Clyde Lee Dennis asked:
As you probably are already aware great paintings and art work does not come cheaply. In fact paintings and other art work by certain artists are sold for millions dollars. While the work of other artists is sold for only a few hundred dollars. Even the smallest piece of work of art can cost you upwards of $300 at the same time. Consequently, those who invest in art expect more from their purchase and rightfully so.
There are certainly lucky art collectors. Those who have been fortunate enough to collect excellent pieces of art over the years. Some artists paintings they’ve collected in the past are worth much more than they originally paid for the piece. There are always cases in which a collector purchases the work of an unknown artist only to have the artist become famous. This leaves the collector holding the work of a famous artist and gives him all the financial gains that come along with being in such a position.
If you love art there is no reason you too could not shop for art and paintings and expect that the piece of artwork you bought will fetch you a price worth a lot more than your purchase price. Collectors are in the business of investing in art work after careful examination.
Examining artwork does not mean that it should merely be attractive to your ***** eyes. Excellence in art is determined by the smoothness and finish of the work. Excellence is also measured by the choice of subject and how well the subject has been expressed. As history has shown a piece of art may have only one or two colored strokes but these simple strokes being able to reflect what the artists was thinking makes the work valuable. Determining this value is the essence of art collecting.
Examination includes checking the condition and authenticity of the pieces. Of course if you are going to purchase any piece of art you must receive assurance and certification that the piece is authentic. Uniqueness should also be of some concern as a bulk product may not be of any use to you as a collector considering that others possess a similar piece. This is one of the considerations that greatly enhances the value of a piece of art. The most treasured pieces of art in the world are those that are unique and authentic works by a famous artist.
Most art collectors and investors also give careful consideration detailing in the piece of art. So to be sure it is necessary to have an eye for art. To be a successful investor you should be able to determine a good piece and a not so good piece of art if it comes from the same artist.
Annette Labedzki asked:
Junk has been an integral part of human life since pre-historic times. Back then, there was not a great deal available, as it is at present times. All thanks to the technological growth in all the spheres! The technological blessing did not come without a huge string of junk. While most of it has to be actually destroyed, there is still left a considerable quantity that we can use to create art, called Recycled Art. This involves looking at trash in new and inventive ways. Aptly enough, the recycling of trash and transforming it into art is like finding treasure out of nowhere.
Recycled Art, also referred to as Junk Art, can be defined as an art form that uses old or used items or day to day trash to create something which is brand-new, attractive, and useful in most cases. By doing this, we end up effectively, lessening trash in the first place, while also creating an aesthetic piece. Therefore, Recycled Art can also be referred to as an environment friendly art form, as the waste products are re-used, which helps in keeping our environment clean.
In Recycled Art, you can create beautiful pieces out of your old torn jeans, worn out sweaters, plastic bubble wrap, grocery bags, empty bottles, computer hardware, or any other piece of electronic goods, and the list is endless. Most of the items used in creating this form of art are symbolic of our times and in due period, will be replaced by other materials. The advantage of reusing and recycling materials in this way helps preserve natural resources, and landfill space, while saving money. Recycled Art can carry any tone, whimsical, poignant, inspiring, useful, beautiful, wearable, humorous, or even hideous.
Art knows no bounds. Artists are free to create any art form out of any object or material that is available to them. Using Recyclable materials to create art is always a win-win situation. The trash is freely available everywhere and doesn’t cost a thing, while the art form helps lower the quantity of waste around and turning it into something useful.
Recycled Art has close ties with Assemblage Movement or Found Object Artwork Movement. It is not considered novelty anymore and is closely related to Save the Earth movement or Green Movement. Here the artists are inspired by the historical account of the old objects and then they try to create the new meanings out of it for future generations by arranging the objects in completely new ways. It is all about dreaming art and making it up. Most artists live by its motto, which states: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
Michael De Bruges asked:
As there are secondary markets in the trade of goods or wares, there is a secondary market in the trade of art. The great difference is that art doesn’t depreciate with age, even if subject to wear, and that prices on the secondary art market aren’t determined by singular usability but by their universal desirability. What we understand by a primary and a secondary market in the art trade is important for our appreciation of the monetary value of a work of art.
When an artwork comes to the market for the first time at a gallery or any other art exhibition we speak about the primary market. This is the moment when the price for the artwork is established for the first time. The artist, or the gallery owner / dealer in conjunction with the artist, establish a selling price based on art market indicators at the time of presentation. As with any commodity market, the mechanism of “supply and demand” defines this pricing structure.
