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It’s Our 16th Anniversary!! Art CardsGorgeous Greeting CardsYour creativity will flourish when you decide to delve into making your own greeting cards. The materials are easy to find, since you can do all different styles of cards, and time can be any window you have for creativity. The following paragraphs will give you some ideas from which to strike out so you can create unique and very personalized styles, patterns and designs. Materials available include everything from blank full sheets to individual cards and envelopes to packages of cards and envelopes made for specific media. One quick stroll down the stationery aisle of any art material retailer will spark plenty of ideas. Strathmore, for instance, has a full line of greeting cards from papers specially made for watercolor, acrylic, ink, and pencil to their line of metallic finishes and computer compatible stock. With a good variety of papers, you can use any media you are in the mood to use and create striking cards for any and all occasions. One quick design idea is the old stand-by, collage. With a few scraps or snips of paper with a pleasing textural and color combination you have the basis for one card or the start of a series. Experiment with the look when the pieces are laid out with overlapping edges or side-by-side, even in a progression from small to large. Uneven numbers of scraps or snippets create the most interesting and intriguing designs. When you have a pattern of shapes that you like, use an acid-free adhesive such as “YES” glue or an acid-free glue stick to attach the pieces to the front of the card. Extra texture and interest can be added with a few squiggles from an ink pen or colored pencil. Add a small amount of metallic paper, paint or ink to the collage and you have a true, small original artwork in the form of a greeting card. Watercolor cards offer the watercolorist a rare chance to try and test different ways to use watercolor on small greeting card originals. Special effects can be achieved easily and offer a great number of distinct looks to your cards. One such method is to load a 1” watercolor flat brush with several colors of dense, liquid watercolor. As you draw the flat edge across the face of the card you will create a rainbow effect and a terrific looking card. Add a bit of line design if desired or maybe a tiny stamped shape or design and you have an outstanding card. Vellum papers make very striking cards because the envelope is translucent enough for the decorated card to show through before the envelope is opened. This adds a very special effect. With ribbons and/or attached flat objects, these cards become collector’s items. Flat objects--such as small polymer clay medallions, buttons, coins, trinkets and the like--are just what you need to add both dimension and drama to these creations.
Ridged, ribbed or corrugated papers are now available made of acid-free components so they will not deteriorate as quickly and make great textural cards or elements in your designs. Cutouts from ribbed papers or line printed papers are especially interesting when combined with smooth papers or those with complicated patterns printed upon them. Creative card designers are always on the lookout for interesting and unique papers that could add a new element to their cards. Holiday specialty papers such as high quality prints found in scrapbooking sections of art material stores offer just such options. These cover the gamut from tiny, frilly designs to photo realism and bright, shimmering pages. One interesting element in your greeting cards might be photos or portions of photos you have stored on your computer. With the easy-to-use and readily available computer programs that manipulate photo images, you can create every type of look from demure to dramatic. Continued use and changes of the images, along with new ones, can offer you almost unlimited creative power. Surface embellishments are the perfect way to create designs that become “yours.” Perhaps a little squiggle that you use when you doodle or some tiny drawing you like to create could become part of your “signature” line of greetings. Metallic inks, brilliant liquid watercolors, craft textural paints and the like are very useful. Try new things, especially textured papers and patterned pages, and learn ways to create special combinations. Stamps and stickers offer instant embellishment for those who do not want to draw their own designs. They are fast, easy and come in nearly any design. If you do drawings or small paintings on paper, there is a quickie card that always offers a cool look. Slice a “failed” painting into strips and then weave the strips together. Use adhesive to attach the weaving to the face of a folded card and you have the appealing look of a quilt. Add metallic paper strips or glittery threads or yarns and the look becomes even more interesting. Dangle tiny beads or trinkets from the threads and you have a treasured original greeting card. As you can see, every step you take in card design and embellishment can lead to another. As you collect raw materials, do simple designs, add to those designs, add elements, etc., you will see that greeting card creation is fun and fulfilling. It can be an art form or just a way to break a creative block. Card design is whatever you want it to be—fun, focused or frivolous. You decide! For all your paper needs, see your retailer and visit www.bordenandriley.com and www.strathmoreartist.com.
The Artist’s MarketplaceNew Fine Art Cards from StrathmoreThe popular Strathmore
200 Series papers are now available as cards packaged in convenient packs.
These new cards are the perfect way to share your artistic talents with family
and friends for any occasion and especially the forthcoming holiday season.
