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Post by BertL on Jun 14, 2007 10:37:19 GMT -4
Every tree needs a friend. That phrase just makes me gooey all over.
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Post by JayUtah on Jun 14, 2007 12:30:52 GMT -4
Yes, Bob Ross got his reputation as the "happy little trees" guy, and Tony Hart would probably be the U.K. analogue. The American public broadcasting network has aired many half-hour programs for many years in the same format in which different artists working in various media demonstrated and instructed viewers in the basic methods. Ross is famous for his "big brush" wet-on-wet oil technique, and his soft-spoken, homespun banter. He was also popular for his giant nimbus of curly hair.
The oft-invoked "happy accident" statement was obviously aimed at reassuring novices that mistakes in their work could be salvaged and even developed into a pleasing feature. That's especially important for wet-on-wet when you have very limited opportunity to start again if you make a mistake. In wet-on-dry oil, many mistakes can simply be wiped away with a rag. But "happy accident" can also be an affirmation of the eye-mind-hand principle. Under the eye-mind-hand regime a mistake often triggers a creative impulse by which you realize that it's better the "wrong" way. It's all part of a mental model in which there is no necessarily right or wrong answer; you use the developing sketches to keep your mind out of self-limiting boxes.
The "happy little tree" phenomenon is amusing, but it's also very real. Although Ross made it flippantly famous, the notion of "story" in art is universal. In his seminars, noted illustrator and futurist Syd Mead belabors the same points. His paintings are essentially snapshots of a scene he plays out in his mind. He has a back story for nearly every element in each of his paintings. I have yet to meet a successful conceptual artist who cannot immediately tell you the story each of his works depicts. They are not static images.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Post by Al Johnston on Jun 14, 2007 14:19:45 GMT -4
;D Rolf "Can you tell what it is yet?" Harris also comes to mind.
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Post by JayUtah on Jun 14, 2007 14:22:58 GMT -4
In Picasso's case the question remains valid even after Picasso declared the work complete.
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Post by gillianren on Jun 14, 2007 15:05:22 GMT -4
I went to a Picasso exhibit with my sister once. Its only North American stop was the Tacoma Art Museum, for some reason. We were about halfway through before realizing neither of us much like Picasso, so we went to the gift shop instead.
Bob Ross always manages to make me believe I could paint. I've never tried, because I couldn't stand the disappointment. It would spoil Bob Ross for me if I failed.
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Post by scooter on Jun 14, 2007 15:27:54 GMT -4
I did wet on wet for a while...fun stuff (still find myself making "happy trees" when I'm painting a wall!!). I remember Bill Alexander as well, also a "WOW" painter. He was the opposite of Ross, speaking of "the mighty brush" and the "powwerrr". In his hard German accent, it was amazing to watch. And, he wasn't afraid of bright colors, really brilliant sunset scenes and such. I always found colors the big challenge...what color is that dark cloud...that mountain...that grassy hill...
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Post by Ginnie on Jun 14, 2007 15:37:23 GMT -4
Oh, yeah I remember him (Bob Ross) with the curly hair. I think he was on PBS television in the 70's. While I'm not too fond of his style, (it seemed too mechanical) I would have learned a lot from his series if I had been painting at the time. I could see an artist learning the ropes so to speak from the show and branching off into his/her own technique. It's sad to see those kind of paintings spelling in shopping malls, framed and all for less than a hundred bucks. Most artists rarely receive just compensation for their work. Most people want a 'deal' and don't appreciate sometimes that a painting goes beyond the visual, if that makes sense. It can represent an idea, story or mood also. I once painting an ordinary picture of a wooded scene with a river winding through it. I was plain to me, unsatisfying and I was going to paint over it. There was a dead log by the bank of the river and a small cabin in the background. I thought about it and started to paint a girl, in a dress, sitting on the log with her hands on her chin and knees. She was staring into the water. All the while I was painting her, I could feel emotion build up within me, those little splatters of colour coming together to create 'someone' out of nothing - was she depressed, or happy, peaceful or lonely? When people asked me what she was doing or feeling I told them "I don't know", and let them figure it out. In that painting I learned about transforming something regular into something more than that, just by adding a little bit more to the painting. It's hard to explain the mental activity that goes on when an artist paints. Oh boy, this is way off subject. It's hard for me to stop talking when it comes to art. Sorry.
