Henry Scott’s beautiful marine oil painting of American Clipper “Glory of the Seas” is expected to be a highlight of nearly one hundred XVIII, IX, XX century artworks from a remarkable single owner collection to be offer at Bonhams in London on June 21. It is estimated to net £20,000-30,000 (USD 32,000-49,000).
The clipper ship Glory of the Seas was the last in a long line of medium clippers designed and built by Donald McKay at his East Boston shipyard in October of 1869. On her maiden voyage she arrived in San Francisco under the command of Capt. John N. Geit with Mr. Donald McKay on board. While in San Francisco Mr McKay sold her to J. Henry Sears & Co. and she was taken back east by Capt. William Chatfield.Glory of the Seas had principal dimensions of LOA: 240′-2″, Beam: 44′-1″, Draft: 28′-0″ and a displacement of 2,009 tons. She was a very sturdy ship as evidenced by her long career. While she was known as a clipper ship she was actually a fast packet because of her full lines. She was a good looking ship with an elliptical stern and a figurehead of a classical lady with long flowing gowns. She was the last ship built by Mr. McKay who was known as the builder of the Flying Cloud and other celebrated clipper ships. The Glory of the Seas was consistently one of the fastest ships making record passages from New York to San Francisco and from San Francisco to Australia.
Henry Scott specialized in portraits of ships with realistic atmospheres and recognized geographical places in many of his works. Henry Scott’s artwork presents historic champions of sail. During his exiting career Henry Scott met many IX and early XX century sailing captains. While earning their respect with his savvy sailing knowledge he also developed excellent commercial art audience. Henry Scott became an honorary member of the International Association of Master Mariners, group often called “the Cape Horners”.
Henry Scott’s artwork depicting majestic sailing ships was exhibited with the Royal Society of Marine Artist from 1950 to 1966. Scott’s paintings include excellent detail and accuracy bended into the romantic senses of speed, movement and light which make his work rise above that of many others.
Noted as an artist who, during his career, continued to explore the oceans and visualize the reality of the era’s passing, he assists the capture of the romantic essence of nautical history. Scott’s works are today sought after for their strong artistic merit and historical appeal. His paintings are executed with particular care taken in the creation of a strong sense of movement and attention to the elusive elements of marine atmosphere.
Charles LeDrey – anything can be turned to art with passion
27 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
in Art History, Art News, Fine Art Tags: Art School, art world, arworks, best-kept secret, bow ties, Charles LeDrey, clothing, contemporary, emotions, fabric shirts, feelings, gloves, hand sawn, handmade necklaces, hangers, homeless people, Houston, ideas, knit, London, macramé, Men’s Suits, Milk and Honey, miniaturized jackets, Museum of Fine Arts, New York, one-person pursuit, paintings, pottery, saltshakers, sculptures, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle born, shirts and polo tops, stitches, teapots, ties, trousers, used magazines, vases, vessels, Works, Workworkworkworkwork
Charles LeDrey, a sculptor born and raised in Seattle, learned to sew at age of 4. LeDrey who currently lives and works in New York is a great example that everything can be art in the hands of talented artist. I love his work especially as it proves that art is everything a human been sees as expression of feelings, ideas or emotions. Art represents it creator’s soul and humanity and it is something you carry inside, not necessarily something you can learn in school. In fact some of the best artists known to the world are self-taught.
Although at some point in his youth he attended briefly art school and Seattle Charles LeDrey is self-taught artist. He also worked as a museum guard at the Seattle Art Museum for a short time in the mid 1980s. Interestingly enough, LeDray does not have any studio assistants. His art is a one-person pursuit, something unusual for a sculptor since the complexity and size of some works can be quite challenging for one man.
LeDray is most known for his small, but correctly proportioned sculptures of everyday objects, keeping them on the art side and without having them to fail into precious or adorable categories. He also rides the subway in New York dressed as a laborer.
