Friday, December 11, 2015

RELIEF PRINTING

Hand Carved Stamp, The Relief Print


Rubber stamping is a hugely popular activity that is enjoyed by people with and without formal art training. Rubber stamps have been in use for a long time for commercial purposes and in crafts, and have been used in fine art since the DADA era. They are easy to print and provide a quick way to make multiple copies. These qualities make rubber stamping attractive for smaller scale and ephemeral art forms such as greeting cards, pins, and mail art, although many artists create large scale art works with rubber stamps or use them as accents on larger pieces. You can buy rubber stamps in just about any design or motif you can imagine, or adapt stamps that were originally made for business use. Nothing beats the creative possibilities, however, of carving your own.

stamp1 hand carved stamps
Picture from CraftPudding
 
Check out this 10 min video of hand carving a stamp.

(FYI: unless you want to buy stock in band aids, make sure to cut AWAY from your fingers, unlike what you may see here in this video


What you’ll need:
stamp2 hand carved stamps
 
A carving tool – Without a doubt the Speedball Lino Cutter is the carving tool of choice and can be found at most arts & craft stores. There are lots of other brands out there, so don’t worry if you can’t find a Speedball, just look for a Linoleum Cutter.
You can purchase all of these online at Blick Art Materials.
stamp3 hand carved stamps
 
Carving Material – If you’re just getting started you can practice on small plastic erasers, or purchase rubber stamping material which should be in the same section of your craft store. There are several brands out there, and you may want to try a few till you find something you like to work with. They all carve slightly different, but some are less likely to crumble.
Carving Material at Blick Art Materials.
stamp4 hand carved stamps
 
Ink pads – Not only will you need ink to actually use your stamp, you’ll need it to test your stamp and make sure you’ve carved away enough of the rubber surrounding your stamp.
• Obviously you’ll also need a soft pencil, some paper, and if you have an Exacto knife they can come in handy as well.

Carving
 
 
Create a simple design to start, one with simple positive and negative shapes.
The raised area will print and the carved area will not.
*** DON'T FORGET that your design will print in REVERSE.
 
stamp5 hand carved stamps
 
THE STEPS:
how-to-carve-rubber-stamp-dear-handmade-life
 
 

Here are some other tutorials:
Geninne’s Tutorial
Inky Squid’s Flickr Tutorial
Atlas Quest – Stamp Carving 101
Alma Stoller Tutorial
 
Inspiration:
Be sure to check out the great flickr pools for inspiration as well as the many great crafters selling their stamps on etsy.
 
stamp6 hand carved stamps
 
 

Artist of Inspiration: SWOON

 
Swoon (born Caledonia Dance Curry, in 1978) is a street artist who specializes in life-size wheatpaste prints and paper cutouts of human figures. She studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and started doing street art around 1999 and large-scale installations in 2005.
 
Curry was born in New London, Connecticut, and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida. She moved to the Borough Park section of Brooklyn, New York when she was nineteen to study painting at the Pratt Institute.[1]
Then, Curry joined groups in New York City like Grub, which provides free Dumpster-dived dinners in Brooklyn. She also founded the Toyshop collective, known for organizing events such as a march through the Lower East Side consisting of 50 people playing instruments made out of junk.[1]

