Big news coming soon!

Well, actually, this message is more to announce that we’ll be making an announcement soon…

Exciting stuff in the works here. We’ll have an update in the next week or so. Watch this space!

From the kind people at oilpaintingsguide.com (second part to come next week) -

Acrylic Painting Tip 1: Keeping Acrylic Paints Workable

Acrylics dry much faster than oils so my advice is to squeeze only a little paint out of a tube at a time. Also take a look at the palette you are using. Some have a waxy finish to them. These are ideal as they will not absorb moisture at of the paint. Alternatively, frequently flick water from your brush on to the lump of paint. In a dry climate the paints will start to set within 20 minutes of being squeezed out from the tube.

Acrylic Painting Tip 2: Blot your Brushes

Keep to hand tissue paper or a towel. Remember to blot the excess water from your brushes before you apply to canvas. Otherwise, you’ll have water running from the bristles down on to the canvas in messy streaks. Blot your brushes or pay the consequences!

Acrylic Painting Tip 3: Opaque or Transparent

Depending on how you apply the paint acrylics can be either opaque or transparent. Apply thickly from the tube and mixed with a little white. If diluted down with water the acrylics will appear in essence, much like watercolors with a similar effect.

Acrylic Painting Tip 4: Acrylic vs Watercolour Washes and Oils.

Once acrylic paint dries that is it! Unlike working with oil paints, you can not re-work an area of the canvas hours later and, unlike watercolors, acrylic paint is totally insoluble. If you have made a mistake, all is not lost! You can paint a new layer over the top.

If more than ten percent of the population likes a painting it should be burned, for it must be bad.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

SETTING UP: oil paints and surface

Yarka Russian Primed Linen canvas

Since the Dutch invented oil painting back in the fourteenth century, oil painting has been one of the most popular and widespread mediums chosen by artists around the world. For many people who do not paint or who would like to, Oil painting seems perhaps daunting at first. Let it be known, oil painting is not as complex as people first assume. All one really needs is lots of enthusiasm and patience to learn. One also will require a small selection of brushes, a surface to paint on, should it be wood panel or canvas pre-stretched or not, a variety of color oil paints and some solvents.

Whilst many different surfaces are available to paint on, primed canvas is usually the most popular. Canvas can be bought by the yard and you can buy it already assembled or you can do this yourself providing you have the correct materials; artist stretcher frames, which are sold as single wooden slats that interlock with each other to form a frame; canvas, which is stapled to the frame; and gesso, which is applied in a couple of coats to the canvas in an even manner. This is basically used so that when you begin to paint on the canvas, the paint is not absorbed too quickly.

We get dozens of emails each week asking for help identifying paintings, and/or verifying they are the “real thing”. True, some of these are asking if they have the original Mona Lisa and whether the “Print number 423567″ on the back of the plastic frame might be proof of that, but we do have some very interesting inquiries from people who may well own some valuable original art.

But, for the rest of us, here are a few tips submitted by a friend of ours -

“Checking original paintings’ authenticity

"Do I have an original Leonardo Da Vinci Mona Lisa?!" - nope, but you DO have a Fernando Botero!

If you do not know much about original hand made art but you would like to purchase a painting there are a few simple ways of checking that what you are about to spend your money is not machine made. So many ‘supposed’ limited edition “hand painted pieces of art” are absolutely nothing more than photographic replicas of the originals which have been manufactured not by the artist who laid down their signature, but by publishing companies. As crazy as it is, a great number of signed lithographs and giclees are also in this category. The only thing original about these “copy prints” are the hand-applied signatures. Here are some ways of thoroughly checking the painting you are buying.

- Checking the back of the canvas as well as the sides is important.

- Look at the type of wood that has been used.

- Remember to ask your seller as many questions about any kind of stamps or numbers that you find either on the back of the canvas or on the wooden stretcher bars. The more they can tell you about the history of your painting the better.

- Research where the artist’s other work is. Is there an identical painting hanging in a museum somewhere, for example? If so, it’s pretty certain you’ve a copy, not the real thing!

- Ask an expert!”

The following was contributed by “SeuratPaintings.com” - thank you!
“Georges Seurat was born in Paris in December of 1859.  A great deal regarding his personal life is unknown, although it is known that he studied as a student of Justin Lequien, a sculptor.  Later, in 1878, he attended the École des Beaux-Arts where he developed a great appreciation for the Classical and Renaissance masterpieces that are emphasized there as a traditional and prestigious form of training in art.

