someone who lived at one time. A painting of a flower is a story of a creature that lived for a short time and died for love. It's withering petals will caress the pollenated infant inside so it too might one day grow to praise the sun and invite bees to share it's unique nature with others of it's kind.

Each bloom is an orgasmic expression of a flowering plant's life. A painting is more than a snapshot of a point in time. It is an expression of it's brief life. While the flowers I have painted have come and gone, their essence has been captured and their temporary beauty and personality preserved for as long as the medium will last.

If you don't have time to stop and smell the flowers along the way, then buy a painting to remind you there is beauty in the world. At night when there is no longer any sun or phones to answer, when the room is quiet and you finally have time to admire your painting's beauty long after the original bloom has passed. Remembering the smell of flowers along your way.

This is the artist's gift to you.

Buy art, celebrate your spirit, your love, your life.

Artxruss

Wind

This delicate flower was leaning so far over the standard seemed to reach out to catch its balance. Also made it look as though it was blowing in the wind.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Painting showing at VIVA gallery

One of two paintings at the VIVA gallery.

"Two Birds" watercolor painting reminds me of a couple of birds coming in for a landing.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Painting of the day

"Fallen Angel" The little white iris had been dragged to the ground and pinned under weeds and lantana flower vines. Yet the blossom opened heavenward to catch the morning sun.

Art of the day

"Shooting the Curl"
by Russell Wolvek
Watercolor

You can almost see the water crashing down around an imaginary surfer along a Hawaiian shore.