Category Archives: Snow

Color Icicles without Going Outside

Color Icicles without going outsideWinter is quickly approaching. Some appreciate this season but most people seem to dread cold weather. With blustering temperatures, leaving the house is hard and developing “cabin fever” is likely. To ward off such an effect, it is important to remain creative.

Fun, artistic activities are great for cold weather. If snow skiing and sledding don’t sound appealing, making a snowman ought to be enjoyable. Or, try this cold weather craft: color icicles.

The best news about coloring icicles is that this activity can be done outside or inside. Segmation SegPlay PC offers a variety of icicle pattern sets. This program can be played in the comfort of a warm home.

Another option is to bundle up, go outside, and dye actual icicles. Here is how it’s done:

Coloring Icicles

Icicles reflect the world around them. As weather causes snow to fall, melt, and freeze, icicles form. Sometimes, even when snow is all gone, icicles stick around to remind everyone that winter is still in the air.

These natural creations beautifully reflect the world around them. But there is a way to make them even more special. Once icicles form, color them with food dye.

The blog slowwatermovement.com shows readers the fascinating process of coloring icicles.  According to this blog, food dye can be applied to the top of an icicle and move throughout the piece of hanging ice – even in its frozen state.

Watch it work:

How is it Possible to Color Icicles?

As the blog name suggest, this author is fascinated by the movement of water. Upon purchasing food dye, the blogger went in search of moving water in unlikely places. When discovering the food coloring moves throughout icicles, the author credited it to diffusion.

Diffusion is a natural transport phenomenon. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, diffusion is “the process whereby particles of liquids, gases, or solids intermingle as the result of their spontaneous movement caused by thermal agitation and in dissolved substances move from a region of higher to one of lower concentration.”

Using this definition, it becomes clear to see why a highly concentrated liquid, like food coloring, would slowly color the water molecules that exist inside an icicle.

This is a great art project to try in the cold of winter. Although, when it’s too chilly to step outside, consider coloring icicles while curled up in a blanket. The only paint-by-numbers software has icicle patterns that need to be colored. Click here to view Segmation’s variety of icicle pattern sets.

Read more Segmation blog posts about Cold Weather Art Activities:

Create Beautiful Wintertime Memories by Building a Snowman

Icicles

Knitting Is More than an Art, It Is a Cause

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Create Beautiful Wintertime Memories by Building a Snowman

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2013 is finally upon us, and accompanying it is the harsh reality of winter. Freezing temperatures, frosty car windows, and chilly houses are all aspects of wintertime. Despite its troubles, winter is a favored time of year. After all, there is much good that can be done with snow, the plentiful resource that winter provides us with. Just one of the many wintertime activities that can be enjoyed when snow is abundant is traditional snowman making.

Making the perfect snowman ranks high on the list of pleasurable winter activities and is perhaps equal to none. How can one make the “perfect” snowman? It’s easier than you might think. Here are just a few tips and tricks for building a memorable, snowy friend:

1. Find your snow — First, you will want to find the right type of snow. The snow you want will be fluffy, not too watery, and at least a couple inches deep. Make sure that the snow packs together fairly easily.

2. Locate a building area — Find a relatively flat area on which to build your snowman.

3. Begin building – Build your snowman by shaping the base mound of snow into a large ball. You can accomplish this by shaping a smaller snow ball with your hands and then rolling it along the snow-covered ground, which will cause it to enlarge. Top that with another ball of snow that’s a bit smaller. Finally, add an even smaller ball of snow to the very top (this will serve as the head).

4. Decorate – After your snowman is built, complete it by adding a carrot nose, a couple of lumps of coal for eyes, and a row of buttons or pebbles for a mouth. Don’t forget to throw a scarf around your snowman’s neck!

Find more snowman building tips at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Snowman.

After your snowman is built, why not host a snowman competition for your neighborhood? Talk SNM020thumbto some other parents in town and appoint a couple of judges. Have neighborhood children build snowmen; later, serve hot chocolate and refreshments for them to enjoy as the judges choose the best snowman on the street. That would surely be a cherished memory for many families!

If you love building snowmen, imagine how much you would love creating them in artwork. Segmation offers a snowman pattern set that features all different kinds of wintry scenes. Check out Segmation’s snowman pattern by visiting http://www.segmation.com/products_pc_patternset_contents.asp?set=SNM.

Coming soon: You won’t want to miss Segmation’s upcoming blog post about presidents and their artistic abilities. It may really surprise you to learn which of America’s leaders were also leaders in the arts, so stay tuned!

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Quickest, Coolest, and Fastest Way to Paint by Numbershttps://segmation.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/quickest-coolest-and-fastest-way-to-paint-by-numbers/

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Icicles

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An icicle is a spike of ice formed when water dripping or falling from an object freezes. The heat source which causes the ice to melt is typically the sun. Although icicles might be a hazard when positioned over people, they generally exist in natural surroundings where snow and rain fall off exist.

Because of their cylindrical shapes, icicles beautifully refract the world around them.

Our collection of Icicle patterns show a diverse collection of icicles in winter scenery viewed from inside windows and outside settings. You’ll find icicles forming from trees, branches, leaves, and roofs. In their backgrounds you’ll find bright blue skies, mountains, and sunsets.

This set contains 24 paintable patterns.

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ChromaBlend Two and more Art Fun and Games by www.segmation.com!

