Terry Krysak Artworks

el Diablo Chocolate Final Printing

2011-11-25T15:09:00.001-08:00

This is a scan of the actual business card for my friend in Whistler, we picked them up from the printer this afternoon. It is a bit different than my original design, as I was unable to provide the printer with a large enough file, so they had to recreate it from a printed copy.

So why? I did my original design in MS Word using WordArt, the bad news appears to be that you cannot save the image from Word into a usable image for the printing shop. If anyone has a solution to that please let me know.

The solution for any future commercial art projects is to use the proper software program.
I downloaded a free open source alternative to Adobe Illustrator called Inkscape. So far it is a challenge to figure out, but they have a number of tutorials built into Help, so will have to spend some time in the learning curve.

Please let me know what you think

My client wants to tweak it a bit on the next order of labels and business cards.

I am very happy with the final result, it pops off the page, electric. And my friend is getting orders for her chocolates, so please wish her much success, she deserves it

el Diablo Chocolate

2011-11-23T12:28:00.001-08:00

Here is the business card that I designed for a friend in Whistler BC who is just starting up a new business. I don't often do commercial artwork, but she needed my help.

I got lucky and came up with something I was happy with right away. I like the simplicity, and it goes with the color of packaging that will hold the chocolates that are made from Fair Trade Dark Chocolate and nuts.

Front Label

Back Label

I am just waiting to view the proofs, and if everything is fine, the cards and labels will be ready on Friday for pickup.

I got a very good quote on this project from Presto Print Ltd, in Richmond BC.

Vancouver Portrait Lovers Week #6

2011-09-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

This lovely lady shares so much of herself with us. This I feel was my best shot of the day, what a smile, too much. View my other photos on Vancouver Portrait Lovers Week #6.

Vancouver Portrait Lovers Week #3

2011-07-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

This week we met at Granville Island here in Vancouver which is one of my favorite spots on the planet.

There is so much to see and do at this wonderful venue. Again we were fortunate to have two lovely models to take photos of, and this one was my best of the day. So hard to choose only one, you can see the others at http://www.meetup.com/vancouverportraitlovers/photos/2605941/

For those interested in joining the meet up, they are now charging $10.00 per meet up to participate.

Lots of fun, good people, and some professional photographers that are happy to share.

Cheers

Terry

Vancouver Portrait Lovers Week 2

2011-07-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

Week 2 of the Vancouver Portrait Lovers meetup was again a very rewarding experience. I was fortunate not only to meet more great people, but we were blessed with some great models who helped us make the afternoon a success at Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver BC.

This lovely Ukrainian lady is Annasttasey, from Russia. She delighted us with several hundred brilliant poses during the afternoon. This was one of the best ones out of 400 shots.

Vancouver Portrait Lovers

2011-07-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

Nadia
Copyright Terry Krysak 2011

I joined the Vancouver Portrait Lovers meet up group, and we gathered together at Canada place yesterday for our first meeting, and photo shoot. We were very lucky in that two lovely ladies were kind enough to model for us on a beautiful sunny day.

I joined this meet up group because I wanted to perhaps get better at photography, and to meet some new people.

The photo above was my best one of 700 photos taken. I can't believe I took 700 photos, too much.

The shot was taken with a Nikon D70 with telephoto lens, from a distance of about 10 to 15 feet from the subject.

I had a great time with the group, it was so much fun. If you live in the lower mainland, you might want to join the meetup group and join us.

279 Days To Overnight Success

2010-11-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

Let me start off with a Question. When is the last time that you read something, and could not stop reading it until you finished it completely, soaking up and absorbing every word?

For me it was yesterday when I came across a remarkable "Manifesto" by Chris Guillebeau called 279 Days To Overnight Success, on his website "The Art Of Non-Conformity".

There is an ocean of hype on the internet about Blogging, Marketing, and get rich schemes on the internet these days, and I am confident that if you make the effort to read 279 Days, you will get the straight facts on how to take your project from idea to success within a reasonable amount of time.

Without going into a long, detailed, and perhaps boring review of what he has written, let me just say that I was;

Inspired
Invigorated
Motivated

after reading his remarkable views and sound advice on taking your next project to a successful outcome.

So head on over and read 279 Days To Overnight Success. You can download it for FREE.

Would love to hear what you think after reading it, please feel free to leave a comment.

Cheers
Terry

Value And The Wyeths, A Lecture By Genevieve Davis

2010-10-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is a fine lecture on the works of NC Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and James Wyeth that focuses on a discussion of how these artists have used the concept of value in their paintings. Special thanks to Keith Bond for sending a tweet out about this. @BondArtist

I enjoyed this very much particularly because she shows some works of Andrew Wyeth that I had never seen before. I just love his work, and became a great fan of his when I was a teenager and discovered his work in an art book my parents had.

You can view more of her videos at medievalartrat on her YouTube channel.

On the same subject you may want to check out another blog I discovered by Clive Powsey that documents a 5 day watercolor workshop he did last year. This link will take you to the blog post about doing a Value Study in watercolor that I found quite useful. You will have to scroll down to the bottom for the post "Class One: Painting A Still Life With Boxes...".

If you want to go through the lessons once you reach the page in the link above, click on "Older Posts" to go to the very beginning of the course.

WJ Phillips, 1970 Exhibition

2010-07-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

York Boat On Lake Winnipeg 1930

Watercolor Woodcut Print

Image Courtesy David Duffin

I first saw the Watercolor Woodcuts of WJ Phillips in 1970 at a traveling exhibition of his work hosted by the Hudson's Bay Company. My cherished handbook with a biographical sketch of Walt has been kept safe in well worn condition.

I thought you might enjoy taking a look at it as it gives some insight into his life and provides a good read about his mastery of the watercolor woodcut print method in the Ukiyo-e Japanese style of printing..

WJ Phillips Show 1970

Visit the Walter J. Phillips Website.

More On Walter J. Phillips

Pink Rose Cluster Photograph

2010-07-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

Pink Rose Cluster

Buy A Print

I wandered down to my neighbors yard last week to take some photos of the Rose Bush growing in their yard.

Not wanting to be a nuisance, I knocked on their door and asked them for permission to take some shots, and they were kind enough to say yes.

This was taken in the late afternoon around 5:00 pm with my Nikon DSLR which is turning out to be my favorite camera for taking photos. I also used the telephoto lens for the shot.

Watercolor Demonstration by Bob Krysak

2010-07-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Vermillion Lakes Autumn-Canadian Rockies

9" x 12" on Stretched Canvas

$200.00

My brother Bob Krysak has been trying out painting watercolors on pre-stretched canvas panels sold at Opus Framing, and he documented the process in a recent post on his blog.

If you would like to purchase the original painting, you can contact him at bkrysak@gmail.com or visit Bob Krysak Watercolors.

I copied the information into a Word document, and then converted it to a PDF document using PDF Creator free software. After that I uploaded it into Scribd a free service, that allows you to embed the document into your blog post on any blogging platform.

So here is the demonstration as shown below.

Vermillion Lakes Watercolor Demonstration by Bob Krysak

Frances Gearhart-Brilliant Color Block Print Artist

2010-07-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

Austerity 1936

11.75" x 11"

Image Courtesy Harold Leitenburg PhD

This is another in a series I call My Favorite Artists, and in particular my fascination with the color block printing process.

Frances Gearhart (1869-1958) was an American artist born in Sagetown Illinois and was the eldest of three sisters all of whom were artists. When her family moved to Pasadena California, she attended the State Normal School (now UCLA) got her degree and spent much of her adult life teaching elementary school for several years.

Although she was a self taught artist, she spent a number of summers studying art with Charles H. Woodbury, and Henry R. Poore. In the early years she spent most of her time working with watercolors, but later on she mastered the art of the color block printing process and continued with that for the rest of her career.

The most interesting aspect of her color block printing for me is that she used oil paint as the pigment for printing which I find fascinating. Each color was painted on the block (one block for each color) with a dry brush, and then the impression was taken, and the block had to be repainted again and again for each subsequent print. Although she used wood blocks for some of her prints, it is documented that she favored the linoleum block over the wood for most of her print runs.

She was a very prolific print maker, and was considered a pioneer in the American color printing movement. I can only imagine how she painted the oil paint on the color blocks in the above example to illustrate the blending of colors in a very soft and mellow manner. I find her work to be not only exquisite, but very inspiring and very pleasing to the eye.

For a free ebook on the color block printing process, you can view it in a previous post of mine titled Japanese Watercolor Woodcut Print-Free Ebook.

If you have any information on using oil paints for color block printing, please email me, and I will gladly update this post with the information.

You can view more images of her work on the Frances Gearhart Website.

The Study Of Color-What Every Artist Needs To Know

2010-06-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

Image Source Wikimedia Commons

Public Domain & GNU Free Documentation License GFDL

Although we spent a great deal of time in Art School studying color in first year, I must admit I have forgotten probably half of what I learned, and now that I am back engaged in painting I find myself in "study" mode once again, in order to improve the quality of my paintings.

So here is a quick post on some resources that I have been introduced to lately that I think will help artists in general to build upon their knowledge of the subject and hopefully provide some useful resources that you can come back to and rely on now and in the future.

This first link is to a website called The Dimensions Of Colour by David Briggs that is probably the ultimate resource in understanding the technical nature of the principles of color in a comprehensive fact filled manner with outstanding color illustrations.

Index Of The Dimensions Of Colour with links

Part 1: Introduction Starting with Colours in Space.
Part 2: Basics of Light and Shade
Part 3: Some Basics of Colour Vision
Part 4: Additive Colour Mixing
Part 5: Subtractive Colour Mixing
Part 6: Colour Mixing with Paint
Part 7: Hue
Part 8: Lightness and Chroma
Part 9: Brightness and Saturation
Part10: Principles of Colour for Painters

The above information is very detailed and will take you some time to get through, if you want to start off with something a bit less detailed, visit the
Free Color Painting Lessons by Richard Robinson.

Below are some book titles on color theory you might be interested in.

Colour: A Handbook of the Theory of Colour by George Henry Hurst
Goethe's Theory of Colours by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Colour Dynamics Workbook Step by Step Guide to Water Colour Painting by Angela Lord
Theory of Colours by the MIT Press

If you find any other useful information on color theory, please comment and I will update this post, take a look at the link, and post it into this resource.

