Thursday, August 30, 2007

Baby Girl Clip Art

The online baby girl clip art images help you to design attractive invitation cards and e-greetings easily. The World Wide Web is a great storehouse of information on any subject matter (we too are aiming to contributing to this store). Nowadays, many websites (both paid and free) host baby girl clip art images, baby boy clip art images as well as baby shower clip art images.

Clip art, as its name suggests, is a form of graphic art that makes use of pre-existing images. These drawings / images are either copied or physically cut from existing works in the printed format on a particular topic. The sources of these pictures are either books that have entered the public domain or books specifically published for such use. Logos, mascots, identity and business cards, invitations, letterheads, etc., can be made by cutting or copying the clip art pictures. Clip art facilitates the availability of a pool of generic art that can be used and reused by non-artists.

Baby girl clip art images are the cheapest and most viable options for enriching your content of baby shower invitation cards and greetings. With the right software, any picture or image may be converted into clipart. Baby clip art free is a great way to enhance any presentation as it provides colorful and attractive images exactly in tune with the content presented.

Baby girl clip art

Various websites contain thousands of readily available baby clip arts. These drawings are further grouped under sub-categories; say baby girl clip art, baby boy clip art, baby shower clip art, etc. One can avail the services and select a single drawing or a group of drawings from a particular sub-group according to ones needs.

Baby shower clip art

The shower ceremony celebrates the arrival of a baby in this world and particularly into a family. As such, invitations are sent out to the near and dear ones. The images of baby girl clip art and baby boy clip art come handy while sending invitations for the shower ceremony. Many sites host baby shower clip art images on various themes – baby boy shower clip art, baby girl clip art, baby adoption clip art, etc. One can refer to either the paid or free baby shower clip art sites in designing your invitations.

If the occasion is say the arrival of a baby girl, then the theme of the invitation card as well as that of the party will be baby girl shower invitation. In these cases, baby clip art photos are to be used. You may opt to send either printed invitations or invitations via the Internet. The huge stocks of baby clipart pictures enable one to make a distinct choice. One can further give a personalized touch to the cards by innovative use of ideas and words.

© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

Randy is owner of http://www.planning-a-baby-shower.com where you will find further tips on baby showers and http://www.planning-a-baby-shower.com/Baby-Shower-Games.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Randy_Wilson

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Oil Painting Techniques - The Many Ways to Apply Oil Paint

Oil paint is one of the most versatile and adaptable painting mediums in existence today. There are many techniques and effects possible with oil paint. Oil paint can be applied in thin transparent glazes or washes, or the paint can be mixed to a thick buttery consistency and applied using a painting knife. There really appears to be no end to the wonderful ways you can create art with this amazing painting medium. This article will talk about some of the many ways you can use oil paint.

Dry brush

The dry brush technique involves using a small amount of oil paint straight from the tube. It is then brushed thinly onto your support with a bristle brush. This technique works particularly well with a rough surface. The raised parts of your surface pick up the paint, while the dips or valleys in your support do not. This creates a broken color effect where the color of your canvas shows through.

Painting On A Toned Ground

The white of a canvas can sometimes be too bright or have too much contrast which makes starting a painting a bit difficult. When you cover your support with a uniform toned ground, it makes it much easier to judge the values in your painting. You can use any color you like to tone your ground really, but the more popular approach is to use warm tones of red, yellows and browns, which provide a wonderful richness to the finished work.

Here is an example of how to paint on a toned ground using Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre. First you create the wash by mixing the Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre together with a paint thinner (use turpentine, or if you are like me, and are allergic to turpentine, use a water soluble oil paint). Apply the mixture generously to your support and completely cover it with a large bristle brush. Let this mixture stand for a couple of minutes and then wipe off the excess wash with a cloth.

Alla Prima Painting

Alla Prima painting, also known as "direct painting", is a technique of oil painting where the work is usually finished in just one sitting. You are probably familiar with the artist Bob Ross, who made this painting method quite popular on his TV Show. I am sure like me, you watched Bob paint in amazement as he completed a beautiful painting in under 30 mintues.

The paint is applied wet onto wet directly onto the canvas usually with no underpainting or sketches. It might be a good idea in the beginning to lay down a sketch with some thinned down oil paint. This way you will have a general idea where your colors will be placed. You must be careful using this technique as your painting can become quite muddy if you do not apply the colors correctly on your canvas. It takes practice, so don't be discouraged if your first, second or even third painting does not come out the way you anticipated. Keep practicing and let your imagination run wild. As Bob used to say, "It's Your World".

