Selecting art for your home can be an exciting adventure and a source of enjoyment for years to come. Keys to success are figuring out what kind of art you like, how it will fit in with the rest of your interior design plans, and how to exhibit the art to the best effect in your home.

What kind of art do you like?

There are many opportunities to browse art within your community at local exhibitions, art fairs and galleries. Even small towns usually have a not-for-profit gallery space, or cafes and restaurant that exhibit local artists. In larger cities, galleries often get together for monthly or periodic “gallery nights” where all the galleries hold open house receptions on the same evening. Its a great way to see a lot of art in a short time.

Today the internet provides the largest variety and depth of fine art available worldwide. You can visit museum websites and see master works from ages past, check out online galleries for group shows, and visit hundreds of individual artists websites. One advantage of using the internet is that you can search for the specific kind of art you are interested in, whether its photography, impressionism, bronze sculpture, or abstract painting. And when you find one art site, youll usually find links to many, many more.

Should the art fit the room or the room fit the art?

If you feel strongly about a particular work of art, you should buy the art you love and then find a place to put it. But you may find that when you get the art home and place it on a wall or pedestal, it doesnt work with its surroundings. By not “working,” I mean the art looks out of place in the room. Placing art in the wrong surroundings takes away from its beauty and impact.

What should you do if you bring a painting home and it clashes with its environment? First, hang the painting in various places in your home, trying it out on different walls. It may look great in a place you hadnt planned on hanging it. If you cant find a place where the art looks its best, you may need to make some changes in the room, such as moving furniture or taking down patterned wallpaper and repainting in a neutral color. The changes will be worth making in order to enjoy the art you love.

Sometimes the right lighting is the key to showing art at its best. You may find that placing a picture light above a painting or directing track lighting on it is all the art needs to exhibit its brilliance. If you place a work of art in direct sunlight, however, be sure it wont be affected by the ultraviolet light. Pigments such as watercolor, pencil and pastel are especially prone to fading. Be sure to frame delicate art under UV protected glass or acrylic.

How to pick art to fit the room.

Size and color are the two major criteria for selecting art to fit its surroundings. For any particular space, art that is too large will overwhelm, and art that is too small will be lost and look out of proportion. The bolder the art, the more room it needs to breathe.

As a rule, paintings should be hung so that the center of the painting is at eye level. Sculpture may sit on the floor, a table, or pedestal, depending on the design. Rules should be considered guidelines only, however, so feel free to experiment.

When selecting a painting to match color, select one or two of the boldest colors in your room and look for art that has those colors in it. Youre not looking for an exact match here. Picking up one or two of the same colors will send a message that the painting belongs in this environment.

Another possibility for dealing with color is to choose art with muted colors, black-and-white art, or art that is framed in a way that mutes its color impact in the room. A wide light-colored mat and neutral frame create a protected environment for the art within.

Style is another consideration when selecting art to fit a room. If your house is filled with antiques, for example, youll want to use antique-style frames on the paintings you hang there. If you have contemporary furniture in large rooms with high ceilings, youll want to hang large contemporary paintings.

How to create an art-friendly room.

Think about it. When you walk into a gallery or museum, what do they all have in common? White walls and lots of light. If a wall is wall-papered or painted a color other than white, it limits the choices for hanging art that will look good on it. If a room is dark, the art will not show to its best advantage.

If you want to make art the center of attraction, play down the other elements of the room like window coverings, carpeting, wall coverings, and even furniture. A room crowded with other colors, textures and objects will take the spotlight away from the art. Follow the principle that less is more. Keep it spare and let the art star. Then relax and enjoy it.

Selecting and displaying art is an art in itself. Experiment to learn what pleases you and what doesnt. Youll be well-rewarded for the time you invest by finding more satisfaction both in the art and in your home.

