See What Anahit Burke is Creating!

 

Art Piece: 

“Cottage”

Acrylic

 

About the Artist:

Anahit Burke

Anahit Burke currently resides in Texas, where she enjoys painting in the abstract style as well as painting landscape art.    Anahit believes painting landscapes is the best way to underline the beauty of the nature we were so fortunate to inherit.  The medium she uses mostly is acrylic as she finds that acrylics brighten the painting more than any other mediums.  Anahit also specializes in ancient iconography.

To view more of Anahit’s work and the work of all our fine artists, visit us at www.contemporaryartgalleryonline.com.   Also check out our monthly art competitions.

 

 

 



Subjectivity of Oil Paintings by Alexandra Dailey

Art by Sharon B. Hawkshawe

On Saturday while at work, I decided to stroll around the galleries and peruse the 370+ oil paintings that are now adorning the walls at The Crooked Tree Arts Center. I found myself particularly drawn to the super realistic pieces, the ones reminiscent of the Flemish still-lifes that contained teapots, flowers, dishes, ribbons, and memento mori. Some are so exquisitely conveyed that I believed I could reach into the frame and touch the depicted tablecloths. Some pieces display more contemporary subject matter while still retaining the true-to-life quality that I revel at. Other paintings deviate from realism and strive to convey emotion, power, and transience through less defined lines, blurred colors, and heavy brushstrokes laden with oil paint. These too are beautiful; I personally find beauty in both approaches—the precise, and the implied, impressionistic. After walking the galleries and seeing each painting, I resituated myself at the front desk. While seated I overheard our curator professing her like of the impressionistic pieces, which struck a chord in me. All of these paintings are unique, and quite amazing, yet each one of us has our preferences for which piece and which approach is best or most successful. The subjectivity of oil paintings. In this world we cannot escape subjectivity, especially when it comes to art. To me the clean lines and realistic paintings are preferable, but to someone else, the opposite style may seem superior. I wonder, even now, how the juror is going to select the best piece. How will he decided which is better, realistic or impressionistic? I am thankful that it is not up to me to decide. And thankfully I get to enjoy both ends of the oil painting spectrum at my place of employment. I don’t believe I could say which approach and style is overall better, or best. Each has its merits and its supporters. Which style do you prefer?

To get information about the OPA exhibit at The Crooked Tree Arts Center visit www.crookedtree.org.

Article Submitted by Alexandra Dailey

To read more articles written by Alexandra Dailey, visit http://alexdailey.wordpress.com.

Season of the Rose by F. M. Kearney

I think a rose was the first flower I ever photographed. With two major blooms a year, in June and September, there are plenty of opportunities to shoot this popular flower.

At this time of year, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden in the New York Botanical Garden comes alive with 4,000 rose plants in over 600 varieties. With so many subjects to choose from, the roses that line the trellis around the garden often go unnoticed. That's too bad, because the trellis can add a very nice decorative element to the photo. I usually try to shoot these types of photos on overcast days to avoid harsh shadows and heavy contrast. The horizontal image is an example of this kind of lighting. The vertical was shot on a sunny day. It was a picture I almost didn't want to take. However, the sun was only shining on the foliage in the background and not the roses themselves. This separation in lighting not only makes the image work, I feel it adds a degree of vibrancy that's lacking in the other photo. Sometimes, it's the situations you least expect that yield the best results.

Today’s blog is dedicated to the wonderful memory of my mother, who passed away this year.  She would have been 91 today.

Article Contributed by:
F.M. Kearney is a fine art nature photographer, specializing in unique floral and landscape images. To see more of his work, please visit www.starlitecollection.com.

Fine Little Day by Jayme Catalano

 

Fine Little Day

Fine Little Day, a Swedish store online, stocks whimsical, delightful, and interesting home goods, gifts, and jewelry. Founded by artist Elisabeth Dunker, the company calls themselves a “sprawling and happily inconsistent company” with an ambition “to include art and design in your everyday, joyful life.” In addition to their impeccable collection of textiles, wallpapers, ceramics, and books, the store stocks vintage birch bark shoes, mini lederhosen, art prints, and beautiful cutting boards. Best of all, the store ships free worldwide. Happy Shopping!

 

Article Submitted by:

-Jayme Catalano
Canary Public Relations
www.canarypublicrelations.com

Canary Public Relations is a boutique firm specializing in marketing, branding and public relations for small businesses.  They specialize in working with fine artists, designers, and creative professionals of all types.

