Author: mentler
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Renaissance Overview
Renaissance The Renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages. Generally described as taking place from the 14th century to the 17th century, the Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art. Some of the greatest thinkers, authors, statesmen, scientists and artists in human…
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Ruskin on Anatomy
Mister Ruskin, who is wrong on most things art, elects to downgrade the whole of art to appeal to the common man. This is an attempt to place visual literacy as the same level of attainment of all art past or present. Ruskin’s vision of naturalism largely propagates the idea that we draw what we see, this…
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Interpreting The Tao ‘The Way’
Sie Ho’s Six Laws These are guiding universal principles of creative guidance. The straight interpretation from the Chinese doesn’t quite get us to a point of understanding without some additional explanation. 1st. Consonance of spirit engenders the movement (of life) 2nd. The law of bones by means of the brush 3rd. Form represented through conformity…
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Training In The Renaissance Workshop
Training of the ‘Garzoni’ or apprentices in the Renaissance Masters workshop was far different then one imagines. The length of the apprenticeship varied and the what they were apprenticing to be also differed. Not everyone apprenticed to be and artist, many were trained to be ‘artisans’. The apprentices were expected to learn to draw and paint in…
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Colour Control the Harmonic Palette
Frank Morley Fletcher’s ‘Palette Control’ is based on musical metrics of major keys and minor keys 5-3-4 and 4-3-5. https://www.barnstonestudios.com/blog/oil-painting-and-palette-control-newsletter-from-1979/
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Recommended Reading
Colour The Elements of Color: A Treatise on the Color System of Johannes Itten Based on His Book the Art of Color The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors and Their Applications to the Arts The Art of Color and Design Design & Composition The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry – Jay Hambridge The Painter’s…
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Keeping It Real
Realism as an art movement had nothing to do with the point-and-shoot realism that is being put forth from the late 20th century Realist Movement. The realism of revolutionary France was more about the people that the art. The major painters of Realism in its original form were: Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, Honoré Daumier, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille…
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A Lot of Influence on Classical Art Traditions
André Lhote André Lhote was a major ‘keeper of the keys’ for the classic point of view, his book ‘A Treatise on Landscape Painting’ is an excellent informative read. He was born on July 5, 1885 in Bordeaux, where he learned wood carving at a furniture maker’s studio at the age of thirteen. A little later…
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Myron Barnstone on Visual Literacy
Myron Barnstone taught an apprenticeship type art school, known as ‘The Barnstone Studios’ in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley for over thirty-five years. The core of his teaching revolved around the comprehension and creation of imagery or visual literacy. Understanding visual literacy starts when you realize that no artist draws what they see, they interpret what they see into visual elements.…
