Art Trouble

Does anybody else miss Bob Ross

2008-01-04T18:42:00.000-05:00

This is funny (NOT REAL) video of outtakes of Bob Ross. I remember as a little kid Bob Ross was a big deal. I remember following his instruction and creating a world that was mine. It always started with no idea of what it was going to look like and turning into something amazing. I wish I still had some of that art I did with Mr Ross.

Everybody enjoy.

For anybody that does not know who Bob Ross is (REAL VIDEO):

Bob Ross - Deep Forest Lake

Here is looking at you! Tutorial for the eye.

2008-01-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

Great tutorial on drawing the human eye. Many artist have trouble with putting the eye into there drawing. You can always tell which ones are having this problem because they are always covering the eye up with hair or arms. This tutorial will help. I loved it. It may not be the only way but it was easy and well explained.

Let your art look back at you.

Artist Gives Back to Families of Fallen Soldiers

2007-07-06T18:22:00.000-04:00

Kaziah paints portraits of our fallen soldiers, free of charge for the families of the fallen.

This story touched me and I had to put something up. Regradless of your political beliefs what Kaziah is doing is amazing. Her web site can be found at here.

She was born into polygamy and raised in what she has described as mental chains. In December 1985, Kaziah Hancock stood on the steps of the courthouse in Salt Lake City and yelled, for everyone to hear, "Thank you God, I’m free!" Her book "Prisons of the Mind" describes the journey.

The fact that she is giving back in such a touching way is amazing!!

(Article I found about her)

HTML ART

2007-07-02T13:50:00.000-04:00

Many moons ago ascii art was the way to go. Now the new method is here. HTML ART!! This artist used tables and background colors. It is amazing.

Bugs Bunny Cartoonist Roger Armstrong Dies

2007-06-21T12:58:00.000-04:00

A heart attack as taken the great artist Roger Armstrong. He was 89 and is known for his work on the TV cartoon Bugs Bunny and The Flintstones. He also worked on characters such as Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd, and Walt Disney characters the Seven Dwarfs, Donald Duck and Pluto.

He passed away at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, California on June 7.

He is survived by a wife, a daughter, two sons and a sister.

Artist Begins Toy Solider Protest

2007-06-19T15:15:00.000-04:00

Ben McGinty a artist and gallery owner is upset with the current status of the war in Iraq and has come up with his own way to protest the war.

He packaged up hundreds of toy soldiers already labeled with the President Bush address. He is asking people to come by pick up a toy and mail it to the president. He wants to give the President soldiers that do not really die to play with. He has put the toys in a large mesh solider in front of his gallery. So far the project has cost him $400.00 dollars

McGinty calls the mass mailing project 'March of the Toy Soldiers.'

The 43-year-old gallery owner says this form of protest feels more proactive than protesting on the street corner.

Ben McGinty is hoping this will get big and people all around the world will start sending the toys to the president. He is hoping the toys will accumulate to the point where officials at the White House will take notice.

Regardless if you agree or disagree you have to admit an artist imagination is amazing.

Artist Awarded for Topless Adventure

2007-06-18T11:32:00.000-04:00

Jill Coccaro a New York artist decided to go on topless stroll in 2005. She was arrested for her exposer. After being held for 12 hours for indecent exposure she was released. Her attorney filed civil rights lawsuit based on a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that said women have the rights as men to be topless.

Well the great city of New York never admitted to or denied wrongdoing, but nevertheless, they agreed to pay the topless artist a $29,000 settlement with Coccaro.

Now I ask you do you think the artist Coccaro should be awarded for her topless stunt?

Artist Gets Revenge on Borat

2007-06-14T11:21:00.000-04:00

New York artist, Linda Stein, was interviewed by Borat for a spoof show (for his movie) about woman's rights. Borat talked about women walking three steps behind men, pulling the plough and having smaller brains than men.

The movie Borat was a huge success and Baron Cohen won a Golden Globe for best comedy performance and earned an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay.

The world should take note. The last person you want to upset is an artist. Her latest piece shows borat in his thong and small penis drawn on the thong. She feels that he should be able to take the being exposed the same as he did to her.

More can be read here

Masterpiece stolen in art heist

2007-06-13T18:16:00.000-04:00

A embrassing robery was commited against the Art Gallery of NSW. The thefts stole a valuable self-portrait by the Dutch master Frans van Mieris.

The embrassing part is that it is unclear when the small painting, 20 centimetres by 16 centimetres, was plucked from the gallery's walls or how it was taken from the building without alerting security officers. The timing is also bad considering the gallery, which recently revealed details of the biggest security operation in its history for an Islamic arts exhibition opening in eight days. The exhibition is believed to be tighter than at previous shows featuring key works by Renoir, Picasso, Pissarro and Van Gogh, according to gallery sources.