Japanese Watercolor Woodcut Print-Free Ebook

2010-06-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Hirosige Utagawa 1797-1858

100 views of Edo, #35

Image Source Wikimedia Commons Public Domain

I wanted to write again about Japanese Watercolor Woodcut prints because it is one of my favorite forms of art, and it was a complicated process which involved a great deal of craftsmanship as well as artistic talent.

Japanese Prints are a wonderful artform that depicted life in Japan and made art more affordable to the average person.

While reading about an American woodcut artist, I came across an ebook that was written by F. Morley Fletcher that describes in great detail the whole process of how to create the watercolor woodcut print from start to finish. There are a number of examples of prints in the book as well as hand drawn illustrations of the many tools and methods that are used.

Although the book was created in 1916, it is well written and very concise with regards to the materials, and the processes the artist must go through in order to complete a series of satisfactory prints.

You can read the contents of the entire ebook below or you can download the entire book for free from the Gutenberg Project location.

More of my posts about the Watercolor Woodcut
Ukiyo-e The Art of Japanese Woodcut Printmaking
W.J. Phillips Master Of The Watercolor Woodcut

Wood Block Printing

Is YouTube An Artform?

2010-06-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Well guess what, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City thinks that it is, and you have until July 31, 2010 to submit your video for consideration for the museum's showcase of the most exceptional and creative video in the entire world.

It sounds very much like YouTube Play will consider any type of video either new, or created within the last two years and there does not appear to be any type of restriction on what the content of the video is, it is left up to the creative talents of film makers, animators, and pretty much anyone who has access to a video camera. Only one submission per person will be considered.

In YouTube's words, they are looking for something different, Not what's now, but what's next.
We all know how YouTube videos often go viral around the world, and here is your chance to let your creative juices flow, and perhaps make the cut for the top 25 videos that are chosen.

Walt Drohan-Artistic Genius And Brilliant Teacher

2010-06-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Sunderland AB-A DD862 Oil Painting

by Walt Drohan 1933-2007

Image Courtesy of Castle Archdale

This is another post in my series of My Favorite Artists, and the influence this artist had on my life.

At the start of my second year at the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD) we moved into a brand new building which was an enormous improvement over our first year of taking classes in various locations and rooms on the SAIT campus including some that were held in very old quonset huts.

The high point of second year was that the head of the Ceramics department, Walt Drohan, was supervising the construction of a large kiln that he designed, and we were able to view the entire process from the ground up which was an experience that one would not normally have when taking a ceramics course.

Walt was a brilliant instructor who shared all of his knowledge, holding nothing back, and we always had full attendance in class when it was known that he would be teaching us at various times throughout the year. One of my fondest memories was when he gave us our first watercolor lesson. My original intent of going to art school was to be a watercolor artist, and I managed to convince him that watercolor and brush work to me was very important with respect to applying designs on pottery, and lucky for me he agreed.

Walt was born in Calgary in 1933 and became passionate about art at a young age, attending the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, and after completing this program he continued graduate studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Flint Michigan, returning to Canada in 1957.

His artistic career attracted numerous awards, including the Senior Canada Council Grant, many private commissions, and he exhibited his Ceramics and Paintings in a number of galleries across Canada. As a teacher he was very kind and thoughtful, and was able to impart knowledge in a way that was inspiring on one hand, and also acted as a catalyst to creative development on the other hand. Near the end of his teaching career he became the Dean of ACAD and left a strong, vibrant, creative college for future generations to come.

I just love the oil painting of the Sunderland shown above, and truly was not aware of his painting genius until hearing of his passing in 2007. My searching of the net for information on him informed me that he was an avid aviation buff, and that he also created numerous landscape paintings of the Alberta prairie environment.

Here is a list of some links that I have found that I hope will help you to appreciate his legacy and share with others the impact that he had on the history of Canadian artists.

Triangle Gallery-Walt Drohan Images.

Walt Drohan On Artnet

Walt Drohan On Hodgins Auctions

Contemporary Aboriginal Art

2010-05-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

Salish Box

Artist Unknown

About a month ago I was visiting a friend in Birken, and he was given this gift from a mutual friend in Mount Currie. Our mutual friend Ken purchased the box as a gift from a native carver from the Mount Currie Band.

However he did not remember the name of the carver, which is a shame as it would be nice to give credit where credit is due.

The box appears to be made of pine, and I just love the intricate designs on the box and the masterful manner in which the designs are painted on the box.

The cover depicts a Thunderbird design and for me is the best part of the box which is a modern day representation of Salish Art.

Salish Art

Laureen McMullan-Remarkable Expressive Paintings

2010-03-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

Oryx

I recently connected with another artist who was in my class at The Alberta College of Art & Design and wanted to share her work with you in another post about My Favorite Artists.

After graduation Laureen set up her own pottery studio, and worked very hard at that until it became very difficult to maintain that business due to market conditions, and the general decline in the pottery market which made it impossible to continue. At that point, Laureen decided to devote more time to painting in Acrylics, and has produced an impressive portfolio of work. Her paintings have been added to collections around the world, and she has had her work in numerous shows over the years.

I chose to use the word "Expressive" in the title for this post because that is the one of the words that comes to my mind when I have thought about her. For me her expressive nature comes through big time in her paintings, and her subject matter is varied, and her feelings radiate through the paint and canvas as she takes us through the journey of what is important to her.

I hope that you will take this opportunity to view the work of this award winning artist on her website Laureenart, and enjoy the many works she has created with such mastery. Many of her works are available as well as cards and Giclee prints.

Marketing For Artists-Run Your Own TV Ad For An Affordable Price

2010-03-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

If you are an artist, and you have a budget for some advertising, how would you like to create your own ad for TV and be able to run it on national TV within your budget at an affordable cost? For those of you who answered yes, read on.

Leave it to Google Adwords to come up with something new, Google TV Ads that allows you to upload your own TV ad promoting your product, and Google will have it run on the TV networks that you choose, at the time that you choose, and you can begin by entering at the start the budget that you have available for your Ad campaign. This is an amazing idea when you think of it, I mean how many people in general can afford to run an Ad on TV let alone an Artist?

The video above is self explanatory, and was created by Seth Stevenson, who set up a goofy self produced video, and created a website for people to click on in order to track how many visitors could be attracted to the website.

OK, so how did I come across this information? I have been studying Internet Marketing for almost two years now, and have been following a very successful Internet marketer by the name of Frank Kern, and clicking on his name will take you to one of his websites where you can sign up for free, and get all kinds of free cutting edge solutions on building a successful Internet Business. I am not an affiliate for any of Frank's programs, and I won't make a dime from linking to him, but he gives away a bunch of good stuff.

So for you Artists out there looking for more ways to draw traffic to your blog or website, this might be something useful to look into.

Jim Speers-Exquisite Pottery

2010-03-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

High Fired White Stoneware Jar

This is another post in my series of My Favorite Artists and today I want to introduce you to Jim Speers, a fantastic potter that I went to art school with.

I attended the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1971, and Jim and I met on the first day when we were put into groups of home room classes, and we became friends right away. I wanted to become a painter, and Jim was interested in taking pottery. In first year we did everything, drawing, painting, print making, pottery, and sculpture.

I found out early on that they did not teach Watercolor, and I was not fond of the work of the painting instructors, and did not want to take commercial art either. So after much thought, discussion with classmates and a fair amount of "wringing of hands" I decided to take pottery as well because they had excellent instructors, and I knew that it would be a great learning experience.

Jim moved back to Edmonton Alberta after college, and eventually set up his own pottery studio, and now creates a wide variety of production pieces, and one of a kind pottery works of art.

Without question in my mind, Jim has grown into a master potter and his work is truly exquisite. I love his attention to detail, and his designs are just beautiful and inspiring with a brilliant expression of form, shape and design.

Jim is also an avid photographer, creates 3D imagery, and spends some time building websites as well.

So if you are interested in pottery, I invite you to visit his website Jim Speers Pottery and take some time to view and enjoy his amazing works.

View Of Mount Rundle From Vermillion Lakes

2010-01-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

Mount Rundle, Banff, Alberta, Canada

Buy A Quality Print

I visited my brother and his family for Christmas in 2009, and had a wonderful time over the holidays, with wonderful friends, lots of good cheer and plenty of fantastic food.

On December 23rd we went to our favorite photo taking spot in Banff to get some shots of Mount Rundle, which is probably the most photographed mountain in Banff National Park.

It was -21C on that day, very cold and crisp, and the photo was taken in the late afternoon as the sun was close to setting. I managed to capture the glow of the afternoon light, and the colors were just wonderful.

This was taken with my trusty Canon Powershot.

Sunshine Coast Memories Watercolor Painting

2009-12-19T03:28:00.000-08:00

5" x 5"

Watercolor Painting

On AcQuerello Watercolor Paper

Buy A Postcard

This is the final painting of four that I have completed as Christmas presents for this year. It feels good to get this accomplished

This again is done in the style of Ukiyo-e which I enjoy very much. The painting was mostly done with Derwent Watercolor Pencils, and finished with Winsor and Newton watercolors.

On another note, It just came to me that this blog is now one year old. It has been quite an enjoyable experience, and I want to thank everyone who has visited.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and good health and success in the New Year.

View From The Ferry Watercolor Painting

2009-12-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

6" x 4"

Watercolor Painting

Buy A Print

This is painting number three of four paintings I am doing for Christmas presents. One of a series of paintings from photos of my trip to Gibson's BC on the Horseshoe Bay/Langdale Ferry last summer.

This one was also done with Derwent Watercolor Pencils. I quite enjoy using this medium, they are easy to control and the set my brother gave me has a fair number of colors to choose from.

I think in the future I will do some more paintings with the pencils using Watercolor Board which has an ultra smooth surface.

Langdale To Horseshoe Bay Watercolor Painting

2009-12-17T22:05:00.000-08:00

6" x 4.5"

Watercolor Painting

Buy A Print

This is the second of four paintings that I am doing for Christmas presents. This is also done in the style of Ukiyo-e, and part of a series of paintings based on the views from my ferry trip to Gibson's BC in July of this year.

This was quite a challenge as I was using a cheaper Watercolor Block, and it wrinkled up quite a bit when I was putting in the wash for the sky.

