More Music

So here are a few more bands and artists that I think make really good music.

Stereo Lab is a really cool band from England. They make music that sounds like candy and feels like a hot bath. Super poppy and really foxy. Check them out.

Tom Waits is a master of songs and sounds. He is dark and poetic. A voice like gravel, glue, and a pack of wild dogs fighting over a chicken bone.

I have mentioned Talking Heads before, and I will do it again. Few bands have ever been any cooler than this. Fun, Funky and completely Danceable. Listen to all of their music.

Cibo Mato is a band from Japan. They were popular for a short time in America and are very cool.

Plastics is another Japanese band. They are a little bit like Talking Heads. They are very cool and make very fun sounds.

Blonde Redhead is a super strange band. One Japanese woman and twin brothers. They sing in English, but play their music in all languages.

Oil Paints

I read an interesting article on oil paints recently. It was written by my friend Eva. Her blog can be found here http://nightlynoodlemonthly.com/

by Eva Avenue

I was looking for the back issues of Modern Painters at painter Carol Dameron’s house so I could cut some of the pages to collage in the Nightly Noodle Monthly zine cause Zine Fest is coming up! The magazines were not where she said they were, so in a victorious effort to distract me from the situation, she handed me a book about paint and started saying something that, a few paragraphs later, slipped into a waxing on how to most successfully mix your oil paint:

“Cool reds are considered violets and not true reds,” she said. “The only true reds are Naphthal Red and Chinese Red or Chinese Vermillion, except Chinese Vermillion is about $60 for a small, little tube. And a Cadmium Light is considered a true red, even though it’s a little orange-y.

Carol’s Barcelona painting

Cad Red Medium, Cad Red Deep, all those reds are considered purples and should be used as such. Whatever you’re doing, consider them as purples. All the raws, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, anything raw is a yellow. And the burnt colors are oranges: Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber.”

OK, but then she started putting it all in the context of chicken. 

“The metaphor would be you buy a raw chicken which is yellow, a raw pigment, and then when you roast it, the pigment turns orange. (And Eva was like … “what?”) Roasting a chicken is the analogy, you heat it (it actually, literally is raw and burnt, the pigment) and the raw yellow turns burnt orange.”

Green- ”Viridian is ok,” she said. “It’s really strong. Green Earth is a weak color but it’s really beautiful and Salvador Dali calls the Chrome Oxide Green as the greatest color in the whole world. It’s like the color of colors. So I went out and got some. When you use it, it’s like a perfect green that could go up or down and it’s really opaque and covers really well and fits into nature and mixes very well and I can see why Dali loves this green so much.

Carol’s painting

Black- It’s better just to use Ivory Black, it’s soft and weak and warm; it’s a little more of a transparent black; it’s not such an opaque dark black; it settles the pallet down and it doesn’t overtake it. For years I didn’t use any black at all and just worked with color opposites, and now I’ve mixed black in there and it has really settled down the whole chord.”

BLUE: I got really sick of Cobalt Blue and then I read a book and the author also thought it was a dull color and there was nothing on earth that could brighten it. But Dali doesn’t like ultramarine blue, so who’s to say? I hated Phthalo Blue for years, which is the same thing as Prussian Blue pretty much. I just avoided it.”

Phthalo

And then I was like, “Dave Hickey hates Phthalo Green too! I mean, and I think Phthalo Blue, too”

And Carol was like, “And I completely understand why! It’s like too much sugar in your cereal! It’s just so overwhelming. But now I changed my blues a lot, I changed my palette. Once I realized Payne’s Gray is blue, I changed everything.  I’m using Payne’s Gray and Phthalo Blue and it works really well. I’ve added Cad Orange from the tube, which is a really great orange, and it’s a good contrast with the Phthalo and Payne’s Gary.”

And I was like, “Dave always gets everything.”

And Carol was like, ““He’s nuanced. He sees underneath the surface and he has a great sense of the ridiculous and is able to keep his perspective about things. He just seems to be true to his principles and he is contributing to society by pointing out things that we already knew for which we had no language. Once he says it, you’re like Of course! I knew that! But you just couldn’t say it, it’s just a feeling. It’s just this feeling you had in your stomach and he puts it out in this very crisp language and you can’t get past what he says, you can’t argue with it.”

OK ANYWAY…

“AS FOR WHITE, I always stuck with Titatium, but I find that Zinc is a great white cause it’s so weak and it doesn’t overtake the color. It’s a little more transparent so that’s a great mixing white. If you want to introduce white as a color, then you need titanium white. The thickest white is Flemmish White which is really hard to come by, you have to order it. Blue Ridge Mountain Oil Paints has it, it’s paint from the 17^th century and it’s ropy and thick to begin with, into which you mix mica and leaded glass ground up and it thickens it, so it becomes sculptural. So if you remember what Rembrant does with texture looking at skin like the bags under someone’s eye, an old person’s eyes or their nose or the skin on their hands or a light part of a cloth or hair, he does that by adding that Flemish ropy stuff and he glazes over it, it’s like he’s sculpting with clay in a way but that’s just technical prowess.”

More Movies

Hello Students!

So I have been thinking a lot about movies recently. I wanted to share a few more titles with you in case you have been thinking about them too. So if you are looking for a good movie to watch check out some of these.