ChromaBlend by Segmation
ChromaBlend by Segmation

ChromaBlend Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation (see more details here)

Longtime Segmation SegPlay™ contributor, Susan Richardson, has created a second set of exciting set of multi-colored images for us to use with SegPlayPC™ These chromatic patterns are a joy to look at and utilize a vivid color palette. Have some psychedelic fun with the ChromaBlend collection! If you enjoyed coloring the first ChromaBlend set, you’ll enjoy these 20 abstract patterns as well. Crazy, Falling Leaves, Leaf Gear, Anger, Jazz 1, Hearts, Fuzz, Opaque, Jazz 2, Scratches, Fall, Nap Time, Tongue Tied, Faires and Fantasies, Forest Fire, Water Colour, Broken Heart, Storm, Blinds and Grid collections are included.
This set contains 20 paintable patterns.

When these patterns are completely colored, the resulting image has a very strong resemblance to the original artwork. These vibrant and colorful pieces of art are truly engaging and exciting for you to paint, and especially a joy to look at when completed.

With over 2800 available patterns from an ever growing collection of artistic themes, SegPlay® PC will provide you with hours upon hours of painting fun and entertainment. SegPlay® PC Splash Screen With SegPlay® PC as an Art Appreciation teaching tool, students can memorize famous works of art, color by color. Children can truly touch images related to a wide assortment of subjects. As a parent or educator, the learning possibilities stretch as far as your image-ination!

SegPlay® PC is in the computer software category known as “casual gaming”. While it provides a pleasurable and creative escape from mundane computer activities, the program is simple to use and new players can begin the painting function immediately, with just a few, intuitive tools. However, the program also offers rich features with challenging and engaging options, so it expands with each user, whether they seek an education in art appreciation or just want to enjoy a creative gaming challenge.

With a dynamic and clear user interface and fun sound effects, the program’s gaming features compliment the artistic benefits and engage users at all levels. For a gaming challenge, users can race against a timer to complete patterns in a given timeframe at levels from Easy to Experienced and Expert. Users can also employ speed-painting tools, monitor the mistake counter, and track the number of remaining pieces and colors to increase the program’s challenging and addictive potential.

ChromaBlend

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 ChromaBlend from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

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ChromaBlend Art Game by www.segmation.com!

ChromaBlend by Segmation

ChromaBlend by Segmation

ChromaBlend Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation (see more details here)

Longtime Segmation SegPlay™ contributor, Susan Richardson, has created an exciting set of multi-colored images for us to use with SegPlayPC™ These chromatic patterns are a joy to look at and utilize a vivid color palette. Have some psychedelic fun with the ChromaBlend collection! Cascade, Confusion, Eyes in the Round, Expand, Fractured Rainbow, It’s Raining, Neon Impression, Organza II , Marbled, Orange, Purple, Pink and Blue, Rainbow II, Stirring of the Water, Spring Through My Window, Square Circle I, Surreal Dream, The Blues, 3D IV and Wave collections are included.
This set contains 20 paintable patterns.
ChromaBlend

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 ChromaBlend from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

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William Blake English Romantic Artist by www.segmation.com!

William Blake by Segmation

William Blake by Segmation

New Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation (see more details here)

William Blake (1757 – 1827) was a English Romantic Age painter, poet, and printmaker. His wild imagination and idiosyncratic views has helped make himself held in high regards by art critics. He began his career as an engraver and also did relief etchings. His views on conventional religion were controversial as were his views on the 19th century “free love” movement and Age of Enlightenment philosophy. Our pattern set has most of his recognized works including “Ancient of Days”, “Newton”, “The Ghost of a Flea”, “Jacob’s Ladder”, “Glad Day”, The Lover’s Whirlwind”, “Nebuchadnezzar” and “Los”.
This set contains 24 paintable patterns.
William Blake

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 William Blake from Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

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The Lingo of Color www.segmation.com

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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.

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Wacky and Wonderful Art Cars www.segmation.com

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.

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Paul Cezanne Post-Impressionist Colorful Historical Art by www.segmation.com!

Paul Cezanne

Paul Cezanne

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!

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The Many Different Hues of Blue

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If you want to paint a seascape with soaring blue skies and rippling blue water, you might go to the art supply store and stand in awe at the sheer range of blues available with different shades, tints, and variations in hue. For instance, a major paint manufacturer offers at least 15 different types of blue, from Cerulean Blue on the lighter end of the spectrum to Indigo Blue on the darker end.

The more you work with your paints, the more you’ll intuitively recognize which tube of blue to choose when you need to paint blue eyes, a bluebird or a deep blue sea. Although the distinct characteristics of each blue might be familiar to you, do you know where the name for each particular color comes from?

As we discussed in a previous article on the origins of color names for artist pigments, many paint colors derive their names from what they are made of: for instance, Phthalo Blue is named for the synthetic pigment Phthalocyanine, and Cobalt Blue is named for the lustrous metal cobalt, etc.

Let’s explore where some of these other blues get their color names:

  • Anthraquinone Blue – “Anthraquinone” is an organic compound that forms the basis for many dyes.
  • Cerulean Blue – “Cerulean” has its roots in the Latin word caelum which means heaven or sky.
  • Indigo – “Indigo” is named for the Indigofera genus, many plants of which are used as a dye.
  • Navy blue – The color “Navy blue” is named for the dark blue uniforms worn by officers in the British Royal Navy and was first used as a color name in 1840.
  • Primary Cyan – “Cyan” comes from the Greek word kýanos, which means dark blue substance.
  • Ultramarine blue – “Ultramarine” derives from the Latin word ultramarines which means beyond the sea.

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