Last posts on artist

Is makeup school the right choice

2010-11-01T11:31:00+01:00

Written by International makeup artist, Stylist and Fashion Journalist of 5 years, Tove Eggen.
For most of us who work in the beauty and fashion industry, it started as a hobby and an attraction from a very early age. I was only seven when I started combing my father’s hair with water and creating different partings and shapes. I never wanted to go on to become a hairdresser, though (frankly, it feels too invasive for me) but it was the change in appearance that I loved! When my sister was 13, I loved seeing how piercing blue her eyes became when I plucked her eyebrows for the first time and, when, at the age of 16, I made over my best friend for a wedding and she actually looked like one of the grown-ups.
As I was heading towards high school, and later college, I never really thought about looking for a makeup. I didn´t even realize that such a thing existed. But I was still doing all of my friends and family´s make up and dressing a bit differently. I was never extreme, but I seemed to have a different angle of interest to my looks; it wasn´t all about looking pretty for the boys, it was more than that.
When I was about to start university to study Theater Science and English, my brother met a girl who was fresh out of photography school and about to start makeup artists. She immediately became my ‘new best friend’ and I followed her through every step of her studies. She would often do her projects at our house using me as a model, and all along I would be wishing that I was the one doing the makeup. I then realized that this was not only the career for me, but the life too.
This was the opportunity I didn´t even know I was looking for! But as I broke the happy news to my family, the joy was not shared. My father didn´t believe it was a career and my mother was afraid that it was just a ‘phase’. So I started university, doing my best, but all along I knew I would start the makeup school as soon as I was done. I stayed focused and saved the money necessary to apply and, thankfully, I got in on the first try! I was so happy and as soon as I got started with my studies at the makeup school, I realized how little I actually knew about this amazing industry.
At first, I felt a bit intimidated and unsure if I could pull it off. It was only when, after 3 months of studies, I landed an assistant job for a fashion stylist, picking out all the garments she needed for a fashion spread, I understood. When I saw my very own name in print on that credit list I realized: when you work with something you love to do, you will always be the best at it because every day you will wake up and WANT to go to your makeup school, and when you are done there you will WANT to get to work.
Today my father is always the first to read my articles on how to choose a foundation, intensely studying my beauty spreads and always expressing how proud he is of me. He is not worried about makeup artistry and fashion styling being a career or not because he sees how I work in so many and varied aspects of the industry. I do makeup, I teach, I work with celebrities and models as well as private clients. I write, I travel and, most importantly of all, I feel happy and blessed every day. Now, that´s a pretty good career choice if you ask me.
About Author:
Makeup-Artist-world.com. Visit our site for more information about makeup schools in Canada or visit our blog for other related articles at http://www.makeup-artist-world.com/blog/.

Painting is Fun

2010-10-19T19:21:00+02:00

I know that I would love drawing I am skilled at it when I was a child and I love it every time my Mom bought me coloring books! I have my mind filled in with colorful imaginations and ideas which I show in my drawings and paintings. I love browsing different paintings in this site Arts. As I remember, once I painted myself like "wonderwoman"- standing with two hands up carrying a woman, the woman is my Mom. ;)

Artists should behave nice not like Kanye!

2009-09-15T14:33:00+02:00

I have seen the video where Taylor Swift just been slammed and interrupted by Kanye West. It was in VMA where she won the best female video award for her song "You belong with me", when suddenly Kanye jumped up yo the stage and grabbed the microphone from Taylor and she appeared crestfallen by the interruption and didn't got to finish the acceptance speech. And Im going to make an essay about it for my journal, but now I'm going to post it here on net.Taylor is just 19 and will turn 20 this coming December, but come to think of it that Kanye shoudln't be doing his kind of rudeness, especially that Taylor is just minor and the fact that she is a girl and Kanye should be a role model to every teenager that is a fan of him (if there is now.) To the fact that Kanye had already apologizes to Taylor and to her mom. Kanye should also be apologizing to the people about her unpleasant act in th VMA's.

Amy Winehouse Charged With Assault !

2009-03-31T10:25:14+02:00

Vespine gallery show

2008-10-18T00:04:06+02:00

So a few weeks ago Ned gets this phone call from an art gallery in Chicago, it turn out that they were looking for me for a few weeks, I usually don't answer my phone and for some reason I didn't get any of their e-mails. They wanted to give me an art show in their gallery.

This is not only my own personal dream (and art show without having to run after the gallery, but them running after me) but probably the dream every artist I know.

I couldn't bring myself to call them, but I e-mailed, Ned did, he told them I'll e-mail them and so I did.

So then, I never heard back, which made me a bit sad, but I sort of moved on. Then about 2 weeks later, they called Ned's phone again. It turned out that for some reason, again, I didn't get their e-mail. They needed the artist statement, and bio and know when I'm sending the pieces and so on.

Again, I couldn't bring myself to call, and Ned did. He's been doing all the communication for me, even e-mails, that I'm usually not so anxious about. He consulted a gallery owner that we know about prices and arrangement and what to ask and do.

