Painter’s Hub

Right from the time we have learned about investment, we know it is all about profit. How to sell the property or how to increase the value. These are the kind of situation the financial market had. But in the last few years, many people are investing in art like paintings, lithos, sculpture etc., Many people are not able to purchase the original paintings so they have an option of  print and in various sizes. These gives the art buyer an opportunity to purchase art works. The art buyer market is divided into two kinds of art buyers.

1. Art buyer who are interested in purchasing art because they like it.
2. Art buyer who are interested in purchasing art and resale them in the future or auction it.

Now more and more people are focusing in art from India.A recent survey has shown than in part 5 years and taking 50 artists in to account, the percentage of profit is 2000%. Which is why many people are buying art from Indian artists.

The money and time that an art buyer is spending in an art gallery is worth the investment. Their are a few key points that an art buyer needs to keep in his/her mind while investment in art. If you are investing in young artists then the investment will be less and once the artist is gaining momentum in art market then you will gain more profit when your resale it. In the other hand if you are investing in senior artists that your investment will be high. And if the situation

• The artist is old or stopped working
• The artist is not alive

Then in such cases the value of the work increases in millions of dollars and you can either keep it in you drawing room as a esteemed possession or you can resale it.

The risk factor that all investors see before investing is also done in the art market. You need to know a few art terms, have a good PR with a few well known gallery. This will help your decision in investment. Today many art gallery’s and financial companies are guiding art buyers to purchase art.  And at the same time big banks are ready to give loans under art fund schemes. This is the right time for investors to invest in art and reap high in the future.

Save Our Tigers is an initiative taken by an Indian telecommunication company called Aircel which has partnered with WWF-India.  In our highly complicated life style we have forgotten to take care of our mother nature. She is in need of our help. We and the animal kingdom are related to each other and either of us cannot survive alone.

Lets us join our hands and try to protect these endangered species.

Introduction:
Each and every country has an unique cultural and traditional history and many of its cultures and traditions do change as time progress. Change is constant and so does every cultures and traditions.Being non-independent entities, society creates them. The people of each and every country contribute towards cultures in their own way. If we open the historical records we see the passion and reason behind such transitional events, which people mostly forgot in the ravages of time and in due course lost. Can a mother forgot her son’s name? As impossible it sounds, the land of Madurai, similarly cannot forgot her son R. krishna Rao.

Early Days

He did his schooling from Sethupathi High School, Madurai and came to Chennai (earlier known as Madras) in the year 1938 and joined the office of M/s. Chitale & Sons as an assistant. He had high regards towards Mr. Chitale and his family members. He used to reminisce and share some interesting incidents that happened in M/s. Chitale office with his family members for a long time.

Second world war

In the year 1942, during the period of World War II a person were shifted from city to other places for safety reasons, but Krishna Rao prefered to stay in the city and was working as part time employee with a half-a-day salary. During this time, he joined School of Arts and crafts for a five year Diploma course in Fine Arts and he was outstanding in learning art from his master and secured first class, due to this outstanding talent in art, he was given 2 years exemption and finished the course in 3 years in flying colors. Most of his paintings had themes related to landscapes, cattle, temples in and around Madurai in the style of Impressionism and post- Impressionism.

Career

In 1945, two years before India got independence; he joined the war publicity department and created many wonderful posters. Later, in 1948 he joined as a faculty in the School of the Arts and Crafts and got appointed as the Head of the Department of commercial art. He also worked as a textile designer in a firm in Tondiarpet, in Chennai, from 1946 – 1948.

Family

In 1947 the couple had their first baby girl and named her Kamala, meaning lotus in Sanskrit. In 1949, the couple had their first son and named him Jayachandar, who is currently a contemporary artist in Chennai. There is a small anecdote behind the naming of their second son as Srichandar. When the artist was in Benaras (also known as Kasi or Varanasi) and enjoying a boat ride on the river Ganga, he lost his balance and fell into the flowing water. A person by name Sri Chand rescued him and thus saved his life. As a thanksgiving gesture the artist promised that he will name the next child, if it was a boy, as Sri Chander and thanked him. And in 1952, when the couple had their third son he remembered his promise and named the child Sri Chander. They had their youngest son Balachander in the year 1954

Reaching the peaks

The year 1949 was considered by him as one of his milestones, when he designed the monogram for Tamil Nadu state replacing the colonial symbol used even after India’s Independence.  In 1965, he was promoted as vice-principal and transferred to Government School of Art and Crafts, Kumbakonam, in Tamil Nadu. In 1968, he became the Principal of College of Arts and Crafts and had retired in 1971. Few years from retirement, in 1974, he became the Director of the Art Department at Kalakshetra, founded by Padma Bhushan Rukmini Devi Arundale. The artist reached the heavenly abode on 31st July 2006.