Police believe it to be a inside job and are going over all video.

Article

Century Old Nude Heartsick Drawing Found

2007-06-13T11:39:00.000-04:00

It seems that the artist Arthur Streeton had strong feelings for a woman named Florence. During the time they lived it would never of been accepted that she a wealthy woman would marry a poor artist. You see, Florence Walker was the younger sister of an wealthy art school colleague of Arthur Streeton. The story should of ended there but during a art restoration project, more then a century after the painting was done something was found.

Art conservator Michael Varcoe-Cocks had been carefully working on restoring Streeton's painting Spring for about a year when he came across a microscopic discovery of an inscription hidden in the paint referring to an unknown woman named Florry. The search was on to find what other hidden messages were in the painting. Other staff members also discovered other inscriptions, bearing messages like "Florry and Smike [Streeton's nickname]" and "Florry Walker's my sweetheart." Then a X-Ray scan was done on the canvas and it revealed a nude female figure that had been painted over. The search was on to find out who was this girl and some nifty detective work turned up the name Florence Walker.

Now was this a love sick artist showing his love by engraving his love in his art hidden for all to see or a stalker guy painting a nude image of a woman with out permission and hiding it from her? The world may never know. If this was a artist from today he would defiantly have some explaining to do. It would not be thought of as romantic. His restraining order would keep him 50+ feet away from her at all times.

Nude Art Removed From Art Festival

2007-06-12T11:54:00.001-04:00

Carolina Loyola-Garcia media art has been removed from the Pittsburgh Arts Festival. It portrayed the naked artist bathing with milk and honey in a forest. The video could only be viewed by looking through six small holes cut in black paper in a window along Fourth Avenue. The holes were high enough so that young children could not see the video, the artist said.

The piece was covered and unplugged after one of the city's largest businesses complained.

It was part of the Best of Pittsburgh 2007 exhibit. P-P-G found the display inappropriate. P-P-G owns the plaza where the multimedia display was exhibited.

Loyola-Garcia says that removing her art is ridiculous. Elizabeth Reiss, executive director of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, disagreed saying that nudity doesn't belong in street booths and that artwork should be family friendly value.

This is area where I get confused. I believe that censorship coming down from the largest business in the land is bad and ridiculous. However, if the art was inappropriate for children to see and parents attending had no warning or way to avoid the area then maybe that is wrong too. I know the argument about the statue of david and etc but is it not also wrong to force your opinion of nudity on the masses?

Follow Up: I just found out that this piece could only be viewed by looking through six small holes cut in black paper and the holes were high enough so that young children could not see the video. Well, if this is the case this changes everything. It is my opinion that it was WRONG to of censored this art piece. It was a adults choice to view the nude woman and the adult could stop at anytime.

Article

Follow Up - Marco Evaristti Colors Mont Blanc

2007-06-11T14:55:00.000-04:00

Well well well. Marco Evaristti has been in my blog a lot lately. First with the head line "Artist Makes Meatballs From HIS FAT!" (great story) and then there was the article "Artist to Paint Mont Blanc". Well now it appears that Marco Evaristti has achieved his goal.

He did not color the peak red with the biodegradable dye as he originally planned. Instead he and 15 others scaled to the 15,771 foot peak and placed a flag pole declaring the peak as the Pink State. After he draped the peak with eight swathes of red fabric.

Evaristti said he hoped the display would draw public attention to the effect of pollution on the Europe's most famous mountain.

After trying out the dye on Wednesday on a pass halfway up the mountain he was was briefly detained by Police. He faces charges of "mutilating a protected natural site." Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak, was declared a protected site in 1993. Most likely the reason he switched to the fabric method.

Court Artist Really Does a Number on Paris Hilton

2007-06-08T18:38:00.000-04:00

Artists come on. Regardless of how you feel about Paris Hilton nobody deserves to be drawn this way. Somehow the artist captured her messed up hair and her pre-surgery nose. What happen to her ears they are the biggest ears I have ever seen. I understand that we want her to go back to jail but really I can hardly recognize her.

07758 225698 - Artist phone # to Dying Glacier

2007-06-08T10:37:00.000-04:00

Glaswegian artist Katie Paterson has installed a microphone to get the sound of a dying galcier. The creaking and splashing of Eurpoe's largest glacier can be heard for a simple long distance call.

Apparently Katie Paterson, a final year student at Slade School of Art in London, was strinken with a bout of a fever and during that epsoide she had a hallucination that moved her to mic the giant Vatnajokull glacier.

She hopes that the link will encourage people to connect emotionally with the glacier, she told Reuters from her tent on the Icelandic shoreline.

"It is sad to see a vanishing world."

