For many years, paintings were used to decorate and adorn the walls of homes, galleries and offices as an expression of one's education and culture in

Another trend that occurred in the past several years is the use of oriental pictures on functional pieces in modern life. The more popular is the paper fan and umbrella, another is the bamboo window shade, and even t-shirts and other pieces of clothing have print reproductions of Mt. Fuji or a Zen Buddhist temple.

The development of fashion in the past decade was inspired greatly by Asian artists, more particularly Japan artists, as the leading source of creative use of materials and textures. Even dress material is hand-painted with subjects of bamboo, open lakes and young geishas in their kimonos.

Nowadays, think oriental pictures and you immediately draw a peaceful place in your mind. Enter a spa and you see nothing but Zen themes around you. What do these mean? It means that the tastes of the Orient are reaching out to you.

Giclee Art Prints An Affordable Alternative To The Real Thing

Giclee (zhee-klay) is a French word that is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. Giclee art prints connote a rise in printmaking technology. Images are generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various surfaces including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper.

The giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than any other means of reproduction. In giclee printing, there is no such thing as a limited edition since you can reproduce a digital image (by means of scanning the original art work) as many times and on as many types of surfaces as you wish.

What are the advantages of giclee art prints?

Giclee prints are an affordable alternative to artists who wish to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and reasonable cost. Archived files will not deteriorate in quality like negatives and film do.

Giclee printing can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for the demands of his client.

There are plenty of examples of giclee prints that can be found in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Chelsea Galleries. San Francisco is also a haven for giclee art as can be seen in the SF Museum of Modern Art and smaller galleries in downtown San Francisco.

Of course, giclee prints can also be sourced online! In fact, purchasing them over the great WWW is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to acquire these art prints.

Art Prints World War II

The generation after the baby boomers find the art prints of World War II posters as "cute". Many even look at these WWII posters as some form of contemporary art to be hung on their bedroom walls.

Even Nazi theme oil paintings are coveted by plenty of collectors around the world, albeit silently due to the negative implication the word "Nazi" has. What the new generation has failed to do is look beyond the artistic elements of the World War II propaganda posters and try to define their purpose or reason for being.

World War II Posters - They Have a Story to Tell

The main objective of the World War II poster in Nazi Germany was propaganda. Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation aimed at serving an agenda of the government or a political group. Its main principle is to influence people's opinions and be used to solicit support or disapproval of a certain position.

Nazi propaganda posters were very effective in influencing the youth of Germany, who, as early as 12 years old, was recruited by the government to deliver coded messages or act as spies in their own homes.

The World War II art prints were very direct; talking boldly to its intended audience with an almost "do or die" air. In Nazi Germany, you would rather do than die, of course. Furthermore, many Nazi posters portrayed Adolf Hitler and the message "Long Live Germany!"

The Nazis believed in propaganda as a vital tool in achieving their goals. In a nutshell, regardless of the Nazi poster's audience, just one main message reminded them "the greatness of German cultural, scientific, and military achievements."

Lighthouse Paintings A Sample Of Seascape Art

In any art gallery, art book or greeting card in the market, there is always a representation of the sea. Even poetry has had its share of sea-inspired writing. And what better accompaniment to an ocean-inspired painting than the romantic lighthouse?

Lighthouse paintings have been the refuge of many artists, because of the peaceful calm the ocean brings to any fortunate enough to experience its tranquil motion.

Conversely, it can be a raging torrent of stormy waves crashing onto a helpless shore that drives artists to paint its ever changing moods in such quiet or tempest.

Amidst it all is the resilient lighthouse a haven for seafarers drifting in the wildness of the ocean blanket, a promise of salvation for the hopeless. The seascape itself is an endless source of wild imaginings and great inspiration for the sea-inspired artist.

Lighthouse Paintings A Modern Subject
Of course, lighthouses as we know them today didn't come about until the early 1900's, although there were already some standing as early as the Medieval Ages when candles and torches were used to light up the castle tower, which served as the lighthouse since most castles were built on a sea-lined cliff.

Paintings of seascapes with lighthouse images became an inspiration for artists who used pastels or watercolor paints.

Given the subdued hues of the ocean, as a result of its gradual sinking depths, as well as the important role sunlight or moonlight played on its face, watercolor art was a natural selection. Many famous artists' seascapes have been applied to greeting and postcards.

Fish Plus art prints? You would be surprised at how many you can purchase on- and off-line. There are so many choices of subjects to choose from and ocean wildlife is among the top favorites of many modern artists.

There's nothing as mesmerizing or as mysterious as the depths of the ocean and even art is no exception for exploring the wonders of this totally mystifying world of water.

When fish becomes art, there is a huge selection of species of wildlife to choose from. Fish art prints also make very good decoration pieces, a wise alternative to live aquariums.

Fish Art Prints You Can Do at Home

There's no reason to be a famous artist to make your own fish -inspired art. All you need is a little imagination and some ideas to get you started.
Fish Art Mobile Make your own door hanging or window decoration by cutting out fish shapes in different colors (or decorate each piece with glue, beads, sequins, colored paper or even sand) and tie on nylon strings.

Then, tie each string on a round piece of cardboard, hanging the entire fish mobile where you choose.
Flat Ocean Aquarium Take a picture frame meant for toile projects. Its depth from the board to the glass should be around 2 inches thick. Grab some plastic wrap or colored cellophane and scrunch them up in strips, alternating different shades of blue and green to create the sea.

Then, take some cardboard, cut it into fish shapes and color with glitter glue or metallic pens. Stick them onto the board, jumping out of the water and back in. Voila your own ocean aquarium to hang on your wall.

Black And White Paintings Simple, Clean

Black and white paintings are expressive of the modern world of the 20th century. Pop art, as defined by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Lichtenstein brought a new meaning to the world rebel art.

Not to be typecast with artists who conformed to what was expected of a fine painting; modern artists began to express themselves in a minimalist style, which transcended into the lack of color in most of their work. However, considering the use of only two shades didn't detract from the brilliance of their work.

A black and white painting can have as much, if not more, significance than a full color picture. The best example is newspaper advertisements.

Many advertisers think that using color will attract more attention; but a well designed minimalist use of black and white can take on a different meaning to the consumer when executed well. This is best scene in pictures done with a monochromatic flavour, which blends into gradients the use of two colors; very effective with black and white representations.

Black and White Paintings A Study

Pablo Picasso's Ostrich is a simple ink-set picture that gives the artist's rendition of what an ostrich looks like. Quite boring to a seasoned art enthusiast or is it?

With Picasso's use of bold, minimal strokes, as well as the curly swirls of ink to represents its feathers; the bird was graphically represented in a running movement very symbolic of the fowl.

Another black and white painting is Klee's Stick It Out. Though not a painting but really a sketch, its use of light and bold strokes emphasize the mono-chromatic effect on vellum paper.

The subject itself is indefinable but the representation of the sketch is what makes it an extraordinary piece.