Awards

The artist was awarded a fellowship by Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu in 1980. And in 1985 he was awarded the title of Veteran Artist by All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), New Delhi. In 1991, he was honored with the most prestigious award Kala Vibhusan by the then Prime Minister of India Shri. Chandra Shekhar Singh. The world famous philosophical center of Kanchi Kamakshi peetham, Kanchipuram awarded the artist the title of Chitra Kala Sagar on 1st January 1995.

Commissions Works
Conceived and designed the temple gopuram emblem of the Government of Tamil Nadu (1948).
Designed the Government of Tamil Nadu raffle ticket with the motif of a boy raising his right hand (1971).
Organised and worked, in an honorary capacity, for many district level art organisations (Padappai, Chennai, Vellore, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Tirunelveli and Kalakuruchi).

Exhibitions
Participiated in many group shows and one man shows. One of the most important exhibition in his career was the Retrospective held in Chennai in the year 1995

A web site has been inagurated in the artist’s name on 4th November 2009 the same day when the artist was born. Visit www.artistrkrishnarao.com and do visit gallery of paintings and his torch bearers…

Tom Christopher (Pastel)
(www.tomchristopherartist.com)
Tom is from Eldora, Iowa. I was happy to see paintings made in Pastel. His works were ina a very different in approach, which caught my eyes.
Q.Why do you like this particular medium?
A. I got trained in all mediums but felt comfortable with Pastel since it is very handy.
Q.What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?
A.I paint landscapes of the mid-western America especially those with rivers.
Q.What do you look in a painting first?
A.I look for contrast values. The use of a particular color is not important but the right value of it. Example, you don’t see blue on a tree trunk but it is of the right value then it is fine.

 

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Olga is from Ukraine, settled in St. Paul, Minnesota. There was an old world charm in her work, the European architecture with cobbled stone streets.

 

Q.Why do you like this particular medium?

A.I have had previous experience in many mediums like paintings on silk fabric. My medium is a mix of the decorative silk painting with traditional oil painting.

 

Q.What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

A.Floral patterns, Architecture, Retro style ladies are what I have displayed for this festival.

 

Q.What do you look in a painting first?

A.I look for colors especially the subtle harmony between them, which I feel is more important.

 

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Jacqueline Roate (Acrylic)

(www.paintpushers.com)

Jacqueline is from Des Moines, Iowa. Her stall had many work ranging from 4’ x 4’ to larger ones. The floral patterns with little bit of mixed media was interesting to look at. As she says below, Beauty and confidence of a girl was prominent in her work.

 

Q.Why do you like this particular medium?

A.Acrylic since it dries faster than oil.

 

Q.What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

 A.My themes are beauty and confidence, floral patterns. I emphasize on form rather than the background in my paintings.

  

Q.What do you look in a painting first?

 A.I look for contrast and emotions.

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About The Author: Ragothaman M. Yennamalli is a research scholar, completed his Ph.D in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Apart from Scientific interests, he is a student of bharatanatyam in kalakshetra bani. He also paints occasionally in his free time. He is currently working at Iowa State University, Iowa.

On September 27 2009,  I went to one of the much awaited art festivals of Ames, conducted and organized by Octagon centre for the arts. The arts festival for me was the first hands-on experience to interact with the local Iowan artists and see their wares. There were lots to see and experience, true to its promise. I was more interested in the Painting booths which I had shortlisted and started from each taking my own sweet time. The first thing that struck me was the openness of the artists to the people who visited their booths and more excited about someone getting to know about their creations.Also, it was quite surprising to see that this festival being held for the past 35 years even during the economy slowdown. I have already made up my mind to visit this festival next year. Since I had prepared my mind for writing a travelogue on this festival, I had framed three questions which I intended to ask to 10 painters and they were:

Why do you like this particular medium?

What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

What do you look in a painting first?

Artist Nancy Morgan (Watercolor and Acrylic) (www.nancyfmorgan.zoomshare.com)

Nancy is from west Des Monies in Iowa and frequents Florida as well during the winter.

Q. Why do you like this particluar medium?

A. Watercolor because it has the freedom and is lucid.

Q. What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

A. Brighter color and designs are my main themes.

Q. What do you look in a painting first?

A. Colors and design attracts me first.

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Karen Cooper (Acrylic) (www.karencooperpaintings.com)

Karen is from Jefferson, Iowa. I liked one of the paintings where the feel good factor was very visible. A woman had read a book on an idyllic summer day and is smiling with the happy ending of the plot and is relaxed after her reading.

