I don't know about you, but whenever I think of colors, Pantone's pallete comes to mind almost immediately. Little did I know that, in 1692, someone else thought and did something very similar - and in a much cooler way, if I may add (I'm a huge fan of vintage stuff!). And that person is now only known as "A. Boogert".
     The artist wrote about mixing watercolors and ended up making a 800 page manuscript and hand painted book about the uses of color in painting, their tone changes and hues. His piece was once considered the most complete color guide for painting of all time, and it's very interesting to know that it was conceived as an educational guide! Not bad at all, in my humble opinion.
      You can check out Boogert's complete book for free here.
      What about you, dear readers? Do you know any good color book to recommend me? Tell me in the comments!

~Ally

      Bruno Torf's Art and Sculpture Garden in Marysville, Australia, got on my "places to visit before I die" list today.
     The artist was born in South America and lived here with his family till the age of fifteen, when the family moved to Europe in seek of new opportunities. After training and working as a sign writer Bruno made a gradual transition to become a fulltime artist. Through his diverse talents and a spirit for adventure Bruno created a unique style full of culture and character. This was achieved through many trips around the world, both alone and with his wife Marleen.
    Sketching the scenes and faces of his journeys allowed Bruno to return home and make oil painting and sculpture versions of his experiences. These artworks would then be sold in a series of annual exhibitions hosted in the lower levels of the family home.
     After several years of this lifestyle, Bruno and the family made a decision to pack up and move to Australia to create a sculpture garden that he would run as a permanent attraction. The luscious sub-alpine forests of the surrounding area were the ideal setting for Bruno's plan and luckily the property he purchased he a large section of rain forest attached. After five months of backbreaking work Bruno's art and sculpture garden was opened to the public. Also on the property was a gallery that housed over 200 of his artworks brought over from Europe that included oil paintings, sketches and smaller sculptures.
     The garden began with just fifteen life sizes terracotta sculptures, today there are over one hundred and fifteen pieces on display and Bruno is still making regular additions. The unique experience of the garden and its wondrous inhabitants attracts thousands of visitors a year.

~Ally

     If you're an artist striving to find your place in the art world like me, you should totally watch this. His book is my new Bible. Enough said!

~Ally

     Back in the Middle Ages, storytelling was often done through tapestries. They worked kind of like a modern comic stripe, and depicted mythic stories and even historical events. One of the most famous tapestries in the world is the Brittish Bayeux Tapestry, which tells the story of William the Conqueror and Harold, Earl of Wessex, the men who led the Norman and Saxon armies in 1066. And the best part is that you can see it fully in your house, just clicking here. Enjoy!

~Ally

      Watching "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files" (one of my favotire tv shows) the other day, I heard a word I didn't know: anamorphosis. It helped the researchers in the show to recreate a human silhouette in a couple of wooden boxes, resembling a ghost in a picture. So here's how it works!
     Anamorphosis is defined as a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image. The word "anamorphosis" is derived from the Greek prefix ana-, meaning back or again, and the word morphe, meaning shape or form.
     There are two main types of anamorphosis: perspective (oblique) and mirror (catoptric). Examples of perspectival anamorphosis date to the early Renaissance (fifteenth century), but examples of mirror anamorphosis were first created in the late Renaissance (sixteenth century). With mirror anamorphosis, a conical or cylindrical mirror is placed on the drawing or painting to transform a flat distorted image into a three-dimensional picture that can be viewed from many angles. The deformed image is painted on a plane surface surrounding the mirror. By looking uniquely into the mirror, the image appears undeformed. This process of anamorphosis made it possible to diffuse caricatures, erotic and scatological scenes and scenes of sorcery for a confidential public.
      Cinemascope, Panavision, Technirama and other widescreen formats use anamorphosis to project a wider image from a narrower film frame. The system of anamorphic projection can be seen quite commonly on text written at a very flat angle on roadways, such as "Bus Lane" or "Children Crossing", which is easily read by drivers who otherwise would have difficulty reading as the vehicle approaches the text; when the vehicle is nearly above the text, its true abnormally elongated shape can be seen. Similarly, in many sporting stadiums, especially in Rugby football in Australia and Soccer in Brazil, it is used to promote company brands which are painted onto the playing surface; from the television camera angle, the writing appear as signs standing vertically within the field of play. Even on some 0.5 liter Sprite bottles in Europe, an extra "bar code" was present. When the bottle is tilted towards the mouth while drinking, the bar code resolves into writing due to the anamorphic effect. Finally, much writing on shop windows is in origin anamorphic, as it was written mirror-reversed on the inside of the window glass.

~Ally

    The great masters of painting have always been victims of copycats. But how do you know when you're looking at a fake painting?
     Sophisticated frauds often are only unmasked with the help of multidisciplinary exams and detailed evaluations. X-rays, UV light, infra-red, grazing light and chemical analysis are some of the tests used to evaluate the fidelity of a suspicious painting. A team of scientists usually includes an art historian, a conservative, a graph documents copyst and a chemist. Each exam and their comments are reunited in reports that often have more than a hundred pages. Sometimes, though, even the specialists can't be sure about a possible fraud.

~Ally

       Whenever I need some feminist inspiration, I look upon this poster. But only today I got to know its history!
     The "We Can Do It!" was actually an American wartime propaganda (WWII, to be precise) poster produced in 1943 by J. Howard Miller for the Westinghouse Electric company as an inspirational image to improve worker morale. It was not initially intended just for women - they had another 41 posters featuring mostly men, work-people and managers. It is generally thought that this particular poster was based on a black-and-white service photograph of Geraldine Hoff, a factory worker.
      However, this poster was seen very little during that period (it was only used in the factory for two weeks, more or less). But it was rediscovered in the early 1980's and, then, widely reproduced in many ways, to promote feminism and other political issues. It is often called "We Can Do It!" or "Rosie the Riveter" poster, the last after the iconic figure of a strong female war production worker.
      After this period of rediscovery, observers often assumed that the image was always used as a call to inspire women workers to join the war effort. That was not the case. During the war, the image was strictly internal to Westinghouse, displayed only during February 1943, and was not for recruitment but to exhort already-hired women to work harder. Nowadays, feminists and others have seized upon the uplifting attitude and apparent message to remake the image into many different forms, including self empowerment, campaign promotion, advertising, and parodies.

~Ally

     Did you know that this kind of circus routine is called "Icarian Games"? I didn't! Well, as you can imagine, the name comes from the Greek myth of Icarus and his flight across the sea... That was a little bit to close to the sun. His poor father Dedalus had to watch him fall from the sky and perish tragically after they escaped the minotaur's labyrinth.
     But in the circus, things are sunny and fun! The "Icarian Games" can be described as a discipline of the circus arts that was rarely seen in today's contemporary circus culture until a while ago, but it's now a big centre stage attraction. It is very traditional, and usually presented by members of the same family (which also alludes to the legend). The human juggling is done by using one person's (the porter) feet as a catapult and catcher and the other one (the flyer or voltigeur) as prop for tossing and juggling.

~Ally

     I'm in the mood for some documentaries this week!
    This one is about Italian illustrators and how their art reflects the transformations the internet has brought for the industry. Alessandro “Shout” Gottardo, Emiliano Ponzi, Olimpia Zagnoli and Francesco Poroli offer their views on the subject and how the world of magazines, publishing and commercials has changed.

~Ally

      By now, if you haven't been out of Earth in the past 5 years or so, you've probably heard about Banksy and his art. "Exit Through the Gift Shop" is a documentary made in 2010 and was directed by Banksy himself. It shows the story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy and also of Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work. You can watch it here.

~Ally