Working With Painting Knives

If you have never worked with painting knives, then it is highly recommended that you give them a try. This type of painting method is very different from traditional brush painting and when you lay down your first stroke of paint with a painting knife, you will immediately see why. Painting with a knife can be best described as spreading butter on a piece of bread and you should keep your painting at a butter or cream like consistency when using painting knives. Do not use your palette knives to paint with. They have a different construction and are not made for painting. Painting knives have more flexibility to them and come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. You can manipulate paint in a variety of different ways with a knife just by changing your hand position on the handle. You can hold your hand down low on the handle to smear the paint over your support. Move your hand up to the top of the handle and you can use your finger to gently push the blade into the paint to create small dabs of color. You can also turn your knife blade on its side for scraping away paint or for creating hard lines.

Glazing

If you never produced a painting using the glazing technique, then you should definitely give this a try as well. Your painting will have a different appearance then if you were to complete a painting using traditional color mixing techniques. Glazing tends to give colors more luminescence. The colors are not mixed together first before applying, rather, they are mixed optically using single transparent layers of color. For instance, if you wanted to create the color green using glazes, you would not mix yellow and blue together on your palette first. You would first apply a thin glaze of blue, wait until it dries, then apply a thin glaze of yellow, which would then create your green. Each layer must be completely dry before applying subsequent layers. Usually, the first step in using the glazing technique is to create a monochromatic (different values of the same color) underpainting of the subject. Using only one color will help you to focus on form and tone first, rather than being too preoccupied with color at this stage. Wait until your under painting is dry to begin applying your first layer of color. This technique is tricky and does require practice, but it is not as difficult as some may lead you to believe.

For more oil painting lessons and techniques be sure to visit Creative Spotlite today, a free online community for artists and crafters. It is also recommended that you visit the Creative Spotlite Art Instruction Blog, where you will find more painting lessons including step by step painting videos.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ralph_Serpe

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Thursday, August 9, 2007

Vietnamese Art - Taking the World On Its Stride

The art scene of Vietnam has taken a few giant leaps in recent years. The Doi Moi has constantly been a source of inspiration for the new generation of artists. Besides, the country has also done well in establishing a communication with the outside world thus allowing the artists to present their artworks to the world. Creation of newer opportunities has strengthened the confidence of the young artists who are constantly striving to introduce innovations in their art works. For long, Vietnam artists have drawn in from the traditions of China, France and Russia. There are instances of oil paintings on themes of village and women folk. A love for the city of Hanoi is particularly reflected in a number of these paintings; the image of the deceased painter, Bui Xuan Phai, serving as inspiration to the new breed of Vietnam artists.

Portrayal of emotions has been institutional in drawing the attention of art lovers, especially from the West. The modern Vietnam artists, Hong Viet Dung in particular, has done a great job by moving away from simple subjects to depicting human emotions. These emotions convey a wide range of feelings with an affinity towards loneliness, despair, sorrow, or other woeful experiences of life. On the other hand, artists such as Dao Hai Phong, Le Thanh Son and Pham Luan are drawn towards what might be called the 'romantic style'. Use of highly attractive colors in these paintings makes them appealing, especially to the foreigners who reside in the gray, urban monotonous environment. Portrayal of abstractions has been done excellently by Nguyen Trung, thus testifying to the spirit of Vietnam artists to take up fresh challenges. However, there is one area, which has not yet been chiefly touched by the modern artists. This is the area of socio-political criticism, which has been widely used by Western artists as their art themes.

Speaking of the more innovative art techniques, the Vietnamese lacquer paintings deserve a special mention. Lacquer paintings have turned out to be a great favorite with the art lovers. Painters like Dinh Quan, Trinh Tuan and Cong Kim Hoa have contributed immensely to the lacquer tradition. The synthesis of traditional lacquer painting and modern painting is now being widely acclaimed. Production of lacquer paintings is time consuming but the result always turns out to be an exquisite masterpiece.

The art scenario of Vietnam has witnessed a sea change over the years. The Vietnamese art market has been successful in drawing art connoisseurs from all over the world on account of its excellent quality and innovation. Being a dynamic art scene in comparison to other countries, Vietnam has produced some of the greatest masterpieces of modern art. The future of Vietnamese art certainly seems bright. Hopefully, Vietnam artists will live up to the high standards set for themselves and let the world recognize the true worth of Vietnamese contemporary art.

Suzanne Macguire is an Internet marketing professional with expertise in content development and technical writing in a variety of industries. Vietnam Paintings

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzanne_Macguire

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