Q. Why do you like this particular medium?

A. Immediacy and strong colors.

Q. What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?
A.I am a people watcher so I reflect mostly the good times in my paintings.

Q. What do you look in a painting first?

A.People and good times.

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Nanci Griffin (Acrylic) (nancigriffin@hotmail.com)

Nanci is from Ankeny, Iowa. It was interesting to see the juxtaposition of colors without giving a jarring note to the theme or the painting.

Q.Why do you like this particular medium?

A.I can layer it and it dries quickly than oil.

Q.What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

A.I have a strong faith and that what I represent in my paintings.

Q.What do you look in a painting first?

A.Colors strike me first

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Robert Sunderman (mixed media, Oil) (www.robertsunderman.com)

Robert is based at Boone, Iowa close by to Ames. Robert’s wife also had her display in the same stall. She had a collection of Jewellery which she had hand-made it. It was nice to see a couple display their art under the same roof.

 

 

Q.Why do you like this particular medium?

A.I can build from layers to surface, I like to take it slow there is no rushing and oil suits me best.

Q.What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

 A.I depict Nature, Earth, Energy, People and composition is important.

 Q.What do you look in a painting first?

A.First thing that strikes me is the technique and style and not the color. I try to look into the soul of the artist, the emotion with which he created the painting.

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Randal Spangler (Watercolor with color pencils) (www.randalspangler.com)

Randal is from Blue Springs, in neighbouring state of Missouri. The feel-good factor was also very visible in his stall. I liked one painting where the dragon is perplexed to see bugs in his computer and is trying hard to solve them. The bugs were given form as microprocessor chips with wings. I found this interesting as I could relate to this painting.

Q.Why do you like this particular medium?

A.Easy to work with especially during my travel.

Q.What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

A.I have created this Dragon world, where it is the central character and the world surrounding them. There is storytelling, computers, chocolate chip cookies.

Q.What do you look in a painting first?

A.I look at everything. Colors would be the first thing also the subject matter of the painting is more important.

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Timothy Kobs (Watercolor and acrylic) (www.tkobs.com)

Timothy is from Trempealeau in Wisconsin. One of his paintings had an ogre having a rugby match with other mythical creatures. I asked Timothy if that was Shrek (from the movie). His recent work had lot of symbolism like Peace, Life and Death, which was a tree with a part of it dying on a slope of a hill with the setting sun as a backdrop.

Q.Why do you like this particular medium?

A. Watercolor is easy to dry than oil. I am working with Acrylic as a replacement to watercolor, where I find adding layers is easier.

 

 Q.What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

A. Imaginative landscapes and symbolism.

Q.What do you look in a painting first?

A. Dynamic is what I expect from the painting and also the composition.

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Richard Leet (Watercolor) (dkleet@willowtree.com)

Richard is from Mason City, Iowa. His paintings were very interesting since there was the 3rd dimension introduced by making small cuts in the paper that stops the flow of the color. Also the border had jutting edges which in the artists words depict the tectonic plate movements.

Q. Why do you like this particular medium?

A. Being trained in Oil, I did watercolor paintings that would eventually is converted paintings. However, I got interested in Watercolor and created paintings in .My major influence was by John Marin and Charles Burchfield. Both worked on the same theme, which was natural phenomenon. But, the technique was different and Charles did large scale watercolors which influenced me as well. Water color is spontaneous, fluid and expressive. Either you make it or break it in this medium. My emotion changes every week so I cannot keep working on one painting for long.

Q.What is the theme or motif you express in your paintings?

A. Climate, Tectonics, Life is a miracle. Understanding the enormity of the Universe is what I try to express in my paintings.

Q.What do you look in a painting first?

A. I look for Forms and Colors

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At the end, it was a fun filled and fruitful day for me meeting all the artists and getting to know more about Iowa and its culture. Please feel free to visit each of artist’s website or mail them.

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About The Author: Ragothaman M. Yennamalli is a research scholar, completed his Ph.D in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Apart from Scientific interests, he is a student of bharatanatyam in kalakshetra bani. He also paints occasionally in his free time. He is currently working at Iowa State University, Iowa.

