When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art.
Paul Cezanne
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Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267 – 1337), known simply as Giotto, was a Florentine painter and architect. He is now considered the first great master of the Italian Renaissance and the founder of modern European painting. Giotto’s natural and realistic style broke away from the symbolism of Byzantine art and was the catalyst that marked the start of the Renaissance.
Giotto was born in a small hamlet north of Florence. His father was a farmer and Giotto probably spent much of his youth as a shepherd. According to art historian Giorgio Vasari, the renowned Florentine artist, Cimabue, who was the last great painter in the Byzantine style, discovered the young Giotto drawing pictures of sheep on a rock. Cimabue was so impressed by the young boy’s talent that he immediately took him on as an apprentice. That story may be apocryphal but by around 1280 Giotto was working in Florence and by 1312 he was a member of the Florentine Guild of doctors and apothecaries, a guild that also included painters. He traveled to Rome with Cimabue and may well have worked on some of the master’s commissions.
Giotto signed his name to just three paintings. All other attributions to him are speculative and the unresolved controversy has raged through the art world for over a hundred years. Nevertheless, his work stands at the brink of a new age in art. He concentrated on representing human emotions, people in everyday situations, and capturing the human experience through his art.
Although he lacked the technical knowledge of perspective, he created a convincing three-dimensional pictorial space. His genius was immediately recognized by his contemporaries; he was lauded by great philosophers, writers and thinkers of his day, among them Dante and Boccaccio. Under Giotto’s leadership the old, stylized Byzantine art forms slowly disappeared from Florence, and later from other Italian cities. His freedom of expression influenced artists of the early and high Renaissance, and changed the course of European painting.
One of Giotto’s finest works is the series of frescoes painted 1304-1305 for the Scrovegni chapel in Padua, usually known as the Arena Chapel. The 37 scenes depict the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary and are considered to be one of the masterpieces of the Early Renaissance. The figures in his paintings interact, gossip, and look at each other.
From 1306 to 1311 Giotto was in Assisi where some art historians believe he painted the fresco cycle of the Life of St. Francis. Although the style of the frescoes is realistic and breaks away from the Byzantine stylization, the controversy is caused by the stylistic differences between the St. Francis and Arena Chapel frescoes. Documents that could have proved the origin of the commissions were destroyed by Napoleon’s troops when they occupied the town in the early 19th century.
Giotto received commissions from princes and high officials of the church in Florence, Naples and Rome. Most scholars agree that he painted the frescoes in the Church of the Santa Croce in Florence and although he never signed the Ognissanti Madonna altarpiece, the Florentine work is universally recognized as being by him. It is known that Giotto was in Florence from 1314-1327 and the large panel painting depicting the Virgin was painted around 1310. The face of the Virgin is so expressive that it may well have been painted using a live model.
Towards the end of his life, Giotto was assigned to build the Campanile of the Florence Cathedral. In 1334 he was named chief architect and, although the Campanile is known as “Giotto’s Tower,” it was probably not built to his design specifications.
Giotto died in January, 1337. Even his burial place is surrounded by mystery. Vasari believed he was buried in the Cathedral of Florence, while other scholars claimed he was buried in the Church of Santa Reparata. But Giotto left an artistic legacy that could not be ignored. His disciples, Bernardo Daddi and Taddeo Gaddi continued in the master’s tradition and, a century later, the artistic torch lit by Giotto was passed on to Michelangelo and Raphael, the great masters of the High Renaissance.
Giotto made a radical break from the Byzantine (abstract – anti-naturalistic) style and brought more life to art. Giotto primarily painted Christian themes depicted in cycles and is best known for his frescos in various Chapels (Arene Chapel, Florence Cathedral, Assisi, Scrovegni).
Our pattern set collection features many of his more familiar works including the Ognissanti Madonna, The Mourning of Christ, The Marriage at Cana, The Mourning of St. Francis, Crucifixion and Madonna and Child.
Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!
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It is said that the human eye can discern between 1 million and 7 million colors. Do you think you could name them all?
Most people can easily identify the 3 primary colors (red, yellow, blue), and the three secondary colors (orange, green and purple), plus white and black. It’s their many mixtures, variants, tints and shades that cause a stumbling block when it comes to identifying colors.
Because of their familiarity with pigments, artists have a slew of color names at their disposal when it comes to naming colors. (For instance, “I painted a Cerulean sky over an Ultramarine ocean, tinged with hints of Light Hansa.”) These terms may leave non-artists scratching their heads. Where do these color names originate?
