WATER COLORS AT THEIR BEST

Water colors, simply means paint that is soluble with water.

Some pigments are transparent and others or opaque but still water based. Each has its own purpose in painting, The opaque paints cover each other up quite like oils when they dry. Some paint with a thicker texture. Some dry to a

permanent solid and can't be lifted.These are the characteristics of water based paints.

Transparent water color: Paints as a dye and soaks into the surface of the paper. Transparent uses lots of water and colors and are designed to move through each other giving interesting effects. Transparent can be thinned out and used as a glaze on top of other colors. It is most popular because of the softness it can create when wet paint is applied over a wet surface.

Opaque Water Colors: There are several different Opaque watercolors.

Gouache: A little more fluid but best for large areas where the colors need to dry to an evenly velvet finish. Large brilliant colored areas without streaks. Covers well over darker surface and holds color well. Very light fast for permanency.

Casein: In all intents and purpose casein is like a gouache. It is probably a brand name difference. It covers the same.
The most valued difference is it comes back to life if when re-wet.

Tempera: A less expensive gouache used mainly on schools and posters. Kids like it because it's easy to use and washable.

Egg Tempera: An older technique used by mixing egg yolk into the paint (usually gouache) for permanency. The technique is used by artists like Andrew Wyeth, and is becoming popular today because of the polychromatic effects, that it gives the painting. Wyeth painted up to 12 different colored washes over a white wall. The egg makes the paint permanent when it dries.
Fresco: Painting over the top of wet plaster. When it dries the colors are embedded in the plaster and is very permanent.The last supper by Leonardo de Vinci is a fresco. The Sistine Chapel that was painted by Michelangelo is a fresco. Very popular in early times on large wall murals.

Acrylics: Some say this is the best of all worlds. They are close to oils as any othe medium. Vivid in color, they cover well and the can be used like a transparent watercolor. They work well on board or paper. They are very permanent like oils. Those who use acrylics swear by them.

When I was an illustrator in Chicago we all painted in acrylics. If and when you learn to use they are wonderful. The drawbacks of this media is that it dries fast and the palette will change because you have to keep mixing the colors your using. When it dries it can't be revived. You can paint over the other colors but it's hard to match them. It is hard to get the paint out of the brushes so don't use your good watercolor brushes unless you clean them well.

Do some of your own research, and try some or mix them up with each other.

More to come...

Cloyd

TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Maybe you should try something different!

I went an art exhibit where all the work was done on a computer.
Great colorful designs with hints of objects carefully placed throughout the picture with marble coloring flowing throughout the background- they were beautiful. It made me stop and wonder; if they were made with a machine, were they really acceptable pieces of art?

Why not. After all the computer is just another pencil. It can't operate itself. It takes great skill to make it do what you want.

That goes with other types of art. Sometimes we become purists and do the same thing over and over, not trying to excite our audience. We could mix a lot of ideas and art styles together as well as mediums. The trick is to make it work.

If I listed the number of ways you could achieve a finished piece how many have you tried?

• Watercolor
• Oil
• Oil Pastel
• Pastel
• Pencil (Colored)
• Gouache
• Casein
• Tempera
• Pen and Ink
• Egg Tempera
• Acrylic
• Fresco
• Charcoal / Conte'
• Computer
• Sculptor
• Ceramic
• Magic Markers
• Crayon
• Woodblock
• And the one you come up with
• Spray Paint
• Airbrush
• Cut Paper

This list will give you an Idea of what's out there. Everything on the list has been tried and made an artist successful. Settle on one our use a mixture of all.
Who knows you may find something that works for you.

Lots of ways to achieve great results.

Cloyd Bedke

JUST DO IT

Back to blogging.

I took a short break to teach al workshop on how to paint a picture. The good part of the workshop was that the students were all very different but excited about doing something they could hang on their wall. (That's always the case though).

Three major questions arose from the class.

Without a doubt the scariest idea was " what do I paint"?

Number two was, "how do I get started"?

Number three, "now what do I do"?

It's like driving a car.

Find a car to drive and get over your fear.

Make sure it's a car you like.

Get in and start it up... put it in gear and, the rest takes care of itself.

Oh, sure you'll bang it up before you really learn how to drive but two or three times around the block and your ready to head down the highway.

Remember, there is always something new to learn. The highway is full of people just like you. Skill comes with a lot of hard work and experimentation. You must work at it daily before you do it well. The hardest part is if you don't know what a car is, you have to go out and look around. There's a lot to look at, and confusion will set in.

Decide in the beginning what kind of painter you want to be. Look around at other paintings; figure out what makes them work; do small sketches to feel out the darks and lights; then do it. Work on interesting compositions and color placement. Go to workshops and let someone coach you. Everyone needs a coach.

Your desire to paint will lead to your expertise.

More later,

Cloyd

WHO PAYS THE DEBT

How Your Income Stacks Up

by Kevin McCormally
Wednesday, December 23, 2009provided by

Where do you rank as a taxpayer? You may not feel rich earning $35,000 a year, but you're in the top half of taxpayers. Make $70,000, and you earn more than 75 percent of fellow taxpayers.

More from Kiplinger.com • How Do You Rank as a Taxpayer? • Quiz: Is It Tax Deductible? • 19 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions

Even as the Great Recession ends, we know the economic wounds it inflicted will take years to heal. The national unemployment rate has breached 10 percent, and unemployment is higher than 12 percent in California and above 15 percent in Michigan. A new study from the Department of Agriculture found that nearly 50 million Americans struggled at some point in 2008 to get enough to eat.