My solution was to try out the set of Derwent Watercolor Pencils that my brother gave me last summer. I must admit I feel more comfortable using drawing medium than I do painting. Once the color was laid in, it was easy to apply a water wash and blend the colors in. Additional layers of color were added after the paint was dry.

You might want to give the Derwent Watercolor Pencils a try.

Amazon Integrates With Google Blogger

2009-12-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

Hot off the press, you can now integrate Amazon with Blogger which is a great idea which means that you do not have to open up a new window and log into your Amazon Affiliate account to get links and banners to advertise products that you wish to sell on your blog and get and Affiliate commission for.

The best thing of all is that it is easy, just log into your Blogger account, click on Layout, then Monetise, and choose Amazon Associates as shown in the image above.

If you already are an Amazon Associate, just enter your unique ID provided by Amazon click the setup button and it is done.

Once complete, it adds a Amazon Associates Search Box to the right of the post entry area which is searchable.

So if you want to link to "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain", just highlight those words and click GO in the search box for the Amazon link for that product and a link with text, image, or image and text is inserted as you see here.

What a fantastic idea, which will save me a huge amount of time.

Well done Amazon and Blogger.

Sunshine Coast Watercolor Painting-Ukiyo-e

2009-12-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

4" x 4" Watercolor Painting
On Acquerello Watercolor Paper
Buy A Print

I am in a mad rush to get four watercolor paintings complete for Christmas presents, and this is the first one. Only three left to go and time is running out.

I wanted to do something in the style of Ukiyo-e, that I love very much, and this is my first attempt at this. However there is only one copy, and not a series of prints.

The subject matter is from one of the photos I took on a ferry trip to Gibson's BC from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. This is a fantastic trip, as the ferry travels up through Howe Sound and arrives on the Sunshine Coast.

Kindle For Your PC-Free Download

2009-12-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

Image Courtesy Of Amazon

Christmas came early today, as I just discovered that Amazon has released Kindle for PC that you can download for free by clicking Kindle for PC.

However I am always interested in FREE stuff, and I jumped on this one, just downloaded the software, and it works just fine.

There are also a good number of Kindle books available online also for FREE. How good is that? I did a quick Google search and found a few resources which have links to Kindle books for free, and downloaded a copy of the Bible and it all worked just fine. The whole process took about 15 minutes to complete.

Like many people, I prefer to curl up with a good Book or Paperback and read for hours, and have done that for years. However my budget does not allow me to buy many of the books I would like to have, so free books are not a bad option until that changes. As well I have a 22" flat screen monitor now which makes reading online much easier.

I also think the Kindle product is an excellent option for the person who travels a lot, or for students, or even if you are in the kitchen, and want to try out a new recipe. There are all kinds of advantages to having Kindle, and the number of books available online will explode in time with the advancement of this technology.

Here is one resource for a list of free Kindle books, Kindle Kevin, Free Books To Read On Your Kindle 2.

After going to some of the links I chose Free Kindle Books from the list, and downloaded the Bible.

For those of you who want the real Kindle which is nice and small and portable for travel click on the Amazon link below.

Makes a great Christmas gift.

New Winsor & Newton Field Plus Set

2009-11-18T16:23:00.001-08:00

At 9.9 ounces, this new Field Set from Winsor & Newton is a complete re-design of the original Field Box that I bought in 1981, and that I still use. The design is ingenious, and is the perfect companion for plein air painting, will fit in your pocket when you are on your travels, and also perfect for the studio.

Made of durable plastic, it contains two slide out mixing trays, top and bottom, a brush, two mixing cups, a plastic bottle that holds 60 ml of water, and 12 Cotman Watercolor Pans.

With no messy tubes of paint to contend with, the watercolor cakes (pans) last a long time, I still have not needed to replace any of my pans in my set after much use. You can also buy a wide assortment of extra pans of your favorite colors, and mix and match as you go.

And best of all, the price is half of what I paid for the original Winsor & Newton Field Box.

This is the perfect gift for you, or the artist in your family.

Elizabeth Gilbert: A New Way To Think About Creativity

2009-11-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

This is too good not to share, and a big thank you to Marlene Hargreaves for posting it on Facebook.

Elizabeth Gilbert author of Eat Pray Love gives a wonderful talk about Genius, and how this aspect of creativity has become a burden on artists ever since the birth of the Renaissance.

Her research across history brought her to the teachings of the ancient Greeks and Romans who believed that creativity was a divine attendant spirit that came to human beings from some distant unknowable source, and did not come from human beings themselves.

Her talk is insightful, humorous and full of knowledge of not only the source of creativity but shares some wonderful stories about how and when creativity comes through the artist.

For some this may sound radical, for me I am overjoyed that another wonderful soul living on the planet at the same time as me has confirmed something I have always believed in.

Milton Glaser Draws and Lectures

2009-11-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

MILTON GLASER DRAWS & LECTURES from C. Coy on Vimeo.

Here is a great short video by Miton Glaser where he speaks about the importance of your ability to draw if you are pursuing any kind of artistic endeavor. Thanks to Jo Castillo for sharing this link on her blog.

This takes me back to my first year in art school in 1971 where we were required to attend two full days of drawing each week throughout that year. We had two different instructors and class one was for realistic, tight drawing where we set up still life, or had models, or sometimes had to draw from memory. Photographs and using a ruler were never allowed.

The second class was for expressive drawing where we were always chastised for tight mechanical drawings and always encouraged to loosen up and be more expressive.

In order to complete the hand in assignments for each class I had to draw every day throughout the 7 days of the week which was not a bad thing. We also were required to use many types of medium such as conte, chalk, and inks as well as charcoal, pencil, and sometimes even ball point pen or a brush.

The point here is that if you can draw well, you an do almost anything when it comes to art. Drawing truly is the foundation of all good artworks.

One of the books we were required to buy in first year was Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain which in my opinion is the best book ever written on the subject. Betty Edwards goes through a good deal of very good exercises to do that will make you better at drawing, and is well worth getting.

Safety-What Every Artist Should Be Concerned About

2009-11-11T16:48:00.000-08:00

Half Mask Air Purifying Respirator
Image Source Wikimedia
Public Domain

Nothing in this article should be considered as medical advice. However in my last job, one of the hats that I wore was Safety Specialist where I was knowledgeable in WHMIS (Canada) HMIS (US) TDG, and researched and purchased a wide variety of personal protection products on a regular basis.

One of the common comments I hear from artists who paint in Oils is the odor of Mineral Spirits which most oil painters use on a regular basis. Many choose to use odorless Mineral Spirits which are less harmful, but lets face it you are still breathing the vapors whether you smell them or not.

Mineral spirits of any kind contain Aromatic Hydrocarbons, a basic solvent. Acute or Chronic exposure to breathing the vapors in an environment which is not well ventilated can cause headache, dizziness and in extreme cases has an effect on the nervous system similar to a state of narcosis.

Some artists also believe that a simple dust mask will protect them against inhalation of the vapors given off by Mineral Spirits, but this is a false belief. A dust mask does not conform to the face, which allows the vapors to enter at the sides of the mask or under the chin. The only dust mask that might be adequate is the North N95 mask which has a form fitting foam core that provides a tighter fit.

The better option for your personal protection particularly if you are doing any burning where fumes are created, such as burning designs on a gourd, is to use either a full face, or a half mask air purifying respirator as shown in the image at the beginning of this post.

The air purifying respirator particularly with the silicone face piece fits snugly on the face (clean shaven, no beards allowed), and prevents the inhalation of harmful vapors, and is a very affordable personal protection device.

The hard reality however is that the air purifying respirator is not exactly comfortable to wear, and many would choose not to wear it.

The best solution with regard to mineral spirits, is to not use them at all. After all, oil painters hundreds of years ago managed to work with oil paints without the use of any kind of solvents. An excellent article on this subject can be found by clicking this link Oil Painting Without Solvents. I decided recently to start painting in oils, and I have bought some walnut oil, and will try to avoid solvents as I find that I am sensitive to them.

The best practice is to read the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) which the vendor must supply on demand at time of purchase. Or you can find the MSDS for pretty much any kind of hazardous product on the Internet.

So in closing, take precautions and protect your health from the hazardous products that you might be using.

Below are a couple of quick links where you can purchase a respirator online at a reasonable cost.

North Half Mask Respirator

North N95 Particulate Mask

How To Mix Colors For Oils And Acrylic Paints

2009-10-21T15:51:00.001-07:00

Here is a great video clip for a book devoted to how to mix colors for oils and acrylics with a sure fire practical method. The video shows how you can easily find a color by looking at an index of subject matter such as the color of hay for instance.

In the book there is a piece of plastic with a measuring guide printed on it that allows you to measure out a precise amount of paint onto a plastic sheet which is defined by the mixtures of the particular color that you have chosen.

Now that I am venturing into the challenge of painting in oils, this book has become a must buy in order to avoid wasting paint in guessing at the mixture when I am choosing a particular color to paint.

I am buying my copy today, what a wonderful idea for the artist's tool box.

For more information on color mixing read my post on How To Make Your Own Color Chart

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Bob Krysak-Awesome Watercolor Artist

2009-10-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Vermillion-Watercolor Painting
10" x 14"
(C) Bob Krysak

This is another post in my series of "My Favorite Artists", and I wanted to introduce you to a watercolor artist I have known for 55 years. If you have not already guessed, he is my brother.

We were both influenced by our father, who dabbled in oil paints from time to time throughout our lives. We both started drawing and painting when we were young boys.

Although I wanted to write about him months ago, it was not until a few weeks ago that Bob gave me the go ahead to set up a blog for him so that he was able to show his work to the world.

The watercolor Vermillion shown above is one of my favorite paintings that he has done. The view is of Mount Rundle, perhaps the most photographed mountain in Banff, Alberta where Bob lives and works. This spot at the edge of the Vermillion Lakes in Banff is one of our favorite spots to view Mount Rundle, and enjoy it throughout the seasons of the year.

I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do, and take the opportunity to visit his blog, Bob Krysak Watercolors and take a look at his work. You will not be disappointed.

Visit Bob Krysak Watercolors to see more of his work.

Vancouver Photo Of The Day-August Rose

2009-08-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

August Rose
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The Rose Garden is giving up it's delights every day which is sensational. I am trying really hard to get a good diffused background for these shots with the Nikon D70. Very happy with this shot, taken at 5:00 pm in shadow.

