While Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando are all essential ingredients for any family’s Orlando itinerary, you will definitely want to take at least a day trip during your vacation to escape from all the crowds, hectic pace and total madness of these world-class theme parks. Fortunately, Orlando lies within an hour or so of a variety of diverse attractions where you can spend an afternoon far from the madding crowd. The following list features 10 of the best Orlando day trips:

1. Busch Gardens Africa: Sure Busch Gardens in Tampa is another theme park but it draws fewer visitors (4.3 million in 2006) than Disney World, Universal Orlando or SeaWorld Orlando. In addition, Busch Gardens features some eclectic thrill rides and attractions such as SheiKra, Florida’s first dive coaster, which boasts two 90º drops at 70 miles per hour.

2. Cypress Gardens Adventure Park: Opened in 1936 as Florida’s first theme park, Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven still features its beautiful botanical gardens and spectacular water-ski shows, but has added thrill rides, live concerts and the Splash Island Water Park over the past few years.

3. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex: Just 45 minutes East of Orlando, the Kennedy Space Center gives you and your family the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore the incredible history of American space flight and view rockets and exhibits, tour launch areas, watch a 3-D space movie at an IMAX theater and much more.

4. Silver Springs: Billed as “ Florida’s Original Theme Park,” Silver Springs lies near Ocala and boasts colorful botanical gardens, animal habitats, live shows, rides, specialty shops and the world-famous glass bottom boat rides.

5. Florida Aquarium: Opened in 1995, the Florida Aquarium in Tampa is home to more than 10,000 aquatic animals and plants from all over the world such as alligators, tropical fish, sharks, stingrays and sea turtles, as well as interactive exhibits.

6. Lowry Park Zoo: Approximately 1,600 animals can be viewed in their natural habitats at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, which also features a Florida wildlife center, aviary, petting zoo, live shows and more.

7. Canaveral National Seashore: One of just 10 National Seashores in the United States, Canaveral National Seashore is the longest stretch of undeveloped beach along Florida’s East Coast. Popular activities here include sunbathing, swimming, surf fishing, surfing and hiking.

8. Central Florida Zoological Park: Just a short drive up Interstate 4 in Sanford lies the Central Florida Zoological Park, which is home to hundreds of animals, including alligators, cheetahs, leopards, elephants and monkeys.

9. Daytona USA: Adjacent to the Daytona International Speedway, Daytona USA features racing exhibits, motion simulator rides, the World Center of Racing Visitors Center and behind-the-scenes tours of the speedway.

10. Salvador Dali Museum: Nestled in downtown St. Petersburg, the Salvador Dali Museum boasts the most comprehensive collection of permanent works by famous surrealist painter Salvador Dali.

 

The term ‘Portrait’ is usually used for paintings which portray the face of a person. But you will find that many portrait paintings presents the complete body of a person too.

Portrait paintings are usually created to represent the features and characteristics of an individual. The portrait artists try to emphasize the details of the features in the portrait. Some times the artists also make some changes in the portrait, if demanded by the individual whose portrait is being made.

The concept of portrait paintings originated in Egypt. If we go back to ancient times, we will find that well known personalities and individuals in high positions in society, used to get their portraits made so that they could be preserved for the future generations.

The Italian painting of high Renaissance, and other paintings by renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raffael and Tizian, marked the main era of portrait paintings.

Earlier, getting a portrait painting created by an experienced artist was a very expensive process. But with the introduction of modern communication mediums, now they can be got made at affordable prices.

If you want to gift a portrait painting to some one or just want a portrait of your loved ones made, you can easily get them made at reasonable prices. If you find an experienced painter to create portrait paintings for you, you will be astonished and excited to see the finished paintings. The finishing which good painters give to portraits, give them the effect of photographs.

You will find many websites from where you can get your portraits made. You can check the sample pieces which they have displayed and then decide from where you want to get your portrait painting made.

With more than 3,000 miles of coast, Spain can offer a Costa for every taste. Costa Brava is a hundred mile section of this coastline with golden beaches stretching from Blanes, 60km northeast of Barcelona, to the French border. Costa is the Catalan and Spanish word for ‘coast’, and Brava means ‘rugged’ or ‘wild’, and the area’s rugged coast mirrors this with its rolling mountainous terrain and fine sandy beaches.

Part of the reason that Costa Brava holidays are so popular is the climate, with hot summers tipping 29 degrees Celsius and a more temperate autumn and spring ideal for lazing in the sun. Winter temperatures reach highs of 13 degrees Celsiuis meaning that holidays to Costa Brava are year-round crowd-pleasers.