In some instances Charles LeDrey works with many different materials, some of they considered junk by the ordinary standards. One of his most famous works completed in 1991 and named “Workworkworkworkwork ” 
is created out of nearly 588 objects and including pieces of pottery, paintings, fabric shirts, handmade necklaces, used magazines and other stuff reflecting objects put up for sale form homeless people on New York streets.
Another of his artworks “Milk and Honey” 
is made from over 2000 hand thrown white ceramic elements like miniature teapots, saltshakers ,vessels , vases and took him a little over 2 years to finish.
Not a fashion designer LeDrey’s fabric-based work subject is primarily clothing. “At age of 10, he could sew, knit and macramé with a skill that staggered his elders.”The more I did, the more I wanted to do” said LeDray. Every object is hand-stitched by the artist and tells a story. One of LeDrey’s favorite clothing sculpture subjects is men suits. These miniature installations include precise “miniaturized jackets, shirts and polo tops… trousers, ties, bow ties, gloves, hangers. According to the critics they have been interpreted as “marvels of meticulous craftsmanship and poetic symbols of male identity.” 
On July 11 2009, after 3 years of full time work, a three part installation, named “Men’s Suits” was exhibited in London for 3 months.
Critics sometime describe LeDray as “contemporary art world’s best-kept secret”, mostly because the artist is notorious for laboring away sometimes for years with no publicity until he finishes his work. LeDray is also known for refraining to discuss the meaning of his work, leaving it to the imagination and interpretation of the public and the critics.
If you happen to be in Huston this summer you can witness Charles LeDrey’s passion for art visiting art works exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston May 15 through September 11, 2011. It will feature approximately 50 sculptures and installations spanning the past 25 years of his career.
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Fine Art News – April 2011
21 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
in Art News, Fine Art Tags: Andy Warhol, “Lady with an Ermine”, Baroque Prints of the 17th Century, BAT ArtVenture Collection, Ben Stiller, Britain, charity art auction, Christ's body, David Zwirner, Dutch Golden Age, Germany, Haiti, Haiti earthquake, Jesus' body, Last Great Masterpiece, Leonardo Da Vinci, Life-Size Marble Sculptures, Masterpiece, Museums Organize Exhibition Devoted to Rembrandt, Nineteenth Century, NYC painting sale, Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Poland, Rembrandt van Rijn, Sotheby, Spain, The Dramatic Image, VIA DOLOROSA
Postmodernist approach to art
30 Mar 2011 Leave a comment
in Art History, Art News, Fine Art Tags: Acrylic Paintings, Allan Graham, Architecture, art movement, art society, Dadaism, Futurism, Leonardo Da Vinci, Literature, masters' precision, Michelangelo, Modernism, Mona Lisa, museum of Louvre, Music, Photography, Post-modernism, post-modernist artist, Postmodernism, Postmodernist approach to art, socialism society, Surrealism, white canvas, you are here
Post-modernism is a very important art movement. It is about the way of seeing art, texts, and actions. A post-modernist artist could paint their own body, and appear on stage waving see through vials, while a projector displays their paintings on a white wall behind the artist, or on the artist themselves.
Post-modernists brought the art of painting to a whole new level, and unfortunately their art isn’t very lasting. Consider a painting of a plate of shrimp that has real shrimp glued to it will go bad quickly.
Post-modernists accept all painters as equal. They do not agree with the wide accepted view that masters like Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo are better than the other artists. To them all the artists are one group forming the art “society”, not individuals. This view is not liked by many critics and artists. By the principles this theory comes close to the thesis of the socialism society where everyone is contributing according to their limits but the goods are split equally.
In fact some people may have certain post-modernist aspects in their work, but they don’t have to (and most don’t) agree with everything this movement believes in. Ironically, most artists that are classified as post-modernist don’t even know that they belong to such a movement; they simply enjoy experimenting with different techniques and styles.