If you have been following, you will notice that this shot is the progression of the last post Friday Rosebud. It is amazing how much the flower grows in a short period of time.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Friday Rosebud

2009-07-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

Friday Rosebuds
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The Rose Garden gives up new delights every day. What a treat, I am really enjoying taking these macro shots. Especially on a hot sunny day here in Vancouver.

This was taken with a Nikon D70 DSLR with telephoto lens.

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How To Get More Visitors To Your Art Blog

2009-07-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

For the purpose of this post I am assuming that you have your blog set up, and you have registered with Feedburner so that you can add a RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and an email opt in section so that people can sign up for regular updates to your Blog.

If you have not done so already, sign with Google and get an account for free. I also suggest you sign up for a Goggle Gmail email account as well for free. You don't want your primary email address to show on your Blog because you will get more spam than you want to deal with.

The next thing I suggest is that you also sign up for IGoogle also for free. This allows you to put different applications such as Google Reader and Gmail on your personal page so that you can read blogs you may have signed up for, read your Gmail, and a whole bunch of other applications that they offer with this feature, again all for free.

OK here is a list of some of the ways that you can attract visitors to your Blog. This takes time, and you have to work at it and you will have to spend some time every day on this. It will take a few months before you start to get more visitors.

Comment On The Blog Posts Of Other Artists

I follow about 40 different artists who have blogs, and some times I will comment on a particular post because it interests me, I am responding to a poll, or I just want to make a positive comment about a particular piece of artwork.

However don't make a comment like "Gee great post", if the comments on the blog are moderated, the owner may consider those types of comments as spam, and not publish it. You want to provide a comment that is on topic, such as "I love this painting because of the vibrant colors you used". Many blogs have a section in their comments where you can put in the address of your Blog or Website, and someone reading your comment might be interested, and visit your Blog. This happens quite frequently, and is a proven way to attract visitors.

Register Your Blog Or Website With The Search Engines

It will take some time before your Blog will be looked at by the search engines and indexed, but this is something that you must do right away.

Register your Blog with Google.

Register your Blog with Yahoo.

Register your Blog with MSN.

Here is a link to a great post on how to do all of this by JTpratt, a blogger I have followed for a few years.

Register With Some Art Groups Or Forums

Art Groups and Forums are a great way to meet other artists and promote your work.

Join Wetcanvas for free, Registration Required.

Join Everyday Matters Yahoo Group, Registration Required.

Register Your Blog With Blog Directories

Registering with Blog directories is usually free, and will bring more visitors to your blog. They will often ask you to put their "Badge" on your website, and they provide the HTML that you can use to create a "Gadget" to add to your Blogger Blog.

Register with Blogged Directory

Register with Blogcatalog Directory

Register with BlogTopSites Directory

Register with Top Artists Directory

Link To Your Favorite Blogs By Putting A Link To Them On Your Blog

This is another great way to get some visitors. In the right hand column of my blog you will see links to the blogs that I like, and that I follow. This again is done very easily by creating a Gadget in Blogger. Sometimes Blogs you link to will reciprocate and link to you. Creative Spotlite which has a direct link to on my blog will add your blog to thier artist directory if you email them.

Some bloggers are very aggressive about this and ask for a reciprocal link right away. They believe you only get what you ask for. You might consider this if you are following a blog on a regular basis, and mention to the owner in an email that you have linked to them. I think it is best not to be too pushy about this. Remember that you are trying to provide more value to the readers of your blog.

Register With Social Networking Websites For Free

Another great way to get more visitors is to set up accounts with Social Networking Sites.

Register with Facebook

Register with Twitter

Register with Stumbleupon

Register with Digg

I have followed a few very successful Bloggers for over a year now, and some of them offer FREE Ebooks that you can download, and get a gigantic amount of information on Blogging and Marketing, and they are well worth reading. These Ebooks will give you all the information that you need to become a successful Blogger.

John Chow Free Ebook

Yaro Starak Free Ebook

SEO (Search Engine Optomization)

There is a ton of information on the Internet about SEO, and it is important because it gives you organic search results from the search engines which the search engines like, and they will rank your blog higher in page rank if you have a lot of organic search engine traffic.

Empty Easel Articles On SEO

And Last But Not Least, Give Away Something For Free

A number of artists have had success by giving away a greeting card or small print of their artowrk for free. You may have done some painting tutorials or something like that of value that you are prepared to give away for free if they sign up for your Blog.

Well, I have covered a fair number of items that I hope will be of some help to you in getting more visitors to your blog. Please feel free to add comments or ask questions.

Good Luck.

Why Every Artist Should Have A Blog

2009-07-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

I was watching Susan Carlin paint live on Ustream TV on Wednesday night, and a number of the viewers who were watching were asking questions about blogging, and how to get people to visit your blog.

In this post I will go into some detail on why to have a blog, and how to set one up for free using Google Blogger. Let me also say that it is easy, you don't have to be an expert computer user, all you have to do is to be able to follow simple instructions.

One thing I noticed after following blogging experts for over a year now is that most of the experts suggest that you register your own domain name, pay for web hosting services, and use Wordpress to start up your blog. I don't disagree with the experts, they have lots of reasons for their advice, but I also noticed that about 90% of the artist blogs that I visited were hosted by Google Blogger which is free.

So Why Should You Have A Blog If You Are An Artist?

There are 1,596,270,108 people on the Internet in the world according to Internet World Stats, I did a quick search on Google to get that information. I have no idea how many of those Internet users are interested in art, but the basic idea is that with the Internet, you have a worldwide market that might be interested in your artwork.
A Blog allows you to connect with people interested in art, and other artists that might be able to help you promote your art, and also help you with sharing information that might be useful, or even valuable to you all for free. Bloggers tend to be a friendly and helpful group of people.
Blogging also gives you a platform to establish a community, or tribe (latest buzzword) that gathers people around your artistic expression, and allows them to contribute their views, feelings, and thoughts about your art in general, and the art world. This community can also help you find customers by word of mouth. If someone who visits your blog likes your work, but is not in a position to buy it, they might by word of mouth mention it to one of their friends which may lead to more business.
Having a blog allows you to post a photograph of your artwork online for sale. You can easily set up a PayPal account, and allow buyers to purchase your artwork online directly. You can also offer your artwork on Ebay, and as well allow, buyers to buy your artwork directly online. Or you can set up the procedure to have the buyer fill out a sales agreement form, and forward a money order to you to complete the sale. Everything is possible with a blog depending upon which avenue you want to pursue.
A Blog allows you to advertise your artwork across a wide audience that is only limited by the number of ways that you work at to drive traffic to your Blog, which I will go into in the next post.
If you are a seasoned artist with knowledge to share, you can teach others through your blog, and even get paid for it as David Darrow does by offering classes on painting and drawing live over the Internet.

If the above are not enough reasons, feel free to read 9 Reasons Why Every Artist Should Have Their Own Art Blog written by Dan from the Empty Easel Blog, which is an excellent Blog to follow.

OK I am going to start my own blog, what do I do now?

I recommend that you start with Blogger which is free and easy to use.
After you click on the link above, you will go to a page that looks like the one below.

When you get to this page, the first thing to do is to go through the video tutorials which give you excellent information on how to get started in setting up your blog.

Here is a link on YouTube on How To Start On Blogger, very basic and simple. Blogger has a small number of templates to choose from, but you should find something that suits you for a beginning, and you can change it later as there are lots of free blogger templates that you can download for free.

One CAUTION regarding free blogger templates is that many of them do now work as they should, and you should always visit the demonstration page for the free template which always has comments of people having problems with a free template. If there are lots of posts with problems with the template, it may not be a good idea to use it. I suggest in the beginning that you stick to one of the basic templates that Blogger offers at the time that you start up.

Well I hope this helps you make the plunge into starting up your own blog, if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them. You can email questions to tkrysak@gmail.com

My next post will go into detail about getting people to visit your blog.

Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Frog In The Garden

2009-07-22T12:25:00.001-07:00

Frog In The Garden
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Yesterday at dusk I was outside enjoying the cool evening air. It has been very hot and dry here in Vancouver. I decided to take my daily close look at how things are doing in my small garden, the Cucumber, Zucchini, and Squash blossoms are blooming in abundance.

I took a close look at the Cauliflower and Broccoli plants to see if there was anything happening there, and was startled by what I saw. A beautiful tiny little frog was staring up at me.

I dashed back into the house to get my cameras and get a photograph. I had no luck with the Nikon, but had better luck with my Canon Powershot. I shot the photo in macro mode without flash, and although there was not much light, the camera managed to at least get something.

What a wonderful delight to come across, mother nature truly is splendid.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Tuesday Rose

2009-07-21T14:57:00.001-07:00

Tuesday Rose
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Here is another shot of the Orange Rose from yesterday which has opened up some more. It is amazing how much they change in a 24 hour period.

I just love the colors in this as they have changed from yesterday.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Orange Rose

2009-07-20T15:43:00.001-07:00

Orange Rose Photo
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Here is another photo of a beautiful Rose from the Rose Garden. Taken with a Nikon D70 camera in the shade.

This Rose Bush keeps budding almost every day and this has been going on for months.
What a beautiful flower.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Friday Rose

2009-07-17T17:19:00.001-07:00

Friday Rose
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My Rose Garden gives more and more every day. This photo was taken with a Nikon D70 with telephoto lens in the shade.

And of course the aroma from the Roses is intoxicating. too bad that can't be put on the Internet.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Squash Blossoms

2009-07-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Butter Cup Squash Blossoms
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At the end of April I planted my first garden mostly from seed. The garden is growing and exceeding my expectations. The Buttercup Squash is exploding and taking up a great deal more space than I thought.

I just love these blossoms that are popping up in several places. They just opened up over night.

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Ferry Trip to Gibsons BC

2009-07-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

My brother and his son visited Vancouver, and yesterday we took the Ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. We travelled on BC Ferries Queen Of Surrey. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the trip was fabulous. I love being on the ocean.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

You can view the slideshow on my FLICKR page.

Copyright 101 For The Artist-The Basics

2009-06-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

I was reading a question about Copyright today on the Everyday Matters group on Yahoo, that asked if using photographs to create artwork from the Internet was allowed under the US "Fair Use Law" with respect to Copyright.

Someone replied to the question by saying yes, it is OK to use photographs from the Internet because if falls under "Fair Use". This is FALSE.

