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  • Mar18

    1 Comment

    #15 Cave Painting; 31 days of rhinos

    Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, Rhino art, Smellyrhinostudio, art history, artist blog, cave painting, humorous blogs, mixed media, rhinoceros, smelly rhino, symbolism

    So easy, a Caveman really did paint this!
    #15 Cave Painting (also mixed media)
    Media: Textured stone, acrylic


    [Fake excerpt "This amazing piece was discovered in a remote cave somewhere in Arizona. People mistakenly believed that the great Merck's rhinoceros or Rhinoceros merckii must have existed in North America at some point. A better explanation is that the ancient people built really good boats and traveled; and this cave painting was a story of their voyage to Africa or Asia or Eastern Europe. How the heck did they get there? Maybe alien visitors aren't so far fetched after all!

    It was originally believed that the markings on the bottom of the picture were fire, but it was later determined that this is grass, because rhinos are herbivores, and at the top of the picture, there is a sun and a moon to depict the cycle of the day. The two rhinos are not mirrored, (although abstract art could have existed then.) Instead, these are a mated pair of rhinos, the male on the left. They come together and touch horns as a gesture of affection. Possibly the early people of the land believed that 'Rhino Love' was an example from the gods to be honored as part of the cycle of the seasons; Love is, essentially, part of the cycle of life.

    It is also believed that this painting has much more than symbolism, like that of others found nearby. It's symmetry reflects a desire for ordered decoration, and almost resembles ancient Greek pottery examples. Could it be that these people were the lost potters of the Macedonia and this drawing is not a prehistoric example after all, but a cool illustration borrowed from the cave drawings, to be used on the water jug of a soujourner? hmmm!"]

    Seriously,
    [Wiki ” Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known European cave paintings date to Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known. The evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas, since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. Also, they are often in areas of caves that are not easily accessed. Some theories hold that they may have been a way of communicating with others, while other theories ascribe them a religious or ceremonial purpose.

    So, were cave paintings merely decoration? Was it history being recorded? Or perhaps a vigil by shamans to create a larger hunt for the people? We will never know for certain, but Please Read more because it’s really interesting!

    See you tomorrow.

  • Mar17

    3 Comments

    #14 Origami Rhino; 31 days of rhinos

    Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, Rhino art, Smellyrhinostudio, art history, art techniques, artist blog, asian art technique, humorous blogs, joseph wu, paper art, rhinoceros, smelly rhino

    Ancient tradition unfolding here, under protest, on Wordless Wednesday!
    Above: #14 Origami Rhino; 31 days of rhinos
    Media: Paper

    Below: Not my rhino!

    This beautiful rhino shown here was “borrowed” from Joseph Wu Origami, and wow, he is good! Unfortunately, he doesn’t show you how to fold the damned thing! I printed out his diagram and then stared hopeless at it after creasing every line on the paper.

    The only workable tutorial I could find (for free) on YouTube was working great except the occasional floating off the screen while he was folding. Just as I was nearing completion, the artist began folding the back legs, and his hands were entirely out of the camera at that point. Alas, I couldn’t figure it out…I have an origami book somewhere up in my library, but it doesn’t have a rhino in it. You can see how the hind legs are not finished…..balls!

    [Wiki "The Japanese word "origami" itself is a compound of two smaller Japanese words: "ori", meaning fold, and "gami", meaning paper...Japanese origami began sometime after Buddhist monks from China carried paper to Japan during the 6th century." Read more! (it's fascinating!)

    My brother introduced me to this incredible short story nearly 20 years ago, and you must read it as soon as you can, because it will make you really feel; love, sorrow, joy and hope:

    The Story of 1000 Cranes     (you must read this!)
    "The Thousand Origami Cranes has become a symbol of world peace[citation needed] through the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who tried to stave off her death from leukemia as a result of radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II by making one thousand origami cranes, having folded only 644 before her death, and that her friends completed and buried them all with her.

    Her story is told in the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.

    Several temples, including some in Tokyo and Hiroshima, have eternal flames for World Peace. At these temples, school groups or individuals often donate Senbazuru to add to the prayer for peace. The cranes are left exposed to the elements, slowly dissolving and becoming tattered as the wish is released. In this way they are related to the prayer flags of India and Tibet.” -Wiki excerpt.