One of the most successful post-modernist technique is to include the artist as part of the artwork that is presented. Some artists have more than one person be part of their art work. For example, Leonardo da Vinci’sMona Lisa will be presented in a post-modernist interpretation like this – a white wall on which the background of the famous painting is applied, and a real woman dressed as Mona Lisa posing in front of it. Another post-modern art view of the Mona Lisa would be a painting that represents the wall in the museum of Louvre where Mona Lisa is displayed. …She is desperately trying to get out, well aware that she is in a painting.
Part of the postmodernism movement art view is to make fun of art. Allan Graham is a very popular American post-modernist artist. One of his paintings is simply the words “you are here” on a white canvas. The words are painted in black color to contrast the white background.
Modernism and post-modernism art movements are similar in many ways. Sometimes it is difficult to notice differences just by looking at two paintings as to which movement they belong to. Only small number very extreme paintings can be classified within only one genre. Part of the beauty of art, in fact is, that it doesn’t need to be necessary logical or labeled.
Some artists are excited to mixing things up and totally surprise their audience. Others want to discover the classics, and they strive to reach and follow the masters’ precision and calculations. The major function of art is to be enjoyed, discussed, critiqued, and speculated. Unlike spelling, for example, there is no correct or incorrect way to create art or to appreciate it. Art lovers and collectors can hang anything they want on their walls as long as it has value for them and makes them happy.
Post-modernism is a colorful mix – a little bit of everything – Dadaism, Literature, Modernism, Acrylic Paintings, Surrealism, Music, Futurism, Photography, and Architecture. According to post-modernist’s vision everything goes good with paints, and if something can’t be put on a canvas, then it can be painted over some other object – there will be always something to paint on. This makes the world of the fine arts even more extreme, exciting, and unpredictable. Art is not a dogma, but a total freedom of the artist to express himself in any way, form or shape.
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Northern lights – acrylics on canvas
19 Feb 2011 1 Comment
in Art History, Fine Art Tags: abstract art, acrylics on canvas, Alaska, artist's authentic talent, artistic and cultural contribution, Aurora Borealis, Bank of Montreal, Canada, Canadian painters, canvas, Cityscape Art, GE, IBM, landscape art, Larry Wowk, Marine Art, master painter, Meryl Lynch, Modernism, Modernist approach, nature phenomenon, northern lights, oil on canvas, orthodox artists, painters, painting techniques, Paul Gauthier, Rani Priya Mullane, Scott Adami, Sears, silk, Texaco
The northern lights or Aurora Borealis are absolute nature phenomenon. They have inspired painters from Canada and Alaska as well as the rest of the world throughout the centuries. Genre on its own, painting the Northern Lights is as popular as landscape, cityscape, abstract and marine art. The Aurora Borealis is a favorite for both orthodox artists and those that gravitate around the Modernism. Folks that take a pleasure in extended vacations can enroll in art class and find out how to paint the Aurora first hand.
Paul Gauthier is an exceptionally gifted artist. He is not only a master painter, but a photographer among the other things. Gauthier’s admiration for the arts can be compared to his dedication to preserve the wonderful Canadian nature. Paul Gauthier’s Northern Lights was painted in 2003, and it is extremely breathless depiction of the magnificent night’s sky. The panorama provides a view of colossal mountains straight ahead that are reflected in a lake’s cold water. The Aurora reflects in the lake water too. Gauthier is long-established artist. Good portion of his artworks are purchased by big corporations as Texaco, Bank of Montreal, the Canadian branches of IBM and GE, Meryl Lynch, Sears, and others. In 1991, Paul Gauthier’s artistic and cultural contribution to the community was well recognized and in 1991 he received an award for his consistent contributions.
Larry Wowk is another big name among the Canadian painters that knew how to admire and recreate the Northern Lights. Sadly, Wowk died in 2009, but his paintings bring forth a passionate legacy about capturing the Aurora lights on canvas. Wowk was a master artisan of oil on canvas paintings. To depict the Aurora Borealis, he employed an airbrush.
