Terry Krysak Artworks

How To Mix Colors For Oils And Acrylic Paints

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:51:00 +0000

Here is a great video clip for a book devoted to how to mix colors for oils and acrylics with a sure fire practical method. The video shows how you can easily find a color by looking at an index of subject matter such as the color of hay for instance.

In the book there is a piece of plastic with a measuring guide printed on it that allows you to measure out a precise amount of paint onto a plastic sheet which is defined by the mixtures of the particular color that you have chosen.

Now that I am venturing into the challenge of painting in oils, this book has become a must buy in order to avoid wasting paint in guessing at the mixture when I am choosing a particular color to paint.

I am buying my copy today, what a wonderful idea for the artist's tool box.

For more information on color mixing read my post on How To Make Your Own Color Chart

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Bob Krysak-Awesome Watercolor Artist

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Vermillion-Watercolor Painting
10" x 14"
(C) Bob Krysak

This is another post in my series of "My Favorite Artists", and I wanted to introduce you to a watercolor artist I have known for 55 years. If you have not already guessed, he is my brother.

We were both influenced by our father, who dabbled in oil paints from time to time throughout our lives. We both started drawing and painting when we were young boys.

Although I wanted to write about him months ago, it was not until a few weeks ago that Bob gave me the go ahead to set up a blog for him so that he was able to show his work to the world.

The watercolor Vermillion shown above is one of my favorite paintings that he has done. The view is of Mount Rundle, perhaps the most photographed mountain in Banff, Alberta where Bob lives and works. This spot at the edge of the Vermillion Lakes in Banff is one of our favorite spots to view Mount Rundle, and enjoy it throughout the seasons of the year.

I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do, and take the opportunity to visit his blog, Bob Krysak Watercolors and take a look at his work. You will not be disappointed.

Visit Bob Krysak Watercolors to see more of his work.

Vancouver Photo Of The Day-August Rose

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:25:00 +0000

August Rose
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The Rose Garden is giving up it's delights every day which is sensational. I am trying really hard to get a good diffused background for these shots with the Nikon D70. Very happy with this shot, taken at 5:00 pm in shadow.

If you have been following, you will notice that this shot is the progression of the last post Friday Rosebud. It is amazing how much the flower grows in a short period of time.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Friday Rosebud

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:42:00 +0000

Friday Rosebuds
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The Rose Garden gives up new delights every day. What a treat, I am really enjoying taking these macro shots. Especially on a hot sunny day here in Vancouver.

This was taken with a Nikon D70 DSLR with telephoto lens.

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How To Get More Visitors To Your Art Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:04:00 +0000

For the purpose of this post I am assuming that you have your blog set up, and you have registered with Feedburner so that you can add a RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and an email opt in section so that people can sign up for regular updates to your Blog.

If you have not done so already, sign with Google and get an account for free. I also suggest you sign up for a Goggle Gmail email account as well for free. You don't want your primary email address to show on your Blog because you will get more spam than you want to deal with.

The next thing I suggest is that you also sign up for IGoogle also for free. This allows you to put different applications such as Google Reader and Gmail on your personal page so that you can read blogs you may have signed up for, read your Gmail, and a whole bunch of other applications that they offer with this feature, again all for free.

OK here is a list of some of the ways that you can attract visitors to your Blog. This takes time, and you have to work at it and you will have to spend some time every day on this. It will take a few months before you start to get more visitors.

Comment On The Blog Posts Of Other Artists

I follow about 40 different artists who have blogs, and some times I will comment on a particular post because it interests me, I am responding to a poll, or I just want to make a positive comment about a particular piece of artwork.

However don't make a comment like "Gee great post", if the comments on the blog are moderated, the owner may consider those types of comments as spam, and not publish it. You want to provide a comment that is on topic, such as "I love this painting because of the vibrant colors you used". Many blogs have a section in their comments where you can put in the address of your Blog or Website, and someone reading your comment might be interested, and visit your Blog. This happens quite frequently, and is a proven way to attract visitors.

Register Your Blog Or Website With The Search Engines

It will take some time before your Blog will be looked at by the search engines and indexed, but this is something that you must do right away.

Register your Blog with Google.

Register your Blog with Yahoo.

Register your Blog with MSN.

Here is a link to a great post on how to do all of this by JTpratt, a blogger I have followed for a few years.

