Welcome to Axully!

An early attempt at a selfie in graphite!

"AirHead", 16" x 12" graphite, © V.N.Ross

I read a quote from someone, somewhere about perfection leads to proscrastination resulting in paralyzation (sic. correct word paralysis. I like mine better with all 'tions' :)

Axully is new iteration of my dream company, MyArtTutor, and has been simmering on a back burner for months now. Brought about by a difference of core values with a hired CEO, I hibernated for a long time. And, yes, my art saved me again. Axully is Wicki-speak for Actually...a common word in my colorful vocabulary...spelled exactly like I say it.

I do not care what your 'life issue' is, we all have a story (Robin Roberts). If you can find something to distract your mind from its spiral into a black hole for even five minutes, you will come back feeling refreshed. Five minutes here, 30 minutes there...build up to a few hours...and you will come back with some calmness and a smile.

Does the break into the zen zone make the bad stuff go away? Nope, sorry. But the value of a break while doing something creative will build until the bad stuff loses its intense grip on you. At some point, the bad stuff seems to retreat for longer and longer periods of time. For me, my bad is now woven into me like the thread of a cocoon...and now feels like my good. It is honored for creating the person I am today. I quite like Wicki, by the way.

In short, my original desire and purpose is still intact...I want to share the healing aspect of learning about art and creative activities and how they can impact a life in positive ways. While operating as MyArtTutor, we took a path that was more focused than I originally intended...strictly learning how to paint fine art. These original classes/workshops are still some of the best in the quality of the tutor and the design of the information delivery.

I can safely claim to be one of the first alternative methods of delivering art instruction through the internet. The MyArtTutor classes are still unique, as they use a protocol where breaks are designed at good stopping places with assignments added to enhance the learning experience. We don't just have you hit play like a DVD. Axully will distribute these classes...they are timeless.

Since a major part of my own journey and past career includes many creative outlets: Music, sewing, homemaking crafts, cooking, decorating, needlework, knitting, crochet, graphic design, art direction, advertising/marketing, web design...whew, I'm sure I've forgotten some. OH, software expert on Macintosh...I still love and use that every day!

So, I hope you continue this journey with me as we showcase good quality instruction in many different disciplines of art. Just yesterday, I started a dedicated blog about my 100 Reflection with Variations series.

I don't know yet where we're going, but we'll have fun along the way...

xxoo

locked artist

first published on MyArtTutor's blog APRIL 12, 2011

The invention that unlocked a locked-in artist

click above

screen shot. click link above to see the TED video

This is totally awesome, and uplifting!

Using laptops, tablets, etc., and the internet it is possible for home-bound people, home-schooled children, schools with no art budget...to enjoy the wonderful world of making. It is about a stress-free experience guaranteed to bring a smile to faces.  :)

Enjoy!

become.com Guest Host, Vicki Ross

first published on MyArtTutor's blog MARCH 23, 2011

Chief Muse, Vicki was the guest host today on become.com 'become.com's pocket change' page, about her color charts in oil. 

Thanks, Ben! Look forward to more contact with your vast network...and hope I can drive some attention your way.

Who'd a thunk it? Me, a writer! I just type it like I would say it.

xxoo

ps: give become.com a look and tell 'em Vicki sent'ya!

Beautiful...Bouguereau...Venustas

This was easy. What is more beautiful than a William Bouguereau painting. No blood and guts or anguish. Useful? Maybe not. Solid, definitely. And Beautiful.

This word became more difficult as I started to write about it, probably because it is so obvious to me. I have no words to describe Bougeureau's paintings. In my opinion, his work is never "out of drawing", and his compositions well thought out and delivered to tell a story. Skin tones: luscious. 

This little babe was watching the parade, part of the Carnaval de Sergines in France (March 2007). 

Click on her image to see a brief clip of the event.
Such a beautiful example of childhood innocence...reminded me of a Bouguereau painting.

She is doing what countless others have done for over 100 years: watching the parade, all dressed up in her costume.

Carnaval de Sergines, 1912

SO, why not experiment with those skin tones, just for fun! Very thin glazes of oil, dry, wet-sand, over and over. She attained a good glow, I think. Do I want to paint like this all the time? Probably not.

"Sergine Princess" 18x12" Oil on Panel, © Vicki Ross

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Attitude

24" x 18", pastel

V.N.Ross

Some art trends seem to focus on shock value, making you think, or draw your own conclusions about why the artist chose his subject and how he presented it. To me, making me think, is not always beautiful and I don't understand living with some of those concepts. I can barely look at them in museums and galleries!

 
I lean to realism, and paintings that tell stories. With Attitude, what on earth is she focused on? Angry? Curious? You decide.