Some artists elect a Modernist approach when creating the Borealis. Scott Adami is a US painter who does his magic with acrylics. His painting Aurora Borealis is acrylics on canvas. Adami’s approach is to combine bold colors with awe-inspiring brushwork. Despite all this is unusual abstract art where the audience can almost see how the Northern Lights move in the night’s sky changing their shape. Scott is the author of many incredible artworks with vivid colors and style that can hardly be mistaken.
Another breathtaking resemblance of the Northern Lights is that of Rani Priya Mullane. The artisan has precisely captured the effect of the Northern Lights in the painting Cold Aurora Lights. The landscape art is created from a frozen solid lake and a fantastic imaginary forest.
Creating the Northern Lights with acrylics on canvas requires a lot of advanced skills and painting techniques. First of all, knowing how to adequately recreate a landscape is a must. A second ability is to know how to balance the lights themselves. Some artists elect to use an airbrush in commission to achieve a more lifelike effect. Painters who devote sometime in the north cannot resist the eager of depicting the Lights. Every artist sees these lights through his own unique prism. However, thanks to every artist’s authentic talent, people can acquire a painting and appreciate the astonishing display for themselves.
Definitely, rookie artist can check his or her skill by trying to paint the Northern Lights. This can be accomplished with oil or acrylics paints, after all they have the most pigment. Canvas or silk is excellent surface for such paintings.
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Exclusive Realism in Acrylic Artworks
15 Feb 2011 Leave a comment
in Art News, Fine Art Tags: acrylic on canvas realism, acrylic painting, acrylic realism, acrylics painting medium, artbyveny.com, Artist, blue glass container, Butter churn, Canadian queen of acrylic on canvas realism, colorful place, Elize Bezuidenhout, Glen Semple, green grass, image, Lawn Ornaments, Leopard, Painting, painting of a Realist artist, Realism in Acrylic Artworks, Realism movement, Realism Paintings, realist paintings, realistic painting, Spotted Hyena, Still life, The ark, Tigger, Veny's art blog, Vir Nici, young cheetah, Young Zebra
Acrylics are like no other painting medium. In the hands of a master artist, they can create an image that is the same as the real one. While examining a painting of a realist artist, someone often may have to question whether this a photograph or a painting?
Realism movement differs quite a bit from a realistic painting. Many artworks belong to the Realism category – a group of people in a conversation, a working person, any scene from extraordinary to everyday events. There are some popular names in the realism category.
One of the best known talents in the acrylic realism category is Elize Bezuidenhout. She depicts with great attention even the smallest details in her work, especially the eyes. Her most known artwork “Tigger” is a representation of her cat. It is so well finished, that it is almost impossible to tell whether it is a photograph of a real cat, or a painting on canvas. Talent like this is very rare, and need a lot of practice to be can be developed.
Artists use small brush to enhance the details of his or her work – the smaller the brush is, the more details that can be depicted in the artwork. Other realist animal paintings that Elize has produced are – Vir Nici (a painting of a beautiful lion), Leopard, young cheetah, Young Zebra, and Spotted Hyena. The most notable thing about Bezuidenhout’s style is that she only paints part of the animal’s head.
Still life is also very attracting when painted in acrylics on canvas. Glen Semple is the absolute Canadian queen of acrylic on canvas realism. Lawn Ornaments is one of the greatest samples of her work. It depicts a blue glass container put in the middle of astonishing green grass. Also there are dandelions in the container.
In a way Glen Semple painted these flowers a lot better than a photographer can capture them. Two other popular acrylic artworks of hers include “The ark” and “Butter churn”. Both paintings include a glass container as well. The ark’s glass container is full with small children’s toys, and is lying in a small bubbling stream.
While results can vary, in general the more detailed elements a painter includes, the better the image will be. Adding details is more often seen in the works of developed artists and it is not something that many beginners can do. This can take many years of great practice and perfecting. When an artist becomes familiar with the technique, he or she can experiment with many sitters and still life. However, working out details takes a long time, regardless of how experienced an artist is.