Register With Some Art Groups Or Forums

Art Groups and Forums are a great way to meet other artists and promote your work.

Join Wetcanvas for free, Registration Required.

Join Everyday Matters Yahoo Group, Registration Required.

Register Your Blog With Blog Directories

Registering with Blog directories is usually free, and will bring more visitors to your blog. They will often ask you to put their "Badge" on your website, and they provide the HTML that you can use to create a "Gadget" to add to your Blogger Blog.

Register with Blogged Directory

Register with Blogcatalog Directory

Register with BlogTopSites Directory

Register with Top Artists Directory

Link To Your Favorite Blogs By Putting A Link To Them On Your Blog

This is another great way to get some visitors. In the right hand column of my blog you will see links to the blogs that I like, and that I follow. This again is done very easily by creating a Gadget in Blogger. Sometimes Blogs you link to will reciprocate and link to you. Creative Spotlite which has a direct link to on my blog will add your blog to thier artist directory if you email them.

Some bloggers are very aggressive about this and ask for a reciprocal link right away. They believe you only get what you ask for. You might consider this if you are following a blog on a regular basis, and mention to the owner in an email that you have linked to them. I think it is best not to be too pushy about this. Remember that you are trying to provide more value to the readers of your blog.

Register With Social Networking Websites For Free

Another great way to get more visitors is to set up accounts with Social Networking Sites.

Register with Facebook

Register with Twitter

Register with Stumbleupon

Register with Digg

I have followed a few very successful Bloggers for over a year now, and some of them offer FREE Ebooks that you can download, and get a gigantic amount of information on Blogging and Marketing, and they are well worth reading. These Ebooks will give you all the information that you need to become a successful Blogger.

John Chow Free Ebook

Yaro Starak Free Ebook

SEO (Search Engine Optomization)

There is a ton of information on the Internet about SEO, and it is important because it gives you organic search results from the search engines which the search engines like, and they will rank your blog higher in page rank if you have a lot of organic search engine traffic.

Empty Easel Articles On SEO

And Last But Not Least, Give Away Something For Free

A number of artists have had success by giving away a greeting card or small print of their artowrk for free. You may have done some painting tutorials or something like that of value that you are prepared to give away for free if they sign up for your Blog.

Well, I have covered a fair number of items that I hope will be of some help to you in getting more visitors to your blog. Please feel free to add comments or ask questions.

Good Luck.

Why Every Artist Should Have A Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:26:00 +0000

I was watching Susan Carlin paint live on Ustream TV on Wednesday night, and a number of the viewers who were watching were asking questions about blogging, and how to get people to visit your blog.

In this post I will go into some detail on why to have a blog, and how to set one up for free using Google Blogger. Let me also say that it is easy, you don't have to be an expert computer user, all you have to do is to be able to follow simple instructions.

One thing I noticed after following blogging experts for over a year now is that most of the experts suggest that you register your own domain name, pay for web hosting services, and use Wordpress to start up your blog. I don't disagree with the experts, they have lots of reasons for their advice, but I also noticed that about 90% of the artist blogs that I visited were hosted by Google Blogger which is free.

So Why Should You Have A Blog If You Are An Artist?

There are 1,596,270,108 people on the Internet in the world according to Internet World Stats, I did a quick search on Google to get that information. I have no idea how many of those Internet users are interested in art, but the basic idea is that with the Internet, you have a worldwide market that might be interested in your artwork.
A Blog allows you to connect with people interested in art, and other artists that might be able to help you promote your art, and also help you with sharing information that might be useful, or even valuable to you all for free. Bloggers tend to be a friendly and helpful group of people.
Blogging also gives you a platform to establish a community, or tribe (latest buzzword) that gathers people around your artistic expression, and allows them to contribute their views, feelings, and thoughts about your art in general, and the art world. This community can also help you find customers by word of mouth. If someone who visits your blog likes your work, but is not in a position to buy it, they might by word of mouth mention it to one of their friends which may lead to more business.
Having a blog allows you to post a photograph of your artwork online for sale. You can easily set up a PayPal account, and allow buyers to purchase your artwork online directly. You can also offer your artwork on Ebay, and as well allow, buyers to buy your artwork directly online. Or you can set up the procedure to have the buyer fill out a sales agreement form, and forward a money order to you to complete the sale. Everything is possible with a blog depending upon which avenue you want to pursue.
A Blog allows you to advertise your artwork across a wide audience that is only limited by the number of ways that you work at to drive traffic to your Blog, which I will go into in the next post.
If you are a seasoned artist with knowledge to share, you can teach others through your blog, and even get paid for it as David Darrow does by offering classes on painting and drawing live over the Internet.