Once the artwork is purchased on the primary market and the buyer, whether a private collector, an institution or a dealer, decides to resell it, it enters the secondary market. Most items sold through auction houses form part of the secondary market, as the artwork has already been purchased at least once. Secondary market trade means trade in art that is not coming directly from the artist.
As in many other trades there is a great amount of speculation in the commerce of art. Some prices asked on the primary market inevitably raise dubitative questions as to longevity. However, such considerations matter little for the primary market’s dynamism; strongly sustained by marketing artifact, sales technique, fashionable trends and not least, by the Vanity Fair that is art collecting.
It is evident that the prudent art investor better turns to the secondary market where value is established and not arbitrary or ethereal. The secondary market implies that a certain time will have passed between the act of creation and the present proprietary transaction. This is of course not true in all instances but can be used as a convenient rule. The artificial hype that may have been created around the artist at the moment of his introduction to the art world, or during his ascendance in the same, or at his height, will in most cases have waned or stabilized and there is room for a more neutral and sober evaluation of the work itself.
But also for the art collector is the secondary market a safer bet. Though subject to the prevalent Zeitgeist, the secondary market is not so trendy and does not explore, to the same extent, the eventual momentary personal celebrity of an artist. Not dealing with the artist is an expedient way of
not getting biased be his/hers personality or circumstances and to focus on the work of art itself. Artists are moreover always unequal in their production and often bad judges of their own work. In first instance, giving all one’s attention to the individual work and to that work’s precedent and aftermath, instead of to the maker’s person or ideas, is essential for sound judgments on Art.
Some actors on the art market would like to reserve the term secondary market for a highly specific trade in prints. The term is however far too useful to be limited to such specific usage as its logical connotation, i.e. what is intuitively understood by the expression, is of particular importance to investors and collectors alike.
John T Jones, Ph.D. asked:
Some years back when I was teaching engineering at Iowa State University, I sent for that little test that can get you into the Art Instruction Schools. I passed the test but never heard from the School again which was just up I-35 north of me.
A couple of years ago, I took the test again. I passed again. Nothing happened. I looked on the Internet and called the school. The school sent me some information but gave me no way to sign up for the course. Then one day I got a call from a gentleman who lives in Tooele, Utah. He said that he was coming up to see me and to start drawing so that he could see what I could do. A week later he showed up in his beat-up old car, told me that he covered most of the western states, and asked if I could afford the course.
Getting those formalities out of the way, he looked at my drawings. I asked, “Do you think I can learn to draw.”
He looked at my landscape paintings on the walls of my home. Finally he said, “Yes, you can learn to draw.”
I wrote him a check for the three-year course even though he advised me to pay by the month, gave me a few hints on drawing, and took off to interview a teenager up the rode who he suspected would not be able to purchase the course.
I have now completed the course except for the final exam which I have not yet received. Here are my impressions:
1. The cost is very reasonable for what you receive, but it cost almost $3,000.00. However, you can pay by the month if that is a factor.
2. Each lesson comes in a separate book. You get one book at a time except the first time when you get the first two lessons. I found that I occasionally had to wait for a lesson to be returned a bit longer than I wanted to wait. However, almost all lessons have been returned within 30 days. There were some longer delays because of the artist being on maternity leave, including one of my mail instructors. The staff had quite a baby boom this spring. I asked to have lessons sent in advance so that I could finish the course within 18 months rather than three years. I got my final lessons in one big bunch. This is not a good idea-it is better to see your grade and criticism from the previous lesson before you start a new lesson- but I’m an old man with a pig’s aortic valve and time is precious to me.
3. Each lesson is very comprehensive. You will see examples from great artist, from other students, and from the Art Instruction Schools instructors. Each technique is clearly and expertly explained. There are exercises in each lesson that need to be completed. Finally you do your assignment and send it in for grading.
4. What amazed me was that every lesson you completed by submitting the final drawing or drawings was not only evaluated but also drawn by the grading instructor. This is very important because you are not criticized but shown how things should be done. The instructor draws your drawing and puts an overlay on top of your drawing with helpful comments on the overlay to help you master the subject at hand. In all cases, my work looked like crap along side that of the instructors.
5. I didn’t call into talk to an instructor until I was well into the course even though I was advised to do so in every lesson. That was a missed opportunity. When I did call in, I realized what a wealth of knowledge the Art Instruction Schools instructors have. I was never brushed off by an busy instructor. I was always given as much time as I needed and then some. The instructors are talented artist and great teachers.
