Clay Pot Crafts: Make a Bell for the Porch

Clay Pot Crafts: Make a Bell for the Porch Clay pot crafts are a cute way to make home decorations. In clay pot crafts, clay flower pots can be crafted into a variety of decorative things that appeal to gardeners. Usually, the crafter begins with new pots. The pots are often decorated with paint as well as being tied together with rope or cord to create things. Pots for clay pot crafts can be purchased in many different sizes, from tiny ones not more than 2 inches in diameter, to huge ones over a foot across. For a beginning project, start with smaller pots. The beginner should also choose clay pot crafts that don't use too many pots in too elaborate a design. An example of a good craft for someone new at clay pot crafts is to make a bell from two clay pots. Buy one pot that is about five or six inches in diameter, and another that is very small. You will use the small one as the clapper for the bell. You will also need some decorative cord, two large wooden beads, and paint in desired colors. You may also wish to purchase some glue-on jewels to decorate the bell. The bell makes a nice decoration for a front porch. Cut the cord two feet (60 cm.) long. Fold the end over 3 inches (8 cm.) and tie in an overhand knot, making a loop. This loop is for hanging the bell from a hook or a nail. Now turn the larger clay pot upside-down. Pass the loose end of the cord down through the hole in the pot. Lay the pot on its side and slide one of the large wooden beads up the cord until it is about 10 inches (25 cm.) from the loose end. Now tie the cord around the bead so that the bead cannot slip from its position on the cord. If you have done this correctly, you can lift the pot by the loop. In clay pot crafts, the beads must be large enough to stop the cord from going through the hole in the bottom of the pot. On the loose end of the cord, you are going to attach the small pot in the same way. Slide the small pot up the cord to make it easier to tie the other large wooden bead on the end of the cord. Now when you lift the entire arrangement by the loop, the smaller pot should hang freely inside the larger pot, making a pleasant sound when it claps against the larger pot. Decorate the outside of the larger pot with paint as desired. You may like to paint it in black and white patches for a Holstein cow theme. You may also like to decorate the top of the bell with silk or dried flowers and greenery and a ribbon bow. For a variation on this craft, make three of the bells and hang them from a horizontal piece of driftwood or other interesting piece of natural wood. When making hanging clay pot crafts, always make sure the beads are large enough and are tied tightly in place, because the clay pots will break if they fall to the ground. Other clay pot crafts include making a large doll or scarecrow of nested pots strung together and painted. The doll can sit on a chair or a step of the front porch. Paint his face to look like a scarecrow, a jack-o-lantern, a gnome, or a child. Clay pot crafts are especially suited to being displayed outside. http://art-and-craft-hobbies.com/ http://art-and-craft-hobbies.com/shop/ group Art Studio of Lewis Baber , Post and Sell your ART. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Magikaljourneys?ref=seller-platform-mcnavArt Two Old Guys Folk Art Share this:http://Gallery-Wall-Art.com

Bored? Look at These Hobby Ideas!

  Bored? Look at These Hobby Ideas! Have you ever played one too many computer game or watched one too many old rerun? You just can't get into another mystery and you just feel flat? Maybe you are suffering from boredom, that familiar accomaniment to our automated, precooked lifestyles. If so, you need to check out these hobby ideas. Hobbies have been found to be therapeutic as they relieve stress and get the mind active. In this article, you'll find hobby ideas for every sort of person, from the intellectual to the athlete, from the homemaker to the attorney. Many times we are bored because we have become too inactive. If this is your problem, you might like a sports hobby. Have you ever tried tennis? How about golf? Many people simply love bowling until it becomes an important part of their lives. Sports hobbies get you out of the house and often are a way to make friends with others. Then again, some active hobbies can be enjoyed in our own homes, such as weight lifting and doing aerobic dance to a video. Speaking of aerobic dance, dancing is another great pastime. When you think of hobby ideas, don't forget the many forms of dance. Square dancing is fun for people who like getting together with groups, while ballet and modern dance appeal to the more contemplative souls. And while we're on contemplation, you might enjoy doing yoga stretches as a hobby. Maybe we're feeling bored and listless because we've been cooped up in the house too long. If that's the problem, here are a few hobby ideas to get you out in the fresh air. Have you ever thought of taking up canoeing, hiking, or trapping? How about getting involved with an environmental group? In many states, you can form groups to clean riverbanks and monitor water quality, and the state will provide perks such as t-shirts, work gloves, and first-aid kits. Or maybe you'd like studying the flora and fauna of your region. It can be great fun to stroll through the woods and fields with a field guide, learning to identify each wildflower, insect, tree, and bird. There are almost as many hobby ideas as there are bored people in the world, because everyone puts their own spin on their favorite hobbies. Maybe you'd enjoy decorating your house with antiques, or learning to bake specialty breads from around the World. Maybe you'd like to take part in a little theatre production, or learn to play guitar. What about the fine arts of weaving tapestries or painting with oils? Candle making, soap making, and many other old-time crafts are being enjoyed again. Truly, with all these hobby ideas, there is no reason to stay bored for long!  http://art-and-craft-hobbies.com/ http://art-and-craft-hobbies.com/shop/ group Art Studio of Lewis Baber , Post and Sell your ART. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Magikaljourneys?ref=seller-platform-mcnavArt Two Old Guys Folk Art Share this:http://Gallery-Wall-Art.com http://wall-art-gallery.com facebook.com/groups/wallartgallerywallartgallery@groups.facebook.com Blog: of art and craft-hobbies Website Stores http://art-and-craft-hobbies.com/ http://art-and-craft-hobbies.com/shop/ group Art Studio of Lewis Baber , Post and Sell your ART. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Magikaljourneys?ref=seller-platform-mcnavArt Two Old Guys Folk Art Share this:http://Gallery-Wall-Art.com 

