Online Art Resources shared by Carleen Johns

Online Art Resources

I was recently asked to review the Art Related Resources on our BOMH’s website. Quite a few links to art related websites are listed there; many that were familiar to me and several that weren’t. If you’re looking for an online resource for art fairs and festivals, you can surely find it on this website.

Of course, one link led to another, and I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon of internet surfing.  In addition to the current listings, I’d like to add three more that I could spend a week perusing: www.visitmo.com, www.artistsnetwork.com, and www.wetcanvas.com.

VistMo – Over 1,000 listings on the Things to Do page.  Who knew there were so many things to do in Missouri? This site is a great place to start looking for museums, galleries, and festivals to visit.

Artistsnetwork – A division of the F + W Media, Inc, which offers art contests, art videos, online art classes, and books for artists.  I especially enjoy the articles, forums, and blogs sections of this site. Lee Hammond and Richard McKinley both have blogs here. I stumbled upon Lee Hammond’s book about drawing from photographs during my second year of teaching back in 1983 and used it as a reference throughout my career as an art educator. My upper elementary students really enjoyed the exercises in her book, Draw Real Animals.  A few years ago, I had a great opportunity to participate in one of Richard McKinley’s pastel workshops. This man shares his information freely. He taught us to create a series of value thumbnail sketches to help us determine if our compositions were strong. I so wish I had learned this at the beginning of my teaching career, rather than near its end. This lesson is in his blogs: http://www.artistsnetwork.com/articles/art-demos-techniques/a-painters-guide-to-composition-using-the-elements-of-design-for-stronger-paintings  I will always remember this quote from him, “Value does all the work, and color gets the glory.”

Wet Canvas – An online community of over 200,000 artists internationally.  I used this web site on a regular basis during my teaching years, especially when teaching high school. I love the Content Channels listed on the left side of the website. Tons of information!