 

See What Betty McGlamary is Creating

Art Piece: 

“Looking for Lunch”

Oil

18” x 24”

 

About the Artist:

Betty McGlamary

Betty McGlamery lives in Marietta, Georgia and works primarily in oils and acrylics. She enjoys plein air painting and has been spending half of her time painting in South Georgia. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Art Education from Florida State University and has been painting for most of forty years. She is a member of Gallery 4463, Acworth, GA.

To view more of Betty’s work and the work of all our fine artists, visit us at www.contemporaryartgalleryonline.com.   Also check out our monthly art competitions.

 

See What Ashley Peters is Creating

Art Piece: 

“Stacking the Odds”

5”  x  7"  

Linocut, Acrylic Wash and Pen

About the Artist:

Ashley Peters :

Ashley was born in the small town of Millington Tennessee, and grew up in Ohio.  Ashley attended Fort Wayne Indiana at the University of Saint Francis.  There she fell into printmaking illustration, which ignited her creative fire. 

About Ashley’s Art Style:

Ashley’s  art consists of a combination of printmaking (Woodcuts & Linocuts) and illustration, (Pen, Ink & wash).  The pieces are often intimate, particularly the elongated sizes. The imagery comes from that of nature including things such as trees, landscapes, a natural female form,(Ashley’s image of Mother Earth) as well as woodland creatures such as her fox friend and fleeting deer.   Ashley loves using linear edges to create a fluid motion and overall balancing opposites. The lines are harsh and raw. They cut through the space.  Ashley then implements colors found in nature, often muted.   Ashley’s works are about her observations of the world around her; as it changes and evolves as well as what is left behind in the process.

To view more of Ashley’s work and the work of all our fine artists, visit us at www.contemporaryartgalleryonline.com.   Also check out our monthly art competitions.

 



Creative Flower Photography Tip #5 Embrace the Backlight by F.M. Kearney

Flowers are usually best photographed on overcast days. The cloud cover acts as a giant softbox, effectively evening out the light by eliminating all dark shadows. Sometimes, this flat, contrast-free lighting is exactly what I'm looking for. Other times, when I'm in the mood to spice things up a bit, I seek out the harshest, most direct lighting I can find. I don't necessarily want this type of light on my subject, but rather behind it to create a nice backlight.

While waiting for the rose garden to open one morning in the New York Botanical Garden, I noticed a row of white shrub roses near the entrance. Nothing about them really caught my eye, and under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't even have given them a second look. But since I had time to kill, I figured I might as well try to see if I could find something interesting about them to shoot. After surveying them under standard frontal lighting, I began to suspect that my initial assessment was correct: "Nothing to see here, move on!" But, I was absolutely amazed when I walked around to the other side and saw just how much better they looked backlit. No longer static and boring, they literally came to live in this dramatic lighting. Sparkling highlights were dancing everywhere. However, backlight isn't the easiest kind of light to work with. Unless you're going for a complete silhouette, additional lighting and techniques will be needed to properly expose your subject.

I positioned my tripod to compose a shot with a small group of roses in the foreground and a few others several feet away in the rear. I used my depth of field preview to determine the optimum aperture that would render the background as a field of soft, glistening highlights. Although the background looked good in the viewfinder, the image as a whole was very faded and washed out. A quick visual of the front of the lens explained why. The glare from the sun was shining directly onto it. A lens hood was definitely in order, but I don't have one permanently connected to my lens. Instead, I use a Cokin modular hood, comprised of several individual 3/4 inch stackable rings, allowing me to build a custom lens hood of precisely the length I need. With the lens now completely shaded, the true color and contrast of the image was restored. To compensate for the strong backlight, I mounted a flash on my camera and set it to "TTL-Fill." I also used a reflector and aimed it at the opposite side of the flowers from which the flash was pointed. I find that this type of multi-directional lighting can produce almost studio-quality results in the field. At last, I was finally ready to shoot.

This may sound like a lot of work, but once the initial set-up is in place for the first photo it's a much more streamlined process for all the others. The accompanying photo I titled, "Garden Highlights," is one of the images I shot that morning. It might require a bit more prep, but the spectacular results possible with backlighting are certainly worth the effort.

Article Contributed by:

F.M. Kearney is a fine art nature photographer, specializing in unique floral and landscape images. To see more of his work, please visit www.starlitecollection.com.