Islamic Calligraphy has arguably become the most reverenced form of Islamic art. It provides a link between the languages of the Muslims with the religion of Islam. The Muslim calligraphists have great contributions in taking this Islamic art to this zenith. The holy book of Islam, Al-Quran, has played an important role in the development and evolution of the Arabic language, and by extension, calligraphy in the Arabic alphabet. The famous Islamic artists have created Arabic calligraphy of supreme quality. Till today, The chief sources for Islamic calligraphy are the proverbs and complete passages from the Holy Quran. In modern times, the supply of Islamic calligraphy has also become a flourishing Islamic art business.

Islamic calligraphy is a visible expression of the highest art of all for the muslim. It is the art of the spiritual world. Calligraphy literally means writing beautifully and ornamentally. Islamic calligraphy is the art of writing, and by extension, of bookmaking. This art has most often employed the Arabic script, throughout many languages. Since Arabic calligraphy was the primary means for the preservation of the Quran, Calligraphy is especially revered among Islamic arts. The work of the famous muslim calligraphers were collected and greatly appreciated throughout Islamic history. Consideration of figurative art as idolatrous led to calligraphy and abstract figures becoming the main methods of artistic expression in Islamic cultures. Contemporary muslim calligraphers are also producing the Islamic calligraphy of high artistic quality.

Calligraphic scripts

1. The Kufic script is the first of those calligraphic scripts to gain popularit.
2. It was angular, made of square and short horizontal strokes, long verticals, and bold, compact circles.
3. For three centuries, this script had been mainly used to copy the Quran.
4. The cursive Naskh script was more often used for casual writing.
5. This script had rounder letters and thin lines.
6. It would come to be preferred to Kufic for copying the Quran as techniques for writing in this style were refined.
7. Almost all printed material in Arabic is in Naskh.
8. The Thuluth would take on the ornamental role formerly associated with the Kufic script in the 13th century.
9. Thuluth is usually written in ample curves as it has a strong cursive aspect.
10. The Persians took to using Arabic script for their own language, Persian after their conversion to Islam.
11. The Taliq and Nastaliq styles were contributed to Arabic calligraphy by the Persians.
12. Nastaliq style is extremely cursive, with exaggeratedly long horizontal strokes.
13. The Diwani script is a cursive style of Arabic calligraphy.
14. It was developed during the reign of the early Ottoman Turks (16th and early 17th centuries).
15. This outstanding Diwani script was both decorative and communicative.
16. Finally, Riqa is the most commonly used script for everyday use.
17. It is simple and easy to write.
18. Its movements are small.
19. In China, a calligraphic form called Sini has been developed.
20. This form has evident influences from Chinese calligraphy.
21. Hajji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang is a famous modern calligrapher in this tradition.

Calligrams

The most Islamic of arts in the Muslim world, has also its figurative sides. The muslim calligraphers have produced wonderful anthropomorphic figures by interweaving written words, made from an “Allah” , a “Muhammad” , a “Bismillah” , etc., or using micrography. These include , (Ali, the Ideal Human of mystics, a praying man, a face), (Duldul, horse of Ali, horse (Alis Duldul), fish, stork or other bird (the quranic Hudhud) and unanimated representations (a sword (Dhu al-Fiqar) and a mosque. Calligrams are related to Muslim mysticism and popular with many leading calligraphers in Turkey, Persia and India from the 17th century onward.

Pakistani Islamic Calligraphy

Pakistan has produced Islamic calligraphist of international recognition. Sadeqain is on of these international fame Islamic calligraphist. He was an untraditional and self-made, self-taught painter and calligrapher. He did a lot of work on Quranic calligraphy. Many other contemporary Pakistani calligraphists like Gul Gee have created great contemporary Islamic calligraphy. These days, Islamic calligraphies of Tufail and Uzma Tufail are getting very much popular both in Pakistan and all over the world.

Islamic Calligrahpy as an Islamic Gift

The Muslims love to adore their homes, offices and places of their work with the Islamic calligraphy. The Islamic calligraphies especially the verses from the Holy Quran and the verses from the sayings of the Holy Prophet are considered to be very sacred to muslims. Islamic calligraphy indeed make the perfect gift for a muslim for any special occasion. A muslim can send an Islamic gift of Islamic calligraphy to congratulate his relative or friend on his new home or new office or on his birthday or wedding ceremony or on Eid Festival.

