Janet Schlarbaum Online

Beyond the Waves

October 15th, 2008. Published under Janet Schlarbaum, Poetry. No Comments.

By Willam Wyndham Wyatt
Published by Janet Schlarbaum
Have you ever loved and lost? What a question! I barely survived such an experience once(more than once). However, it did leave a mark on my soul. But souls are tough and hardy things that live in a different time frame than people. Some say that you must suffer before you can understand the inner pain of others. I disagree. I believe that you must care enough before you can understand, if that means anything. When she went away, I had no idea that it would darken the sun a little. But, eventually, the sun brightened once more and the birds once again began to sing. I guess time really does heal all wounds. The story below is mine and true, and I survived.

If the story be told, I haven’t gone cold.

My love has just folded in.

It’s still there inside. My feelings I hide.

I just won’t let anyone in.

A love is a thing like a bird on a wing.

To live, it’s got to be free

to fly low and high, to explore the whole sky.

Then return home safe to it’s tree.

My heart has to heal, and mend a great deal

before I can look at the sun.

Before I can be again happy and free,

I must learn to laugh and have fun.

My heart knows a place that takes up no space.

A place that will render me whole.

I go there at night to visit the light

that heals me and restores my soul.

So, time’s what it takes to heal the heartbreaks

and return to the land of the living.

I’ll just have to wait, come soon or come late.

I’ll just have to be more forgiving.

Those who have dared to love know what I mean. Unfortunately, she died in a car accident a long time ago, it seems. But now I know she would have meant for me to move on and find another. Such things are surreal and have little meaning until it happens to you. Let’s hope you never know what I mean about that.

Art Mediums and Means Of Expression

October 11th, 2008. Published under Janet Schlarbaum. No Comments.

By: Jayesh Chudasama

‘What counts most is finding new ways to get the world down in paint on my own terms.’ Said Michelangelo.

Medium is not bar in art. We are already equipped with multiple art techniques and art mediums. When I talk about art; it is not limited to only watercolor painting or oil painting in terms of painting, only sketching or drawing with pencil in terms of sketch or making sculpture using stone or wood in terms of sculpture. It is more than that.

Artists use multiple methods, processes or means of expression to state their points. What would you imagine when it comes to painting? Multiple colors on canvas!! How is it to paint complete canvas with one shade without using any normal pigment or color?

There are such distinct art forms including Sand Painting, Clay or Ceramic Painting, Indian Mural art, Digital art, Fax Art, Crop Art or Coffee Painting.

Sand painting is made of sand, Clay or Ceramic Painting is made clay or ceramic, Indian Mural art is made of natural pigments and vegetable colors, crop art is made of seeds, Glass Painting and coffee painting is made of pure coffee.

Leaving canvas a side, artists also think of creating art on wall, vehicles, rock or stone, wood, bamboo or water. Mural art of Europe, Auto Art & Truck Painting in India, Bamboo art of Asia, Rock Art of Africa & Asia, Caves Paintings of Asia, Paper Art and art on wooden art such incredible art styles.

In terms of sculpture; Ice sculpture, Sand sculpture, Sculpture made out of throw away products and Megalithic Art (refers to the use of large stones as an artistic medium) are also addition to sculpture mediums.

Street Art (any art developed in public spaces) becomes nice art visit by everyone who passes from street. It defies rule of owning art by individual.

Promoting art is now no more limited to four wall closed galleries. To attract more visitors; exhibitions are now being held on plasma screen making digital show of any art. Open public show in gardens is good for sculptures and such giant work.

Tribal art such as Art of African Tribal Mask is distinct art medium to express historical saga and cultural beliefs.

Installation art is art that uses sculptural materials and other media to modify the way we experience a particular space. Materials used in contemporary installation art range from everyday and natural materials to new media such as video, sound, performance, computers and the internet.

Kite Art (a kite is a flying tethered man-made object) is famous art in Asian countries. From smaller to bigger flying objects are made to fly in sky. There is no other way to make sky beautiful then flying varieties of kits in sky.

Irrespective what medium artists use; they always try to pass their messages to the world these multiple forms of art. As Aristotle said – ‘The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.’

Original Digital Art - The Big Picture

October 10th, 2008. Published under Janet Schlarbaum, Janet Schlarbaum Articles. No Comments.

By Donovan Gauvreau
Posted by: Janet Schloarbaum
With the advancement of today’s computer technology, the world of art has been thrown into a tailspin. New and original digital art tools are being created with every passing day, and are serving to take the art world to loftier heights. Those who were only able to illustrate their artistic creations on paper with brushes are now capable of churning out their visionary works in a fraction of the time, and with much less physical effort and no mess. Photographers who used to painstakingly agonize over the correct lighting, position, and shutter speed of a photograph now merely have to snap a picture and glorify it on the computer. As much as digital advancements are being appreciated in the genres of graphic design, music, photography, and film production, they are slow to gain acceptance within the more “serious” art forms, such as drawing, painting, and sculpture. This is somewhat due to the notion that it is not the artist, but the computer doing the work. It is also argued that the image produced is infinitely reproducible, and therefore can never remain an original digital art piece.

Types of Digital Art Software

There are essentially two types of digital art software: the 2D (two-dimensional) and the 3D (three-dimensional). The 2D tools allow the user to draw on a flat surface, much like drawing on paper or on a canvas, yet the artist is using a mouse or graphic tablet instead of a pencil or paintbrush. The 3D tools allow you to create characters, architecture, landscape, objects, and special effects, and the computer takes a “photograph” of the image. There are countless painting, drawing, and design programs that artists can utilize in both 2D and 3D.

With the introduction of such original digital art software, art takes on a more organized style. These programs will organize a user’s favourite paintbrushes, papers, and effects for easy access. Some digital art software offers what is called “cloners” in their virtual brushes, which can take the exact color from a source image of a photograph and allow the user to replicate it.

Painting programs have become very realistic, and can provide the user with more than what the ordinary paintbrush can produce. They can mimic the effect of using a pallet knife, and allow the user to select different paper textures in order to experience various effects. Another widely-used digital art tool is the graphic tablet, a remarkable gadget that allows the user to draw freehand, creating interesting and unique digital art. It can even simulate the more classical effects of an oil painting or a watercolour. The resulting work can then be printed on paper or canvas. Many state-of-the-art painting programs available now will allow you to load up your paintbrush with a color that you have mixed yourself, and lay down a brushstroke that slowly dries. Users can choose to work with almost any medium, such as chalk, pencils, pastels, oils, watercolours, felt pens, and ink.

Art on the go!

Not only do digital art tools allow you to create realistic pieces of art, but they have also affected art in a profound way by making it more portable and accessible. With the prevalence of laptops in today’s society, an art studio can be carried around, thereby constantly at an artist’s fingertips.

It has enhanced art by taking it to the masses. With easy user guides and specific tools that can mimic lines, effects, and colors, original digital art masterpieces can be created by pretty much anyone, even someone with no previous background or training in art. Those who have never had the proper precision or visual acuity to create stunning oil paintings or sketches, now have the chance to craft original digital art pieces.

The introduction of digital tools has made the hobby of art less pricey. With the ongoing decrease in costs for computers, software, and websites, undertaking digital art can be less expensive than purchasing oil paints, numerous brushes, different canvases, easels, and various other art supplies.

For Better or Worse

Many in the art world will argue that digital art has nothing on the real thing; that any piece of digital art can be reproduced by someone else with the same program, and that there can never be an original digital art piece. This is an erroneous statement, as some digital artists have taken to deleting the image file of the masterpiece when it is completed, thereby rendering the piece an original. While a painting may fade, chip, or crack over time, works produced with digital printing equipment have remarkable longevity. When printed with modern digital art technology, colors can last from 60 to 100 years.

Digital Art Galleries

September 11th, 2008. Published under Janet Schlarbaum, Janet Schlarbaum Articles. No Comments.

By: Richard Romando
Digital art is a new breed of fine art. Digital artists have forged new ways to express their creativity with their computer-aided tools. Digital art galleries exhibit of artwork created with the help of computers.

There are a number of categories available in digital art such as computer-drawn art, digital painting, enhanced photography, digital photo painting, 2D and 3D digital art, techno, and algorithmic art. In addition to artwork, digital art galleries usually provide a wide selection of digital art CDs, books, periodicals, and journals.

The availability of photograph-manipulation software has increased the popularity of digital art. Mainly, there are two types of artwork: 2D and 3D graphics. The collections in digital art galleries generally include specially designed 2D and 3D graphics, motifs, drawings, digital photos, animated artworks, and specially taken photos. Digital paintings, prints, digital imaging, and mixed-media works are the other items commonly found in digital art galleries. You can view different versions of the same photos. For the creation of these different types artwork, image-editing software, various scanners, and desktop printers are used.

