Connecting Artists to the Community with Education, Therapy and Fun
For Artists who aren't new to art, but are new to us, please see our About Us page.
This is our "Information for New Artists" page that will probably be permanently under construction as new info comes along every day. We also have a HINTS AND TIPS page, full (or soon to be full) of things that make artist's lives easier.
This is our place for art FAQ's that no one really tells you, but you need to know, so it will be under construction quite often. For those of you with unanswered questions about this website or art and shows in particular, please see the bottom of the "home" page and post a question on the message board. If its something we all could use a little brushing up on, it will go in here! Or you could always email :)
Blessings, Art with Heart
Successful artists know that art is more than skill- and even more than hard work. Thats the easy part, the truly fun part. To be successful, you have to know about the opportunities to both show and sell. Around here, the best people to be in contact with is.... well... us (ha ha, shameless plug) and the art associations. We're free, but many of the shows we're involved in are hosted by the art associations and a membership is often necessary to show at their venues. (Some don't, but will charge a little more for non-members.)
Either way, the benefits outweigh the costs. The benefits to being part of the associations are knowledge of the shows, new techniques and speakers. The members are worth their weight in gold because each person is a plethora of knowledge and help. Plus, who ever has too many friends?
Here is a short, quick list of local art groups and associations. The phone numbers and addresses will be posted probably by Monday, January 12 as MY information is scattered pillar to post and its going to take a bit to gather. See ya in a little while.
Art with Heart
Singing River Art Association- website coming!
Biloxi Art Association
The Arts, Hancock County
Mobile Art Association, please contact Charles Swan
Ocean Springs Art Association may be contacted through the Mary C OKeefe Cultural Center or The Art House.
The Basics of GOOD and BAD composition
Nothing gets me more animated artistically than seeing a smart and talented artist make mistakes of beginners-- and almost always these occur in composition. Man, it sneaks right up and bites me on the butt.
And you know they have to be the same mistakes over and over, too. I made them, I bet Leonardo made them, you'll see old pieces of new great artists as proof that they make them.... every new artist has or will tread down the same path. Almost no one is above them.
Point? Its not just YOU (or me for that matter :)
Sometimes its hard to just grit my teeth and smile while trying to not argue the person into a strong foothold of bad-composition-la-la-land. Sometimes its really hard to gently nudge someone into a more interesting direction when I just want to grab ahold and pull (or shove for their arts sake, that is).
Why is it so important? It shows just how much or how little thought the person put into what they were doing beyond rendering their image, expressing the emotion or snapping the shot. Most often, its not their fault because they haven't been taught to think outside the norm, the box, the typical, the boring.
Its easy to get so wrapped up in rendering a perfect image that the rest of the piece goes downhill. We have to think up interesting ways to organize our pages. (Now, photographers are the most limited of us all for the obvious reason: you can't ask the dog doing the cartwheel to slow it down or go to the right away from the thingamajig thats causing an off balance feeling to the page. BUT there are other things that the photographer can do. More on that later.)
But what about the rest of us? Where does thinking and actually COMPOSING a page start? We're going to make a composition page later, but here is a start:
Do:
Think about what the most important thing is in your piece. Or things, whatever the case may be.
(Think about size difference, color difference, temperature difference, value difference (aka contrast) and pattern difference to determine your important point. How will it stand out? Where will it go?)
Put your interesting part, your "star" and focal point somewhere besides the middle of the page.
If you can, divide a piece of paper into thirds from top-to-bottom and side-to-side. Easiest way to do this is to fold your paper into thirds~ the four points where the bottom to top lines and the side to side lines intersect is the best places to put your interesting subject matter. <---- click the link for a visual (But of course, do play around a little).
Make a circular composition... put objects or other elements around your "star" to direct the eye around the page and keep the viewer interested.
How discouraging to see your viewers go, "Hey, great cantalope in the center of the page" and walk off. With a few more elements and lines directing their gazes around your composition, they'll hang around long enough to make a connection with your artwork, maybe enough for them to buy it.
Case in point: artist Djyno Jacques from Florida (painting from his Facebook Page~)
As you look at his work, notice how the warmer colors and the starker contrast of black and light flesh tones draw your attention to the left side of the piece. That is his "Star"... then he fades it into- and counter balances it with- a smaller, cooler color of the other figure to the right. The very light of the flower and the curly lines keep your eye interested. The greenage of the flower pulls you through the piece in a clockwise motion back to the main character in the work, right where we began.
Another way the eye moves is that you see the larger face's psychological stare to the left side of the canvas, which "attaches you" to the greenage which pulls you back to the figure on the right.
Either way, he works at keeping the viewer in the piece and giving the viewer something to look at throughout the entire piece. The colors in the negative space is active~ nothing is just "background".
My work "Eye of the Hurricane" below does something similar with the lines of the snake and the story told at each turn of a line.