    Wordless Wednesday didn’t exactly leave me speechless…Maybe I should have stopped at hello!
    See you tomorrow…
    (I will try harder next week not to say anything on Wednesday..I really missed the point, eh?)

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  • Mar10

    5 Comments

    #9 Collage; 31 days of Rhinos

    Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, art history, art techniques, collage art, humor, humorous blogs, illustration, smelly rhino, smellyrhino

    #9 Collage; 31 days of rhinos
    Media: acrylic, ink and paper on canvas board

    I’m coming back from the dead. I am taking Sudafed though, so I will dismiss later anything that didn’t make sense this week as drug induced fuzz.

    Today’s Rhino will appeal to the more contemporary audience, I hope. Collage art is no new thing, though. It’s been commonly referred to in Modern art since the early 20th century, but it’s been used since before Christ!

    If you are some kind of art purist and can’t appreciate anything other than Oils (for example), you may be mocking collage art right now. Well, hopefully you will read some history and visit some museums to find that as an art form, it’s been used by some of the greatest painters in history!

    -[wiki excerpt- "The term collage derives from the French "coller" meaning "glue".[1] This term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.”]

    You may remember from our quick lesson in cubism that Pablo and George were very aggressive and liked starting movements and genres and techniques…nuff said. I wonder if both their egos fit in the same room? You don’t see me complaining. I’m so glad they met!

    There is just so much information to give you on this subject, like that the ancient Chinese and Japanese used it, and that a lot of collage exists in the form of large scale installation art, and that Kurt Schwitters, a well-known collage-er (hehe) utilized various woods in his collages! Neat!!! The techniques and uses are as wide as the ocean and can be humorous, serious, political, non-sensical, abstract, breathtaking and more…whatever you can imagine (or randomly place!)

    So hold your heads proud collage artists! You are not cottage crafters, you are in good company! If you are a collage artist, you will find yourself in good company with a boatload of artists of great fame, especially these (and, again more that are too numerous to mention)

    David Hockney
    Pablo Picasso
    Kurt Schwitters
    Marcel Duchamp
    Henri Matisse
    Nick Bantock (the writer—remember, The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy?)
    Click to learn more on Collage art.

    …and now for something completely different
    I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Terry Gilliam, whose animation genius depended on cutouts for creating the treasured and immortal Monty Python! –Not exactly “fine art” to hang, but you wont forget it!

    So, ready to go try one? If nothing else, it lets you have a little fun!
    See you later.

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  • Mar9

    5 Comments

    #8 Fashion Illustration; 31 days of rhinos

    Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, Rhino art, Smellyrhinostudio, fashion design, fashion illustration, illustration, smelly rhino

    #8 Fashion Illustration; 31 days of Rhinos
    Media: Ink and pencil

    I do apologize for being sick. I vowed to do 31 days of rhinos and I was flat on my back yesterday and missed a day. I will make it up tomorrow. I’m finally feeling a lot better. Let’s hope it stays that way. On with the next one! It’s late and I’ve finished a very special rhino.

    This rhino is a tribute to fashion illustration, something many artists don’t think about when they consider an art genre. But I’ll tell you why it’s important!

    Did you know that everyday artists for centuries have been illustrating fashion for a living? You already know such greats as Albrecht Durer illustrated plants. Well, fashion is no different. Fashion Illustration has been a popular genre for advertising the couture of the day for 500 years! Sounds crazy right? Well, clothiers are the second oldest profession, I’ll bet!

    And, one of the all time great illustrators in history, and very dear to me, Alphonse Mucha, an art nouveau era painter from Moravia (now Czech Republic) made his fame regularly illustrating Sara Bernhardt for her shows, as well as many advertising campaigns. In fact, he wanted to be a serious painter, but his fame came in his illustrations, and it wasn’t long before he accepted his fate and ran with it (although he still painted historic old world paintings for the homeland!)

    Imagine life before the invention of photography, or even the popular use of it! It wasn’t really until the 1930s that fashion photography became vogue. literally! It was Vogue Magazine that popularized photography for the fashion world.

    Back to illustration. Since it’s first uses in medieval times to current popular culture, fashion illustration has stood strong as an art form. In fact, now more than ever, it is indeed created as art and for the sale as art, not just some one’s livelihood as an underpaid advertising artist.

    Notable fashion Illustrators, which are way too numerous to mention might not be known to you, except a few eccentrics who dabbled…Andy Warhol, for one! Another, Kenneth Paul Block is known to be the biggest of the 20th century, and worth reading about!