But if you’re planning a Costa Brava holiday then I recommend stepping off the sun-lounger to explore some of the region’s rich heritage with its ancient ruins, Catalan culture and the more recent cultural contributions from artists such as Salvador Dali and architects including Antoni Gaudi. There are also many little gems like the towns of Tossa de Mar and Roses.

Costa Brava’s Cultural heritage

Catalonia is an historical region, which once spread through northeast Spain, including what is now the Costa Brava. Throughout the region the Catalan culture can be seen with its distinctive food, language and heritage. The Catalan language, along with Spanish, is spoken widely in this area and the architecture reflects the ancient traditions and legends of the Catalonian people. There are also Catalonian days of celebration, including the Summer Solstice on June 23, when bonfires are lit and spectacular firework displays take place in all the towns and villages, along with live music and processions. Other days of celebration include St George’s Day and Catalonia Day.

The artists who fell in love with Costa Brava

The Catalonian coast has inspired many famous artists. Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Yves Klein and Salvador Dali all fell in love with the area and you can see their works in many galleries and museums, and reproduced in gift shops, throughout Costa Brava.

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona provides a wonderful day out in beautiful surroundings, and the Dali Theatre-Museum in Salvador Dali’s hometown Figueres presents a fantastically surreal experience for art-lovers. There is also the Salvador Dali House Museum in Cadaqués, where Dali produced much of his work. The outlandish architecture of Antoni Gaudi, who incorporated natural phenomena into his incredible structures, can be visited and gawped at in all its bizarreness in Barcelona.

Beautiful spots in Costa Brava

With its wonderfully varied combination of spectacular coastal scenery, hilltop medieval villages and ancient mountains, a Costa Brava holiday is greatly enhanced by walking tours to take in the beauty of the area, and there are many unspoilt towns to visit. Tossa de Mar, one of the prettiest towns in Costa Brava, was once a Mecca for artists including Marc Chagall. It is overlooked by an imposing 12th Century castle and has a strict rule of no high-rise buildings, meaning that its views remain gloriously unspoilt. The delightful town of Roses has the fascinating ruins of a 16th Century fortress, as well as hosting the remains of the Greek settlement Rhode. Both Tossa de Mar and Roses are famous for their excellent fish restaurants.

A holiday in Costa Brava is a brilliant way to escape from it all and recharge your batteries. Now you can make your escape into a real adventure by exploring some of this charming area’s art, landscape and culture.

Maintain your Portrait Paintings and let them look beautiful forever

Portrait paintings are valuable assets and not just decorative items to bring elegance to your home or office interior. Therefore, if you are the proud owner of some beautiful portrait paintings, or are planning to get some for yourself soon, you should maintain them and preserve them for your future generations because portrait painting is the one of the best way to save your happy memories.

Many people choose to display portrait paintings to give a new look to their office or living rooms. But many times, people remove the portraits from the walls as they fade out or get spoilt with time. People believe that the elegance of their portraits fade out with time as poor quality products might have been used to make the portrait. But this is not true. If you want your portrait paintings to look elegant and beautiful forever, you need to take good care of them.

Here are some tips which can help you to maintain your portrait paintings and keep them looking beautiful for ages:



It is necessary that the portrait paintings are protected from dust. Therefore, it should be framed well and also dusted at regular intervals.

Next, it should not be exposed to direct sunlight and too much light. Exposure to excess light might lead to the fading out of the colors.

Changing temperatures also have an effect on the painting materials. Therefore, they should be hanged in rooms where the temperatures remain almost the same every time.



So, if you want your favorite portrait painting to look beautiful tomorrow, start taking care of it today.

The portrait paintings made by expert artists are filled with life. The artists give perfect shades of skin and hair to the portrait and also highlight the features in the perfect manner. However, if the person whose portrait is being made wants certain blemishes to be reduced, it can be done.



An expert artist can very successfully reflect the personality of a person through his portrait. He captures everything perfectly into the portrait right from the muscle tone and skull structure to the perfect
Portrait paintings reflect the emotions of a person. Every portrait reflects the personality of a person. The eyes of the person in the portrait, tells a story by itself. In fact, a portrait can be called perfect only when the artist is able to capture the emotions, in the eyes of the person, perfectly into the portrait. It is not an easy task and every artist puts in a lot of effort to make their portraits look beautiful as well as real.
smile.



To make the portrait paintings perfect, an artist first studies his/her subject very closely. He/she very deeply studies the character and personality of the person whose portrait is being made. He/she studies the emotions reflected by the eyes and smile of the subject. The artists very carefully study the structure of the features too.



