Art Journal

The Art of Richard Schmid

                                         “Zorro" 28" x 38", Oil on Panel

                                      "Pansies"   16"x20", Oil on Panel

I recently ran across a blog article about Richard Schmid, who is one of my favorite contemporary artists. Schmid is also one of the most highly respected artists alive today, and I hope that you will also enjoy the article, and his art. You can view more of his work on his site.

From Lines and Colors:

“ Richard Schmid, though a well known and well respected contemporary American painter, is perhaps better known as an instructor, through his widely read book and, more recently, series of instructional videos.

His web site doesn’t do much to change this, in that the images of his work, though presented well enough, are frustratingly small. At least they’re frustrating to me, as I’m particularly interested in his economical and beautifully handled brush work, which you can only really appreciate in large images.

You can still see in the reproductions his beautiful handling of color and value, his remarkable ability with “lost and found” edges, and his wonderful control of texture, light and atmosphere. When viewing work on his site, there are images in the Lithographs section in addition to Available Work and Archive Gallery. ” Continue reading…….

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

PIRATES OF THE CONSTITUTION BANISHED, JANUARY 20, 2009

                   16 MORE DAYS

Photograph/Image by Mad Magazine

Happy Thanksgiving

To My Regular Droppers and Readers

Just to let you know......I am having trouble keeping up with all of my blogs, as well as my personal life, and thus I have stopped accepting adverts on this blog for the time being.

Additionally, I will no longer be dropping from this blog, at least not until I manage to get things under control again, which may be quite a long while.

Thanks for all of your drops and comments! If I again begin dropping on this account, it will be because I am posting to this blog once again.

Best Regards, 

Painting of Roses on the Arbor

Roses on the Arbor No. 2   |  32" X 48"   |  Oil on linen   

A painting of the roses on an arbor in my backyard from 2006.

Almost Wordless Whatever Day

 
Watercolor and Oil Pastel on Arches 300lb hot-pressed paper.

I was feeling guilty because I haven't been paying much attention to this blog lately, so to assuage my guilt, I decided to post  a small plein aire sketch. 

  

Copyright © by Art Journal 2008. All rights are reserved.

Background Images for Graphic Designers

A quick post to share a site that I found today in a search for background textures.

The site is CG Textures, and they are a completely free resource for background textures and objects. And better still, they offer a huge variety of really good images.

If you are a web developer, graphic designer, or even just like to design your own sites, you need to know about this resource.

From their About page:    

“CGTextures strives to be the world's best texture site. Being a 3D artist myself, I know how hard it is to create textures without good photo materials. Making textures should be about creativity, not about spending hours looking for the right image on the internet. I hope that by supplying good quality textures in an organized manner, your everyday work will be easier and more enjoyable.”

As an example of what they offer, I clicked on the category "concrete". Seven sub-categories popped up, image below.   

As you can see, the sub-cats in concrete vary from "dirty" to "bunker wall", with many variations in color, pattern, and style available.

Clicking on the "dirty" sub-cat, took me to the first page with over 150 images available in that category. See a few samples below.   
   
The images are high quality, with a small and large resolution available.

Check it out, and let me know how you like it!

Copyright © by Art Journal 2008. All rights are reserved. No re-posting of articles or my images without prior written permission is allowed.

Technorati Tags: cg textures, web design, web development, free images, backgrounds, textures, design, art journal

I'm Having a Contest.....

I'm having a contest on one of my other blogs, Modern Glam. I don't usually intertwine the two, but today I am, because I really would like to not only garner enough participation, but give my commentators on all of my blogs an opportunity to participate in the contest.

All that said, the contest does NOT involve Entrecredits. Instead, you have the opportunity to win jewelry; a fine silver hand-crafted pendant with a sterling silver chain. Very chic, made with lots of love, and if you would like to participate, sign up here. Oh, and by the way, male readers are encouraged to participate and win the prize for their fav lady!

Good luck!

Technorati Tags: Modern Glam, contest, jewelry, prize

I am so jealous.....

I am a fairly versatile and creative person. There are really only  two things that I've ever tried at which I have failed miserably. Those would be the mastery of certain types of beadweaving, and photography. I can do basic Peyote stitch, loom weaving, basic square, right angle, etc., stitches. But, I completely SUCK at my fav stitches;  free-form and sculptural Peyote. [I also love spiral stitch and crocheted beads, but I'll save my whining about my lack of ability with those for another day.] And, I am not that  competent at even the basic stitches, other than a couple of them.

So anyway, I curse myself each time that I try one of the aforementioned stitches again, wondering if I am somehow "challenged". Whatever the reason, I can not wrap my mind around these stitches. Gah......so very frustrating.

One of the best, and most well known of the artists who have mastered these stitches, is Jeanette Cook of Beady Eyed Women.  Her work is incredible, even though her website really does not showcase her best work, she is totally excellent at this art/craft. An example of one of her pieces is depicted in the image at the top of this post.

Some examples of beadwork by other bead weavers/artists that I admire are below (not necessarily related to those stitches). Do visit their sites to see more of their work.......these ladies are really so talented!