One- and Two-Point Perspective

During the Renaissance, artists created a system of making their paintings more realistic, less flat and full of depth. They used both mathematics and personal observation to achieve what became known as linear perspective--a technique that allows artists to trick the eye into seeing great distances or three-dimensional forms in a two-dimensional artwork. It is the one element that is essential to realistic paintings and drawings, regardless of the subject matter.

Perspective is the technique that allows recession of objects in the distance, the gradual shrinking of distant details, and close-up items to appear large. To successfully create perspective, the artist must understand and implement simple rules that create the illusion of depth and distance on a two-dimensional surface. When done successfully, the distance seems to recede with a decrease in details, and the foreground is large and more acutely embellished.

Despite what seems a complicated procedure, perspective is a simple concept. The constants in the equation are horizon, focal point and viewing position. The horizon is a horizontal line that runs through the painting or drawing and as it is stated in a landscape, is where the sky and land meet. This is also the point at which the distance terminates. Now, stop and think. We all know the earth's surface is curved and that when you are in an open landscape, that landscape disappears at the horizon because we can't see past that point. This is the same as the horizon line in perspective drawing and painting. It is where our vision stops.

The focal point is the exact spot at which our vision terminates along the horizon line. Everything terminates at the focal point; it is the terminus of objects and details. Our viewing position is the angle at which we view the focal point. While it is easiest to create a focal point that is directly ahead, facing the horizon, it is possible to be to the left or right of the center of the painting. This is the technique used to bring a road or path into the picture from one side, let it meander through the painting, and then terminate at the horizon line.

To initiate one-point perspective, draw the horizon line. The horizon line can be placed high or low, but is seldom placed in the exact center of the page/canvas. At some point on that line, where you want the axis of the scene to be, place a dot on the horizon. This is the point to which all objects in the drawing/painting will angle, and it is called the vanishing point. Now draw a box or rectangle below the horizon line. This might represent a building or house. From the three corners that allow it, draw a line to the vanishing point. To create a box or rectangle that is drawn in perspective, draw a line between the top two lines. This represents the far end of the box. When the last line is drawn, from the far corner to the base, the box is complete and the lines that continue to the vanishing point can be erased.

After such an exercise, it is easy to add different shapes, combining to represent buildings. With another set of long lines from another side that align with the original vanishing point, you can create a street scene with boxes (buildings) on both sides of a street or lane as if you are at ground level.

Two-point perspective adds the challenge of more than one vanishing point. It is the technique used when the vantage point is from above the objects, such as an aerial view of buildings, boxes, etc. There is only one horizon line, but two vanishing points to which different sides of the objects in the drawing/painting align. Because of the vantage point, there very seldom are horizontal lines in two-point perspective; most are vertical or diagonal. These views are most often accomplished with either a very high or very low horizon line and are quite dramatic.

For practice, use large sheets of paper and simple shapes to bring perspective correctly into your drawings. With short sessions of practice, the elements of perspective become second nature and are very easy to accomplish. The study of artists who mastered perspective is another way to understand the placement of horizon lines and the use of vanishing points. The Renaissance artists who formulated the entire process still offer great examples of precise and well-executed perspective.

Quick sketches can also help you see the way perspective is used to tell a story of distance, depth and detail. Enjoy your painting more with improved perspective and be happier with your results. Remember, perspective is your friend and ally.

Prints from the Garden

One of the first prints a child makes is that of his or her own hands. These prints grace thousands of refrigerator doors or den walls. Making other prints is fun and a project for children of any age, especially since most materials needed to create unique art are readily available.

Using a vegetable as the tool and a simple stamp pad as the ink can make some of the most special prints. One veggie that is tops for making prints is the beet. Carve a shape out of a beet half, removing the area around the shape (star, spiral, heart, etc.). Press the carved shape against a sheet of porous paper and voila! You have a print! If the beet dries out during carving, wrap it in a moist paper towel and let it re-hydrate for about five minutes.