    ” In the introduction to Drawing Fashion: The Art of Kenneth Paul Block, published in 2008, Isaac Mizrahi described Block’s influence: “More than any single designer, he gave New York fashion its sophistication. Because he drew Babe Paley and Jackie Kennedy a certain way, they became what he had envisioned.” – excerpt Wiki

    As Fashion Illustrators go, Kenneth Paul Block was God!

    Many of you wont know this, but right out of college, my Mom and I got our starts as fashion designers. We had our own business, Auzias, where we designed and sold better women’s apparel to high end boutiques. Although I moved and went to Interior Design before becoming a full time artist, Mom is still an apparel designer. One day soon, we are going to work together again and create a fun new line that you will have to have!

    Mom and Me in 1995 featured in the Seattle Trade Show Magazine

    Thanks for asking about the rhinos and wishing me better! You are a great group of friends and readers.

    See you tomorrow,
    Rebecca

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  • Mar7

    2 Comments

    #7 Pointillism; 31 days of Rhinos

    Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, Rhino art, Smellyrhinostudio, abstract, art history, drawing, humor, impressionism, painting blog, pointillism, smelly rhino

    #7 Pointillism; 31 days of Rhinos
    India Ink on Paper


    A thousand points of light! Ok, a lot more than a thousand. I sat through the entire Academy Awards tonite putting tiny dots all over the page, beginning with the lightest tone and graduating to a hint of black.

    Welcome to Pointillism!

    When I think of Pointillism, I think of George Seurat, the founder of Neo-Impressionism who really changed the future of modern art. He first used Pointillism at the disdain of critics, who mocked him when they coined the term. Thank goodness no one ever listens to critics! So give him a hand. Everyone knows Seurat from his most famous painting, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. George was cool and liked Science (like me)! He believed that if you forced the viewer to combine the dots of color instead of mixing the pigments with your brush, the painting would have a certain luminosity…and that light could control emotion in the viewer by the way you used light and color in a painting. He named it Chromoluminarism. Well, he sure knew what he was talking about! Hooray for Science!

    About this art history, If you have already started to notice that some periods seem to overlap, I think that is a testament to the flow of creativity, and how influential these great artists were on each other. Their art was a reflection of what was happening around them. All these great artists in one place sitting in coffee houses and discuss the world, no wonder they influenced each other! Art imitates artists…he he. (ok, we copy each other)

    What’s neat about pointillism is that it is easy to explain in our highly technological times by comparing it to a computer screen or tv, with pixels. Pointillism is created with dots of color instead of interconnecting strokes. The dots of color exist independently from one another, and depend on your eyes to put the colors together. The more dots there, the clearer the picture becomes. In a pointillist panting, it’s best appreciated to walk up closely to the painting to view the intricate system of pixels, then, step backward and view at greater distances until you see the full picture clearly; that is where your eyes connect the dots!! It’s very cool.

    If you have the opportunity to go the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, I believe you will still see another great Modern artist and pointillist, Chuck Close, whose photo realism on enormous, no, gigantic canvases is best appreciated from the next room over!!!!

    Paint and ink are best for pointillism, but I challenge you again, to imagine what other media works for you! I know of other artists who come near the genre by utilizing cut paper to achieve photo realistic collages, but that may have to be another rhino!

    Artists who were best known for pointillism:

    Do yourself a favor and read a little more about Neo-impressionism in your spare time, as I think it is the most important push toward a provocative change in art in the last century! It’s kinda like the internet. It changed art! Stay home, free eaters!

    [Wikipedia excerpt, Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists and is now used without its earlier mocking connotation.[1]

    Still sick here, and I’ve been couch bound all day, drinking liquids with alternating Law and Order episodes and steamed honey lemon water.

    I know my brother, Tim, will enjoy this Rhino, so it is for him.

    (Picture credits: Baby Rhino pic comes from the Weblogs of the Baltimore Sun.)