The work, entitled "Vatnajokull (the sound of)", will continue until June 13.

Only one caller at a time can get through, which was deliberate so people can have a "one-to-one beautiful and intimate moment" with the glacier, she said.

Follow Up: JLA thank you for sending me a link for the actual sound. http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=8659197#8659197

Indie Artist New Music Video is Incredible

2007-06-07T11:47:00.000-04:00

Like the music or not it is amazing how far indie music videos have come.

Artist Show Tony Blair and Wife Naked

2007-06-06T10:48:00.000-04:00

The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has become less popular since the Iraq war has turned sour. In this year's Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London a artist, Michael Sandle, has created a piece that will be displayed at the show. The piece shows the prime minister and his wife, Cherie, naked as Adam and Eve being expelled from 10 Downing Street, the seat of the British government.

The artist told The Daily Telegraph he was 'so angry with the loss of life in Iraq, the chaos and the futility of war' that he completed the massive work within a space of 10 days.

The picture shows the couple in the center as Adam and Eve and on one side shows British soldiers beating Iraqi prisoners and on the other bodies being piled up.

Sandle has put a price of 85,000 dollars that he believes nobody would pay but if they did he would donate the money to charity.

New Look

2007-06-05T17:44:00.000-04:00

Yes our site has a new look. There are some problems. Such as old comments have all been erased I am working on adding them again. If you remember putting a comment please refill the comment. If you did not have a comment please add a comment so my site does not look so lonely.

Lot more changes and features to come.

Follow up: Good News I have recovered all my comments!!!

Graffiti Artist Found Guilty

2007-06-05T11:17:00.001-04:00

According to the prosecution Dudley Halls traveled from Manchester 250 miles to the Perth railway station to TAG some trains on June 12, 2005.

Even though tagging trains has become a prestigious art form by many graffiti aficionados, the Perth commuters did not see it that way. The affected train had to be removed from the tracks to be cleaned up. The train was set to be used for a busy Monday morning run.

A investagation worth of a CSI epsoide was launched. Perth Sheriff Court heard how Halls frequent website that display the work of tag artists. A camera was dumped near to Perth railway station was found to contain several pictures of the graffiti. A face mask also found near the scence of the crime contained Halls DNA. Also it was discoved that the artist is also a self-employed distributer of art-related supplies including spray paint. As the evidence rolled out Halls said he had been on a “sight-seeing” tour of Scotland with foreign friends and was effectively guilty of no more than being in the wrong place at the time.

Well you heard the evidence what do you think?

Article discovered at The Courier

Follow Up - Marco Evaristti to Paint Mont Blanc Red

2007-06-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

I recently posted a article about a artist named Marco Evaristti. The article was about how he lipoed his fat, made meatballs from his fat and served it in a reenactment of the last super. He is making news again. Apparently he is planning to climb France's Mont Blanc to paint its summit red and establish an independent state.

Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in western Europe and the paint will be biodegradable. The soveregin state will be named the "Pink State". He plans to do all this raise awareness for environmental issues. He is not releasing that date of his climb because he does not want to let the police know.

The mayor of Chamonix, Michel Charlet, said "He can't say he is defending the environment and degrading a protected site at the same time."

In 2004 Evaristti colored an iceberg off Greenland red as a "artistic protest" over nuclear waste dumped by the United States.

Follow Up - Corgi Dog Eating Artist Moving on to Mash Potatoes

2007-06-04T11:40:00.001-04:00

Last week Mark McGowan chowed down on dog meatballs made of Corgi to protest against animal cruelty. Now he is moving on to a much bigger project. He plans to bury himself in a mountain of mashed potato. He did not explain why. I have my own theories. Potatoes are constantly tortured. Their eyes are dug out. The are load into potato guns. They are mashed and served up.

I agree with him. Somebody needs to be the voice for mashed potato. Speak up. Tonight I am going to have mashed potato with gravy to add my voice to the protest.

British artist creates diamond-studded skull

2007-06-01T11:10:00.000-04:00

Damien Hirst know for things like saying once that the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States were like a work of art and later apologizing for that comment. Has created a piece called "For The Love Of God." "For the Love of God " is a platinum cast of a skull studded with over 8 thousand diamonds. According to his representatives the diamonds were ethically sourced.

The artist had hopes that the piece would be shown at the British Museum in London next to the Aztec turquoise skull which inspired it. The skull is currently on display at London's White Cube Mason's Yard. With a price tage of 74 million euro security is tight. It will be shown from June 3rd to July 7th.

When he asked what his next work would be, he said "Two diamond skeletons shagging."

Artist protest alleged animal cruelty by eating a dog!!

