Why drawing needs to be a curriculum essential | Culture professionals network | Guardian Professional Drawing has seen something of a renaissance in the last twenty years in the UK. From the Campaign for Drawing to the Drawing Research Network, from the Drawing Room to the Rabley Drawing Centre, we've witnessed a proliferation of passion, effort and energy matched by increased museum exhibitions, dedicated degree courses, professors, publications and conferences. All of the above have been established in pursuit of understanding, developing and promoting drawing, and many inside and outside the sector endure to evidence drawing as both the most sophisticated means of thinking and communicating, and an activity for all. In the 1990s dedicated resources for drawing were much thinner on the ground. At Gloucestershire College of Art (now University) my team taught a structured programme that started with an intensive drawing course as the introduction to the underpinning systems and principles of visual language and painting in particular.
Good Bye Summer: Collection of the Summertime Photography Can you believe that the summer is basically over? We feel the cool breath of autumn more and more day by day. It’s a little sad that the summer has passed so quickly and cold winds are taking it away. If the summer was endless, we wouldn’t love it so much as we do. Without a doubt I can say that summer is a small life. At the long cold winter evenings, we think about summer as it’s the greatest dream. I went in search of some pictures that have perfectly captured this season. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
Bottle Cap Portrait Artist Mary Ellen Croteau was working on an artwork involving plastic bottle caps, creating tall endless strings that are strung vertically in colorful columns. She repeatedly noticed how some of the caps would fit neatly inside of one another creating new color combinations similar to the portraits of Chuck Close. Inspired, she became sidetracked and embarked on her own self portrait using the colors that “naturally” appeared in the bottle cap plastic. This work was submitted by John Mangahas as part of the Curatorial Contest of Awesomness that was held this past week on Facebook. Missed out on all the action?
50 Powerful Photos Capture Extraordinary Moments In The Wild These amazing photos show animals in a way that you’ve never seen them before. Each image serves as a reminder that we share the planet with some truly awe-inspiring creatures. John Chaney / National Geographic Ian Schofield / National Geographic Goat kids playing at 14,000 feet Simon Chandra / National Geographic Photographs from the Edge of the World Mikko Lagerstedt is a self-taught photographer based-in Finland who only started shooting back in December 2008. Since then, he has captured a number of hauntingly beautiful landscape photographs showing both stars and self-portrait silhouettes hovering over the horizon line. His latest project is simply titled “Edge”, and features “atmospheric photography” of the Finnish landscape. Lagerstedt writes, I’m a graphic designer and self-taught photographer from Finland [...]
Portrait Drawn with Ballpoint Pens Nope, not a photograph. This is an amazing portrait drawn by 29-year-old Portugal-based attorney Samuel Silva (he says art is just his “hobby”) based on a photograph by Russian photographer Kristina Tararina. Silva’s medium of choice is standard Bic ballpoint pens on paper and this particular portrait uses eight different colors, taking some 30 hours to complete. The drawing went gangbusters on Reddit last night and Silva fields a number of questions about his work over on deviantART. You can see many more of Silva’s drawings here.
Kids Crafts: Clothes Pins Mermaids Welcome back to this week’s Kids Crafts – when we made clothes pins mermaids! Clothes pins mermaids have been “yet another” craft that have been on my mind/ to do list for AGES! I was waiting for my kids to be big enough to actually have a go and make some themselves. And as our clothes pins pirates showed it is very clear quite how much Red Ted LOVES colouring clothes pins. One week Red Ted’s nursery was “doing Mermaids and MerMen” and this was my opportunity. Red Ted was hooked. I then decide to make on for our Craft Book. Materials: clothes pins, pens/ paint, funky foam, glue and glitter. Red Ted’s: Painted his Mermens’ bodies in his chosen colours. I then cut out a semi circle out of funky foam, shaped it into a fin and we glued it in place. My mermaid: I painted the fin in a blue – the same colour as the fin. Done. Pip Squeak did have a go. Join the Kids Get Crafty linky party! This linky list is now closed. I hope you liked our Clothes Pins Mermaids and that you have a go too!
Creative black and white photography by Giles McGarry "I am an IT Consultant living in rural Suffolk but spending most of my life in the city. I started out taking photos to relax and to escape the humdrum of the city – this naturally lead me to the beach where I spent hours whiling away the time shooting long exposure seascapes. However a couple of years ago I rediscovered my first love – which ironically is the city. I’d spent years working there not noticing what was around me. Since then I’ve paid much more attention to my surroundings and finding those hidden gems that most people miss. I still like to escape and I use long exposure to do this – but now its in and amongst all of that hubbub." ~ Giles McGarry For more creative black and white photography by Giles McGarry, you can visit his flickr photostream here or his website here.
Top 50 Pictures of the Day 2011 Every day at 5pm the Sifter posts the Picture of the Day. Below you will find a collection of the Sifter’s Top 50 from 2011. It’s hard to imagine the year is almost over, time seems to fly faster each successive year so it’s fun to take a moment and look back at the year that was. Healthy News and Information Some People Just Throw Plastic Bottles Away, While Others Make THIS Content From The Web:Content From The Web:Content From The Web:Content From The Web:Content From The Web: Close This content has been recommended to you by Yavli. Both Yavli and the website displaying the recommendations may receive compensation as a result of the content being clicked. View our Privacy Policy. The amount of plastic thrown away in America is 12 times higher than it was 50 years ago, ranking in at over 30 million tons a year! Instead of throwing out those bottles, why not do something creative? Vertical Garden Chandelier Broom Beautiful Mosaic From Caps Left By Hurricane Sandy Spoon Lamp Jewelry Stand Cherry Blossom Paint Stamp Parking Canopy Bouquet Lamp Christmas Tree Cute Planters Intricate Bottle Vase Durable Purse Sci-Fi Rocket Jet Pack Hanging Chandelier Lake Boat Pencil/Marker Organizers Solar Light Bulb Ottoman Seat Curtain Bottle Cap Decoration Bird Feeder Napkin Ring [H/T The Meta Picture] DIYparadigm shiftRepurposing
Commercial Photography Techniques for a Fitness Brand Commercial photographer, Dean Bradshaw, recently photographed an assortment of athletes for the 2012 Startrac ad campaign. In a short film documenting the shoot, filmmaker, Charles Thi, captures some of the equipment Bradshaw uses along with a few of his shooting techniques. The video takes viewers on a behind the scenes tour of the various sets used throughout the shoot. Being able to see how Bradshaw lit the different sets was pretty awesome, those of you who like to equipment spot will be treated to all kinds of eye candy in this one: For the photoshoot Bradshaw utilizes HDR processing techniques with excellent studio lighting to yield some pretty incredible end results: