According to Lingman Dolce, an art instructor from Bronx, NY, the best way to start is by selecting a type of art that strongly appeals to you, and then finding a class to take that will allow you to absorb all that is already known about it.

“The most important thing is, if you know what has been established, then any innovations that come to you from there can be considered authentically unique,” Dolce said in an interview.  Dolce teaches a class on water colors, featuring the history of the style and its most notable and famous practitioners like Claude Monet.

The styles and methods that are learned from artists like Monet can strengthen your inner vision.  Allowing the hand to practice what the eye sees, even when copying, teaches valuable skills that can later be applied to one’s own unique vision.  Many artists loose their inspirations after too rapidly pursuing what they have dreamed up, but exhausting it by trying, and failing, to reproduce what they envision using techniques that do not accomplish their goals.  If I had but a dime for every work of art destroyed prematurely for just this reason, I would be wealthy.  Therefore, artist, save yourself the time and anguish that could come your way from not mastering basics before venturing out on your own too soon.  Practice, study, and then apply.

Guy 2:  ”Forget about it.  I’ll just print you another one.”

3D printing is an additive technology, wherein objects are developed in layers over a period of many hours. Stereolithography, a printing technique invented by Charles Hull in 1984, was used in the first commercial 3D printer. Printers that use this kind of technology are called SLAs or stereolithography apparatus.) They work by positioning a perforated platform just underneath the surface of a container of liquid photocurable polymer. A UV laser traces the first slice of an object on the surface of the liquid, hardening a very thin layer of photopolymer.

The part of the platform that has been carved out is then lowered almost imperceptibly while another slice is traced and hardened by the laser beam. This process is repeated many times, until a complete 3D object is produced.  Although there are several current methods of 3D printing, stereolithography is still considered to be the most accurate of the techniques being used at this time.   If you are both an artist and a true geek, you likely find this beyond fascinating.  A friend of mine actually ordered a coffee mug that had been printed in this way for Christmas, just to have as a curiosity.   Here is an infographic that will help explain how 3D printing works.

There is certainly nothing wrong with a little dirt and grime marring the screen of your lovely cell phone sometimes.  In fact, it’s unavoidable that something people use as much as their cell phones will get pretty icky, sticky, and germy over time.  This can play havoc with your sense of home security, and places you at risk for coming down with a nasty bug.  Which phones are the worst for this?

The world’s dirtiest phones are all Android models!  Those that made Bit9′s “Dirty Dozen list are as follows:

1. Samsung Galaxy Mini

2. HTC Desire

3. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

4. Sanyo Zio

5. HTC Wildfire

6. Samsung Epic 4G

7. LG Optimus S

8. Samsung Galaxy S

9. Motorola Droid X

10. LG Optimus One

11. Motorola Droid 2

12. HTC Evo 4G

Perhaps it seems a little unfair that all of the dirtiest phones are smart phones — and that all twelve are Android devices.  No Windows Phone or Apple iOS devices made this list.  Surely, it must be an art form for a phone to be able to collect enough grime and filth to be added to a list as foul as this one.

So, what will it cost you to attend the museum near your location today?  Probably slightly more than the average admission costs in the infographic below, which has prices dating back to 2007 — but it gives you an idea of recent costs that you can use to estimate current data.  You can also, out of curiosity, check the websites of the museums in the infographic and see how much things have changed in the last four years.  Click the graphic for the big picture:

The above video is one of my favorites on Youtube right now.  It is a few years old, but I love what the creator did with all of the images of the women’s faces.  These women in the video are all portraits of women in Western works of art for a 500 year period of time.   There are ninety different female faces in the video, and the way the creator, Philip Scott Johnson arranged them all was incredible.  I can watch this video over and over.  I love to light up some of my new incense that I got from legalherbsdirect.com and just enjoy the artistry of it all.

The transitioning from portrait to portrait is enough to keep me tuned in, but after watching it a few times I realize how important women are to art.  Women have been subjects of many famous pieces of art work since the beginning.  How wonderful it is to see such beauty and elegance revealed in the works, starting with Novgorod School’s Archangel and finishing up with Picasso’s Portrait of Francoise.  The soft features of Renoir’s Two Sisters on the Terrace is juxtaposed later on by the lines of Matisse’s La fleur and Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya.  Just amazing.  I hope you enjoy the video as much as I do.

