How to Look at Art Paintings

My very first visit to the art museum was a journey through a maze. I was on a school excursion intended to foster art appreciation amongst students, yet I quickly found myself losing concentration and drifting off to sleep whenever I couldn't make sense of the abstract brushstrokes or strange imagery used by artists in paintings.

This doesn't look like anything!" I remember exclaiming to a schoolmate, still trying to associate the elements of painting with familiar everyday objects.
When my efforts to put the work in perspective were futile, i scurried away with my friends to view the next most eye-catching work, often paying no attention to the ones that were less colourful or striking.

There were always those questions of "What the paintings meant" and "How one could search for these meanings", that we, non-art students, had no answers to. I was sure however, that there was more to art than visual appeal alone.

After all, famous documentary maker John Grierson once described art as a hammer, not a mere reflection of reality;He believed that art had the potential to evoke emotions and bring to light to issues men have buried in the unconscious. Hit by the same questions again and again after I visited a painting exhibition in San Francisco recently, I embarked on quest to learn from the experts.

Getting Started
#1 Physical Properties
Consider the dimensions of the painting, it's size relative to the environment and how it's displayed. (i.e: framed, unframed or freestanding)
Some artists intend for their work to be extremely large in scale to create a certain kind of impact or to evoke a certain sense of awe.
Look closely at the painting and examine what types of medium the artist had chosen to use. (i.e: acrylic paint, oil paint, watercolour paint, charcoal, metal) Observe how the paint has been applied. (i.e: with a brush, fingers, sponge).
How has the artist used his or her tools to create a certain feeling and what would change if it were substituted for something else?
Is there a certain texture that has been created (i.e: rough, smooth, edgy) that causes you to cringe, feel like touching it or respond to it in a certain way?
Also pay attention to elements like lines which may affect the way your eye is being directed and the use of colours to create a certain mood.

#2 Subject
In most paintings, there should be a focal point or a central element that captures your attention and draws your eye to it first. This may provide you with clues concerning the theme or issue the artist may be trying to shed light upon.
For example, in Blue Clamp (1981), a masterpiece of American artist Jim Dine, the eye is first drawn to the blue clamp central to the heart in the painting. The physical properties combined with the clamp evoke a strong sense of pain, as if one can picture another bleeding,
When looking at a painting, consider whether you can associate any imagery with past experiences or symbols that may signify particular events/issues.
Is the work abstract or something that breaks boundaries and fixed notions about beauty?
20th century artists often experiment with different ways of creating art, questioning expectations of what art should or should not be.

#3 Viewer's Perspective
Finally, pay attention to where the artist has positioned you as a viewer and what perspective you have been forced to undertake.
Are you looking into a house, looking from above or below a subject?
Does the gaze of the subject (i.e: a man) invite you to look closely at him or does he seem disconnected from the viewer because we cannot see his face?
The artist makes deliberate choices about what he wants to reveal and what he wants to hide from the viewer, and we can derive meaning from these choices
For example, if a subject's face is not being shown, it could imply a lack of status or identity, depending on the associations one makes.
While some pieces of work are more abstract than others, the meaning of any painting is open to your interpretation. There are no right or wrong answers, so don't be afraid of speaking your mind!
Try talking about a painting with a friend and you'll be surprised how different his or her ideas could be!

Note down what runs through your mind the next time you step into an art gallery and look at paintings with a whole new light!

The writer, Shannon, runs Artyii, an online platform for emerging Asian Artists to sell their original art paintings.

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African Art Paintings: A Brief History of African Fine Art Paintings

The history of African paintings makes for a fascinating and rich account. Some of the earliest rock paintings of Africa have been found in Namibia. They are estimated to date back to over 27,000 years, though it is almost impossible to point a precise date. In the historic times, African wall art was largely restricted to rock carvings and paintings. The cave man would depict the lifestyle of an age through such paintings that he must have found cathartic. However, soon the carvings over rocks began to take a deep and more powerful meaning.

African men began to forge connections of their rock paintings with their ancestors. History is rich with tales and anecdotes of African man's obsession with the dead. The Egyptian pyramids and tombs are clear-cut testimonies of their zeal to connect with the departed. Even during the pre-historic era, men in this continent found a way to reach out to the dead. They would often sketch some symbols or signs which were meant to impart some message to the ancestors.

Over the next few centuries, tribal migration became a part of the African history. It was during this phase that the notorious tribes like the Bushmen invented African decorative paintings. Men and women would also use their bodies as a canvas in order to paint themselves in the exclusive color or design which was identical for all members of a particular tribe or community.

Before long, image-based paintings gave way to abstract art. An exact estimate of the date cannot be made in this context but it can be assumed with safety that factors like creativity, imagination and lack of any alternative subject must have contributed to the birth to the concept of abstract art. Earlier, monochromes were the only visible colors as depicted in rocks and stones. Later on, fruits and leaves began to be used to extract colors which soon ran into vogue and lay the foundation for colored paintings.