2007-05-31T14:15:00.000-04:00

What is with artists and eating strange things. This story is another one of those what were they thinking tales. Mark McGowan chowed down on a Corgi dog , the breed of dog Queen Elizabeth II favors as pets, to protest against the fact that Prince Philip, the queen's husband, had beaten a fox to death during a hunt.

The Corgi was minced with apple, onion and seasoning, turned into meatballs and served with salad.

McGowan said that he was not the only one to taste the meal supposedly Yoko Ono had a bite also. (Now we can hate her for more then just breaking up the Beatles.)

Buckingham Palace declined to comment, and Britain's top animal-protection charity said there was no evidence to support the claim that Prince Philip abused the fox in the first place.

Please note: Picture is not the actual dog used in the meal. However, his cuteness made the story even more sad.

Artist Makes Meatballs From HIS FAT!

2007-05-30T14:35:00.000-04:00

Do not eat dinner at Marco Evaristti house. Apparently the artist had his fat removed from his body by liposuction and the put the fat into meatballs all in the name of art.

His work has been labeled disgusting, publicity. Evaristti says he is simply trying to highlight some of the double standards he sees in the world around him.

In order for Evaristti to replicate Christ's last super he placed 13 tins of the meat on a long table. Then he invited 12 of people to join him in eating the meatballs. Yummy! Now I ask you all is this art or not?

I would like thank http://thedietpulpit.wordpress.com/ for sending me this incredible story. The actual new article can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18744748/.

Artist Joerg Immendorf dies

2007-05-29T14:36:00.000-04:00

Joerg Immendorff died on Monday. The disease ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis finally took his life. Immendorff will be missed and his oil paintings, prints and sculptures that mixed surrealism with an element of satire will be left in his memory.

I first heard about this artist in 2004 when he was fined 150,000 Euros and an 11 month suspended prison sentence. He pleaded guilty to charges related to the publicized "cocaine orgy" at a hotel. Immendorff , then terminally ill, said he only wanted to go out with a fling. He invited several prostitutes to a party in a hotel room that had quantities of alcohol and drugs were made available.

Other items I have read about this artist is when the disease made it impossible for him to paint with his left hand he switched to his right hand and when the disease made it impossible for him to paint at all he directed his assistants to paint for him from his wheelchair.

Immendorff set up a foundation in his own name to finance medical research into the condition in 1998

Picture from www.canada.com

Artist just uses ketchup and fries

2007-05-28T10:49:00.000-04:00

OK! OK! The line of what is art and what is not art is always blurry but an artist that does the entire piece in ketchup is perfect. He uses ketchup as his paint and a french fry as his paint brush. His name is Jason Baalman. He does most of his work at night. He has been buying a lot more ketchup since releasing this youtube video. He has now done work for MC Donald's and even CNN.

UPDATE: The first post was done this weekend and I will admit it was kind of weak. I did some more research on Jason Baalman and what I found is incredible. His YouTube site is amazing. It has won #50 - Most Subscribed of all time, # 2 Most Subscribed -GURUS and #4 Most Viewed of all time - Gurus

The works that he has uses crayons, chocolate and even some MS Paint. You see him working each piece and you will sit there fascinated. Make sure you do not miss this. He is also selling his work on ebay and the prices have not gone crazy YET!

Toddlers Kicks Monks Sand Art

2007-05-25T11:42:00.000-04:00

If anybody has seen this done you would know why this is so amazing. Each grain of said is carefully laid in place by monks. No glue is used and the piece that a toddler destroyed took two days to do so far. There is video greatness and mom is quick to remove the kid and run.

Did the monks go crazy and summon up some mad Kung Foo move. No they are working on fixing the art right now. They said it just means they will have to work harder.

500 Years of Women in Art

2007-05-25T11:12:00.000-04:00

From the wow and too much time on his hands column. Take a look at this video, 500 years of female portraits in Western art are morphed from one to the next in this video. Very amazing and music is perfect. I love when you gets to arround 2:17. Tell me what you think.

Artist Head was Offered to a Museum

2007-05-24T12:25:00.000-04:00

Yes that is right the artist, Ted Dewan, offered to pay to have his head shrunk and then placed in the Oxford University's Pitt Rivers Museum.

The museum already has a collection of shrunken heads (10 of them to be exact) from South America. Artist and children's writer, Ted Dewan, has told the museum that he will leave a shrunken head in his will to the museum as long as the original collection is returned. The museum has rejected the offer. This has brought up the question once again, should human remains be put on display? History Museum in London recently returned the 19th century remains of aboriginal people from Tasmania for repatriation following a lengthy campaign by community leaders. The Pitt Rivers Museum is an anthropological facility, with a collection of over 2,000 human remains (SWEET).

