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.

Art is Cool

Larry Bob Phillips

Hello students.

Caravaggio

I am posting this today because I have been thinking a lot about art and how cool it is, and how cool it was to learn about when I was in high school. In New Mexico I had a small art gallery called the Normal Gallery and would host art shows every month. Every month a new artist would put art in my gallery and we would throw a big party. It was a lot of fun because the art was very good, and because I lived in the gallery.
So as I am thinking about art I want to share some of my favorite artists and pieces of art with you. Today I will focus on painting, and maybe tomorrow or the next day I will post some different  kinds of art.
Caravaggio is one of my favorite painters of all time. He painted between 1593 and 1610, but his style is super modern. He was famous for a style called chiaroscuro, which mean light-dark in Italian. The name refers to the very intense lighting used in his paintings. This style of lighting has become very common in modern movies. 
Hieronymus Bosch is another amazing painter, and actually comes from before Caravaggio. Bosch was active between 1450-1516. His style is also very ahead of its time. It is famous for its surrealism, and illustrative quality at a time when most painters painted what they saw. He is also very famous for his strange landscapes.
Another Classic painter is Guisseppi Archimboldo. A man famous for his very strange portraits. 
The last hundred or so years have also been really interesting for painting. There were the Surrealist, Joan Miro, Man Ray, and Salvador Dali. There was pop art, which produced a few great painters such as David Hockney. 

David Hockney

Then there is graffiti which is a really cool, and new approach to painting. It is painting and architecture, art and community interaction. It is sometimes dirty and violent, and other times it is safe and heart warming. 

Caravaggio

Then there are a lot of painters that I know personally that I can`t put into one category or another. So just take a look. 

Hieronymus Bosch

Hieronymus Bosch

Archimboldo

Archimboldo

Blu

Luke Hussack
Check out his website brapola.blogspot.com/

Music Music Music

Hello School!

Bob Dylan 

It has been a long time since I posted anything and I apologize. I guess I forgot about the old bat cave. Well I am back and I will try to keep it up to date. Today I want to talk about music. I love music, I love to listen to it, I love to learn about it, and if I knew how I am sure I would love to play it. The only problem with music is that there is so much and sometimes it is difficult to find. So here is a great website to find and listen to all kinds of music.   www.grooveshark.com
Grooveshark i s a great site that lets you listen to music for free and without downloading illegally. You can listen to single songs, full albums, your own playlists and radio stations, and even share them with your friends. Living in Japan this is my number one way to find the American music I want to listen to.
If you visit the site and are looking for some music here is a list of recommendations. Search for these artists:              
Andrew Bird-----------my favorite album is-------- the mysterious production of eggs
The Walkmen-----------my favorite album is-------- heaven
Fleetwood Mac-----------my favorite album is-------- tusk
Bob Dylan-----------my favorite album is-------- highway 61 revisited
Jim Sullivan-----------my favorite album is-------- UFO
Nick Drake-----------my favorite album is-------- pink moon
The Unicorns-----------my favorite album is-------- who will cut our hair when we`re gone
The Flaming Lips-----------my favorite album is-------- yoshima battles the pink robots
Joe Strummer-----------my favorite album is-------- hurricane music
Miles Davis-----------my favorite album is-------- sketches of spain
Sam Cooke-------my favorite album is-------- one night stand live at the harlem square club
Elton John-----------my favorite album is-------- goodbye yellow brick road
Townes Van Zandt-----------my favorite album is-------- high low and inbetween
De La Soul-----------my favorite album is-------- three feet high and rising
The Roots-----------my favorite album is-------- things fall apart
The Shins-----------my favorite album is-------- chutes too narrow

Townes Van Zandt

Talking Heads-----------my favorite album is-------- more songs about buildings and food

Miles Davis

Talking Heads

All of this should be found at Grooveshark.com.  If you like what you hear please tell me and I can list more similar music on the blog. Thanks for checking it out!