Let me start off by saying that I am not a Lawyer, and anything that I say should not be considered Legal Advice. If you require Legal Advice, you should contact a competent Lawyer.

Also this post is not intended to be a comprehensive tutorial on Copyright Law, but a useful guide for you the artist to educate yourself to the pitfalls of copyright law, and to give you some resources to read that will ensure that you have at least a minimum amount of information.

In 2008, a Canadian artist won the gold award from the American Watercolor Society for her ultra realistic watercolor. She used two photos from Shutterstock to produce the watercolor. The two photographers found out about this and screamed copyright infringement, and there was a comprehensive discussion about this that ensued on the Internet about the issue.

Subsequently she was stripped of her award by AWS, and asked to return her prize money to AWS, and the work was removed from the competition, and the traveling show of the winning works. AWS disqualified the work because it was derived from photographs that were copyrighted (against the AWS rules for entering the competition) on Shutterstock. The artist purchased the photographs royalty free, but this purchase does not include the copyright.

A comprehensive post on this issue can be read on the Making A Mark Blog.

So what is Fair Use anyway? (US Copyright Law Definitions)

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

As you can see, the term "Fair Use" is quite restrictive, and as an artist you must be very careful in relying on this as a defense for using a copyrighted photograph to create a derivative work.

Other than using your own photographs which is the best option, there are resources for using photographs under the Creative Commons License (CC) on the Internet. In many cases in these resources you may be allowed to use the photograph to create a derivative work if you reference the name of the photographer in your name for your derivative work. An example would be "Eye Of The Totem, after a photograph by Time Ennis". Usually you are requested to provide a link to the original photograph as well.

In general in the US and Canada, an artist's work is considered in the Public Domain 50 years after his or her death, and the work may be freely used. However be careful, the estate of the artist might still retain the copyright.

It is also very important to remember that copyright laws may be different from country to country. What may be acceptable in the US or Canada, may not be acceptable in the UK and other parts of the world. (Thanks to Katherine for reminding me about that in the comments below)

Here are some resources on Copyright and Creative Commons Images.

Find Creative Commons Images In Google Images Search.

Picasa Adds CC Search

Flickr Creative Commons

Plagiarism Today Blog

Wet Canvas Reference Image Library (Membership required Free)

I sincerely hope that you find this information useful, it is not comprehensive, but everything you need to know about Copyright in your country and the world can be found by a simple search on the Internet.

All comments are welcomed.

Happy Copyrighting!!

Ukiyo-e-The Art of Japanese Woodcut Printmaking

2009-06-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hokusai Irises
1760-1849
Source Wikimedia-Public Domain

Ukiyo-e means "Floating World" and I have been fascinated with this form of artistic expression since about 1969 when I saw a reproduction of a Japanese Print that my art teacher in high school showed me.

During this period a number of Japanese artists started print making using blocks of cherry wood which are turned into engraving plates by removing excess wood with small knives, and utilizing one single woodblock for each color to be printed.

Step 1 is to create a detailed line drawing, carve that out into a block of cherry wood, and then print that line drawing as many as 100-150 times. W.J. Phillips in his book mentioned that he was able to get a maximum of 150 prints before the block would degrade from the process.

The watercolor paper is kept wet with water during the printing process. The wet paper is laid on top of the block, after the colored pigment (watercolor) is painted on the block. The back of the paper is then rubbed with a block of wood wrapped in leaves. Each impression is then stacked in a pile wet, with newspaper in between each layer.

There can be as many as 10 colors in each print, meaning that there have to be 10 blocks, so the printing process is a long and arduous one.

However the Japanese discovered a beautiful way to expand their markets by providing limited editions of watercolor paintings. In essence they are not necessarily exactly the same because each wash that is applied can have it's own subtle difference from print to print.

Here are some Ukiyo-e resources that you may find interesting.

A guide to Ukiyo-e websites
Ukiyo-e Wikipedia
Empty Easel-A Brief History of Japanese Artprints
The Woodblock Prints Of Ando Hiroshige

Watercolor Demonstration-White Blossoms Ukiyo-e Drawing-Step1

2009-06-04T14:32:00.001-07:00

I decided to challenge myself, and create a Watercolor Demonstration and post it as it was in progress instead of completing the whole thing first and then posting it.

Read my post Ukiyo-e to get some idea of what style I am trying to emulate here. I'm not doing a limited edition of prints, but only one watercolor in that style.

The process for step 1 is to select a subject as I have done, this is a drawing from one of my photos of spring blossoms that I thought would make a good watercolor painting.

For this I used a Black Pigma Micron 005 pen on tracing paper.

The purpose is to tape this to my light box, and then to tape the watercolor paper on top. The black lines will show through the paper when the box is turned on, and you can create your drawing much quicker, and you can change anything that you want easily.

The drawing looks very complicated because many of the lines define shadows, and these will give me a guideline as to the boundaries of the shadows which can be changed as you wish when you start painting.

So the next step will be to complete the initial drawing on watercolor paper and begin painting.

Stay Tuned

Vancouver Photo Of The Day-White Rose Afternoon

2009-06-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

The roses on this white bush in the garden are getting larger every 24 hours. It is amazing how much happens within that 24 hours of growth.

The center of the rose was finally revealed today, what a treat.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-White Rosebud

2009-06-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

The Rose bushes are in various stages of blooming, and I captured this photo around noon, bright sunlight with a bit of high cloud, a wonderful sunny day.

The aroma from the Roses is intoxicating. I think I will have to cut one off and keep it in my window sill.

This was taken with my Nikon D70 camera with a telephoto lensNikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

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Yellow and Magenta Rose Bloom-May Flowers

2009-05-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

If you like flowers, now is a good time to go out with your camera and take some shots.

There is an ant inside one of the petals having some dinner. I love the the subtle colors inside of the petals, and the rose has a wonderful aroma.

This was shot Saturday afternoon shadow lighting 4:50 pm with a Canon PowershotCanon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Blue)
which is a great in your pocket type of camera.

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New Creative Commons Application For Facebook

2009-05-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Many Facebook users are aware of the uproar that ensued a few months ago when Facebook changed it's terms of use agreement, which raised questions about how creative content such as photos, video, blogs, and writing might be used by Facebook.

Thanks to a great post by Jonathan Baily of the Plagiarism Today Blog, there is a new application that you can install on your Facebook profile.

Jonathan goes into a fair bit of detail about the limitations of the new application for Facebook, and expresses some opinions of the usefulness of it, and provides links to the application on Facebook so that you can add it to your profile. Installing the applications is very simple and quick.

So if you are on Facebook, click on the link Creative Commons On Facebook and read the post, follow the links, and install it on your Facebook profile.

Orange Delight-Spring Flowers Photograph

2009-05-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

Orange Delight
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I was shopping at the plant store in Marpole, and just had to take some shots of the fantastic planter they had out front with lots of beautiful flowers in it. What a delight, such a nice warm greeting at the front door of the store.

Saturday Blossom-Spring In Vancouver Postcard

2009-04-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday Blossom
Postcards-8 for $9.04

Spring is coming along just fine, with new blossoms bursting out amongst the various trees in my neighborhood. I thought it would be a good idea to put this on a postcard, so that you can share the bounty of spring.

Celebration Of Spring Calendar 2009

2009-04-23T18:12:00.001-07:00

Celebration Of Spring Calendar 2009
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Spring is busting out all over in Vancouver, so I have created a 2009 calendar so that you can enjoy spring every month of the year. Filled with a number of photos of spring blossoms for your enjoyment.

Pink Blossoms-Spring In Vancouver

2009-04-16T17:39:00.001-07:00

Pink Blossoms
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I just had to get this shot today, the clouds are moving in quickly and it will be raining for the next few days. The pink blossoms will not last much longer, and will fall to the ground quickly when the rain arrives.

I shot this with my new Nikon D70, which I am still trying to figure out how to use properly. Out of 32 shots, this was the only decent one.

I love spring so much.

April Blossoms-Spring In Vancouver

2009-04-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

White Blossoms
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I truly love springtime in Vancouver, and we are fortunate that we can enjoy this spectacular display of mother nature being reborn every year at this time. Spring has arrived a bit late this year for some reason, but I am so glad it is here at last.

There are many displays of pink blossoms to be found, and this is the first time I have come across a bunch of trees with white blossoms while I had my camera with me.

What a beautiful sight to behold.

Three Daffodil's

2009-04-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Three Daffodil's
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I went shopping yesterday, and I always take my camera with me just in case. I was sure glad, as it is spring in Vancouver, and there were lots of Blossoms and Daffodil's blooming.

Spring is my favorite time of year, I only wish it would last for 6 months, boy would that be a treat. Spring always energizes me, gives me hope, and makes me feel more alive than any other time of the year.

March Iris-Spring In Vancouver

2009-03-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

Is this a sign of an early spring in Vancouver? I sure hope so.

I planted a bunch of Iris bulbs in October 2008. That was the first time in my life that I planted flower bulbs, and the funny thing is that I was thinking about them a couple of days ago.

This is the first time that I recall seeing an Iris starting to bloom this early in Vancouver. I usually start looking for them in May. I'm not complaining though, this means that there are about 20 more to blossom in the front garden. What a treat.

This was my first attempt at using a new Nikon D70 Digital SLR with a telephoto lens. I was in a panic to get some photographs this afternoon, because there is snow predicted to fall overnight, and I was worried that it would damage or harm the 3 Irises that have bloomed.

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Julian Beever-Pavement Picasso

2009-02-19T15:37:00.001-08:00

This is another in my series of My Favorite Artists. Julian Beever, a UK artist originally from Melton Mobray Leicestershire, has been creating amazing optical illusions in the form of pavement art for over 20 years.

I find it hard to stop looking at his work. The illusions are magnificent in that they immediately draw the viewer into a wonderful whimsical world. At the same time your mind is captivated by the fact that the 3D illusion is on a flat surface at your feet, and done completely in colored chalk.

As seen in the video, the artist uses Anamorphic illusion where a photograph is taken of the surroundings at a sharp angle, and a grid is laid over it. I don't pretend to understand exactly how this is done, but Wikipedia has a pretty good section on the history of Anamorphosis in Art.

His artwork is captivating, and thought provoking in the extreme, and I thoroughly enjoy his use of color, subject matter, and his magnificent way of creating wonderful 3D illusions via this process.