Bad Ink

2007-05-23T00:12:00.000-04:00

I laughed so hard at this one. I know it is not nice to laugh at others art but this one was a little permanent. I can see what the artist was trying to do but something got lost along the way. This was also in loving memory. Ouch!

ART FUSION

2007-05-22T20:30:00.000-04:00

WOW! When this video started I thought it was going to be about how tattooing is a real art form but then it exploded. The concept of having multiple artist working on one piece at the same time. What comes out is unusal and beautiful. I would love to work on any of the fusion projects.

Rembrandt's 370-year-old piece stolen within minutes.

2007-05-22T14:34:00.000-04:00

It was very quick," said gallery owner Tom Hilligoss.

In the preview room on fourth floor of the Westfield North Bridge mall near the main receptionist's desk hung Rembrandt's piece called "Adam and Eve." The etching with a estimated worth of $60,000 dollars was on consignment and was the oldest piece in the gallery. It took a ordinary looking couple less then 5 minutes to walk away with it.

The gallery has a security camera trained on its elevator, which leads to the street, but not on the back door that leads into the mall, where employees believe the couple escaped.

Famous quote: "We should have more cameras. I guess we'll have more now," Hilligoss said.

Garage Sale Painting valued at $100,000

2007-05-16T15:42:00.000-04:00

Stick this in to the most embrassing sales column. Somebody sold the painting of Lake Okanagan by E.J. Hughes for $200 dollars. It is expected to get over $100,000 dollars in auction.

Paul Martin has been searching flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales for awhile looking for art and antiques for his southern Ontario home. He had no idea of the value of his $200.00 purchase. He then began to research the artist Hughes and decided to contact Heffel Fine Auction House to arrange for the sale of the painting.

He plans to pay down his mortgage with profits of the auction.

UM . . . New Record . . . 72.8 Million for Rothko's White Centre

2007-05-16T11:49:00.000-04:00

New Record!!!! Rothko's White Centre became the most expensive post war art sold at auction! 72.8 million from somebody on the phone!!!

It was sold by 91-year-old David Rockefeller. That bought it for $8,500.00 in 1960. He made a little bit of profit on his purchase. What do you think he is doing with that profit? Mr Rockefeller, will donate the proceeds from the sale to charity. (Did i mention that i am starting a charity?)

The painting used to hang in his office when he was chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank from 1961 to 1981.

Rothko fitting the suffering artist mold was found by his assitant in 1970 on the kitchen floor with sliced open arms and later discoved he also overdosed on anti-depressants.

Art or Very Kewl Ride?

2007-05-01T16:16:00.000-04:00

An amusement park ride is used to create what is likely the world's largest spirograph. According to the comments on the video, he connected a gas generator and air compressor to buckets of paint and secured them into the seats of a Scrambler amusement park ride. Once the ride was in motion, paint sprayed out of the benches onto vinyl tarps placed underneath.

Adam Brandejs - Genpets

2006-06-14T09:59:00.000-04:00

Adam Brandejs is a 24 year old sculptor/programmer with a BFA from Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto, Canada. Adam has brought a possible dark future for humans to us now utilizing his art and technical skills. A future where the world is so desensitized about bio-engineering that people will go to store to pick living bio-engineered dolls from the shelves. He creates realistic illusion complete with a web site that had me wondering "is this for real."
According to Adam's website all work on the Genpets was done from scratch and by hand. He also says that he is not against bio-engineering he is just hesitant towards where and how and by whom the technology will be used. He hopes his art will sum that up.

BLOG EXPLOSION Contest!

2006-05-26T10:22:00.000-04:00

Blog Explosion has been good to me. So I have decided to give back. 100 point blog expolsion contest and it is simple. All you need to is find the following information on my site. The first to do so and comment it on this message wins the 100 points. Good Luck

If you do not know what blog explosion is check the link in the top right column you will not regret it.

1. The name of my only color art piece
2. The name of the software I use for my Manga Art.
3. Who is the artist living amongst us?
4. The name of the person called the human camera

Bonus question for additional 20 points
What is the name of the actor shown in my Jail City blog?

Jail City

2006-05-26T09:35:00.000-04:00

I saw a trailer to a new independent movie coming out Jail City. It looks like it is going to be awsome. I normally can not stand low budget independent movies because the acting is usally scary but this looks differnt. The acting looks great the camera work looks solid. Check out the trailer and let me know what you think.

Sad Day Indeed - Coppertone Artist Dies

2006-05-18T14:35:00.000-04:00

I am orginally from Florida and one of the images that have forever tied to memories of Florida was the Copertone Girl. There was even a animated billboard of the poor girl exposing her buns. The art was created by a very talented artist Joyce Ballantyne Brand. She passed away today at age 88.

