Experience of comissioning a portrait

Every one of us has dozens of photographs that we see only on rare occasions whenever we feel like reminiscing. Some of them are the ones that really cherish the moments, which always stays fresh as memories. But to make it more memorable, imagine having an oil painting of that Photograph hanging above your mantle or other places in your home or office.

Let me just briefly depict my experience of commissioning a portrait. It was the birthday of my grand mum and I wanted to gift her with something that she would really cherish. I was utterly in loss of ideas, as she either has all that she needs or just doesn’t care to have anything. Then my wife suggested why not gift, her with a life size portrait of my grandpa. It was the best idea, so I went out looking for people who could blow up the photos I had of him and make it into a six foot tall image. I found that lt was virtually impossible even with the latest photo resizing and enhancement to make the old paintings which I had to be converted to what I wanted it to be. Then when I chanced upon a site that offered to commission a portrait and make it look alive. As if when hung the portrait could speak to you.
I decided to commission a portrait. It turned out to be the best gift I had bought ever to anyone. My grandma was in literal tears when she saw the Image come alive in front of her. She felt as if my grandpa was standing right in front of her. It was simply awesome. This was when I realized that Oil paint portraits are more than just work of art but a reflection of a persona coming alive.
From then on I have been a avid fan of Oil paint portraits I have suggested it to over a hundred people and most if not all agreed with my views and ended up commissioning a portrait.

Why a Portrait?
Many people from all over the world Commission to hand paint, portraits of their family or of their Children or wedding portrait. It always reminds us the pleasant memories or event that we shared. Commemorating these experiences with traditional oil painting is a unique expression of love, respect and admiration for a time or event that may never come around again, it can be shared by your family and your descendants.

Commissioning a portrait:
Because an oil portrait will be a treasured heirloom the goal is to create a painting that will stand the test of time as a compelling work of art. Portraits are intended as a celebration and affirmation of the life of the sitters; each is an exploration of their unique character and personal strengths.
Oil paintings capture qualities that are quintessential dynamic with authenticity and compassion. Painting portraits is about exploring the lyricism of character and levels of personality within the painted surface. More than a photograph made to look like a painting, portraits are the real thing. A love of people and a deep interest in the human experience is the key to a painting that lasts forever. The time necessary for a commissioning a portrait varies with the length, scale, background, medium and the material available to work with. Allow the leeway of a couple of weeks then see the wonders come to life right in front of your eyes. Capture memories make them last for eternity.

Where To Buy Good Oil Painting

Where To Buy Good Oil Painting?
In the previous articles we had looked at information on “How to make an Oil painting and how to buy one?” This article discusses where we could get a high quality painting.
When we think of paintings all we can think of are places like museums, art galleries and louvers. But wait a second aren’t we forgetting something? Our very own art galleries and shopping mart right in our living rooms, that’s right we could have all the goodies, packaged right into our desktop through virtual art gallery websites.
With few clicks of the mouse we could look through an entire collection of Picasso or Van Gough. It is amazing how technology brings the work of art to us instead of we having to go seeking for them.
Online art galleries provide us with a wide collection of paintings and integrate a shopping cart. You could choose your favorite paintings, which could later be sorted and bought, at your convenience.

What to look for?

What is offered: A site that offers custom as well as ready-made paintings. The Ready-Made ones are displayed as images (Thumbnails and Enlargements). The custom paintings are made out of your ideas, a mock up of the design is shown to you prior to making the final version.
The topics for paintings are cubism, abstract, landscape, women, people, self-portrait and many more.

Payment Policy: Look for secure mode of internationally accepted methods such as 2checkout.com or 2co.com.

Delivery: The mode of delivery should be through trusted delivery methods such as UPS or DHL packaged in strong tubes

Refund Policy: Look for a refund policy such as a seven-day money back guarantee due to any discrepancy in the final Oil painting that is delivered.

The online stores such as canvaz offers a wide variety of Paintings and services such as Portrait Painting, Commission a Portrait, wholesale purchase and reseller paintings. These sites provide a way to get home a genuine work of art both economically as well as safely. Selling only 1000 paintings a year never compromises the quality of painting.

The businesses covered are under categories of Popular art, Reproduction of Old Masters work, and Portrait service. The initial payment is set at a nominal 33% when you are satisfied with the work then the rest of the payment could be made. It is a very transparent and safe way of buying or reselling paintings over the internet.

The art of interpreting art

Our world has a long history of art, which began way before the civilization of humankind could pick up a blackened stick and paint on cave walls. What we do not have a history of is defining what art iseverything in the past is based on today’s art theories from our personal assumptions. In order to fully interpret abstract art, it needs to be understood for what it was, who did it, and why it was done-in the actual context of its origin.