Rushmore is a great movie about a high school student in trouble. He is very smart, but he has trouble doing his homework, and then he falls in love with his teacher. If you want to see something funny, sad, and beautiful, watch Rushmore. Learn more about the film here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128445/

The Rundown is a very funny action movie. It is about a small town in Brazil that is being terrorized by a crazy American. Lots of laughs to be had. Learn more here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327850/

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the greats films of all time. A masterpiece of science fiction. It is slow, beautiful and full of images that will blow your mind. Learn more here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

Christmas is over, but Elf is still a great movie. It is the story of a human raised by elves on the North Pole. Santa tells this elf he must return to the human world. He does, but he doesn`t really fit in. Full of good jokes and kind hearts. Learn more here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319343/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1















That is all for now, but I promise more too come!

Happy Holidays!

Christmas time is here and all over the world billions of dollars are being spent. Shopping, decorating and traveling are all very popular this time of year. Every culture and country bring something special to the holiday season. America is no exception. In fact America is a very strange place to be during Christmas.

In shopping malls across the country kids line up to meet Santa Claus. Stores are filled with trees, ribbons, lights and more. It may be hard to believe how big Christmas can be so here are some pictures to explain what I mean. 

In San Antonio, Texas the city is a wash in lights!

So is Denver, Colorado!

New York City is really something to see!

My favorite Christmas lights are in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In Albuquerque the streets are lined with Luminarias. A Luminaria is a brown paper back filled with a little sand and a candle.

Langdon Foss

Hello Students!

So as some of you know my brother was an incredible artist. He drew all kinds of cool comic books like Batman, Spiderman, and Ironman.

Well his best friend in the whole world also happens to be a really great comic book artist. His name is Langdon Foss. He draws comic books, the bottom of skateboards and tattoos. Here is some of his art for you to enjoy. Or you can visit his website www.lllama.com

From his new comic Get Jiro!
The story of a sushi chef in a dangerous world of food. 

More Music

Hello students!

So I have been thinking about more music that I think you would like. So here again is a list of tunes that you can check out on grooveshark. There is another cool website I use to find music, and many of my friends use to share the music that they make. The site is called bandcamp. It is a free site for bands to post their music. Your band can let people download the music for free or for a price. It is a really great website if you are trying to promote your own music.
Check out this awesome music and please tell me if you like it and if you want to hear more like it.

This is my favorite Nirvana album.
All of there best songs, but played in a much more relaxed way.

Here is another from Talking Heads.
A great live album.
There is also a film of the concert that is very fun to watch. 

From a really great band called Modest Mouse.
This is a really great album popular in my high school years. 

There are a lot of great Rolling Stones albums.
This one is my favorite.

Two of my good friends are in this band.
They are really cool.
northamericamusic.bandcamp.com/music

Find this one at bandcamp.com
or click this link http://unouomedude.bandcamp.com/

Another band of my friends called Color Wars.
They are from New York. Check them out at
colorwar.bandcamp.com

Perspective on Paper

ＰＥＲＳＰＥＣＴＩＶＥ

The way we see and the way we draw. 

Many years ago, when religion ruled art, there was no such thing as perspective. Important objects were drawn large to attract attention, and unimportant objects were drawn small. It was only in the 5th century BC that artists began to attempt painting the illusion of space. It was discovered the relative size of an object could produce the illusion of space and depth.
Here is an example of a drawing that does not use perspective to create the illusion of depth.

Notice how the image appears flat. The only depth is created by over lap. 

Here are some early examples of perspective. 

Perspective can be drawn (or painted) in many ways. 

One way is called One point perspective. 

Here is an example of One-Point perspective.

notice how all lines are drawn to a single point (the vanishing point).

one point perspective

The perspective can be come more complicated by adding a second vanishing point. Here are some examples of Two-Point perspective.

Two Point Perspective
VPL is the Vanishing point left
VPR is the Vanishing point right.

Again this can be come more complex if a third Vanishing point is added. This is called Three-Point perspective. Here is an example.

Three Point Perspective
Using three vanishing points the illusion of real space is enhanced.
Three point perspective is also called Parallel Perspective.
(note the lines drawn to the vanishing points)

The most complicated form of perspective is called Four Point Perspective or Infinite Point Perspective. Here is an example of Three, Four, and Five point perspective.

Infinite Perspective.

With out thinking about it we see perspective drawings everyday. We take for granted how useful it is and how difficult it is to draw. If you would like to practice here are some grids that can help you master one, two, three, and even four point perspective. click the link the link.

Now if you just want to see what can be done with perspective check out these drawings from some of the masters.

M.C. Escher was a master of perspective. Here is an impossible staircase that he drew. Notice how it goes up and down, but never goes anywhere. 

M.C. Escher uses infinite point perspective.

M.C. Escher draws an impossible picture using perfect perspective.

M.C. Escher is the greatest master of perspective drawing I know!
visit his website here http://www.mcescher.com/

Add caption

Seth Fisher studied math in college and used his knowledge to draw incredible perspectives.

More from Seth Fisher.

Even if there are no buildings or streets perspective can be used to create more life like creatures and people.