Street pasting
  A work by Swoon in Berlin
 
Swoon regularly pastes works depicting people, often her friends and family, on the streets around the world. She usually pastes her pieces on uninhabited locations such as abandoned buildings, bridges, fire escapes, water towers and street signs. Her work is inspired by both art historical and folk sources, ranging from German Expressionist wood block prints to Indonesian shadow puppets.
Swoon started her street art in 1999. At the time she was attending the Pratt Institute, studying painting. However, she began to feel restrained by the sense that her life was already laid out for her. She believed that she would simply paint a few pictures that would end up on a wall in a gallery or someone’s home. Her art would only be seen by those affluent enough to go to galleries and buy art. At the same time she was trying to find what she describes as context. She stated that she wanted to become part of the world. Her response to this desire was what she believes to be a very literal one: gluing her art to walls.
 Wheat pasting became a way for her to discover and understand her impact in the world. Swoon describes that as a young woman, she did not have a sense of her ability to make a change. By putting up a small wheat paste sticker, she was able to transform a wall and it would be there when she walked past it the next day. It was a tiny literal change.[2]
The majority of Swoon’s street art consists of portraits. She believes that we store things in our body and that a portrait can become an x-ray of those experiences. She wants her portraits to capture something essential in the subject. She tries to document something she loves about the subject and has seen in him or her. It is a way to connect with the subject. By putting the portraits on the streets she is allowing for others to witness this connection and make their own.[3]
One such connection, she says, has stuck with her throughout the years, as she mentions it in multiple interviews. She met a woman who asked her about a small piece of art that she had put up in a neighborhood. The woman proceeded to tell her that a mentally disabled man who lived in the neighborhood had started to call it “The Secret” and he would take people to it and show them. The little piece had become a special thing in the community. This moment has had an impact on Swoon, telling her that one tiny thing can make an opportunity for connection and can inspire the feeling that maybe there is another world existing around us and that we only need a perception shift in order to see it. She has since tried to evoke this in all of her other artwork. Originally she believed her series of portraits would be a two-month project but she has continued to make them for over ten years.[2]
Living in New York City had a great impact on Swoon as an artist. She loved its graffiti, its layers, and others' feelings toward the graffiti and other aspects of the city. She wanted to interact with the layers of the city, what she describes as “the naturally occurring collage of the city”. Her first series of prints were done on tracing paper so that the colors of the walls and the chipping paint could still be seen. Her prints tried to create life in what would be an otherwise dead space.[4]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

The Dcca welcomes the Creative Arts Club!!!

CAC @ the DCCA
Introduction the DCCA Galleries and Classroom
Introduction to this year's theme, Reuse, Repurpose, Reinvent
Gallery Tour


Theme Playlists/References

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Perspective

One Point Perspective Drawing: The Ultimate Guide

This article contains everything an Art student needs to know about drawing in one point perspective. It includes step-by-step tutorials, lesson plans, handouts, videos and free downloadable worksheets. The material is suitable for middle and high school students, as well as any other person who wishes to learn how to draw using single point perspective. It is written for those with no prior experience with perspective, beginning with basic concepts, before working towards more complex three-dimensional forms.

GO TO: http://www.studentartguide.com/articles/one-point-perspective-drawing

One point perspective: definition

Dictionary.com define one point perspective as:
…a mathematical system for representing three-dimensional objects and space on a two-dimensional surface by means of intersecting lines that are drawn vertically and horizontally and that radiate from one point on a horizon line…
Although this definition sounds complicated, the concept is relatively simple. One point perspective is a drawing method that shows how things appear to get smaller as they get further away, converging towards a single ‘vanishing point’ on the horizon line. It is a way of drawing objects upon a flat piece of paper (or other drawing surface) so that they look three-dimensional and realistic.
Drawing in one point perspective is usually appropriate when the subject is viewed ‘front-on’ (such as when looking directly at the face of a cube or the wall of building) or when looking directly down something long, like a road or railway track. It is popular drawing method with architects and illustrators, especially when drawing room interiors. To understand more about the history of perspective in art, please read our accompanying Guide to Linear Perspective (coming soon).
Note: If you need to draw something that is not facing you directly, but rather has a corner nearest to you, two point perspective is likely to be more appropriate.

Rules of perspective: true shapes, vanishing points and horizon lines

In one point perspective, surfaces that face the viewer appear as their true shape, without any distortion. They are drawn using primarily horizontal and vertical lines, as illustrated by the diagram below:
One point perspective photography
In this one point perspective photo, surfaces facing the viewer are undistorted and show their true shape. For example, we see the side of the bath, window and facing surfaces as ordinary squares and rectangles. Their sides are parallel with the edges of the photograph.

Surfaces that travel away from the viewer, on the other hand, converge towards a single ‘vanishing point‘. This is a point that is located directly in front of the viewer’s eyes, on a ‘horizon line’ (also known as an ‘eye level line’), as illustrated in the photo below:

1 point perspective showing the vanishing point
All receding edges of the buildings in this one point perspective photo angle towards the single vanishing point. The position of the vanishing point tells us that the photographer was crouching down, with his eye level lowered.

