It has been a while...

Hey followers!
It has been over a year since my last post. There are many reasons for why I stopped posting here but I am not going to go on and on about that. It is no fun dwelling in the past when there are so many things to look forward to.

As of a few months ago I have finally realized that I CAN be the artist that I've always wanted to be. I looked at some of the contemporary artists that I follow on a regular basis and just thought "Why can't I?" 

I mean surely there are more talented people than me, more experiences people than me, more- the list can go on and on.

But the interesting part is that after I wrote down "Why can't I?" in my sketchbook I wrote "Listen to the silence." Listen to the silence. Just because there is silence doesn't mean that something is wrong. It doesn't mean hurry up and find something different to do. It means enjoy that moment. Enjoy the quiet moments where you are stuck on an idea or don't know how to proceed. Enjoy just where you are at that moment.

This was very important to me and my realization about following my passion. It meant I wasn't a screw up for not figuring things out right away. I was right where I needed to be. If I never realized that I could be an artist then I would still be in the process of figuring out why the heck I got my art degree in the first place and what I was going to do with it.

In college I was taught that with my degree I wouldn't be an artist. I was taught to think that I needed to find something art related but I couldn't have my career be "artist." This is so wrong. 

1. Because people in college are still figuring themselves out and molding themselves into who they want to be when they are older. 
2. Because just because you aren't the most talented at a certain thing and there are a million artists in the world doesn't mean you can't be an artist.
3. Because being realistic and being a dreamer do NOT need to be separate.

Don't get me wrong, I am still figuring out how to make this work. I am listening to podcasts and webinars, reading books and blogs who train artists how to market and how to be a successful artist. I am submitting my work to juried shows and getting rejections as well as getting accepted. I am figuring out how to create a podcast for another interest in my life with someone I love. 

So over the next few posts I am going to be trying out some new ideas, maybe more personal blog posts like this, maybe more of what I am working on and how. I just needed to give you all a little update. I want to share with you my journey through learning how to be a successful artist and have a support system in place for anyone attempting to follow their dreams. Let me know if you liked this and want more of the personal blog or if you want something else!

I am slowly but surely figuring it all out. But watch me. I am going to be an artist.

 - Art Otter

p.s. If anyone has any helpful podcasts, books, webinars that they think are related to this and helpful, please share below!

ADVERTISING AS ART

I know before I've posted how to be creative with advertising (see it here) but in this post let's talk about how advertising and art have been linked. Hopefully many of you watched the final episode of Mad Men this past Sunday, if not it's OK... but you should start watching Mad Men ASAP, and as viewers you would know when the advertising group (SC&P or McCann Erickson) would present their ad to their client they would really try and create a feeling sparked by the creative work. Art is just the same, art is only good if it creates a feeling within the viewer. Anyone can throw paint or charcoal at something, but if you can make someone feel something and move them with the specifics of what you did or the meaning behind it, then you've done your job and your work should be in a museum.

Advertising and Art have always had a close relationship for the obvious reason, they're both visual ways of communicating something. The beginning of that is Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and his lithograph prints and posters specifically. Even though he was a very skillful Impressionist painter, draughtsman, and artist in general his work with prints of the dancers of Moulin Rouge are what started the connection between Art and Advertising.

Throughout Art History we do see a lot more artists attempting to make the connection between Fine Art and Advertising. Another successful artist who made the connection is Andy Warhol. He started out early doing ink blot drawings of shoes and ended up creating massive collaborations. We all know of his Campbell Soup Can...

Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans, screen print, 1962 Display view at MoMA, New York

Andy Warhol, Absolut Vodka, screen print, 1986

Another artist who has combined with advertising is Norman Rockwell, like in this "Out Fishin'" Ad created for Coca Cola in the 1930s. This piece specifically creates a feeling and a world that you'd want to live in.

It's hard to tell when Art and Advertising combine which it better belongs to. They say any advertising is good advertising. Yet just a few lucky advertisers come along and create a feeling and a connection with the viewer that are memorable for many years to come. That is the connection with Fine Art and that is how you know you are a truly talented advertiser.

BIRTHDAY POST: GEORGES BRAQUE

Born today in 1882, Georges Braque would become a major French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor. Most importantly, he was a major contributor to Fauvism and the development of Cubism.

Georges Braque in his studio (from BRAQUE: The Late Works)

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves ("the while beasts" in French), who were an early 20th century modern artists who embraced painterly qualities and bright colors over the actual representation. Braque joined in on the movement right in the midst of it in 1905. He painted along with Raoul Dufy and Othon Friesz who lived in Braque's hometown of Le Havre. In 1907, he exhibited his Fauvist works in the Salon des Independants. Later on that year his work became influenced by Cezanne whose work he was able to see in Paris when they were exhibited large scale for the first time after Cezanne's death in 1906.

Georges Braque, landscape at la ciotat, 1907, oil on canvas

Georges Braque, The Viaduct at L'Estaque, 1907-1908, oil on canvas

The combination of Fauvism and the influence of Cezanne resulted in the beginning of Cubism. From 1908-1913 Braque's work reflected experimenting with perspective and geometry. In 1909 Braque began working closely with Picasso: "A comparison of the works of Picasso and Braque during 1908 reveals that the effect of his encounter with Picasso was more to accelerate and intensify Braque's exploration of Cezanne's ideas, rather than divert his thinking in any essential way." After broadening their Cubism ways together, Picasso and Barque began working with collage in 1912. This is when Braque invented the papier colle technique, which is when collage is strictly paper on a mount whereas collage can be anything on a mount.

Georges Braque, Guitar and Fruit Dish, 1909, oil on canvas

Georges Braque, La Guitare, 1909-1910, oil on canvas

Georges Braque, Fruit dish and glass, 1912, papier colle and charcoal on paper

 I think what is most amazing is that Georges Braque worked with Pablo Picasso and invented Cubism and papier colle collage together, yet in the years I've been studying Art and Art History this is the first time I have ever heard of him. Clearly people have combined the works into solely Pablo's work an it is about time to give Georges Braque the importance and recognition he deserves.

CELEBRATING LANDSCAPES

Today is Earth Day! Besides actually sitting outside and enjoying nature, what is the next best way to appreciate the natural world around us? That's right! Landscapes.

Within landscapes there is not only amazing natural scenes but emotion and a spiritual element. The added spiritual elements in landscape started in East Asian art with Daoism, and in then the West there was Romanticism. Where landscapes (with no added spiritual element) started with frescos in Greece and hunting trips depicted in Egypt.

Romanticism is the type of landscapes that we think of when we think of the stereotypical landscape. There were many prolific Romantic landscapes artists: Joseph Mallord William Turner, Frederic Edwin Church, Caspar David Friedrich, John Constable, Thomas Cole, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and many MANY more. In the 19th Century romantic landscapes were prominent in Dutch and American tradition of painting where they would have special schools devoted to learning about a genre of art like the Hudson River School. It started with a craze for landscape painting with the Dutch in the 17th Century with Realism but it really caught on in the 19th Century again starting with the Dutch. Quickly American artists jumped on the romantic landscape bandwagon to show off their new frontier which was different from the European atmosphere art enthusiasts were used to.

Let's look at how not only the composition of these pieces create great strength and pride but also include an emotional feeling attached, either through the weather or the colors and brushstrokes.

Frederic Edwin Church, The Heart of the Andes, 1859, Hudson River School

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1818, German Romanticism

John Constable, Stonnehenge, 1836, Victoria and Albert Museum London

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Wreckers Coast of Northumberland, 1836, Yaler Center for British Art

Thomas Cole, The Oxbow, 1836, Metropoliatan Museum of Art New York

 Now in East Asian Art, landscape is considered their most valuable contribution to the art world. They didn't have a mad craze for landscape, instead landscape was deep within their culture and was spread out over many centuries. William Watson wrote that "It has been said that the role of landscape art in Chinese painting corresponds to that of the nude in the west, as a theme unvarying in itself but made the vehicle of infinite nuances of vision and feeling." A lot of East Asian landscapes are monochrome which is attributed to Wang Wei's paintings where he devoided the use of figures and shifted to monochrome style of painting. The Song Dynasty Southern School has some of the highest regarded landscape paintings. There is a shan shui tradition where the landscapes were never intended to represent real locations even if they were named after them.

Song Xu, Landscape After Wang Wei's Wangchuan Picture, 1574, Ming Dynasty

Tang Yin, A Fisher in Autumn, 1523, China

There is so much more in the history of landscape and how it evolved in every culture around the globe. There are many books of the topic and papers written about artists who were devoted to the landscape. So, if you are interested you should check it out!

ART QUOTES

It's Tax Day, which means (at least here in America) that it isn't the happiest of days. So cheer up fellow artists or art lovers! Here is a collection of 20 inspiring and wonderful quotes which I've collected over the years that I keep in my sketchbook and flip to whenever I need a little push. It's a random grouping of quotes that will either get you pumped up and ready to work or view art a little differently than you did before.

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." -Cesar A. Cruz

"Date yourself. Take yourself out to eat. Don't share your popcorn at the movies with anyone. Stroll around an art museum alone. Fall in love with canvases. Fall in love with yourself." -unknown

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." -Harry S. Truman

"All progress occurs because people dare to be different." -Harry Millner

"Art is not what you see but what you make others see." -Edgar Degas

"The best things in life aren't things." -Art Buchwald

"Art is the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos." -Saul Bellow

"When the individuality of the artist begins to express itself, what the artist gains in the way of liberty he loses in the way of order." -Pablo Picasso

"I began to feel that the artist is not exempt from life. There is no way out from seeing art as a reflection or meditation or a comment on life. I became interested in the process, including the artist's life. I became interested in how art reflected life issues, or existential issues with which we are all involved." -Donald Kuspit

"I paint the sort of paintings I can, not the ones I necessarily want." -Lucian Freud

"I always felt that my work hadn't much to do with art" "I ignored the fact that, after all, art derives from art." -Lucian Freud

"As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want paint to work for me as flesh does." -Lucian Freud

"Art school has taught me that my greatest tool is myself"

"Stop thinking about artwork as objects, and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences. That solves a lot of problems: we don't have to argue whether photographs are art; or whether performances are art or whether Carl Ander's bricks or Little Richard's 'Long Tall Sally' are art, because we say, 'Art is something that happens, a process, not a quality and all sorts of things can make it happen'... [w]hat makes a work of art 'good' for you is not something that is already 'inside' it, but somethings that happens inside you - so the value of the work lies in the degree to which it can help you have the kind of experience that you call art." -Brian Eno

"The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life." -William Faulkner

"Art and love are the same thing: it's the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you." -Chuck Klosterman

"Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings." -Agnes Martin

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." -Pablo Picasso

"Creativity takes courage." -Henri Matisse

"If I do nothing, if I study nothing, if i cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost...keep going, keep going come what may." -Vincent van Gogh 

  I believe that all of these quotes can be applied to any situation and can be viewed a million different ways. That is the amazing things about art, it's always up for interpretation (I mean seriously how many of those began with "Art is..."). Comment below or tweet at me with your favorite art quotes @ArtOtter

STILL LIFES AREN'T BORING

When you first start as an artist, or if you are walking through any art museum you see tons and tons of still lifes. Many people imagine it is the basis of all art forms, you know once you've practiced with enough boring things like apples and oranges then you can start to branch out to figures. But, still lifes weren't even apart of the Western Art World until the late 16th Century. Before then almost all paintings were religious or documentary. And so if any still lifes were made they still held religious symbolism.

The first types of still lifes that were created were of course within Egyptian tombs. They would have artists paint any sort of riches from food to items on the walls of the tomb thinking that in the afterlife they would be there for the deceased. Some of the other earliest recounts of still lifes were within Pompeii and were Roman mosaics used for decoration and signs of hospitality. None of the still lifes up until the Dutch and Flemish paintings in the late 16th Century were what you'd think are typical still lifes we see covering museums today. The Dutch and Flemish painters were in a craze for still lifes because of the combination of religious images being banned in the Dutch Reformed Protestant Church (which led to the symbolism within still lifes) and the simple obsession with horticulture that the Dutch had.

