Salvation Mountain

First picture is the big tree and other things and the second picture is the other side of it and you can climb it. It has a great view!!

Picture tooken by me!!!

Have you ever wonder if there is a place that it is in the middle of no where and there’s a man that makes art there? Well, there is!! His name is Leonard Knight and he has been there for around 30 years. This is where he stays and this is what he does for his living. I got the change to go and see this wonderful thing that this guy does. I was amaze by how well this mountain was and also of how much dedication it took for it to look so pretty. We got to meet him and he was explaining his story that he was asked to make a big balloon that would fly and he didn’t know how to do one, so for this, Leonard began working on this mountain to the love that he has god and to spread out the love to everyone he could. God told him that this was going to be his goal for his life and that this is what he would do. I am not saying that I agree with god actually talking to him, but this is what he told us when we were visiting him. At first, nothing could be in the middle of now where but then in the far distance we could see a mountain that was colorful and it said in big words, “LOVE IS GOD”. At first, both of my classes were like (including me), “I sit for three hours to get here and to see a mountain that is painted and says love all over the place?” This was everyone’s reaction and then when we got off the car and started climbing it and exploring the mountain, we didn’t want to leave. Once you get there and go in the “big tree”, you feel in a peace place and there are no sounds and it’s very calm. We had lunch there and we just relax and got to hear him tell us his experience and how he made this entire wonderful thing. Here is his website and if you can, try to go!! I promise you that you will enjoy going there and seeing how there are still people out there loving our earth and our god. http://www.salvationmountain.us/
Or contact his at:
Leonard Knight P. O. Box 298 Niland, California, U.S.A. 92257-0298
This is one of the life experience that you can’t miss out of!!

Colors

http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/1B.html

Now days many people and teachers are trying to have a bigger impact on teenagers. Many of those people want for us (teens) to be involve in something that is well and not go around and mess around. I have know some people in their teens that they were in gangs and they went to this rehab and they were taught art and different things that they got out of the bad life and streets. Art is a good way to express you and have fun. You either to this because you want to enjoy to draw and want to experience something new in your life, you may want to have some color to it. I have taken art classes and they teach you the prime colors which they are red, yellow and blue. When you mix yellow and blue, you will get green. When you mix blue and red, you will get purple. Also when you mix yellow with red, you will get orange. In fewer words, the prime colors are the colors that can be mix with another color and make a different one.
In the website that I provide for you, it has a lot of good information on the color history. One of the things that I thought was interesting was that the detailed understanding was in the year of 1666 and it was by Newton. It also tells you about what electrons it has and also it gives you examples (with pictures) of how colors bind with each other and how the wheel of color is. If you are looking up the history of art or on color, this is the website that you need. I hope that it helped you.

Some techniques for painting.....

Website for picture: http://www.rd.com/18079/article.html

When you first start your art piece, you should just paint that first thing that comes up in your mind. Then after this, you can develop this idea more and then you will have your art piece. Some artists take a year to finish them and others can take just one hour or even minutes. Also make sure that you have all the materials that you need before you start to paint. If you are using watercolors, you must have enough water in then paint so it can give you that texture. If you have anything else besides water colors, you must look at your painting before you let it dry. Try to always leave your area clean because then if you make a mess, you will have a hard time to paint well. Also when you are painting, keep the following things in mind. On of the first things is that there are no rules in art and if you think that a piece is done, then it’s done. Another thing that you should keep in mind is that if you want to show things that collapse with each other, try to make the shapes smaller at the back and at the front a bigger shape. Like this, the picture would look more dimensional and also try to keep some things constants and other changes it up. I can’t tell you to paint a certain way but I can tell you some skills to be better. And remember there are really no rules when it comes to express your ideas and imagination. By the way, this is knowledge that I know and other I have been taught at school. If you guys have any questions, contact me!! I hope that this was helpful and motive your to make your own art pieces.

Interview with Begonya Perez

This person was really helpful to me to understand some of the things behind art. One of the answers that really stroke out was when she said that there is not perfect art or that there are not rules when it comes to art. I think that this is some really important words for a person that is starting to become and artist. Knowing this, many people can paint freely and they would not be afraid to develop their ideas. She works in the Museum of Art in Balboa Park in San Diego and her job there is to coordinate events and also give tours in the museum. She is the one who knows the history behind the art and some of the paintings. She also coordinates in museums that are in Tijuana and she has a lot of experience working with people. Also if you are looking for an internship and if you like to design or art, this is the right place for you. If you guys ever need to get an interview for your art project or you just need someone to get information, you can go with Begonya Perez.

Contact her:

Begonya Perez

(619) 231-1996 (her office)

Times:

8:30am - 4:30pm Monday through Friday

9am-1pm on Saturdays

Website: http://www.sdmart.org/info-general.html

E-mail: education@sdmart.org

I hope that this was helpful for someone if you need anything else from this lady, contact by leaving a comment and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible.