It turned out that this is the only show in the year in which participant artist don't have to pay for the space. the gallery is giving me one of the most amazing gifts and opportunity I could ever wish for. Everyone around me who Ned have told to about this are so happy and helpful and wonderful about this.

Yet, I feel so scared and anxious and like I'm messing up. I've been creating a second body of work for this show, about 30 drawings in less then a week. I've written a nice enough artist statement, later improved by Ned, a gallery owner friend and Ned's dad. And yet I feel like I haven't done a thing and like I keep messing up.

Everything is so good, I just paralyzed with fear waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The show is going to be at the Vespine Gallery in Chicago on November 15. We are already planning a motorcycle trip to come to the opening!

This week has been such a crazy emotional roller coaster.

I just want to sleep (and for all my painting to sell in the show of course...)

Mick Jagger

2007-09-29T22:10:00+02:00

Mick Jagger vu par ced vernay

75 x 80

Collage papier

Vendu/Sold/Vendido

Mosaïc: Rodrigo Santoro, Steeve Mc Queen, Fidel castro, Ayrton Senna, Pedro Almodovar, Hugo Chavez, Paulo Coelho, Audrey Tautou, Francis Bacon, Piaf, Charly Parker, Diana, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Jimmy Hendrix
Portraits: John Malkovich, Le Corbusier, John Steinbeck, Clint Eastwood, Iggy Pop, Picasso, Ed Harris, Madonna, Serge Gainsbourg, Roberto Begnini, Pedro Almodovar, George Clooney, John Malkovich
Xposure: City, dock, metro, japan, ambulance, cargo...

Visitez le site officiel de Cedvernay

www.cedvernay.com

Celebrity Collage Paintings

Today

2007-09-26T16:52:56+02:00

If I would write about this day from the future I would write about it this way:

I fall in love with you that morning, you were laying on the bed, still wrapped in that sweet sleep, the sleep that's wraps around you and that you make those little noises in your sleep to try and shake off. for the first time in a week I could smell that sweet sleep smell of you, warm, like bread and hot sweat.

I fall in love with you the day before, this is not our best time, I'm sick and you are sick, we are just wrapping 2 months of being without much frame or thought for the future, taking care of the present which was overflowing with important events. We are coughing and blowing are noses and pissing with the door open, in the first 3 days of sickness I didn't even changed my cloths or underwear, sleeping in them and walking, slowly, to the bathroom or the desk. and every time I cough to loudly, or spit in the sink, I'm scared to loose the last few fragment of mysterious femininity in your eyes. I'm scared that you'll notice the wight I gained and wrinkles that were added to my face since we've married.

The apartment was a mess, dishes in the sink, ginger and lemon pieces on the chop board, a pot of soup on the stove, probably should be thrown out by now, flies circling above it, the dining table covered in papers and books, a lot of cardboard boxes. the whole studio is a mess of craft supply and paints and socks and dirty underwear. I feel in love with you that day when there were one painting half done next to the bathroom and a whole bunch of prints on the table and another painting wrapped up that I need to take to the post office and send to a show in Berlin.

I'm pushing myself, and it's hard, I want to be an artist, the other day I was feeling as if the paintings that are here are meaningless because no one gets to see them, because I don't sell them and make money out of making art, but now, looking at that packed painting, that's covered in craft paper and bubble wrap, I don't feel like sending it, I don't want to let go, not so much because I want to save the painting, but because getting it out there is both scary and worthless. I'm not going to go to that exhibition in Berlin, it will only happened in pictures and in my mind. By sending the painting out, I feel like in some strange alchemical magic, I'm turning it from an actual fact into an illusion, and idea. I can't for see it coming back or me getting a check in the mail for it. I feel like by covering it with bubble wrap and craft paper, I'm suffocating it and by sending it, I'm burring it, never to return.

All the books I've read this week are about memory and lose. About turning back time by changing the memory of things.

That morning, laying in bed with you, I thought about the day before, about your face puffy with snot and sick, unshaven, standing in the middle of the studio with a piece of toilet paper stuck up your nose, to stop the bleeding. The sink is still covered with specks of your blood. I thought about how, looking at you, a moment before, pissing and bleeding into the sink and spitting, all at the same time, made me happy and sad and excited. There were so much of your humanity in that moment, weakness and strength and self - it was just you, all you, sick and funny and loving and beautiful in your humeness.

That morning, laying in bed with you, in one of the last days of summer, the air is heavy and not, I know I will not have the luxury of laying in bed with just a t-shirt on, over the covers, all warm, almost still asleep, I though how in that moment, in that rare moments of laying in bed and stroking your sleeping back and ass and kissing your face, I was not worried, not afraid at all that you'll leave me or go away or die. I could see, quite clearly, a future in which both of us are happy and old and together, and it didn't just feel true, it felt very close, as if I could just walk through the door and get there, this different place that is the same place only in a different time. Much closer then Israel, or even the post office.

But I stayed in bed with you, and I knew beyond a doubt that I'm not touching you and kissing you because I want to make you feel better or because I'm scared that you'll leave or because I'm used to, but that I was kissing you and touching you because I wanted to, because I was in love with you.

