Sport Art, Photo Mash Ups, Artist Spotlight- Carol Harvey
Sport Art
I watch a few sports on TV, not because I'm such a sportsman myself, but because I find it very inspiring. Skilled and hugely talented individuals that can perform feats unimaginable to me, cause me to believe in the impossible. I also find that studying the movement of the human body is such a wonderful exercise as an artist. The annual long distance cycling event, Le Tour de France started this week, which is a 2,200 mile long bike race from Dusseldorf, Germany to Paris, France. Whoa... and I thought riding the the corner was a big deal. In honor of these dedicated athletes, I wanted to try my hand at an event illustration. Besides, Paris is so dreamy, and I enjoyed capturing L'Arc de Triomphe and the cobblestone street. Most of all though, I loved the challenge of painting the cyclists in motion while disappearing into the distance. I had so much fun, I think I'll work on more sport illustrations going forward. My own version of sports illustrated... who knew???
Artist Spotlight- Carol Harvey
Speaking of French, Carol Harvey, based in Canada, is a language artist, featured in this week's Artist Spotlight. That's not art, you say? Think again. In fact, in the days of Leonardo Divinci and Michelangelo, languages were just as much of an art as sculpting and painting. I don't know what happened to narrow our perception of what an artist is, but to me Carol's mastery of teaching language skills for sure fits the bill. She has a really cool blog called "The Work at Home Classroom" and her "10 Tips for Developing a Personalized Plan for Language-Learning" is super helpful if you need to learn a language and don't know where to start. She also has several step-by-step online French courses on Skillshare.com, featuring a virtual visit to Montreal, and her cute animated intros are awesome. Merci Carol for your wonderful contribution to learning a language!
Photo Mash-Ups
Another art I admire is photography. I have been snapping pictures since I was old enough to hold a camera. Framing a shot, to me, is no less exciting than sketching or illustrating, but I am still far from professional. Therefore, I have a great appreciation for those who have mastered not only this great craft, but the manipulation of it through Photoshop, and other cool programs/apps. A perfect example, is this fun photo mash up series by Stephen McMennamy. He blended photography subject matters together to create a whole new picture, telling a very unique story in the process. In this post, he explains what he calls Combo Photos. His seemingly simple mashup challenges our normal perception of how things are as well as how they could be. The hidden messages are intriguing, and some of the images are downright mind-tweaking. You can check out his website here where you can find even more of his work. Photography has for sure been elevated to a new level!