Like many people you may have bought art prints just to fill in a blank wall and you (or even your designer) may have chosen it to match your furniture, paint and fabrics. If so, you are missing a great chance to add enrichment and quality to your life. If you have bought original paintings for the same purpose, you are a step closer but in my opinion, still missing it! What is missing is the wonderful, esoteric pleasure of appreciating and experiencing art. You haven't yet caught the art-lovers bug. Just ask someone who has caught the bug. They will tell you the experience of looking at an original artwork is miles away from a reproduction of even the same piece of art. They will try to describe the pleasure that viewing and owning an original artwork gives them. They might find it hard to put it into words but the enthusiasm in their voices will speak clearly.
IT CAN'T BE FAKED OR FORCED
What is this bug? Here's the simple secret that art lovers have discovered. When viewing original art, what happens is a connection between you and a particular artwork. Something in the piece just goes straight to your heart and makes it sing. It is a bit like falling in love. It can't be planned, forced, or faked, it just happens when it happens. The only requirement is that you actually take the time to look at and experience original artwork. Just look and let is speak to you, no matter whether you understand it or not. Sooner or later, the bug will get you! If you have pre-set requirements and are just looking to decorate your wall, your heart will be closed to the experience.
Recently, while discussing art and why people buy art, a friend of mine said that it was a wonderful day for him when he realized that he did not like the work of a well known artist he was viewing at an exhibit, and even more significantly, he trusted his own opinion. He is no expert, just an expert on what he liked.
WHO'S THE EXPERT?
As simple as this sounds, not many people reach this point of autonomy in their artistic taste but are instead mostly influenced by the opinion of other 'art experts'. The truth is that you, the art viewer and buyer, are the expert when deciding what art to buy for your personal enrichment. The main reason to buy a piece of art is that you like it! You feel a connection with it, it speaks to you for some hard-to-describe reason.
Is there room for growth, learning and change in your expert opinion? A resounding yes! The learning about art never ends. To get you thinking, here's a very short list of check points that a person can use to help discern the quality of a piece of artwork and things that the artist themselves use to create their work. If you are unfamiliar with some of these terms then you could use them to embark on an art learning experience.
1. Composition. Does the composition have a main point, or is your eye left wandering all over the place with no satisfaction? Does it feel balanced? do you think the painting presents the artist's choice of subject well?
2. The use of accurate and interesting values (darks and lights)
3. Subject. The artist may not use an original subject, but it should be an original look at, or point of view about the subject.
4. Use of color. How choice is the artists use of colors, especially the subtle changes that really add intrigue and keep you looking. (and get lost in reproductions)
5. The "grabber". Something about the artwork grabs you and draws your eye in. This will be highly personal. What grabs me may leave you cold and vice versa.
6. Craftsmanship. How well does the artist use their choice of medium?
7. Artistic edge. Something that makes you realize that what you are looking at is above average, has the mark of a professional and gives off an energy.
8. Interpretation. What is the Artist saying? Does the artwork give you a new look at something? Does it make you think? Does it have layers or depth that keeps you coming back?
This list is the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more that can greatly enrich your artistic experience when viewing and buying art. If you would like a fuller list with more explanations I can e-mail you one. Just send your e-mail address to me at carol@carolmcardle.com or go to my website www.carolsheart.com and click the "stay informed" button. If you are not on the internet then I can send you a printed list via snail mail. Just send a stamped addressed envelope to: Carol McArdle, 18492, Bradenton Rd. Ft. Myers, FL 33912. You are also welcome to contact me with any other questions or comments you may have.
A piece of art will outlast nearly all your furniture, fabrics and paint and the pleasure it gives you will often keep growing and changing. No print can do that. Art can be passed onto your children and children's children for many generations, giving as much pleasure in a hundred years that it gave on the first day it was created. Finally, the icing on the cake but barely worth mentioning, is that many artist's work will greatly increase in value, especially if you find them at the emerging or mid stages of their career.