What is paint?

www.nachi.org

Have you ever wonder if you can make your own paint? The answer to this is yes. Paint is made out of three things: water, binder, and pigments. According to www.nachi.org paint is “A combination of pigments with suitable thinners or oils to provide decorative and protective coatings.” This is what artist use to paint. When I made paint, they thought that I was going to try to make watercolors but they were wrong. This type of paint is very toxic when it dries up because you can inhale that and you can get damage. If you ever try to make any type of paint, you must be safe and try to not get to close to the dry paint. For example was Cobalt Blue and this is the chemical equation CoO · Al₂O₃ .This was first publish in 1803 or 1804 and to make this pigment all you need is Cobalt (II)-chloride and Aluminum chloride. Also can you believe that there were pigments a long time ago but back then they were more toxic than today. They would paint on walls from caves and stones. If you can go to some places, you can still see some one the art that they made.

In the year of 1957…..

http://wwar.com/masters/r/rothko-mark.html

http://rothkoart.com/biography.htm

In the year of 1957, there were a lot of things that was going on with artist like Mark Rothko and history. To start off, World War ll was over and everyone was trying to get in better conditions and try to get over of the people that they lost. This was one of the worst wars there was because there was a lot of people dying, but I mean I know that in every war, many soldiers die. In this time, most of the artist decide to stop doing art of their own and try to draw of what was going on with the war and how bad it was. Many people then knew how they bad were the war and they knew that their relatives could never come back. What they knew was that they were going to the war and come back as heroes and everyone would give them respect and support them. What would really happen was that they would never come back again or they would be ill for their rest of their life because of what they saw in the battlefield. This is still true now days, they try to convince teens to go to war but some of us know who dangerous it is and don’t want to risk it. Others go to war and defend and they are proud to be a soldier. There is nothing wrong with that because I support the troops but they are risking their lives. Now for Mark Rothko, he was a painter for the war that just finish which was WWll and he was doing a good job after this time. After the war was over, he started to paint his dark side of him. After all of that he became depress and had alcohol problems with this later in the 1970, he died.

When did pigments started and does it have any history?

http://www.danielsmith.com/Articles/Guide-to-Pigments.asp

http://www.missing-lynx.com/rare_world/rw05.htm

http://history-world.org/stone_age1.htm

(The link above is for the history of the Paleolithic time)

We always hear the word pigment and we really never hear when this around was. Pigments were around since the Paleolithic time which was the era was our first ancestors were alive. This is when they say that there was the first wheel and the first stone tools. They were trying to mix things up and they found this way of mixing pulverized minerals and charcoal. They would paint on their caves and this paint have been there for over than 30,000 years. Back then, the pigments that they had were not that well when it came to the texture of it and also the color that you would get. As the years have been going, there have been better pigments with their colors and also now they sell then when back then they didn’t, most people would make them. Also there are some pigments that are from natural earth and they are umbers and siennas. Others like cadmium colors are not natural because they have somewhat different mixtures and they are manufacture differently. So now you know that pigments have been here for along time and yet they are still use now days.

What is a pigment?

http://www.missing-lynx.com/rare_world/rw05.htm

http://www.concretedecor.net/Abstracts/CD403_Pigments.cfm

Pigments are essentially coloured powder, and they are use to be mix with binders and water to make paint. Some of the types that can be coloured are acrylics, chalks, coloured pencils, oils, and others. These are the things that you would mix with the powder. When you mix all of this, you would get paint. Some paints are faster to dry than others. For example, Naples Yellow is one of the colors that are made out of pigments that dry fast. It all depends on what type of paint do you want to do, but the pigment substance would always stay the same. You need to make sure that you do every single step that they tell you or else your mixture would come out bad. Also when you have a pigment, you ALWAYS need to have it finely produce because if it isn’t, then it would ruin the whole thing.

Mark Rothko and World War ll

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/index.htm

http://www.geocities.com/geldof_99/w_w2.html

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2004/rothko/rothko_ss.shtm

Mark Rothko was alive from the years of 1903 – 1970. Between those years, there were a lot of things that were going on for example World War ll. This was a big impact in the history of the United States. This war was from the years of 1939 through 1945. This was one of the longest wars and there were a lot of countries involve in this. There were a lot of soldiers in the military and they were encouraging to get more. For example, in the United States, they would have posters that would say that if you go to war, you would come back as a hero and be respected. This is still what they would tell the soldiers that go to Irak but now days; there is a bigger problem with this war because there was not point for the military to go in Irak. This is another war that is happening right now. Mark Rothko was one of many artists that were painting of what was going on with the war. The paintings were sad and the colors were not bright as they would be. This is how many people knew what was going on with the people dying, people getting hurt, people getting traumatize, and many other things that happened in the war. Also Mark was known for his piece of art that he did to reflect on the war. This could also have been one of the reasons that he felt in his big depression that he was on.

