Category: BLOG

This article will break down the process of home painting made easy so you can revamp your home all on your own!

Turn on the lights, open the blinds and take a good look at those walls. It’s time to paint.

After choosing a color, or colors, the best place to start on a paint job is with supplies. Get everything you need for the whole job and lay them out – pencil, screwdriver, wall cleaner, spackle, spackle knife, latex caulk, wall patch, joint compound, interior paint primer, drop cloth, paint rollers, painter’s tape, paint brushes, paint and gloves.

Like an artist, you’ll need to start with a clean canvas – or wall. Painting over dirty walls causes the paint to chip away so it’s best to use a degreaser or prepaint cleaner to remove dirt and grease. Using a clean cloth, make circular motions and start at the bottom of the wall and work up. Be sure to wear gloves.

As you make your way across the wall, take note of the flaws – circle them. Each pock hole, indent or crack can, and should, be fixed before painting. For small holes or nicks use wall spackle and a spackle knife bigger than the area you are patching. Put the spackle on the knife, rather than squirting it directly on the wall. Press the spackle and knife hard against the wall and make one smooth stroke. Give it two coats.

Next, move on to the repair of the hairline cracks that sometimes happen in the wall joints. Any kind of latex caulk will work. The trick is getting the caulk directly on the crack and making sure that it is not too thick. Use your finger to spread and smooth the caulk evenly.

Fixing a bigger gash or hole in the wall will require a wall patch and setting compound. Fill the hole with the compound and smooth it over with the spackle knife. Apply the wall patch and use compound to smooth an area just beyond the patch. Make even strokes and blend the compound so the patch is smooth with the wall.

The patches you just made will absorb the paint and make the paint job look uneven or blotchy. To avoid that, apply one coat of primer before painting. Apply the primer with a roller for a smooth finish.

Now you are ready to paint. If your room has trim, paint that first using a small brush, this way if you get paint on the walls, no worries, you’ll be painting over it. Let the trim dry for at least 24 hours. Now, use painter’s tape and mask the trim.

Drop your cotton cloth (plastic is slippery) on the floor and prepare to paint. Use a roller to get a nice even finish. Roll the full length of the wall, and keep the open side of the roller frame toward the part of the wall already painted. If you overlap each stroke just slightly over the previous stroke, you will avoid streaks. Paint the entire wall at once, never letting the last stroke or the roller dry.

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Are you trying to learn how to paint laminate furniture? If you have laminate furniture and you are painting it for the first time then you may be completely confused as to where to start. The good news is that you’re taking the time to figure out how to paint laminate furniture the proper way instead of learning from trial and error. Many people make the mistake of thinking that if you paint laminate furniture it will not look good. The fact of the matter is that you can easily paint laminate furniture if you know what you’re doing and it WILL look good.

If your laminate furniture can easily be taken part then you should go ahead and do that. By taking your furniture apart you will be able to paint your laminate furniture much more accurately and efficiently. If you can’t take your piece of laminate furniture apart then you should at least attempt to remove the doors, shelves, and drawers.

If you haven’t already done so then you are going to need to purchase some 220 grit sandpaper. This sandpaper is relatively inexpensive and can be purchased at any local hardware store. After you’ve purchased some 220 grit sandpaper you’re going to need to sand every inch that you plan on painting. Sanding your laminate furniture will be significantly easier if you use a palm sander. If you’re on laminate painting budget then you should know that these palm sanders will run you about $30 at stores like Home Depot. You should sand your laminate furniture until you can begin to see white flecks on the furniture and the shine of the laminate furniture is completely removed. Make sure that you do not sand the plywood.

After that you are going to need to prime your pieces. There are a variety of primer brands that will work, but one of the best primers is the Zinnsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 primer. It will cost you about $9 at Lowes. After you’ve primed your once laminate furniture pieces you are going to need to put your pieces back together. Once you have put your pieces back together you can apply laminate paint onto the surface of your furniture once again. After the paint has fully dried all you need to do is sit back and relax with your newly painted furniture! Hopefully this has taught you how to get started with painting laminate furniture!

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The Leonardo Da Vinci painting Mona Lisa is arguably the most famous work of art ever created. In a way, such fame has worked to its disadvantage. We have seen it so often, in so many forms, that we barely see it at all any more.