If the above are not enough reasons, feel free to read 9 Reasons Why Every Artist Should Have Their Own Art Blog written by Dan from the Empty Easel Blog, which is an excellent Blog to follow.

OK I am going to start my own blog, what do I do now?

I recommend that you start with Blogger which is free and easy to use.
After you click on the link above, you will go to a page that looks like the one below.

When you get to this page, the first thing to do is to go through the video tutorials which give you excellent information on how to get started in setting up your blog.

Here is a link on YouTube on How To Start On Blogger, very basic and simple. Blogger has a small number of templates to choose from, but you should find something that suits you for a beginning, and you can change it later as there are lots of free blogger templates that you can download for free.

One CAUTION regarding free blogger templates is that many of them do now work as they should, and you should always visit the demonstration page for the free template which always has comments of people having problems with a free template. If there are lots of posts with problems with the template, it may not be a good idea to use it. I suggest in the beginning that you stick to one of the basic templates that Blogger offers at the time that you start up.

Well I hope this helps you make the plunge into starting up your own blog, if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them. You can email questions to tkrysak@gmail.com

My next post will go into detail about getting people to visit your blog.

Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Frog In The Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:25:00 +0000

Frog In The Garden
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Yesterday at dusk I was outside enjoying the cool evening air. It has been very hot and dry here in Vancouver. I decided to take my daily close look at how things are doing in my small garden, the Cucumber, Zucchini, and Squash blossoms are blooming in abundance.

I took a close look at the Cauliflower and Broccoli plants to see if there was anything happening there, and was startled by what I saw. A beautiful tiny little frog was staring up at me.

I dashed back into the house to get my cameras and get a photograph. I had no luck with the Nikon, but had better luck with my Canon Powershot. I shot the photo in macro mode without flash, and although there was not much light, the camera managed to at least get something.

What a wonderful delight to come across, mother nature truly is splendid.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Tuesday Rose

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:57:00 +0000

Tuesday Rose
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Here is another shot of the Orange Rose from yesterday which has opened up some more. It is amazing how much they change in a 24 hour period.

I just love the colors in this as they have changed from yesterday.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Orange Rose

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:43:00 +0000

Orange Rose Photo
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Here is another photo of a beautiful Rose from the Rose Garden. Taken with a Nikon D70 camera in the shade.

This Rose Bush keeps budding almost every day and this has been going on for months.
What a beautiful flower.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Friday Rose

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:19:00 +0000

Friday Rose
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My Rose Garden gives more and more every day. This photo was taken with a Nikon D70 with telephoto lens in the shade.

And of course the aroma from the Roses is intoxicating. too bad that can't be put on the Internet.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-Squash Blossoms

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:46:00 +0000

Butter Cup Squash Blossoms
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At the end of April I planted my first garden mostly from seed. The garden is growing and exceeding my expectations. The Buttercup Squash is exploding and taking up a great deal more space than I thought.

I just love these blossoms that are popping up in several places. They just opened up over night.

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Ferry Trip to Gibsons BC

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:48:00 +0000

My brother and his son visited Vancouver, and yesterday we took the Ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. We travelled on BC Ferries Queen Of Surrey. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the trip was fabulous. I love being on the ocean.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

You can view the slideshow on my FLICKR page.

Copyright 101 For The Artist-The Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:47:00 +0000

I was reading a question about Copyright today on the Everyday Matters group on Yahoo, that asked if using photographs to create artwork from the Internet was allowed under the US "Fair Use Law" with respect to Copyright.

Someone replied to the question by saying yes, it is OK to use photographs from the Internet because if falls under "Fair Use". This is FALSE.

Let me start off by saying that I am not a Lawyer, and anything that I say should not be considered Legal Advice. If you require Legal Advice, you should contact a competent Lawyer.

Also this post is not intended to be a comprehensive tutorial on Copyright Law, but a useful guide for you the artist to educate yourself to the pitfalls of copyright law, and to give you some resources to read that will ensure that you have at least a minimum amount of information.