So, now you have the full explanation at how I arrived at the Vetruvius Triad: Firmatasis, Utilitas, Venustas. Axully's slogan is: Solid, Useful, Beautiful. Long way to get there, but there it is!

xxoo

Useful…Utilitas

Utilitas...an ugly word even in Latin. Functional. Utilitarian. BOR-ing! Granny panties, anyone?

Choosing a visual for USEFUL was a wee bit tough. Yes, I agree that art is useful, but not shelter like architecture (see blog post on Solid). Not very romantic...reminds me of Wear It Out...Use It Up...Make It Do...Do Without. blech. How in the world could I relate that to art, let alone create a visual! Time for the Muse...

Eureka! A bridge is useful, like architecture...and Monet certainly epitomized Art! Another good combination. Cookin' with gas now! I imagine dragonflies were plentiful and I can just see me on a raft paddlin' around.

Monet's Garden is definitely Beautiful. Watch video clip below, by clicking on the image of Claude.

All knowledge is useful to some extent, if not today, then tomorrow. Some Beautiful, some Solid, but not always immediately Useful. Maybe it is about the balance...too much Useful can be boring. I guess pottery would be art that is useful.

By the way, the music soundtrack is 2nd Movement of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2.

Stay tuned for the third and final Word in the Vetruvius Triad 

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I don't think I could have done this en plein air...especially with my skill set at the time!

I can say I could smell the wisteria as I worked on this in my studio.

In Monet's Garden
11l" x 14", pastel
V.N.Ross

Firmatasis, the First Word in the Vetruvius Triad

Axully, this venture started with the word actually, spelled phonetically in Wicki. Then the vetruvian/dragonfly logo, then the research that would help me tie everything together. Idea first, then development and research. Sometimes all at once. So in the Wickiworld it all spins and spits out results as ideas materialize.

​​Painted early in my art career, before I had knowledge of anatomy, color temperature, foreshortening, etc. At that time, the biggest hurdle was floating with the camera to catch the dragonfly!

Why did I associate architecture and art in the first place? Several reasons, really, not the least of which is the study of the Golden Mean as it relates to composition, which I studied before I learned which end of a paintbrush to use. The Vitruvian Man is very publicized, and I also liked the similarity (with just a bit of creative license) to dragonflies (a dragonfly has the ability to reflect and refract light and colors and is often associated with magic and mysticism. (ref. Vickie McNeely-Lesperance)

Reading about Leonardo da Vinci's Vetruvian Man led me to Vetruvius (author of De Architectura, around 15 BC.) This series of 10 books was said to have influenced the Greeks who then invented the architectural orders of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. 

This, in turn, gave them a sense of proportion, culminating in the study of the human body. Vitruvius defined his Vitruvian Man in writing, which Leonardo da Vinci later interpreted and drew. The human male in a circle and square...fundamental geometric architectural patterns.  

Vitruvius encouraged architects to familiarize themselves with pre-Socratic theories of matter so as to understand how their materials will behave. So do artists. Carpenters. Chefs. Bricklayers. It is said that Leonardo struggled six years over the painting of The Last Supper, treating it to an experimental medium which caused it to quickly disintegrate. Creatives, beware—experimenting with ingredients with no chemical knowledge can lead to disastrous results.

What if you confused salt and baking powder when cooking? Repainted the walls in your vintage home with latex over oil? Painting with acrylic pigments over oils in your art? Doing graphic design with no knowledge of fundamental 'rules'? Solid! Know the rules before you can break them. 

The Sistine Chapel immediately came to mind as a visual of SOLID. I had just completed a series of paintings using components of art owned by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Part of the research for that project led to my awareness that Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter was posed as an homage to Michelangelo's frescoed depiction of the prophet Isaiah from the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Sistine Chapel

The Vetruvian Triad is also called the Vetruvian Virtues. My information was collected from internet research and run through the WickiFilter (thanks, Wikipedia and 100swallows).  Firmitasis (Latin for Solid) sounds like a medical condition...halitosis, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis, asbestosis...a condition of firm? Welcome to my brain :)

After reading about the conflicts between Leonardo and Michelango (I didn't even know they were somewhat contemporaries), I doubted my thought process. Leonardo was labelled a dreamer in his time, most of his sketches were not publicized during his lifetime, and he completed few paintings and sculptures. Not many of his dreams were actualized, while Michelangelo practiced the doing of the arts through his designs and problem-solving solutions to their completion. I decided to leave it alone and give credit to my Muse for the combination.

A reader/dreamer 'epiphany catalyst' and a 'conceptual actualizer' who created finished products. A fitting combination.