The Art of Self Improvement
November 18, 2009 by Portrait Painter
Filed under Impressionist
There’s no doubt about it: Self Improvement is big business. No matter where we look we seem to see men attired in business suits and fancy haircuts. Sporting dinky little ear-piece microphones, they speak to us as though we were attending the annual general meeting of their multi-national self-development business which, I suppose, isn’t that far from the truth. They speak to us in sound-bites; “I’m gunna show you how…”, “you just need to follow my plan: no thought required; just follow the plan”. Success and winning, they preach to the audience, are a sure thing.
But is self development a sure thing? If, like me, you believe self development is a life journey that is never completed, you know that the only sure thing is that the search for self development is far from being a sure thing. The journey will entail more failures than successes, more loss than gain and more self-doubt than we think we can endure. The only way to improve one’s self is to challenge the habits and assumptions we have gathered along the way. To go out on a limb with no guarantee of finding what we want takes courage. No ‘success plan’ would contemplate such a course of action!
So, if we can’t get succor from the self improvement ‘gurus’, who can we turn to?
The answer, I believe, is to look to the people who have always explored every single aspect of the human condition. They did not always find the answer, but they all had courage. They are of course, the world’s artists.
How can a painting help us toward our goal of self improvement you might ask? Well, some paintings help to bring serenity and a feeling of inner peace; I feel this whenever I look at an Impressionist painting, especially paintings by Berthe Morisot. She was never recognized as a great artist during her lifetime; she was relegated to the category of “feminine” artists because of her usual subject matter — women, children, and domestic scenes. Her paintings are intensely intimate. She is an example of someone who never gave up on pursuing what she thought was worth while despite being largely ignored.
Jackson Pollock instills different but equally powerful feelings. I used to believe all modern artists “just throw a bit of paint on a canvas and call it art”. My preconceptions were swept away when I was lucky enough to attend an exhibition devoted to his work. His paintings were beautiful and challenged the way I look at a painting. The search for your inner self is all about challenging your currently held notions.
Music is probably the easiest of the arts for us to accept as an aid toward our search for self development. How often does a certain piece of music make us feel happy, relaxed, romantic, hopeful, fulfilled? You name it, music hits all the buttons. My favourite music is anything by Beethoven. His music makes me feel all of the aforementioned. He was a man who accepted nothing less than perfection. He sort redemption through his music. Ultimately, he didn’t find it and he spent much of his life feeling alone. But his courage of conviction made his life, and countless others, a better thing. His last words were “Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over.”
Perhaps our greatest inspiration comes from writers. They have helped me, and millions of others, to find the inner self. Life would be a much poorer experience without our great writers. I won’t name all the writers that have inspired me; there are too many. But if there was one thing I would urge you to do, it is to read. If you’re not sure who to read then go to a library and ask! Tell the librarian what it is that you want to experience, feel or learn when you read a book. They’ll help you; don’t let shyness defeat you. If you can’t get to a library then join a reading club on the internet. The one thing I have found is that people, who love to read, love to help others to read books.
So, forget about buying into those testosterone, succeed-at-all-costs seminars, ebooks and DVDs. Go and look at a painting; or lie on the sofa and listen to music, maybe dance wildly to it, cry with it, make love in time to it; or curl up and read a book that will take you where you never thought possible.
You may not get to where you wished, but Art will accompany you every single step of the way.
Biography: Claude Monet – Part 12
October 8, 2009 by Portrait Painter
Filed under Old Masters
One day Monet was taking a walk with a child through a field, as no doubt he had done many times before. Suddenly he had one of those rare defining moments, which even for the atheistic artist must have seemed like an epiphany. On this afternoon the landscape was different, for there was a certain something, which demanded to be caught on canvas. The child was made to go back and get the paints, however as any artist will know, the light can change quickly and the essence of what is seen with it. Yet from that afternoon Monet would produce paintings of haystacks, which critics agree have an intangible sense of otherness.