Drawing Cards are ideal for colored pencil, ink, charcoal and pastel and come 10 to a pack. Watercolor Cards are heavyweight and textured and are ideal for water-based media and come 8 cards per pack. Parchment Cards have a smooth surface, are great for pen and ink and come 10 per pack. Heavyweight Canvas Cards are for use with oil or acrylic paint and come 10 to a pack. All cards measure 5” x 7” and, of course, include envelopes. Also new are Watercolor Postcards measuring 4” x 6” that come 15 to a pad.
See your retailer and create some unique holiday greetings/keepsakes for family and friends. Visit www.strathmoreartist.com. In the Spotlight: Savoir-Faire, Novato, CASavoir-Faire was founded in 1981 when its president, Maureen Labro, decided to import art materials made by Sennelier to the U.S. Founded in 1887 in Paris, Sennelier began when its founder, Gustave Sennelier, mixed oil colors and watercolors for the most important painters of the time, including Cezanne, Gauguin, Picasso and Kandinsky, as well as for nearby students. In the early 1900s, Sennelier made an extremely significant contribution to artists with the development of soft pastels à l’écu, an incredibly soft, intense color medium handmade from pure pigments. The original color range and pigment selections, many of which still exist today, were developed for and with Edgar Degas. Later, the company’s world famous oil pastels were developed specifically for Picasso, who requested a versatile tool he could use to draw with on any surface and in a color palette chosen to be close to the one he used for his oils.
In addition, packaging for the mediums has been modified. Flatter, more stable bottles will fit easily into paint boxes to facilitate transport and plein air painting. Also, the size has increased to 75ml for greater value, and the redesigned labels clearly define each product. For over 20 years Savoir-Faire has worked to bring the finest art and stationery supplies the world has to offer to American artists. Visit your retailer to see these fine products.
PaintingExamining MediumsWorking with any painting material will lead you to the use of a variety of medium preparations. Every type of paint has a full complement of mediums to assist the artist in achieving everything from general painting to special effects. Most all mediums have one thing in common, regardless of the material they are designed to work with: They all seem to offer a smoothing, softening or viscosity-adjusting element to the ground component. Oil paints have the largest number of supporting and altering mediums available. For centuries linseed oil, for instance, was used not only in the composition but also the thinning and softening of oil paints. Today’s linseed oil is super refined and used by many oil painters as a standard medium. Thinners such as turpentine and solvents like white spirits can be used for everything from oil washes to cleaning brushes and palettes. New age products such as drying gel mediums, matte oils and impasto oil create new directions which artists can explore. Linseed oil is a high viscosity, alkali refined oil that helps hide brushstrokes and increase brightness and glossiness of oil paint colors. One downside to linseed oil is its tendency to yellow over time. Cost is a plus, as linseed oil is not especially expensive and is available at all art material suppliers. As long as it is not contaminated with organic material, the oil will remain usable for many months. Thinners such as turpentine have been around for centuries, too. Today, however, they have added refinement including odorless solvent suitable for indoor use or for people who are sensitive to the odor of normal solvents. An excellent thinner, turpentine also is the perfect brush cleaner for oil painters. Exotic oils such as poppy, walnut and safflower oils offer increased brightness with less yellowing than linseed oil. Poppy, for instance, is extremely pure and will not yellow and is very well suited for whites and other light colors. Walnut oil is more like linseed, but with good drying properties and less yellowing. Safflower is used to soften and make more fluid oil paints. It is very pure, dries quickly and does not yellow. Acrylic mediums are not as varied, but perform very well with acrylic paints. Many brands are made in both liquid and gel forms, offering a much more varied application. Surface qualities include matte and gloss, and a few manufacturers offer semi-gloss. Liquid mediums are more fluid than most acrylic paints, so they can be used to easily soften a color without diluting the strength of that color. Gels are used in the same way, but do not soften the paint. Rather, they add bulk without changing the strength of a given paint. This is especially helpful in impasto work or other thick applications such as palette knife or strong brush work. It is recommended that in order to maintain the integrity of an acrylic paint color, the artist should not use water to dilute the color but should instead use medium. Most acrylic painters use water to some degree in their work, besides the obvious use as a brush cleaning agent. But use of mediums is highly recommended when possible. Super thick acrylic mediums such as dense gel medium are colorless glazing mediums with high viscosity. They add improved flow to acrylic paints, giving them a smooth texture. Note: Thick medium is also a great adhesive for mixed media artists who incorporate found items on their canvases. The gel adheres and coats the items for a permanent and lustrous finish. Watercolorists have some mediums from which to choose. In actuality, liquid latex mask is a type of medium; it dries to a flexible water-resistant film that is easy to remove. One of the easiest ways to maintain stark whites in a work is to use liquid mask. Ox gall medium is used by watercolorists, a few drops at a time, to increase the fluidity of watercolors. The use of ox gall will improve the flow and adhesion of watercolor. Watercolor medium increases the transparency and brightness of watercolor. It improves adhesion and spreads the brush stroke--very useful for layering and for overpainting tonal areas. Although milky when wet, it dries clear. Mediums can be used with other materials than those they were manufactured to assist. For instance, pastels and acrylic mediums can be combined to create a most unique type of permanent “frozen chalk” look. By working pastel into an area of lightly applied acrylic matte medium, you can freeze the strokes and adhere them at the same time. Some experimentation is needed to establish the correct ratio of medium to pastel, but that is half the fun. Mediums are not only great in assisting artists with the fluidity of their paints, but also as a helpful life-extending component. Mediums and finish coatings can serve to block UV deterioration and lengthen the life of the paint and substrate. They help the artist to create creamy consistency or thicken the viscosity, depending on need--versatility and utility both in one product. Explore the possibilities of some of the newer, refined mediums and see what they can offer you.