Three Da Vinci Paintings of Women

What makes one painting an icon for centuries, recognized everywhere by everyone, while another languishes in museums and textbooks, awaiting the attention of scholars? Mona Lisa is only one of several intriguing Da Vinci paintings of women. Ginevra de Benci, painted in 1474, is a striking combination of steely self-possession and delicacy. This sulky young woman with a cast in one eye and a surly expression, has a strong, very round head, and a physical presence of absolute solidity, emphasized by the dark, prickly juniper bush behind her. Yet her skin is translucent, utterly idealized in its delicacy. If her expression weren’t so unpleasantly human, she wouldn’t seem real.

Cecelia Gallarani, painted in 1485, would seem to be Ginevra’s opposite. This Da Vinci painting shows us a woman gentle and sweet, with an oval face, delicately pointed chin, and a wistful expression that is not quite a smile. The background here is blank, solid, which throws all our attention on Cecelia’s sweet face–and the fierce-looking weasel-like animal she holds and caresses.

There is little of mystery in Ginevra. She’s not letting anyone in, but one guesses there isn’t much behind those dull eyes anyway. Cecelia would be unexceptionally sweet if it weren’t for that odd unsettling animal, which seems almost to act as her familiar. Neither one looks at us, nor does Mona Lisa, painted in 1503. But we feel she sees us. The shape of her face, the pouchiness around her eyes make her far less idealized than the other two, and she wears none of Ginevra’s transparent bodices or Cecelia’s fillet and beads. Perhaps part of the appeal of this Da Vinci painting is that Mona Lisa, painted with twenty-nine years more experience, is a woman, not a girl like the others. Ginevra looks only inward. Cecelia gazes clear-eyed at the world, prepared for whatever she might see. Mona Lisa has seen it all, and she smiles.

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Interior Painting Ideas Can be Blessed with Warm Colors

Warm colors are vibrant, bold and direct the attention of the eye. Not surprisingly, a home with too many warm colors can be confusing and overwhelming to the senses. Even so, there are plenty of interior painting ideas that make warm colors pop.

Understanding Warm Colors

Even though there may be some room for interpretation and even discussion whether the warm colors vs. cool colors model is really scientifically sound, Handprint’s Bruce MacEvoy outlines that — traditionally — warm colors include orange and red tones. Within this color family there are various shades of yellow and closely related hues.

Interior Painting Ideas

Use warm colors for interior painting projects in such a manner that they do not overwhelm the senses, especially in smaller rooms.

Bright Yellow

Painting in yellow immediately lightens up a room. That being said, there is such a thing as too much brightness; reserve bright yellow as an accent color for walls that are kept in a more muted tone of the color. Remember also that yellow will turn a few shades brighter if applied to a wall that regularly gets direct sunlight.

Brick Red

Using a brick red color is a bit like relying on a middle child as a peace maker. Even though red is most certainly one of the warm colors, painting with brick red is a compromise due to the latent brown hues that the color hides. Thus, this type of red can actually be soothing and feel welcoming rather than letting features pop. Even so, interior painting ideas that seek for a suitable counterpart to creamy greens and even gold tones can greatly benefit from some brick red.

Orange

Orange paint can be a train wreck in liquid form. Remember that on the paint samples the orange always looks great; if an entire full-sized living room is painted in this color, it can feel like living inside a fast food restaurant. Generally speaking, one accent wall in orange — preferably the one that also features the majority of windows — is enough. Balance the orange of the wall with cool-color window treatments. Moreover, it is a good idea to keep the ceiling in a neutral white tone.

Easing Your Way into Painting with Warm Colors

Interior painting ideas with warm colors may look great in the brochure but they sometimes turn out differently than anticipated. It is a good idea to inch your way to embracing warm colors by adding a few accents to a room just to gauge your tolerance for orange, red or yellow things. If you find that your eye keeps getting drawn to the items in a less than complimentary fashion, you may wish to stick with the cool color palette for just a bit longer.

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It used to be that art lovers had to go wherever the art might be in order to see it. But an online art gallery brings art to you, and allows you a far greater range of choices than you would otherwise have. If you yearn for surrealism but live in a region that specializes in clowns on black velvet, give thanks for the Internet.

An online art gallery makes art easily accessible to everyone. In the past, I have searched in city after city to find prints of particular paintings I loved, to no avail. But on the Net, if you know the title or the artist, you can find what you want in an instant. And even if you don’t know any facts about it, you can still browse in the vast art gallery of the Web until you find it.

