parents and offspring

Thought behind the thought
Parents are the reason why we are here on this earth. But we take them so much for granted! The things they have done for us all their lives, the unconditional love they have showered on us, we all realise it. The only mistake we probably make is we don't remember it too often! And don't express it either!
But when it comes to our children, we expect them to have regard for us and show it too, through their words and actions. Strange are the workings of the human mind!

About the Art
Portrait painting is a very challenging art because apart from the obvious physical characteristics, one has to catch and portray the mental make up of a person for the painting to come alive.

Here are some beautiful portraits of their parents drawn by various artists.

Pierre Denis and his Parents, Oil on Canvas

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/pierre-denis-and-his-parents-181445

 Raphael Soyer, Oil on Canvas

Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/482007

David Wilkie, Oil on panel

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-artists-parents-the-reverend-david-wilkie-17381812-an210860

David Hockney, Oil on canvas

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/my-parents-199286

Paul Rhys Bowen, Oil on canvas

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/two-parents-178232

Lubaina Himid, Acrylic and mixed media on Canvas

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/my-parents-their-children-34289

negative thoughts

Thought Behind the thought:

Few days ago I was reading ‘The Princess and the Pea’ story to my little niece who was visiting us. The story revolves around a girl who comes into a palace claiming to be a true princess and is put to test by the prince’s mother who makes her sleep on twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds with a pea hidden under the mattress in the bottom. True princess that she is, she is in discomfort the whole night and gets up bruised and tired. Well we too test our patience everyday by taking things like work, troubles and negative thoughts to bed. No wonder we are constantly battered and bruised by these thorns and nails that we sleep on. These dark thoughts get into our minds and prevent us from working productively. Negativity brings only pain to life, stifling even the minutest pleasures out of it.

About the Art: 

Kumi Yamashita is a Japanese artist who works in New York and does amazing work using nails and thread. Remember how we were given these little projects in school to wind thread around a bunch of nails and come up with patterns. Kumi Yamashita takes that exercise to another level. She makes these outstanding portraits with nails and thread. A lot of consideration needs to be given to the density and spacing of the nails. The entire shading of the portraits is controlled by the number of times thread is wound around the nails. Obviously her art needs careful planning, execution, vision and most importantly infinite patience.

food

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian painter best known for creating ingenious portraits made completely out of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books. From a far, his portraits look like normal human portraits. However on close examination it can clearly be seen how individual objects are actually overlapped together to make various anatomical shapes of a human. They are carefully constructed entirely by his imagination. The method is such that there is no randomness in picking objects. Objects are methodically classified and used as per the subject of the painting. In the portrait called the The Librarian, he has used objects that signified the book culture at that time or in the painting Water sea creatures are used. By using everyday objects he managed to merge the portraits with still-life paintings. His works showed the close association and resemblance of human beings and nature.

Credits: information and photos

http://www.giuseppe-arcimboldo.org/

negative spaces

The stencil artist Kris Trappeniers coming from Belgium, creates intricate portraits using only a scalpel and a single piece of paper. Initially, he creates loose portraits on paper and then he cuts each paper-cut by hand with an X-acto. When this stage is done he uses spray to paint them. The use of various line weights and the mixture of positive and negative space are the main elements of his art creating really vivacious images. Delicate, complex and really impressive in detail. His work of art is truly beyond imagination and drives human potential to a new level.