Presently, several art theories dominate the art world, with Formalism as one of several. The formalist theory of art had a serious proponent through Arthur Clive Heward Bell, a British art critic who attempted to define art in theoretical terms through the Formalist theory. In all forms of artwork with their many qualities, there lies a common factor-form. The difference lies in Clive Bell’s personal interpretation of art, regarding “significant form” as an arrangement by unknown and mysterious laws instead of form alone. His theory required that all art must have significant form in its creativity and to be considered as art-not just form itself. This is what separates abstract art from representational workforming the base of Formalism as a simple line of logic to represent abstract art.

AESTHETIC EMOTION

All artwork needs to invoke some sort of response in its viewer. Referred to as the Aesthetic Emotion, it is the same for all people and plays a major part in life, calling upon the viewer to develop a feeling of extreme pleasure of the senses, or quite the opposite. Based on a deep emotional influence, it forces a response that is almost considered universal that helps define the work of art.

This universal response of appreciation or even lack of appreciation is based on the significant form that includes aesthetic lines, curves, shapes, and colors. The abstract or modern art of the 20th century are considered non-representative, and are appreciated for their art forms rather than subject matter or content.

FORMALISTIC “COMMON DENOMINATOR ARGUMENT”

The formalists consider significant form alone as the common denominator for what is considered art and what is not. The “common denominator argument” was an argument that Bell used for his Formalistic theory on art, further developed by a man by the name of Noel Carroll. Art has historically been processed through tradition, a place in time where we put it to make sense, making it “intelligible as art” through historical evolution where the art makes sense of what is going on during a certain time. But Clive Bell and Noel Carroll both questioned whether it is evolution or simply change that changed art forms and their expressions.

This argument refers to a statement made by Noel Carroll, “if anything is to count as a necessary condition of art status, then it must be a property had by every artwork”. Carroll believed that not all artwork is art, which was separated by the scientific Formalism view to the point it has an advantage over representationalism and expressionism art which theorized that for something to qualify as art it had to represent its content. This is an opposite viewpoint of abstract theories and the Formalists who proposed them.

Understanding abstract art – Part 18

Understanding Abstract Art

Being an art enthusiast, I have been baffled by some of the art reviews that appear in news papers and other periodicals. They seem to confuse me more than facilitating me understand difficult art. Difficult art, in the sense, anything other than ‘realistic art’ – somethings like surrealistic art, formless art, dadaism, abstract art, kistch and so on. When I visit an art gallery or art show, and if I can’t understand the art exhibited there, I seek the help of art reviews. My basic expectation being some help in understanding the meaning of the paintings, these reviews, most of the times, disappoint me. The reviews appear as a platform for the critiques to exhibit their superior knowledge, rather than helping a simple man like me. Some of the reviews, in fact, intimidate me and seem to tell me indirectly that I am unfit to understand them or the paintings in question.

Please don’t get me wrong I am not trying to generalize, or express my opinion categorically. Some reviews help me, where as many others confuse and disappoint me. I maintain that the basic duty or responsibility of an art review is to help average person like me understand art. Frankly, I don’t think this happens.

Many artists and and experts opine that a work of art has to tease the imagination of the viewer. A painting becomes boringly straight and simple, if it is extremely realistic and easily understandable. There is nothing in realistic paintings to appreciate except the beauty of them, they say. That’s why photo-realistic art has taken a back seat some times. A good number of art lovers love the works of art to be intriguing, teasing and leaving something to the imagination of the viewer.

But sometimes I feel that the artists take too long a leap in this direction by creating works of art, which are impossible to understand. What should an ordinary person like me do, in such situations, to understand their work ?

Perhaps, some knowledge regarding the birth of ‘abstract art’ (I don’t know what to call this kind of art, as it has many names, i.e., formless art, non-figurative art, modern art, contemporary art the list is endless, I would rather call this art something ‘other than realistic art’) would help us in understanding the kind of art in question. It is said that the artists of 19th century reached a level of perfection in realistic art, that sometimes their creation on canvas was more beautiful and realistic than the real object itself.

Where to commission a portrait

Where to commission a portrait?

When you need a photograph changed to art form, you can commission a portrait. Now what do we need for commissioning a portrait? All you need is a photograph even a fuzzy old photograph will do.
The artist tries to make an exact replica of the photograph given. When there are missing elements in the photograph the artist adds those details through active imagination, bringing the image to life.
Portraits can be made of headshot, half-length or full length for the same price. The artist makes various changes and shows the work at various stages through digital image of the portrait being made. The details can be viewed to the last stroke of pain. Once you are happy with the painting, you can purchase by paying the amount through a secure money payment service such as 2checkout.com. This is a SSL (secure socket layer) based service, which means that even the site would not have access to your information.

When you do not like a painting or require refinement this is done very easily. The money is refunded if you surrender the painting within seven days. If you require refinement of the finished painting after delivery, you would have to mail back the portrait purchased so that the necessary changes could be made and returned to you.

