The Old Trafford Centre

Autumn

Some Quotes about Piano

* Life is like a Piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it (Tom Lehrer)

* Grammar is a Piano I play by ear. All I know about grammar is its power (Joan Didion)

* A lot of the songs are written on piano or guitar, so I contribute, and I have done so sine the beginning. So It's been good to be involved completely musically as well. (Caroline Corr)

* The public is like a piano. You just have to know what keys to poke (Al Capp)

* The Piano is kind of my second instrument (Bill Bruford)

* The piano is a universal instrument. If you start there, learn your theory and how to read, you can go on to any other instrument (Eddie Van Halen)

Manchester

taken by myself in September, 2012

Chopsticks

The Chopsticks has become a common utensil within Asian Culture and within restaurants across the world. The Chopsticks can be used to eat an entire meal, or only portions of a meal. Most restaurants across the world that use chopsticks also offer forks, knives and spoon, just in case your chopsticks skills are not up to par.

Although no one know for sire, chopsticks are thought to be more than 5,000 years old. Originating from China chopsticks began to spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam by 500 A.D. Chopsticks were initially used as sticks to retrieve food that had been cooked in a pot or fire. Due to a shortage of fuel, food was sliced into smaller portions before being cooked, eliminating the need for knives. As a result, the Chopsticks became the utensil of choice. Theory has it that Confucius encouraged the use of chopsticks over knives, claiming knives were a type of weapon and had no business at a dining table.

Traditional Chinese chopsticks are 9 to 10 inches in length, while Japanese intended for males are 8 inches and for females are 7 inches.

Chopsticks are typically made from bamboo due to the fact that bamboo is easy to split, rather inexpensive to produce, and resistant to heat.

Underpainting : The Poratait

The painting starts with highlights (in white) and dark areas (in earth tones) applied on a neutral background - the many thin, semi-transparent layers of colour are applies. The effect gained is a deep richness with lustrous colour.

the next step called ( a dry-bruch technique). Unthinned on to the canvas to establish the various light eveas of the image. By varying the pressure on the brush, the artist could vary the effect to achieved - from a solid white, apaque line of plane to the lightest of transparent touches. Similarly the dark areas of the hair were strengthened with RAW UMBER. But most of the shadows are the background colour showing through. Once this first coat was dry, the artist used a dry brush barely touching the canvas to go over the entire painting with white (with underpainting allow each layer to dry or colours will be muddy)

Once the artist satisfied with the highlights and shadows he had established he began to put on thin layers of colour, first thinned with mixture of 9 parts turpentine to 1 part oil. Wiping away most of the first layers with a rag (scumbling) served to keep the colours from obscuring the highlights and shadows; to preserve or elaborate detail, move white or white or earth tone was added. And after each stage, a very thin layer of white was dry-brushed over the painting to give brilliance to the colour and luminous quality to the image.

Painting textures (Hari or cloth) required careful observations of the play of light and shadows. Hair is soft and silky, it was depicted (draw or paint) here with a flat bristle brush and unthinned paint with special attention to loose strands of hair around (forehead, ears and neck). Soft materials (cloth...) have fuzzy outlines, hard materials have sharp outline. Background colours were choosen to give a feeling of spaciouness to set off the figure.

The Visual Vocabulary of Painting

1. Line:
In additional to forming shapes, lines may be curved, slraight, horizintally, vertically and disagonally.

2. Shape:
Shape is the outline of a form. All shapes are related to triangles, rectangles or circles.

3. Value:
The term value refers to the darkness or lightness of a colour.

4. Colour:
Colour often sets the dominant tine of painting. It may be used for bold contrast or one primary colour may be used throughout a painting.

5. Texture:
It can be represented in variety of ways. The texture of the paint itself can be altered by using additives - paint thinned with turpentine or oil become more transparent for example - Heavy Brush strokes creat a rough surface.

6. Space:
Space in a painting is established by the position, size and colour of the shapes used creating a sense of relative closeness of distance.

7. Composition:
To work as a unit, the various elements of the painting must be put together in such a way as to move the eye over the canvas. The requires repetition of elements with variations.