Linear perspective revolutionized the way artists perceived and incorporated spatial depth in their work.  Devised in solid, mathematical terms in the 15^th century, linear perspective creates the illusion of three-dimensional space on a tow –dimensional surface.

To create effective linear perspective, artists establish a horizon line, a vanishing point on that line, and multiple orthogonal, or vanishing lines.  The horizon line is a horizontal line that runs across the paper or canvas to represent the viewer’s eye level and delineates the sky meeting the ground.  The orthogonal lines, which distort objects by foreshortening them, create the optical illusion that objects grow smaller and closer together as they grow farther away.  These imaginary lines grow smaller and closer together as they get farther away.  These imaginary lines recede on the paper to meet at one point on the horizon called the vanishing point.

The difference between one point perspective and two-point perspective is how many vanishing points there are and where they are placed on the horizon line. For more basics consider coming into Ogden Blue and take a class with one of our very fine instructor’s.

Many of us become artists for different reasons. Some of the most common reasons include the need to express oneself; and, the desire to reproduce memories of people and places that we have experienced.  It is freeing to be able too stop what you are doing anywhere and sketch a scene or put a new idea onto paper while it is fresh in your mind.  While painting is satisfying, carrying all the supplies that you need on a daily basis can be cumbersome and takes planning. If you prefer simplicity, colored pencils are an attractive option.  Paper, pencils, a sharpener, and an eraser are the general basics; all of which can easily fit into a backpack or satchel.

Color pencils are relatively inexpensive and the palette is extensive.  The color is pure, clean and bright.  The medium is permanent, and color pencil drawings do not require elaborate storage or care.  Along with hard and soft color pencils and oil based color pencils offer more options for beginning and advanced artists.

Whatever medium you like to work with, color pencils are a fun addition that offers rewards of both drawing and painting.

Ogden Blue offers Premier Prisma colors, Verithin, and Prisma watercolor pencils.  We also have Derwent Aquatone, and Derwent watercolor pencils.

How do you define success?  Having a lot of money is an obvious answer,

but what about satisfaction in knowing that you absolutely tried your best?

When someone interviewed me recently, she asked how I define success. I

surprised myself a bit when I referred to several material things; perhaps

because they're tangible. But I added that the ability to feel joyful everyday

is a sign of success for me, a statement that is true today as it was back in

college when I only had about $10 extra to spend each week and lived on

noodles and coffee. Money, I realized has little to do with it.

I hope that as an artist, you feel successful when you have taken some time

to dedicate to your art.  It could be sketching for practices, painting what you

hope to be a masterpiece, reading about other artists, taking an art class,

browsing an art supply store or visiting a gallery.  All of these things will in

some way will push you a step forward, and help the momentum of your

desire to create.  In my humble opinion, we're each successful as long as

we don't stop.

While you may not feel inspired to actually paint or draw everyday (although

I hope you do), when you need a little push, one resource you can always

rely on is one of your family of fine art magazines, including American Art

Collector, International Artist, Art of the West, or Watercolor Artist.

What are deceptive business practices?  We can deliberately, or inadvertently, be practicing them because they seem normal, socially acceptable, everyday, and necessary to making it DECEPTIVE.

So what are some of these deceptive practices?

Most things in life are not black and white and are not easy to identify.  So for any specific practice I might label as being deceptive, there can be an honest side..  The trick is knowing our motivation behind what we are doing, and being honest with ourselves in why we are doing what we are doing.

For example; red slashed sale practices.

We have all been in stores where there are two prices on the tag, the first one is in black for $25, but there is a slash through the number and below, in red, it says, SALE--$13.50!  Since the price tags are pre-printed, it’s obvious that the price was never $25 and was always $13.50, but the whole black/red thing is a play on our psyche to make us think we are getting a deal when we are not.  That’s deceptive.  But it doesn’t seem so, because it is so much a part of our daily existence that it’s normal.

On your website, where you have 10 paintings for $350 each, and you’re wanting to get them moving.  So you reduce the price by 20% to $280.That’s not deceptive, because you did reduce the price.

However, if you never intended to sell them for $350, and always thought that $280 was the right price, and set up the page that way, that’s deceptive.

