Ellipses: Don’t Start a Still-life Without ‘Em

Ellipse demo Da Vinci

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 …

Feeling the Form

Feeling Form demo

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 …

Detecting Value Judgements in Painting

Goya, The Shootings of May 3rd 1808, 1814

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.