Egyptian wall painting of food (http://www.timetrips.co.uk/still_life_history.htm)

uncovered still life found at Herculaneum showing Roman still life (https://sketchesandscratches.wordpress.com/tag/vanitas/)

Willem Kalf, Still Life with Ewer, Vessels and Pomegranate, oil on canvas, mid-1640s, The J. Paul Getty Museum

Jan van Huysum, 1723, oil on panel, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (http://www.essentialvermeer.com/dutch-painters/huysum.html)

Something funny and interesting that I found about still lifes is that there was a genre of still lifes known as "breakfast paintings" which would be the presentation of the upper class breakfasts while also a religious reminder not to be gluttonous.

Willem Claeszoon Heda, Breakfast Table with Blackberry Pie, 1631, Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister

As you can imagine, still lifes evolved along with the many art movements, being the cornerstone of all styles and genres of art. You can find a still life of any genre and style of art you desire and probably by any artist you desire as well. It is the basis of all artists today and a great way to study the aesthetic elements, but it shouldn't be thrown aside as a beginners form of art.

Ori Gersht, Blow Up, photographs and videos, 2007

Still lifes allow the artist to impose any sort of composition and arrangement of elements within the artwork. This sort of freedom allows for many styles and genres of art to take place, which led to how contemporary still lifes will include two-dimensional or three-dimensional mixed media and sometimes even video or sound.

Next time you think Still Lifes are "boring" or "too beginner", think again.

WOMEN IN ART: ANNA ATKINS

Some of you may have noticed that the other day (March 16th) Google had a Doodle celebrating Anna Atkin's 216th Birthday. She was a botanist and a photographer using her photographic techniques to document and study many different plants.
First learning of photogenic drawing and calotypes through the inventor, William Henry Fox Talbot and her husband's friend. Herself and Constance Talbot, William Henry Fox Talbot's wife, are known as the first women photographers. She was able to learn about cyanotypes through her husbands friendship with Sir John Herschel, who invented the cyanotype in 1842. After learning the process, Atkins created many photograms of dried algae and then created a book of her studies and photograms in 1843. This book is known to be the first book to have photographic images, even though it was privately published and not many copies were made. Less than a year later Talbot created his book "The Pencil of Nature" which is the first commercially published book to be illustrated with  photographs.

Title Page of Anna Atkins "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions", 1843, cyanotype photogram, Spencer Collection/ Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, NY Public Library

Introduction of Anna Atkins "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions", 1843, cyanotype photogram, Spencer Collection/ Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, NY Public Library

Cystoseria granulata, Anna Atkins "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions", 1843, cyanotype photogram, Spencer Collection/ Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, NY Public Library

Atkins went on to create two more volumes of "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions" and in the 1850s collaborated with Anne Dixon to create more cyanotype books: "Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns" (1853), "Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns" (1854). In addition to the photographic books she also wrote many books, without photograms, of her studies.

Poppy, Anna Atkins "Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns", about 1854, cyanotype photogra, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

I've written a previous post about Dark Room Photography and how important it is, so check it out if you're curious: link here. But I never fully described what cyanotypes are. So here's a detailed description:
-First you mix together equal volumes of a photosensitive solution of 8.1% potassium ferricyanide and 20% ferric ammonium citrate.
-Then you brush it evenly on a natural fibered cloth/paper. And set to dry in a dark room.
-A positive image will be produced when the emulsion covered paper is shown to UV light (sunlight or UV fluorescent lights) with a negative image laying straight on the emulsion. This is called a contact print because the negative and the emulsion must be in flat contact to avoid any blurriness.
-Once the image is a steely blue/gray then you take it out from under the light and wash it in a water bath washing off the yellow iron that was reduced by the UV.
-After you wash off the iron you can wash the print in another bath of water and a splash of 3% hydrogen peroxide which darkens the blues of the print.
-These prints can also be toned after they're dried through tea, bleach, and wine among other things.