I think this is one of the most important and common question asked by an art student or art lover during his journey in a museum or in an art class or in any situations. Either way, What are the secrets of a great artists? this is a very important question. To be very frank with you their is no direct answer for this question. We need to analysis a few issues to understand the situation and then come to a conclusion. One of the key reason i think is the teacher from whom you learn. Because he is the one whom we believe and follow. He should be a person who has understood art to the core. He should not be a person who reads art books and discuss with the students, instead he should involve the students in art studies and into various art forms, not only from his country but international artists and art. The next key thing is the interest level in the student to learn art. Interest in art is an abstract term it has to be specific in terms of medium, technique and other issues. All these issues can be learnt and mastered. The third is how to do it , OK now we have understood the theory of art and also seen a demo from the art teacher. But still some thing is missing…..’

“I try to do like my art teacher but i am not able to achieve the quality what my art teacher get in his/her paintings or drawings…. what is missing in my painting…???”
such are the question which pop up in an art students mind. This is quite natural and i always welcome it.

Now back to our analysis ” what are the secrets of great artists?  “The Secret is “Aesthetics”
The word aesthetics means how we perceive art in terms of beauty. This is too abstract from a birds point of view, we need to study aesthetics and then analysis all the great artists painting from this new angle, then you will find the secret. Their may be many books on this subject, but when you study it by yourself you will see that the painting will talk to you using their unique language namely lines, shapes, compositions, colours, balance and many more…

You need to do it to experience it. What a new feeling you will get???
One of the most important issue is that all great masters paintings has attracted viewers and their are many websites about these great artists, the issue is that of “life in the painting” . All these great paintings has life and this is what important. The character talk to the other character, the colours enhances the dialogue and the lines, shapes and compositions work together like a music getting synchronization with melody, harmony and rhythm.

It is a great pleasure to showcase a gallery of paintings by Artist K.Jayachander who worked on the pop music theme. The artist has a deep desire to share his art work to other pop music art lovers. In all these paintings you can see the influence of pop music and his contemporary innovative compositions. Click hereto see the gallery…

This may look a simple topic but, if you are serious about art then you should take good care of the art materials. When a art student goes to a art shop to purchase colours,brushes,canvas etc., he/she is highly motivated and sometimes purchases the wrong items. What I mean by wrong items is that if you purchases too much of linseed oil than required then you are wasting money.

Items to purchase:

A good quality colour box with a minimum 12 colours. Go for artist colours.
An excellent notebook for sketches, see to that the papers are having good textures.
A good set of brushes, preferably 1,3,5,7,9,11.
If your medium is oil then 1/2 a litre of linseed oil.
1/2 a litre of turpentine for cleaning the brushes.
The most important canvases, you have various sizes available in the market select 2 to 3.
The above listed items are available in any art shop. But the most important things that are not available in any art shops are:

• Patience
• A good art teacher who loves his students teaches art without any bias.
• A lot of interest and hard work.
• Once you have completed a section or the whole painting, wash your brushes.

Things to remember:

Do not damage the bristle.
Do not put too much pressure on the bristle.
Clean the bristle with a cotton cloth, the pigment will go. Then use water in the case of watercolour / acrylics, or turpentine in the case of oil medium. This will remove the pigment that are in between the bristle and you can use it again.
Let the brush be left to dry ( point to remember the bristle should point towards the celling.) Many make this common mistake. They keep the bristle pointing towards the floor and once it is dry the bristle turn towards a side. ( Please don’t do this).
Select the brush you need and then apply colour. Don’t apply and wait for a situation to use it.
Don’t throw a old brush it can be used for giving textures or for some special effects.

These are the important things to remember, the more you take care of your art materials the more they will be of use to you.

Introduction:

You may wonder how an article about The Beatles is been published in an art magazine. Well, Music is also an art and in particular prespective it is one of the superior of all art forms. Any country has its won unique culture and art will take the prominant place in the culture. In the music history of the world, The Beatles has a special place, not only in the music history books but also in the millions of Beatles fans. The Beatles has a fantastic history and it is very colourful.

A little bit history:

It was in the early 1960’s when John Lennon the creater of The Beatles started a musical band called Quarrymen. Later it was changed to The Beatles. Sir Paul Mc Cartney once had an oppurtunity to be a part of the audience for the music performance of Quarry men. Later he joined the band as bass giutarist. Then the third beatle George Harrison joined and Pete Best as drummer of the band. They performed in the cavern club and later three beatle., John, Paul and Geroge told Pete Best to leave the band and they included Ringo Starr as the fourth beatle. These four beatle was called The Beatles. They had two great angles for their help and guidance. Mr Braian Epstine , the band manager and George Martin, the producer for beatles. These two with many more people created history. They all helped The Beatles and were active in recording the songs. 