Which is part of the reason he is content with stepping back: not only has he more than made his mark internationally with his musicals that go down in history as some of the best productions ever, but he has seen some of his original shows reworked to the level of excellence that he holds himself to, including the recent revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar” in Ontario. His last penned work, a sequel to “Phantom of the Opera” titled “Love Never Dies,” however, was not well received when it opened in London, and only had slightly more success in Melbourne, Australia. Llyod Webber was diagnosed and started treatment for cancer starting in the middle of writing the piece and setting up production, which is undoubtedly a mind-boggling task. Needless to say, Llyod Webber was not a significant force in the actual production itself, “I just said, ‘That’s the score, do what you can,’ ” he recalled telling Simon Phillips, the director in Melbourne. That being said, he is ready to bring “Love Never Dies” to New York, saying he’s ready to just leave it as it is and “let it be discovered” on DVD, which will be recorded during the finale performance in Australia.

With nothing new in the works, Mr. Webber is ready to just “show up on opening night” and let his team do the rest, something that not many of his close colleagues think will actually happen, given his notorious work ethic and creative energy. Either way, spending at least a little less time on the job and creating is a big step for him.

At the same time, each piece makes a strong statement about what fine art really is, and how fine art cannot be defined by bravura, which is not needed to hold our attention and make us think critically. B. Wurtz makes strong statements with his pieces, whether made of shoe strings, grocery bags, wire hangars or scrap wood. Even the Berkeley grad’s chosen signature leaves ambiguity about his gender and thus a strong feminist statement. But despite all the intrigue and uncommon signatures that communicate tenacity to the refined art world, Wurtz still manages to inscribe some humor and light-hearted eccentricities into his work, creating a complete-package exploration, and the first solo exhibit that is a must-see for gallery goers.

Harmony is a Google Chrome extension that makes your computer a digital sketch pad. The awesome thing is that depending on the brush you use it will automatically fill in your sketches with shading, highlights, or even a spider web look. The is no buttons to click other than picking your brush and start drawing just like you did on paint as a kid. So simple right? Wrong. This extension requires more finesse than paint did. While it is simple to get started there is no eraser. It is like a real sketching pencil. If you mess up then you flip the pad and start again. Most mistakes are correctable though. With a slight line adjustment you can hide a lot of errors. Anyone that likes a more sketch pad or graffiti look to their art creations will love the art extension.

Yesterday I got sucked into the extension and created a full screen graffiti wall to see the limits of Harmony. It worked like a charm however it did change how I viewed lines and shading. When you move the brush into the proximity of another line then it either connects or shades in between them. This gives you an almost perfect artistic sketch shading for the most untalented people. When I don’t draw an outline then do the shading but do both in one it changes how I connect lines. This concept is so different for someone who does draw in the style however anyone not used to drawing will find it perfect. My 14 year old sister started using it and the same day she was showing me some very good work. She can barely draw a shape otherwise but something about this extension makes her creativity soar. direct tv sports package

The best thing of all is that it is a 100% free! No ads. No gimmicks. It lets you save your work as a .png and remembers where you were before you left. It is a great tool for anyone.

One favorite creative pastime is Drawing and painting. Children are able to express themselves at an early age through painting, and they usually start out with simple painting projects, such as finger paint in preschool or kindergarten. I can still remember the smell and feel of that bright colored gooey paint oozing up and around my little fingers as I twirled and smeared my wet fingers around the paper. I discovered a brand new world, and also the pleasure of having my art work praised by my mother and put on the refrigerator door. In grade school we had an art teacher who came to each class once a week and taught us how to draw. She would give all of a large piece of paper and a box crayons. She would then start drawing on the chalkboard making a line, then a curve, and something else, and before we knew it we had a picture, one mark after another.

It is very important for parents, and others, to encourage and guide young minds to art, as young children are very sensitive to the opinions of their elders. Complements and praise from parents are integral to creating good feeling about one’s self, and assist in positive growth in the development of a child. It brings out an awareness that otherwise would be lacking, and of course, it follows a person throughout their whole life. I also remember sitting at the table with my grandmother, with scrap paper and scissors, pencils, glue, paint, glitter and crayons. As I grew, my mother was always aware of what my creative interests were at any given time, and made sure I had appropriate supplies to go along with it. I had a dear aunt who because a very well known artist in our area of coastal Maine, and she would teach me as she painted at her kitchen table. I learned composition, perspective and how to mix colors.

Everyone can draw and paint, if they just dare to take up the tools. It may not please everyone who values great art, but it certainly reflects on the creative mind. I will always remember my young son, who is not at all an artist, other than painting houses, loved to sit with me and watch me draw and paint, and I would encourage him to draw. His approach was to draw something, and then decide what it was! “Hey Mama, look. I drew string!