You can find many scans of her cyanotypes online and the actual pages and scans across London.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: BARKLEY L. HENDRICKS

Barkley Leonnard Hendricks was born in 1945 in Philadelphia. His work can be found in the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and many more.

http://www.wwd.com/eye/people/barkley-l-hendricks-talks-latest-exhibit-hearts-hands-eyes-mind-6812153/slideshow#/slideshow/article/6812153/6812251

Throughout his career Hendricks has experiemented with many different mediums and genres of art, although his portraits stand out the most. Hendricks' work was considered a huge jump for black portraiture and conceptualism. His portraits are life sized and really show pride through the subject. Hendricks' work touches upon many themes, style, attitude, realism through his straightforward portraits with a great sense of energy.

Barkley L. Hendricks, Triple Portrait from the Yard, oil on canvas, 2013

Focusing on the subtleties that bring out the sense of reality of these subjects is what makes these portraits strong. These works are not to show the realism of what is pop culture in a documentary sense but in a showing the viewer what is cool just from the attitude his paintings have. From a Portraiture stance, Hendricks' work shows the realism through purposefully showing you certain aspects of the person to give you their personality. Hendricks' knowledge of portraiture is strong and natural allowing his work to seem seamless in its meaning. While his work isn't widely known, he is one of those amazing artists that is wildly acknowledged and loved in the art world.

There is a wonderful interview of his show at Duke here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=darxeJzn4WI

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT

One of the leaders during the emergence of the Neo-Expressionism Movement is Jean-Michel Basquiat, a self-taught and very talented artist. He originally started as a graffiti artist around New York City under the name "SAMO". Because of his talent and passion his work was picked up in 1980 and he became loved by the public for his style.

About this time was when the Neo- Expressionist Movement began and in the mid 1980s Basquiat collaborated with Andy Warhol. Basquiat's work often touches upon the relations between the Egyptian slaves and African Americans with his use of text, symbols.
"Like a DJ, Basquiat adeptly reworked Neo-expressionism's cliched language of gesture, freedom, and angst and redirected Pop art's strategy of appropriation to produce a body of work that at times celebrated black culture and history but also revealed its complexity and contradictions" -Lydia Lee

Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Arm and Hammer II, Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 76 x 112 inches, 1985.

During this time, when his work was showcased throughout the world, his life began to be pulled down with drug use leading to his early death at the age of 27. His brief but influential art career brought Latin and African American life into the art world. If he had lived longer his influence and experiences would have only further changed the art world for the better.

References:
http://www.biography.com/people/jean-michel-basquiat-185851#commercial-success
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat#cite_note-Sirmans-3

NEW ARTFORM: GIFS

Are GIFs the new artform?
For those who don't know GIFs are a file format .gif that holds a few frames of a video or stop motion photographs that loop forever. The internet over the past few years has been churning out millions of gifs. From a scene from a movie to a handdrawn mini cartoon. But now there is debate whether gifs can be made into an art form. I mean if you think about it Photography started out for science and then use at home and for children but also an art form...

YoMeryl, Sarah Zucker and Bronwyn Lundberg, has just recently brought gifs to the Brooklyn Musuem as art. The gifs they portray are a play on pop culture and art history having celebrities like Lena Dunham and Lady Gaga mixing with famous art exhibits from Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" to Ai Weiwei's "He Xie."

When interviewed about their gifs they said their gifs show a "hyperreality that shows subjects engaging with art so much so that they enter the art or become part of the art." Which leads to a very popular type of artwork right now: Interactive Art. But not all gif artists are creating these sorts of scenes. Some are taking a more abstract approach to gif art.

Erik Soderberg in 2011 experimented with the animation of gifs and "the relations of geometry, nature and the human being" Each piece being more mesmerizing than the next, Soderberg creates insane illusions that loop forever. These gifs are more generative than YoMeryl's but still use gifs as the main medium.