Calming a Lively Color/Comment calmer une couleur vive

2007-07-01T15:40:00+02:00

I would like to thank both Judith Krantz and Vincent da Salva for the instruction I obtained in their studios that I partly impart below.

Now that the work on the hair is complete, work begins on the folds and draperies of the woman's clothing. And the issue is faced of how to calm down a color that appears too "bright" or lively on the canvas.

J'aimerai remercier Judith Krantz et Vincent da Salva pour la formation que j'ai obtenu dans leurs ateliers que je partage en partie ci-dessous.

Le travail sur les cheveux terminé, le chantier commence sur les plis et les drapés des vêtements de la femme. Et il faut faire face au problematique des couleurs qui apparaissent trop brillant ou vive sur la toile.

Much contemporary art is based on colors that are primaries or their derivatives: red (magenta, to be precise), yellow and blue (or cyan, to be exact) and their many combinations. These colors are bright and cheery, but if not toned down can seem hard, aggressive - which may actually be exactly what the artist is looking for, it's true.

Il y a une plus large pourcentage dans l'art contemporain qui s'appuie sur les couleurs primaires ou leur dérivatifs: rouge (magenta, pour être precis), jaune et blue (ou cyan, pour être exact) et les combinaisons multiples de ces trois. Ces couleurs sont vives et gaies, mais sans adoucissement elle pourraient sembler dures ou aggressives - ce qui peut être exactement ce que cherche l'artiste, il est vrai.

However, Old Master paintings were mostly brown because earth colors - that is natural clay pigments - were the only lightfast ones available. Found all over the earth in various shades of brown and muted shades of red, orange, yellow and green, earth colors have been on artists' palettes for more than 40,000 years.

Par contre les tableaux des anciens étaient brunâtres pour la plupart parce que les couleurs terres - c'est à dire, les pigments naturels à base d'argile - étaient les seuls disponibles qui étaient solides à la lumière. Trouvés partout dans le monde dans de différentes nuances de brun et dans des tons adoucis de rouge, orange, jaune et vert, les terres sont sur les palettes des artistes depuis plus de 40.000 ans.

The example of certain earth colors shown at right, used by Judith Krantz in her painting restoration studio, are graded by intensity - left to right, Ivory Black, Burnt Umber, Natural Umber, Red Ochre, Raw Sienna and Yellow Ochre. By continuing this scale to colors that grow closer to those we associate with light, she then adds blues (Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue) and then yellows (Lemon Yellow and Cadmium Yellow Light), to conclude with Titanium White. In this system a color is "calmed" by adding a touch of one further down the scale, or "enlivened" by adding a touch of one further up the scale.

To compare modern and early systems, to calm an orange such as a Cadmium Yellow composed from red and yellow primary colors, a tiny touch of blue will do the trick. However, the early Master would calm a Yellow Ochre too intense for his purposes by adding a touch of Natural Sienna. And it is true today that by working with this system the original color is better conserved following the modification, being simply softened without changing its nature.

L'example de certains couleurs terre montrés ci-contre, employé par Judith Krantz dans son atelier de restoration de tableaux, sont dans une echelle par intensité - de gauche à droit, noir d'Ivoire, terre d'ombre brûlée, terre d'ombre naturelle, ocre rouge, terre de sienne naturelle et ocre jaune. En continuant cette echelle de couleurs pour aller plus vers celles qu'on associe avec la lumière, elle ajoute ensuite des bleus (outremer, cobalt et cérulean) et ensuite des jaunes (citron et cadmium), pour conclure avec blanc titane. Dans ce système une couleur est "calmée" en ajoutant une touche d'une couleur en descendant l'echelle, ou la couleur est "égayée" en ajoutant une touche en montant.

Pour comparer le système "moderne" avec le système "ancien", pour calmer un orange comme jaune cadmium, comprenant du jaune et du rouge primaires, une petite touche de bleu fera l'affaire. Par contre, un Ancien calmerait un ocre jaune trop intense pour ses objectifs en ajoutant une touche de sienne naturelle. Et il est vrai qu'aujourd'hui, en travaillant avec ce système, la couleur d'origine est mieux conservée après la modification, étant simplement adoucie sans dénaturation.

In this manner I work on copying the grades of yellows and browns found in the folds of the original painting. It should be added that another advantage to working with earth pigments is that dazzling light effects can be produced by putting white with a touch of pure yellow in it next to a much darker earth, such as can be seen here.

De cette manière je travaille en copiant les nuances de jaunes et de bruns trouvés dans le tableau d'origine. Il faut ajouter q'un autre avantage au travail avec les pigments de terre, c'est que des effets de lumière éclatants peuvent être produits en mettant du blanc mélangé avec une touche de jaune pur à côté d'une terre beaucoup plus sombre, comme on peut voir dans l'example du tableau d'origine ci-contre.

In copying early paintings, however, the "base coat" of colors is later altered by the use of tinted and transparent glazes applied as a final phase before the varnish. Hence a golden-tinted layer will later alter the somewhat greenish look of the White + Yellow Ochre combination used here for the edge of the woman's yellow garment. But that would be a subject for a whole other article...