After close study of the subject, the artists start working on the portrait paintings. They put in all their efforts to fill life into the portrait and make it look real. They try to reflect the different emotions, like happiness, anger, excitement etc., present in the subject, through the portrait.



All the qualities which are required to make a portrait look beautiful are present in Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’. That’s the reason why it is considered as one of the most beautiful portrait paintingspainted till date.


 

Oil paintings have been around as early as when art became known to man. Now they make great decorations for homes and even offices. There is no doubt a room is at its best and most elegant when it highlights a famous oil painting. Oil paintings definitely bring a unique ambience to a room where it hangs. Other people, most often than not, those who are rich are able to make collections of great oil paintings from famous painters as a lifetime hobby. Unfortunately, with the prices with which these oil paintings come, not everybody is lucky enough to be able to afford them. Hence, Paint Your Life has found a solution for everybody who has an eye for these great masterpieces but unluckily cannot afford the original ones.

Paint Your Life is the answer to your dream of having an oil painting reproduction right at your own homes. Imagine Claude Monet’s Poplars on the Banks of the River Epte, The Walk Woman with a Parasol, Grainstacks at the End of the Summer displayed right at your living room. Or maybe have Vincent Van Gogh decorate your bedroom with his Starry Night, Vincent’s Bedroom in Arles Yellow, or The Night Cafe in the Place Lamartine in Arles. These silent dreams of yours are soon to be fulfilled. Paint Your Life is just a click of your mouse away. Or with a few numbers to dial, Paint Your Life will take your orders of your favorite oil paintings and have them delivered right at your doorstep in no time.

Paint Your Life is in the unique business of delivering oil painting reproductions of your choice right at your homes. You will be amazed at the never-ending list of oil reproduction paintings that they have available. You can find the oil painting reproduction that will match your home or office and of course your preferences. At Paint Your Life , you can search oil painting reproductions from three parameters: by artist name (Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Sandro Botticelli, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, etc.); by subject (portraits, landscapes, still life, abstract, and many more); or by movement (art nouveau, impressionism, surrealism, pop art, and a whole lot more). With a wide selection of oil paintings that Paint Your Life will offer you, you might find it difficult choosing only one and end up buying more than you initially decided to.

Aside from these options, Paint Your Life also offers reasonable prices for the oil painting reproduction of your choice. The prices of oil painting reproductions at Paint Your Life are dependent on a lot of factors that they consider. Paint Your Life have varying prices for their available oil painting reproductions depending on the size of the oil painting, the level of difficulty of that work of art, and the style or kind of framing that you want your oil painting reproduction be put in. .

Be proud to have one Van Gogh painting in your living room, and amaze your friends and visitors the next time they drop by your place and see it.

International, October 2, 2008- The Random Thoughts Series (RTS) 2009 Calendar Collections and art prints, by abstract painter Zammerly, are now available online and under print-on-demand.

The RTS art prints, from the original paintings featuring RTS1 to RTS29, come in two different sizes, with download option for people who choose to print for themselves. The Random Thoughts Series (RTS) 2009 Calendar Collections feature RTS 1 to RTS 36.

With the holidays just around the corner, it is timely to start gift-shopping in advance to avoid the usual rush. What better way to start, with this vivid and free-flowing art prints and calendars.

Art prints (unframed) are available from Euros 24.95, downloads at Euros 18.00 and the 2009 Calendar Collection at Euros 19.99. Full catalogue is available at stores.lulu.com/zammerly.

The Random Thoughts Series Original paintings were made in 2004, while Zammerly was based in Dubai, using mixed media on special paper. This series served as a turning point for her since she started painting landscapes and still life, with pastel, in 1999, back in the Philippines. All her abstracts paintings are done brushless.

She finds painting abstracts more personal and fulfilling, as it gives her the chance to share, offer and elicit diverse interpretations from the people who look at her art. Thus, she usually does not name her paintings, entrusting this task to whoever purchases the original.

For more information and updates about Zammerly and her art, visit www.mixedmedia-art.com.

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The Mixed Media Art Gallery features the work of abstract painter Zammerly, both abstracts and form art. All abstract paintings were done brushless. They are grouped in the years they were made (circa) and by series (RTS, SGS, TGS). Form Art such as Landscape and still life were primarily made with pastel. Updates to her upcoming work, exhibits and books will also be accessible through the online gallery.

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Mixed Media Art Gallery

http://www.mixedmedia-art.com

Email: info@mixedmedia-art.COM

Tel. No. +13474108844

Save your happy memories with Portrait Paintings

It will be a great idea to decorate your home walls with beautiful portrait paintingsof your family members and loved ones. Wedding ortrait paintings generally portray the face of people. But people also get portraits of their complete body made.