In 2008, a Canadian artist won the gold award from the American Watercolor Society for her ultra realistic watercolor. She used two photos from Shutterstock to produce the watercolor. The two photographers found out about this and screamed copyright infringement, and there was a comprehensive discussion about this that ensued on the Internet about the issue.

Subsequently she was stripped of her award by AWS, and asked to return her prize money to AWS, and the work was removed from the competition, and the traveling show of the winning works. AWS disqualified the work because it was derived from photographs that were copyrighted (against the AWS rules for entering the competition) on Shutterstock. The artist purchased the photographs royalty free, but this purchase does not include the copyright.

A comprehensive post on this issue can be read on the Making A Mark Blog.

So what is Fair Use anyway? (US Copyright Law Definitions)

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

As you can see, the term "Fair Use" is quite restrictive, and as an artist you must be very careful in relying on this as a defense for using a copyrighted photograph to create a derivative work.

Other than using your own photographs which is the best option, there are resources for using photographs under the Creative Commons License (CC) on the Internet. In many cases in these resources you may be allowed to use the photograph to create a derivative work if you reference the name of the photographer in your name for your derivative work. An example would be "Eye Of The Totem, after a photograph by Time Ennis". Usually you are requested to provide a link to the original photograph as well.

In general in the US and Canada, an artist's work is considered in the Public Domain 50 years after his or her death, and the work may be freely used. However be careful, the estate of the artist might still retain the copyright.

It is also very important to remember that copyright laws may be different from country to country. What may be acceptable in the US or Canada, may not be acceptable in the UK and other parts of the world. (Thanks to Katherine for reminding me about that in the comments below)

Here are some resources on Copyright and Creative Commons Images.

Find Creative Commons Images In Google Images Search.

Picasa Adds CC Search

Flickr Creative Commons

Plagiarism Today Blog

Wet Canvas Reference Image Library (Membership required Free)

I sincerely hope that you find this information useful, it is not comprehensive, but everything you need to know about Copyright in your country and the world can be found by a simple search on the Internet.

All comments are welcomed.

Happy Copyrighting!!

Ukiyo-e-The Art of Japanese Woodcut Printmaking

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:28:00 +0000

Hokusai Irises
1760-1849
Source Wikimedia-Public Domain

Ukiyo-e means "Floating World" and I have been fascinated with this form of artistic expression since about 1969 when I saw a reproduction of a Japanese Print that my art teacher in high school showed me.

During this period a number of Japanese artists started print making using blocks of cherry wood which are turned into engraving plates by removing excess wood with small knives, and utilizing one single woodblock for each color to be printed.

Step 1 is to create a detailed line drawing, carve that out into a block of cherry wood, and then print that line drawing as many as 100-150 times. W.J. Phillips in his book mentioned that he was able to get a maximum of 150 prints before the block would degrade from the process.

The watercolor paper is kept wet with water during the printing process. The wet paper is laid on top of the block, after the colored pigment (watercolor) is painted on the block. The back of the paper is then rubbed with a block of wood wrapped in leaves. Each impression is then stacked in a pile wet, with newspaper in between each layer.

There can be as many as 10 colors in each print, meaning that there have to be 10 blocks, so the printing process is a long and arduous one.

However the Japanese discovered a beautiful way to expand their markets by providing limited editions of watercolor paintings. In essence they are not necessarily exactly the same because each wash that is applied can have it's own subtle difference from print to print.

Here are some Ukiyo-e resources that you may find interesting.

A guide to Ukiyo-e websites
Ukiyo-e Wikipedia
Empty Easel-A Brief History of Japanese Artprints
The Woodblock Prints Of Ando Hiroshige

Watercolor Demonstration-White Blossoms Ukiyo-e Drawing-Step1

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:32:00 +0000

I decided to challenge myself, and create a Watercolor Demonstration and post it as it was in progress instead of completing the whole thing first and then posting it.

Read my post Ukiyo-e to get some idea of what style I am trying to emulate here. I'm not doing a limited edition of prints, but only one watercolor in that style.

The process for step 1 is to select a subject as I have done, this is a drawing from one of my photos of spring blossoms that I thought would make a good watercolor painting.

For this I used a Black Pigma Micron 005 pen on tracing paper.