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Post by PhantomWolf on Jun 14, 2007 17:36:33 GMT -4
;D Rolf "Can you tell what it is yet?" Harris also comes to mind. I did rather have Rolf "Can you tell what it is yet?" Harris than Rolf "I can play Stairway to heaven on the digeridoo and woobleboard" Harris. However, either way, Australia can keep him.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Post by Al Johnston on Jun 14, 2007 19:19:05 GMT -4
Unfortunately, at the moment Rolf "Aw look at this cute little sick fluffy animal" Harris is rather too firmly esconsed in the UK: send insulin now, ...please!
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Post by Mr Gorsky on Jun 15, 2007 4:56:47 GMT -4
;D Rolf "Can you tell what it is yet?" Harris also comes to mind. I did rather have Rolf "Can you tell what it is yet?" Harris than Rolf "I can play Stairway to heaven on the digeridoo and woobleboard" Harris. However, either way, Australia can keep him. To be fair to the Harris ... that story isn't quite as simple as it first appears. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Harris#.22Stairway_to_Heaven.22
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Post by Jason Thompson on Jun 15, 2007 6:45:10 GMT -4
Yes, Bob Ross got his reputation as the "happy little trees" guy, and Tony Hart would probably be the U.K. analogue. Sounds right. Tony Hart remained for a long time the only person who could get away with using 'oh crumbs' as an expletive on national television (with the possible exception of Dangermouse's Penfold) without sounding ludicrous. Poor old Tony Hart ought to be a millionnaire from royalities, but thanks to a lack of contract signing he isn't. He designed the famous ship for the children's TV magazine show Blue Peter, way back in 1958. The design appeared on every show, and was made into the famous 'Blue Peter Badge' coveted by schoolchildren all over Britain, partly for the prestige of having one but mainly because it got you free entry to a lot of cool stuff. It's still around now, albeit in modified form. Sadly for Tony Hart, he just agreed to do a simple sketch design for a logo, and nowhere was anything written or signed that obliged the BBC to recognise it as his and pay him for its use. Hart used to say that hindsight being 20/20 can be quite annoying....
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Post by captain swoop on Jun 15, 2007 10:51:42 GMT -4
Tony Hart was a genious. Right back from the old Vision On days up to the final Hartbeat, I used to love him.
'Smart' is the current kids Tv art prog. it follows on directly from Tony harts old shows. it still uses the same 'Gallery' music when showing pics the kids have sent in and still features the 'Morph' Claymation bits.
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Post by rchappo on Jun 15, 2007 11:16:55 GMT -4
There was also that show 'Art Attack' from a few years back with Neil Buchannan...similar kind of show to Take Hart but trying to be a bit "cooler". Didn't have anywhere near the charm of anything that Tony Hart did though.
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furi
Mars
The Secret is to keep banging those rocks together.
Posts: 260
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Post by furi on Jun 15, 2007 11:33:02 GMT -4
Although a Great Fan of Take Hart and Vision On, Can you ever here the word Gallery without humming the music, or walk around a Gallery commenting on "And here we can see that Tracy has used real Vomit to make the stains"
I have now got a major Wilf Lunn thing going on in my head, I can trim my mousdtache to his, I think I just need to go and invent an automatic Hamster Flingeing hat whilst down t'pub. one that inables you to run through fields of cats by distracting them and simultaneously playing Wagner. Or I might Just sink a couple of litres of Porter .
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Post by captain swoop on Jun 15, 2007 19:49:07 GMT -4
Art Attack was on ITV so it was bound tyo be down market lol Wilf Lunn was great.
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