An Online Art Gallery Brings the World to You

It’s not just reproductions of famous paintings that are available in online art galleries. You can also find art objects from around the world. You might discover an Inuit carving that you have to have, or a tribal mask from the Amazon basin.

Fortunately, when you do find something you must have, you can buy it online for less than you might expect. A virtual gallery costs very little to maintain, and the low overhead means savings can be passed on to you. So the Web not only puts more treasures before your eyes than ever before, but also makes it easier for you to own them.

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The role of American paintings in the world of art has paralleled the role of the United States in global politics. Our earliest painters, such as Copley, Gilbert Stuart and Benjamin West, were largely satellites of Britain. In the late 19th century, Whistler, Sargent and Winslow Homer shook off European influences and began to create what seemed a uniquely American art. A century later, and until the present, American paintings stopped being labeled and simply became “art.”

But American paintings didn’t truly come into their own until the rise of abstract expressionism in the early to mid-1900s. After Picasso, almost all great art was American art. Georgia O’Keefe’s flowers became abstract images in the 1930s, and she was closely followed by Pollock, Gorky and De Kooning. (Though these last two were not American born, their careers were in America.)

American Paintings Dominate Today’s Art World

In the 1960s and 70s, American paintings, like every other aspect of American life, took a great leap past previously existing boundaries. One of those boundaries, between “high art” and popular culture, was exploded by the rise of Pop art. Though Andy Warhol’s repetitive silkscreens, Roy Lichtenstein’s comic book panels and the works of minimalists and color field artists such as Frank Stella and Helen Frankenthaler may seem to have little in common, they all force the viewer to toss aside preconceptions and see differently.

Today’s American art, and indeed much of all contemporary art, seems scattered and without focus. When asked to name a famous living artist, the best that most people can come up with is Thomas Kinkade. We can only hope and wait for the next great flowering that will define the early 21st century, and it seems a fairly safe assumption that it will be American.

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Contemporary art offers a wide and exciting range of choices. From the mysterious energy of abstraction to the jewel tones of contemporary landscapes, from the purity of color field paintings to the elegance of modern portraiture, it offers something for everyone. Take some time to browse among the online galleries to see what is being offered, and you’ll be delighted at the variety you’ll find.

Whether an original work or a reproduction, a good piece of contemporary art will add immeasurably to the warmth and interest of a room or office. Vibrant colors and vigorous forms are the hallmarks of today’s art. And don’t assume that all modern art is abstract.

Contemporary Art in Traditional Genres

If you prefer a more traditional genre such as scenic art, you can still find contemporary artists who are doing landscapes, seascapes, lighthouses and country cottages. But chances are that they will be more textural than older versions, with more emphasis on color and brightness. There are also those doing extremely dramatic and emotional work in this genre.

Portraiture, too, can take on a contemporary edge. Since the time of Manet, Van Gogh and Picasso, portraiture has relied less on absolute representation and more on interpretation of the subject. Again, texture and color come to the fore, adding something to the existing canon and taking nothing away. Whatever your preferences in genre, you can find a piece of contemporary art that will crystallize for you a new way of seeing.

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Finding programs and activities for children and teens that are kid-safe and child-friendly can often be an arduous task for parents, with summer vacation right around the corner. Since most children enjoy painting, why not combine traditional painting with technology to create digital painting?

Although there are many online and offline painting programs available today, some are quite complicated while others are expensive.

Free Online Painting Programs

The following programs not only inspire creativity and artistic flair in the young artist, but are also entertaining and simple to use. The programs listed below provide a wide array of tools and cool effects that offer basic painting features as well as more advanced features, for free.

• Psykopaint – This amazing photo-painting program, in beta, combines photo editing with digital painting. The program works by taking the colors in an existing image and then painting with them. To begin, simply upload a photograph, select a brush, blend mode, background opacity and saturation level and paint. All sorts of fun and interactive tools are included on the site. A gallery and user forum is also available.
• Brushter – Touted as an “online painting machine”, Brushter is an abstract interactive painting program for all ages. Tools include 40 different brushes and options include a wide variety of different textures, colors and strokes. Special effects include blending, smudging, rippling and blurring. The auto feature creates computer generated paintings. A tutorial is also included.