Digital art galleries mostly come online. They allow individuals to post their own artwork in different categories. Many online digital art galleries provide for sharing and learning art experience. Some of them offer low-cost education for individuals who are interested in learning digital art and design software. Digital art galleries also conduct exhibitions and competitions.

As the commercial illustration industry is growing with digital art technology, digital art galleries have become very popular all over the world. They assist artists and graphic designers in expressing their creativity in a short film, art piece, or photograph.

3D Digital Art

September 10th, 2008. Published under Janet Schlarbaum, Janet Schlarbaum Articles. No Comments.

By: Peter Emerson
3D digital art has certainly come a long way from its obscure beginnings. Nowadays, you find it everywhere – in print, web and television advertisements, in movies, etc. But what exactly is digital art?

The technology of 3D digital art

3D Digital art is a very young field, and more research and formal training is needed before schools can offer it as a viable study. So far, 3D digital art software has managed to create impressive 3D images, but more functionality needs to be incorporated. Software developers are continuously working to delve into the vast potential of 3D digital media.

Many digital 3D artists are involved improving the application of 3D digital software’s light and shadow effects on objects. Most 3D artists also create straight from their imagination ‘surreal’ or impossible objects. Their output is often times seen in movies and on the Internet.

3D digital imaging is a long process. When you create one 3D digital face, it can literally take months – even with the help of software such as Corel Bryce 3D, Adobe Photoshop, Curious Labs Poser, Jasc PSP and other painting programs. The technique of ‘modeling’ is particularly hard to master. It takes months and sometimes years for the best digital artists to achieve ‘broadcast quality’ looks.

Spline control is another particularly complicated area of 3D digital imaging. Before going into such advanced techniques, digital art students must be well versed in the fundamentals of LightWave 3D, as well as basic modeling skills. They should be very good at selecting and modifying points and polygons, determining framing and motion paths, basic surfacing and image mapping.

Digital Art Made Easy

September 10th, 2008. Published under Janet Schlarbaum, Janet Schlarbaum Articles. No Comments.

By: Kenneth C. Hoffman
Everybody who likes to take pictures would love to have some of them enlarged and framed for their walls. Its very presence would give you instant satisfaction and the confidence that you, do have an artistic bone in your body after all. A casual perusal of you snapshots, however, might lead you to believe that not one of these snapshots are good enough for the wall. Now, just for a moment, make believe that you could change anything you don’t like about a picture of yours and that you could match that image to the image in your mind. You can - with the help of a scanner and a photo enhancement program. Of course, if you have a digital camera, you don’t even need a scanner.

There are four basic levels of photo software. Freebee programs meant only to crop, change the color balance, and fix red eye in your pictures. A middle quality program uses a macro to change shapes, improve sharpness, and offer some filters for creating a few special effects, like crude oil paintings or black and white charcoal effects. The next step up often will cost $30.00 to $50.00, but will include all the basic tools you need to create a proud-to-display masterpiece. Micrografx (now Corel) Picture Publisher presents six sizes of paint brushes, an air brush, pastel chalks and colored pencils. You can change the size of your picture, crop it any way you want, and take advantage of dozens of filters which simulate real art textures like water color on parchment paper, palette knife paintings, etc. Turn white skies into blue skies with fleecy clouds, soften some of Grandma’s wrinkles or remove a garbage can from an otherwise perfect picture. A cloning tool permits the addition of outside elements, skin retouching, background cleaning and the filling in of empty spaces. A magic cropping knife can isolate a subject, move it onto another background and let you move the objects in your picture around at will, like decoppage, creating a whole new world of graphic manipulation.

The top of the line is Adobe Photoshop and its competitors. This program is considered professional software, costing $300 to $700. The basic tools are the same, but many more levels of manipulation are offered. The dozens of filter you used with Picture Publisher have multiplied but keep in mind that dozens of filters and effects can still be utilized by both programs through plug-in filter software. A two week course is recommended in order to learn how to use the Adobe program effectively while the Picture Publisher help boxes are considered sufficient instruction for most people.

Your finished artistic creations can be saved in computer albums against the time you need a nice graphic for decorating an article or for an artistic card. They can be put on tee shires, mugs, calendars, Holiday Cards, stationary, post cards and business cards.
Wall enlargements up to 13 x 19 are easily produce with a Hewlett Packard 1220 Deskjet printer or an Epson printer. Both are available with archival inks lasting over 60 years without fading. But the most of the enjoyment comes from the creating!