Matting/FramingHoliday Framing ProjectsEveryone has gifts to buy and friends or family to remember during the holidays. Why not make the gifts you create this year extra special? There are a number of ways to use picture frames to make neat decorations or formal gifts. You can use almost any frames, but the small ones available at thrift and discount stores are perfect and are inexpensive. Look for unusual shapes or textures in the frames. Small frames lend themselves to cute, personal gifting and are excellent decorations to use to trim the tree or mantel or even to put onto wreaths. The color of the frame you purchase is not all that important. Embellishment is what this project is all about. Paint them, glitter them, rhinestone them. Glue on twigs, ribbons, fabric, paper cutouts, etc. There is virtually no limit to the looks you can achieve. If you are an artist, you can continue the image of a small painting or drawing right onto the frame. If you are a photographer, use snippets of photos to embellish a small frame around one of your photos. One of the quickest ways to personalize the look of a tiny frame is color. Paint the frame a dramatic color, and then wash it with another tone for an antique look. Diluted gold or silver washed over almost any color is dramatic and will yield a festive and distinctive look. If you are seeking a new and different way to decorate your holiday tree or mantel, consider using lots of small picture frames. The images in the frames could be family photos, images from magazines, small original artworks and even seasonal sayings and quotes. For wreaths, consider using small frames with holiday images. The unusual wreath of frames will stop people in their tracks. Ever notice that a small framed item will draw people to look at it? If your office needs a little lift for the holidays, consider creating a co-worker wreath. Photos of your friends doing everyday things, captured with a digital camera when they do not suspect it, will make a very intriguing office embellishment. For dress and formal décor, use gold or silver leaf to cover small frames. Their glitter and shine will add immeasurably to the look of a dining room or formal event. This type of frame could be filled with holiday images and would make a great party favor for guests. Hang your small frames with ornament hangers on the tree or from ribbons along the mantel. You can also make small easel backs from mat board and stand them along bookshelves or desktops. The more you have, the cooler it will look. Start now and you will accumulate a great group of frames and images by the time the holidays are upon us. Have fun and be sure to try new things. See your retailer for mat cutting equipment and supplies and visit www.altosezmat.com.
Art EventsNOTE: Schedules sometimes change, so be sure to confirm events in advance. Baltimore, MD — Free Fall Baltimore, a project of the Creative Baltimore Fund, has provided funding to more than 70 organizations to present over 175 free events that extend through November. The highlight of the program is the elimination of admission fees by the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum. For a listing of events, visit www.FreeFallBaltimore.com. Chicago, IL — The Art Institute of Chicago – The annual Holiday Art Sale will be held Nov. 17-19 and features original photographs, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, prints and drawings, jewelry, fashion accessories and handmade paper designs by students of the School of the Art Institute. A preview party takes place Thursday, Nov. 16. For tickets, call 312.629.6880. And the annual Wreathing of the Lions on Nov. 24 will have a new twist this year as the season of the Silk Road is honored. Free. Laguna Beach, CA – The 16th Annual Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival grounds runs for four weekends: Nov. 18-19 and 24-26 and Dec. 2-3 and 9-10. The festival will feature more than 170 artists who will exhibit and sell their original art and fine craft, complimentary art classes for children and adults, artist demos, a real snow playfield, holiday performers, a community tree lighting on Nov. 18, an Artist Benevolence Fund Art Auction on Dec. 3, and more. For information, call 949.494.3030 or visit www.SawdustArtFestival.org. Admission. Indianapolis, IN – Indianapolis Museum of Art -- Winter Wonderland will be held on Nov. 18 from 10am to 1pm. This new tradition is packed with activities and entertainment for children, a brunch by Wolfgang Puck Catering and a style show of children’s winter fashions by Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as special tours of museum exhibitions and Lilly House. Call 317.923.1331, Ext. 435 and visit