Visit Julian Beever's Website
Visit Julian Beever's Flickr Photostream

Esref Armagan-The Painter With No Eyes

2009-02-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

I had to add this to My Favorite Artists series because this is just an astonishing story.

Esref Armagan was born with no eyes, and has had no formal art training, and yet is able to create paintings and drawings without having seen anything in his life.

In terms of artistic fundamentals, his paintings and drawings contain correct perspective, and depth. In his paintings, he manages horizon, depth of field, shadow, and the correct color combinations, again all with no eyesight, or having seen what he is painting.

He was born to an impoverished family in Turkey, and as a child taught himself to write and print. When he is painting in oils, he uses his fingers to apply the paint, and must wait until each color dries before applying the next color.

I hope you have enjoyed this fantastic story, and share it with anyone that you may know of that might benefit from it, as Mr. Armagan's accomplishments are truly amazing.

Visit the Esref Armagan Website.

Toulouse Lautrec-One of the Greatest Post Impressionist Painters

2009-01-22T15:28:00.000-08:00

In Bed 1893
Toulouse Lautrec-Public Domain

Another in my series of My Favorite Artists, Toulouse Lautrec (1864-1901) over his short 20 year career, was a prolific painter, creating many canvasses, posters, drawings, watercolors, and works in ceramics and stained glass.

I first became aware of him in High school, taking my first art course, and immediately fell in love with his style, his amazing use of color, and his ability to depict a bohemian lifestyle rarely shown within the artistic community that he was a part of. At only 4 ft. 6 in. tall Lautrec suffered from a number of congenital diseases which did not allow him to participate in normal activities that the average Parisian enjoyed at that period in time.

When I was in art school, my work was often criticized as being "too tight" and my instructors often recommend that I study the work of Lautrec in order to "loosen up". Although this was good advice, I must admit I did not succeed in satisfying them, however any artist willing to take the time to study his works in detail will surely benefit from it.

I find his work to be very expressive, as it captures the very moment of what his impressions are, with such vibrant vivid color, and the ability to express these moments often with a minimal amount of information, leaving the viewer the opportunity of filling in the blanks.

Lautrec with great skill was able to depict average people engaged in their daily lives which brought a great deal of insight for the viewer of how life was being lived during this period. As historical reference, this type of imagery for me provides so much more than static, staged photographs that don't really provide the viewer with any internal feeling of the moment.

Additional Links
Gallery of Art-Henri De Toulouse Lautrec
Toulouse Lautrec The Complete Works
Website Devoted To Toulouse Lautrec
Virtual Tour of Lautrec Works

The Whistle Stop Train Tour

2009-01-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

Hope, Optimism, Renewal, a New Day, and a New President.

In these difficult times, there is a need for positive change not only in the US, but the entire world. Many have been waiting for this day for months since the election. We need to congratulate our American friends for the election of President Obama, and hope that the next eight years are much better than the previous eight years.

Godspeed President Obama

Read The Whitehouse Blog

Niche Marketing For Artists-On The Coat Tails Of Obama

2009-01-17T14:54:00.000-08:00

In these tough economic times, Shepard Fairey, a Los Angeles artist has taken advantage of Obama's election win to catapult himself from a Political Art street artist to a mainstream phenom in a very short period of time. Do a search on "Niche Marketing" in Google, and you will get 5,600,000 results, which is a lot of information to sort through.

A Niche can be defined as a segment, or portion of a larger market that can be exploited by the astute marketer particularly if the competition in terms of numbers is small. The smaller the competition the better, particularly if there are large numbers of buyers within a particular niche.

In a very short period of time, Fairey found a photo of Obama on the Internet and produced a silk screen poster of the image. He quickly brought it to market, made some money from it, got praise from Obama himself for the effort, and now the poster is being acquired by the National Portrait Gallery. A good example of being in the right place at the right time, producing the right product.

Think about it, by gaining national and worldwide media attention, the artist will certainly reserve and enjoy a footnote in the history of the world for as long as the world has a history.

So what say you? Is there an artistic niche out there that you can exploit? Could you use more information on the subject? It is not my intention to blog about niche marketing, but I have lots of information on the subject that I am willing to share if any artists out there want it.

Consider leaving a reply and let me know.
Los Angeles Times article on Shepard Fairey
Obey Giant Website

N. C. Wyeth-American Artist and Illustrator

2009-01-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

Illustration for the Book Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
Image Source Wikimedia Commons-Public Domain

Sadly, Andrew Wyeth passed away today at age 91, and considering I already wrote a post about him in December 2008, I thought it would be a good idea to write something about his father, Newell Convers Wyeth.

I am including this in my series of My Favorite Artists. Although I was not familiar with his work until I did my research for the post on Andrew Wyeth. I think his work understandably had an influence on Andrew, and without doubt N. C. Wyeth had a great influence on American Illustration in general.

N. C. Wyeth 1882-1945, was born in Needham Massachusetts and was a pupil of renowned illustrator Howard Pyle, who was considered the father of American illustration. He was an accomplished watercolor painter by the age of 12, and attended Mechanics Art School to learn drafting, Massachusetts Normal Arts School, and later the Eric Pape School of Art to learn illustration.

His first commissioned work was a cover for The Saturday Evening Post, and after another commission for the same magazine, was urged in 1904 to go west by Howard Pyle to gain direct knowledge and experience of the subjects he was using for his illustrations. Over a period of two years, he travelled through the west taking on various jobs, and soaking up the environment of Cowboys and Indians in the wild wild west which added a dynamic, romantic flavor to his work.

Over his career Wyeth managed to complete over 3,000 paintings and illustrations, and did artworks for books such as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Robin Hood, The Last of the Mohican's, and also did work for magazines such as Century, Harper's, Ladies Home Journal, and Scribner's.
As if that was not enough, he also did posters, calendars, and advertisements for Lucky Strike, Cream of Wheat, and Coca Cola.

By 1914, Wyeth became disenchanted with commercial art, and thereafter had an internal struggle, as he thought the work he was doing only served his publisher masters wishes, and their desires to satisfy the needs of the buying public, and the limitations of the printing processes of those times. However he did make a successful living at it, and managed to raise a family on his income form his illustration work.

After sifting through images of his work for a couple of hours, I am amazed at his use of color, and his strong sense of design and composition in his work. His illustrations give you the feeling of actually being there, even looking at them today. The way that he painted clouds impressed me perhaps the most. The shapes and the colors, the lights and the darks are in my mind just perfect.

View more images of N.C. Wyeth's illustrations.
Treasure Island-Online Book.

Bill Reid-Canadian Artistic Genius

2009-01-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

Jade Canoe-Bronze Sculpture
by Bill Reid 1920-1998
photo (c) Terry Krysak

Bill Reid another of My Favorite Artists was a Canadian artist whose father was of European descent, and his mother was a First Nations Haida aboriginal. Reid was profoundly influenced by his paternal grandfather Charles Edenshaw, a renowned Haida artist carver.

Reid became interested in Haida art while he was a radio announcer in Toronto, and studying jewelry making. In 1951 he returned to Vancouver, and began studying the work of Edenshaw, as well as visiting the remains of Haida villages on the Queen Charlotte Islands, and ultimately was responsible for helping to put together a small replica of a Haida village located in the UBC Museum of Anthropology.

The Jade Canoe as shown above (located at Vancouver International Airport) is a representation of an ancient Haida dugout canoe, bearing thirteen supernatural creatures, each in some way related to the Haida's mythical past. For many centuries the Haida people lived in a rich fulfilled existence, nourished by the wealth of their homeland, and watched over by the gods and demigods who peopled their world.

Raven And The First Men
by Bill Reid
Cedar Sculpture

I have always been fascinated by the art of the Haida, and Bill Reid has succeeded in taking this art form to an entirely new level by taking classical Haida imagery, and transforming and morphing it into three dimensional sculptures that would be the envy of many famous sculptors. His use of cedar, and eventually bronze has proven to be an enormous achievement, and has left us with many fantastic works of art that grace our communities for all to see.

Visit the Bill Reid Foundation
Visit the Bill Reid Gallery

Susan Carlin-Paints Online Live On Ustream TV

2009-01-11T22:05:00.000-08:00

Companions, Oil Painting
16 x 20
(c) Susan Carlin

This is another in my series of My Favorite Artists, featuring the work of Susan Carlin. Susan lives in San Antonio Texas, and paints online live every Tuesday night on Ustream TV at 4:00 pm PST.

Susan began her career one summer when she got a job doing portraits in pastels. Most of the time she paints in oils, and her subject matter includes, landscape, portraits, and still life. Without question she is a masterful oil painter, and skillfully captures not only a likeness in her portraits, but adds a beautiful artistic touch with superb composition skills and a keen eye for color.

After a career as a Chiropractor, Susan now paints full time, and is approached on a regular basis by people for portraits on a commission basis. In addition to that, she also paints live online every Tuesday evening, delighting all of us with her friendly disposition, and cheerful banter about what she is doing. Many times she discusses her techniques, and provides helpful instruction as she chats with viewers while painting, and answering questions about a variety of art subjects.

I have always been amazed by painters like Susan and David Darrow that can paint, and chat with people who are viewing the demonstration. This in my mind takes an enormous amount of superb skills and the ability to pull it off successfully.

If you have a free evening, drop by and join in on the fun. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. If you are a beginner, or accomplished artist you will always learn something new every night.

Susan Carlin painting live on Ustream TV.
Susan Carlin Blog.

Alfred Ng-Master Watercolor Artist

2009-01-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

Southern Magnolia, Watercolor
2009 (c) Alfred Ng

This is another in my series of My Favorite Artists. I discovered Alfred Ng a few years ago while searching the Internet for watercolor artists, and when I found his website, I lingered for a long time, viewing every single piece of work that he had published.

Alfred first became interested at the age of three while watching his neighbor practicing Chinese brush painting in Hong Kong. His family immigrated to Canada in 1973, and after receiving formal art training, Alfred realized how difficult it was to be a successful artist.

Alfred paints in Acrylics and Watercolor, and is also a photographer. His subjects include Architecture, Florals, and Landscape, and his skills as an artist just jump right out at you from the page.

I particularly love his floral paintings, as flowers often inspire me to paint. The Southern Magnolia is an excellent example of what inspires him, and how he has mastered the unforgiving medium of watercolor. The painting is so real, you feel like you could reach out and touch it, or stick your nose right up to it to see if there is any fragrance emanating from the flower.