Perhaps most of us have had such experiences for that brief moment in time when nature has seemed more intense and beautiful. We may wonder if it was the warm breeze on a twilight evening, the redolence of a meadow, and the sound of bees gathering pollen, or a heat haze over a field. An emotion is provoked within us, which seems to have a new depth, yet so very often the moment passes and we pass on our way untouched. Or was it something of nature opening itself to us, something in another dimension we cannot see
It was in 1922 that a young physicist Kaluza teamed up with a mathematician Klein offering a theory, which should have changed the face of science. Kaluza himself had one of those rare moments when he realised that there is in fact another dimension behind the three known to our cognitive awareness. This theory was mostly ignored at the time, yet now physicists are indicating as many as 26 dimensions, which they think can be proven mathematically. The String Theories are far from complete and the math amazingly complex, yet they have now entered into the mainstream of science. Other physicists and mathematicians such as Roger Penrose and John Wheeler are trying to push science far beyond the limitations of human understanding where things are not computable. They say that nature and indeed the universe has more to do with human consciousness than was realised. Wheeler seems to be saying that matter only exists at all when observed. Clearly Wheeler has to be too down to earth than to mean the moon only exists because we can see it. Possibly he is struggling with an idea just outside the field of his own intellectual awareness, and it is presently defying expression.
No doubt the light, which is so very important to painters exists in another dimension. What we see is simply an interaction of light with matter. Sound is
What Is It Worth? – How We Value Things
August 31, 2009 by Portrait Painter
Filed under Old Masters
Do you ever think about what something is worth? This may seem obvious at first, but think about it a little deeper. Is something worth what it cost to make? That can’t be true otherwise all manufacturing companies would go out of business in a VERY short time.
Why are natural diamonds worth more than synthetic ones? Synthetic ones are REAL diamond AND they’re more pure….no flaws whatsoever. In fact, other than being the hardest natural substance (we can synthesize harder substances now, Rhenium Diboride, Ultrahard Fullerite and Aggregated Diamond Nanorods are ALL harder than Diamond) they are simply pretty when appropriately cut and polished. However they are NO prettier than glass……….or are they? Maybe that’s a subjective matter of opinion?
I was in Washington D.C. two weeks ago with my wife (she was on a business trip, so I just tagged along for the ride). I’d been there several years earlier, but I didn’t have the opportunity to see any of the attractions.
This time it was vacation (for me anyway!) so I decided to go along to the Mall. I visited the Smithsonian Building, the Library of Congress and then the National Archives where I saw the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence; amazing places, all of them. My wife suggested I also go to the National Art Gallery as she’d been before and really liked it, so I took her suggestion and I’m very glad that I did.
Why? Because I experienced some of the most outrageously incompetent “art” that I’ve ever seen!
I saw paintings by Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse. Some were INCREDIBLE paint applied with amazing skill, intricate in detail, uplifting subject-matter; quite superb…………..in MY opinion.
Others were obviously painted by a three month old Chimpanzee! (Not really, though it DID look like it!).
I have no doubt that if the Cezanne or Monet went to auction it would fetch millions of dollars, purchased either by a wealthy collector or a shrewd businessman who could sell it for a profit, but the worth to ME for several of these paintings was exactly ZERO (dollars or pesos!).
What about your car? Is it worth what you paid for it? Well, my car is worth a LOT more to me than it is to anybody else. I know how reliable it is, what condition it’s in, how much money I’ve spent on it and so on. So what if you took your car to a dealer to sell or trade it in; what do you think HE would give you for it? Yep, you guessed it, a lot LESS than you think it’s worth.
Surprisingly, this can actually be a good thing. How? Once you realize how people value things, you can use this to make money. Just because I didn’t like something and wouldn’t pay anything for an it, doesn’t mean that somebody else wouldn’t. They may pay a LOT of money!
I want you to think a little more deeply about value and worth. These are both extremely subjective.
Show 50 people an object (wristwatch, pen, laptop, book) and ask each of them to write down on a slip of paper what they would be prepared to pay for it. You’ll get 50 different figures written down, guaranteed!
So where am I going with all this? Well, because everybody values things differently, YOU can benefit from this. How? Very simple; YOU have millions of bits of information inside your mind that you may not think are WORTH anything! However, other people may well be willing to PAY you for that information, and pay you VERY well.
Think about what you know, how difficult or costly the knowledge may have been for you to acquire (not just in money, but in time, effort or discomfort). Then think about how you might find OTHERS who would PAY you for that information.
Then, you simply SUPPLY it to them!
Do it once, then do it again…………….then, often before you realize it, you have a business.
Luke Hawthorne (www.lukehawthorne.com)
Paint your Life Adds Class to your Homes With Oil Painting Reproductions
February 25, 2009 by Portrait Painter
Filed under Old Masters
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.