How To Start Your Own Gallery

 How To Start Your Own Gallery So you are an art collector at the moment, with several pieces of art in your collection, and have noticed just how profitable the world of art can be for individuals looking to get into it in terms of business rather than as a hobby. It may seem like a romantic notion to have your own art gallery and be able to influence the world of art in a small way, but that is often not the reality. Starting any business of your own is extremely difficult, but starting an art gallery can be one of the most difficult of business tasks. You not only have to have a measure of artistic talent, as such, but you have to have a great deal of business sense. However, there are several tips that can help you on your way if that is really what you want to do. 1. Never open your own art gallery if it is only for the money - If you are in the gallery business for the money then look elsewhere because most galleries only make enough to cover the bills for the first few years. Until your business is established, you have next to no chance of making enough money to call your business a success. You should open the gallery because you love art and not to make a profit. If you do make a profit then that is a bonus. 2. If you have no knowledge of art collecting then do your homework beforehand - If you know nothing about art collecting then running an art gallery is not for you, but if you are determined then you need to learn all of the ins and outs of art collecting before you can own a gallery. This will take you at least six months if not longer so be prepared to be in it for the long haul. 3. Tap into your passion for art - A passion for art is a must and is necessary if you really want to attract both artists and sponsors alike. It is also necessary when trying to advertise any events that you have in your calendar. Beware of letting your love of art get in the way of your business head. 4. Know exactly what it is that you plan to do - You should have an aim, a goal, before setting up any business. If you want to own an art gallery then you should have a target for sales and a target for your involvement in the community too. 5. Find out where the best location would be before renting premises - Of course, if you are planning to set up business in a village with 250 working class inhabitants then it is to be expected that business will not be booming. However, if you have a good location in the centre of a town with little competition and middle class demographics then you will do far better. Check out rents and your audience before you actually put a deposit down on your potential gallery. 6. Have a business background - You must have business skills in order to make your art gallery work. Without business acumen, the likelihood is that you will be one of the businesses that do not see two years, and there are way too many of those around at the moment! 7. Brush up on your people skills - You need people skills to be able to attract artists, sponsors and press attention and should be able to make all of those feel comfortable in your gallery. Attracting customers is also a big part of any business so make sure that you are well prepared! Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Pexels.com There is so much more to opening a gallery than meets the eye. You have all of the mundane tasks like hanging promotional materials, publicizing events, making sure that artists want to trust you to sell their work, courting the press and any number of other tasks that get tiresome and boring after the first few weeks. If you are prepared to do that and dedicate yourself to the pursuit of the fine arts for the rest of your life then it may be for you. You must certainly be prepared to work hard. Just make sure that you are getting into art gallery owning for the right reasons instead of the romantic image that you have in your head. Website Stores http://art-and-craft-hobbies.com/ http://art-and-craft-hobbies.com/shop/ group Art Studio of Lewis Baber , Post and Sell your ART. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Magikaljourneys?ref=seller-platform-mcnavArt Two Old Guys Folk Art Share this: http://Gallery-Wall-Art.com