While it may seem the opposite realist paintings are very hard to make and require a lot of skills. Not every artwork can make a person hear a cat purr, and not every work of artist can fill the room with the gentle scent of a flower. This is why among other artists, such painters are famous, respected and admired. Elize Bezuidenhout and Glen Semple are just two of the incredible artists women acrylic painters that make the world a better and more colorful place. If a person is not very good with a brush, then he or she can purchase another artist’s acrylic paintings on canvas to admire on their walls.
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Poppies – acrylic on canvas
08 Feb 2011 2 Comments
in Fine Art Tags: acrylics on linen canvas, artbyveny.com, Cairo, Egypt, Painting, Poppies, Poppies - acrylic on canvas, Poppies by Veny, Poppy Flowers, Poppy Flowers by Van Gogh, Van Gogh
Poppies are among my favorite flowers and my newest painting is dedicated to the poppies I grew myself last summer. I have just finished it after working on it for about 2 weeks. I have it painted with acrylics on 12” x 16” (30cm x 40cm) linen canvas 1½” deep.
Poppies - acrylic on canavs by Veny
Looking very fragile poppies do come in a wide variety of colors, from white through yellow, from pink to the deep hued reds, oranges and even a few purple and blue varieties. The flowers are cup-shaped with four or five or more large petals surrounding a barrel-shaped pistil with many ridges made of the fused stigma.
One of the most famous paintings of poppies is “Poppy Flowers” by Van Gogh. It was stolen in August 2010 from a museum in Cairo, Egypt. The painting with street value of over $50 million was later recovered.
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Google’s art project – latest cash cow for the Internet giant?
02 Feb 2011 1 Comment
in Art History, Art News, Fine Art Tags: 2D, 3D, art galleries, art history lessons, art lectures, art lovers, art online, Art Project, artists, Big Brother, cash cow, Delicious, Digg, email inbox, Facebook, Google’s Art project, Internet giant, museums, Museums of the World, net-devil, pay to show, powered by Google, private art galleries, Social networks, Twiends, Twitter
The latest Google’s Art project appears to be a huge success….and Google’s newest cash cow. The idea was not innovative as others like VIP Art Fair and Artlog, along with museums and art galleries websites were already offering online art tours. What is making the Google’s Art project superior to the others is the way it was executed. Well thought and designed user interface, high resolution images with zooming, online collection-building, integrating 3D gallery Space with Flat Images (a very physical sense of how large works are and how they are presented next to each other) and public access.
I think the key is the 3D. Since the most art and paintings in particular is 2D and flat being able to see in 3 dimensions is tremendous advantage. It let the user have the feeling of being physically there. The possibilities are endless. From art history lessons, art lectures, research or just for fun.Great for art lovers as they can view artwork around the world without leaving their home, great promotional tool for museums and galleries and other art institutions, great for Google too.
Make no mistake that giant like Google does anything without expecting pile of cash in return. I have no doubts that this is another cash cow for Google. Soon Google will offer to add more private galleries and museums to the art project’s list….for hefty price tag and even better, by a subscription. What a money making machine this could be…and I am sure Google carefully planned this to happen in the near future. The great idea to popularize the art will be commercialized and Google can dictate what art should be popular or not. This will be a direct manipulation of what is hot and what not in the art world.
I am not saying necessary the project is bad, at least at the present stage. For a lot of private art galleries this will be an awesome opportunity to draw more visitors to their exhibits. If a person sees something he likes there is a better chance he or she will likely want to see it person. It will be beneficial for artists indirectly too. On the other hand it may turn to “pay to show” like with everything else in today’s website marketing and internet world. It is not a secret that online presence and popularity can be and it is bough. The more money a company can dedicate to market itself and its products online the more attention it draws. The more presence and attention eventually turns in more sales. Google knows and does this better than anyone else. As the big brother already is watching over your shoulder in you email inbox to present adds that are inline with your messages subjects. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, and Twiends also watch every step we make whether we liked or not. When you sell your soul to the net-devil you have no right to complain, right?