I love the texture and soft shadows in the flower petals, and find myself warmed by thoughts of a beautiful summer full of light and life, particularly now as we are all surviving a fairly brutal winter here in Canada right across the country.

I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do, and take the time to linger on his website.

Visit the website of Alfred Ng.

Dave Ivey-Graphic Designer & Commercial Illustrator

2009-01-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

Custer-(c) Dave Ivey
Crow Quill, Pen, Ink and Watercolor
On Illustration Board

Dave Ivey is another artist in my series of My Favorite Artists and has been a Graphic Designer and Commercial Illustrator for over thirty years. I discovered his work recently on Redbubble, and have become one of his newest fans ever since.

Dave's drawing skills are superb which I admire, as drawing I feel is the foundation of all good art. The better you are at drawing, the better your artwork will be as can be seen in the beautiful illustration of Custer above.

I also love the way that he leaves some areas unpainted, leaving it to the imagination of the viewer as to how it could look. I find this to be a very unique approach to visual imagery.

The wet on wet watercolor technique with the subtle blending and merging of colors also leads the imagination, and pulls the painting together in a masterful style.

Visit Dave Ivey's profile on Redbubble, and view more amazing works.
The image Custer is copyright Dave Ivey, permission to use in this post granted by the artist.

Walter J. Phillips-Master of The Watercolor Wood Cut

2009-01-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

Mamalilcoola Villiage B.C.
Watercolor Woodcut 1928
(c) Estate of Walter J. Phillips

I first discovered Walter J. Phillips in the late 1960's when I saw an ad in the local paper in Calgary that a collection of his watercolor woodcuts was on display at the Hudson's Bay Co. store in the downtown area. I went to see the exhibition soon after reading the ad, and was completely awestruck by the work of this Canadian artist. Phillips is another artist in my series My Favorite Artists.

After viewing his watercolor woodcuts, I became fascinated with the watercolor medium, and formed an intense desire to become an artist. My desire was not to become a watercolor woodcut print maker, but to become a watercolor painter. I felt I would achieve great happiness in life if I could paint watercolors with the same skill as he demonstrated in his watercolor prints.

This desire was transformed into action when I applied and was accepted into the Alberta College of Art & Design in 1971. However to my complete dismay, all of the painting instructors were focused on abstract art, and watercolor was not taught as a discipline. Because of this I decided to major in pottery instead.

Walter Phillips was born in the UK, and his family migrated to Canada. He studied at art school, and at some point came across the works of a number of Japanese artists engaged in the Ukiyo-e art movement. The works of Hokusai and other Japanese print makers have also fascinated me over the years as well. I love the uncluttered aspect of this art movement, and in particular the excellent design principles that these artists employed in their works.

The watercolor woodcut print, or Ukiyo-e starts with superb design and drawing skills. Each design is then transferred to a block of cherry wood, as the design is carved out in relief in the wood. A new block of wood must be used for each individual color in the print making process. Cherry wood is the most often used choice for the print maker because of it's hardness. Softer woods often do not yield the desired result, or stand up to multiple impressions, as many as 100 or more individual unique prints.

Phillips as well sometimes used the grain of the wood to indicate water ripples in a print as well.
Phillips captured many everyday scenes of life in Canada, from the shores of Lake Winnipeg to the many spectacular views found in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and BC. Eventually ending on the west coast with great attention and devotion to Haida villages, and the ever beautiful west coast landscapes of British Columbia.

W.J. Phillips was a great inspiration to me, and he has served as a guiding light in my artistic endeavors, and my never ending journey as an artist.

For a comprehensive biography of W.J. Phillips please visit the only website devoted to his work. The website was built and is maintained by Roger H. Boulet, and contains a wealth of information including many images of Phillips' works and history.

The Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta has an extensive collection of the work of W.J. Phillips.

I would like to express my gratitude to Roger H. Boulet, and David Duffin (Phillips' grandson) for permission to use the image Mamalilcoola and to write this article.

More On Walter J. Phillips

Colour, Obsession, Joy and Torment-The Daily Painters Art Gallery 2008

2008-12-29T14:24:00.000-08:00

Image Source-Amazon.com

Here is a new book from the Daily Painters website, a wonderful collection of the artworks and stories of artists around the world who have taken up the challenge of creating a painting a day.

I have been following a number of daily painters for about two years now, and I am frequently amazed at their talent and creativity to be able to paint a new painting every day (mostly 5 days per week). In virtual numbers, this can add up to as many as 365 paintings per year. Truly amazing!!!

Some believe the "Painting A Day" art movement began when Duane Keiser was featured in a news article in USA Today in 2006. Most of the artists in this niche produce smaller works from 4" x 6" to usually no larger than about 9" x 11" and many of the works are priced at $100.00/us or less, which makes original artwork more affordable for the cost conscious collector.

Since 2006, hundreds of artists around the world have joined this art movement, and have succeeded in expanding their portfolios, increasing their sales, and gaining more attention and critical acclaim within the arts community.

Below is a list of some of the Daily Painters I follow

Duane Keiser
Jeff Hayes
Carol Marine
Jan Blencowe
Karin Jurick
Darren Maurer
Michael Naples
Priscilla Treacy
Stephen Magsig
Dustin Boutwell
Belinda Del Pesco
Shanti Marie

If you are a Daily Painter, and want a Permanent Link in this post, just leave a comment, with a link to your Website or Blog, and I will expand this list.

Consider adding The Daily Painters Gallery 2008 book to your collection

What's In Your Wallet?-Your Business Card I Hope

2008-12-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve I got invited to visit some friends on Boxing day, and I wanted to share my new blog with them and ask them to drop by for a visit sometime. The trouble was that I did not have any new business cards, and of course it was too late in the day to get a shop to print them.

No panic, I make my own. I am a bit of a Do It Yourself-er, and years ago I bought the PrintShop software, and blank business cards so that I could make Greeting Cards, Business Cards, Postcards and more.

The benefit of making your own are;

You can make your own designs from scratch or use the many pre-designed templates that come with the software.
You don't have to pay for artwork which can be expensive by getting a company to make the cards. Even if you supply them with your artwork, they have to scan it at a cost.
You have complete control over design, layout, colors, information and style.
If you want a different painting for example on each card, just print out one sheet of 10 and arrange them in your stack of cards so that each one you give out is unique. It would cost you a small fortune for a company to do that for you.
You only print as many as you need.

The only cost to you is for the software (not expensive), blank business cards, (not expensive), and the cost of the ink for your ink jet printer.

In the example above I was in a rush, so I used a template design (the artwork is not my own), and just input my information in a flash. Total time to produce 30 cards from start to finish was one hour. Not bad!!!!! I liked the design of the drawing so much, that I will do my own, scan it, and put it into my new business card next time.

I hope you found this post helpful, feel free to leave a comment.

Watercolor Tip-Make Your Own Color Chart

2008-12-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

My Cotman Color Mixing Chart
copyright Terry Krysak

Have you ever wondered how to mix a particular color, and found yourself at a loss as to which colors to use? Sometimes you end up with mud, or you just can't get it right.

Why not make your own color chart? It takes a fair amount of time and work, but it is something that you will always have as an excellent reference to use when you are painting.

I majored in pottery at art school, and this was the method we used to test out various glazes to see what they looked like after they were fired. It saves you from ruining your pots, if the glaze does not turn out right.

As you can see, it gives you every possible color combination possible, and you can use as many colors in the top row as you wish. However, the more colors you use in the top row, the bigger the chart will be.

Winsor and Newton Color Mixing Guides

Winsor Newton Color Chart

You may download My Cotman Color Chart for your own personal use. If you use it on your website or blog, or for any other commerical purpose all I ask is that you provide a link directly back to this blog and give me credit.

Here is a link to my latest post How To Mix Colors For Oils And Acrylic Paints

Winsor and Newton Field Box-The Perfect Companion for the Watercolor Artist

2008-12-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

The best advice I ever received was to buy the best artist materials that you can afford. In my mind, Winsor & Newton provides the best products that money can buy and if you buy the best, you will never be disappointed.

I bought the field box in 1982, as I was building up my supply of watercolors for the future, and I still have the field box and use it today. It was my first experience with using watercolor pans which completely eliminates the hassle of watercolor tubes. The problems with tubes includes the paint drying inside the cap, and freezing to the tube making it difficult to get off, and eventually the paint in the tubes dries up solid.

A tip for getting frozen caps off the tube is to heat the cap up with a match or lighter. Be careful though because the caps are made of plastic, and will easily melt. If the paint dries up, you can still use it if you cut the tube open and peel off the metal. Re-wet the solid paint the same as if you were using a pan of watercolor.

The Winsor and Newton Field Box is made of plastic, is durable, and closes up into a small compact package that you can take with you anywhere. It also has a small water bottle, and small watercolor brush as well.

Dave Edwards-BlythArt

2008-12-22T15:01:00.001-08:00

185-Bamburgh Castle-02 (Gouache)
Copyright Dave Edwards

This is another in my series of My Favorite Artists. Today's post is about Dave Edwards who lives in Blyth, United Kingdom. In this case it was hard to choose a favorite when looking at his work, as there are so many.

I first met Dave online, as we were both subscribing to the Art Newsletter Painters Keys, and Dave had asked for information about totem poles. I had a number of photos and resources on the subject, and emailed him. Over a short period of time as email buddies, we became friends, and we communicate via email a few times each week.

Dave is a self taught artist who works in watercolor, gouache, pencil crayon, pen and ink, an on occasion oil paints. He uses vibrant colors in his work often depicting scenes and places around the UK, in a mystical whimsical style that I like very much.

Dave's subject matter is diverse, and covers a broad range from still life, landscape, to birds and cats and more. If you visit his blog or website, you will find Dave to be very friendly, energetic, and engaging as he shares his artwork and thoughts with an audience on the edge of their seats waiting for more.

Image Bamburgh Castle used with permission of the artist.

Visit Dave's Blog
Visit Dave's Website on RedBubble

An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers

2008-12-21T14:02:00.001-08:00

Image Source: Amazon.com

Danny Gregory's An Illustrated Life is a visual delight of color and texture--a funky and frenetic"book about books people have made," perfect for chronic doodlers, journalers, and art lovers.