It is great news for the muslims living all over the world to get the Islamic paintings and Islamic calligraphy of their own choice. Please visit our website at www.paintingsgifts4u.com and click the section of the Islamic paintings. You can get Islamic Calligraphy of your choice just by selecting the Item number of the Islamic Painting or by sending the Holy verse of your choice. We also supply Islamic paintings and Islamic Calligraphy from Pakistan on wholesale basis at very best prices. We are supplying cheap Islamic paintings and cheap Islamic calligraphies with high quality.

While the world pays respectful tribute to Rembrandt Van Ryn the artist, it has been compelled to wait until comparatively recent years for some small measure of reliable information concerning Rembrandt Van Ryn the man. Rembrandt Van Ryn was born in the pleasant city of Leyden, but it is not easy to name the precise year. Somewhere between 1604 and 1607 he started his troubled journey through life, and of his childhood the records are scanty. Doubtless, his youthful imagination was stirred by the sights of the city, the barges moving slowly along the canals, the windmills that were never at rest, the changing chiaroscuro of the flooded, dyke-seamed land. Perhaps he saw these things with the large eye of the artist, for he could not have turned to any point of the compass without finding a picture lying ready for treatment.

His family soon knew that he had the makings of an artist and, in 1620, when he could hardly have been more than sixteen, and may have been considerably less, he left Leyden University for the studio of a second-rate painter called Jan van Swanenburch. We have no authentic record of his progress in the studio, but it must have been rapid. He must have made friends, painted pictures, and attracted attention. At the end of three years he went to Lastmans studio in Amsterdam, returning thence to Leyden, where he took Gerard Dou as a pupil. A several years later, it is not easy to settle these dates on a satisfactory basis, he went to Amsterdam, and established himself there, because the Dutch capital was very wealthy and held many patrons of the arts, in spite of the seemingly endless war that Holland was waging with Spain.

His art remained true and sincere, he declined to make the smallest concession to what silly sitters called their taste, but he did not really know what to do with the money and commissions that flowed in upon him so freely. The best use he made of changing circumstances was to become engaged to Saskia van Uylenborch, the cousin of his great friend Hendrick van Uylenborch, the art dealer of Amsterdam. Saskia, who was destined to live for centuries, through the genius of her husband, seems to have been born in 1612, and to have become engaged to Rembrandt Van Ryn when she was twenty. The engagement followed very closely upon the patronage of Rembrandt Van Ryn by Prince Frederic Henry, the Stadtholder, who instructed the artist to paint three pictures.

1. Saskia is enshrined in many pictures.
2. She is seen first as a young girl, then as a woman.
3. As a bride, in the picture now at Dresden, she sits upon her husbands knee, while he raises a big glass with his outstretched arm.
4. Her expression here is rather shy, as if she deprecated the situation and realised that it might be misconstrued.
5. This picture gave offence to Rembrandt Van Ryns critics, but some portraits of Saskia remained to be painted.
6. She would seem to have aged rapidly, for after marriage her days were not long in the land.
7. She was only thirty when she died, and looked much older.

In 1638 we find Rembrandt Van Ryn taking an action against one Albert van Loo, who had dared to call Saskia extravagant. It was, of course, still more extravagant of Rembrandt Van Ryn to waste his money on lawyers on account of a case he could not hope to win, but this thought does not seem to have troubled him. He did not reflect that it would set the gossips talking more cruelly than ever. Still full of enthusiasm for life and art, he was equally full of affection for Saskia, whose hope of raising children seemed doomed to disappointment, for in addition to losing the little Rombertus, two daughters, each named Cornelia, had died soon after birth. In 1640 Rembrandt Van Ryns mother died. Her picture remains on record with that of her husband, painted ten years before, and even the biographers of the artist do not suggest that Rembrandt Van Ryn was anything but a good son. A year later the well-beloved Saskia gave birth to the one child who survived the early years, the boy Titus. Then her health failed, and in 1642 she died, after eight years of married life that would seem to have been happy. In this year Rembrandt Van Ryn painted the famous “Night Watch,” a picture representing the company of Francis Banning Cocq, and incidentally a day scene in spite of its popular name. The work succeeded in arousing a storm of indignation, for every sitter wanted to have equal prominence in the canvas.