CanvasCanvas Terminology – From Fredrix Artist CanvasCanvas — A tightly woven fabric often used as a substrate for painting. Canvas Weight — The weight of a square yard of raw canvas usually stated in ounces, prior to priming. Count — Number of yarns in warp and weft per square inch. Loomstate — Raw canvas with no modifiers or additives. Picked — Hand process of removing irregular and nubby yarns from raw canvas. Plied Yarn — Twisting together of yarns into a single braid. Pumiced — Hand process of rubbing raw or sized linen with pumice stones to achieve a smoother texture. Strike-Through — Ground and/or sizing penetrating through into the back of the canvas. Substrate/Support — Surface upon which any paint is applied (canvas, paper, wood, etc.) Texture — The pattern of woven canvas modified by the degree of coarseness and uniformity of yarns. Tooth — The abrasiveness of the surface (canvas, paper, ground) in terms of coarseness and porosity. Warp — Yarns running the length of the canvas. Welt — Yarns running the width of the canvas. For all your canvas products/frames, ask for Tara/Fredrix when you visit your retailer and go to www.fredrixartistcanvas.com.
AirbrushAir Quick TipsTack it Off! – Whether you are preparing a metal or a gessoed surface for airbrushing, it must be cleaned of dust and lint created by sanding or cleaning with a cotton cloth. The best way to do this is by wiping with a tack cloth. Designed for cleaning sanded automobile parts, this comes in handy in the artist’s studio. Such cloths are available in some art supply stores and all automotive paint supply stores. They are designed strictly for dust and lint removal. To remove dirt or film on a metal surface, use wax/grease solvents to clean prior to painting. And Who Invented the Airbrush? – The airbrush was invented in 1878 by Abner Peeler, a professional inventor who held over 100 patents, including those for the screw machine and the typewriter. Peeler was from Webster City, IA. The first airbrush, originally called a “paint distributor,” didn’t resemble contemporary airbrushes in any way, shape or form. Rather than being internal mix like most today, it was an external mix, oscillating airbrush in principle and was constructed primarily from wood. Paint was sprayed in a rather crude manner. The first airbrush was sold to S. M. Thomas for the then-incredible price of $10. It is documented that one month after the invention of the airbrush, the first painting was completed with it--a self-portrait of Abner Peeler done on an enlarged photograph. Silence is Golden! – When it comes to compressors for airbrushing, the quieter they are, the more appreciated they are by the artist--who does not want to be distracted when concentrating on artwork. Therefore, airbrush compressor manufacturers strive to provide extremely quiet equipment, a major selling point that is universal in the world of airbrush. Whether a piston-operated or diaphragm compressor, noise level is controlled in a few different ways, i.e., it may run only on demand or it may be oil immersed, thus muffling the sound. For those who own a loud compressor, the noise level can be diminished by locating it far from the work station. See your retailer and visit www.silentaire.com. Same Airbrush, Different Tips – Some--but not all--single and dual action, internal and external mix airbrushes are adaptable to a variety of tip sizes (head assemblies). The size of the tip determines the fineness and the wideness of the achievable spray. There are usually three tip sizes available: fine, medium, and wide, sometimes called No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. In most cases tips are not interchangeable among manufacturers and sometimes within a given manufacturer’s models. When a tip is replaced, the corresponding needle must also be replaced, e.g., an extra fine tip requires an extra fine needle. See your retailer and visit www.iwata-medea.com.