Wow, what a great book for the artist in your family or of course yourself. One of the fundamental tools of any artist is the sketchbook, and successful artists around the world teach that carrying one with you at all times is a must.

Sketching when you are having your morning coffee at your favorite coffee shop, or while you are having lunch is the best way to hone your drawing and sketching skills.

If you want some insight how an artist approaches the challenges of the blank white page, this is an excellent resource that will help you get over that anxiety, and "get on with it"

The book shares excerpts from the notebooks of 50 artists, illustrators and designers with an introduction from each artist.

This book just made it to the Amazon "Best Books of December 2008" congratulations Danny.

Buy The Book Now

Eye Of The Totem-Watercolor Painting After The Photograph By Flickr Photographer Tim Ennis

2008-12-19T16:13:00.000-08:00

7" x 7"
Watercolor on Watercolor Board
Buy A Print

I have always been fascinated with Totem Poles, particularly the work of the Haida Aboriginals, located on the West Coast of Canada in British Columbia.

I often wished however that they painted their Totem Poles in colors that were more pleasing to me than the standard colors of Black, Green, Red, and White. This was my attempt to produce a design that contained colors that reflect more of a West Coast feel to them, reflecting the mood of blue water, with a teal accent.

I also imagined that each Totem was a living work of art, and in my imagination what you see in the painting is the reflection of what the Totem is seeing in the reflection in it's eye. The reflection is a lonely Arbutus tree hanging on to the rock above a seascape.

This is a derivative work, and permission to use the original photograph Wuikinuxv Eye was kindly granted by brilliant Flickr Photographer Tim Ennis.

I use Winsor & Newton Watercolors exclusively

Sunset Over Howe Sound-Watercolor Painting

2008-12-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

Sunset Over Howe Sound
9" x 6"
Watercolor on Watercolor Board
Buy a Print

If you ever visit the West Coast of Canada, be sure to take a ferry trip with BC Ferries from Horseshoe Bay. I visited the Sunshine Coast a few times over the years, and this view is one of the many sites you will see. I love the shape of Anvil Island in the center of the painting.

This is the second time that I have used Watercolor Board, which is a piece of Watercolor Paper glued to a hard cardboard substrate. No stretching is required. The painting surface is a bit different from watercolor paper in that it seems to absorb the pigment quicker. However once you get used to it, you may want to switch over and never have to stretch watercolor paper again.

Portrait Of Allan Nott-Original Drawing Artwork

2008-12-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

22" x 16"
Black Prismacolor Pencil Crayon on Illustration Board
$125.00/us Framed

In 1984 I was taking a break from working at jobs that I did not like, and decided to try and produce some art until my funds ran out. One night I was having drinks with my friend Allan, and he kept asking me when he was going to see some of my work. I didn't have much to show at the time, and he kept egging me on and pestering me, so I decided to try and do his portrait.

Little did I know what I was getting into. I came across an artist who was doing clown images in a art magazine using pencil crayons, and the images were very soft, and I was amazed at the visual impact of pencil crayons and had never used them before.

The drawing took me about 200 hours to complete over 3 months, and was the hardest thing I had done in my life. I used illustration board, which has a very smooth hard surface. I managed to use about 10 black pencil crayons to compete the piece. I don't think that I will spend that many hours on a work of art in the future, it was quite a marathon.

If you would like to purchase the work, contact me at tkrysak@gmail.com for details.

I use Prismalcolor colored pencils.

Would you like to learn how to draw? Check out the best book I know of below.

Mayne Island Arbutus-Original Watercolor Painting

2008-12-14T20:35:00.000-08:00

26" x 18"
Watercolor on Arches 140 LB Cold Press Watercolor Paper
$299.00/us

I started this painting in 1984 after a weekend camping trip to Gabriola Island and Mayne Island. I was on the trip with friends, in October, and it was pouring rain. Everyone except me got soaking wet overnight the first night, and the group decided to ferry over to Mayne Island and stay in a motel to dry out.

I stopped work on it because at one point I was stuck on how I was going to finish the Arbutus tree. This often happens to me when painting a watercolor, and I set them aside until I get inspiration on how to go forward. I also started a new job, and was too tired out from that every day to paint.

In the summer of 2007 my dear brother prodded me to finish the painting, so I searched the Internet for photos of Arbutus trees because I no longer had my photograph to reference from, and decided to get it finished at all costs.

The other thing I discovered was that I no longer had a desire to finish it off in the manner that I had first envisioned, and decided to leave it as is for the most part after painting in the parts that were white spaces on the painting.

So the minimalist style was not planned in any way, I found I just liked it as is.

If you would like to purchase the painting please contact me at tkrysak@gmail.com
Buy a Print

Andrew Wyeth-An American Icon

2008-12-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

I first discovered Andrew Wyeth at age 15 in my first year of High school, and his work has enthralled me ever since. He was one of the individuals that inspired me to become an artist, and to explore the medium of Watercolor. This is the first of my posts of My Favorite Artists.

Andrew Wyeth was born July 12, 1917 and is an American realist painter, and without doubt the best known American artist. Although he has won numerous awards and critical acclaim amongst critics, some have labelled his work more Illustration than Artistic. I can't agree with that opinion, as many famous artists were Illustrators or Commercial artists while advancing their artistic careers. As far as I am concerned, illustration is still art. Andrews father N.C. Wyeth was an Illustrator and artist, and how could anyone not be influenced by that?

Much of his work features the landscape around his home town of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and the people that live in the area.

I just love the organic Burnt Umber feeling of his work, and every time I view it, I find myself lingering and exploring every detail in absolute wonder of how he did it.

He often uses a "dry brush" technique in his paintings. Most of the pigment is squeezed out of the brush, and then he caresses the paper with the lightest touch, building up successive layers of paint over time. I must admit I have failed miserably trying this technique, and have had no success with it.

Wyeth also uses the Egg Tempera medium for many of his paintings. Pigment is mixed with egg yolk and distilled water, and artists throughout the centuries used this medium with great success. One of Wyeth's most famous egg tempera paintings is Christina's World, done in 1948.

Book Image-Courtesy Amazon.com

Here are some links to view some of Andrew Wyeth's artwork.
Museum Syndicate
Official Andrew Wyeth Website

Books about Andrew Wyeth Book

Spring Daffodil-Original Watercolor Painting

2008-12-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

9" x 6"
Original Watercolor Painting

I was in a panic to get this painting completed as a gift to my cousin Jordan for his wedding.

I came across a technique in a watercolor magazine that I was itching to try out. The method is to do a monochromatic under painting first, using a mixture of purples with Alizarin Crimson or Cadmium Red, and Ultramarine Blue for cool shadows, and Cobalt Blue for warm shadows.

You can view the original Watercolor Tutorial online by Liz Fluehr here.

Buy A Print

Plant On Ceramic Tile-Original Watercolor Painting

2008-12-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

21" x 15"
Original Watercolor

This watercolor painting requires some explanation. Sometimes as an artist I get a "vision" and this was my attempt at transforming that vision into reality.

While I was walking into an old building at Granville and Broadway in Vancouver, I looked down and saw this beautiful old tile, and thought it would look neat if it had a landscape painted in the tile.

After that I thought it would look even more surreal if there was a plant that I had, sitting on the tile and you were looking down at it. Don't ask me where this comes from, except my imagination.

Most people discribe it as "interesting", I guess because it is not obvious what it represents. I was quite happy with the way the plant turned out though.

Buy the original painting $90.00/us-contact me at tkrysak@gmail for details.
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Sensational Flowers-Fine Art Calendar 2009

2008-12-11T23:23:00.000-08:00

Back in 2006 I bought a Canon Powershot SD450 digital camera, and have been taking tons of photographs ever since. Digital is the only way to go, and the SD450 is small enough to fit in your pocket.

I love flowers, and throughout the year at every opportunity, when I see flowers blooming I shoot them. They are very much "eye candy" for me.

The 2009 Sensational Flowers Calendar is a collection of my absolute best photgraphs taken over the past few years. If you love flowers, you will love this calendar.

Buy My Sensational Flowers Calendar

Check Out the Canon Powershot SD450 from Amazon

Seasons Greetings-Digital Fractal Art

2008-12-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

Last year I came across some Fractal Art on RedBubble, and decided to do a bit of research, and see if I could make some myself. Without going into a detailed description, fractal art is created by a software program, which you can manipulate. You can change the designs and colors by changing the paramaters of the software.

So for those of you out there that are not artists, and have some ability on the computer, you can download the software for free, go through a few tutorials, and you will be creating your own fractal art in no time. It is quite addicting once you get started.

Download Tierazon-v29 Fractal Software for free.
Free Tierazon Online Tutorials

Try it out and have some fun.

Buy This Christmas Card

Dave The Painting Guy-On Line Oil Painting Videos

2008-12-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

Streaming live video by Ustream
I just discovered David Darrow last week when I was following Susan Carlin, another online oil painter.

David is an oil painter, painting portraits and other works online live on Ustream TV almost every day. He provides delightful conversation and banter, painting tips, and at times describes in detail the process of what he is doing at the time he is painting, providing information on the colors he is using, what colors he is mixing, and just about anything else that you would like to ask.

I am fascinated how he is able to paint, and talk to the folks who are all online viewing the painting process at the same time. He encourages viewers to ask questions, and provide comment on the screen sidebar as you can see in the screenshot below.
And of course the best thing is that you can view the live painting sessions, and his archive of previous videos all for free. When you visit via the Ustream TV link, you can be anonymous or sign up with Ustream for free, and choose your own user name so that members of the community can see who you are. There are a number of wonderful artists who tune in and enjoy the fun.

Although I have not painted in oils yet, watching David and Susan paint has made me want to give it a go, and I have learned an amazing amount about painting in the short period of time that I have been watching them.

Watch David paint online
Visit David's Website
Sign Up for email notification of when he is painting
Follow David on Twitter

I hope you will drop by and join the painting sessions, and connect with a great group of artists.

White Iris-My First Watercolor Painting

2008-12-11T13:43:00.001-08:00

This is my adaptation of a painting by Leah Schwartz in 1984 that I discovered when I bought one of her note cards in Vancouver. Her work inspired me a great deal, I love Irises, and since then have been fascinated by this wonderful flower.

Original 18" x 13"
Watercolor on Arches 140 LB Cold Press Watercolor Paper
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