It is possible to draw over photographs to identify vanishing points, horizon lines and true shapes. Studying the work of famous artists can also help you gain an understanding of one point perspective, as shown in the example by Vincent van Gogh below.
Vincent van Gogh perspective
‘Bedroom in arles’ by Vincent van Gogh – identifying perspective lines

Key Points:
  • Surfaces that face the viewer are drawn using their true shape
  • Surfaces that travel away from the viewer converge towards a single vanishing point

One point perspective tutorial

The following tutorial explains how to draw one point perspective step-by-step. The exercises are designed to be completed in the order given, with each one building upon the previous task. All worksheets are available as a free perspective drawing PDF that can be printed at A4 size (more worksheets will be added to this over time).
The downloadable PDF has been provided by the Student Art Guide for classroom use and may be issued freely to students (credited to studentguide.com), as well as shared via the social media buttons at the bottom of this page. The worksheets may not be published online or shared or distributed in any other way, as per our terms and conditions.
Recommended Equipment:
  • Mechanical or ‘clutch’ pencil (with an HB or 2H lead)
  • Blank paper and/or the printed worksheets
A ruler and compass can be useful while learning to draw in one point perspective, however most Art students find that these exercises are best completed freehand, with dimensions and proportions gauged by eye. This is so that the skills are easily transferrable to an observational drawing.


EXERCISE 1: CUBES AND RECTANGULAR BLOCKS

Drawing rectangular blocks is often the first one point perspective lesson given to students. It is a simple exercise that provides a solid foundation for things to come.

one point perspective worksheet

Exercise 2: stacking, holes and angles


one point perspective lesson plan - how to draw perspective step by step



Exercise 3: perspective block letters

Drawing block lettering in one point perspective is a relatively straight-forward task, suitable for a homework activity.
The following video demonstrates how to do this:


Exercise 4: finding centres and equal spaces

This video explains how to equally divide items in one point perspective, allowing you to draw fence posts, lamp posts, and equally spaced windows or buildings.
By the completion of this exercise, you should be able to:
  • Find the centre of any rectangular surface using the ‘corner to corner’ method (this works even on surfaces that are receding towards the vanishing point)
  • Divide the surface of any rectangular block into any number of equal parts
  • Draw tiles on a floor in one point perspective
  • Draw repeating elements, such as fence posts, receding into the distance
This is explained in the following video tutorial:



Exercise 5: one point perspective cityscape

Drawing a road and surrounding cityscape (either imagined or observed from real life) is a great follow-up activity to the previous exercises. A one point perspective street scene typically combines repetitive manmade elements with stacked, cut and angular forms. This exercise can be as challenging or minimal as desired, allowing able students to move ahead and produce detailed, elaborate drawings.
One point perspective city scene by Lichtgestalt00:  
 
 
A one point perspective painting by Gustave Caillebotte:

 
A sketch by Daniyar


A suburban scene by Karina Barabanova:  
 

 

Exercise 6: circles and curves

The most challenging aspect of perspective is drawing curving or circular forms. These are typically sketched freehand, inside squares or rectangles to help get proportions correct.
By the completion of this exercise, you should be able to:
  • Use the technique of ‘crating’ – drawing complex forms inside rectangular boxes
  • Draw circles, cylinders and cones in one point perspective, from a range of different angles
  • Use straight lines (guidelines) to aid the drawing of irregular curves, such as the curving forms of rivers or trees in a one point perspective landscape
  • Understand that:
    • Circles or curving forms that face the viewer are drawn using their true shape
    • Circles that recede towards the vanishing point appear distorted, appearing smaller as they get further away
These concepts are explained in the following video:

 

A one point perspective drawing by Stephanie Sipp, professor at Florida State College of Jacksonville, Interior Design department:  
one point perspective furniture
Stephanie Sipp has produced many stunning perspective illustrations. In this example, we see that details and curved edges have been added to simple rectangular block forms to create one point perspective furniture. Notice how the pattern also conforms to the rules of perspective.