Sure it is smart to figure out how people think, but when you use that knowledge to manipulate people into doing what is best for you and not necessarily best for them, this becomes questionable.  And when people find out that they have been used, and the truth does come out, and usually at the most inopportune times, the feel stupid, and that ultimately is not good for your business.

Ask yourself some of these specific questions when we plan what we are going to sell, and how:

“Am I scheming?”

“Am I pushing or prodding someone into a particular way of thinking or behaving?”

“How would I feel if this technique were being used on me?”

“Do I think I’m being remarkably clever and smarter than the average person in doing what I am doing?”

Anytime we start being overly impressed by our intelligence is a good time to stop and do some good, hard thinking.

So always be 100 percent transparently honest, right?

Well that’s another one of those not-quite-black and not-quite-white things and we’ll look at that next time.

I have been painting seriously for about 8 years.  Painting every day no excepations at least four hours hopefully more. This is an average as I am working a full time job as well.

I have had several group shows.  My first show was in a gallery that I worked part time as a framer. We framed the paintings with the gallery frames and asked other artists from the area to also show on a First Friday.  These were very nice frames and yes framing does matter. It is very imprtant to show off your work as professional as possible.

It is important that you understand the publicity and announcements policy of the gallery that you show in. Some gallerys send out information, invitations announcing your work as well as other artists in their gallery at the same time.  It is important that you have a clear understanding of what in the announcements and or invitations so you can share infromation with your clients, friends and family.

Make a detailed list of the paintings you are leaving with the gallery including support, dimensions, and price and be sure that it is signed by the person receiving the works.  Label the back of each painting to insure the painting on the wall will match the Gallery Label.  When you pick up your work check each piece of the inventory list as you get it and mark accordingly any work sold.

 Stay positive.  I not sure anything is much harder than exposing onself, working this hard and awaiting feedback.  Most people do appreciate your effort even if they do not buy yet.  Stay with it.  Keep showing. 

When small businesses first start marketing, I have noticed that they will sometimes just throw a bunch of different items out there from business cards to brochures to direct mail to web sites... and they may get quite a bit of business off these efforts to tell their customers who they are.  However, soon afterwards, they begin wondering, whether for cost or effectiveness, what exactly is working and what isn't.  The biggest problem is tracking and testing.

When you throw an array of different marketing messages out there, some will "hit" more than others.  Whether it is the message or whether or not the person designing the marketing had a "good" or a "bad" hair day, some messages will simply be more effective than others.  How do you know what works if it hasn't been tested or tracked?  So, here are some simple keys to ensuring that you are actually doing something that works and not spending needless money.

1. Everything must have a way to tell what works.  If you are doing direct mail, attach a coupon that customers have to bring with them.  Have a quick note at the front desk and ask the customers how they found out about you.  Make appropriate check marks or scratches in the box.
2. Put Google Analytics on your web site (your web designer will know how to do this) so that you can track online traffic.  Make sure you have a definite goal for the web traffic.  Web traffic that comes to you and does not buy is not really web traffic that does you much good.
3. Brochures,flyers, informational marketing pieces, and any print media should have a "call-to-action" part to the piece.  This allows the customer to immediately purchase something by calling a number, visiting a web site, or coming in to your place of business. 
4. If advertising sales people are involved, ask them to show you direct evidence of the claims they are making.  The yellow pages are an example of something that used to be necessary before smart phones, etc.  How effective is this method of advertising if you do 90% of your business online.
5. Always have a system for tracking marketing.  Here at Ogden Blue, we design our marketing timeline by quarter.  This is posted at a permanent location so the employees know what's going on with each piece of the puzzle with dates, explanations of the method, and what each employee or manager is responsible for.  Each piece is then tracked by coupon, analytics, or just by asking questions.

Billboards and other mass media are a little harder to track than newspaper ads, web sites, or direct mail, but it is still useful to test the message before putting it up or sending out on-the-air.  Try a small test market first... like in an email newsletter or direct mail.  See how effective the message is first.  If you receive a lot of calls or traffic on the piece (greater than 2-3%) then you know you have a good message.  That is the message to then put up on the billboard or share over radio or some other broadcast message.

