Pigments and Tempera Paint

It's funny when almost everyone in the world had painted in their life, but had not wondered what the paint was made out of. Well, the earliest pigments were from the Earth and mostly just mud and dirt, but as time went on, people began to create pigments synthetically. Pigments in paint are just like a Jell-O molds. The pigments are the things trapped inside the Jell-O, which in this case is the solvent, usually, oil or water.

To learn more about pigments, visit http://webexhibits.org/pigments/, the website has a lot of information about the history of the pigments and very detailed descriptions about certain pigments and colors.

John Constable

Regarded as one of the greatest landscape artists of all time, John Constable revolutionized the art world with his own innovations to traditional landscape and Thomas Gainsborough styles.

Entering the scene of the art world in the early 1800’s, John Constable gave up the reigns to his families corn mill company to pursue his love of the arts. During his career as an artist, he never got worldwide fame or fortune. He sold more paintings in France than in his own home country of England.

Constable believed that you must capture nature as it is, because it will never be the same again, “No two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world.” Constable’s philosophy of “rendering scenery more directly and realistically”, found him much praise by Romantic artists like Henry Fuseli, Eugene Delacroix and William Wordsworth.

Most of Constable’s works were painted in his hometown of Suffolk, England and varies places he knew well. He worked long hours outdoors, but always completed his final piece within the sanctuary of his studio.

This is just the tip of the iceberg on information about the riveting life of John Constable.

Please visit http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/constable/ for more information about his life.

World War I Soldier Poets

It's is amazing to me that a man in the trenches, so disgusting it is impossible to imagine them for someone who has not experienced them, write poetry like they have been doing it all their life. Men who look death in the face every day, write to their families and loved ones to not mourn for them when they are gone, but to move on. They write of sadness, chaos and products of war. You can really feel what they were trying to say through their straight forwardness of their writings. It escapes me how one who had faced such monstroncities, create such poetry as "When I'm Killed" by Robert Graves and "The Dragon and the Undying".

World War I The Great War!

The First World War was the first of its kind in terms of massive bloodshed and mechanized machines. Airplanes, machine guns and biological warfare decimated the normal foot soldier ill equipped for the dangers of this new kind of war. It is interesting how America got involved or didn't get involved. The United States, being a relatively young country, tried to stay out of Europe's affairs and tried at all costs to stay neutral. But they continued trade and provided monetary assistance to the Allied Powers (Russia, France and the U.K.) and cut of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) completely. So America's attempt at neutrality was kind of a cover up for what they really felt about the war being waged in Europe.

The Protestant Work Ethic

The Protestant Work Ethic was a new way of seeing work and working. Some important figures that had contributed to the new ideal of working was Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant movement, and John Calvin. Their combined beliefs about working was the will of God and therefore a way to serve him. Martin Luther, believed that God had implented the caste system and moving in the social ladder was considered a sin, because you were defying the word of God. Calvin on the other hand, believed that it was okay to move in the social ladder, because it was one's social duty to do one's best to work hard.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time of great accomplishment in terms of making things by the masses. The new wave of workers supplied the factories with eager workers ready to work til sundown for near nothing pay. The thing that made the workers WANT to work was the fact that a new idea of working was going around, the Protestant Work Ethic. The Protestant Work Ethic opened new doors in terms of seeing work and working. The Protestant Work Ethic changed the view of working to support your own self and family to expanding and helping others. Martin Luther, forerunner in the Protestant Work Ethic, believed that working was a way to serve God, as working was the will of God. Another intellectual that contributed to the Protestant Work Ethic was John Calvin, who believed that social ladders were implemented by God and moving in the ladder was against the will of God because God placed everyone were he wanted them so moving would be disregarding the word of God.

Welcome To My Blog

The purpose of this blog is to reflect on what we are doing in Spencer Pforsich's 10th Grade Humanities class. At the moment, we are researching componenets of the Industrial Revolution and connecting it to the developement of art during that era. We, as a class, are trying to relay our information to one another via these blogs. The blogs are a way to share what we have learned like Url's that are useful or information we found. Some projects we are working on at the moment, include making an art piece from one of our poetry works that we have been working on over the past few weeks. Another project we are working on includes researching a component of the Industrial Revolution like innovations that resulted from the IR and how the IR influeced others to work, because of the new idea of working and serving God. The most recent project that our class is working on is making a NASCAR suit with a Presidential Candidate. On the suit, we Photoshop their sponsors/funding sources and research why those people/companies gave the candidate money, may it be the beliefs of the candidate and if it supports the company.