Erik Soderberg, Vibrating Icosahedron, gif, 2011

Erik Soderberg, Torus, gif, 2011

 What do you think about GIF Art? Is it the new wave of art?

References:
NYMagazine http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/12/are-gifs-art-the-pop-art-pair-yomeryl-discusses.html
Erik Soderberg: http://work.eriksoderberg.se/Fractal-Experience-Part-2

BIRTHDAY POST: BERTHE MORISOT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BERTHE MORISOT!!!

Born today in 1841, Morisot was destined to be a great painter. She started learning how to paint at a very young age, like most young girls during this time (one of her teachers was Camille Corot where she first learned about plein air painting). Her first big appearance was in the Salon de Paris at only the age of 23. Her work was shown regularly in the Salon ever since, including when the first Impressionist exhibition occurred in 1874.

Berthe Morisot, Reading with Green Umbrella, 1873, Cleveland Art Museum

One of her good friends was Edouard Manet. Even though we are taught that Edouard Manet was considered the leader and Morisot the follower, they had a very equal relationship. They taught each other about various painting techniques, Morisot even pushed Manet to try plein air painting. Manet even gave Morisot an easel one Christmas! Later on Morisot married Manet's brother Eugene.

Berthe Morisot, Grain Field, 1875, Musee D'Orsay

Style-wise Morisot started off using small brushstrokes to long showing a better sense of form. This began once Manet and other artists started experimenting with unprimed canvas. She often left the canvas showing around the borders in an unfinished manner. Morisot is known for her sense of space and depth through her limited color pallet. 

Berthe Morisot, The Basket Chair, 1885, Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Like Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot painted daily life and domestic life and portraits along with landscapes. Just like many female artists of her time, she is getting more recognition after her death than during her lifetime. So let's celebrate her accomplishments and presence in Art History that can never be replaced.

Berthe Morisot, In the Dining Room, 1886, National Gallery of Art Washington D.C.

Want to read more about Mary Cassatt? Check out a previous post about her!!

More information about Berthe Morisot can be found here!

NEW YEARS FOR ARTISTS

New Years is always a fresh start to begin again and try and improve yourself and your bad habits from the previous year. Every year people choose impossible resolutions and end up forgetting about them or just give up after a few weeks or even days. Each year we even try to make them easier and try so hard to keep them. Why is it so hard to keep our goals? How about this year we help each other?

GET A BUDDY.
Not only will you have yourself to remind you to work on your New Years Resolution but someone else to either remind you or to work with you to achieve the same goal. This way you can push each other (and have someone to blame other that yourself when you don't accomplish your goal) I also suggest keeping notes or reminders everywhere to really keep you focused (Post-Its, phone reminders, locking yourself out of a certain room until you are done each day).

Now, what are some of the best New Years Resolutions for Artists that are maintainable?
I asked my many Twitter followers this question and got nothing in response so we'll just have to figure it out ourselves.

Artists are dedicated to their work. We just need to promise ourselves to work on those things we struggle with so here is a great list of things to use for New Years Resolutions:

1. Using your sketchbook... DAILY. Yes that means meaningless sketches or writing or playing around with new materials EVERYDAY. That shouldn't be too too bad, just set off a half an hour everyday and open your sketchbook and do something, anything.

2. Create an actual piece of artwork once a week. Using your mindless sketching or experiments and create something full fledged and finished. It doesn't matter if it turns out terrible since it is only for you. It'll keep your mind in the creating mode and it'll help you figure out the kinks of what works and what doesn't.

3. Take in a commission. One of the best things I could've done was accept a request for a commission of a genre of art I don't find I am the strongest in. Now I don't suggest it to everyone because it is stressful and it is always better to accept a commission of something you will work confidently in, but for those who want to challenge themselves do it. Even if it is just a Birthday gift for someone that you are commissioning yourself to do, just share your art.

THIS website has 10 pretty good New Years Resolutions for Artists that I suggest checking out.

But MOST IMPORTANTLY DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO ANY OTHER ARTIST, THE WHOLE POINT OF HAVING A NEW YEARS RESOLUTION IS TO DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS MORE. If you are having a hard time check out this older post about it.

