Cathartic Blogging

Why buy art? People buy art for different reasons. Some people buy it for the personal attachment that they feel to the piece. Others do it because they like the message that it being conveyed through the art piece. Some others may buy art because they prefer the feel of it or the way it fits in with the decor of the particular space that it is placed in. Whatever the eventual reason maybe when buying art, any decision made is usually based on any one of the following reasons: communication, aesthetics, decor, nostalgia, memories, emotion or occasion.

Therefore when you buy art, it is a general combination of:

-           The artwork and its meaning

-          The personal connection between the buyer and the art piece

-          How the art piece fits in with the mood, season or scene that is being created.

An art set for children makes an excellent gift for a child of any age and is a great way of challenging them to be creative and productive. Often children get excited by the idea of creating things with an art set, but then usually encounter difficulty in bringing their ideas into reality. You can assist them by suggesting tangible ideas and providing them with simple projects that they can complete themselves. The feeling of satisfaction that they get out of this will be very rewarding for everyone.

Art sets for children can be utilized by kids in creating gifts for just about everyone and is a great way of developing a child’s creativity from an early age. It also gives them ownership over the gift that they’ve created and usually it will end being a prized possession of the person it was given to due to the thoughtfulness that they’ve seen has been put into it. An art set for children can be utilized in a variety of ways, from painting their playroom to decorating their own toys. The list is endless in what can be created; you just have to delve into your creativity in order to come up with ideas to get the kids to delve into theirs.

Selecting framed posters is always a difficult task especially when you don’t have the “eye” for design. Framing is definitely a learned skill and it takes a bit of time and experience to master it. There are a number of steps involved in framing posters namely, selecting the artwork, selecting the mat board and selecting the frame.

Artwork selection is purely a personal choice so therefore the other two steps revolve around this. When selecting the mat board which is the border around the picture, it is suggested that a lighter tone or neutral color is selected which still allows the artwork to stand out. Darker tones will tend to drown out the artwork. Then comes the process of frame selection whereby factors such as the style of artwork, room style and the size of the artwork are important considerations.

Before last year, I had never heard of  Whale Sharks. They are the biggest fish on earth.  A true shark, it is nonetheless a harmless plankton-eating machine. They migrate through the Mexican Rivera during August- September as they head down to their breeding grounds in Belize. In the area near Cancun you can swim with them. The  poster for the Whale Shark encounter taunted “Do You Dare?”  Well, of course we did.

We started out with a caravan of small boats each holding six to ten passengers and a captain. There was a perfect blue sky, popcorn clouds and transparent water in shades of turquoise, aqua, seagreen and royal blue which fed my color-loving soul.

The boat sped twenty five miles out into the open water bouncing crazily over the formidable swells, sunlight tossing rainbows into the spray the boat kicked up. On the way pods of Dolphins often swam along side the boats leaping and playing as if this were just the most fun for them. They are wonderful to watch. The ocean herself is a living thing, I believe, and in her belly a second world of living creatures.

Our guide schooled us on what to expect when we at last got to these magnificent giants of the sea.  These behemouth fish are actually gentle. They swim with their huge mouths open scooping  up the plankton and small fish and expelling the water through their gills. We were soon to learn the difference between being a large fish in a small pond and being a small fish in a big pond. We were definately the small fish.

Our guide said we should become like the fish in the sea, just another animal at one with the ocean. He advised us to swim along side the shark rather than toward him. They tend to swim on the surface of the water so they are easy to spot. Their huge caudal fin and two dorsal fins stick high out of the water making them easy to spot from a distance.  Though we had been told that some might be a big as a school bus, we were still not prepared for how truly gigantic these creatures were. Our first sight of them was a thrill. I found them to be quite beautiful with lines of yellow and white spots running the lengh of their bodies. The spots between their pectoral fins are like a fingerprint, no two are the same. The image below is a stock photo because we did not have an underwater camera with us.

a giant of the sea

When we finally had the chance to get in the water with them we had to really work to keep up with them. They are very fast. The sea was thick with  plankton they feed on. We swam quite close beside one that was about  twentyfive feet long. I could see his eye and it seemed that he was looking back at me with curiosity, turning his head slightly toward me  before swimming away. Two tiny remora were attatched to his gills catching the leftovers.