Though the oil paintings of Seurat were a clear departure from the Classical and Renaissance pieces that he admired, he is still often considered an academic painter based on the theory and scientific academic study behind the techniques of his paintings, particularly in the field of color theory and also philosophy. He is also considered a founding artist of the neo-impressionist movement. What came to be characteristic about his artwork was his use of divisionism, a practice of applying pigment to the canvas in individual areas so that the colors would blend in the eye of the viewer, rather than entirely upon the canvas.  This practice was a theory that Seurat studied during his early period during which he frequently read scientific treatises in regards to color theory.  Eventually Seurat came to be known for his use of this technique, which was evident in all of his most significant paintings.  The technique gradually came to be known as Pointillism when referred to in the context of art and its creation.

Due to the slow process and techniques used (in addition to the large scale of many of his paintings), he completed relatively few major paintings over the course of his artistic career.  The first major piece that received attention for its style was titled A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and took an entire two years to complete due to its large ten foot dimensions.  The subject and composition appear to be very Impressionistic in nature and many art lovers may be reminded of Monet’s Madame Monet and Her Son by the large figure of a woman in the foreground of a green park area as well as the general look and color scheme of the painting.  Unlike Impressionism, the works of Seurat were not painted en plein air as many Impressionists practiced, but rather in a studio working with painstaking care and careful attention, not the fast brush strokes of other artists.  The entire aim was to exhibit the gains of Pointillism and color theory, whereas his contemporary Impressionists struggled to capture one fleeting moment within their paintings.  When observing Seurat’s paintings in this light, it becomes obvious that his canvases seem more grounded and stable that the mere impressions that are delivered by Impressionist art.

Some of Seurat’s other famous paintings are titled: Bathers at Asnières, Le Chalut, Le Parade, Le Cirque (unfinished), Les Poseurs of 1887, and a series of works of Honfleur Harbor.”

Art Terms - Background

The part of a picture or scene that appears to be farthest away from the viewer.

A sample Baroque-period painting

Art Terms - Baroque

The art style or art movement of the Counter-Reformation in the seventeenth century. Although some features appear in Dutch art, the Baroque style was limited mainly to Catholic countries. It is a style in which painters, sculptors, and architects sought emotion, movement, and variety in their works. Caravaggio is one of the best known artists of the Baroque period.

The following was shared by “rubenspaintings.com”…much appreciated! Readers, please remember we welcome and credit all contributions - this isn’t limited to members of the network only!

“Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577 into a family exiled from their native Antwerp due to the father’s Calvinist beliefs.

Following his father’s death the family was able to return to Antwerp, and after converting to Catholicism (along with the rest of the family) the 14 year old Rubens joined the household of a Flemish princess as a page. He there began studying art under a succession of teachers including Tobias Verhaecht, Adam van Nort and Otto Venius.

Peter Paul Rubens proved to be a precocious talent, and at the young age of 21 was accepted at the rank of Master Painter into the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke.

Like many artists of his time Rubens went to Italy, the long-time center of the art world, where he drew inspiration from many of the famous works to be found there. He established himself as an artist in his own right, being commissioned to do a variety or work – unusual for a foreigner at the time – and remained in Italy until his mother’s death in 1608, when he returned to his native Antwerp.

The "Rubenesque" Andromeda

There, he was regarded as being the foremost Flanders painter and as a result was appointed court painter for the Austrian archduke  Albert and his Spanish wife Isabella. The high demand for Rubens artwork lead him to set up his own workshop where assistants did much of the work for him, with Rubens doing the initial sketch and finishing touches. (The Arteze opinion is that this is pure genius…”you do the work, I get the accolades and the money!”)

His fame continued to grow and he acted as an ambassador of sorts, traveling to France amongst other places. Only upon his marriage to Helene Fourment in 1630 did he settle permanently in Antwerp, living at Castle Steen, where he continued to accept commissions as well as produce paintings for himself. He died of gout on May 30, 1640, and was interned in Saint Jacob’s church.”

There is plenty more information over at their site. Some of you might remember that Rubens was in the news a few months back. From the Independent newspaper -

“Less than a month after Rubens’s Massacre of the Innocents sold for a record £49.5m at Sotheby’s in London, questions have been raised about whether it is by the Flemish master after all.

Scientific dating of the picture suggests that it may have been painted years after the dates 1609 to 1611 ascribed to it by art historians in the auction house’s sales catalogue.

If this were the case, the painting’s attribution would be cast into doubt, as its purist classical style is radically different from the work Rubens is known to have been producing by 1615.” Interesting stuff!

Art Nouveau - Klimt Detail

Art Terms - Art Nouveau

French for “The New Art.” An international art movement and style of decoration and architecture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, characterized particularly by the curvilinear depiction of leaves and flowers, often in the form of vines. Gustav Klimt and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec are two of the better known Art Nouveau artists.

Thanks for the contribution from our friends at Ocean’s Bridge!