We can help you design a message that will be effective and work with your branding.  We have four graphic designers here that can help you put together a message and make it work with your current branding. 

Portrait Painting Tips

Painting   portraits is a skill that may take a few years to master.  It is the job of the painter to bring out the persons /subject personal qualities as well as their attributes or what they look like. There is no right or wrong way to paint a portrait, the likeness comes with practice.

The portrait is not usually started without a lot of preliminary sketches.  A likeness can be mastered with patience and practice.

SOME SIMPLE TIPS

-The subject should not cover more than two thirds of the canvas.  It is important to size the subject right.

-Ensure that the source of light will fall on the sitter’s face in such a way as to make the best use of shadow. Good use of light and shadow can give the impression of strength and solidity to the subject’s face.

-The background is important in the portrait. Avoid putting distracting things in the background so the eyes of the viewer will always be drawn to the subject of the painting.

-If possible use a live model.  If this is not possible use a good quality photo and a larger photo.

-Study the subject as a whole. Study the bone structure and try to see the shapes and planes.

-Focus on a section at a time.

-Begin with a thinner mix of your darkest darks, next paint your lightest lights with a thicker or medium consistency.

-Mixing flesh tones takes time and of course skin comes in so many varieties of colors. There is no specific formula; you will have fun experimenting and practice. Over mixing can deaden a color.

-The forehead and muzzle area (the space between the nose and the mouth) and chin are usually the same color but cooler.

-When painting hair, don’t try and paint every strand. Look at the hair as one object.

-Try and repeat the colors and values in your painting to create balance.

-Add bits of color where the shadow meets the light in your portrait.

Painting portraits does take practice so enjoy the practice!

Are you looking for something to reach out to your customers or audience and grab them by the shirt, get their full attention, and pull them into your store?

Did you know Ogden Blue offers some great Large Format printing options that can do just that?

Here are a few Large Format options we have to help give your business a professional yet noticeable look:

-         Use a colorful Banner to draw attention to your business or special event.

_-         Print large posters to advertise your company’s services or to promote your latest campaign.

_-         Get cut or printed vinyl to help create a professional display in your store windows.

_-         Use banner stands, displays, and banners to bring color and attention to your trade show event.

_-         Bring your family memories to life by printing them on canvas, watercolor, or photo paper in Color or Black & White.

_-         Take your project plans to large scale with vivid color or crisp black & white.

Our large format black & white prints start at $0.52/sq. ft. (?), and large format color prints start at $5.00/sq. ft.

Don’t be Shy. Live Large and Get Noticed.

Watercolor painting is versatile and fairly easy to begin learning. The materials can be varied, but for beginners, there are just a few basics that should be sufficient.

Brushes:  Sable brushes are the highest quality, but blends of sable or squirrel hair and synthetic will also be fine for starting. Synthetics are lower quality, so if this is your only option, select the highest quality brush you can. You will need a round brush, usually #8, and a flat wash brush, at least ½”. An oval wash or mop brush, usually size 3, is useful for getting large amounts of water and/or paint onto the paper quickly.

Paint:  A few higher-quality paints will be more useful than a lot of low-cost colors. Paints are available in student and professional grades and come in tubes or pans. Pans are less expensive, but dry out faster, while tube paints are ideal for covering large areas, and are useful if you paint often. Some artists recommend you start with a warm and cool version of each primary color, which allows for mixing the other colors you need. There are many other color suggestions, but this depends on the individual.

Paper:  Watercolor paper comes in rough, hot-press, and cold-press. Rough paper is textured, hot-press is smooth and slick, and cold-press is in-between and slightly textured, and usually best for beginners. Paper comes in sheets or blocks, and sheets must be stretched to minimize rippling and warping.

Other Materials:  Most pan watercolors come with a palette. For tube paints you can use any palette, but a covered one will keep your paints from drying out. You may also benefit from a drawing pencil, kneaded eraser, and a few odds and ends such as a spray bottle, sponge, paper towels, and whatever else makes your painting experience the most rewarding.

As you work, you will quickly discover which paints, papers, brushes, and other materials work best for you. The best thing to do for beginning artists is to dive right in, and enjoy the learning process!