In the medieval era, Africa witnessed the advent of Europeans. The colonists from Europe brought their own distinct culture and art. The Renaissance form of art was amongst the most popular forms during that time. It did have its expected amount of impact on the African paintings. However, it would be fair to say that it failed to bring about any major transformation. African wall art retained its original flavor and continued with its quintessential depiction of life, lifestyle, spirituality and abstractness.

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Eye-Catching Landscape Art Paintings

The term "Landscape" actually derives from the Dutch word "landschap," which actually means land, scenery, scene, tract of land, etc. The origin of landscape art dates back to Greeks and Romans who paints scenery on their walls. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the tradition of scenic landscapes fell into decline and remained so until the 16th century. The real artistic meaning of the term "Landscape" came about in the early 1500s and is usually illustrated as "the art of depicting scenery." The Netherlands was among the first places where landscapes art was popularized and come into action. In the west, the concept of landscapes grew very slowly. Nature was conventionally viewed as incorporating of isolated objects long before it was appreciated as scene or environment. In the east, this art reached extraordinary excellence as early as the 18th century.

Presently, landscape artwork is a very popular subject in the field of art. It refers to an artwork whose primary focus is forests, trees, rivers, valley, etc. Most of the art designs are developed with the use of oil paintings, watercolors, pastels etc, which give more attraction and pragmatism to the art. The blooming flowers, the twilight of the horizon and butterflies, the rising sun inclusively make the Landscapes, a beautiful art. According to Friedrich Schiller, a German poet, "Art is the right hand of nature. Thus the landscape being an inseparable aspect of nature is something, which is artistically represented and experienced." Currently, night landscapes are enjoying wide popularity among the artists and art lovers. Artists in their art follow the best tradition of landscape paintings and combining the charm of the night.

Landscape art gives an opportunity to see and feel the whole world as people of ancient times did and as our contemporaries do. Landscape art is one of the most astounding forms of art that transports art collectors to another world, the world that is the mixture of the skilled artists' work and the art lover's imagination. There are thousands of online art galleries, which carry an array of beautiful art and paintings. You'll find beautiful images which depict the basic instinct of mountains, valley, rivers and more. Throughout the history of art, hundreds of thousands of landscape paintings has appeared in art galleries worldwide, bringing fame to the artists. If you are looking for a beautiful landscape art, the first and the foremost step is to choose 100% hand-painted art by professional artists.

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How Was That Fine Art Painting Created, Anyway?

People who are interested in adding fine art to the wall art of their home or office will generally choose a work of art that appeals to them visually, while complementing their decorative tastes. It may be full of vibrant color or a black and white piece. Its frame may be highly decorative or have a modern simple look. The one consideration that is rarely considered is the type of media used to create that chosen artwork, especially if the person does not know the differences in the types of media that famous artists use to create paintings or prints.

Is the artwork you just hung on your wall an original or a reproduction? Is it an oil painting, a lithograph, giclee, serigraph, heliogravure, watercolor or a mixed media creation? You may have heard of some of these terms, but do not know what they mean or what the differences are. Would knowing how it was created have made a difference as to whether or not you chose to purchase the artwork? Probably not. If it works for you and you love the image, that's all that matters, however, wouldn't it be nice to know more about your lovely painting or print?

To explain the meaning of each type of the most popular fine art media used by famous master artists, along with the pros and cons of using that particular medium would be far too much to include in one article. Therefore, this article is an introduction into the different types of painting or print media with a very brief description of each. Follow-up articles will take each one and devote that article to each medium. The most common media types are:

• Oil Paint - Pigmented oils are put onto a canvas using various tools in layers allowing one layer to dry at a time to create original works of art.
• Watercolor - Water soluble paints that are generally applied to fine art paper using very small brushes.
• Lithography - A method of printing using stone or metal using litho pens, chalks and brushes which is transferred onto fine art paper.
• Giclee - Images are created using very high quality ink-jet printers to produce the artwork.
• Heliogravure - Created by carving or engraving a design into a metal or hard stone which is then transferred onto etching paper.
• Serigraph - Paints are pushed through a silk screen onto fine art paper or canvas using a special artist's tool.
• Acrylics - Fast drying acrylic paints are used on canvas or illustration boards to create original artwork.
• Mixed Media - The use of several different media are used to create the work of art.

As mentioned above, over the next several weeks, a series of articles will be written to describe each one of these media types in much greater detail with the advantages and disadvantages of each and why an artist may choose one over the other. Decorating your home or office with paintings or prints that you are proud to own and that you enjoy looking at is most important, but knowing more about that appealing work of art only enhances owning the piece. Look for the first article of the series on oil painting, coming soon.

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A Few Examples of Modern Art Paintings

The era of modern art paintings began during the 1890's. There were many artist that continued to work long after the rise of Postmodernism during the 1940's. The modern artist were able to express their own freedom where they were able to look into more newer techniques as they explored with their artistic talents.

