I need some advice on this one. [Art nerds welcome!] =)

2

Replies

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • Morninglory81
    Morninglory81 Posts: 1,190 Member
    When I hear up in the air I think of indision or possibly the clash of two ideas fighting for dominance with no clear advantage on either side.
  • james6998
    james6998 Posts: 743 Member
    So I'm taking a survey of sorts, you could say. I am taking part in an art competition next month and I need some help with the theme. The theme is "Up & Away" which references air. I have to create a live painting on a street downtown in 6 hours that's on an 8' x 10' canvas.

    So my question is, what do you picture when you think of "air" (besides the obvious blue sky and puffy clouds)? I have a few ideas that I'm working on, but I thought it'd be interesting to see how others interpret this.

    Thanks in advance! :drinker: :heart:
    I was actually a paid artist back in my 20s honestly the first thing that came to mind when you say AIR. Tornado, could mix in some wild color make it very active scene, lots of color,. lot of action.
  • Ejourneys
    Ejourneys Posts: 1,603 Member
    Love the suggestions here.
    I first thought of the ways dancers leap. The same goes for athletes, whether it's their bodies or the objects they propel (e.g., balls, javelins).
    Then I pictured flying insects.
    Air going "up and away" could also refer to air bubbles rising to the surface of water.

    Good luck with the competition!
  • egh1974
    egh1974 Posts: 147
    I know this artist (photographer) and I think this would be super cool!

    http://www.kathrynnee.com/#!untitled/zoom/c1pw/image1prx
  • Loasaur
    Loasaur Posts: 125
    Imagine a very orange/red/pink sky with bright white clouds. Imagine that you're looking up at the sky from the ground. There's a single balloon, with a long trailing white string that pops against the orange from the sky. The balloon is light blue and shiny and in it's reflection you can see the far away ground; buildings, cars, grass, a small child with her hand in the air.
  • leslturn8
    leslturn8 Posts: 505 Member
    that scene from pocahuntus (cant spell) Where the wind taste the leaves and flies! Id do something like that or the bottom of a plane in the sky with the white streaks they leave behind.
    Or have a lady laying on a fluffy cloud with her face pleasant and a finger with a single drop of water on it looking down at the world like shes mother nature?
    Make sure you post what you did.

    OR have like two colours
    rightis red and orange supporting the sun rise and all the rays push over to the left which is blue and black from the night with the moon and moon rays with a sprinkle of stars, you could like have a vibrant cloud down the middle that separates it and put a few glows like a thunder storm and lightening. (If only I could paint, that would look awesome!)
  • spud_chick
    spud_chick Posts: 2,640 Member
    I picture fabric rippling in the wind; a flag, a hang glider's wings, parachute, a silk scarf, or if you ever saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the scene with Guy Pearce in the crazy silver lamé getup on top of the bus, zipping through the desert with the streamers gleaming against the cobalt sky.

    Of course there is a youtube clip of it:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edcXsTBvQ8A
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
    When I heard the theme my mind went to a Hot Air Balloon, but I could also easily see something like a kite or a bird working. Other ideas might be more imaginative, like a child running through a field with arms outstretched, imagining (s)he is flying. Lots of ideas.

    I'm an artist too, and even thinking about this has me imaging paintings.

    Another option would be an abstraction of any of the ideas you receive.
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
    I am also an artist (photographer) and haven't read any other posts, here's what come off the top of my head:

    That plastic bag from American Beauty, leaves in a whirlwind, kite boarders, windmills, helicopter taking off/landing (windsock), a woman's long hair blowing in the breeze, an old man losing his hat.
  • justwebby
    justwebby Posts: 13 Member
    My first thought when you mentioned air was leaves blowing in the wind... or maybe dandelion seeds... Hot Air Balloons is another good one though... good luck!
  • tlou5
    tlou5 Posts: 497 Member
    Someone in a graduation cap and gown jumping up in the air but off a cliff :happy:
  • MissRavenD
    MissRavenD Posts: 41
    http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs7/i/2005/212/d/4/Elemental_Goddess__Air_by_AutumnsGoddess.jpg

    and

    http://nyxstium.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/goddess.jpg

    Basically, I thought up an idea of basically the two images shown above.

    A woman, a GODDESS, with such graceful and flowing movements. She truly is the GODDESS of AIR.

    I love art...hope this helps. And I hope I get to see your finished work too! PICTURES!! :D
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    Living in Chicago. I always think of the cold breath that is visible when I run. This being a fitness site, perhaps a runner exhaling at the end of a run with steam basking off his shoulders and head???
  • mariamonico
    mariamonico Posts: 1
    A ballerina in flight
    Children pretending to fly
    A roller coaster with people screaming in the seats
    A surfer on a large wave
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
    I love all of these replies... you guys are awesome! :drinker:

    I'm thinking that I'm going to go the more abstracted (but recognizable) route since I only have 5-ish hours for start to finish. I'm pretty sure that someone else in the competition will do hot air balloons, I'd like to take a more unexpected route, but something that's still recognizable since it's going to be audience participation paired with a jury vote for the winner. I'd really love to do an aerial dancer in silks- the dancer reference really gets my ideas flying, I'm just nervous that I won't get it done in time. I've never done anything of this scale, the biggest canvas I've ever worked with was 7'x4' and I had 4 weeks to work on it while I was in college. So I'm trying to think of something that can have big expressive strokes but still make a recognizable object for the audience
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    I love all of these replies... you guys are awesome! :drinker:

    I'm thinking that I'm going to go the more abstracted (but recognizable) route since I only have 5-ish hours for start to finish. I'm pretty sure that someone else in the competition will do hot air balloons, I'd like to take a more unexpected route, but something that's still recognizable since it's going to be audience participation paired with a jury vote for the winner. I'd really love to do an aerial dancer in silks- the dancer reference really gets my ideas flying, I'm just nervous that I won't get it done in time. I've never done anything of this scale, the biggest canvas I've ever worked with was 7'x4' and I had 4 weeks to work on it while I was in college. So I'm trying to think of something that can have big expressive strokes but still make a recognizable object for the audience

    How about a dancer in the clouds? As if the movement of her feet are creating wind.
  • LuvDarkChocolate
    LuvDarkChocolate Posts: 145 Member
    Hot air ballons
  • Cre8veLifeR
    Cre8veLifeR Posts: 1,062 Member
    What's your style of painting? I am an artist as well :) I thought of movement, and the feeling of being very small against the vastness of space - since you like abstract and unexpected I would maybe do a small figure with lots of negative space and maybe some arrows, or reverse rain or something else going UP and out of the canvas from some clouds away from the figure to convey a sense of the smallness of humanity, conveying the feeling of how everything goes up and away and we have no say whatsoever. If this makes any sense lol. I paint from an idea and feeling I want to convey rather than a specific "thing".

    It sounds super fun and I wish you much success!
  • mank32
    mank32 Posts: 1,323 Member
    "up and away" (air theme)
    = breaking free of restrictions
    = rising above limitations
    air = mental
    a hot air balloon, done up as a lightbulb, rising through a field of fluffly clouds that resemble brains
    i am mental, so i mean everything about brains, usually :tongue:
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
    What's your style of painting? I am an artist as well :) I thought of movement, and the feeling of being very small against the vastness of space - since you like abstract and unexpected I would maybe do a small figure with lots of negative space and maybe some arrows, or reverse rain or something else going UP and out of the canvas from some clouds away from the figure to convey a sense of the smallness of humanity, conveying the feeling of how everything goes up and away and we have no say whatsoever. If this makes any sense lol. I paint from an idea and feeling I want to convey rather than a specific "thing".

    It sounds super fun and I wish you much success!

    That was actually along the lines of one of the ideas I had... I was thinking about making the entire canvas a sky background with clouds. Really focusing on making the sky detailed but still really expressive. Then towards the end add in one small bird so it looks like a really massive space on the canvas. I kind of like the idea of having the negative shapes going up the canvas from the bottom and overlapping the clouds...I like to add water to big blobs of paint and just like them drip how they want sometimes to create a really dynamic background for a painting. But then this brings in the logistics of the whole day. It's a fixed canvas. I was really hoping that I could get it laying down so that I could work on big areas at a time. But I'm going to be constricted to a ladder to get to the top and move around. So I'm not sure how I'd be able to get something to go up the canvas unless I paint every detail of it on. That's why this is such a toughy for me. I'm used to having total control of the canvas, and this one's totally out of my hands.

    My usual style is really big thick strokes and I really like working with molding paste to give my paintings depth. I like to paint on thick shapes in the paste and let them dry and then paint over it. I also like incorporating textures by doing thick dry brushing or adding things to my paint like twigs, dirt, sand, meshes, etc. So my "usual" style isn't going to work out too well seeing that I only have 5-6 hours. It has to be something that can be all done at once
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
    Also, my favorite subject matter to paint are flowers. My favorite way to do it is to zoom wayyy in a certain part of the flower and make the entire painting that part of the flower. I like to see the reactions I get from people, because most of them don't know what it is when it's staring them in the face. It usually ends up looking like a really expressive abstracted shape. When I tell people what it is, it's like the lightbulb clicks and then they totally see how it's a flower. I did an entire series this way about 2 years ago. Without reading my artist statement (which was at the END of my gallery for that reason) most people just thought they were all abstract pieces.

    Buuuut I have NO idea how I could incorporate this into the theme of "air" :indifferent:
  • silvergurl518
    silvergurl518 Posts: 4,123 Member
    totaly fascinating idea....and 8x10 live painting (cool!). when i think of air, sometimes i think of the lack of air (swimming underwater or holding one's breath) which then makes me want to gasp for air. i <3 oxygen. haha.
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
    Anyone else....? :happy:
  • tworthen79
    tworthen79 Posts: 1,173 Member
    Dandelion with the seeds blowing in the distance.
  • Angie80281
    Angie80281 Posts: 444 Member
    I've always loved the sight of my feet against the backdrop of the sky as I come into the forward upswing on a swing set. Even as a little girl, it captivated me. I'd have painted it myself by now but I have no artistic talent.
  • JTick
    JTick Posts: 2,131 Member
    A profile of a person blowing away a dandelion. :)
  • smarionette
    smarionette Posts: 260 Member
    The artist Andrew Wyeth has a beautiful series with doors and windows that make me think about the breeze.
    http://www.awyethgallery.com/andrew/pentecost_andrew_wyeth.jpg
    http://muybridgeshorse.com/wp-content/uploads/andrew-wyeth-03.jpg

    Also, as a "just throwing it out there" do you have to paint on canvas? It would be nifty to paint on something transparent.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    Deep breathing, chest rising and falling, glistening sweat...a final exhale through parched lips.

    Wait...I AM talking about exercise here....I think. lol.
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
    Some super hero used to say Up Up and Away. Maybe you can do a theme like that?

Categories