CALLIGRAPHY IN ART

Calligraphy and Typography were used in art forms dating back to around 600 BC. Many different areas of the world used Calligraphy as not only forms of writing but as artwork as well. Depending upon the region, different styles were also used.

Originated as a visual art form of writing and eventually some artists even used it strictly as an art form, leaving the words left behind and just using the strokes and linework. Now, I could go on and on about the origins of Calligraphy all around the world but here is the generic breakdown: Each general region (Western, East Asia, South Asia, Islamic) had a set of rules and shapes to be used while writing calligraphy. Calligraphy included a set rhythm and a geometrical order to the lines on the page even down to each character having a set order in which the strokes must be made to make each letter/symbol. Often a "carpet" page would be used as well within books, a carpet page being a page with not only the words but also a fully decorated colored shapes as well. Any irregularity of style, size or color increases the value even if it is considered illegible.

Calligraphy from each general region has endless different branches and styles. Even without having to study years and years of Calligraphy history, everyone can admire the amazing and technical flow of historic and modern calligraphy (and I'm not just talking about wedding invitations).

I'll show you some of my favorites:

Page from The Book of Kells, Western Calligraphy, Ireland

Islamic Calligraphy Art

Islamic Calligraphy Art even create pictures strictly from the brushstrokes used in Calligraphy

Calligraphy in Oriya font

Then there are Contemporary styles used today.

Contemporary Asian Calligraphy found in the Suzhou Museum

As a newcomer to the ways of Calligraphy, I have found that following the specific brushstrokes is both a challenge and dependent on focus but also quite relaxing. It is easy to pick up and good for the everyone to attempt and easy to add your own personal touch. It's a great skill to acquire even if you only use it for your wedding invitations (but they can be the most uniquely beautiful and artistic wedding invitations!)

COLLAGE ART: SURREAL IMAGERY OR SIMPLE BRAINSTORMING?

Collages are sometimes linked with childhood art projects, but how about collages that bring flawless surreal imagery together?

The idea of collaging is often a way to put all of your favorite ideas or thoughts together. But what about thinking out of the box and creating something completely new and imaginative... without just using Photoshop. Painstakingly cutting and arranging images found from encyclopedias to magazines can lead to some amazingly creative works and creating worlds that bring up issues or thoughts some of us may have never even thought of before.

One artist named Sato Masahiro, or Q-TA, uses both digital and analog techniques to create nostalgia based imagery. When in an interview with Revolution 360, the artist says "The reason that the majority of my work has young children is that I would like to show a new way of thinking by offering the audience, children’s view of the world and also placing children in those worlds." Just take a look at some of Q-TA's pieces for example:

  

But lets step back a second, haven't we seen innovative collaging before? Man Ray? John Stezaker? Hannah Höch? 

Man Ray for example was a significant component to the Dada and Surrealism Movements. He considered himself a painter over all but he also dabbled in photography and collage. He uses collage in two different ways (mainly photographic): in camera collaging and photogram collaging, which he appropriately called "Rayographs". Both forms of collaging but approached differently. In the top photo, Observation Time: The Lovers, Man Ray sets up the entire scene in front of the camera and takes a photo. In the other he uses random objects and sets them on top of the emulsion to create the shadows.

Man Ray, Observatory Time: The Lovers, photograph, 1936

Man Ray, Rayograph, 1922, Silver Gelatin Print, © 2011 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Either way collages can be attempted in various formats and mediums. Some artists use it as a way of planning out their creations or simple brainstorming, others use it as their actual medium. Sometimes they are used to create surreal worlds, or they are used to create an aesthetically or even psychologically pleasing work of art. Any way you look at it collaging leads to a very simplistic form of creating. So, you you're ever lacking ideas start a collage and see where it leads you!

Sources/Related Articles:

http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/3318/Top_10_Collage_Artists_Hannah_H%C3%B6ch_to_Man_Ray
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/sato-masahiro-q-ta-collages?context=tag-art