For another neat experience, carve a potato half into a desired design. Wipe off excess moisture from the surface, and then use an ordinary stamp pad to ink the surface. Press the charged design against porous paper to reveal a one-of-a-kind printed design. For a 100% original design, crush a palm full of fresh blueberries in the bottom of a small dish. Allow this to set at room temperature for half an hour, and then stir and repress. Remove the solid material and use the remaining liquid as ink. If it is too thin, allow the liquid to evaporate slightly and the tone will darken. (NOTE: Some fruits/vegetables may stain, so wear a smock or old clothes and cover your work surface with newspaper or paper towels.)

Using the fruit or vegetable's shape for the design itself is also easy and gives great results. Firm items make the best stamps and cause less mess. One idea is to create neat recipe cards by pressing small veggie shapes in the corner of file cards. Some of the most successful shapes include mushrooms (cut them top to bottom), apple slices (cut horizontally through the middle of the apple to expose the core and maybe a seed or two) and small green tomatoes (also cut horizontally). Cut them through the center, top to bottom and press the cut side against a stamp pad. Press the inked fruit or veggie onto the surface of the file card. Make sets of the same veggie or use a collection of shapes and give them as gifts to teachers, friends or relatives.

If you select permanent ink or dye pads, you can decorate tote bags, tennis shoes, hats, or T-shirts--nearly anything porous can be printed with fruit/veggies. So if your budding artist is eager for an unusual project, consider raiding the fridge or garden for raw materials in neat shapes. Have fun!

Students Exhibit

Visit the Tucson Museum of Art (AZ) through August 22nd to see the "TMAS Summer Student Exhibition," located on the Mezzanine Corridor/Well. Participants in the Museum School's acclaimed summer program for children will exhibit selections from their projects. 520.624.2333.

New Garden Opens

The new Lena Meijer Children's Garden has opened at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI. See the Kid-Sense Garden, Great Lakes Garden, Story-Telling Garden, Quarry, Log Cabin, Treehouse Village, Sculpture Walk, and Butterfly Maze. Print an admission coupon at www.meijergardens.org/events/childrens_garden.htm, good until Sept. 1, 2004. Phone Toll-Free: 888.957.1580.

Interactive Art Online

Visit the National Gallery of Art web site at www.nga.gov/kids/zone/zone.htm, "NGA Kids--The Art Zone," for interactive art that you make online. See Collage Machine, PixelFace, 3-D Twirler, Cubits, Diamonds and the new RiverRun, which allows children to orchestrate an array of colorful shapes and patterns.

Art in the Library

This summer at the Queens Borough Public Library Gallery (Jamaica, NY), children and their families are invited to see, touch and experience art in its various states of creation at the hands-on exhibit "The Artist in the Studio," through August 31st. The Renaissance Studio introduces visitors to techniques and people of that time; the Modern Studio is a contemporary working artist's studio that is central to the exhibition experience; the Printmaking Studio displays original prints made using a variety of methods and a table where children can make their own prints; the Sculpture Studio allows kids to build their own 3-D artworks; and the Studio of the Future is equipped with computers to give children access to programs that create art on a computer screen. Free Admission. Phone 718.990.0700.

New Lamps from Gagne

Gagne has announced the introduction of new high efficiency, low mercury fluorescent lamps. These lamps provide the same life, truer color (color rendering index) and 30% more light. This will provide the user with more foot-candles and more evenness of lighting and, therefore, the ability to use darker, heavier stock with even greater clarity. However, this efficiency does not draw more power or generate any additional heat and has not affected the cost--making Porta~Trace an even better value!

Visit www.gagneinc.com to see Gagne's fine line of portable light boxes, light tables, and opaque art projectors.

New Book for Creating Customized Fabric from Krause

In Transforming Fabric, Carolyn Dahl offers more than 30 creative ways to paint, dye and pattern cloth for various sewing, quilting and crafting projects. Each of 12 chapters is a mini-workshop focusing on a particular technique and is further divided into additional methods and variations. Included are step-by-step instructions, full-color photos, helpful hints, safety precautions and a supplies list. Techniques include black-and-white transformations, water drop patterns, leaf printing, sponge and moldable foam printing, compression and heat transfer dyeing, stamping, silk painting and destructive and wax patterns. Krause Publications, 160 pages and 175 color photos and illustrations.