A perspective landscape by Vincent van Gogh:
vincent van gogh perspective drawing
Landscapes and perspective scenery abide by the same rules of perspective. In this ink landscape by Vincent van Gogh, the trunk heights disappear towards the vanishing point on the horizon.

A drawing by high school student Estherlicious:  
O Level Art final piece
This O Level Art final piece was awarded an ‘A’ grade. The positioning of the curving forms used throughout the car interior demonstrates a sound understanding of perspective.

Exercise 7: one point perspective room

The most common perspective drawing lesson is a one point perspective room. Interiors combine a multitude of skills and can be made as challenging or involved as required. Perspective flooring allows you to practise dividing surfaces into equal spaces, while the questions of how to draw a window in perspective; furniture / desks / beds; or adjoining corridors etc provide a challenge regardless of your ability level. To gain ideas about how you might approach drawing interiors in perspective, we have included a range of examples below, including bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and hallways. Drawing a room in one point perspective can be great practise for those who wish to later pursue interior design, architecture or for those who are studying Design Technology at high school.

free one point perspective grid for printing
The illustration above shows a one point perspective grid (this may be downloaded and printed for classroom use) which may be drawn on directly or traced over, using a lightbox.
To understand how to draw a room in one point perspective, please view our step-by-step video:

 
1 point perspective room
This is the completed final work (tone applied using water colour) from the one point perspective bedroom tutorial shown in the video above – a teaching exemplar by Amiria Robinson.

A one point perspective room by Dutch renaissance architect, painter and engineer, Jans Vredeman de Vries:  
perspective drawing by Jans Vredeman de Vries
It is clear in this one point perspective room drawing that an underlying grid has been useful.

A one point perspective interior by Amani Cagatin:  
one point perspective living room
This sequence of drawings shows how complex furniture in the living room were ‘crated’ (drawn inside boxes) before details and curves were added in.

A one point perspective bedroom by Cheryl Teh Veen Chea of One Academy:  
one point perspective bedroom
Many students begin drawing an interior by launching in with furniture and windows. It is important to remember that you can manipulate the shape of the room itself. In this example an open closet and a raised floor area to create a visually interesting interior, before the other elements are added. Note the attention to detail in this drawing, with feature wallpaper, shoes and clothes added as finishing touches.

A one point perspective kitchen by Dana Bailey:
1 point perspective kitchen
Drawing a kitchen in perspective is another great idea. Kitchens contain a wide variety of forms and often have interesting reflective surfaces. This example contains carefully staged still life items to help complete the scene.

A one point perspective hallway by Jake Mutch, completed while studying Fundamental Arts at Holland College:
one point perspective hallway
Drawing familiar environments, with the ability to work from observation, is often beneficial. You might choose to draw the hallway outside your classroom – with lockers and rubbish bins, as in the example above, or other internal spaces around your school.

A perspective interior by S.Kim:
interior perspective - classroom setting
This classroom setting has a great level of detail – note the intricate seats and desks. The horizon line is positioned at the expected level for human eyes, with the vanishing point to the left of the image, suggesting that this might be what someone sees if they stand in the doorway of the room (note that the vanishing point doesn’t need to be directly in the centre of the page – this is a common misconception).

A drawing by Abby Hope Skinner, whose Top in the World A Level Art project has also featured on the Student Art Guide:
one point perspective examples
This drawing shows how one point perspective can be introduced within an observation-based art project. Entitled ‘The halls kitchen and my surrogate family’, a knowledge of perspective helps to craft a convincing interior space in which figures are observed reclining on or standing around kitchen stools.
GO TO: http://www.studentartguide.com/articles/one-point-perspective-drawing

Sunday, October 25, 2015

The DCCA's Creative Arts Club: Creepy-Cool

The DCCA's Creative Arts Club: Creepy-Cool:   ****Creative Arts Club Members*****   Please take a moment to post your initials into the comments section to let me know that yo...