When it comes to buying art supplies, we’re luckier than the Old Masters because we can buy everything ready-made, ready to use and we have far more choice. What hasn’t changed is the importance of being particular about the art materials you use, opting for quality rather than quantity. Tubes of paint you know are full of pigment, not just a little stretched with filler. Paper that doesn’t yellow or have spotty sizing. A brush whose hairs stay firmly in place and shape. By using top-quality art materials, you make the most of your artistic skill and creativity.

Even if you are already using top-notch materials, it’s worth periodically checking to see what’s new. It's not every day that you will discover a product such as Winsor & Newton’s Artists' Acrylic which introduced a totally reformulated acrylic, but innovations and improvements happen all the time.  For instance, Winsor & Newton now has three versions of traditional lead-based white for oil painters. 

The right brush for the painting

Hog-hair, sable-hair, squirrel-hair, synthetic fibers, mixed fibers... filbert, flat, round, mop, fan, rigger... long handle or short. There are so many variations to something as fundamental to painting as a brush. Everyone has their favorite, the one that’s just right for your painting style. But familiarity puts you into a comfort zone; you know what you can do with the brush and if you’re not careful, the brush dictates how you’re painting.
Try a different shape of brush and see what it does to your mark-making in the paint.

Try a different type of hair and see how it works with the paint. A rigger brush for delicate lines longer than you’d think possible, or a mop for wonderfully watery washes. And if your memories of synthetic-hair brushes date from when they first came onto the market, give them another go as you’re in for a pleasant surprise.

If you look after a top-quality brush well, it may even outlast you, whereas a poorly made brush will frustrate you by leaving hairs in the paint and soon end up unused in a jar on the shelf. What you’re after is a brush that will hold the paint within the hairs and let the paper gently pull it from the brush rather than it all slide off the instant you touch the surface. As well as a brush that is balanced in your hand, not top- or bottom-heavy. The ferrule won’t rust or loosen. The varnish doesn’t flake off the handle. Hairs don’t fall out or instantly splay in all directions.   

When you look at the Rolls Royce of sable brushes, such as a Winsor & Newton Series 7 brush, you’ll notice it has an exceptionally fine point. That’s because it’s made from different length hairs, carefully arranged to have longer ones around the fatter belly of the brush and tapering to a point. Put a little pressure on the brush to paint a thicker line, lift up and the hairs spring back to the point, enabling you to paint fine detail without swapping to another brush.

If you do have to replace a quality brush, the new one will respond like the old. With poorly made brushes that wear out rapidly, you have to keep buying a new one and learn its idiosyncrasies all over again. You’re spending time mastering a tool – again – rather than developing a painting.
Next time you looking at brushes, don’t think of it as simply “this brush costs X and that one Y” but analyze what you’re getting for the price. The quality and selection of the hairs, the construction, how many miles you’re going to get out of it, what it might add to your painting technique and style.

Student paints and artist’s quality paints

There are many different types of oil paint and at the bottom end of the market, those of a poorer quality have so little pigment that they can be difficult to paint with. Above this you get cheap student paint, and above this you get the student or hobbyist lines produced by the reputable brands. These student paints can even be better than what some manufacturer’s sell as affordable artist’s quality.

Buying a reputable brand means you can know the colours aren’t going to fade or produce peculiar colour mixes, that there’s a decent amount of pigment in the tube and it’s been properly formulated.  

Winsor & Newton’s affordable brands -- Galeria (acrylics), Cotman (water colours), and Winton (oils) -- all offer an array of colours that will have anyone painting contently. But WINSOR & NEWTON’s artist’s ranges give access to far more; to the full range of pigments, traditional and modern, the full extent of the strength and subtlety of colour available to artists today. Learn with student paints, and then step it up a notch and move up to artist’s quality paint.   

For an in-depth look at how to judge what you’re getting in a tube of paint, read The quality of your oil colour by Emma Pearce, former technical expert for Winsor & Newton. It’s about oil paints, but the key information applies across all mediums.