A part of this history of modernism came about from the change in the patronage of art. During a time of the renaissance, it was the middle class that began to rise and become increased within wealth while the churches started experience a loss of their power. It was then that the layman and guides began to purchase art. This continued on for a few centuries and as a result helped free so many artist that they were then able to work with any sector subject matters.

There was a time frame for this modernism that helped to inspire many debates among so many scholars during that era. And even though many did agree that this type of art did rise in the 1890's, there were still many who disagreed with this and dated the end of that era to be somewhere during the 1940's until the 1970's.

Sometimes the term modern art gets misunderstood. While so many abstract expressionism, cubism and fauvism, which were three of the art movements, gave the birth to some abstract art, it is known that not all of abstract art is considered to be modern. Contemporary is a more better way of naming the artwork.

This modernism took its hold in both the United States and in Europe. Many artist from Spain, Austria, Hungary and Germany contributed some very significant art developments in art and as well as many in the state of New York too.

This art era did include many different kinds of movements and among them were Symbolism, expressionism, fauvism, cubism and abstract expressionism. These several movements, even though they are varying in style, did share the same quest of seeking and discovering a bright new way of viewing reality.

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Making a Fine Art Painting - Which is Best Acrylic Paint Or Oil Paint?

Trying to decide which type of paint to use to paint your next art masterpiece? Should you go with the tried and true oil paints, or should you try the newer medium of acrylic paint? Each of these types of paints has their pros and cons which you should investigate so that you can choose the medium that suits your painting style. You are the artist, you make the call.

Oil paint, the traditional medium, is basically powder pigments mixed with clear linseed oil. This paint is slow drying and for that reason is perfectly suited for blending colors together smoothly with plenty of time to contemplate the painting's progress and still have time to edit and adjust the image before the paint dries. Another plus of oil paint is the luminous quality of the paint which is achieved from the linseed oil medium which allows light to pass through the paint and bounce thereby illuminating the paint on the surface. Additionally, oil paint has been proven to be the most permanent medium for fine art painting. Most paintings on canvas and wood were made with oil paint from early Renaissance times until the 1960's when acrylic paints were introduced.

Acrylic paint is only about fifty years old, and is the new kid on the block. This paint is made from powdered pigments and a liquid acrylic plastic medium. Unlike oil paint, acrylic dries fairly quickly and you will need to plan ahead and move quickly if you want to do much modeling or blending of colors with this type of artists paint. However, the quick drying quality of acrylic paint can be an advantage if you paint in layers or paint in such a way that does not require the blending or colors. You don't have to wait for several days for paint to dry before you paint something on top of a previous layer with acrylic. If you want to mix several mediums together, like acrylic drawing paper and found objects, then acrylics are the perfect type of paint for the job. There are also a wide variety of specialty paints and mediums that can be used with acrylics such as modeling paste for texture, gloss and matte mediums for thinning and mixing, iridescent and fluorescent paint, and many other special effect mediums and additives that could broaden the range of your creative artistic expression.

Some artists begin their paintings with acrylic paint and when that dries, they finish the artwork with oil paint. Hopefully, this will give you enough basic information to make an informed choice about what type of painting medium is most suited to your type of artistic expression.

The author, George McKim, is an award winning artist who has exhibited his artwork in museums and galleries. George has created a new and rapidly growing Artist Social Network and Online Gallery at [http://www.myartfriends.com]

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Art Painting Techniques

Well there is really only one way to truly discover art painting techniques. You guessed it, practice them! Where do I start, you may be asking. Well if you are beginning, you should start by "copying" other artists work. I am not saying to take credit for others work, just learn from those that are trying to teach.

I have created several step by step lessons in which you will be taken from a blank canvas to a beautiful masterpiece that you alone created! You will be absolutely amazed at yourself and at how easy and fun painting is to learn!

Wet on Wet. This is an oil painting technique. The artist applies moist paint on top of moist paint because oil paint stays wet. You must lean blending techniques in order to avoid making a muddy mess on the canvas.

Layering. If you are using acrylic paint then you will likely apply a layer and allow it to dry - this takes about 2 minutes! Now apply highlights or more color on top of preceding layers

Texture. If you are painting with oil, the paint usually goes on thick and what you see is what you get. The finished painting is full of brushstrokes, knife strokes and highs and lows in the paint itself. You can add texture medium to acrylic paint to create the same affect as well

As you learn to paint, you will find that several different techniques form the foundation of your art - the brush you use, the colors you choose, how you apply the paint, and so on. You form your own unique painting techniques. You may learn from others but your work will be uniquely your own and you will refer back to the techniques that you have found that worked for you.

Together - with step-by-step lessons and your desire to learn drawing and painting techniques we will bring out that true creativity inside of you and create beautiful works of art! To see acrylic tips, tricks, lessons and to Learn Painting Techniques visit my how to paint instructional site. The best way to begin painting is to follow prescribed instruction and get your feet wet. With a little practice, you will be well on your way to a rewarding hobby of painting. Let http://www.IamPainting.org show you how!

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