Art Lessons

In this video lesson, eHow Expert Robert Markey teaches how a Glass Mosaic is done by cutting pieces of glass to the desired shapes, gluing them down onto a base with thin-set mortar and applying grout over the entire piece.



Video Transcript: ROBERT MARKEY: "I'm Robert Markey. I'm an artist and I'm going to talk about doing a glass mosaic. Now when you say glass mosaic, there's a lot of different types of glass used in mosaics. You can use stained glass. This is a special venetian glass called smalty. This is actually broken glass from airport lights, that a friend gave me. And these are kind of a standard vitreous glass tiles that most glass mosaics are made out of. So, we're going to do a little bit with these. And then the other, the other thing is what do you do the mosaic on? And there's easy board or cement board which is a nice sub straight. You can do it on flower pots, sculpture, whatever. One of my favorites is actually just a ceramic tile. So, in terms of applying the mosaics you can do it right in a thin set mortar, especially if it's outside, or you can use a glue. And there are a number of kinds of glues you can use to glue them down. Cutting the tile, they're called, actually it's called tesserae a piece in, in mosaic is called tesserae. And this is used for cutting glass. It's a mosaic glass cutter. Basically you're going to hold it there with one side down and snap it. And there you have it. OK? So, in order to lay the tiles you can put a little bit of glue on a back, glue it. And now we'll assume you have either a drawing or an idea or maybe it's totally abstract and there's your next one. And the process basically is you cut and sometimes you're going to lay out the whole thing and then come back and glue it. Or you lay out a little bit. You may want to do something like that. Have some texture in it. And then you like that so then you're going to glue them down and then when it's done, the idea of grouting it some mosaic tiles you grout, some you don't. And that's a whole, that's a whole another issue right there. So, I'm Robert Markey and we've talked about putting down glass mosaic tiles."

In this video lesson, eHow Expert Robert Markey teaches how to use a Two-point Perspective, which is a strategy of drawing to create a three-dimensional object by laying out two points of reference on the horizon line.



Video Transcript: ROBERT MARKEY: "I'm Robert Markey. I'm an artist and we're going to talk about two point perspective. The first issue that we need to know is where the horizon is. That's where, which is basically you're eye level which is how you get into two point perspective. So here's a horizon and we pick out two points. OK? And we talk about making a cube and anything else you want to do would kind of fit in that cube. OK? So, our lines go straight and the vertical line of the cube, back line. The other side and down to here. And for our top. And for our other top. OK? There's our two point perspective cube. If you want to be very exact you use a, you use a ruler to get it. And again you could use a, a vertical, maybe a T square to get your vertical. If you're up top the same idea only it's flipped. If say you're somewhere in the middle here and you want a square, and sometimes depending on the way it's turned your point might be way out there. So let's just sort of assume the point is over here and we're going to use the ruler this time, and go here and we'll go here. Let's put this one in here, get a different shape. Stand. And there's your two point perspective at horizon level. Again if you're up here somewhere and if you're way over here, that they're very different. Because this one and this one have a very different look here. And there's your cube flying up in the air, turned almost completely towards the viewer. I'm Robert Markey and we've been talking about two point perspective."

In this video lesson, eHow Expert Robert Markey teaches that when framing pastel drawings, you must use archival tape to adhere the piece to the back of a mat, mount the piece on backing board and lay glass and the decorative frame around the entire piece.



Video Transcript: ROBERT MARKEY: "Hi, I'm Robert Markey, I'm an artist and I'm going to talk about framing pastels. Now, in a process there are a few esthetic decisions you're going to make in terms of the color the matte, the kind of frame, the size of your borders. But let's assume that we'll do that so it looks the way we want it. The actual technical process is you take the size of your pastel and you need about a quarter to a half inch over lap on your matte, o.k. So, when you hang the pastel on the matte, you can do so with a piece of, and it should be archival tape, right across the top, just one side on here, o.k. and the other's going to hang loose. And for sure you check to see that's the way we want it to look, o.k. And then take your frame, and on this one we're using a brass metal frame, and because glass you had cut to size to fit right in the frame and you put the frame together three sides, you put the glass in and now we slide in the matted pastel. And make sure we do it right side up. Now you have a backer board and there are some options for that. You can use another piece of matte board and little metal clips. I like the foam board, it's archival, it's a little better quality and it just slips right in and then the last piece of frame goes on and then tighten it down and there we have it, the framed pastel. I'm Robert Markey and this has been about framing pastels."

In this video lesson, eHow Expert Robert Markey teaches how to create artwork made from wood, which can take any shape, as it can be carved, glued, painted, burned, etched and mixed with many other materials to create a variety of textures.



Video Transcript: ROBERT MARKEY: "Wood, one of the most elegant and toughest sculpture materials that there is. I'm Robert Markey, an artist and I'm talking about making are with wood. The possibilities are pretty endless. Here's a sculpture made of steel, wood, actually a actually a locust log, marble and more steel. The wood can just add a whole new dimension to something as very straight ahead, wshh.. the curve the beauty of that. Over here we have another piece. A hanging sphere.. made of wood that's been burnt, charred, cut out, held together with metal wire and then charred to be hung up in a tree, o.k. These are just two, two possibilities. Wood can be carved. Wood can be glued together to create a laminated thing. Wood can be bent in to a circle in to any kind of shape you want it. You can carve wood and make wood block prints out of it. You can paint wood. You can put wood on something else to make a basically a wooden mosaic out of that. The possibilities are really endless in terms of what you can do to make art from wood. There's a sculptor up in Vermont who makes huge sculptures out of lengths of firewood and they're beautiful. So the possibilities are really going to list. I'm Robert Markey, I've been talking about using wood to make art."