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Grandma Moses – passion for painting without limits
30 Jan 2011 Leave a comment
in Art History, Fine Art Tags: admired American artist, art icon, artisan-ship, artists, Artworks, authentic envision, Contemporary Unknown American Painters, emerging artists, Grandma Moses, Hoosick Falls, internet connection, Junior artists, Louis Caldor, Museum of Modern Art, newsworthy women, paintings, weekend painters
Grandma Moses ( born as Anna Mary Robertson Moses) is an admired American artist that was known as one of the most newsworthy women in the 1950’s. She is also one of the greatest examples that it is never too late to start painting or anything for that matter. Grandma Moses started her painting career building as a hobby in her seventies. She created over 3500 works of art in just short thirty years. In her first years of painting, she started simply to make gifts for the neighbors, the postman and members of her family.
It was in 1938 that Louis Caldor, a fine art lover and hefty collector discovered her unique paintings traveling through Hoosick Falls. Her paintings were being shown in the window of a tiny bitty pharmacy. Mr. Caldor bought up every one of them and then drove to see Grandma Moses where he acquired all of her works she had at her home. Not long after, Grandma Moses becomes recognized by the Museum of Modern Art in a section of artworks called the Contemporary Unknown American Painters.
Grandma Moses demonstrated that anyone regardless of age can create and present their authentic envision to the world. Junior and emerging artists today should bear in mind Grandma Moses as a fine role example. If at 70 years old woman could put together 3000 paintings; then definitely somebody with more and more time ahead of them could seek to generate such a prolific amount of artworks. With the spread of the internet, artists are now given an easier and more sophisticated way to promote their works without waiting around for chance or the luck of an art collector discovering them. Artists today can now make their own luck, preserve their own slice of fame and exposure their talent by creating paintings and sharing out online.
Grandma Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961) spent her last 31 years of her life doing what she loved and in that she became widely acclaimed. This is usually the best tip parents share with their young children and it would seem that it is fairly sound advice. Doing what she enjoyed, Grandma Moses became an art icon. Should Grandma Moses and her rise to fame be the groundwork for successful artistic business plan? In a way yes, if it wasn’t for her paintings being shown within her local community in the front window of a drugstore, she may have never get a chance to be discovered.
This is where more artists default; they do not expose their work to the outside world. Hobbyists, weekend painters, or even those painters that are explicitly dedicated to the artisan-ship can never move forward if they do not advertise enough their work. There may be many excuses given, but each one can be negated by the existence and the endless opportunities internet can present. With a simple digital camera, a computer and an internet connection, any artist can bear out their works online and can get critiques and even money for their works. People find a new Grandma Moses every day on the internet now and to not use this powerful opportunity is a shame.
Online art galleries are a authentic example of how an artist can bring to light their works just as Grandma Moses put her paintings in that tiny drugstore. Artists today can be discovered so much more quickly in the past and because of the internet, society is gaining a vast community of worldwide culture and art unlike anything seen in the time of Grandma Moses.
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Linen or Cotton? Why it matters.
29 Jan 2011 Leave a comment
in Fine Art Tags: Acrylic Paintings, Art Gallery, art supplies, Artist blog, Artworks, Atists, Boats on the Lake, Cityscape Art, Colors, Cotton, Cotton Canvas, Cotton duck, decay, EU, Linen, linen canvas, Marine Art, Morning in Venice, Neighborhood, Oil paint, Oil Paints, Original Art by Veny, paintings, Primer, Provence Afternoon, Sail Away, US
As an artist and painter you are in charge of all aspects of an artwork: from choosing the project, through the paint media, the composition and colors to the canvas you work on. Everything is a matter of personal choices and preferences. I often hear that oil is classic and more professional, but for me I can’t use oils since I’m allergic to some of the ingredients so I paint with acrylic. Personally I don’t see many differences although I am sure many colleagues’ artists will argue. I do have my arguments and if you are interested to know what they are check my other article “The Artistic debate over the use of Acrylic versus Oil paints”. This is not what I wanted to discuss in this blog. I am more interested viewing different types of painting vehicles available on the market and what their uses, advantages and disadvantages are.