Check out this interview with her and the girl that posed for the picture.

Tablet/LCD Monitor

2006-05-17T10:57:00.000-04:00

If everybody out there was wondering what they could get me for being such a incredible blogger, here it is Cintiq 21UX tablet.

This is one of those what took so long moments. This idea allows you interact with your favorite drawing software such as Photoshop in a natural way. It combined two tablet pc and LCD monitor into a seamless interface. As I bounced looking into this I found a few reviews that says the cusor tracking is delayed. However, when you see video below you can see that once you get used to it the tool can be quite useful.

Summary of reviews:
Pros: Excellent combination of essential technology into one concise package.
Cons: Monitor display and cursor tracking detract from experience. Monitor display and cursor tracking detract from experience.

WOW!

The Droste effect

2006-05-12T13:21:00.000-04:00

The "Droste effect" got its name from the Dutch Droste company's cocoa packaging. There is a nurse on the package holding a plate. On the plate there is exact same package causing a forever repeating image. (def. loop: see loop.)

A group of Mathematicians at the University of Leiden believe they have solved the puzzle of the Print Gallery by the famous artist M.C Esher. Even explaining the strange blank spot in the middle of the picture. They are able to show how this was all done to give the Droste effect. The web page has some incredible animations showing the effect in the picture.

To experience the dorset effect click here.

Anthony Wakaba Mutheki - "Africa's Van Gogh"

2006-05-08T22:09:00.000-04:00

It used to be that you had to die a poor and relatively unknown artist before your art would be noticed. As attractive as this business plan sounds, Anthony Wakaba Mutheki has decided to do it differnt and it does not involve death.

He used to sell his works for as little as a $1 apiece. Mutheki, a Kenyan-born artist, has become one of Africa's hottest young talents. His work has increased from $1.00 to as high as $12,000. And collectors are starting to line up. (All without ebay!)

"You can see the hallmarks of a great artist in his work," said South African art critic Alex Sudheim. "It's like Van Gogh -- Van Gogh didn't go to art school, he just had this powerful urge to create through painting and that is what Anthony does, he just does it his own way."

He developed his skill on the streets not in some art academy. After spending five years on the streets or sleeping in a shelter in South Afarica he was discovered by a gallery owner. The gallery owner was taken back by his originality and this incredible story started.

"There is a very strong energy in his pieces," said Craig Mark, who spotted Mutheki eight years ago. "His work is totally unique and the fact that he's not trained allows him to do what he wants. If he wants to stick a piece of fabric onto a canvas then paint over it then he will."

You have to check this out.

New Feature

2006-05-08T12:58:00.000-04:00

I added categories section on the right column.

Home is what you are reading now. This will include all the latest news etc.
Gallery will contain all of my drawings
Announcements - This is open to all members. If you have something you would like to announce (Gallery opening etc.)just email me (lizardsomething@yahoo.com) and I will add it to the Announcement section.

Manga Art - You can do it

2006-05-07T14:06:00.000-04:00

Fellow artist have you ever wanted to get into Magna art but did not know where to start. Recently, I have been exploring into the world of magna (the picture on this article is not mine it is from here) . I found some incredible internet tutorials by Julie Dillon, Patrick Shettlesworth and Atley also cover the basics. I also started playing with the software e frontier Manga Studio Debut 3.0 windows (or MAC). The software allows you to create your own high quality manga and comic art. Here is flash example of the software. If you have $43.99 to drop it worth it for the beginner to the pro. If $43.99 is to much and you are looking for something more free. You can always try GIMP. It does not have any of the Magna specific features but it still will be useful for the lower budget artists out there.

Banned art exhibit now moving to college campus

2006-05-06T23:23:00.000-04:00

The exhibit opened Wednesday at the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial. Brooklyn College uses the space as a gallery. Some of the works in the exhibit were sexual in nature depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box.

The exhibit has been closed by NYC park officals and is now moving to the campus.

One of the artist, Marni Kotak, said she and several others were "adamantly opposed" to moving the show to the campus and did not plan to cooperate with the transfer.

"The point of having the show at this space was that there really wasn't the right kind of space on campus to do this," Kotak said.

The students held a rally with about 50 people in front of the memorial Saturday.

I wonder if they would display the statute of David?
Comments Welcome

Get your art organized

2006-05-06T11:36:00.000-04:00

One of my art troubles is organizing all my photos and art. I need a solution that will keep track of all my photos that I collect for drawing reference and all my scanned drawings. I also need a solution to be able to touch up scanned images to fix all the damage the scan did. I also would like the solution to be tied directly into my blog and let me upload my art right from the software.

