My art journal is published in this winter issue 2011 of "Art Journaling" by stampington and company
on pages 134-135.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Happy Holidays to all you wonderful souls out there! - by Annette Labedzki
I had a wonderful Christmas in Hawaii. We arrived just in time to greet the flash floods and torrential downpour of tropical rain. The same storm that attracted California had also visited Hawaii. Vancouverites have no idea what real rain is! Luckily for us the weather changed for the better and we soaked up the sun and enjoyed daily outings and adventures. I love being on the catamaran and I went for a sail three days in a row! The first day we discovered a school of Hawaiian spinner dolphins, we followed and watched them as they were jumping and showing off for us! What a special treat to witness them in their own environment: also to be part of their environment and not just watching them on “Planet Earth” or on the discovery channel! On the second day we were very very fortunate to have a whale shark visit our boat! The fish was huge and a teeny bit scary to say the least! However we were told that it is a docile shark! Okay, I’m glad we didn’t become his Canadian snack or lunch! On Christmas day Santa was rowed in and chaperoned by two beautiful Hawaiian women. Supposedly Santa’s reindeer can’t swim so therefore he needed to be rowed into shore! The vacation was great but now it’s back to reality. Painting, video making, photography, digital art, marketing, feeding the students, husband, son and three cats!
Happy New Year to you all!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
How to Make Victorian Juice Lid Ornaments - by Annette Labedzki
How to Make Victorian Juice Lid Ornaments
The traditional Victorian picture ornaments form one of the best Christmas decorations. Simple to make, they can be created out of discarded and recycled household items, like juice can lids. Once you understand the basic technique of these ornaments, just let your imagination soar. The source of pictures can be varied, including old Christmas cards, discarded books, wrapping sheets, etc. Another good source for high quality pictures can be the internet. Just get the print of your favorite image and get down to work. The instructions below will help you design your own Victorian Juice Lid Ornament in few easy steps.
Material Supplies
· Lid with smooth edges from juice can
· Suitable holiday picture – card, wrappings, print outs, etc.
· A pair of craft scissors
· Glue
· Ribbon
· Lace
· Craft bead strings or ornamental cords
· Metallic paint
· Velvet fabric, white fur cloth, laces, or wired ribbons
· Glitters, mirrors, decorative badges (floral or holiday themed), craft Christmas bells, etc. as per choice
Steps for making Victorian juice lid ornaments:
· Basic Construction:
§ Step 1. Measure the circular portion of the lid inside the rim.
§ Step 2. Use the measurements to cut out the required picture or background image, in a circular shape.
§ Step 3. If you want to superimpose some designs or figures over a base image, cut out such designs neatly along the outlines and keep aside. Skip this step if you wish to go with a single complete picture.
§ Step 3. Stick the background image inside the rim.
§ Step 4. Paste the cutouts of the desired elements over the base created in Step 3. If the entire picture is a single piece, skip this step.
§ Step 5. Paint the visible rim of the lid in some metallic color, like gold, copper, or silver.
· Decoration: Before embarking upon this area, plan the type of look you want for your ornament. Gather the resources accordingly.
§ Step 1. Take a length of velvet or fur strip, ribbon, lace, or the like. Its length will depend upon the size of the lid.
§ Step 2. Flip the prepared lid. Glue its backside along the edges. Apply a second round slightly inside the rim.
§ Step 3. Gather the material of your choice from Step 1 and paste it along the rim, such that it has a ruffled appearance.
§ Step 4. Flip the lid to its frontal side.
§ Step 5. Glue the beads string or ornamental cord on the inner rim of the lid or as a border of the pasted circular image or base.
§ Step 6. Make a hanging loop for the ornament with the help of a ribbon.
§ Step 7. Use decorative craft material, as mentioned above, to give the final changes.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
His Most Famous Painting (Portrat des Albert Paris von Gutersloh) - Egon Schiele - by Annette Labedzki
His Most Famous Painting (Portrat des Albert Paris von Gutersloh) - Egon Schiele
Austrian painter Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was a well-known 'Expressionist' artist of the early twentieth century. His paintings were often pronounced as disturbing, with his creatively erotic paintings leading the front. The intensity of his work however, has been appreciated over the years. Schiele painted several portraits in his lifetime, most of which are his own. The human figures he created always 'Symbolized' something. They were the carrier of expressions Egon wanted to demonstrate. In 1918, Schiele painted his magnum opus, a portrait of his friend Albert Paris von Gutersloh, called "Portrat des Albert Paris von Gutersloh." This portrait corroborates the degree of contortion and agony Egon liked to depict in his paintings.