It may be said that after Saskias death, and the exhibition of this fine work, Rembrandt Van Ryns pleasant years came to an end. He was then somewhere between thirty-six and thirty-eight years old, he had made his mark, and enjoyed a very large measure of recognition, but henceforward, his career was destined to be a very troubled one, full of disappointment, pain, and care. Perhaps it would have been no bad thing for him if he could have gone with Saskia into the outer darkness. The world would have been poorer, but the man himself would have been spared many years that may be even the devoted labours of his studio could not redeem.

Between 1642, when Saskia died, and 1649, it is not easy to follow the progress of his life; we can only state with certainty that his difficulties increased almost as quickly as his work ripened. His connection with Hendrickje Stoffels would seem to have started about 1649, and this woman with whom he lived until her death some thirteen years later, has been abused by many biographers because she was the painters mistress.

He has left to the world some 500 or 600 pictures that are admitted to be genuine, together with the etchings and drawings to which reference has been made. He is to be seen in many galleries in the Old World and the New, for he painted his own portrait more than a score of times. So Rembrandt Van Ryn has been raised in our days to the pinnacle of fame which is his by right; the festival of his tercentenary was acknowledged by the whole civilised world as the natural utterance of joy and pride of our small country in being able to count among its children the great Rembrandt Van Ryn.

In 2006 the Turner Prize gained its first ever female winner. The artist who achieved this feat hails from Germany and is called is Tomma Abts. In order to carry off the Turner Prize – in the final, Tomma had to overcome three notable artists .

In no particular order of importance these were – sculptress Rebecca Warren who was the fancied hot favourite with many bookies, “billboard artist” Mark Titchner – and finally film maker Phil Collins…(No not him of Genesis fame!).

When the judges cast their votes however it was Tomma Abts who came out on top. She won twenty five thousand british pounds and of course the Turner Prize itself. I am sure the money will come in handy – however its the exposure that Tomma will get from winning thats the really important thing here.

What does Tomma Abts do? Well she actually paints abstract art; usually in oils or acrylics. – something of a novelty for the Turner Prize – some would say! Tomma Abts was originally selected for her solo art exhibitions at Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, and Greengrassi, London.

1. Tomma Abts has been praised by no less than the Tate Gallery who describes her canvases as “intimate” and “compelling” .
2. They also comment on Tommas “consistent” and even “rigorous” method of painting.
3. In addition the Tate states that Tomma Abts “enriches the language of abstract art” .
4. With such praise heaped upon her head its no surprise to me that she won the prize.
5. However I actually feel that Tommas abstract artwork isnt “knock out” but it definitely is OK.

The images or paintings of Tomma Abts are created by the repetiton of various geometrical shapes on a base of rich colour. Personally – I dont think that Tommas approach to painting is particularly original. However I have to admit that while not being “knock out” I find some of Tommas images pretty compelling and touching. I have to say that this does surprise me.

48 x 38 cms – exactly. These are the dimensions of every Tomma Abts painting. Im not sure quite why Tomma selected these dimensions. Obviously she finds them appealing and I suppose they make for a very compact painting.

When creating titles for her paintings apparently Tomma simply plucks one from a dictionary of German first names! Titles like “Veeke” for example were created in this way. In my view this is surely only slightly more interesting than numbering each picture!

All in all I think that Tomma Abts creates abstract art that is pretty accessible to the public at large. This is something that perhaps could not be said about the artwork of previous Turner Prize winners! I base my opinion of course on Tommas prize winning paintings. I would go further and state that I cannot conceive of a Tomma Abts creation offending anyone – even slightly.

In the end its just my personal opinion but I do believe that its entirely posible that Tomma Abts will go on to become a household name – within her own lifetime…Of course she could also disappear without trace from the media – and our minds in the blink of an eye, for precisely the same reasons.