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How to Decorate A Still Life for a Painting

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If you want to be successful at painting a still-life then you need to pay some serious attention to how you set it up first. You need to pay attention to the composition, mood and lighting of the objects that you want to paint. This is why it is important to pay attention to the still life composition by arranging and rearranging the components of the painting until you are satisfied that it is perfect.

A still life is just simply a work of art that depicts inanimate subject matter. Typical food, flowers, plants, rocks, curios glasses, vases, books jewelry, coins and pipes are part of a still life composition but technically any object at all will do. Before the 1700s religious artifacts largely comprised the composition of still lives. They were first seen on the walls of Egyptian tombs.

That is why part of painting a still life is all about choosing objects that have some kind of importance to you. You can even do a portrait of someone by simply depicting their objects. The still life portrait is quite an interesting way of expressing the personality of someone without actually painting them.

Still life lighting is also important. It will figure into how atmospheric or moody your final result will appear on the canvas. Determining whether or not you are using natural or artificial light is also important. This will determine whether or into you are painting short or long shadows in your work. Painting these shadows properly is crucial to achieving realism in painting.

Still lifes can be in any style including realism, impressionism, expressionism and abstract expressionism. Some of the most famous still lifes in history, such as Van Gogh’s sunflowers, bordered on being abstractions.

If you don’t think you can control the lighting for your still life then you may want to take a picture of a still life and proceed from there. Many artists nowadays use this type of technique so that they can paint from an image where the light source is completely constant.

If you are just starting out as a still-life painter just make sure the still-life arrangement you are painting is very simple. Start out by painting a bowl with a couple of pieces of fruit or a simple plant. Then move on to paint more elaborate still lifes when you become better at mastering still life composition.

The art of painting still lifes has been around since the beginning of the art of painting and the popularity of this type of painting is still going strong today!

How to Decorate A Kid’s Room With Dr. Seuss Crafts

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Dr. Seuss crafts and activities are based on the popular children’s character’s various individual books. Perhaps the simplest of Dr. Seuss crafts is to make a Dr. Seuss hat by simply painting a paper bag with white and red stripes. Yarn can be used to make sure that the hat sits tight on the child’s head and doesn’t slip over his or her eyes. This kind of hat relates to one of the most famous of the Dr. Seuss books – The Cat in the Hat.

A more complicated Dr. Seuss hat is constructed out of a paper plate and strips of red and white construction paper. The construction paper is taped together to form the body of the hat and a paper plate is used to cap off the top of the hat. Parents or grandparents might also want to consider creating their own Dr. Seuss crafts that kids can wear such as red and white striped stockings or a Dr. Suess hat. If you type in Dr. Seuss Hat knitting pattern into a popular search engine such as Google, Overture or Yahoo you are sure to find all kinds of Dr. Seuss related clothing that can knitted for children.

The book one One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish inspires Dr. Seuss crafts such as fish art and fish shapes. To make fish art, trying pouring blue tinted corn syrup onto a piece of construction paper that has been cut into the shape of a fish bowl. Fish shapes can be cut out of magazines or traced out of construction paper.

A Dr. Suess craft idea that suits the book Green Eggs and Ham involves dying raw eggs green. Later the eggs can be broken into a skillet and served as scramble eggs.

The general term Dr. Seuss crafts also includes a description of a cross-stitch that is named after the author. The Dr. Seuss stitch is a kind of cross stitch that is done with what is called an Assissi stitch, which is basically a cross stitch that is turned inside out.

When we say “inside out,” we mean that the stitches are the same but the design rules are completely reversed. Unlike traditional cross stitch, the outlining in Assisi work is done first and then the background is filled with cross stitch. In traditional Assisi work, the outlines are always worked before the cross stitching using a particular type of backstitch called Holbein or double running stitch. The reason Holbein stitch is used instead of ordinary backstitch is because it’s reversible (the stitching looks the same on the back as it does on the front). The even weave or aide inside the outline is left unstitched or “voided.” This gives the motifs the look of a modern stencil type pattern. This very contemporary look that is typical of Dr. Seuss crafts styles of stitching.