• Flow – This beautiful program from the National Gallery of Art, is suitable for all ages. Flow is an animated, moving painting program children and adults are sure to enjoy. To start, select an image. Pre-made designs include flowers, geometric shapes, pets, people and homes. Once the image is selected, the fun begins. Change the speed, size, flow, path and background color of the image and watch the image move, swirl and rotate.
• PaintBox – From the National Gallery of Art, PaintBox is another entertaining painting program for children. Children will learn basic painting techniques and not even realize they are learning! To begin, select from a pre-made image or draw a personalized one. Select symmetry, brush strokes and color levels. The special effects include several fun warping options that are sure to make children of all ages smile and giggle!

Downloadable Painting Programs

• Tux Paint – Tux Paint is a wonderful painting program for children. Tools include a rubber stamper with hundreds of stamps, shape and line tools and a text tool. Just a few of the special effects included in Tux Paint are cartoon, emboss, foam, glass and chalk to blur, kaleidoscope and smudge. Sound effects can be turned on or off and finished projects can be printed and saved. Tux Paint is a free download and is compatible with Windows and Mac OS X.
• MyPaint – This free digital painting download offers basic digital painting features with a wide variety of configurable brushes. Other features include layers, charcoal and ink. A quick-start tutorial and Wiki is also available.
• Art Rage – This program is for the more advanced users. Paint and sketch with oil paint, sparkly glitter or stencils. Trace or draw freehand. Users can paint and sketch with oil paint, chalk or pencils. Fun effects include sparkly glitter, crayons, markers, rollers and stencils. Draw a masterpiece freehand or trace. Upload a personal photograph or use a pre-made design. The starter edition of Art Rage is free. The download is compatible with Mac OS X and Windows XP and Vista.
• Twisted Brush Open Studio – This feature-packed program, for the more advanced user, is loaded with all sorts of painting features including more than 5000 brushes. Other features include photo retouching, filters, masks, patterns and more! A quick start guide and a variety of helpful tutorials are also available. This download is currently compatible for Windows users only. The Open Studio is a freeware version.

The interactive painting programs listed above are sure to inspire creativity, artistic flair and entertain both young and old alike.

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Take a cyberstroll through the animal gallery of any online art source and you will be delighted at the variety of offerings. From Matisse’s goldfish to wall murals of whales, from Beatrix Potter’s Flopsy to a wolf howling on a glacier, from a kitten in a hammock to a lion on the hunt, you can find an image to suit your taste. There are several categories of pictures to be found in the animal gallery: jungle animals, farm animals, birds and fishes, forest denizens and domestics, to name just a few.

The Animal Gallery Is a Great Source for Art for Children

I’ve always believed that children can enjoy “real” art just as much as images from fairy tales and cartoons. Isn’t Durer’s gentle, observant engraving of a hare just as appropriate for a child’s room as Bugs Bunny? The term Futurism means nothing to a four-year-old, but I’ve never seen a child fail to be amused by Giacomo Balla’s Dynamism of a Little Dog on a Leash.

How lucky we are these days to have the Internet! When my son was small, I searched galleries in every city I visited to find a print of Balla’s whimsical painting, and for Paul Klee’s The Red Balloon. I never found either one. Thanks to online galleries and poster shops, however, my grandson’s room is decorated with both.

Take your child with you to visit an online animal gallery and see what tickles him or her. It may be that faux-primitive painting of a big red cow, an up close and personal photo of an ostrich or a Japanese print of a cat. It’s never too early for art.

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It might be December in Saginaw, but your home can still have a tropical ambience with the help of some palm tree paintings. Indulge your imagination and let your soul wander into a painting of a tropical sunset, a harbor in the Antilles, or a faraway isle that exists only in the mind. If one of the purposes of art is to provide an alternate reality, why not make yours paradise?

Matisse, Rousseau, Gaugin and other post-Impressionists are the first artists who come to mind when thinking of palm tree paintings. Their bold use of color and vivid, even aggressive imagery creates a jungle atmosphere that can be mysterious, even threatening, yet highly decorative. There are also more traditional tropical landscapes by Turner, Homer and Whistler.

Immense Popularity of Palm Tree Paintings

The genre of palm tree paintings is, however, dominated by lesser-known artists and commercial painters. In the past few years, there has been an absolute rage for the palm motif, in everything from bedspreads to brooches. You can find prints of palm trees in department stores and even discount stores these days, most of which are very generic and almost indistinguishable.

Don’t let that stop you, though, if the tropical landscape is what you want. Choose one that speaks to you, that creates an emotional response, and invest in the very best quality you can find. The fad will eventually pass, but if you’ve found a painting you love, its appeal will live on.

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