6. I met only one student while I took the course. He is an American Indian that lives not too far from me on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. He is a very talented artist and I couldn’t see why he was taking the course. He told me the one thing that he had learned from the course (he is behind me) was patience. I have to agree on that. Art takes time and you have to give your brain a break to do it right. The school always says not to rush your work. For me, that is tough. I bought an ink drawing from the young man. He wanted $20.00 and I offered him $10.00. He took it because he had a date that night. I guess I had just come from a yard sale and was still in the bartering mode. I have decided that I owe him that $10.00 because I enjoy the drawing very much. I’ll get it to him the next time I pass by that way.
7. My drawing does not compare with the instructors but I have been able to maintain a “B” average over the course. For that, I received a special certificate for each lesson segment noting that I had done above average work. I received only a couple of “C” grades and “A” grades.
8. The most interesting lessons to me were using color. I now just blend the three primary colors for my landscapes, seldom looking for a particular color in a tube. Learning to use ink washes and color was interesting to me. However, the emphasis on the course was drawing. If you can master drawing, you will be a much better painter, not only from the accuracy of the drawings but by seeing tones, light and shadow, and textures.
9. I learned as I went along that I had not mastered the earlier lessons as well as I should have. I was continually going back to see what I had done versus what the instructor had done versus what the lessons said to do. Like always, I was too much in a hurry. I’m goal driven. I pick up a lesson book and say, “I’ve got to get this baby in there.” That is the wrong approach. Take the three years.
10. Some of the many skills taught in the course are composition, design, lettering, etc. The company was started in 1914 to train artists for the United States Mint. When I was required to design a stamp and received the instructors version of my stamp, I could see that the school’s history is still evident. I was proud of my stamp and my wife liked it too, so did my artist daughter-in-law (who is very polite). But the instructors stamp using my design was stupendous.
The school has about 5000 students, so I have been told. They are selective as to who they enroll as students with being able to pay for the course a prime factor, but if you don’t have the ability to learn to draw in the mind of the gentleman in the old car, you will not be accepted.
Did I get out of the course what I wanted? What I wanted was to improve my landscapes. However, I have only done a few landscapes since I enrolled in the course. But I know that my landscapes will be much better after the course. There are no other courses available. If they did offer a specific course on landscape painting, I would take it.
There are famous graduates of the School. Charles Schultz of Snoopy fame was a graduate and also an instructor at the School. Why yes, there was a lesson on cartooning and I just loved it. You could see one of my cartoons but I am not allowed to tell you how to find it on the Internet. That would be self-aggrandizement.
The basic art course at Art Instruction Schools is a humdinger!
Fly Old Glory!
Adam Woodham asked:
Locating and finding the perfect tribal sleeve tattoo can be a real pain, mostly because most of the stuff you find through Google and generic websites has been plastered all over the place. Here is what you will need to know and look for when trying to find a tribal sleeve tattoo that will impress you and everyone you show it to. Remember, you never have to settle for all of the generic tattoo art that you have seen parlor walls or low end websites.
The tribal tattoo has become mainstream, as you may have known. While this does not mean that you shouldn’t get one, it does mean that you will need to find original work that will stand the test of time. You also need to take your time while looking and it helps if you get your art for experienced flash artist or pencil artists. While this does not mean that it is a great tattoo to consider, it means that you need to take your time when trying to find the prefect tribal sleeve tattoo.
Most of the generic tribal sleeve tattoo art that you run across on the web has already been plastered all over the place. Who knows how many other people got those designs inked on their skin? Yu want original artwork anyway, right?
You can also have you favorite tattoo artist render any design that you choose. You should always do this, especially when it comes to a tribal sleeve tattoo. A sleeve is a very big art piece and you want it to look its best. You also need to do this because most of the flash art you see on generic websites and a Google search aren’t necessarily drawn to be implemented as a tattoo. The artist that drew them most likely don’t have any knowledge about how to drawn a tattoo that will look good once it is put on someone’s body.
The reason behind this is that much of the best tribal artwork is copywrited by their artist and not released all over the internet. Why would they want their hard work spread all over the web with seeing a dime for their time? Most of the top of the line tribal artists have stencil work that comes with their tattoo, also. This is especially needed when it comes to a tribal sleeve tattoo. There are many complicated designs when it comes to the sleeve and stencils are needed.
If you truly want a state of the art, original tribal sleeve tattoo, you should not settle for a Google search to find your art. Hopefully, you will spend some quality time looking for the tribal sleeve tattoo that you have always dreamed of and get the art design you have always wanted.
Kathy Ostman-Magnusen asked:
Beautiful older women galleries
do I fit in?
I line my paintings in a hallway
see them there
anywhere
does magic come their way?
Have I met the master of my own heart?