The purpose is to tape this to my light box, and then to tape the watercolor paper on top. The black lines will show through the paper when the box is turned on, and you can create your drawing much quicker, and you can change anything that you want easily.

The drawing looks very complicated because many of the lines define shadows, and these will give me a guideline as to the boundaries of the shadows which can be changed as you wish when you start painting.

So the next step will be to complete the initial drawing on watercolor paper and begin painting.

Stay Tuned

Vancouver Photo Of The Day-White Rose Afternoon

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:48:00 +0000

The roses on this white bush in the garden are getting larger every 24 hours. It is amazing how much happens within that 24 hours of growth.

The center of the rose was finally revealed today, what a treat.

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Vancouver Photo Of The Day-White Rosebud

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:01:00 +0000

The Rose bushes are in various stages of blooming, and I captured this photo around noon, bright sunlight with a bit of high cloud, a wonderful sunny day.

The aroma from the Roses is intoxicating. I think I will have to cut one off and keep it in my window sill.

This was taken with my Nikon D70 camera with a telephoto lensNikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

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Yellow and Magenta Rose Bloom-May Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:05:00 +0000

If you like flowers, now is a good time to go out with your camera and take some shots.

There is an ant inside one of the petals having some dinner. I love the the subtle colors inside of the petals, and the rose has a wonderful aroma.

This was shot Saturday afternoon shadow lighting 4:50 pm with a Canon PowershotCanon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Blue)
which is a great in your pocket type of camera.

Cards
Prints

New Creative Commons Application For Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:55:00 +0000

Many Facebook users are aware of the uproar that ensued a few months ago when Facebook changed it's terms of use agreement, which raised questions about how creative content such as photos, video, blogs, and writing might be used by Facebook.

Thanks to a great post by Jonathan Baily of the Plagiarism Today Blog, there is a new application that you can install on your Facebook profile.

Jonathan goes into a fair bit of detail about the limitations of the new application for Facebook, and expresses some opinions of the usefulness of it, and provides links to the application on Facebook so that you can add it to your profile. Installing the applications is very simple and quick.

So if you are on Facebook, click on the link Creative Commons On Facebook and read the post, follow the links, and install it on your Facebook profile.

Orange Delight-Spring Flowers Photograph

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:27:00 +0000

Orange Delight
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I was shopping at the plant store in Marpole, and just had to take some shots of the fantastic planter they had out front with lots of beautiful flowers in it. What a delight, such a nice warm greeting at the front door of the store.

Saturday Blossom-Spring In Vancouver Postcard

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Saturday Blossom
Postcards-8 for $9.04

Spring is coming along just fine, with new blossoms bursting out amongst the various trees in my neighborhood. I thought it would be a good idea to put this on a postcard, so that you can share the bounty of spring.

Celebration Of Spring Calendar 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:12:00 +0000

Celebration Of Spring Calendar 2009
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Spring is busting out all over in Vancouver, so I have created a 2009 calendar so that you can enjoy spring every month of the year. Filled with a number of photos of spring blossoms for your enjoyment.

Pink Blossoms-Spring In Vancouver

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:39:00 +0000

Pink Blossoms
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I just had to get this shot today, the clouds are moving in quickly and it will be raining for the next few days. The pink blossoms will not last much longer, and will fall to the ground quickly when the rain arrives.

I shot this with my new Nikon D70, which I am still trying to figure out how to use properly. Out of 32 shots, this was the only decent one.

I love spring so much.

April Blossoms-Spring In Vancouver

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:29:00 +0000

White Blossoms
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I truly love springtime in Vancouver, and we are fortunate that we can enjoy this spectacular display of mother nature being reborn every year at this time. Spring has arrived a bit late this year for some reason, but I am so glad it is here at last.

There are many displays of pink blossoms to be found, and this is the first time I have come across a bunch of trees with white blossoms while I had my camera with me.

What a beautiful sight to behold.

Three Daffodil's

noreply@blogger.com (Terry Krysak) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:35:00 +0000

Three Daffodil's
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I went shopping yesterday, and I always take my camera with me just in case. I was sure glad, as it is spring in Vancouver, and there were lots of Blossoms and Daffodil's blooming.

Spring is my favorite time of year, I only wish it would last for 6 months, boy would that be a treat. Spring always energizes me, gives me hope, and makes me feel more alive than any other time of the year.