En copiant un tableau ancien, par contre, la "couche de base" de couleurs sera modifiée plus tar par l'utilisation de glacis teintés et transparentes, appliquée comme couche finale avant le vernis. Ainsi une couche dorée changera ultérieurement l'aspect assez verdâtre du mélange blanc + ocre jaune employé ici pour le bord du vêtement jaune de la femme. Mais ça serait le sujet de tout un autre article...

Les Arts George V Contemporary Art Show 2007 II

2007-06-28T18:10:00+02:00

While a small show, the Les Arts George V Contemporary Art Show 2007 had a good turnout and gave me a chance to make some interesting contacts and to have good exchanges with colleagues.

Même si l'évenement est petit, le Les Arts George V Contempoprary Art Show 2007 a eu pas mal de visiteurs et m'a donné l'occasion d'avoir de contacts intéressants et de bons échanges avec mes collègues.

I had a great many questions about the technique employed in Perceval, and many visitors told me how beautiful they found that work as well as that of The Sixth Prince, both shown here pre-show.

J'ai eu beaucoup de questions concernantes la technique utilisée pour Perceval, et beaucoup de visiteurs m'ont dit combien ils trouvaient ce travail, et le travail dans Le Sixième Prince, trés beau. Ces deux oevres sont ci-contres avant-exposition.

There was also a great deal of interest expressed in Puss in Boots (with no sale, alas!) along with compliments as to its wit, and Acteon's technique was greatly admired. In any event, I think at the next exhibition I will make a great point of putting the story of the associated myth next to each piece - people found it very illuminating!

Il y avait également beaucoup d'intérêt exprimé concernant Le Chat Botté (sans vente, hélas!) avec des compliments quant à l'esprit il exprime, et la technique d'Actéon a été beaucoup admirée. De toute façon, je crois qu'à la prochaine exposition je vais faire très attention de mettre l'histoire du mythe associé à côté de chaque oeuvre - les visiteurs trouvaient ces histoires très instructives!

A God's Eye View of the Studio/L'atelier vu par Dieu

2007-06-16T22:20:00+02:00

This photo that I have just received from a close friend was too astounding to keep to myself. Google World has thus rendered unto me an aerial photo of rue Daguerre with the artists' villa, the row of nine little buildings angling up from the lower left of the image. Atelier 3 is the third from the bottom, with the large green tree behind it. It is also possible to just barely make out the small tree just in front of it, in the little villa "alley" itself.Je viens de recevoir cette photo d'un ami proche, une photo trop étonnante pour être garder pour moi seule. Google World m'a ainsi fait parvenir une photo aérienne de la rue Daguerre avec la villa d'artistes, le range de neuf petits immeubles montant au diagonale depuis en bas et en gauche de l'image. L'Atelier 3 est le troisième depuis en bas, avec l'arbre large et bien vert derrière. Il est également possible, tout juste, de soupçonner le petit arbre juste devant, dans "l'allée" de la villa propre.Please click on the image above to zoom in.Veuillez cliquer sur l'image ci-dessus pour un zoom.