More than 40 million Americans are officially living in poverty. And you might be surprised at how little income it takes to not be considered poor by the federal government. For 2008, the poverty threshold for a single person under age 65 was an income of $11,201, or less than $1,000 a month. For a family of four, the threshold was $21,834. For a family of six, $28,769.

With that perspective, you may wonder just how your income stacks up against that of your fellow citizens. New statistics from the IRS provide an answer. The numbers here come from an analysis of 2007 tax returns, the most recent ones that have been studied.

More from Yahoo! Finance: • Your Employment and Salary Outlook for '10 • 15 Most Powerful People in the World • Cautionary Tales From Severance Packages Visit the Career & Work Center

The data show that an income of $32,879 or more puts you in the top half of taxpayers. Earning a bit more than twice that much -- $66,532 -- earns you a spot among the top 25 percent of all earners. You crack the elite top 10 percent if you earn more than $113,018.

And $410,096 buys top bragging rights: Earn that much or more and you're among the top 1 percent of all American earners.

Kiplinger has developed an online calculator to quickly show you -- based on your personal adjusted gross income -- into which income category you fall and, as a bonus, what percentage of the nation's tax burden is borne collectively by you and your fellow citizens who are in that income category. The following table shows the income categories and the percentage of income earned and tax burden paid by each category.

START A NEW YEAR DRAWING MORE

I'm often asked where do I start and how do I "Become a Better Artist"?

Drawing is the most essential part of art. All you need is a pencil and paper. Set down and draw something. Draw everything you see on that something. Change the angles and perspective and draw it again. After doing this for a while you develop a relationship of proportions and how they relate to the overall pocture.

It is sometimes difficult to make objects look demensional on on a flat piece of paper. Even that has been worked out for you. It is called PERSPECTIVE DRAWING. Perspective in a painting or drawing is the relationship of one object to another and its size related to distance. Perspective is really a simple formula and is very easy to accomplish. All lines in a drawing vanish into distance to their vanishing points.

There is, 1 point, 2 point and 3 point perspectives depending the what you are try to accomplish.
Simply stated look at these examples.

Not to get to complicated, but it is possible to have several perspective points within one picture.
Get some information on how to draw in perspective especially if you draw buildings and outdoor scenes. I use perspective with roads, trails and rows of objects to lead the eye into the painting.

Work at it.

Cloyd

THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas, a time for joy–

We celebrate, for it is the birth of our Savior.
It really happened in April, but through time and Pagan beliefs we now celebrate in December.

Most of the narrative of the Saviors birth is the work of others. He wrote no books. The story of his birth has been canonized and told in standard works, The Bible , The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, all are the words of the Birth of Christ..

This story was foretold to us by the prophet Isaiah.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called, wonderful, counsellor, the might god, the everlasting father, the prince of peace.. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.( meaning christ will be born into mortality of a virgin and will be among the people to save and redeem them).

It was a Levite priest named Zacharias who came to the temple to preside at the alter. An angel surrounded him in intense heavenly light and told him that his wife, Elizabeth, shall bear him a son. He shall be great in the sight of the lord and shall be called John. He shall ready and prepare the world for the Lord and Savior.

About 100 miles north of Jerusalem lay a modest peasant village called Nazareth. Here lived a daughter of Israel, called Mary – Gabriel, the heavenly angel also appeared to Mary, saying,
"Hail, though art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women".

Behold thou shalt conceive and bring forth a Son.

He shall be called Jesus, the Son of the Highest, and the
Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David.

Mary could not comprehend, for she knew not a man.

"How shall this be?"

The angel replied saying...

"The holy ghost will overcome thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore that which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God".

And so it was...

And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed , every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David , which was called Bethlehem– for he was of the house of David.

It was early in April when Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem to be taxed.– Mary being great with child–While they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn_ a son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger–because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the light shone round about them... and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them "

Fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you this day is born in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manager.

And, lo, the star which they saw in the East, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was laying. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and when they were come unto the house they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God saying
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And so the prophesies of old have come to pass. A savior was born. And the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.

For unto us a child was born,
Unto us a Son was given
and the government shall be upon his shoulder
and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father
The Prince of Peace.

Oh Come Let Us Adore HIm


An so this is the Christmas spirit–

And the spirit of the lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor
and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. Isaiah 9:2, 6-7; 11:2-4

– The birth of the savior _The Son of God.– redeemer of all the world – born to save the world of sin––born for the salvation of all mankind–That if thou believeth in his name thou shall have everlasting life.

– peace on earth good will to all men: Amen

WHAT ABOUT COLOR

I'm always interested in people and their behavior. What makes them do what they do. People are attracted to certain colors. Why they pick these colors is a study in itself. If we could figure this out you are your way to millions of dollars.

There are reasons why.

For and experiment go into a busy supermarket and without thinking about it and not having a motive, walk up to the first thing you see. Now try to figure out what attracted you to that spot. Remember you are just like everyone else.

Strong reds and oranges are on most packages because they attract more attention. But it is how you use the colors that make the sale. Same goes in painting. Some colors compliment others. Some colors accent others. Some
colors push other colors forward.

Beginning painters want to get right at a painting. They are more concerned about
the subject matter than what happens in the painting. Exaggeration of colors and
ther compliments are what it is all about.

Study color...


Talk to you Later

Cloyd