Afterwards as we climbed back onto the boat happy and exhausted,  our Captain was stirring up a delicious Cerviche for us.  Boy, did that taste good.  The long ride back to shore was full of animated conversation about what we had experienced.

 And what a truly amazing adventure it was. Awesome!

We were in Mexico recently and had the occassion to play golf at a course  near Playa de Carmen. You never know what wildlife you may encounter on a golf course in Mexico. Always Iguanas,

Big guy Iguana

but we have also seen alligators sunning on the edge of the water hazzard beside the fairway. That can be a little startling if you are not expecting it.

This day we were in for a really delightful surprise. The fairways and cart path are bordered by thick Mexican jungle that you can’t even see through.  Mike and my brother were in the first golf cart and my sister-in-law and I were driving behind them. At hole number two a small coatimundi  sat next to the cart path. Coatimundi are a cousin of the American raccoon, but they are much smaller with pencil-thin ringed tails that they carry straight up like a flag pole. We watched as my brother tossed him a potato chip.  Inquisitively, he reached for it with his tiny little hands, nibbled it and looked up shyly for another chip. Mike emptied the rest of the bag of chips on the ground and suddenly the jungle trembled with emerging coatimundies.

Mike feeds coaties

About twenty or so showed up for snacks. They were so gentle, no fighting among themselves over the goodies. We were able to get lots of photos of them before we ran out of food to offer.

lot's of Coatimundies

 I have a feeling they are used to being fed by golfers. And why not they are so cute that you can’t help but be charmed by the little beggars. They were the highlight of the day for me.

peeking into my golf cart

Many people are still very much about wanting to buy cheap canvas art via the internet. These days the internet is the most convenient place which can provide you with a wide range of any product as well as enough information together with detailed reviews about it. It is recommended to spend about an hour in researching on the most credible art retailers online if you are serious about considering or want to buy cheap canvas art. If using Google, it is recommended selecting sites that are highly ranked. This offers credibility as it shows that they have been in operation for quite some time. You can then decide on the artistic area to focus on and then the images which best suit your tastes and the space that you would like to match it to.

I found this website with an interesting collection of whimsical art that was very inspiring to say the least. Art pieces ranged from needle felted pieces to other intriguing pieces that need to be viewed to be believed. My favorite piece had to be the flying pigs made out of wool. They were simply too cute to ignore!

Photography posters are gaining increasingly large popularity in the art world due to the way they feature various photographs captured in distinctive ways. These posters are created to serve the interests of people who want to have photographs taken those distinctive situations and in an artistic way. These photography posters can only be created by professional photographers. People can then decorate their homes and office spaces with photography posters that feature imaginary situations featuring forestry, sea creatures, wildlife animals, insects, buildings and a variety of other landscapes. There is a growing market of consumers with different tastes and choices when it comes to selecting decorating materials and satisfying them is an enormous task. These photography posters offer an ideal option to be used as potential decorating materials to make these consumers happy and satisfied.

Looking to buy a piece of fine art for your home or work space and think you can’t afford it then purchasing fine art online, direct from the artists is another affordable way to fit that into your budget. There are lots of artists representing themselves who sell photographs, limited edition prints, original paintings and fine art including pottery, sculpture and also handmade jewellery online. Artists have realized that not all art buyers are big spenders so they have come up with the option to buy fine art online. This allows dealing direct with the artist therefore removing the need for middlemen resulting in fine art that is affordably priced.

You can buy fine art online or by doing a search in your local area, find an artist and paying them a visit in their studio where they will have paintings on display for you to see before you buy. Whenever you are looking for a print or painting to compliment the look of your home or office space, buy art direct from the artist. This will not only save you money but also help support and encourage talented artists.

Landscape art is an exciting way to beautify the decor of your home. Despite the fact that you can buy landscape art cheaply as reproduced paintings, you may also want to consider buying an original from an artist to reduce the risk of someone else obtaining a similar one. You can even get in touch with a yet to be discovered up-and-coming artist to buy landscape art paintings at a fraction of the cost.

Landscape art come in various styles. You can get on that has a view of the rolling hills in a foreign country, you can get one of a beach sunset scene, one of snow topped mountains, or even one of your own backyard. Capturing home yards in paintings is the most new and exciting in landscape art. It is a way to capture the real meaning and personality of you and your yard forever. It could be passed down to your future generations to become a family heirloom. Most famous landscape art are reproduced at a relatively cheap cost, so you can have your pick of the lot.