My gothic angel art
my whimsical angels of crystal
a pegasus I did ride here.
I see beginnings
the gate that leads me to survival
knowing my own being.
My lessons are in the doing.
Art is who I am.
I set out to meet the day
creativity reaches for me
rainbows or storm
I cannot tell as yet.
Fine art paintings
reproduction of my heart.
The sun is showing its head
I smile on past accomplishments.
Art is who I am.
It is a toss up
will my frailties trump me
will I bend
will I fly like a pegasus?
will I swim like a mermaid?
I lean toward opportunities
beautiful older women
and their galleries of age
timeless and ageless.
The Universe does smile on them
and hand them notes in the hallway.
I patiently wait for mine.
Art is who I am.
There is a darkness in me
late at night
still.
I paint by candles
ablaze by my own passion.
Gothic angels
whimsical angels
and older woman
I guess I am all of them.
Art is who I am.
I can be anything
still
it is never too late!
Fine art
painting reproductions
not my aim
I search to find my inner being.
An artist’s brush full of paint
colors new and brilliant
I become everything new.
Art is who I am.
Ivan Smith asked:
Plasma cutting is a process by which a compressed gas is blown onto a metal surface. An electric arc is created which raises the gas to extremely high temperature - hot enough to cut through metal very quickly. The force of the gas is able to blow away any molten slag that may have collected on the cut surface, leaving a very clean edge. Since the compressed gas can be focused to a fine point, highly accurate cutting to create intricate shapes and designs can be done.
The origins of plasma cutting can be traced back to the days of World War II and the need to increase the speed and quality of aircraft production. Plasma welding was developed to cut the time taken for the fabrication of body parts and had the advantage of producing stronger joints than conventional welding techniques of the time.
In the 1960s this technology was improved by new method of increasing the gas temperature and more finely focusing the stream of gas to allow the plasma stream to be used to cut through metal like a knife, with great accuracy. For industrial applications, large plasma cutters are operated by computers to produce high precision cutting in large volume.
Artists use hand held plasma cutter for their work. These small yet powerful units can be wielded like a knife and can be used to cut through metal to produce intricate shapes and designs. Think of a sheet of metal as a blank canvas and the plasma cutter as the brush. Either by free hand or by using a stencil, the artist cuts through the sheet metal to create the design or art work he wants. Once the cutting is done, the artist can use the equipment to carve out delicate features or create etchings on the surface of his creation. Bending some of the surfaces can be done to add a three dimensional effect.
Since plasma cut sheet metal is thin and delicate by nature, it cannot be used under extreme conditions like large sculptures or as load bearing works of art. The main application is to use this technology to create mirror and picture frames, table top ornaments and other such decorative items. Unlike large pieces of metal art, those created by plasma cutting need to be protected from the elements and are meant for indoor use.
When buying plasma metal art, it needs to be kept in mind that the cost of the material used and the production process makes up only a minor part of the total cost. Except in the case of certain very expensive alloys, sheet metal in not very costly and the cost of using a small hand held plasma cutter is relatively cheap. The value of plasma art likes in the quality of the art - the concept and design, the quality of the production and the fineness of the detail incorporated into the work.
A search of the internet will reveal the vast variety of plasma metal art available - from the reasonably priced to the prohibitively expensive. Just about any kind of decorative metal art can be made by the plasma cutting process and if a buyer has something special in mind, finding an artist who will create what the client wants is not a problem.
James Kingston asked:
Plasma cutter art is becoming more and more popular. One of the major reasons is that cost of plasma cutters has come down substantially over the past few decades. Using a CNC (computer numeric control) plasma cutting unit to create metal art is almost cheating. If you sell your art in large numbers this may be a process you want to look into.
You can use CNC plasma cutting units to make just one piece of art or you can make hundreds of copies of your one piece. The artisan would only be interested in using a CNC plasma cutting unit made from extruded aluminum because the fabricated steel units are prohibitively expensive and used mainly for large scale industrial applications.
Here is the cool thing about CNC plasma cutters. Say you are a painter and you want to present your works in a different light. You can scan your canvas painting into your computer, make a few adjustments and then feed the resulting digital image into the CNC computer. The computer will then instruct the machine to cut that image out of sheet metal. The end results of the plasma cutting process will be some reflection of your original canvas work. The plasma cutter cannot make half cuts, it either makes a cut or it does not. When editing the digital copy of your canvas image you will have to make it so that the CNC machine will know what to cut and what not to. This is accomplished by changing your image to black and white. After the machine has completed the cut you can add your own details, engravings, or colors to finish the piece.