ArtPourriRare Exhibition Planned—The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, has announced that it is in the advanced stages of developing an exhibition of three newly restored panels from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s celebrated “Gates of Paradise.” After more than 25 years of restoration work, this would be the first and only time that original panels would travel to the U.S. since their creation over 500 years ago. After the premier in Atlanta in April 2007, the show would tentatively travel to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY. Once returned to Florence, the three panels would be reassembled in their original framework and placed in a specially designed, hermetically sealed case never to travel again. Holiday Stamps Available—The U.S. Postal Service has commemorated the winter holiday season with four new 39-cent stamps featuring photos of snowflakes. The “Holiday Snowflakes” stamps are photographs of two basic snowflake patterns by physicist Kenneth Libbrecht. New Memorial Dedicated—The U. S. Air Force Memorial has been officially dedicated and presented to the nation. Located in Arlington, VA, directly across from the Pentagon and designed by James Ingo Freed, the memorial’s stainless steel surface forms the equilateral triangles that form the spires, with each illuminated by its own light source. Soaring 270 feet, the array of arcs against the sky evokes a modern image of flight by jet and space vehicles. Achievement Recognized—The 2006 recipients of Japan’s Praemium Imperiale International Prize for outstanding achievement in the arts have been announced. Among them are Yayoi Kusama for Painting (Japan), Christian Boltanski for Sculpture (France), and Frei Otto for Architecture (Germany). Each Laureate will receive approximately $131,000. Auction News--Sotheby’s has announced that it will sell Edward Hopper’s 1955 renowned oil painting Hotel Window in its sale of American Paintings in late November. The presale estimate is $10-15 million. At Christies, 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection reached a total of $7.1 million when 1,000 lots consisting of models, costumes and props were offered and 100% sold. Distinguished Americans Honored—The Heinz Family Foundation has announced the recipients of the 12th Annual Heinz Awards that honor groundbreaking achievements. Included among the five honorees, each of whom receive $250,000, was James Nachtwey, global photographer and photojournalist from New York City, in the category of Arts and Humanities. Winter Hours Posted—Dia:Beacon (Beacon, NY) has announced new seasonal hours. Through Nov. 13 hours are 11am-4pm, Th. – Mon. From Nov. 17-April 16, hours are 11am-4pm Fri.-Mon. For further info on this major contemporary art museum, visit www.diaart.org. Grants Awarded—The Getty Foundation has announced seven grants to arts institutions in New Orleans for conservation and transition planning to assist them in their recovery from the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Totaling more than $1 million, these are the first round of support from the $2 million Fund for New Orleans that was established earlier this year. Visit www.getty.edu/news/press for a listing of grantees.
Exhibitions: New York, NY – The Frick Collection – Cimabue and Early Italian Devotional Painting reunites two diminutive, jewel-like panels by the early Italian Renaissance master Cimabue for the first time in America: The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Two Angels from the National Gallery in London and the Frick’s Flagellation of Christ. Studies reveal that these two paintings once formed part of the same ensemble featuring various scenes from the life of Christ. The installation also features representative examples of devotional art from early Renaissance Italy. Through Dec. 31. Fenimore Art Museum – Cooperstown, NY - Grandma Moses: Grandmother to the Nation includes approximately 40 paintings from Anna Mary Robertson Moses’ long and successful career. Developed in thematic sections that connect Moses’ work to America’s transition from the Great Depression and WWII to prosperity and domesticity in the ‘50s, the exhibition incorporates paintings with photographs, artifacts, film of the popular artist at work and source material for her art. Through Dec. 31. Travels to Reynolda House in NC, Hunter Museum of Art in TN, Crocker Art Museum in CA, and The John and Mable Ringling Museum in FL. New York, NY – Museum of Modern Art – Eye on Europe: Prints, Books & Multiples/1960 to Now identifies significant strategies exploited by European artists to extend their aesthetic vision within the mediums of prints, books and multiples. Through Jan. 1. Visit the online exhibition at www.moma.org. Dayton, OH – Dayton Art Institute – Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art: Treasures from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam celebrates the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see rare Dutch masterpieces while the Rijksmuseum undergoes an extensive renovation and expansion project. Notable masterpieces in the show include Rembrandt’s self-portrait, his portrait of his wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, and Frans Hals’ portrait of Nicolaes Hasselaer. Through Jan. 7 and then travels to Phoenix Art Museum in AZ and Portland Art Museum in OR. San Francisco, CA – Legion of Honor – Transparent Reflections: Richard Pousette-Dart Works on Paper, 1940-1992 features 51 glowing and luminous works on paper by this abstract expressionist artist that commemorate his prolific career of over 50 years as a draftsman. A selection of his finest drawings, paintings on paper and painted prints illustrate the important role that works on paper played in his life’s work. Through Jan. 14. Raleigh, NC - North Carolina Museum of Art – Revolution in Paint is the first exhibition in the southeastern U.S. to examine the working materials of the impressionist painters and place their techniques within an historical context. Paintings by Bouguereau, Sisley, Isabey and others are on loan from public and private collections. Through Feb. 11.
Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 17 No. 1 -- November 2006 |
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In addition, look
for the popular Creative Cards in new 50 and/or 100 bulk packs and Creative,
Photo and Inkjet Cards in clear cello packs--including 3 new Inkjet
Cards in the popular greeting card size of 5” x 7”. You’ll find these
items packaged with new and updated graphics to reflect a contemporary look
that shows more craft applications to help spark your creativity!
All New
Mediums