Sowing Stars and a Little Bit of Space Dust
Newberry Art Tutorials O'Keeffe, 1923, Grey Line with Black, Blue, and Yellow Representational painting, such as landscapes, people, and furniture, is normally viewed at face value. A flower is just a flower; a chair a chair. But the manner in which an artist uses shapes can convey more than the literal content of the painting. …
Newberry Art Tutorials Ellipses make or break any drawn plate, glass, or bottle. When beautifully done they transport the viewer to experience serene harmony. It's rare not to have a man-made cylindrical object in a still life. It should not be surprising that da Vinci painted/drew beautiful ellipses. This detail is a from The Last Supper–it is …
Continue reading "Ellipses: Don’t Start a Still-life Without ‘Em"
Newberry Art Tutorials If the artist is going to convey reality, getting the forms right are absolutely essential. The realist artist is also at a disadvantage, in that if they present real objects, these objects have to have believable forms. As simple as forms look in art, they are one of the most difficult things …
Painting Denouement was a chance to live inside glowing, colorful light and to express through art what love feels like to me.
A few years ago I read the book What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand by Torres and Kamhi. I was disquieted to read their take on Rand's definition of art, specifically about the meaning of metaphysical value-judgements. Perhaps the thing that was the most surprising to me was that their perspective on this issue is so much not the way that I experience art; either as a creator or as in appreciation, or how I understand Rand's meaning. In a sense, their book has been the catalyst for this lecture. I hope to answer them by showing how you can detect metaphysical value-judgments in painting. But, more importantly, I hope to show you how to find and, perhaps, share the artist's incredible passion that lies just beneath the surface of the paint.
A strange thing happened, the group became more confident, enjoyed the process more, and were much more supportive of one another.
Michael Newberry 