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  • Mar6

    3 Comments

    #6 Rorschach Inkblot Rhino; 31 days of rhinos

    Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, Rhino art, Smellyrhinostudio, rorschach art, smelly rhino, watercolor

    #6 Rorschash Inkblot Rhino; 31 days of rhinos
    watercolor and india ink on paper

    Here’s the thing. I am sick. My body decided to come down with a cold this afternoon, just after I sat through Shutter Island, which is worth seeing if only for Leo Dicaprio. I’ve been getting a late start on these this week, and have posted most by 8:30, but last night and tonite have been a challenge, and I’m fading fast. I also have a time limit for these. Less than one hour. This ink blot took about 5 min. Once dry, I inked in a decidedly crazy manner as my head is quite fuzzy, and finished in less than 10 minutes. It shows. But, this exercise is not about perfection. It’s about posting a rhino a day. and maybe a few good ones, eh?

    The cool thing is that the ink blot was a ridiculously perfect skull…“OMG, how awesome”, I said…but, then, I whizzed all over it!!! To be fair, this wouldn’t qualify in my own book as inkblot art, because of the whizzing. I would prefer unadorned inkblots, myself. I didn’t have enough time to do another inkblot, so it is as it is. Eh, who cares, I did it my way. Then, I decided that, to imagine the skull as you are observing the skin is maybe a neat and creepy thing. So, there you have it!

    Rorschach was a German psychiatrist. He used ink blots to make crazy people believe they were nuts. Personally I think it’s nuts. I always see creepy stuff in them. I guess it’s the level of imagination you admit to the doctor. “It’s a skull!” or “It’s the maggot infested gnawed skull of a sun-blistered cow after I shot it and watched it decay for a week!” It’s all in the delivery.

    Artists, like Andy Warhol made inkblot art classic! And thanks for that, Mr. Rorschach, whether or not it was your fault! (It was.) I love the use of ink blots in art. There are just so many creative things you can do! Left alone or adorned, it is a swell abstract beginning (and a way to literally tell your doctor what you are thinking!) I will do another later..and merely suggest around the piece, but not tonite, as I give up for the sake of rest.

    My doctor has a sign in his office: You have a cold? How long will it take to get better? With antibiotics, 7 days. Without, about a week.

    Abstract art is a beautiful because it doesn’t matter how you interpret your work as you lay it on the page, you own it. Beautiful! So, own something. Don’t be afraid to make some lousy art! Don’t be afraid, because some of it really will be crap. Magnificence will come because you allowed the rest to get out in practice!

    That is what we are here for; practice. Life is an exercise in repetition.

    See you tomorrow, hopefully with a clearer and less philosophical head.

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  • Mar3

    6 Comments

    #3 Continous Line Contour Rhino; 31 Days of Rhinos

    Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, Rhino art, Smellyrhinostudio, contour line drawing, smelly rhino

    #3 Continuous Line Contour Rhino (or Abstract Ink Rhino); 31 Days of Rhinos
    India Ink on Mat board

    A little lighter subject matter today, this Rhino and Baby were drawn without lifting the pen from the paper. This technique is a called Continuous Contour Line Drawing. Contour drawing implies a shell or an outline of an object. When you practice contour line drawing, you will find drawing as a whole begin to become easier because you focus on the shapes you are drawing instead of trying to draw “a rhino” or “a car”.

    A couple of times, I noticed my hand lift up as I have not done this exercise in years, and I promptly placed it back where I had removed it and moved on. I also colored in slightly some areas while my pen was there, which is not necessarily something I would do normally, but what the hell! You also see the poor Mother has two left eyes. I could say I did this for the purely abstract nature of the drawing, but the truth is, I disobeyed a cardinal rule of drawing…I was covering up the picture with my hand and couldn’t actually see where I had drawn the right eye, or that my eye was way tooooo high. At that moment in time, I was focused on how proud I was of not taking the damned pen off the page to see the illustration! And you know, I love the second eye now.

    You can put down a quick watercolor or ink wash before you begin your drawing to make it more interesting, or if you are using waterproof inks, like India Ink, you can add a wash afterwards.

    Well, if you aren’t well practiced in sketching daily, or even if you are, this exercise is a very good one because it forces you to think of where your positive and negative spaces are and to consider the proportions of your composition before you begin.

    This exercise is a great reminder to me that this needs to be among my daily practices. The benefit of doing one continuous contour line drawing per day: You will use your eraser less on your other sketches, and your speed and accuracy will increase, and that can only mean you are becoming a better artist!

    One of my favorite types of contour line drawing is Blind Contour Drawing..that’s where you look at your subject and not the paper you are drawing on!!! That spontaneous sketch creates some of the most remarkable art! You can’t be a perfectionist, you can’t be judgemental! You MUST release the need to criticize your work and just let it flow…relax!! It’s fun!

