Posts Tagged ‘Easels’
Art from a Distant Continent
Unfair as it may be, most American children are first exposed to art in a European framework. We are introduced to masters such as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet and the works that were crafted on their artist easels, but what of the fine art traditions from other parts of the world? All cultures have their fair share of talented artists, but they don’t always choose to express themselves on canvas or in a block of marble.
For African tribesmen, wood, ivory, bronze and pottery were the materials and intricately carved masks were the end result. An African tribal mask might have been inspired by various animals and mythical deities, and they became an intrinsic part of tribal rituals. These days, the legacy of these innovative artists’ lives on in the form of decorative wall art.
Better Business Planning
When I started my own business last year, I expected to run a one-man operation for sometime, especially with the state that the economy was in. Luckily for me, I was able to find a cozy little niche market, and within a few months I realized the need to hire on three more full-time employees. While the extra workers definitely eased my workload, I hadn’t anticipated some of the new tools that I would need around the office.
After one week with my new staff, I recognized that we would need weekly meetings to ensure that everybody was on the same page. The first meeting was shaky at best, with me stumbling through my notes and looking quite unprofessional. After that little fiasco, I decided to invest in a few presentation easels, and since then all of our intra-company powwows have been much more streamlined.
Trouble Standing? Try A Tabletop Easel.
If you love to paint but have trouble standing, you should turn your interest to a tabletop easel. Tabletop easels are very functional and they are just a simple variation on the classic easel.
They can be folded up and put away when you are not working. The best thing about tabletop easels is that it allows you to be seated while you paint. This is a great option for anyone who has back or leg problems.
Artistic Movement: The Impressionists
By the late 19th century, realism had become the dominant school of thought in artistic circles. The advent of the camera was threatening to make other visual mediums virtually obsolete. There was really no argument that photographs were the best way to depict slices of life and landscapes exactly the way they might appear to the naked eye. Fortunately for painters, the camera didn’t allow artists to exert much creative control.
The impressionists managed to fill that niche quite nicely by imbuing nature scenes with specific emotions and internal perspectives. The idea of impressionistic art was not to make an exact duplicate of a real scene but rather to interpret it through the artist’s consciousness and experience. Suddenly the works of art being created on art easels were just as relevant as those being captured on tripods.
My Short, Eventful Modeling Career
I’ve always thought of myself as a modest person, almost to the point of denial. It would come as a huge surprise to many of my friends and acquaintances that for a week during my senior year of college I worked as a nude model. It took a lot of convincing from my roommate, who had earned some extra money over the years by posing for studio art classes. I was in such dire financial straits at the time that I finally agreed to do it.
Much to my surprise, the teacher and her students made the experience as comfortable and laid-back as possible. I was exceedingly nervous for the first few minutes, but everyone in the room was used to sketching nude models. By the end of the class I had almost forgotten about my initial discomfort entirely. Then I heard the squeak of an adjustable easel and it brought me back to reality. It’s not an experience I would ever try again, but it was a liberating one nonetheless.
A Brief History of the Easel
Easels are known to have been in use since at least the time of the Egyptians. The excavation of King Tutankhamen’s tomb has records of small, hand-held easels. It is believed that they were used during speeches and orations as we now use flip charts.
By the early middle ages, the easels became more commonplace. These were very large vertically slanted wooden structures filling an entire room with its uprights and crossbars.
A Hero to Young Painters Everywhere
When I was still in elementary school, I always looked forward to art class. It gave me the chance to show off the skills I had accumulated over the weekend. You see, most of what I knew about art as a kid came from the beloved PBS show “The Joy of Painting” and its benign yet encouraging host, Bob Ross. Those with fuzzy memories might recall Ross as the guy with the Afro who always painted variations of mountain landscapes.
It got to the point where I would wake up extra early on Sunday mornings – the time slot allotted to the show in my area – and set up a kids easel in the living room. I lined up all of my supplies: some watercolors, a few pastels and colored pencils and of course plenty of paper. It always amazed me how Ross could turn a few seemingly random blobs of color on his canvas into a work of art by the end of the show.
Montmartre: Art from Above
Paris is widely recognized as a city of romance and endless visual appeal. It seems that every building was designed to be seen and every vista to be enjoyed. Given its reputation, it’s no surprise that the City of Lights would be a haven for bohemian types – thinkers, academics and artists. For centuries, painters have attempted to capture the essence of Parisian life from a scenic perch north of the city: Montmartre.
Over the years, such artistic talents as Claude Monet, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso pointed set up their easels near the Sacre Coeur Basilica and painted the nearby sites. Sometimes they would home in on the street level, paying close attention to the burlesque show performers and panhandlers who frequented the area. Other times they would paint lush landscapes featuring what seemed like miles and miles of rooftops.