Georges Seurat (1859-1891)

Born on December 2, 1859 to comfortably wealthy parents, Georges-Pierre Seurat became the French painter known for being the founding figure in the Neo-Impressionist movement. His parents were quiet, his father living separately in a country villa all days of the week but one. His mother was unassuming, but gave him warmth and continuity.

Though tall and handsome (described to have "velvet eyes" and a quiet, gentle voice), Georges Seurat was never outgoing. His appearance was always so neat and orderly that his friends called him "the notary" to indicate his stiff and proper looks and manner, and he grew to be a very private and pensive adult. Seurat's mother had taught him to love the beauty of nature by spending much time in the beautifully landscaped pleasure gardens in Paris. They so affected him that such places and scenes found their way into many of his paintings.

Seurat's real passion was for the art he created. He is also the ultimate example of an artist/scientist. Since he was granted a healthy allowance, he never really had to sell his work to make a living or produce work for the purpose of selling it. What Seurat gave his time to and worked diligently to establish became known as Pointillism or Divisionism. His desire was to bring formal structure to the style known at the time as Impressionism. What he called his "optical mixture" consisted of a technique in which tiny detached strokes or points of contrasting colors were placed adjacent to one another. Each stroke was too tiny to be distinguished when looking at the entire work, but made his paintings shimmer with brilliance. This look was the result of colors that combined in the viewer's eye, but were individual and separate on the canvas or palette.

Seurat strived for something new and completely his own, not connected to the Impressionist movement of the time. He didn't use the bold, dynamically textured strokes of the Impressionists, but as nearly the opposite as was possible. He studied science and aesthetics of perception, light and color and attempted systematically to recreate nature's luminosity. His technique was named Pointillism by period art critics; but, in truth, Seurat disliked that reference to the style he developed. His goal was to evoke visual emotion, created when the eye blended all the small dabs of pure color into a true and realistic image.

Georges Seurat did his first professional training in 1878 at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under a disciple of Jean-August-Dominique Ingres. While he had the qualities of a great student, he did not show it, and his strongest influences were Rembrandt and Francisco de Goya. He served for one year in the military service in 1879, and then returned to Paris to display his works in the official Salon in Paris in 1883. Seurat more frequently displayed at the Salon des Artistes Independants and with the Brussels' avant-garde exhibition society. The Artistes Independants was created because his work and that of other artists was not accepted for display at the Salon, so they split to form their own salon. Later in life, he became a very private and secretive man, but was adequately engaged in the art scene of the time to help create a Post-Impressionist group in 1887.

Perhaps the most famous of Georges Seurat's large-scale works is "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." (See ARTPOURRI-Exhibitions below.) It was displayed for the first time in the very last Impressionist exhibition in 1886 and was the centerpiece of the exhibit. At this time he was spending his winters in Paris, drawing and painting, and his summers on France's northern coast.

Like his paintings, Seurat's drawings also took on an unusual appearance for the time. He opted against line to define shape, choosing instead to use masses of rich dark tones that blended into middle tones that gave way to luminous highlights, which were represented by black areas on the paper.

In his extremely short lifetime, Georges-Pierre Seurat completed over 500 paintings and drawings. After he became recognized, he worked on and completed one large-scale work each year as well as over 50 other works.

So private was Seurat that it was not until his death that his friends learned of his mistress, Madeleine Knobloch. She had been the model for his painting "Young Woman Holding a Powder Puff," and they had a son to whom Georges Seurat gave his name, in reverse. It was not until two days prior to his death that Seurat introduced his young family to his mother.

Georges Seurat died suddenly in March 1891 of what is now thought to be a type of meningitis. One week he was hanging paintings at an exhibition by the Independants, worrying about the acceptance of his recent works, and the next week he was dead at 31 years of age. At the time it was thought that Seurat had overworked himself and died of total exhaustion.