"Portrat des Albert Paris von Gutersloh" is an oil on canvas work with the dimensions 55 1/4cm X 43 ¼ cm. The picture shows a very garish and strikingly convoluted image of Schiele's fellow Austrian painter Albert Paris. In the midst of a flame like bright reddish-orange background, Albert Paris is seated on a sort of an emotional electric chair. He is dressed in an off-white shirt, blue trousers, and a royal blue tie. His clothes are wrinkled and his whole body seems to be shaking under the effect of convulsions. His eyes are in a state of great shock and there is not even a hint of smile on his countenance. It seems like he is undergoing immense psychological turmoil. The hands of the protagonist are raised upwards with the right palm facing the viewer and the left hand raised up to his own shoulder. Both the hands are twisted. Schiele has dexterously used bold contour lines to create three-dimensional effects in the picture.
"Portrat des Albert Paris von Gutersloh" is the typical of Schiele's style of painting, compelling and distorted, with thick brushstrokes. Like most of his pictures, it too depicts anxiety and torture. It seems as if the protagonist is reacting to a major electric shock. The portrait is an unfinished work. The painting speaks aloud not just of Egon's recorded observation of Albert's physical appearance, but also conveys his own then state of mind. Similarly, most of Schiele's other paintings too are 'Expressionist,' where the use of dark, exaggerated lines & very bold colors is made, and the painting strives to show its hidden connotations. To serve this purpose, the symmetry and the beauty of the painting had to be compromised slightly by making it twisted and painful, as visible in Egon Schiele's "Portrat des Albert Paris von Gutersloh."
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
How to Make Halloween Balloon Spiders - by Annette Labedzki
How to Make Halloween Balloon Spiders
As Halloween nears, everyone is gripped with the excitement of wearing fancy dresses and creating thematic decorative pieces. Halloween balloons are some of the most interesting and versatile items, which are quite easy to create. One of the most popular shapes is the balloon spiders. They can be placed along the wall, left on tables or floors, hung outside on the trees or bushes, and so on. If you have separated a corner of your house for Halloween style ornamentation, keep your spiders singly or in groups, around that area.
Tips to create Halloween balloon spiders in shortest time:
· Choosing colors: You may choose to have solid color spiders or patterned ones. One of the options is to choose a suitably designed balloon in definite colors or with streaks/spots. The other way is to paint your completed spiders, especially if suitably colored balloons are not available. Try to stick to more earthy colors, blacks, or grays to impart a more realistic look!
· Making basic structure: Inflate a desired sized balloon, but keep it only two-third filled to allow the margin for twisting. Tie it at its opening tightly either with the help of a thread or by looping.
· Shaping up the head: Twist the balloon around one-fourth of its size, such that the smaller portion contains the tied mouth (opening). It is a good idea to wind a string tightly around the twisted partition (representing the neck). Blow up two small balloons, preferably red, orange, or white. They will be used as the eyes. Therefore, keep the size proportional to the original structure. Tie them to the 'mouth' of the large balloon horizontally.
· Creating legs: For the four pairs of legs, use elongated balloons. One of the easiest ways to create the bents in the legs is to tie two inflated pieces angularly. However, the structure of such spiders is not very stable and placing them in a standing position is particularly difficult. A better approach is to take a longer balloon. Angle it halfway and twist a small portion around the bend. The resulting figure will look like a bent leg with a ball-like joint. Similarly, create the rest of the seven legs. Now, tie the legs tightly at the neck area and readjust them to give the desired positioning.
· Finishing touches: Use colors, stickers, or add-on shapes to give more spooky appearance to your spider.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
His Most Famous Sculpture (Puppy) - Jeff Koons - by Annette Labedzki
His Most Famous Sculpture (Puppy) - Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons, a widely recognized American sculptor, is celebrated for his loudly colored colossal reproductions of trite objects or balloon animals, essentially made of stainless steel with stupendous mirror finish. He emerged as an icon in the history of art with his groundbreaking sculptors of delicately crafted objects, such as "Puppy." Born in 1955 in Pennsylvania, Koons' earliest works were bulk-produced inflatable flowers and toys positioned warily on mirrors. He studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
His unique focus on the selection, medley, production, and the presentation of commercial products took him to recognition in 1980s. His sculptures and photographs completed during this phase explored current American iconography and the affiliation between accepted 'Kitsch' and 'High Art.' Throughout the 90s, Jeff's curiosity in the timeless perfection of his art had slowly encompassed the corporeal philosophies of ephemerality and circularity. His works repeatedly portrayed an obsession with sensuality and sexuality. His sculptors has been extensively exhibited both in the United States and Europe, including major museum such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1992), ("Puppy") the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain (1997), the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1992), and at the Sonnabend Gallery, New York (1999).