"Neighborhood" 2010
Choice of canvas is as important for the painting as the foundation is for a house. At the time I am writing this blog my husband and I are searching for our next home. You can kind of tell by the comparisons I am using. I didn’t know zip about foundations before, but now after looking at over 60 properties I am almost a subject expert :).
Looking in the historical prospective the mankind was initially painting on the cave walls, then on masonry stone walls and wooden boards. The wood was predominant painting surface up to 16-17 century, where first painters in Venice, Italy and then a century later artists in France and the rest of Western Europe started to use linen canvases for their artworks. Venetian artist were among the ones led the change followed many other masters on the old continent. Sail canvases were readily available in Venice one of the major trade ports in Italy at that time and offered the highest quality of the trade. Cotton duck canvases became popular in the early 20 century at first as preferred base for students and beginners artists looking for cheaper alternative to linen.
On the other hand linen canvases have many advantages over cotton ones, but the major one in my opinion is the life expectancy. If you are serious about your art use linen as it will give you stable foundation and your work will last a lot longer than if it is painted on cotton. Now, there are different qualities of linen canvases so when you buy supplies choose wisely and do research resellers as nowadays words does not weight as much as in the old days . Internet allows merchants to offer low prices but be always use caution and don’t rely solely on the description as the marketing language become so clogged and tricky to understand that sometimes I can only compare it with lawyer’s dictionary. I do have a prefered supplier and I won’t lie to you, I buy online, but I already created a line of trust with my art supplier and they continue to prove me right.
"Boats on the Lake" 2010
I do prefer linen for one other practical reason. My experience shows that while cotton canvases offer smoother surface they tend to suck the paint which cause change in the colors. No matter how many hands of primer I have used paint will still sink into the cotton. It made my work twice harder as I had to go back and correct the colors and even after that they didn’t appear as I wanted them to. From the economical stand point it made sense for me to buy a little bit more expensive linen canvases and use less of more costly paint and primer. Similar to high octane gasoline cost more but gives you more miles per gallon (km/l) and burns cleaner. Cheaper low octane gasoline cost less initially but produces less miles per gallon (km/l). The effect is the longer engine life. I hope you got my point. My entire collection of works is done on linen canvases and this should speak for itself enough.
Although the technologies have changed over the time the best linen is still produced in Belgium. Canvas quality is measured by its weight in ounces (in US) per square yard (grams per square cm in EU): the larger the number, the stronger and heavier the canvas. If you create large-scale works and especially murals the strength is crucially important. Linen canvas threads are longer, stronger and superior sustainable to decay. Linen materials retain its natural oils and thus preserve the flexibility of the fibers. Cotton on the other hand is easier to stretch and prime. With the advancement of the chemical technologies some can argue that with the proper base layers (acid free primers) preparation cotton canvases can successfully compete against linen canvases life expectancy. I do not disagree but as I said in the beginning I believe linen canvas are better choice for professional art. Yes, there are still the traditional painting standard, but only the time will and can prove it. Yet, many modern artists are experimenting with canvases made from synthetic materials which may be the choice of the future.
All contents © copyright 2010 ARTbyVENY.com
I invest substantial amount of time to find and research interesting and relevant topics for my blog page.
If you like to support my research efforts donate now to keep this blog site alive.
Thank you! Your donation is appreciated!
ARTbyVENY blog RSS
- Henry Scott’s Glory of the Seas
- Charles LeDrey – anything can be turned to art with passion
- Fine Art News – April 2011
- Postmodernist approach to art
- Northern lights – acrylics on canvas
- Exclusive Realism in Acrylic Artworks
- Poppies – acrylic on canvas
- Google’s art project – latest cash cow for the Internet giant?
- Grandma Moses – passion for painting without limits
- Linen or Cotton? Why it matters.
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