He Enlisted in Uncle Sam’s Camouflage UnitMinimalist great Ellsworth Kelly, best known for his hard-edge painting, entered into the war efforts of World War II in 1943. He requested to join the 603rd Engineers Camouflage Battalion, which filled its ranks with artists and was known as the Ghost Army.Fine Art in WarIn World War I, artists in the French military were the first to be assigned to a unit specifically designed to use art in combat.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, our team thought it would be fun to pull together some of our favorite creativity quotes to inspire you to fall in love (again) with art! Scroll through and discover words of wisdom from a variety of artists, including those we have the pleasure of working with through ArtistsNetwork as well as the words of timeless masters we all love.
There’s a reason for everything.While this concise sentence has gotten me through the worst of times, it’s also applicable to the lighter side of life. For example, there’s a reason that my sister-in-law lets her cupcakes cool before icing them: so the icing doesn’t melt. In art, there’s a reason that many artists use paper as a substrate for painting with watercolor (to make use of the medium’s transparent, luminous qualities).
Capturing Fall in Full SwingOne of our resident artists, Marc Taro Holmes, delivers a great urban sketching demo to us based on his jaunts out and about in Montreal, Canada. Enjoy the gorgeous fall colors of the turning leaves against crisp blue skies. Marc takes you for a fun “tour” and gives us all the insight we need on how to make the scenes we see come alive through watercolor sketching.
As the saying goes, “Behind every great painting, you’ll find a great drawing.” Well, maybe that’s not a real saying. And maybe it’s not completely true, since plenty of artists dive right into painting without sketching their subject beforehand. But many, if not all, great watercolor paintings begin with some sort of preparatory work—whether a detailed study or a quick two-minute gesture drawing.
This article is a condensed excerpt from the book Egg Tempera Painting: A Comprehensive Guide by Koo Schadler. For a more in depth-discussion of true gesso panels, please refer the book, available at REQUIREDFour to six days from start to finish are required to create a true gesso panel using a homemade gesso recipe.