The portrait paintings are great decorative pieces which give new look to your room walls. These portraits can also be preserved for future generations.

The portrait paintings painted by good artists, have a very fine finishing and look like photographs. In the portraits, the features of an individual are emphasized by the artist so that they look lively. However, if the individual, whose portraitis being made, wants the artists to do slight changes, it is possible.

There are many websites on the internet from where you can get portrait paintings of your loved ones made at very reasonable prices. If you are in search of such website, simply visit www.portrayers.com

In the past, when photography was not popular, oil paintingwas one of the most popular means for family portraits, used to preserve images of their near and dear ones for future generations.

Oil painting portraitswere not only popular because it was used for making personal images but also because it was used as a decorative medium to decorate homes and offices. Mona Lisa, made by the Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci long back in the early 1500s, is most probably the most famous oil painting portrait.

Oil Painting Portraits, which were made centuries back are so beautiful that they continue to amaze us even today. At present times, oil painting portraits have become affordable. Therefore, you can buy them to either gift it to someone or simply decorate your home and office with it. You can also get an oil painting portrait of your choice made by an artist. The artist will require a few weeks time to complete your portrait of oil painting and deliver it to you.

Famous for cutting off his ear, or were his paintings really that good?

Early Years

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born March 30, 1853, in Zundert, a small village in the Netherlands, to Anna Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh. He had two younger brothers, Theodorus, who became particularly important in his life, and Cor, as well as three sisters, named Elizabeth, Anna and Wil. His father was a minister of the Dutch Reform Church.

After an unsuccessful run as an art dealer in Great Britain, Vincent found himself turned towards religion, and pursued a life as a missionary for several years. Eventually, giving into pressure from his family, he joined his parents in Etten in the Netherlands. He was quickly overcome by wanderlust, however, and soon left again to pursue his art, scrapping by a meager existence as he traveled from place to place. During this time he began to develop the ill health that would plague him for the rest of his life.

Paris and After

In 1886 Vincent joined his brother Theo in Paris, with whom he had maintained a steady correspondence throughout his earlier life. It was here that he seriously committed himself to art, and studied at the studio of Fernand Cormon, and encountered Impressionistic artists such as Gaugin, Monet, and Pissarro. Vincent’s personally style underwent a drastic change at this time, turning away from the darker palette of his earlier work such as The Potato Eaters. Instead, he began to employ the short, thick brushstrokes, and bright, vivid colors for which he is most well known today. It was only then, in the last four years of his life, that he created the majority of his body of work, over 200 paintings.

Eventually, he left Paris for Arles, where he hoped to found an art school. He was eventually joined by Gaugin, but the two increasingly quareled. During an especially tense moment, Vincent cut off a portion of his left ear with a razor blade. Suffering increasingly ill mental and physical health, he was confined to an asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment, where he was visited by his brother Theo. There, some of his work became characterized by bold whorls and waves, including one of his most famous paintings, The Starry Night.

Death

In May of 1890, Vincent left Saint-Remy and moved to Auvers-sur-Oise. There he was cared for by one Dr. Gachet, who became the subject of another of van Gogh’s most revered pieces, Portrait of Dr. Gachet. His depression worsened, and on July 27, 1890, he shot himself in the chest. He died two days later, at the age of 37. His last words, as reported by his brother Theo, who stayed by his deathbed, were “La tristesse durera toujours” (French for “The sadness will last forever”). During his brief career, Vincent had only sold one painting, The Red Vineyard, and traded one other as a substitute for rent payment.

Legacy

Vincent van Gogh, despite his lack of success during his own lifetime, had gone on to be one of the most influential painters of all time. While partially fuelled by the publishing of his correspondence with Theo, which created his image of a tormented artists dedicated to his passion, the vibrancy and texture of his work influenced the aesthetic of many painters after him. His paintings are incredibly popular among collectors; one of the two versions of Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold in 1990 $82.5 million, at the time the highest price ever for a single painting. Today, van Gogh and his work represents one of the most recognized and influential icons of art.

For some other great biographies see: Barack Obama Election 2008, 2008 calendar and Hillary Clinton Election 2008.

Born: March 30, 1853

Died: July 29, 1890

Famous For: Painting, drawing, ushering in Post-Impressionistic art, cutting off part of his left ear.

Key Accomplishments: Furthered aesthetic development of Impressionism into Post-Impressionism, posthumously recognized as one of the world’s greatest artists.