Lease signing 28 June 2007/La signature du bail le 28 juin 2007

2007-06-15T13:00:00+02:00

After much negotiation between the real estate agent, the owner and the current tenant, everyone agrees and the signature of the lease should be taking place within days for my artist's studio located at 11, rue Daguerre in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, at the corner of rue Daguerre and rue Grancey.Après maintes négotiations entre l'agent immobilier, le propriétaire et le locataire actuel, tout le monde est enfin d'accord et la signature du bail devrait avoir lieu d'ici quelques jours, pour mon atelier d'artiste situé à 11, rue Daguerre dans le XIVème arrondissement de Paris, au coin de la rue Daguerre et la rue Grancey.Number eleven rue Daguerre is wedged between a fishmonger's and a bookshop about one minute from the metro stop of Denfert-Rochereau. In the turbulence of the rue Daguerre markets, shops, cafés and restaurants, it is hard to believe that just on the other side of this door there is such a quiet artists' villa.Le numéro onze rue Daguerre est coincé entre un poissonière et un librairie, à une minute de la station de métro de Denfert-Rochereau. Avec la turbulence de la rue Daguerre et ses marchés, commerces, cafés et restaurants, il est difficile de croire que juste l'autre côté de cette porte il y a une villa d'artistes si calme. The villa consists of nine little cottage-studios in a row, and so far I have only been able to determine that there is a photographer, an architect, a restorer of early paintings, a restorer of contemporary paintings, and it would seem that I am to be the resident painter. Each independent studio consists of twenty square meters, a roof that is half glass to let in plenty of soft light even on a cloudy day, and has a little patch of garden under the front window.La villa comprend neuf petites maisonnettes-ateliers alignés, et jusqu'ici j'ai pu déterminer seulement la présence d'un photographe, un architecte, une restoratrice de tableaux anciens, un restoratrice de tableaux contemporains, et il semblerait que je serais l'artiste-peintre en résidence. Chaque atelier indépendent comprend vingt mètres carrés, avec une toiture à moitié en verre pour laisser entrer une grande quantité de lumière tamisée même quand le ciel est couvert, et il y a une petite jardinette sous la fenêtre de la façade.My studio, Studio No. 3, is shaded by a tree and offers me incredible calm to work, with only the twittering of birds and the rustling of leaves for sounds around me.Mon atelier, Atelier n° 3, est dans l'ombre d'un arbre et me donne un calme absolu pour travailler, avec seulement les petits cris d'oiseaux et le ruisellement de feuilles des arbres comme sons autour de moi.Christine, the former tenant, occupied the space for some years to organize the archives her artist friend left when she passed away. This space was the artist's studio, and we are both delighted at this transmission of Number 3 from one artist to another.Christine, l'ancien locataire, a occupé l'espace pendant quelques années pour organiser les archives son amie-artiste a laissés quand elle est décedée. Cette espace était l'atelier de l'artiste, et nous sommes toutes les deux ravies par cette transmission du Numéro 3 d'un artiste à un autre.I sign the lease on 28th June, and already have my head full of ideas and projects. The real estate agent underscored my enormous great luck by telling me that she has been handling the rentings for this villa's owner's for three decades, and this is the first time she has seen one of these studios come up for grabs in many, many years. They are so delightful and so conducive to work - and at such a fair price - that once settled in, the tenants never seek to leave. I am still giving profuse thanks to that which guided me into the real estate agent's that day. I had been looking at the option of renting a studio apartment at twice the price, and was astonished to find I was getting offered a "real" artist's studio, with calm, greenery and the wonderful location of rue Daguerre at a price I could afford...amazed colleagues wondering look at me and tell me they didn't think opportunities like this still existed...!Je signe le bail le 28 juin, et j'ai la tête déjà remplie d'idées et de projets. L'agent immobilier m'a souligné combien que j'ai de la chance en me disant que ça fait trois décennies qu'elle gère les locations pour le propriétaire de cette villa, et ceci est la première fois depuis plusieurs années qu'elle a vu un de ces ateliers devenir disponible. Ces espaces sont si charmantes, si bien pour travailler - et à un prix si intéressant - qu'une fois installés, les locataires ne cherchent jamais à partir. Je donne toujours des remerciements du fond de mon coeur pour avoir été guidé vers l'agence immobilier de jour-là. J'avais regardé la possibilité de louer un appartement studio à deux fois le prix, et j'étais bouleversée de me trouver avec un offre d'un "vrai" atelier d'artiste, avec calme, verdure et situé merveuilleusement dans la rue Daguerre au prix que je pouvais payer...des collèges sous le choc me regardent et me disent qu'ils ne pensaient pas qu'il y existaient encore des occasions comme ça...!

Painting Hair: Optical vs Physical/La peinture des cheveux: l'optique contre le physique

2007-06-10T20:55:00+02:00

To paint the hair in this portrait by Suvée shown to the left, a first question has to be asked as to what the basic color is, and what is the other color(s) to be added to tint it. In other words, to paint a sky, is it a white background tinted with blue, or a blue background tinted with white?

Since for the most part early painters started with the darker colors and built up increasingly pale layers to finish with the white to grab the light, it is often a dark base color that will be tinted with a paler one. Here, a Burnt Umber background is tinted with Red Ochre for the reddish tints, RawSienna to calm the reddishness a bit, and traces of Titanium White to create the highlights.

Pour peindre les cheveux dans ce portrait par Suvée ci-contre gauche, une première question doit être poser concernant ce que c'est la couleur de base, et quelle couleur doit être ajouter pour la nuancer. Autrement dit, pour peindre un ciel, est-ce que c'est un fond blanc teinté avec du bleu, ou un fond bleu teinté avec du blanc?

Puisque pour la plupart les anciens commencaient avec les couleurs plus sombres pour les ombres et ajoutaient des couches plus pâles pour terminer avec le blanc pour accrocher la lumière, il s'agit souvent d'une couleur de base sombre qui va être teinté avec une couleur plus pâle. Ici, un fond de terre d'ombre brûlé est teinté avec de l'ochre rouge pour les teints rougâtre, du Sienne naturel pour calmer le rouge un peu, et des traces de blanc de titane pour créer les lumières.

In this sample to the right the colors are not mixed on the palette, but directly on the canvas, with the advantage of maintaining the paints clean and pure, and producing an optical mix of colors (the eye combines the reds and browns and yellows to read "auburn" hair) rather than a physical mix of colors (the paintbrush combines the reds and browns and yellows to manufacture "auburn color"). The optical mix, which is what the Impressionists exploited to such success, produces vibration and movement; the physical mix is flat color and does not have the same life to it.

This is why the touch of the brush is such a delicate proceeding. A touch that is light and on the surface of the preceding layers of paint produces an optical mix. Too strenuous and/or too repetitive a touch deadens the colors and ends in a physical mix.

