As promised this is the second edition of “Have Fun With Art.” You can read the first post, Part 1, here.
More people would be interested in art if they just knew how to have fun with it. Now this may take a minimal amount of participation, but like everything, you get what you put in. For instance, you may not consider yourself artistically inclined, but when is the last time you actually tried to do something creative? Whatever you create is art, don’t let yourself down. And do not listen to negative criticism, it is worthless.
Aside from creating art yourself, you can still be an active participant at museums and galleries. You can do this by looking at the paintings and trying to figure things out about it, trying to guess the artist’s motives, or even mood. Not to mention you can be active literally when certain museums have workshops that let you make art in a fun way. This is for all ages, so get your hands dirty!
The Warhol in Pittsburgh has workshops for visitors to experiment with the type of materials Andy Warhol used, including silk screening. This is every weekend from noon to 4. Not too long ago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art had a similar event with Warhol techniques. Keep up to date with your local art museums in your newspaper for events such as these.
Whimsical Portraits
I hear it all the time that artists have humongous egos because they constantly paint themselves. These narcissistic painters must love looking at themselves in the mirror. What most people don’t realize is that models can be expensive and your reflection is always there to pose for you, and won’t fidget that much.
The good part about this is a little thing called “Painter’s License.” This is a rule that states as a painter I can paint whatever I want on my canvas, and any and all resemblance to persons living and deceased is strictly intentional. Painter’s License allows the landscapist to move a water tower to the left side of the picture to balance the composition or an artist painting his own likeness to omit that blemish.
Take this picture I painted of myself at a nineteenth century dance hall. I never picked up the guitar to play a serious tune in my life. OK, I did once in high school, but I couldn’t play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” today if I tried. The point is it looked good and what the hell. How about Self Portrait as Napoleon, talk about ego.
I stumbled on this guy’s website and it gave me a good laugh (read the captions, they’re hilarious). What he did was photoshop himself as famous artwork or photographs. Why not? I painted my landlord as Henry VIII once just for fun. Not because he acted like the English monarch, just because he looks a lot like him. Apparently he didn’t like the idea that much, and in retrospect I don’t blame him at all. But it was fun to paint.
Here are some notably odd self-portraits:
This is Jan Vermeer’s self likeness painting. It is odd because only about 35 Vermeer paintings exist today and this is the only self portrait we know of, from behind…
Jean-Baptiste-Simeon-Chardin self-portrait
This was late in Chardin’s career when he switched from oil to pastel. It shows himself as an old tourist. Very peculiar, isn’t it?
Salvador Dali. That’s all I have to say.
Something of interest here is the portraits of Madame Ginoux by both Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. The woman was painted by the two artists at the same time in the same room. There is is a clear distinction between the two. In one, the woman is sitting showing a body language of affection toward the artist, with a more likelihood of romanticism, while the other shows a more cold demeanor. The same is true of the representations by each artist. Can you tell who painted each?
Poor Vincent. He should probably stop sending his body parts to women, he might be more successful.
Spot the Celebrity
Sometimes painters appease certain people by putting them in their paintings. It was not uncommon for an art patron to have the artist include him as a saint or biblical figure, or otherwise glorify them. Sometimes a painter may include a certain celebrity or colleague as a compliment.
In the next couple of paintings try to pick out the following celebrities:
a) Walt Whitman
b) The king and queen in an unlikely place
Interesting Remakes
As I talk about in my post about reproducing art, I explain that many artist will recreate a famous painting or another artist’s composition. The idea is that the artist puts his own style into the new painting, and creates something new in his own way. Click on the original painting below to see the new rendition: (Diego Velazquez is perhaps the most emulated artist in history)
Diego Velazquez’s Las Maninas, as repainted by Pablo Picasso (click for Picasso)
Diego Velazquez’s Pope Innocent X as recreated by Francis Bacon:
The Johannes Vermeer (seen above) as repainted by Salvador Dali as a ghost:
Francisco Goya’s “May 3, 1808″ as recreated by Pablo Picasso:
Paul Cezanne’s “Bathers” as Pablo Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon”
Art As Mood Enhancer
As I’ve said before some art can be an incredible mood enhancer. If you’re ever feeling down and need an uplifter, just look up some Frans Hals paintings. I can’t say it enough, these pictures will make you smile.
Conclusion
There are many ways to have fun with art, but I must recommend mostly actually doing it. Many people have come up to me telling me how they can’t paint or draw. Well, its probably because they never do it, for one thing, and even if they think they’re not good at it, they should do it regardless.
Nobody’s good at anything when they’re a beginner, it just takes practice. No matter who you are there are numerous benefits to creating art. The act of creation itself can be very gratifying. Not to mention, there are numerous psychological benefits to making art. It gives you something to be proud of, the process is very therapeutic, at the very least it gives you a hobby, something to do.
Here is a link to the National Gallery of Art Kids homepage. Hey, if you think you can’t draw then acting like a kid again would be helpful. But I think anybody can have fun with it. Play around, click on the still life program to create your own still life with props of your choosing. Overall its a pretty good resource.
I’ll finish off with this Joan Miro painting inspired by an old folk tale.
The dog barks endlessly at the moon to which the moon replies,
“You know…I don’t give a damn.”
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