Magnolia Tree Gardening Blog

Posts Tagged ‘art’

Paints, oils, and watercolor are traditional media for art. Over the ages, artists have used them to create stunning pictures that captivate the mind.

There is also another genre of artists that do not use traditional media. Instead, they use other nonstandard materials to make beautiful art. For example, some may use butterfly wings to make beautiful artwork. Some use coins to create an interesting mosaic.

Some of the easiest nonstandard materials to work on are leaves. Leaves come in an infinite number of shapes, forms, colors, and sizes. These factors make leaves a perfect art material.

Here are some wonderful art ideas that you can make easily.

1. Paint spatter silhouettes

To protect the surface you are working on, place some old newspapers on it. Now take a large poster board. Place your leaves on the poster board and arrange it to your liking. Any number of leaves is fine but it is best to restrict the number to around two or three. With the leaves in place, dip an old toothbrush into a color medium; enamel paint usually works best. Hold the brush near the leaves, and run your finger across the bristles, flicking the paint. You can do this process several times with different colors. When dry, lift the leaves carefully; you will see a wonderful bare leaf outline around color splatters. Frame the board and you will have an interesting leaves wall décor for your home.

2. Angel feathers

Magnolia leaves are best used for this project. Start of by mixing a teaspoon of baking soda for one quart of water in a porcelain boiling pan. Lay the leaves in the vessel and pour over the baking powder solution. After boiling for half an hour, set aside to let the leaves cool in the solution. Take the leaves out and scrape the green surface with a knife. Once this is done, you will have a nice shape of a feather.

Make a solution of two tablespoons of chlorine bleach per quart of water. Place the leaves into the solution and set aside for an hour. When the leaves turn white, take them out and rinse thoroughly with cool water. Gently dry the leaves with a washcloth. Once dry, place the leaves between paper towels and press or weigh. Place wires on the leaves for stems and wrap it with florist tape. You can then frame the leaves.

3. Iron-on leaf designs

Choose nicely shaped leaves of different sizes. Then choose the substrate, the material to transfer the design to-be it cloth dinner napkins, T-shirt pocket, stationery, or a hanky. Color the back of the leaf with a bright colored crayon; then colored side on the material.

Cover the leaf with a thin cotton cloth, and press a warm iron on it for a few seconds.

4. Leaf prints

Here is another good leaves wall décor for any room in your house. Lay the leaf on a surface. You can use poster board, but you can be creative by using an unusual material such as papyrus or recycled brown paper. Use the side of a crayon to rub over side of the leaf. You can use as many colors as you like. When you lift the leaf off the material, you will be left with the shape of the leaf.

Arthur Court is a range of “silverware” and decorative products made of aluminum, polished to a brilliant luster. More significantly, the products are designed professionally, with inspiration from natural and man-made objects.

The prestigious range of products is made by Arthur Court Designs, of Arthur and Elena Court of San Francisco Bay area. In addition to running the company, the Courts design the products, contribute their time to conservation and wildlife causes, travel all over the world and collect minerals and artifacts.

Arthur Court worked for design and decorating firms for eighteen years before opening his own business. His vast mineral collection inspired and helped him create exotic designs, and the intricate aluminum creations that he offered proved highly successful in the market.

Elena Orsini-Court studied Oriental art history and modern art. She has worked as a corporate art consultant and curator for public art exhibitions. She is the director of product development at Arthur Court Designs, and also its president.

Designs come from numerous sources. It can come from the flowers, leaves and stems of plants and trees, animals and their movements, men, women and their creations. Traditional art provides many of the motifs used in products such as those made by Arthur Court Designs.

The vast and exotic collection of minerals gathered by the Courts would be an invaluable reference source for any designer. And Arthur Court Designs has used this source to marvelous effect.

Over five hundred designs have been used in their range of serve ware and decorative products. We take a brief look at a sampling of the range.

The American Traditional series include casseroles, trays, salad sets, trivets, American traditional granite and chip & dip servers. The most striking feature of these products is their stunning designs and brilliant luster.

The Bunny range utilizes bunny shapes and patterns in decorative products like photo frame and swing ornaments and utility products like a salt & pepper set.

Della Robia series offers salad bowls, cheese/cracker sets, chip & dip servers and a pitcher worked with amazingly intricate patterns.

The Dragonfly series range from an intricate sweetener holder with dragonflies all round to a simple square plate with a dragonfly embossed in one corner.

The Longhorn features the American Buffalo and the range includes salt & pepper set, fruit bowl stand with a transparent acrylic bowl and an oblong tray, among other items.

The Soho range has a design that pleases the eye with its apparent simplicity despite the obvious sophistication.

Other series include American Wilderness, Autumn, Baby, African Safari, Fleur De Lis, Frog, Horse, Large Animal Coolers, Magnolia, Chili Pepper, Pineapple and Palm Leaf, Tuscan, Western, Sealife Designs and even a Collegiate (offering licensed insignias of specific schools).

It is no wonder that Arthur Court Designs has been able to capture the fancy of consumers with the wide variety, sophistication and brilliance of its designs. The numerous themes cater to varied interests and the artistic execution pleases the eye and mind.

The ability to admire fine art is habitually dismissed as simply a way to defeat boredom or while away the hours of the day. Outside of those who have specifically followed a career in the arts, becoming masters of the brush, palette, and folding easel, we generally only get to follow our passion when we can get away from the nine to five.

Painting, sculpture, and several other forms of artistic expression do distinguish themselves from other, more puerile ways to spend free time. From playing football or baseball, to going skydiving or snowboarding, nothing has as much of an impact on us as an artist is capable of with a few masterful strokes of a brush.

To completely realize the full value of an artist’s expression is an acquired skill. In order to develop a deep love for art you must first adapt to this mindset through frequent exposure. To the individual who cannot relate, merely the sight of someone who takes pleasure in the arts gazing into a painting for an extended period of time may be downright laughable. In reality, someone who can stare at a painting like this, frequently has a hurricane of emotion swirling around inside of him through the process, which is sometimes hard to understand for onlookers.

The painter and the preacher aren’t really that different in that they both have their own point of view which they have a feverish desire to impart to their fellow man. One works with their discount easels and wrought iron easels, the other with the Good Book and the power of their voice. A finished painting is the artist’s way of speaking to us. As he or she has no way of knowing whether it may be the first or the last conversation, each great artist tries to make every painting another masterpiece.

Extraordinary art has the ability to communicate any idea you can imagine, be it one of philosophy, religion, or politics. Paintings can call forth profound emotional reactions. Our own opinions can actually be modified on a level that can’t be easily reached via more direct means such as the spoken word.

In viewing an artist’s work, we often find that they are guiding us on the journey of self discovery, offering a means by which we can ponder where our own place is in the annals of time. There are numerous people who are just too busy with their day to day lives to ever take the time to consider these things if they are not pushed in front of them in some way. The painter assists us by easing us into a pensive state. An artist sharing with us in such a way really helps us to become fully developed people both in mind and in spirit.

Extended contemplation as a result of fine art does often make one reexamine ways of thinking that have been present for years. For instance, after a day spent browsing artwork, it wouldn’t be unheard of for a mom to be moved to take more time out to devote to her child because life is too short. Religious people could take a completely different message away from a painting, and maybe gain a new appreciation for the beauty of the world that The Lord has created.

Someone who spends his time chasing material wealth may be driven to rethink his reason for being. Things that we don’t even know about ourselves tend to come out when confronted with the right piece of art to act as a catalyst for it. If we develop into finer people through a pursuit of the arts, then isn’t it all worthwhile?