Google apparently did it again. I downloaded the free utility Picasa and have been thrilled with it. Scanned images are automatically categorized and easily retrieved. The "feeling lucky" button corrects the scan damage almost 100% of the time. Oh yeah, it is even tied directly to "Hello" image hosting. This allows me to quickly share my images and post it directly to the blog. Setup between Hello and Picasa was tricky at first but once it was done it worked perfectly.

Oh yeah did I metion the cost is right FREE! There a ton more features that I do not use like creating CDs and slideshows.

I added a link to the top right of my blog to download and check out this powerful FREE tool. Just click "Get Photo Software from GOOGLE.

Are there any other products people would like to recommend?

Picasso’s Mistress with a cat earns 95 Million

2006-05-05T09:25:00.000-04:00

Going once, Going Twice, Sold to the russian man in the back for 95 Million dollars . . . (that was reinactment reality may of different)

On May 3, 2006 Southerbys was surprised when they auctioned one of Picasso’s portraits of his mistress, "Dora Maar au Chat" ("Dora Maar with Cat") for US$95,216,000

Sorthby officals were shocked expecting to capture $40,000,000. The room was electrified as the bid climbed and climbed . The winner was a russian man that wishes not to be identified. His paddle No. 1340.

Picasso and Maar meet in January 1936. Picasso was attraacted by her beauty and her fluent spanish. The relationship lasted nearly nine years. He painted the picture in 1941.

The only other art sold for a higher price was another Picasso piece, "Garcon a la pipe," ("Boy With a Pipe"-The Young Apprentice), which sold at Sotheby’s for more than $104 million in May 2004.

Stephen Wiltshire - "Human Camera"

2006-05-04T10:19:00.000-04:00

You better smile if you around Stephen Wiltshire. He has a unique ability to recall images of what he has seen in great detail. Some of called him the "Human Camera". (Saves on film)

At age of three he was diagnosed as autistic. He had no language and he lived in his own world. After going to a special needs school, Queensmill School in London. It was notice his skill of drawing and it became apparent that he communicated with drawing.

In the film "Beautiful Minds: A Voyage into the Brain", Wiltshire buckles into a helicopter and travels over Rome (video). His incredible mind captures what he sees. He returns back and begins to draw a panoramic view of what he saw. The drawings are not exact copies. Like any good artist he adds his own style and it is impressive. When you look at the pictures on his site you can clearly see that he is an artist with a incredible memory and eye for detail.

Comments always welcome!

Ever changing canvas of Daniel Rozin

2006-05-03T21:31:00.001-04:00

Daniel Rozin is an interactive artist. What is an interactive artist? Well a interactive artist creates art the has the ability to change and respond to your presence. Sometimes even making you part of the piece. All computers used to create the pieces are carefully hidden giving you the how did he do that feel.

His web site as some incredible movies that show off this unique art form. Do not miss his trash mirror!

Enjoy a trip with Alex Grey and TOOL

2006-05-03T12:20:00.000-04:00

The new album, 10,000 days, from the band Tool came out yesterday. The art of Alex Grey featured in the new album with one catch, 3d BABY! That's right you open the album up and a pair of stereoscopic eye pieces flip out. With a little adjustments you are thrown into the 3d art of Alex Grey. The effects are solid!

Colors are crisp and you find yourself searching the 3d images for every little detail. One piece has a incredible Dorset effect that with the 3d eyes pieces puts you on a jounery into infinity with Alex Grey.

If you do not like Tool you need to find somebody that does and peer into the 3d goodness of Alex Grey. SWEET!

Alex Grey is also selling signed albums on his site or get a Unsigned Album

PUZZLING?
In addition to the art there excellent 3d photos captured by Travis Shinn. Apparently, the photos are pieces of a puzzle. The mystrey of the 10,000 days puzzle has not been solved. Comment if you have ideas on the puzzle

*** One Funny Addition Special for tool fans ***

Please add your comments!

Comics are not just for Sundays

2006-05-02T12:57:00.000-04:00

In two related articles (Article 1, article 2) sent to me it appears that comics are about to hit the main stream. In a 1990 exhibition comics were shown next to the art of Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp. The exhibition was called High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture clearly showing comics as the low.

It appears now things have changed. An exhibition titled Masters of American Comics opened simultaneously late last year at two major Los Angeles museums, the Hammer and the Museum of Contemporary Art and is scheduled to travel across the country. It features 15 artists with over 900 objects to view.

In addition the creator of Beetle Bailey, Mort Walker, is planning to open a cartoon museum. He already has collect 3 million dollars to open this new museum in the empire state building but needs 8 million. He says that is so confident that he has mortgaged his home to pay for all expenses to date. The museum is scheduled to open next year in the Empire State Building.

The hope is that comic will be seen as a major art form that in addition of being pleasing to the eye also documents history and maybe an added result will be Charles Schultz will be studied in the 100s of years to come as the Master Artist of our time.