Dans l'exemple ci-contre droit, les couleurs ne sont pas mélangées sur la palette, mais directement sur la toile, avec l'avantage que les couleurs restent propres et pures. En plus, un mélange optique des couleurs est obtenu (les rouges et les bruns et les jaunes sont mélangés pour que l'oeil lit "cheveux roux") au lieu d'un mélange physique des couleurs (les rouges et les bruns et les jaunes sont mélangés par le pinceau pour fabriquer "couleur cheveux roux"). Le mélange optique, que les Impressionistes ont exploité avec un tel succès, produit de la vibration et du mouvement; le mélange physique est de la couleur plate et ne possède la même vie.

C'est pourquoi la gestualité avec le pinceau est tellement délicate. Une touche qui est légère et sur la surface des couches précédentes de peinture produit un mélange optique. Une touche trop forte et/ou trop répétitive tue les couleurs et finit par produire un mélange physique.

The Background's Subtlety/La subtilité du fond

2007-05-29T23:45:00+02:00

At first glance this graceful woman seems to have a simple grey background behind her enlivened by only a fall of light to the right. Yet Suvée's work proves to be much more complex on closer examination.

Au premier regard cette femme gracieuse semblerait avoir un fond simple et gris derrière elle, rendu vivant seulement par la lumière qui tombe au droit du tableau. Mais le travail de Suvée se révèle beaucoup plus complexe quand il est regardé de plus près.

In this section near the woman's chignon, he achieved subtle variations in light and dark across even this small portion of background by tapping and integrating small amounts of black paint into a mass of white paint to give a discreet impression of vibration, of movement, to give life to this "empty" space.

Dans cette section près du chignon de la femme, he a réalisé de subtiles variations de lumière et d'ombre d'une part à d'autre dans même cette petite portion, en tapotant et intégrant de petites quantités de peinture noire dans une masse de peinture blanche pour créer une discrète impression de mouvement, de vibration, pour donner de la vie à cette espace "vide".

But that is not all. Color is used to create movement as well. In all the background, although it is more visible here in the brightly lit portion near the woman's profile, Suvée also varied with traces of Red Ochre - a rich brick red - and Raw Sienna - a tawny pale brown. These colors are considered "warm" and create visual energy; the neutral grey produced by the black and white mixture is "cool" and calm. The variations between warm and cool, color and non-color, light values and dark values, combine to create a shimmering background that sets this painting aglow.

Mais ce n'est pas tout. La couleur est également utilisée pour créer du mouvement. Partout dans le fond, même si c'est plus visible ici dans cette portion lumineuse près du profile de la femme, Suvée a varié avec des traces de l'ochre rouge - un rouge riche, la couleur des briques - et sienne naturelle - un brun d'un caramel pâle. Ces couleurs sont considérées "chaudes" et elles créent une énergie visuelle. Le gris neutre produit par le mélange de noir et blanc est "froid" et calme. Les variation entre chaud et froid, couleur et non-couleur, les valeurs de lumières et d'ombre, travaillent ensemble pour créer un fond chatoyant qui illumine ce tableau.

Blocking it out/Mise aux carreaux

2007-05-25T16:40:00+02:00

I wish to thank Judith Krantz and Vincent da Salva for what I learned in their art studios, part of which training I share below.

Je souhaite remercier Judith Krantz et Vincent da Salva pour ce que j'ai appris dans leurs ateliers, dont je partage une partie ci-dessous.

The original work is attributed to Joseph-Benoît Suvée (Bruges 1743 - Rome 1807), and is known simply as "Woman's Head". Painted in oil on canvas, it measures 45.4 x 37.5 cm and is part of a private collection.

L'oeuvre originelle est attribué à Jospeh-Benoît Suvée (Bruges 1743 - Rome 1807). Connue simplement sous le nom "Tête de femme", elle est peinte à l'huile sur toile, elle mesure 45,5 x 37,5 cm, et elle fait partie d'une collection privée.

Work begins by first painting the canvas a light grey color, and then superposing a clear sheet of plastic marked off with boxes on the original (left). Working just like a child copying a picture of Donald Duck, I see where the image's lines fall in the boxes to copy them in the similar boxes I have drawn on the canvas with charcoal - pencil would "bleed through" the later layer of paint.

Le travail commence d'abord en peignant la toile en gris pâle, avec ensuite la superposition d'une feuille transparente en plastique quadrillé pour faire une grille de lignes (voir ci-contre, gauche). Tout comme l'enfant qui copie l'image de Donald, je vois où se trouve les traits dans les cases pour les copier dans les cases j'ai tiré sur le toile avec un fusain - du crayon "reviendrait" à travers la couche ultérieure de peinture.

In this cartoon by François-André Vincent, "The Labouring Lesson" from 1795, one can see clearly how this is done.

Dans ce carton par François-André Vincent, "La leçon de labourage" de 1795, on peut voir clairement comment ça se fait.

Once the drawing is done, the next step is to begin painting in the values - that is the lights and shadows - to create a monochrome painting, by using an earth pigment, here Burnt Umber.

