Ghpf Art Community

Rembrandt is an extraordinary Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman of the 1600s. He is most well known for his chiaroscuro, his brush work and the way in which he connected with the human soul. His life, however, was not a happy one.

Rembrandt’s full name is Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn. He was born on July 15, 1606 in Leiden, the Netherlands and was the son of a miller. His dad wanted him to have a real, learned profession but Rembrandt left the University of Leiden after becoming bored to study art. He began studying under a local teacher but soon left and studied in Amsterdam where he mastered all his lessons in only six months! Rembrandt was greatly influenced by Caravaggio.

At the age of only 22, Rembrandt moved back to Leiden and began to get his own students. One of his pupils was the famous artist Gerrit Dou. In 1631 he returned to Amsterdam where he became the most popular portrait painter in Holland. He received numerous commissions for portraits and paintings of religious matters. Rembrandt met Saskia van Uylenburgh and married her in 1634. She was a cousin of a very successful art dealer and she helped him to meet wealthy patrons who commissioned many paintings from him. He used her as a model in many of his paintings. Some of his works during this time were the Portrait of Nicolaes Ruts and The Blinding Samson.

During this time, Rembrandt’s paintings are mostly focused on strong lighting effects. He also became famous for his landscapes and etchings. Rembrandt painted between fifty and sixty self portraits during his lifetime!

Rembrandt’s private life, however, was very unfortunate. He had four children with Saskia but only one, Titus, survived infancy. Saskia died in 1642 at the age of only 30. In 1649, Hendrickje Stoffels, his housekeeper, became his common-law wife and was also a model for many of his paintings. Even though Rembrandt was very successful as an artist, art dealer and teacher, he enjoyed living very lavishly and had to declare bankruptcy in 1656. He even had to auction off his whole art collection and his house to pay for his debts.

His unfortunate life, however, didn’t affect his art. He painted many great paintings during this time, such as The Jewish Bride, Bathsheba, The Syndics of the Cloth Guild, Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph and a self portrait. His new love, Hendrickje, died in 1663 and his son Titus died in 1668. Titus was only 27 years old. Eleven months after Titus died, on October 4, 1669, Rembrandt himself died in Amsterdam.

Rembrandt is a master of art. He did more than 600 paintings and over 2,000 etchings and drawings! The works contain numerous different kinds of subject matters such as landscapes, portraits, nudes, genre scenes, animals and birds, religious subjects, mythological figures and self portraits. Most artists specialize in only certain types of subject matters. Rembrandt has a special talent of showing the true character of people in his works. He also uses a very mysterious, beautiful light and very thick brushwork. He is one of the most well known artists of all time!

Although most people think of welding as a way to build buildings and other shapes, there are many people who have chosen to use welding as an art form that is as creative as any inventor.

Generally speaking welding art comes in large pieces where people use scrap metal to form objects that they are interested in. As an example, one artist may use sculptures to create animals or other scenes in nature. Another may use welding to make a statement about something through their art.

One idea that is very popular is the making of sculpted iron gates that are uniquely ornamented. They are very large and can enhance either the entrance to an estate or the entrance to a particular garden or other area within an estate.

Another area where welding art is common and interesting is in the building of temporary stage structures for musical extravaganzas. As an example, one welding artist, Kenny Baird created this type of stage for Kenny Rogers. Baird is also a master welder.

Some of the welding art is experimental to see what types of metals can be welded together in an art form. An example of this is work by Wylie Mitchell of Texas, where he created a sculpture using copper, mild steel and stainless steel. This created an effect that looked weathered and interesting. The contrast in colors made this an attractive piece.

For some welders, traditional welding became too confining and they were bored with construction of buildings and wanted to do something more. They saw the potential to work with the metals to bring them into a fuller way of expression.

Welding art uses the same processes as other welding. Many artists are skilled in arc welding and others use plasma cutters to produce intricate patterns. Still others use lasers to produce certain forms of welding art. This type of art is only limited by the imagination.

Many artists specialize in certain things. Some will create sculptures, others altars and tables and some will concentrate on building large sculptures that sit in front of office buildings or in parks. It will depend on the artist’s tastes and interests as to what they decide to do.

Wall sculptures are very popular with welding because they can be decorative especially when other types of metals are welded to them or they can be shaped through hammering, cutting and shaping the metal into unique shapes.

Many welders who also do art specialize in repair work. They attempt to create that same effect as the original piece wherever possible. The materials used in welding art can be everything from iron to other forms of steel. This really depends on the artist and their preference and skill at using specific materials. Stone and bronze seem to also be popular materials for some welders who do art.

Many art welders use simple and inexpensive tools to get their artwork done. The same equipment that they would use for other welding projects are part of the art toolkit as well.

The art of shading is developed by learning to recognise volume as represented by the pattern of light, medium, and dark values of the subject before you. Once you have understand the pattern of light, then shading becomes very easy.

Let me share with you some terminology about the art of shading .

Tone: local tone is the most general value of an art work. It can be light, medium or dark but it does not matter. What is important is that an artist is able to express the drawing in a series of varying tones.

Hight light: It is the most concentrated spot of light on the drawing. Highlight appears on smooth surface.

Cast shadow: Produced by an opaque object that gets in the way of a light source.

Form shadow: Produced when an object turns itself away from the light source. It is the darker side of an object form.

Reflected light: It is light that bounces off another object and comes back to reveal the form. It is always lighter than the highlight of the drawing.

In the art of shading, always observe the objects that you are drawing. Look at the subject matter as it is important to establish an order for seeing and receiving information about the subject you are drawing.

It is always good that you build a drawing from the general to the specific. You should always see and record the overall structure of the subject you are drawing first, before getting into the details.

For example, when drawing an apple, determine the order in which you want to build the pattern of lights and darks that it presents. Observe the subject you are drawing before picking up your pencil to draw. Do not fall into the mistake of most people, that is drawing without planning.