If it is possible to see any of Georges Seurat's original works, make an effort to do so. The luminous qualities of the technique he perfected are astonishing. At close observation, the tiny segments of color are obvious and seem to lack definition, but the full-scale work is breathtaking. View originals by Georges Seurat at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; The Art Institute in Chicago; the Guggenheim in Berlin; the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and many more. Many images can be viewed on the Internet from poster sales locations or museum listings.

Presentation of Newspaper or Magazine Articles

If you have ever wanted to mount and frame an article from a newspaper or magazine and wondered what is involved, then read on. News articles on newsprint or magazine paper offer new challenges to the framer because of the translucent quality of the paper. Mounting can be tricky but is easy if you remember a couple of simple things.

Because newspaper and magazine articles are printed on both sides of the paper, there are considerations that should be given as to the type of adhesive used to mount the paper. If you use a liquid mounting method, the lettering from the back side will most likely be visible through the paper and show on the front side. If you have the item dry mounted or if you use a heat mount method at home, the same thing can happen. One easy way to avoid the back side weep-through problem is to mount the article onto black. The black surface camouflages the back side lettering and prevents it from weeping through to the front--a simple fix for a challenging problem.

If you use a dry sheet transfer adhesive--which consists of tiny, dry glue droplets on a silicone paper--you won't have the weep-through problem. The glue droplets are transferred to the back side of the article by rubbing the pressure sensitive droplets against the back of the article with an application tool. Then the article is placed on the mounting board right side up and pressed firmly to permanently mount it to the board. Studio Tac is one such product and is available in a variety of sizes to make mounting small or large pieces easy. Even if the article or art is larger than the glue sheet, you can use multiple sheets to cover the reverse side of the object. Every square inch of the glue droplet sheets is useable, so there is no waste, and it's lots safer to use than spray adhesive.

Once the article is mounted, you might want to cut a mat to surround the article to mask off any part of the page that is unrelated. This can be done by taking measurements of the article and transferring them to the back of a piece of mat board. Remember that the back side of the mat should be cut in the mirror image of the shape you will want in the final presentation.

The glass you choose to put over a newsprint or magazine article is very important, and there are several degrees of protection offered. Regular clear or reflection control (non-glare) gives about 44% UV blocking, and acrylic sheeting (both clear and reflection control) gives about the same. But if you go to a frame shop and ask for conservation glass, you can buy a piece cut to the size you need and it will offer up to 98% UV blockage.

So don't shy away from framing newspaper or magazine articles. Just remember these few tips and you will hit no snags.

The Olympic Games, ATHENS 2004, are being held in Athens, Greece, from August 13-29; and the Paralympic Games will be held September 17-28. Everything you would ever need to know is on the official web site at www.athens2004.com, but the event is being celebrated many ways in the U.S., too.

--The U. S. Olympic Committee selected California artist Susan Manders as Official Olympic Artist. The painting, "All Eyes on Me," a vivid oil on canvas, will be distributed around the world as limited edition posters and prints. See it at Manders' web site, www.susanmanders.com.

--The U.S. Postal Service has issued a postage stamp to honor the 2004 Olympic Games. Designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ, and created by Artist Lonnie Busch of Franklin, NC, the stamp features a stylized depiction of a Greek runner and is reminiscent of the artwork on ancient Greek black-figure vases. A vase from the U. of Pennsylvania Museum's collection provided the inspiration for the stamp artists. Seventy-one million 37-cent stamps have been printed.

Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit will be at the Museum of Fine Arts (Torf Gallery), Boston, through November 28th. Vases, bronzes, marbles and coins illustrate the ancient Greek events: running, jumping, javelin and discus throwing, wrestling, boxing, horse and chariot racing; and videos and contemporary photographs depict today's champions in action.

The Games in Ancient Athens: A Special Presentation to Celebrate the 2004 Olympics is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery), New York City, through October 3rd. A selection of ancient Greek vases, bronzes and other works drawn from the permanent collection showcases aspects of games held at Athens in antiquity. This special presentation is augmented by numerous examples of athletic art located throughout the New Greek Galleries.