Significant Quote: “I tell you, if one wants to be active, one must not be afraid of going wrong, one must not be afraid of making mistakes now and then. Many people think that they will become good just by doing no harm— but that’s a lie, and you yourself used to call it that. That way lies stagnation, mediocrity.” (Letter to Theo van Gogh, from Nuenen)

Fun Quote: “Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.”

Despite the many styles and movements in 20th century art, from Minimalism to Dada to Abstract Expressionism, the realistic portrayal of the subject always seemed to be hovering in the shadows, an ever-present constant in the history of art. And as the 21th century begins, Realism is set to move to the forefront once again. It is representational art that brings the world around us onto the canvas; it is a language that even those who are ignorant of art can appreciate.

If you follow the history of Western art, you will see that, in its larger trends, it has alternated between representational and non-representational phases, beginning with semi-abstract work, such as the prehistoric cave paintings of Spain and France, then blossoming into the fully realistic sculpture and murals of Rome and Greece. It then returns to stylized, symbolic imagery in the Middle Ages, followed by a return to naturalism during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. This emphasis on realism lasted until the advent of photography in the 19th century, which helped to usher in Impressionism, Pointillism and others. The culmination of this trend was Abstract Expressionism and other modernist movements which emphasized the total abstraction of the subject.

Although I have done works in more modern styles, I have found traditional realism to be the best vehicle for my goals as an artist. And it is a fortunate thing too, as realism and figurative work is regaining prominence in mainstream western art. Of course, it never really vanished, as the painters Lucian Freud and David Hockney have demonstrated in their careers. It was also evident, in different ways, in the work of artists usually associated with other movements, such as the Surrealist Salvador Dali.

The general trend in modern times has been the simplification of the visual elements that make up the subject. This began with the Impressionists and continued through the Abstract Impressionists. But how far can you simplify the subject? To a blank canvas? To no canvas at all? There is a point at which the modern artist has to rediscover the inherent aesthetic value of reality.

A cow suspended in a tank of formaldehyde or elephant dung splattered on the Virgin Mary are worn out “artistic statements.” They pose the same question that the artist Marcel Duchamp did when he painted a urinal, turned it upside down and called it art. Duchamp’s act was significant at the onset of the twentieth century; it forced us to question what constitutes art. Now it is simply redundant.

There have always been certain characteristics that human beings associate with beauty. We admire the Roman murals found in Pompeii, the woodcut prints of the Japanese and the Mona Lisa, even though they are centuries old. We can relate to these masterpieces, I think, because we can more readily see ourselves in these images. Will future generations find these qualities in the Holy Mother smeared in animal excrement? Or Yoko Ono’s tiny black dot on a large white wall? There should be skill in art, and lasting value that can be appreciated throughout time.

Andrew Wyeth has created work in a realistic style throughout his career, and his paintings have resonated with critics and the public irrespective of current trends in art. Although Wyeth paints in a realistic manner, he is considered one of the great American artists of the twentieth century.

In any field, not just art, we admire work that demonstrates that the person responsible for it put time, thought, effort and skill into its creation. The best paintings of the Abstract Expressionists display great thought and insight into the principles of design, and should be admired for this. But to compare the amount of effort and technical skill put into it, with that involved with a work by Rembrandt or Rubens is pointless.

The key to a great painting is it’s visual quality—think about that statement. This is so obvious to the non-artist, yet many modern artists have become so lost in conceptual thinking that they’ve forgotten the most important thing about a work of visual art: it should be interesting to look at!

I know an artist who was obsessed with creating a work that would move contemporary art in an entirely new direction. He covered a canvas with a uniform layer of colored dots of paint, creating a confetti-like appearance. No shapes or patterns emerged from these dots; the overall effect was bland and nondescript. The artist said a work like this could only be done once; I would go further and say that a work like that could only be viewed once! There was no long-term value to it, no complexity or depth, no reason for the viewer to return to explore the work further.

Don’t misunderstand me–I am a great fan of much of modern art. But there is a limit to how far an artist can effectively simplify a subject to its essence and still interest the viewer; at some point, the only way to go is backward, returning to a more representational approach.

Yes, I champion realism over abstraction; it always draws us back eventually. And I believe that realism will soon regain a commanding position in Western art; then it will likely return to some degree of abstraction, in a continuation of the cycle we have witnessed since prehistory. Realism and abstraction are really two sides of the same coin; an abstract work is just a simplified version of a realistic one, and a realistic work is simply a more developed version of an abstract one. But Realism has always been the foundation, and undoubtedly will soon return to dominate the visual arts once again.