Une fois le dessin complété, la prochaine étape, c'est de peindre pour obtenir les valeurs - c'est à dire, les lumières et les ombres - ce qui produit un tableau monochrome, tout en utilisant un pigment terre, ici terre d'ombre brûlé.

Jean Cocteau

2007-03-27T21:40:00+02:00

Jean Cocteau vu par Ced Vernay

Collages papier

100 x 90

Mosaïc: Rodrigo Santoro, Steeve Mc Queen, Fidel castro, Ayrton Senna, Pedro Almodovar, Hugo Chavez, Paulo Coelho, Audrey Tautou, Francis Bacon, Piaf, Charly Parker, Diana, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso
Portraits: John Malkovich, Le Corbusier, John Steinbeck, Clint Eastwood, Iggy Pop, Picasso, Ed Harris, Madonna, Serge Gainsbourg, Roberto Begnini, Pedro Almodovar, George Clooney, John Malkovich
Xposure: City, dock, metro, japan, ambulance, cargo...

Details:

Ice storm

2007-02-14T00:22:56+01:00

It's so cold today, beautiful, but cold, and more, you can feel a storm coming, the air feels like sucking on a pepper mint. the weather website said there might be an ice storm tomorrow. I'm excited but scared, I've never seen one before. I think I hate the anticipation of waiting for a storm even more then I hate the storm itself.

Ned's sleeping, I'm trying to get myself to do something, anything really. I started cutting pages for a book yesterday, so I finish that, but before starting on the sawing and binding I pick up a small block printing book plate I started and work on that a little bit, then I go to the computer and read the 2 swaps I can already send out, one of a self portrait and the other of any hand made item, I can do that now but not quite feel like doing either, then there's some magazine who's excepting submission, but I need Ned to wake up and print some image for me to do that. I actually feel like doing nothing, but that just make me feel bad about myself, and there's the flash movie I started a few days ago and there's the website I haven't worked on in ages, and the other website and a letter to write, fuck it, and that drawing I started 3 weeks ago and a few found objects I can start on.

I got an e-mail this morning, from a fetish art site which I signed up for about a year ago and forgot all about it. They made me "featured artist" which means a small box with my name and art work will be on the homepage of their site for the next 6 months. I should be happy about it, but I'm not, I feel like I don't deserve it. Even writing about this here makes me feel like I'm bragging or pushing myself in someone's face too much. I remember a few exhibition I was in with the illustrator society in Israel and how I never told the people in the office about it or anyone aside of my parents really, how being in something like that felt as if I'm doing something wrong. receiving and honor I'm not entitled to.

Yesterday, we mat his parent for brunch, it was hard, his dad were talking a little more openly about the cancer. It somehow went between the lines of other conversation, we were talking about headphones for the iPod he has and then he mentioned that the DR. in the hospital suggested he get a new pair if he's going ot bring the iPod to his next chemo treatment, cause the sponge in the the headphones he's using now might have a lot of germs in it. Then he said of how the iPod was being a lot of help cause laying down for 8 hours, being all tired and groggy from the treatment, he wasn't feeling up to reading and it was nice to listen to music. We talked on other things then, funny stories from the park, funny stories from the past.

A few hours later, we went to the computer store. We were talking about getting another screen and a wacom for my computer. And then we just went and did it, I don't think I ever spend or had so much money spent on making my computer work better. On the way home, on the train, I felt like I should feel happy, excited, grateful, but what I really felt was stressed, pressured, scared.

I'm not doing too bad, I'm learning new programs, I contacted an online gallery that might show and sell my work next month, Ned and I might have our design on a tee shirt for some fashion company, and now this Retro kitten thing. I'm doing pretty good, I think. But somehow that just scare me, not being quite out of the game by doing nothing and not being quite in the game, or rather a head of the game - I feel like I'm tailing in the back. I feel more of a looser now then I have in a while, and I feel like that cause things are actually going well.

I'm so scared of taking any space in the world.