As we discussed in a previous article, some artist pigments are named for the material that they are made from (cobalt blue, made from cobalt), or the place where they the pigments first came from (burnt sienna, from Sienna, Italy). Other colors are named for the person who first discovered the pigment that could be used to create the color (fuchsia, named for the German scientist Leonard Fuchs).
The complexity of color is difficult to pin down with the limitations of language – especially when one person claims to see lavender while another argues that the color is actually lilac. Aside from the necessity of naming pigments and hues for color-matching purposes, perhaps many color names are best left to the imagination, where poetic expressiveness can assign the most appropriate color name for that particular purpose and moment.
A dinosaur on wheels… a Cadillac covered in Legos… a tie-dyed school bus… if you see all of these rolling towards you, it doesn’t mean you’re stuck in a surrealistic dream – it probably means you’re watching an Art Car Parade!
An art car is a vehicle that has been transformed through the magic of paint or found objects, and a healthy dose of creativity, into a mobile objet d’art. First originating during the hippie movement of the 60s, the art car phenomenon is still alive and well today. Annual Art Car Parades take place in cities such as Houston, Minneapolis and San Francisco, and also feature prominently in festivals such as Burning Man. Houston’s annual Art Car Parade draws nearly a quarter of a million attendees, testimony to the popularity of these wacky and wonderful automobiles.
“Mutant vehicles” are the more radically-transformed cousins of art cars (as shown above). Mutant vehicles refer to cars that barely resemble our common conception of what a car should look like, because they have been transformed into whimsical mobile creations, like giant red wagons, hot dogs, monsters and even cathedrals.
Artist and non-artists alike have taken to decorating their cars. Those who don’t consider themselves “traditional” artists embellish their cars by covering them entirely with bumper stickers, pennies, Astroturf, Legos, and Barbie Dolls. Fine artists can show off their painting skills by creating detailed and elaborate murals on their cars, usually using enamel or airbrush.
For artists, an art car is an excellent way to show off your art because it becomes a mobile gallery, turning heads on the highway and in parking lots. If you have an art car or decide to transform your car into one, make the most out of the free publicity by adding a bumper sticker with your website address, or by painting your name and website URL somewhere prominent.
Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation (see more details here)
Segmation is a well organized collection of art patterns that brings to life the most recognized works of Paul Cézanne, a French post-impressionist painter. You’ll find landscapes, portraits, and still life’s of which Cézanne shows a mastery of design and an influence towards cubism. Twenty of his most famous works are included from his dark period (1861-1870), Impressionist period (1870-1878), Mature Period (1878-1890), and Final Period (1890-1905).
This set contains 20 paintable patterns.
Paul Cezanne
Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!
Be a Artist in 2 minutes with Paul Cezanne from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)
Colorful and fun Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation released (see more details here)
A number of colorful, unique, illustrations of friends and foes from Segmation. You’ll fully enjoy coloring these patterns including Santa, Cupid, Superman, Uncle Sam, tourist, bagpiper, car salesman, magician, wizard, skateboarder, warrior, chef, alien, DJ, party girl, and many, many more.
This set contains 34 paintable patterns.
Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!
Be a Artist in 2 minutes with Friends and Foes from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)
Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC released (see more details here)
We’ve created over 20 patterns from the artwork of the famous Dutch post-impressionist, Vincent van Gogh. In SegPlayPC, you’ll be able to paint the swirls and wavy lines of his innovative expressive style. This collection includes a few still life’s and self portraits, as well as some very popular images including Irises, The Starry Night, and Portrait of Dr. Gachet.
This set contains 21 paintable patterns.
Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!
Be a Artist in 2 minutes with Vincent Van Gogh from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)
Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC released (see more details here)
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 – 1851) was a controversial English landscape painter. His eccentric style matched his subjects – shipwrecks, fires, natural catastrophes, as well as natural phenomena such as sunlight, storms, rain, and fog. The significance of light to Turner resembled God’s spirit. In his later paintings he concentrated on the play of light on water and the radiances of skies and fires, almost to an Impressionistic style. Our collection of Joseph Mallord William Turner patterns includes many examples of his style including The Fighting Temeraire, The Shipwreck of the Minotaur, Snow Storm, The Grand Canal, Peace – Burial at Sea, and Rain, Steam and Speed.
This set contains 25 paintable patterns.
Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!
Be a Artist in 2 minutes with Joseph Mallord William Turner from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)
Outside The Lines 