HOW DO YOU START?
Now check the calendar/happenings section of the papers, call local galleries and museums, go to some art receptions, form your opinions, give it time and you can catch the art-lover's bug! Who knows what pleasure you will add to your life. Of course don't forget to check out my art at www.carolsheart.com and get on my mailing list to hear about new paintings, art shows, awards, news etc. Enjoy!
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Original vs. Mass-Produced -- in a world where everything is mass produced, art is the true original.
January 14 2007
Looking around your home you might be hard up to find anything that is not mass-produced. Just how many people do you think have the same carpet, sofa, fabrics, tableware, etc. that you have?
How do you find one-of-a-kind things? How can you even get to be one of the first people to see a one of a kind item for the first time? You have a chance on Saturday, January 20th at the 9th annual Wildlife and Wetlands Art Show at Delnor Wiggins State Park in North Naples.
Local artist and Art League of Fort Myers president, Carol McArdle will be showing her newest, never shown before paintings of local landscapes that are often never seen by people unless they wander off the beaten track.
What you see at Carol's art booth will be nowhere else. That is what is amazing about original art pieces, they are original, unique and only one will ever exist. Carol does have signed prints of many of her paintings but they can never replace the one and only original piece and only one person can own the original.
Chili fingers paint landscapes!
Demonstrating at Coconut Point Grand Opening
The weather is supposed to be in the low sixties this week-end, and I am supposed to be outside all day at the coconut Point Mall grand opening painting landscapes with oils. This might be a problem! I think it's cold when it's in the seventies, let alone sixties.
I am reminded of another cold day I had to work outside. I was when I was living in Ireland and I was a sign painter. I had a small Newsagent store sign to paint (a Newsagent sells basic groceries, cigarettes, candy and newspapers) and it was Christmas eve. Most people were not working unless they were in retail but we had no money to buy gifts and so I was painting as fast as I could in the freezing weather.
I was standing on a ladder, holding my paint in one hand and my squirrel hair sign-writing quill brush in the other. Each stroke was a challenge, going much slower than usual even though I was racing the clock to get done and get paid in time to shop for gifts. The paint had turned to glue in protest of the cold and my pinkie and ring fingers kept turning white and I was almost unable to move them.
Every 15 minutes I had to stop and go inside to thaw my fingers before braving the cold again. This went on until about 2:30 p.m. when the first snowflakes came down. I still kept going though for another hour or so until finally finished. I got the check, rushed off to the stores and Christmas was saved.
This week-end it may not snow but I am 20 years older, used to living in semi-tropical weather and am not getting paid a penny for chilling my bones. I think this will be a battle for my mind as well as my body. Wish me luck and come by to say hi, it will keep me going.
What is it About Abstract?
Some people just don't see the point about abstract and some people just rave about it. What do you think about it, and why does it always arouse such different and passionate responses?
I cannot say I have all the answers. In fact, I can't say I have any of the answers except what looking at an abstract image, view, painting, sculpture etc. can do for me.?
First of all, just like any other art style, I do not like all abstract, but I do like (make that love!) all the abstract that I see in Nature. I am always attracted to the organic myriad of colors, tones, shapes and textures. I bet you have admired them too but maybe just don't realize it.
Some more obvious examples are, the tree barks from birch to pine; the lines and patterns in stone,? (a granite counter top, or marble column is stone). What about the colors of the waters at a tropical beach? Haven't you taken a deep sigh as you gazed at the different shades of aquas, bright turquoises, deep teals and electric blues? That's the reaction I have to the visual beauty that is abstract. I feel nourished, refreshed and full of gratitude when I see it.
Most of the paintings at my Abstract and Realism in Florida's Nature art show will be representational but in each one you will find nature's abstract patterns. Also there will be some abstract paintings and photographs that I hope will give you a new look at the abstract beauty all around us.