Art Articles

Art Articles

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Reply to T. Stonefield’s ‘How I got my art back’

Reply to T. Stonefield’s ‘How I got my art back’

Article from Mick Parker, Drawing Academy student

Thank you ‘T’!. I found your article “How I got my art back” really helpful and inspiring.

I never studied art formally apart from a brief 6 week summer school 20 years ago, which hindered rather than helped me due to its focus on expressive methods and the short time spent actually learning to draw – the first 2 days in total! I think that experience put me off really, but like you the ‘something missing’ thought kept recurring. My dad was a typographer and graphic artist who taught me lots about drawing, but although much of it became ingrained in my subconscious, I was too ‘lazy’ to really spend any significant amount of time putting what he taught me into practice. I suspect that the ‘laziness’ was a form of perfectionism masked as procrastination – ‘I can never be as good as the artists I like so it is better not to try.’..

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Eight Great Classical Female Nudes from the Past

Eight Great Classical Female Nudes from the Past

Article by Juhi Kulkarni

Since Paleolithic times, the female nude body represented The Great Mothers or the Venus as we know them. She was with a large head and voluptuous body and seldom had any limbs, her sexual organs were depicted unashamedly and were worshiped too. Women being the object of worship, the one who bears fruits of progeny, was not just a celebration of beauty but also a stratum of more concealed and profound meaning…

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Vincent Van Gogh – Tree drawings

Vincent Van Gogh – Tree drawings

Article By Juhi Kulkarni

An article to understand Vincent Van Gogh through his letters and observational drawings of particularly trees.

“Drawing is at the root of everything,” Vincent, (June 3, 1883)

Vincent Van Gogh’s reverence as well as gratitude towards nature is apparent throughout his letters illustrated by drawings. Amongst the thousands of drawings Vincent did, trees fascinated him since early 1875 , as his art pursuit began from his mid twenties, leaving lasting impression on his life leading to most profound understandings and erudition. “Post was his main communication with the world outside. His charm, and intellectual power – which comes through so strongly in letters – functioned better at a distance…

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The Gift of Art

The Gift of Art

Story and drawing by Jack Fischer

Art came alive to a dyslexic, low-self esteem boy that needed direction. At an early age, I had a gift for drawing. My eye and hand worked in tandem tracing objects and images in a very short time. On cold, wintery days I would lose myself copying National Geographic pictures. Living in Chicago, my mother and I would visit the Art Institute and enjoy seeing Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Rembrandt’s portraits.

Upon graduating from high school I went on a European trip to see the Masters paintings of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa and Michelangelo’s Sistene chapel ceiling. I was awestruck at the realism of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa capturing her facial expression, skin tones and her eyes. Why it looked like wherever I stood her eyes followed me. “What was she thinking? Was she in love?” To think this painting was over five hundred years old. When I walked into the Sistine Chapel my senses came alive.

Two years after graduating from Indiana State University as an All American gymnast, I was practicing for the AAU Championships and was paralyzed from the neck down doing a double back flip off the parallel bars. I was suicidal without hope until I saw quadriplegic, Joni Eareckson using her mouth to hold a paintbrush. Her talent was still there despite her disability. I said to myself, “if she can draw, so can I.” …

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Nora, the Cincinnati Art Museum

Nora, the Cincinnati Art Museum

Artwork by Steve, Drawing Academy student

Returning to the Cincinnati art museum, the first Sunday of February, I began this drawing, the second study of Roudolph Rogers, ( 1825 – 1892 ), ” Nora “, { Marble }, an opportunity offered museum members and guests who enjoy drawing and are offered the first Sunday of each month the whole museum to study.

I wrote a short description of my first drawing, and submitted it to the Online Drawing Academy in January. I reported that I intended to return to the museum and attempt this second study, hoping to catch more detail of the work by standing nearer. I did move a number of times, as I anticipated I would need to as other viewers passed, and I did not get as far into the study as I had hoped that day…

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Once a month at the Cincinnati art museum

Once a month at the Cincinnati art museum

Story and artwork by Steve Smith

Any of us who have the opportunity to visit an art museum are fortunate, and I have been very fortunate to have seen a great many museums in my lifetime. Near me, the Cincinnati art museum has every day free admission, and a lovely collection. Visiting this year, for the first time in a while, I became a member. It is unlikely that we would have such treasures as these museums without sponsors, and now that I am retired I have the time to visit more often, and some means to contribute my support…

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Viktor Vasnetsov – Historical Painter

Viktor Vasnetsov – Historical Painter

Article by Vladimir London

Best known as a painter of historical and mythological scenes, Viktor Vasnetsov was born 15 May 1848 in Lopiyal, in Viatka Province. Originally intending to follow his father and grandfather into the priesthood, Vasnetsov attended seminary at age ten.

While studying in Ryabovo, he helped a local icon painter with his trade and aided exiled Polish artist Andriolli to make frescoes for the Aleksandr Nevsky Cathedral.

Upon graduating, however, he decided to pursue his own course. He auctioned two of his own paintings to fund a move to St. Petersburg, where in 1867 he began to attend the Imperial Academy of the Arts…

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Serge Marshennikov – Female Beauty Painter

Serge Marshennikov – Female Beauty Painter

Article by Vladimir London

Born on May 30, 1971, Serge Marshennikov was raised and educated in the USSR. From the early childhood, Serge displayed a passion for art and his mother was helping to develop his skills by hiring private art teachers. Serge’s early talent was noticed and awarded. Growing older, he decided to dedicate his life to art and enrolled into the Ufa Art College, which he finished in 1995. The same year, Serge had his first solo art exhibition in Ufa, which had a great success and he was invited to exhibit at the Artists’ Union gallery.

After the art college, Serge continued his art education at one of the most prestigious art academies in the world, The Repin Academy of Fine Art in St. Petersburg, Russia. Serge continued to exhibit his paintings in both St Petersburg and…

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Brunelleschi ‘Rediscovers’ Linear Perspective

Brunelleschi ‘Rediscovers’ Linear Perspective

Article by Sarah

As the story goes, one sunny morning in Florence, Italy, Filippo Brunelleschi appeared at the gate of the not-yet-completed cathedral, holding a little painting and a little mirror. Already considered a magician by half of Florence because of the dome he was building without any scaffolding, Master Filippo gathered a sizable crowd for his demonstration…

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The David

The David

Article by Clayton Cogmon Jr.

During the High Renaissance, art was used for decoration, prestige, and most importantly, to immortalize anyone closely involved with it. There are many ways to create art, but none strike the observers interests like the great sculptures of the Renaissance era. However, one in particular does stand out from the rest: The David.

The David is the most famous, well known statue in the world. A 17 foot marble masterpiece, the David has a complicated history.

This is fitting, considering his creator was a complicated man himself. This creator being, Michelangelo.

Believe it or not, Michelangelo was not the first person to be hired for the commission of the great statue. In fact, Michelangelo was not even born during the earliest phases…

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