    Go try one of these types of contour line drawings yourself right now and post links on my facebook fan page or here in the comments!
    Have fun and see you tomorrow!
    -Rebecca
    (Btw, the Rhino image sketched from a pic found on Google)

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  • Mar2

    No Comments

    #2 Byzantine; 31 days of Rhinos

    Posted in: 31 days of rhinos, Rebecca Salcedo, acrylic, art history, byzantine, humorous blogs, smelly rhino

    #2 Byzantine Rhino (or “Jesus Rhino” as one reader suggested!)
    Media: Acrylic and ink on Canvas

    How can I blame the genius of Michelangelo’s Statue of David on the Byzantine period?
    Read and find out!

    Where would art be without Religion? Well, even if you’re not religious, it would be difficult to deny religion as an influence on art. In this case, Christianity, as iconic depictions in painted, sculpted or mosaic form were heavily sought after in medieval times. Although this rhino bears little likeness to the mosaic that I mostly ripped off today, Christ in Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, you can clearly see if you look past it’s otherworldly face, that the standards of the day are included. Such details as draping fabric, which they were able to paint pretty well back then, so they included it in EVERYTHING! The flat appearance of some of the clothing details in juxtaposition to the only slightly more 3 dimensional appearance of the still flat-ish face and “hoof”! And, of course the cross bearing halo behind the Rhino’s head suggesting his holy stature.

    You can pretty much blame Constantine for the massive Christian art movement, as he was quite fond of art and even created a big artistic centre in Constantinople, which supported art in many forms, including statuary, one of his favorite mediums! He had a statue of himself made, too. Maybe he commissioned the rest of them so his would not be alone. You never know!

    Even Homer’s books were illustrated in byzantine art..would be cool to see what those paintings must have looked like! With much of the period art destroyed, we are left with the earliest surviving remnants of Byzantine art in other cities like Rome and Istanbul to provide us with insight into that period.

    Why is it called Byzantine Art instead of Constantinopolitan Art? (…too hard to say the latter?)
    Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Byzantine Empire from about the 4th century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
    [*Just as the Byzantine empire represented the political continuation of the Roman Empire, Byzantine art developed out of the art of the Roman empire, which was itself profoundly influenced by ancient Greek art. Byzantine art never lost sight of this classical heritage. The Byzantine capital, Constantinople, was adorned with a large number of classical sculptures[1], although they eventually became an object of some puzzlement for its inhabitants.[2] And indeed, the art produced during the Byzantine empire, although marked by periodic revivals of a classical aesthetic, was above all marked by the development of a new aesthetic.

    The most salient feature of this new aesthetic was its “abstract,” or anti-naturalistic character. If classical art was marked by the attempt to create representations that mimicked reality as closely as possible, Byzantine art seems to have abandoned this attempt in favor of a more symbolic approach.” *excerpt from Wikipedia, which may hold some errors!]

    Among the most popular luxury substrates, Ivory and silver plate were a fond choice for carving and embossing. Mosaics were among the most important art forms representing this period.

    Along the way, as rulers changed hands, the depiction of people in paintings at one point became illegal because they didn’t want to incite any excitement from the people. (Dark times, friends). But, they too passed and paved the way for more great iconoclasm-ism!

    Certain artistic traditions that originated in the Byzantine Empire, particularly in regard to icon painting and church architecture, are maintained in Greece, Bulgaria, Russia and other Eastern Orthodox countries to the present day.

    Byzantine associations with Italian art and culture slowly brought changes to the Byzantine art forms and the Italian influences of landscapes and their more fluid interpretive approach lead artists to slowly leave their mosaics behind and pick up their paint brushes! By the same token, Byzantine architecture influenced western Europe, so it was a win win situation! Many artists of the late Byzantine period migrated to Italy at the beginning of the Renaissance, and the revival of Greek and Roman studies could be attributed to this emigration (you know, Michelangelo’s David???? Good one!!)

    Byzantine culture continued happily (or not) for about 800 years until Constantinople fell to the Turks and the Ottoman Empire. From there, we had lots of places to rest our feet and look at the artwork! (BAH HA HA HA….but, that’s another story.

    Just remember, you can thank the Byzantine period for one of the most important foundations of art in history (and the Statue of David, maybe!)

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