Kristy Annely asked:
Christmas clip art is computer art images that give visual impact to your Christmas messages and projects. Even if you don?t have artistic skills, you can add more pizzazz to your electronic or printed Christmas cards, party invitations and personal web pages. You can use readily available Christmas clip art installed on your word processor or those offered by websites on the Internet.
Although you can find online clip art galleries for free clip art, you may also subscribe to websites that offer sure copyrights. Be sure you make use of these websites? search engines, so you will not spend too much time browsing through images one by one.
Among clip art images suitable for the Christmas season are Santa Claus, reindeer, sleighs, snowmen, gifts, mistletoe, stars, Christmas stockings, candles, candies, angels, bells, pine trees and Christmas lights. There is also a variety of ?Merry Christmas? text greetings and actual Christmas messages framed by pretty borders.
You can find an excellent selection of unique and humorous Christmas images, too. If you look through different galleries, you can find variations of the following: Santa sitting on a cactus with a bag full of Christmas presents, Santa stuck in a chimney, Santa and Mrs. Claus kissing, boys and girls on skis, elves with toys and candy, elves at work in Santa?s shop, baby Jesus in a manger, the manger scene, the three wise men bearing their gifts, and caroling angels. But these are not all. There are hundreds and hundreds of pictures for you to choose from.
If you want more dynamic images, there are cute animated cartoons with a Christmas theme that are available to you.
You can amass a collection of Christmas clip art and use them for beautifying different print projects, Christmas greetings and personal websites. If you use Christmas clip art as a background image, choose the right color and adjust their size so they will not obscure the text. Stick to a central theme and choose the images that are appropriate to the content of your message. Don?t over-decorate your piece with too much clip art.
Most Christmas clip art has been colorized, cleaned up, optimized and reduced in size, so they can be downloaded quickly. They also come in printable formats. Most have transparent or watermarked backgrounds so you can use them on colored pages.
Chris VanNorton asked:
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the fastest growing sport in the world. It has given individuals an outlet to test their skills against other skilled fighters in the name of sport. MMA utilizes a variety of strikes such as kicks, punches, elbows and knees depending on the rules governing that particular event. MMA also enables fighters to take their opponent down using throws or wrestling and once on the ground MMA fighters use grappling in order to submit their opponent or punish them with strikes until the referee stops the fight.
Fights can be won by submission, knockout, technical knock out, or judges decision. I myself have competed in MMA and did fairly well. I won some fights and I lost some fights but I had a blast competing. I personally love MMA and what it brings to martial arts as far as sport. MMA fighters are some of the best athletes in the world and best conditioned. I have great respect for anyone willing to put their body through the grueling training required to be a successful fighter. The problem I have with some MMA fighters is their total lack of respect for the traditional martial arts. These fighters are in the minority in their way of thinking as most MMA fighters have immense respect for traditional martial arts.
These fighters are most often amateurs who do not put in the time nor the energy in training but rather do it solely for the purpose of the label. These guys think being labeled a “MMA fighter” will bring them respect and give them a higher standing within society or at least within the martial arts community. My question is what exactly do these “MMA fighters” think they are doing? Afterall if you break down the moniker MMA it stands for MIXED Martial Arts. MMA fighters are martial artists who train in a variety of styles of martial arts in a hybrid fashion. Sure many MMA schools don’t carry with them the traditional values and philosophies of traditional dojos such as discipline, self-esteem, respect, integrity, and honor………but the majority of them do. The fact is these fighters who lack respect for traditional martial arts are naive. Simply put they are practicing traditional martial arts and they don’t even realize it. Albeit it is a watered down version of different martial arts combined hence the “mixed” in mixed martial arts.
They use boxing for hand strikes; Taekwondo, Karate, and Kickboxing for their kicks; Ju-Jitsu for their submissions; Judo and wrestling for their throws and takedowns………all traditional martial arts. Again MMA is designed for sport NOT self-defense. MMA is regulated by rules such as weight classes, no small joint manipulations, no strikes to the groin, no strikes to joints, no kneeing a downed opponent in the head, no eye gauging, no friends allowed to join in the fight, no rocks, no knives, no chairs, no glass bottles…….you get my drift. Traditional martial arts such as Karate, Ju-Jitsu, Judo, and Aikido etc were developed and designed for life or death situations. The entire point of this post is that I firmly believe that ALL martial art styles need to be respected. Each and every martial art brings a unique aspect to self-defense. Sure we develop our own philosophies, opinions, and way of looking at other martial arts but in the end they all should be respected. This is my opinion and my opinion alone although I am sure many will agree.