The Inner Workings and Spray of the Airbrush

Despite the model used, all airbrushes operate on the same basic principle. Inside the airbrush are two channels: the paint channel and the air channel, which meet at the tip of the airbrush. When compressed air rushes through the air channel, which is very thin and tapered, the air speeds up and draws paint up through the paint channel and into the tip of the airbrush. Inside this confined area of the paint tip the air thoroughly mixes with the paint (atomizes) and then exits the airbrush as spray. A tapered needle inside the paint channel controls the spray of the paint. When the needle is drawn back, paint is allowed to flow through, and the amount is determined by how far back the needle is drawn--the further back, the more paint.

Paint enters the airbrush in one of two methods--siphon feed or gravity feed. The spray achieved is of identical quality, no matter which method is used. In siphon feed airbrushes, paint is contained in a cup or bottle that is attached to either the side or the bottom of the brush. The air rushing through the brush draws paint up from the paint reservoir and into the tip where it is atomized. In gravity feed models, paint is contained in a color cup or slot located at the top of the airbrush that allows paint to drip into a reservoir at the tip of the airbrush where it is mixed with air.

The spray produced by the airbrush is what gives this tool its unique and distinctive characteristic. Air is the vehicle that carries the paint to the work surface, and when the paint lands on the surface, it is in the form of extremely tiny droplets. Unlike the brush strokes of a paintbrush, sprayed paint is very uniform and flat.

Different types of airbrushes produce different sprays. The internal mix airbrush produces the softest of sprays. With this brush, the smaller the tip size, the softer the spray. Artists doing professional illustrations, photo retouching or sharp focus realist paintings require a soft spray to achieve the desired results.

An artist working on T-shirts, sign painting or stage design requires an airbrush with a larger tip, giving more coverage--and the larger the tip, the coarser the spray. External mix airbrushes, those in which the air and paint are mixed outside the tip of the airbrush, produce a coarse spray, and the dots of the mist are visible. This airbrush is used to a great extent in the industrial, craft or hobby fields where a fine spray is not required. However, when a stipple effect (large dots) is required in a painting or illustration, an external mix brush is ideal.

A line, a dot, or a mist of paint can be produced with an airbrush. This is determined by the distance the brush is held from the work surface, combined with the amount of paint sprayed. Holding the airbrush close to the work surface with little paint being emitted results in a very thin line (if your hand is in motion; otherwise you have a fine dot). When holding the airbrush further away from the work surface, the line turns into a mist of spray that if directed around a stencil or found object creates an image. Proper control of the spray accounts for 50% of the success in airbrush technique.

It pays to always be cautious of airbrush overspray (the drift of paint that naturally goes above and beyond the area you're working on). You don't want it to appear in unwanted areas, so make sure you cover more area than you initially think is necessary. To capture the overspray and work in a clean environment, it is advisable to wear a mask and, if possible, use a spray booth. Artograph manufactures a complete line of spray booths to meet the needs of artists and crafters alike. Visit www.artograph.com and see your retailer.

New Airbrush Newsletter Available

See www.airbrushtalk.com for the new bi-monthly issue of AirbrushTalk, a FREE e-newsletter for airbrush enthusiasts. Featured this month are Cacy's Corner with Michael Cacy, "Painting a Rock Out on an Ocean--More Thoughts on Being an Artist-in-Residence in Bermuda"; "Create a Unique Playhouse" by Janean S. Thompson; "Painting the Xenomorph" by Wes Hawkins, Start Over/W.A.D. Productions; and "Spray-On Beauty Makeup" by Bradley M. Look.

Art Event Continues--"Embrace Art in Chicago: Summer 2004" continues through September 30th. Included are tours, exhibitions and interactive demonstrations at museums, galleries, art fairs, cultural centers and public spaces throughout the city. Chicago's newest attraction, Millennium Park, features "Cloud Gate," an elliptical sculpture designed by British artist Anish Kapoor that is among the largest in the world; "Crown Fountain," designed by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, which features two 50-foot high glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool that are activated with changing video images and lights with water cascading from the top of each; and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a sophisticated outdoor concert venue designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. 1-877-CHICAGO or see www.877chicago.com.

