This SAL Challenge is a vocabulary based creative challenge every day for January. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, sculpt your food, anything you want. See below for today’s creative challenge. Set the timer for 20 minutes and see what happens.
TONDO
At my recent artist’s talk, Suzanne Walker, our sparkling WTF Art Historian, BA, PhD, BFD, asked about my tondo paintings. Tondo? I had no idea what she was talking about. Yes, I had made them, but I had totally forgotten the word. I’m sending this out so you can learn it, and remind me next time.
As I worked with rectangle, square, and circular panels, I found some images worked with one shape but not as well with the other. What type of composition works best in a circle? Give it a try.
Tip: Making a study of tondo made by another artist isn’t cheating, it’s a respected tradition!
Tondo: Circular paintings and relief sculptures. Most recently popularized by Damien Hirst, the tondo was used as early as Greek antiquity to depict mythological scenes on pottery. The form became prevalent in Renaissance Italy through works by artists like Raphael and Michelangelo. Inspired by the painted trays traditionally presented to pregnant women, these tondi often depicted Bible stories and images of the Madonna and Child. The round panel or canvas put forth an alternate set of compositional concerns from those established by Leon Battista Alberti, who wrote that rectangular painting is essential for pictorial perspective. Abstract and figurative painters in various movements since have used the tondo to complement their work on rectangular canvases, from Caravaggio to Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Sol LeWitt.
#salchallenge @seattleartistleague #(word of the day)
Prizes awarded for creativity and participation
To be eligible for a prize, and to help motivate other people, post your creative project to Facebook or Instagram or email it to me directly, and use the tags: #salchallenge @seattleartistleague #(word of the day)
Monday is composition day in our 30 Day Challenge, and you’re doing great! Today we’re going to work with negative space, and an element of chance to make it fun. You’ll need some string, and simple drawing materials. If you don’t have string, try rubber bands, chopsticks, or bamboo skewers. If you prefer not to …
[image_with_animation image_url=”6644″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Installation view of work by Raúl de Nieves, in the 2017 Whitney Biennial Raúl de Nieves What does it mean to be an American artist today? From his basement studio in Ridgewood, Queens, artist Raúl de Nieves creates an epic stained glass mural for the 2017 Whitney Biennial. Born …
“Sketchbooks are a place for experimentation, self reflection, technical practice, and developing an artistic identity,” says Keith Pfeiffer, official sketchbook class instructor. (To be cheeky, we called it Advanced Doodling.) I asked Keith what his favorite sketchbook was. Here is what he said: “My favorite sketchbook is Moleskine sketchbook 9×12. The paper is smooth enough for clean …
If you have taken or taught a class at the Seattle Artist League in the last year, you are invited to submit up to three artworks to our online show. We can’t promise we’ll show every piece, but we will show at least one artwork per person. This show is about you as an artist, so you …
SAL Challenge 13: TONDO
Exercise your creativity
This SAL Challenge is a vocabulary based creative challenge every day for January. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, sculpt your food, anything you want. See below for today’s creative challenge. Set the timer for 20 minutes and see what happens.
At my recent artist’s talk, Suzanne Walker, our sparkling WTF Art Historian, BA, PhD, BFD, asked about my tondo paintings. Tondo? I had no idea what she was talking about. Yes, I had made them, but I had totally forgotten the word. I’m sending this out so you can learn it, and remind me next time.
As I worked with rectangle, square, and circular panels, I found some images worked with one shape but not as well with the other. What type of composition works best in a circle? Give it a try.
Tip: Making a study of tondo made by another artist isn’t cheating, it’s a respected tradition!
From Artsy:
Tondo: Circular paintings and relief sculptures. Most recently popularized by Damien Hirst, the tondo was used as early as Greek antiquity to depict mythological scenes on pottery. The form became prevalent in Renaissance Italy through works by artists like Raphael and Michelangelo. Inspired by the painted trays traditionally presented to pregnant women, these tondi often depicted Bible stories and images of the Madonna and Child. The round panel or canvas put forth an alternate set of compositional concerns from those established by Leon Battista Alberti, who wrote that rectangular painting is essential for pictorial perspective. Abstract and figurative painters in various movements since have used the tondo to complement their work on rectangular canvases, from Caravaggio to Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Sol LeWitt.
#salchallenge @seattleartistleague #(word of the day)
Prizes awarded for creativity and participation
To be eligible for a prize, and to help motivate other people, post your creative project to Facebook or Instagram or email it to me directly, and use the tags: #salchallenge @seattleartistleague #(word of the day)
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