The Background of Mark Rothko's reason for suicide

http://www.atypon-link.com/GPI/doi/abs/10.1521/jaap.30.1.17.21984?

cookieSet=1&journalCode=jaap

In this website, it talks about how Mark Rothko had a very hard childhood and this is what caused his suicide. He experience early losses from his family. They don’t say who he lost but it was someone that was very meaningful to him because from that day and one, he was depressed and not that mentally well. I am not saying that he was crazy but that he was not well because he was alone and it was hard growing up without that person. When a kid is growing up and there isn’t that much love in his family, then he grows up to not be that loving or happy person. This is not for all people but it was in this case. He didn’t get marry or he didn’t have any relationships when he killed himself because he would also have attitude issues and he would just start to scream. He would scream because he didn’t want to hear what people were saying and this cause the women not to date him or get near him. He was always depressed and no wonders why his art was usually dark and not that complex because maybe this is how he felt with his life. This is the background of why he suicide himself.

Did you knew that Mark Rothko committed suicide?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/powerofart/rothko.shtml

This is a website that I thought gave good information on the artist Mark Rothko. This website said that he was born in Russia and also information on his life. From Russia, he moved with his family to Portland, Oregon and from there he moved to New York to study art with the artist name Max Weber. After he studied there, he was ready to start painting and he was one of the best student that Max had. Later when he was out of that school, he started to have his career go up. At first he was known as an abstract expressionism and throughout the years of his career, he moved his mood in his paintings. He has an interesting art because there really isn’t that much of shapes and not that much work. I couldn’t believe that this person would get money for just having lines with color. I know that for some people, this is art but for me, his art is not that well as other artist. He was making good money and he was rising up as an artist and in the year of 1970, he committed suicide. He had a good life for it to come and yet he ruined it by killing himself.

About Mark Rothko

http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/intro1.shtm

This website has information on an artist name Mark Rothko. He lived from the years of 1903 through 1970. I really didn’t know anything about him but sometimes when you just look at their painting, you can get a lot of information from it. Here on the left is a picture of his art and you can notice that his art piece is with lines and colors. Most or all of his art pieces are lines or shapes with colors. I wonder why he decided to have only lines with different type of color. Maybe he was a person like me that doesn’t know how to draw that well and only draws lines. When I saw his paintings, I thought that this really helped out to me because I thought to myself, I can’t draw and seeing this person’s art made me feel better. So if you are one of those people that think that they can’t draw, maybe it would be a good idea for you to look at some of the artist pieces (not just Mark Rothko) and see how their art is made. Also if you were wondering what type of mood is Mark’s art, it is Abstract Expressionism and most the pictures might be similar to the other ones but he just uses different type of color. Also I think that some people think that art is something drawn to perfection but in reality art can be anything that combines colors and shapes or actual things.

Did you know that pigments are toxic?

http://www.eggtempera.com/pigments.html

This was a website that I found and it can be every helpful for whoever is looking up if egg tempera is toxic of not. I thought that this was going to be non-toxic because I mean the ingredients that this mixture has are eggs, oil,water, and pigments. The pigments are the one that are dangerous and its very dangerous if you would inhale or consume it. The pigments that are very dangerous are Naples Yellow and Lead White/Flake White. These two are the ones that are the most dangerous ones of all the colors that have been painted. This is why when they make watercolor for children, they know that they should not use the same materials as a pigment does. This is because children don't know what a pigment is or anything like that and the first thing is that they would either eat it or smell it. Like this, there would be more children death and also I remember that when my relatives were small, they would first take the marker and taste it before they would use it to write on it. So before you give your children some crayons or markers to draw make sure what their ingredients are.

The Early Pigments and its history

http://webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/index.html

This is a website that talks about how pigments have been around through the years. They also mention that before the normal and basic pigments were made out of dirt or clay and now days they are made with chemicals. They are made out of different chemicals but yet there are some articles that say that pigments are not toxic. Now days, you can make better and more colorful pigments than back then. The first drawings that were made were the ones in a cave that our ancestors would draw. These drawings were painted with pigments made out of dirt, charcoal mixed or animal fatness. This was the only pigment that would stay there because the fatness of the animal would stick there when it would dry up. Also this web talks about how people in the ancient would put over someone’s body red pigment because this would mean that their life was over.

Art now and art back then

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1026/is_4_159/ai_73410717

This is a website that talks about how the art in the time of the Industrial Revolution. In this web, it talks about how from those days and now, art has been very different. In those days, they would just use different technology than the one that we have now days. Also back then the art was made in just paper and now days, art can be on special art paper, just paper, or in a computer. Back then they didn't have computers and some people wanted to make art but they would do this with all the materials that they had. This web talks something about this but I told you guys about the web and also what I know as my previous knowledge. Now in schools, you would do art to understand how it has change from something as carving in a stone or a rock to a digital picture or to a picture taken by a photographer. Art then and art now are very different to each other. Who knows how the art would be later on as the years go on.

About My Blog

In my opinion I think that a blog is to post interesting facts about topics that are being assign to us. We are now in a project and we are learning about art. Art is something that you can express yourself with but without words. In art you can use figures and different colors that can change the tone of the painting. For example if one painting is black with gray this piece of art would be sad because the author is not using happy or bright colors. In the other hand, if you use colors that are bright, then the painting would come out more colorful and happier.