Musical Themed Paintings

Musical Themed Paintings
Musical themed paintings can be fun to find and fun to buy. I have a musician friend that recently purchased a new home. She bought new furnishings and asked me to find a new painting for her. I found her a fabulous creation by Osnat. It was an enormous, gallery size painting.
My friend’s new furnishings were very contemporary and the Osnat musical themed painting I bought for her was breathtaking when all five parts were mounted. The musical staff ran the length of the painting with musical notes painted on it. The painting had pretty shades of yellows and oranges. It looked so elegant.
I found a still life musical themed painting of a guitar to buy for a friend. He always has had beautiful pieces of art in his home and he wanted to change some of the pieces he had grown tired of. The abstract piece that I found really struck a cord with my friend and he ended up buying another painting from the same artist.
I found a painting that was called Music of Fire that didn’t really seem to have a musical theme. I showed it to a friend and she told me that the flames looked like they were dancing. She told me that I was using a very narrow definition of musical themed paintings when I was buying art.
Abstract guitars really seem to be my favorite musical themed paintings. I like to buy them when they jump out at me. There is an artist named Slazo that is very prolific with his musical themed guitar paintings. He has had a lot of exhibitions in Florida.
A friend of mine asked me to find artwork by an Armenian named Aram Koupetzian. I was able to find a musical themed painting called Rondo by this artist. It was really intriguing. I’ve never purchased a painting in the Cubist style before. The exact style of this musical themed painting was Synthetic Cubism. I liked it a lot. There is a lot to look at in the painting.
A couple of years ago, a good friend of mine graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a degree. He had a double major of music and education. He got a job as an assistant band director at a middle school in Austin. As a combination graduation and new job present, I bought him a musical themed painting.
The musical themed painting that I chose was painting by Tilo Rothacker that depicted a jazz musician playing a trumpet. It was so very colorful and it felt a lot like New Orleans. My friend and I had visited the French Quarter several times together. This musical themed painting celebrated his life changes and our friendship perfectly.
My younger sister is quite the accomplished violinist. She moved to New York and went to Juilliard. Her path changed after a couple of years in New York. She stopped pursuing the violin as a career, but her love for her music never waned. I bought her a musical themed painting when she bought her apartment. It was a contemporary abstract with brilliant rich jewel tones that depicted a woman violinist.
I was looking for musical themed paintings one day when I found Melody of Sunset for sale. I’m not sure why this painting bothered me so much. The woman was playing the piano, but she seems disembodied and strange. Her eyes were closed. This musical themed painting just did not strike a cord with me and I did not buy it.

My favorite musical themed painting in a long time was The Sound of Jazz. It was painted by Sarah Kinan and it is gorgeous. It is hard for me to not smile when I’m looking into this painting. The background looks like confetti and the foreground is filled with musical instruments. This musical themed painting can be described as feeling like a party.
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Buying Paintings: Romanticism

Buying Paintings: Romanticism
Though sometimes referred to as the “anti-classical” movement in art, Romanticism is a style that focuses on the artist’s individualistic and emotionally wrought point of view, and is found to oppose the art movement known as Neoclassicism. Even though there have been many artists to combine elements of both. Some of the more renowned names around this movement, which utilized strong emotion to convey meaning, were Francisco de Goya and William Blake respectively. This particular art form became a reaction to the outgrowth of reason by homing in on imagination and feeling.
It is not difficult to see the value in the paintings by these artists, and there have been many examples of how other artists have influenced one another over time. As the whole category of Romanticism refers more to the trends of artists, poets, and philosophers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries than as much to an artistic movement. Though one has definitely influenced the other and vice versa rather equally as time went along, there are very few areas in modern life that can be said to stay untouched by the Romantic period, and many agree that this was a vital point in the world’s development as a whole.
Where the people of the period at the time were involved in an overwhelming interest in things of a rational or enlightened nature, the Romantic ideal favored intuition instead, and has been the subject of many differing characterizations of the movement for intellectual and literary histories. There are many varying attitudes on how Romanticism has affected the modern world, and what place this movement has had in the greater picture of history. Some cite Romanticism as being the originating moment of modernity, while others seem to think that it is a beginning to a resistance to the enlightened age, and still others date the movement as a direct aftermath of the French Revolution that is completely continuous with the present.
Romanticism was previously mentioned as affecting music and literature as well as art, but this is less understated than it might seem at first, Romanticism is very prominent in the music and literature of this period. As the age moved along, more than a few critics have considered composers such as Mozart, Hadyn, and Beethoven as being the three Romantic composers. In literature all over the world, the Romanticism movement deeply affected every writer from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe through to even the 20th century’s Ayn Rand, and many more writers between those times when Romanticism was most prominent.
As it became apparent that Romanticism was going to stay a strong influence for many years to come, many critics have taken to confirming that the Romantic period has been elemental in the progress of art to the present day, and that there is almost no famed artist who has not been in part affected by these potent periods of artwork and creative purpose. This rebellion against social and political standards of the age was instrumental in the changing over from those same standards, and created a lush place from which to draw inspiration for the next centuries to come.
Romanticism has become a piece of history that cannot be overlooked for very long as every place that one can turn has somehow been affected by the progress from this one particular time period, though that is certain for many artistic movements that have been present throughout time, and seems to put more clout into the common statement of art imitating life and life imitating art. Neo-Romanticism worked itself out through artists’ reevaluation of the earlier works by those like William Blake, and especially in areas like Britain, creating a new underground of writers, artists, and composers.
Neo-Romanticists have been considered the contrast to naturalism as Romanticism was considered the opposite to Neoclassicism in its’ heyday because of the movement seems to stress feeling and internal observation, as opposed to the naturalistic tendency to stress external observation, and utilize historic rural landscapes to react to the modern world of machines and its’ urbanization. Post-romanticism is an outgrowth of passionate art that refers to a postmodern re-enactment of romantic themes and motifs in contemporary art up to today, and combines the best of traditional artwork with a more modern flair.

