New Painting - "Foggy Day Dogwoods"

"Foggy Day Dogwoods" - Oil on Board

COVID 19 Message

Not all of us will come out the other side unscathed. Some will take this moment and spend much needed time with our families and some of us will rage on Twitter about the wrongness of people, life and all of that stuff in between. Some businesses will thrive and use this teachable moment to create new businesses from necessity and some will crumble under the stress of an unexpected enemy. Some restaurants will stop cooking and close its doors and some will expand and start delivering. Some of us will eat box food for weeks and some of us will try new recipes on the poor unsuspecting people sharing our close quarters. Some people will treat our fellow man kindly and some will take advantage of the weak and the helpless. Some hospitals will become famous for innovative efforts to save lives and other hospitals will also become famous for innovative efforts to save lives because that is what hospitals always do. Separated from families and receiving daily doses of death will make grief abundant. Some of us will be thankful for our circumstances, praying that our luck (and money) will at least last for a few months and some of us are already terrified that the money will run out much too soon. Some of us will buckle, some of us will thrive. Many of us will survive. Some of us will not.

Who do YOU want to be when this is over?

Click Here and Here for updated CoronaVirus information.

I Wish You Well. Be Safe and Think Creatively!

The Practice and Science Of Drawing, by Harold Speed

Hello.

I found this link to a free e-book copy of The Practice and Science Of Drawing by Harold Speed

Enjoy.

Think Creatively!

New Painting!

                        2019 Self-portrait in oils.

New Products Available!!

Hanging Tapestry now available for purchase. Visit here

New Painting...Deb

My oldest friend Debbie. Big heart and tough as nails. The world is a better place with her in it

Self Portrait Sketch

Monica Vanzant - Self Portrait Sketch - Watercolor

Artistic Day in Philly

I have visited PAFA before but not like this. Being led on a personal tour by a knowledgeable French docent named Danielle. I was on my way to a gallery when she offered to take me on a tour. How kind she was! There were many new pieces on display and she was an engaging guide. Her subject of the day was “What is an American Artist?” I think we determined by the end of the tour that there was no such thing (or maybe I should say I did because something tells me Danielle already knew this to be the case.) Amazing how many artists – though born and bred in America - studied and/or migrated to other countries. And if that’s the case, does it even matter where they were born if their talent is a culmination of cultures?

Thank you for today Danielle!

Vive la France and God Bless America

“Yellow Earrings” sketched today from Philadelphia Sketch Club

My Pain Is Your Pain

This post is not about art, at least not yet...

My friend Rog is a great writer. Occasionally, I’ll tell him about a dream or an event I experienced thinking he could turn my weirdness into a wonderful work of literary fiction (as if he needs my help). But there is one idea that I told him about that I want to write about myself because it fascinates me. Human beings as a collective have the ability and almost a need to hurt each other both physically and emotionally. Granted, most of the time this is by mistake but sometimes it’s on purpose and it happens every single day to all of us in one way or another. I find it strange because we’re all human beings and we all know what buttons to push, so why do we continuously do this to each other? We’ve all heard of the golden rule and it is so easy to follow, only eleven words for Pete’s sake and almost half of them are under three letters -

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

I believe pain cripples us, changes our opinions and our views on love, laws and sometimes life itself. Maybe there are times this pain never heals which is why sometimes the world seems so imbalanced and those of us who inhabit it seem so fragile. So, I thought wouldn’t it be interesting if everyone who doled out pain could receive that same pain in return (even if it is done unknowingly). I’m not talking about bitterness or payback, far from it. Let me give you an example. Picture a couple having an argument. I think everyone knows how easy it is in the heat of the moment to say something that may hurt the one you love. Let’s say after that first hurtful comment leaves your lips (you know what I mean, the one that, after the words come out of your mouth, you can literally see the hurt on their face. Yeah, that one) you literally feel this physical pain in your heart, or your gut, even in your head (I haven’t decided which yet). If we could feel the feelings we deliver to others, well, that would put a different slant on things wouldn’t it? If that could happen how quickly do you think the tone of arguments would change? Would we be able to take the emotional pain of our own words? Would we be kinder to each other or would we as human beings (with the ingrained self-survival skills we are all born with) become acclimated to accepting the pain we dish out?

A Word About Color Temperature

One of the most important rules of color temperature is that warm colors protrude (pop forward) and cool colors recede (fade back). So, if you think about the color scale, this would mean that red, yellow and orange would surge forward in a painting as opposed to the cool colors of blue, purple and green which would make things look like they are further away. That is why cool colors are used to signify elements in a distance like trees and houses because it denotes atmosphere between the foreground and the background of a painting.

We won’t go into a lot of detail about value (light and dark) but I will mention that the value scale is also used to show how close or further away something is and that there is a value scale within these temperature groups that will also intensify atmosphere. The closer something is to us the darker and clearer it should look and the further away it is the lighter and more diffused it should be, again signifying more atmosphere. Nothing explains concepts better than examples so let’s look at a painting by Henri Lebasque titled Blue Mountains in Cannes.

Henri Lebasque

Starting at the top of the painting, we see the mountains are painted with cool blues & purples (very gray, meaning lack of color intensity), showing atmosphere and visually telling the viewer that the mountains are far away.

Now, here is something interesting. Balconies are usually high, higher than the landscape below them and in this painting the perspective tells us that the balcony is indeed very high in the air. Which would mean that the possibility of having trees right next to the balcony is not impossible but is improbable. So, let’s focus on the balcony. Look at the first opening to the left. The cool purple makes it look like whatever you are catching a glimpse of is far away but look at the other openings to the right of the figure. The dark green is too dark and not cool enough. Do you see how that green looks like its bursting through the balcony openings? Now, I am not saying that the great Mr. Henri Lebasque did not see that intense green on that bright beautiful day in Cannes, but I AM saying that this is a great example of how temperature is important to denote atmosphere in a painting.

So remember, cool colors recede, warm colors push forward so the next time you look at a painting notice how the artist has used temperature to portray atmosphere and mood. 


Think Creatively!

Philadelphia Sketch Club May 5, 2018

Philadelphia Sketch Club, April 2018

New Painting! "Study of Dried Oranges"

Study - "Dried Oranges"

Donations to Houston - Check!

A great thanks to @phl2texas for driving this worthy cause for Houston. Special thanks to my buddies Barbara Jenkins, Maureen Schruby & Alicia Anderson who all donated to our Houston sista's.

Bad pic of me but not beautiful Destiny who helped me with my donation @couturebookboutique drop-off today!

Thank you and Bless the citizens of Houston & Florida.

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