Jeff Koons shot to instant fame for his public sculptures, such as the colossal floral sculptures "Puppy," then displayed at Rockefeller Center, to be later permanently installed at the Guggenheim Bilbao, and "Split-Rocker," displayed at the Papal Palace in Avignon, France. In 2006, "Balloon Flower (Red)" was unveiled at 7 World Trade Center in New York City. 'The Broad Collections' of Koons' works are unsurpassed globally and displayed turning points from each phase of his inimitable and ever changing career. This collection boasts of 24 of his best works.
The temporal brilliance of his style was highly accredited in his work "Puppy" (1992). This 43 foot-high dog topiary is fashioned exclusively in a breathtaking cover of thousands of flowering plants. Created for an art exhibition in Bad Arolsen, Germany, this West Highland White Terrier puppy is designed with a variety of flowers on a steel surface. In 1995, it was dismantled and re-installed at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Harbor, on a new stainless steel frame with an inner irrigation system.
Later, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation purchased the puppy in 1997 and re-installed it on the terrace outside the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain. It has also been reincarnated in its classic, demountable adaptation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. In 2000, the work traveled to New York City for an exhibition at Rockefeller Center.
He effortlessly ascribed ordinary objects with both artistic merit and an inherent sense of sexuality. His works emphasized on the sensuality hidden in all the angles of everyday life. Jeff's art have always attracted the extremes of enthusiasm and ire, and is amongst the most expensive artifact in the world.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Color Symbolism of Purple: Defining Royalty and Abundance Ideally - by Annette Labedzki
Color Symbolism of Purple: Defining Royalty and Abundance Ideally
Since the beginning of the human civilization, colors have been used to depict certain elements and thought processes. ‘Color Symbolism’ can be found in the earliest forms of art like ‘Cave Paintings.’ Mostly, the meanings and the linkages of colors have been derived out of their occurrence in nature. Purple color and its shades naturally exist in the form of some most revered and precious flowers, such as violets, lavender, lilac, and orchids. Therefore, it is regarded as the color of royalty and abundance. Purple is an amalgamation of two characteristically opposite forces and this earns it the reputation of the ‘ideal’ color.
Red color is associated with fire, energy, action, and zeal. Blue is symbolic of tranquility, dreaminess, peace, and relaxation. Blended together, these two colors form purple, which carries the underlying qualities of both. One range of qualities it symbolizes, include fiery passion, pride, flamboyance, pelf, and so on. On the other hand, it also stands for romance, mysticism, knowledge, wisdom, spirituality etc. Medieval art with royal themes was dominated by this color, often to depict the robes and the garments of kings and the other members of royal descent.
Fresco paintings by the legendary Leonardo da Vinci and other artistes of that era predominantly featured deep purple. It was more so because this common color could be used for nobility, sacredness, and mysticism alike. Purple has been used in various combinations to bring out different qualities in a scene. Use of this color with earthy tones, such as beige or muddy was often used to emphasize its ‘Symbolism.’ In combination with more vibrant colors or greens, it was used to depict spring season and life. Purple, in its lighter versions, defines delicate love and romanticism. Pink and light purple make up the choicest color scheme in amorous subjects.
Like other significant colors, purple also carries different connotation in different parts of the world – some even negative. Thai people associate it with death and lamentation. Widows in Thailand don this color to portray mourning and sadness. Opposite is true in other cultures. Egyptian Queen Cleopatra’s favorite color, purple, is associated with kingdoms and dynasties. The Americans treat it as a representative of patriotism and valor. Its ‘Purple Heart’ is a high level of military honor bestowed upon brave soldiers. Precious stone Amethyst is deep purple in color and is believed to have therapeutic properties. Therefore, the Native Americans also treat it as a color healing. In all its forms and variants, purple is one of those colors that find the greatest presence globally.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