Record Set at Auction--A painting recently acknowledged by scholars as a genuine Vermeer sold at Sotheby's in London for over $30 million. "Young Woman Seated at the Virginals" is one of only 36 known works by the artist and was the first appearance of a Vermeer at auction since 1921. A rare night scene by Sir Peter Paul Rubens fetched the second highest price of the evening.

Capitol Invaded--Fun and whimsy are in the air in Washington, D.C., where PandaMania has hit the streets. Local, national and international artists with diverse backgrounds and styles have created unique artwork for 150 Panda sculptures that are on display through September. The exhibition will conclude with a public "Panda Palooza Auction" this fall with proceeds used for arts grants/education programs. 202.724.5613.

Inductees Named--As the nation prepares to commemorate the 156th anniversary of the first women's rights convention, the National Women's Hall of Fame has announced its 2005 inductees. Included in the group of ten outstanding American women is renowned architect Maya Lin, creator of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, AL.

Stamp Reissued--The U. S Postal Service has reissued the 5-cent American Toleware postage stamp, originally issued in 2002 as the first stamp in the American Design series. It features artist Lou Nolan's painted detail of a black toleware coffeepot decorated with red flowers, purple forget-me-nots, and yellow, green and orange leaves from the Winterthur Museum in DE. Derry Noyes was the designer and art director.

Commissions Announced--The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have commissioned works by three leading contemporary artists. Gerhard Richter will create a large-scale mural for the new de Young Museum that is created from digitally-manipulated photos; California artist James Turrell will create for the Osher Sculpture Garden a "skyspace" titled "Three Gems," a subterranean installation that will feature a view of the sky altered by L.E.D. lighting effects; and Andy Goldsworthy will create a site-specific stone "Faultline" that will bisect large rough-hewn stone boulders that will serve as seating for museum visitors.

Exhibitions

Chicago, IL -- The Art Institute of Chicago -- Seurat and the Making of "La Grande Jatte" (in the Museum's collection since 1924) features about 130 paintings and works on paper and brings together approximately 45 of the artist's paintings and drawings related to the picture, from conte crayon studies to oil sketches to nearly full-size paintings. Also featured are paintings by Monet, Renoir and Camille Pissarro, all painters whom Seurat greatly admired; and works by Signac and Lucien Pissarro, artists who shared similar interest in the pointillist technique and whose works were featured in the same exhibition that launched "La Grande Jatte" to a Parisian public. Through Sept. 19.

New York, NY -- The Metropolitan Museum of Art -- Childe Hassam, American Impressionist celebrates Hassam's brilliant handling of color and light and examines his responses to the advent of the modern era in view of his credo that "the man who will go down to posterity is the man who paints his own time and the scenes of every-day life around him." Featured are about 120 oil paintings, watercolors and pastels and some 20 prints. Through Sept. 12.

Atlanta, GA -- High Museum of Art -- Glories of Ancient Egypt features more than 200 works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston that evoke the splendor of Egyptian art and funerary practices over a period of 4,200 years. Included are statuary, relief, coffins, funerary arts and objects from Egyptian daily life that are arranged chronologically and thematically. Through Sept. 19.

New York, NY -- The Jewish Museum -- Modigliani: Beyond the Myth, the first major exhibition of the artist's work since 1951, re-examines the full range of the work of this Italian-Jewish painter and sculptor. Featured are over 100 paintings, sculptures and drawings. Travels to The Art Gallery of Ontario (Oct. 23) and The Phillips Collection (Feb. 26). Through Sept. 19.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada -- The Art Gallery of Ontario -- Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions brings together for the first time 100 exceptional paintings, watercolors, pastels and prints by J. M. W. Turner, James McNeill Whistler and Claude Monet, many of them rarely lent masterpieces from public and private collections in Britain, Europe and North America. Through Sept. 12.

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Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 14 No. 10 -- August 2004