In regards to the 20th century turns that Romanticism has made, Romantic realism has evolved out of Romanticism to incorporate elements of themes of value while referring to objective reality and the importance of technique, and was popularized though not coined by the writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. This lead to artists incorporating Romanticism and Realism, though they seemed more weighed to the Romanticist side of the equation, and is considered more as a branching of the Romanticism movement today.
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Wood Wall Art

Everyone loves to have a home that looks great both on the exterior and the interior. This would mean that you would have to pay a lot of attention to the décor of your house if you want to make it look contemporary and stylish. Such a house would have color-coordinated furniture, curtains, carpets, fittings and other accessories in order to complete the look. All you need to do is to flip through a lifestyle magazine to get a good list of ideas that you could work on for your own home.  The best part is that a few simple changes can have a major impact on the final look of the interior of your home. So how do you achieve this look?

There are several different things that you can try, especially if you are refurbishing or renovating your house, or of course if you have just moved in. One such idea that is becoming very popular today is wall art. Wall art is guaranteed to change the look of any room with a few simple pieces. Wall art comes in different shapes, sizes and designs. Among the several different types of wall art are vinyl wall art, which is very durable and can be easily removed when necessary. Similarly you could always choose to get a professional painter to paint on a wall a design of your choice. There are several types of metal wall art too that would blend well with any other metal fittings you have in the room.

Another common form of wall art today is wood wall art. Wood wall art is being used by a large number of people across the country to accentuate the looks of their rooms. Wood wall art can be found at varying prices depending on the type of wood being used for the wood wall art, and the size of the wood wall art piece.

You could also choose to go for lovely pieces of handcrafted wood wall wart which are usually more expensive. Wood wall art carvings too can be found in several stores. The wood wall art could be a carving of different shapes or even figures and animals to go with the rest of the décor in your room.

Wood wall art, as mentioned above, can also be found for very reasonable prices at different markets, if you do not wish to spend too much on home décor but still want your home to look elegant.

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7 Drawing Tips for Beginners

7 Drawing Tips for Beginners

A child's first scribbling is something which it tries to express if you give a pencil in his hand.  Drawing is relatively very simple and an easy skill and is something with which you can have great fun. It is also relatively not a very expensive hobby and can start with paper and a pencil.  It can go on till acquiring costly pen and tablets - a computer hardware through which you can draw on your computer.  It is very costly; however the precision for perfection is very high.

Unlike earlier days, getting information on drawing and sketching is very easy and inexpensive.  You can search information on Google and get various sites which teach drawing.  Also, nowadays this art form is liked by many youngsters.  Like all other art forms, with constant and systematic practice one can become a great artist.

Listed below are few drawing tips which can help anyone improve their skill and become an artist. Reading and practicing these in your daily routine will improve your skill.

1. If you are drawing and you are right handed person, ensure that the light is from your left side. This will prevent your hand shadow falling on your paper.

2. First step when you practice drawing - you should practice drawing line, straight line, curved line, scribbled lines, and your hand should obey the command of your thoughts and visions. You should control your hand and you should be able to bring out what you want.

3. You should further develop drawing circles, oval shapes, crossed lines and bold and thick lines.  Just like how a baby develops from crawling stage to walking stage, your art should also develop step by step.

4. These lines and curves are like pillars to a building. The foundation should be strong enough to have a good building; similarly these initial small lines and curves will go a long way in your career. You should also start controlling the stress on your pencil. You should be able to bring the correct darkness and thickness in the lines what you draw.

5. Initially you will not be able to draw a circle or an oval shape correctly, nevertheless don't get discouraged. You should practice and practice until you get perfection.  You should also keep all your drawings carefully from the start to know how you are improving. You could also date your sketches and preserve it for the future.

6. You should concentrate in the area where you feel you are weak.  If you are not able to shade properly then learn more to do that.  You can try out your own style of shading.  Build your own individuality, never copy from another artist. 

7. Last but not the least, use good quality materials. 4B and 6B pencils and good chart paper or note book with good quality paper should be sufficient to start with.  Quality definitely matters hence never compromise on quality.

If you are a person who is interested in learning to draw you will be interested to check these Free Drawing Tutorials and also can search for tutorials from drawing search engine.

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