Kicks and Colors

Shoes have some of the best color palettes. Since the beginnings of hip hop culture image has been everything, and if you're shoes were "whack" you didn't get any respect. None.

Here are three great color palette examples courtesy of SneakerFreaker.com. A slide show* of sites around inner city, downtown and Coventry in Cleveland is at the bottom. As many artists who have gotten into the shoe designing businesses are either from or familiar with the inner city, it's easy to see how sites like these in any city could have been inspiration. In fact shoe number two is even a little reminiscent of graffiti, circa 1988.

First up: Lacoste

Colors: chocolate, brown, caramel and a hint of beige.

No. 2: Nike Dunks

Colors: Plum, purple, pale yellow, black, red, aqua, white

Tres: Adidas Rainbow Wings

Colors: Black, electric pink, yellow, cool blue, green and purple.

Now for the slide show. If you've ever been to the inner city, then you'd see how coming up with various color palettes for show designs (or, any design for that matter) isn't a problem. Those artists in the inner city can step outside for instant inspiration.

*Note: slide show photos were taken by myself. If you'd like to use them, just ask!

Purple! (or violet)

You know you're a big deal when you have your own domain name...and you're a COLOR.

That's right, purple has it's own domain: www.purple.com.

On the color purple (non-spectral)/violet (spectral), Wikipedia of all places has some insightful info:

"The word 'purple' comes from the Old English word purpul which originates from the Latin purpura. This in turn is derived from the Koine Greek πορφύρα (porphyra), name of the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity from a mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail.^[5]
The first recorded use of the word 'purple' in English was in the year A.D. 975."

Purple/violet is a popular color to use as a dark hue in lieu of black. It can also be mixed with black to create a dark, rich indigo to be used in creating a night sky. It is also a valuable color in underpainting for paintings with lighter colors (yellow, beige, tan, ect...) since its complementary color is yellow.

Purple/violet is also a very versatile color due to its parent colors: red and blue. This is particularly true for purple and not violet, as violet is spectral and isn't created by any other colors. Purple can have an increased amount of red added for a warmer plum color. It can also be cooled down with extra blue. A rich purple with a balance of red and blue can have very masculine, royal connotations, whereas the much lighter lavender is often considered to be on the feminine side. As such, purple can be used in several ways in a single painting.

Here is an example of a very purple painting using a wide array of hues:

Art & Haiti

Life goes on for these Haitian artists.

Of course, supplies of any kind are limited. The article touches on this, and it certainly includes art supplies. It will be interesting to see how many possibly end up dabbling in homemade pigments. One of the biggest hurdles they will have to face will be jump starting their economy again. Haiti did not have much of an economy when the quake hit, but one can expect these works of art to be a great addition to the market. It is also a way for those outside of the country to experience the gravity of their situation.

One of the biggest positives in all of this is probably the history recording. If you've been following any sort of news concerning Haiti, just about everything is demolished. Though there are too many concerned with preserving history and culture at this point (which makes sense, they're very much still in emergency mode), for the time being paintings like these offer the vivid details of all that's happened since January 12. Haiti is a ways off from entering current events into textbooks and such down there.

As an aside, musicians in Haiti aren't fairing so well as many of them lost their instruments (info I've gotten from friends on the ground). Hopefully they will soon be playing again. Much of 2D and 3D art is influenced by and influences music.

First things first though! Rebuilding will take a while, though I'm excited to see artists get back to work.

Virtual 20 North Gallery = DOPENESS!!

Found this site by accident while looking around 13abc.com. I haven't been to an art gallery in a long time and found this one, 20 North Gallery,  in Toledo. Since everyone is not from Toledo, or even Ohio for that matter, the gallery has provided a new way to show wishful patrons what they would have seen if they'd been able to make it to the gallery. The gallery created a virtual tour of their 15th Annual Black History Month exhibit.

Now, the virtual tour can be a bit tricky to use. If this is the case for you, they also have a set of photos of the gallery. If it still doesn't work out for you there are directions to the gallery on the website. The gallery closes March 6.

The watercolor painting above was created by featured artist Aaron S. Bivens. He is a member of the Ohio Watercolor Society and the Toledo Artists Club. He has six works in the gallery. Many other works were created by area artists and students.

Corey Barksdale, Atlanta - Mural Painting

Corey Barksdale of Atlanta painted this mural using acrylic--basically super fast, as acrylic dries in a heartbeat. Check him out:



love, peace & gesso,
Bliss

Etsy and Marcus Kwame.

Etsy has much more than clothes and furniture, it has some very talented and established artists as well.

While looking at her work this guy came up. His name is Marcus Kwame Anderson and his work is amazing. Anderson is a Jamaican artist currently residing in New York.  Even without reading his bio or any photo descriptions you can easily tell one of his prime inspirations is the African Diaspora.

Here is an example of one of his prints, the original is acrylic on canvas:

Acrylic is one tough medium to deal with, which makes the piece even more amazing. Acrylic is very versatile in that it can have a consistency anywhere from thick oil paint to thinned out watercolor, but dries very quickly. It's its fast drying qualities that make it difficult to work with at times, but Kwame has obviously mastered this obstacle. This piece also makes up of various strokes and simply laying on the paint for an oil painting feel.

It's good to see an artist with Kwame's talent on Etsy. Etsy has a host of not-so-known artists on its site and would be a great place for any artist or designer to begin marketing themselves. There are also groups of artists who know one another through Etsy, but use their own organization for visibility. One such group is the EAOC, or the Etsy Artists of Color.

Be sure to look at Marcus' Etsy and professional site for more examples of his work. If you're disappointed, you may need to invest in glasses.

Say Hello To: Stephen Wiltshire

Steven Wiltshire out of England is one artist you should keep an eye on. Wiltshire has been commissioned to produce several works from memory, and he loves the challenge.

Wiltshire is selling PRINTS of his work for more than $1,000. Dude is the real deal! Most original works go for the prices he's selling his prints, which should tell you about the talent this guy has. Steven is an illustrator first and just about everything else second, but his second is still priceless as well. He captures texture and color in his colored drawings flawlessly as well.

A little background info on Stephen, courtesy of Stephen Wiltshire.co.uk:

"Stephen Wiltshire is an artist who draws and paints detailed cityscapes. He has a particular talent for drawing lifelike, accurate representations of cities, sometimes after having only observed them briefly. He was awarded an MBE for services to the art world in 2006. He studied Fine Art at City & Guilds Art College. His work is popular all over the world, and is held in a number of important collections."


Stephen was diagnosed with autism when he was three and later used drawing to help identify with the world around him. He currently has hundreds of pieces in his online gallery, as well as a host of videos and other materials about what he does. One video in particular details his amazing photographic memory capabilities. Hopefully his book "Drawings" will be back in stock soon, it's definitely something you'd want in your art book collection.

Hi there :)

Welcome to my newest blog, The Black Paint. I have a few couple few other blogs that should be appearing in my blog roll one day, lol.

Anyhoo, this blog is part of a class assignment for my online journalism course. Since this contents of this blog will be stuff that actually kinda pertains to me beyond getting an "A" in the class, I may or may not continue it come May (graduation!).

For now feel free to look around. I have more extensive info about this place in the About section above and in my profile.

Thanks for stopping by :).

Love, peace & gesso
~Bliss