Art today covers so many things. The choices that you have are endless, so there is something to suit everybody's taste. So much we can learn about it from looking at the Masters. However, you can appreciate art even if you are a beginner to it all.

Art today covers so many things. The choices that you have are endless, so there is something to suit everybody's taste. So much we can learn about it from looking at the Masters. However, you can appreciate art even if you are a beginner to it all.

The Japanese and Chinese seem to know quite a bit about the subject. These orientals are clever enough to write and paint with their brushes. They usually use brushes with a bamboo handle, the brush itself tapering to a fine point. You also find that most of their work is actually only done in black and white.

These brushes go on to encapsulate interesting fine works, fragile silk paintings and yes, of course, calligraphy. Obviously this takes me back to the fantastic paintings of Zen. He often used an ink over a wash. These seem to be painted with a delicacy.

Trees etc. just seem so lifelike, as if they are really moving, flowing naturally as it were. A good example is the patterns produced on the famous Willow Pattern plates. These same brushes are also used for Calligraphy and no doubt silk painting.

Expressionism as we know it is not necessarily a true representational art form. Really I would go as far as to say, it is how you express your inner feelings on a given subject emotionally.

To the eye of a beginner particularly, I am sure this art form would appear to seem unbalanced and even distorted, with unusually created shapes. Take Van Gogh for instance.

Impressionism is the Monet type of painting. Here you have very short dashes that bring together the painting when they are close together. Especially if you stand well back to look at them.

These really are appreciated the world over. His interesting floral and water scenes are a typical example and where the light actually reflects on the painting. Interestingly enough they appear as a series of dots and dashes which then appear to join up. This style of painting is Impressionism which heralds from the 19th Century.

Let us consider Still Life paintings now. Are they easily achievable? I think not. They appear so easy on the eye. Probably because we all recognize the typical types of subjects that are used for this. How often do we stop and think how talented artists are?

Although we might comprehend the subjects chosen, normal objects are not always easily achieved, such as bowls of fruit, tables and chairs as examples, as firstly you need an interesting background. What a rich talent these artists possessed.

We have all admired the intimate lifestyle enjoyed in Paris and captured by the likes of Toulouse-Lautrec. He had a really good life with the other artists, dancers, theatre artistes, in fact the whole Paris scene.

Monet with his humorous caricatures, but also his beautiful luminous coloured trees, lakes, flowers etc., with lovely country scenes portrayed amongst others.

However, there are so many well known artists. Take Renoir, Paul Klee, J.W. Turner. Pablo Picasso, these are just a few and there are many more up and coming artists we are yet to hear about.

For those who like art, prime examples to be recommended are to be seen all over Barcelona in the works of Salvador Dali, which seem to spread all over this city. To look at these one surely feels his brain must have been overloaded.

< Prev		Next >