The DCCA's Creative Arts Club: How to have an Art-inspired Halloween

The DCCA's Creative Arts Club: How to have an Art-inspired Halloween: Looking for an art-inspired costume?   Look no further:   Lichtenstein, Picasso, Warhol Warhol Warhol and his ...

DRAWING - overview and demonstrations

Proko - FREE drawing lessons Drawing a skull from Observation - DEMO Basic Still life - Step by Step

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

M.C. Escher


Metamorphosis II

Metamorphosis II (1939 - 1940)

Posted by M. C. Escher on Monday, September 14, 2015

From Shape to Form

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Jasper Johns and color Theory



According to Carol Vogel of The New York Times, the Jasper Johns painting of the Flag that sold for a record price of $28.6 million will be exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts until September 12, 2010.

“We don't have a Jasper Johns, and we are not strong in works from the 1950s and 1960s,” said David R. Brigham, President of the academy.

"It was the collector who agreed to lend the painting to the academy. It is an icon of American art, and we are dedicated to the history of American art,” Mr. Bingham said.

The American Flag, Targets, Numbers, Maps and Alphabets have been recurring iconic themes used by Jasper Johns since the mid-50's when the Museum of Modern Art acquired Johns' larger encaustic version of his red-white & blue American Flag Painting. 

Jasper Johns is particularly fond of the American Flag image since he did not have to design the flag. Creating Art with the Flag image provided Jasper Johns with a creative freedom of making the painting. 

Like the Flag Painting in the Collection of the Museum Of Modern Art, the $28.6 million Flag Painting, an all time auction record for the Artist, is also created with encaustic.  A process of mixing hot wax with pigment, encaustic is a medium Johns has used since the 1950's that allows the viewer to see the many layers of his paintings.

Since the mid-1950's Jasper Johns has predominantly used the flag image in approximately 30 paintings, 14 prints and 50 drawings. In addition to single flags, Jasper Johns has created art with  double flags, multiple flags, superimposed flags, backward flags and vertical flags. He has even created monochromatic versions, including Flags in gray, black, in various mediums, including canvas, paper, print and even lead reliefs. 

Johns created a variation of the Flag in 1965, during a period termed by many as Op Art. Johns created a vertical painting of two flags; on the top portion is a green, black and orange flag, and on the bottom section, a gray field.


After staring at the top flag for about 30 seconds, the colors of the top flag desensitizes the retina so that the viewer sees an after-image in red, white, and blue, the complementary colors of the green, black and orange flag.  With this painting, the viewer rather than the artist, "paints" the flag in its traditional red, white and blue colors.

Jasper Johns has also used the Flags image as an key symbol in The Seasons, a landmark Retrospective Series, and also in Ventriloquist, also considered an image of self reflection.

In 1990 the artist reflected on this body of work: "The Flag images exist at different levels of recognizably. Some are easier to see, when they are red, white, and blue, while others more obscure such as his gray ones and the one used in his Lead Relief.

The public will now have a second chance  to view the $28.6 million Flag painting that has the same iconic strength of the Artist's larger red white and blue encaustic flags.  Before being sold for a world record price by the Artist, the painting was the sold by the Estate of the late Michael Crichton, the mega-selling thriller writer of 'Jurassic Park' and 'ER', the television series.

Joseph K. Levene Fine Art, Ltd. 


Find out why this American Flag is painted in these unusual colors at the next club meeting!!




Thursday, September 3, 2015

ATTN JUNIORS & SENIORS: PORTFOLIO INFO

ARTed: PORTFOLIO INFO: "What should be in an art school application portfolio? How do you present a portfolio? What gives you the best chance of being accepte...

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

CAC 2015/16

Welcome to Creative Arts Club 2015/16! CAC will resume at Howard on Wed., Sept.9th and at Delcastle on Tues., Sept.15th. Please spread the word! We are all very excited to get started!!

Friday, March 6, 2015

Calling All Seniors! Office of the Mayor Scholarship Awards Available

For our CAC seniors who will be going off to college next year, be sure to check out this scholarship opportunity!
Office of the Mayor Scholarship Awards information

Applications are due Thursday, April 30, 2015

Sunday, February 15, 2015