What Is It Wednesday

Love the Landscape

I have been reading the most wonderfully interesting book.

It's: 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People.

This book was mainly written for web designers but artists could find much of the information useful. 

For instance, did you know that people will be drawn to, like, and feel happier looking at a pastoral scene? Yes, research shows that people like landscapes: those hills, trees, water & animals. No wonder artists paint so many of them. 

Do you want to make customers happy? Give them a landscape!

from Google images

 

Color of the Week

The color of the week = every color                                           

Did you know that colors have different meanings in different cultures?

As an artist this interests me because people of another culture may interpret my work differently than I intended just by my use of color.

Check out the cultural color wheel at www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/coulors-in-cultures/

Clever design

The graphic on What Is It Wednesday is the clever design of the flipper bridge.
                                                               
And the need for this design: On the Hong Kong side ( a former British colony)              they drive on the left side of the road.

On the mainline China side they drive on the right side of the road.

Flipper Bridge connecting Hong Kong to mainland China

So crossing this bridge is really a double cross.          

What Is It Wednesday?

Quote of the Week

"It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it, the maker and beholder meet."
                                                                                Josef Albers

The Mystery of the "Stolen" Painting

A stolen Renoir, what a great story!

This little Renoir, the size of a dinner napkin, was seized by the FBI from Martha Fuqua, who claims  she purchased it at a flea market in 2009 for $7.

BUT the Baltimore Museum of Art claims that it was stolen from them in 1951.

What will be the fate of this lovely little gem?

Quote of the Week

"... in order to be creative, it seems you have to be slightly crazy." Dean Simonton

Artistic Resolutions?

Well another new year, and as artists we all probably want to accomplish more in 2014.

But I find that resolutions don't work for me. Resolutions depend on resolve, and very quickly my resolve seems to evaporate and nothing changes.

I like to set goals. Goals require a plan and follow through. Goals are easy to track because you can check on how you are proceeding with your plan.

Example: I resolve to spend more time in the studio. Vague.
                My goal is to spend Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays in the studio. Now each week I can                                             track how well I did.  
                Then when I get into the studio I can set a goal of what I will accomplish for that session.

Sounds like a great idea. I'll let you know how it works.