The Bacon

2006-12-10T05:00:56+01:00

As I'm going out of the apartment yesterday, zipping down the new huge coat cause it's really freezing outside, my phone rings, I'm not used to it ringing, it almost never does, not on Friday evening anyway, for a second I think it might be someone who would want to come to movie night and is being late, but they usually not call me for that. The rest of the group, him and 3 more friends are already going down the stairs, on the way to a restaurant, realizing we are all hungry. I don't recognize the number on the screen, and I answer with my American Hello, which is a calmer nicer version of the Israeli "Hallo?!" I'm hearing hebrew from the other side of the line, it takes me a sentence or two to recognize the voice on the other side, a friend from Israel, it's a nice surprise, he's telling me about quitting work today cause there's not enough time in his schedule for both school and work and how he felt like he needs to concentrate more on school then on work. He's asking me about what I'm doing tonight and I tell him about going out to eat and then going back to the apartment to watch a movie, I'm telling him about the New York weather and how it got so cold all of a sudden.And then he asks the big one, the big question that's pecking in my brain all the time, the one that somehow is underneath all the other "how are you doing?" questions or at least, that's how it feels to me. He asks about work, he asks about if I know what I want to do already. And somehow, that kicks me right in the soft belly. I tell him the truth, that I don't really know, that I love making art as much as I can right now, but that no, I haven't really taken it into any galleries or done anything with that. I really feel like after being honest about it, he should have the grace to leave me alone with it. But he doesn't, he say "you have an amazing privilege now, being in New York, where all the culture is, you should make a book and sell it, it'll be amazing" And I try to explain that it's not as easy as he make it sound, and then, mostly out of anger I tell him that today with the internet he could do the same, he could make a book and send it to publishers over here and it's not different then me at all, and he say that he can't cause he's busy with school and I get close to the restaurant and we end up the conversation.I don't think he realize that his words hurt me, I think that as usual he wanted to be nice and his niceness often takes the shape of advice and that his advice, being that he doesn't really understand much about the graphic design market or the art scene often make me feels like every thing's supposed to be much easier then I think it is and how strange it is that I'm not an international success already and that this is all my fault. And hell, I can't argue with that, cause the truth is that ever since I got here, I didn't fail anything, and the only reason for that is that I didn't really try.We sit at the restaurant, and we all talk, and someone ask me how I'm doing, and I talk about dealing with the emotions that marriage brought up, and that I've been making a lot of art as a result. But I feel like in those words I apologies, that I'm talking about feeling just to mask the fact that I can't, like everyone else at the table, talk about work. At night, I sleep for over 12 hours, dreaming about abortions, and hospitals and pets I didn't want and a lot of those things, and I wake up in such a foul mood, looking at my watch, it's over 3:00 PM, which makes me feel even worst. I did so much stuff this week, I went figure drawing 3 times, I wrote a blog entry, I was working on a website, learning the program slowly from the book, I went to an exhibition opening I had a piece in, I wrote 2 letters, cooked a bunch of meals, finished a sketchbook drawing and started a new one, finished an audio book, found my way to a friend's apartment on my own and realize I'm no longer scared about getting lost in New York - and yet I feel like such a slacker, like I haven't done anything. "Get a life, get a life, get a life" Some evil part of my brain is telling me, and I remind myself that a while ago, someone commented that in my blog and I thought about the fact that I was having quite a respectable amount of life, and that usually when people say "get a life" then just mean "get a better paying job so you don't have the time to think so much" and then that evil part of my mind starts again "Get a job, get a job, get a job" and I remind that part of my brain that I already got a job, that I'm an artist and that this past month been very productive, that I made more art in it then I probably did in any other part of my life, and then it changes it's tune again and say "get paid, make money, get paid" and I can't really argue with that.I left work almost 5 months ago to come to New York, I've been here for the past 4 and a half month. I expected to be working by now, to be productive. "No" I remind myself again "You are productive, you are just not making money" but that sounds lame to me today. I should have been acclimated already, I should have been a tax paying-productive-member of society instead of go on living on my husband expense. I feel lazy, guilty, I feel like a leach. I don't like feeling this way. And it's weird how something small as putting a financial value on what I do anyway for free - making art, making illustrations, something technical as putting money in a bank account, would right now give me a whole meaning to life.I hate talking about money, I remember that this is where my therapy stopped, ages ago, with me and my therapist starting to approach the whole issue of money, and then, me stopping the therapy cause I felt emotionally strain by having a session with her and a couple therapy session as well, and I wonder if part of the reason I stopped was also cause I know I would have to deal with money now and I was too scared to do that. I hate thinking about money, I hate making it, I don't even like spending it that much, but I do miss the sense of security that a study income provides, and I do miss the sense of accomplishment of an art piece or an illustration being paid for gives me. I miss it without ever having it before. Somedays I feel as if I work for flickr, like putting up images and people responding to it is the way I get paid - by compliments or praises. like that artistic interaction is similar to the satisfaction of a client or my boss at the old office. I really don't know what to do about it now "Get an agent" a practical part of my mind say" and then I answer "Maybe I need a better website before I do that" or "A better portfolio" or "just make a PDF file and e-mail it" or "f you are doing then then better just make a CD and give it to galleries so you can be an artist and not settle for illustration" and the plan just falls cause there are too many things to do and I don't know what's the right answer is. And it all go back to having a better starting point, but then I realize that it's not even a better starting point but a better me that I'm looking for, that I don't see myself as being good enough for anything right now. And then my mind just go back to "get a life, get a life, get a life".

Dock

2006-11-16T17:20:00+01:00

Dock
Format 90 x 100
Huile sur toile

Sold/Vendido/Vendu

Mosaïc: Rodrigo Santoro, Steeve Mc Queen, Fidel castro, Ayrton Senna, Pedro Almodovar, Hugo Chavez, Paulo Coelho, Audrey Tautou, Francis Bacon, Piaf, Charly Parker, Diana, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
Portraits: John Malkovich, Le Corbusier, John Steinbeck, Clint Eastwood, Iggy Pop, Picasso, Ed Harris, Madonna, Serge Gainsbourg, Roberto Begnini, Pedro Almodovar, George Clooney, John Malkovich
Xposure: City, dock, metro, japan, ambulance, cargo...