Prerequisites for commissioning a portrait:
1. An email of the photograph to be commissioned
2. Written permission of owner of photograph if it doesn’t belong to you
3. One-third the payment made in advance so that the artist has assurances of payment to begin working.
So now that we know what and how to commission a portrait, all we need to know is where to get it…
To get a portrait made is to have the memories from past imprinted on canvas. So we need artists who are efficient in performing what is needed. Once that portrait is made we have to get the work of art safely delivered and framed so that the memories become part of our life forever.
There are a lot of websites that offer portrait services, but there are very few that you could trust to make an exceptional work of art and have it delivered to you safely. Make the payment transaction hassle free and secure.

The following points are to be remembered while making a service request to commission an Oil Painting Portrait:
· Look for sites that have experienced artist
· Site should have exact specifications for requesting a commission of Portrait
· Site should have a clear FAQ about the process involved in making a Portrait
· Look at the samples done before, so that it satisfies your expectations. If not contact the site administrator to have your doubts clarified.
· Verify whether the site uses a secure payment method such as 2checkout or 2CO
· Check if there is refund policy if you have any problems with the delivered art work
· Look through the catalog or gallery to check out the work being done or done before.
That’s it now you are equipped to go and commission a portrait.

How to compose abstract art – Part 1

Composing an Abstract Work of Art is much like composing a piece of music or poetry. It’s structure is determined largely by the thoughts or emotions that seek release from it’s confinement in the heart and mind of the composer. It should be bourne in mind that the artist does not decide to be an artist, some natural impulse urge him to find the means to materialize the unformed ideas and feelings that translates into lines, colors, textures and shapes that yearn to be expressed. This much you know. You are an artist to the core of your being. Or maybe you just decided today to buy your canvas, paint and brushes with your hard earned cash – inspired by an abstract painting you saw from a window display in some downtown gallery – and you thought: I can also do that.

Whatever your motivation, you are finally face to face with the blank canvas, brushes and paints in hand, colors and shapes ready to explode. The windows are open for the muse of inspiration to alight into the room anytime. But wait, wouldn’t it be easier to paint what is before you? The fruit basket could be a good subject. Or perhaps you can hire a model who can strike a mean pose for you. Okay, so traditional representational painting is out of the question. The task at hand is to create a work that is totally abstract. It feels like you are on a cross-road. You can’t decide on your point of entry – there has to be a plan – a strategy of action. What does an artist do? Sit back and down a bottle of wine? You need to do some serious thinking!

Let your mind race back to the first man who made the first breakthrough: the first abstract painting – by totally eliminating any references to the natural world. It was Wassily Kandisky. He claims that “Every color has a corresponding chord in the soul.” He based his abstract paintings on the music that he listened to. He saw colors and shapes while listening to music and only had to transpose these onto his canvases. He did not arrive at it instantaneously. He slowly worked towards it one painting at a time, built upon the works of scores of modernist painters whose increasingly abstract ‘ouvre’ led towards the totally abstract. Even Picasso was shocked by this recent artistic development, because he never really abandoned the figures in his paintings. He called this abstractions ‘Tachisme’ – it’s like carpet weaving. Kandinsky was descended from a long line of innovators – of artistic revolutionaries back from the time of the “Impressionists.”

Art history: Understanding impressionism – Part 8

Those who follow art and its history understand the importance in creating a work of art that depicts real life in an artificial way. Many artists are famous for the realism that their paintings provide, and others are famous for how long it captures the imagination as it presents what excites our visual senses.

This could be the form of art that is known as impressionism, which from the 19th century Paris it gained worldwide attention. The artists sought to duplicate on canvas what they saw with their eyes, but with a flair for imperfection in that detail was not of utmost importance.

The focus was mainly on the subject matter without the painting taking on a realistic looking rendition so as it may tease the senses. Painting is just what it is, a means to express what the artists sees and what those who view what he paints imagines.

The paintings always would look more detailed the further away one would observe. We see this today with computer graphics whereas the graphic is composed of thousands of pixels. If a small graphic was enlarged 100 times its size it would make little sense when you view the graphic up close. But stand at a distance far enough the graphic then is recognizable for what it is.

What comes to mind, are some of the famous Claude Monet paintings which to some at the time may have appeared as amateur, because of his particular way in which he depicted scenes in his painting. However his style was able to capture the imagination of many art lovers which in turn gave him the notoriety as one of the most famous of painters in his time and is still revered as one today.

His colors, his brush strokes, the scenes he decides as the subject for his creative arts style, is still considered the model for which many painters follow. One might say he is the father of impressionism in art.

Poetry: Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh – Part 1

We are as plain as potatoes

Our clothes as coarse

Our skin as rough

We are as round as potatoes

Just as firm

Just as tough

We are as overlooked as potatoes

Valued as cheaply

As if we are forever plentiful

Until we are not

Then we are replaced

By a new crop of potatoes

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Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Potato Eaters which is considered his first great work of art and in my opinion, one of his best works.