I welcome comments.

Art Trouble News Weekly Wrap Up

2006-04-30T12:21:00.000-04:00

What is the cost of a gift?
Imagine if you were a well know artist and you tried to give an art piece to some one as a gift and they said thank you very much but handed you a bill for receiving that gift. According to a associated press article that is what happened to the artist Wyland.

Wyland has painted over 93 marine themed murals in public areas to raise awareness of environmental issues. When one of his walls was being torn down he offered to paint another piece for FREE on a wall of the Milwaukee Public Museum! This is when he was told that the county was going to charge him for painting a free mural because he makes money off t-shirts and other items. "That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Wyland told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by phone from Florida. "They want to charge me to come there and give a free mural to the county? This guy's really out of touch. This is a first."

Artists Nail Bomb Art
This is one way to get your art noticed. A 36 year old artist decided to leave five boxes with nails sticking out around London as a work of her art. Police, bomb experts and helicopters where called in. Parts of the city where closed and evacuated. It was estimated to of cost police £100,000 and delayed up to 100,000 commuters. The artist later turned herself in. An anti-terrorist source said: "This prank spread fear and anxiety among thousands. To do such a thing after last July's outrages defies belief." The woman was charged with causing a public nuisance and released on bail.

Master Artist Living Amongst Us?

2006-04-28T11:30:00.000-04:00

I belong to incredible art community ArtAnonymous. The community is 800+ strong of some really interesting and incredible people.

I recently asked the question if there was a Master artist living amongst us that would be studied for years after they were long gone. I expected to hears names of artist that are so untouchable the only way you could ever talk to them is if you had wine and cheese in your hand and were handing over thousands of dollars. I was pleasantly surprised when the answer came back Cyn and I was even more surprised when this now labeled master artist responded shyly back to the group.

If you do not know who Cyn McCurry is then you are missing out. So much emotion is displayed in her art. You feel drawn into a story line that you want to care about. I have two personal favorites "Self Portrait with Egg" and "Love/Fear" but they are all incredible and should not be missed.

I welcome comments and other suggestions for master artist amongst us.

Google in Art Trouble

2006-04-25T22:43:00.000-04:00

It was the artists Joan Miro birthday and Google changed its logo as to spell out the word "Google" in the "style" of Miro. Google has changed its logo in the past for other artists and events.

You would think that the artists family would be thrilled that one of the largest search engine decided to show off his art and did I mention if you clicked on the logo it automatically redirected to a Miro search on google. How much would you pay to have that publicity?

The Miro family and/or the Artists Rights Society which represents them had this to say: Theodore Feder, president of the ARS, "There are underlying copyrights to the works of Miro, and they are putting it up without having the rights" and asked google to remove the logo. Google removed the logo and said they did not believe the where in violation.

So here is question. Did Google violate any copyrights?

2006-04-24T03:11:00.000-04:00

The Boy

2006-04-24T03:08:00.000-04:00

Picture drawn for my Niece.

2006-04-23T00:57:00.000-04:00

The Mold
A vision of the first days as the earth was being created

2006-04-23T00:51:00.000-04:00

Two Face

A vision of how some people choose to live their life.

2006-04-14T23:09:00.000-04:00

Soul Scream

Not my poudest moment. My world was crashing in. I felt that fibers of my body where screaming. This was drawn just after he passed away. 7 months after he was diagnosed.

Soul Scream 1

2006-04-13T00:51:00.000-04:00

Bad Choices
This was also drawn as I found out that hope was false. The cancer had him and nothing we did was going to change this.

The chemo left a shell of man and prevented him from eating. This was the turn towards the end.

If anybody is every facing this horrible descission. Not fighting is sometimes choosing life.

2006-04-11T13:08:00.000-04:00

New Day
This was drawn on a plane to see my father. I discovered that he found a hostipal that was willing to try to treat him for his cancer. I remember feeling so confused between helpless and hope. I did plan this drawing but I feel it captures the emotions I was dealing with on this flight. This began a jounery of driving hours every so many days to receive chemo, radiation, and BRAIN SURGERY!

2006-03-26T22:35:00.000-05:00

The Stretch

Created 2005

This was drawn also during the period of time of watching my father fade away. I remember feeling so hopless at this point. We found out the day after christmas. Doctors said he had months left. He show no symptoms. He went to doctor not for cancer because he had slight chest discomfort. Cancer was found all over his body including the brain.

2006-03-26T22:26:00.000-05:00

Lady Fixing Hair

Created 2005

This series of drawings were created during some of hardest parts of my life. My father was slowly being ripped from me by cancer. I started drawing again to deal with the hopelessness of the situation.