During all the songwritting process it was John and Paul who wrote the songs and composed it.  And indeed George and Ringo too composed songs and sang them. During the jam session the Fab 4 were experimenting with many concepts of music theory. They even changed the ortohodex norms of song composing and created their own formula. The formula The Beatles invented was so powerful that most of The Beatles competitors were not able to understand. Most of the bands that came after The Beatles and all the one which is existing today are either directly or indirectly influenced by The Beatles.

Similarly, The Beatles were also influenced by classical music. In most of the song they do follow the tratitional method but in majority of the song they have a unique chord progressions. The chord progression these people came up with is something that many analysis and it is an interesting to study them. Many music theorist had a great fun in understanding the chord they used and the progression The Beatles implemented.

The Beatles Albums:

They came with many singles and albums and all of them were a great hit. Even today you can see their albums being being sold in local music store and as well in online stores. The impact they have created to the music industry and to the music history, it tremendous.

• With The Beatles ,
• A Hard Day’s Night ,
• Beatles for Sale ,
• Help! ,
• Rubber Soul ,
• Revolver ,
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ,
• Magical Mystery Tour ,
• The Beatles The White Album,
• Yellow Submarine ,
• Abbey Road ,
• Let It Be .

Each of these album was a big hit and they had many followers. In each of their albums they experimented a lot and it is from the album Revolver they matured and it was on of their major work. It had received many excellent critics. Thay have also won many Grammy awards.  From Revolver till Let It Be, you can see that all the songs were well composed, the lyrics were of good quality and well sound Engineered.

Break Up:

After the break up they did not stopped their musical journey. They composed many songs and released many albums under their own band names. Later in the yeat 1980 John Lennon was murdered and it was a shock to the music industry and to all the fans in the world.  In the year 2001, George Harrison died due to throat cancer.

The Beatles Rock Band: On september 9 a new game called beatles rock band will be released. This shows the power of thier music and how much fan they have.

Introduction:

The Garhwal school excels the other pahari schools in the treatment of women. Here they stand out more slender and charming there is more detail in the depiction of ornaments; the drapery is often transparent and attractive. This particular gift of the artists of the Garhwal school is demonstrated in several of the paintings reproduced here.

The Nayikas

The depiction of women according to their characteristics, feelings and erotic sentiments as given in nayikabhede was very popular with painters of the Pahari school, just as pictures of Baramasa and Ragamala (Garland of melodies) were popular themes of the Rajasthani painters. The pahari artists drew their inspiration for painting lovely women, as nayikas (heroines), from the Hindi poets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such as Keshav Das, Bihari, Mati Ram, Rahim, Raskhan and Nagari Das.

Painting the principal nayikas and describing them according to their characteristics, moods, sentiments and behaviour. He composedthe descriptive verses himself and wrote them in his own hand on the top of the picture of each nayika.

The incarnation of Narshima came out of a pillar and took Hiranyakashipu, the father of Prahlad, who was tormenting him. He took Hiranyakashipu into his lap in the door way, and tore open his stomach with his claws. Prahlad and his mother, Kaushalya were standing on either side of the door, with folded hands, seeing the destruction of the evil doer who attained salvation for having been killed by the God incarnation.

A drawing of Vipralabdha nayika carries a descriptive verse giving the characteristics of the Vipralabdha.  She stands on a bed of green leaves under a beautiful green tree. In front is another green tree adorned with spikes of pinkish flowers of the mandar a favourite motif of the Garhwal School. The flowering mandar is common in Garhwal. The nayika wears an orange dupatta studded with golden stars and with a golden border. Her lovely arms and hands, her arched, swan-like neck and heaving bosom are drawn exquisitely. The ornaments are drawn so realistically thet they can easily be identified. But the painting indicates that she did not care for her ornaments sincehe lover had not arrived at the rendezvous to admire them. She is depicted as throwing off her ornaments in disgust and disappointment.

The nayikas are typical specimens of the Garhwal School’s conception of womanly beauty. These pictures the artists have not only created chgarming women, but they have also drawn beautiful ornaments, trees and flowers.

Mythological Themes

A significant painting of a mythological theme “The  Temmtation of Shiva’. The flowering trees, the green meadow and lotuses are all there, so also is the chanden tika on Parvati’s forehead. While Mahadev performs tapasya in the Himalayas, Parvati, who is bent upon marrying him, goes there to seduce him with her beauty and music. He listens to her music; so does his vahan (mount) and constant companion, nandi, the bull. It is evident from Shiva’s face that he is not unmindful of Gauri’s charm, though his upstanding hair indicates anger.

Such themes are very common in minature paintings…