Quality in the foundation

The best paints in the world aren’t any good if what you apply it to isn’t going to last or yellows. With canvas, some of the problems encountered are easy to spot. Stretchers that aren’t put together square or so thin they’ve warped. Canvas not stretched tightly enough or pulled skew so the grain is distorted. Canvas with a coarse weave that will overwhelm fine detail. Unsightly folds at corners. 

Other issues are less easy to spot, such as uneven priming. I’ve even encountered a canvas where acrylic paint simply wouldn’t stick in one spot. I had to sand it down and prime it again.

If you’re using oil paint, look for canvas that is double or triple primed or buy unprimed canvas and apply several layers of gesso yourself. Several layers of gesso helps stiffen the fibers in a canvas, reducing movement and flexibility, thus protecting the paint. Gesso also protects the canvas from the oil in the paint. Acrylics are more flexible, so it’s less of a concern unless you’re using thick layers of paint or texture paste.

Paper needs to be acid free or it will deteriorate and yellow over time. Few of us are going to check a paper declaring itself to be acid free is indeed so, relying on the integrity of the manufacturer. Similarly, you can't see the sizing in a paper, but once you put brush to paper you experience it. A quality paper will have the same level of internal and surface sizing, so you can rely on it responding consistently. Poorly sized paper can lead to paint spreading unexpectedly. One small spot on a sheet of paper is all it takes to ruin a watercolour painting.

Once you've found a paper you enjoy using, why might you change it? There's the new-on-the-market aspect, the greener-credentials papers, and the stuck-in-a-rut factor. If you only ever use what you know, what might you be missing out on, what paintings might you not create by changing the materials you’re using?

A heavier weight paper isn’t simply a thicker version of a thinner one with the sole benefit that you don't have to stretch it before painting on it. Try it and you'll feel it responds differently, it’s more resilient. With graphite, for instance, a thicker paper will more readily take additional layers. You can leave the paper for a bit to 'relax', then apply more on top. If you’re lifting colour off to fix a mistake in a watercolour, there’s less risk of disturbing the surface of the paper.  


Don’t forget mediums

If you’ve never used anything but oil and turps for oil paints or water for acrylics and watercolours, then you’ve been missing out. How about adding a bit of texture medium to watercolour? Or a sparkle to colours with iridescent medium? Deliberately making the pigment dry uneven with granulation medium? Slow the drying time?

With oil paint, there are mediums for speeding up the drying time, for making it easier to blend without brush marks, for adding body (impasto). With acrylic paint the range is even larger, including mediums to facilitate glazing, make the paint more matt or gloss, or slow the drying time, as well as all sorts of texture mediums for extra body and surface textures such as glass beads.

Getting an easel

Few things feel more like a commitment to creating art in the long term than getting an easel. If you’ve been in an art class with battered tripod easels that wobble however you stand them, struggled to adjust wing nuts or tighten them so your painting doesn’t slide down as you’re working, then you probably won’t need persuading to buy a sturdy, h-frame one with a ratchet so it’s easy to adjust. If it seems an expense you can’t really justify, divide the cost over the years you’ll use it, probably the rest of your life...

Check the largest size canvas it’ll take and whether your ceiling is high enough for the easel at its maximum extension if you like painting standing up. Check the mechanism for adjusting is easy to use and, if it’s on castors, that these are easy to lock. If an easel wobbles or is a pain to adjust, you won’t use it and may as well chop it up for firewood. If an easel is sturdy enough to withstand vigorous brushwork and simple to adjust, the joy of using it will be reflected in your art. Once you get over the horror the first time you get paint on your lovely new easel, that is.

I recommend taking a look at Winsor & Newton’s Shannon and Welland studio easels.
 

Don’t get stuck in an artistic rut

It’s easy to find excuses for sticking with what you know, for not trying art materials other than what you’re now using or using better quality paint. Take the initiative and discover for yourself how much more you can achieve with top-of-the-range art materials and experiment with new products. You won’t be the first to discover that it is true you can use less good quality paint to achieve more than you can with loads of inferior paint.

Marion Boddy-Evans is an artist and writer who now lives on the Isle of Skye. She paints mostly with acrylics, but regularly gives herself a creative boost by using other mediums too. Marion also writes About.com:Painting.

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