A tiny but dignified old lady was among a group looking at an art exhibition in a newly opened gallery. Suddenly one contemporary painting caught her eye.
“What on earth,” she inquired of the artist standing nearby, “is that?”
He smiled condescendingly. “That, my dear lady, is supposed to be a mother and her child.”
“Well, then,” snapped the little old lady, “why isn’t it?”
Paperman, an Oscar-nominated film in the Best Animated Short category, merges Computer Graphics and hand-drawn animation in telling the story of lonely man in New York City who meets a beautiful woman on his way to work.
Enjoy!
Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with the Oscar®-nominated short, “Paperman.” Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute. Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him. Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, “Paperman” pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction.
The gourd as a creation of Fine Art.
Marilyn Sunderlin, an artist in Utah, takes dried gourds and turns them into colorful sculptures:
I carve the gourds with a high-speed carving/engraving tool that is powered by compressed air, which I purchased from Profitable Hobbies for the fine detail carving. I purchased the Optima II Plus carving tool from Treeline (The Woodcarvers Specialist), for larger and faster cuts. I can purchase different size burrs for both tools, so I can carve a wide variety of textures on my gourds. […]
My favorite medium is oils, because they stay moist longer and allows more flexibility in blending the colors. I also use acrylics and wood stains. I have tried dyes, but prefer the wood stains to dyes. I use the acrylics for the inside of the gourd because it is so porous. Remember to use a wood sealer first on all carved areas before painting. This will help the paint to stay its true color.
There’s no way to tell, but you’re actually not looking at a photograph, but a hyper-realistic painting by London-born artist Robin Eley. Armed with a simple paintbrush he’s able to create photo-quality works of art that draw attention instantly.
Born in London, raised in Australia and educated in the United States, Robin Eley is a man of three continents. But more impressive than his life’s story and journey are his amazing hyper-realistic works. Most of the subjects depicted in his large-scale oil paintings are naked and wrapped in plastic foil, with each tiny detail of their bodies and countless reflection of their translucent covers expertly depicted by the artist. “Inspired by history, I extract from the present. Artifacts and textures that reflect the beauty and nobility of decline and question the modern obsession with perfection. While my subjects and technique are intentionally very real, the context in which they are painted is less defined, Eley says about his art.