The Stories Behind Holiday Colors

December is here, and that means individuals all around the world will be celebrating holidays like Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, just to name a few. The December season is a favored time of year that is associated with excellent food, gifts, and time spent with family. Not only that, holiday seasons are often represented by unique, symbolic colors. Have you ever wondered why certain colors are designated to different holiday seasons? Let’s find out…

 

What do Kwanzaa’s shades symbolize?

Kwanzaa, established in 1966, is one of the most recent holidays to be founded. The colors used in Kwanzaa celebrations are red, black, and yellow. Related to Kwanzaa, green stands for “the land of Africa and hope for the future.” Red symbolizes the blood of Africans who have passed away, whereas black represents the skin shade of Africans. Kwanzaa, which is a holiday that honors African-American culture, centers on creativity, faith, self-determination, and togetherness.

Blue and white are significant to Jewish culture.

Most people are aware of the fact that the blue and white shades represented in Hanukkah décor are the colors of the Israeli flag. But what do these shades symbolize? According to a rabbinical interpretation, blue represents divine revelation as well as heaven. Better than any other color, white symbolizes cleanliness and purity. These colors that are so prominent in the design of the Israeli flag are also displayed on the Jewish prayer shawl (tallit), making them an integral part of Jewish culture.

Why red and green for Christmas?

The famed shades for Christmas are, without a doubt, green and red. But what do these colors represent? Green is representative of the evergreen tree, which symbolizes eternal life and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Red may represent the blood of Christ, but researchers are unsure of the exact symbolic meaning of this shade. What they do know, though, is that the combination of red and green likely stems from holly Christmas decorations that were used in Europe in the Middle Ages.

Make this Holiday season more memorable by creating your own seasonally themed works of art. Segmation offers a SegPlayPC Christmas Time pattern “paint-by-numbers” collection that makes it easy and fast to enjoy the Christmas Time celebration and more. Learn more about Segmation’s Christmas Time pattern collection by visiting http://www.segmation.com/products_pc_patternsets.asp#CHR. Sources: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/what-color-is-your-holiday-chr-104238

Coming Soon:
Read Segmation’s exclusive article about the season that inspired so much of famed artist Norman Rockwell’s timeless works.

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A Closer Look at Complementary Colors www.segmation.com

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Take a close look at Matisse's painting The Dance, shown above. What is it about this painting that makes it "pop"? The dancers seem like they're almost floating on top of the background. Why is that? Matisse was a master colorist, so he chose his colors carefully. He knew that when orange and blue are placed next to each other, they each appear brighter and more intense. Here's why: Orange and blue are complementary colors. Complementary colors have a special relationship because they are opposites on the color wheel. Take a look at the color wheel below:


You'll notice that yellow and blue are also complementary colors. Red and green make up another complementary pair. When complementary colors are placed next to each other in a painting or drawing, the artwork seems to vibrate. Complementary pairs can make an artwork more eye-catching and dynamic. For this reasons, many artists (like Matisse) make the conscious choice to use complementary colors in their compositions. If you look closely at the color wheel, you'll notice that the complement of each primary color is the combination of the other two primary colors. This means that:

• Yellow + Red = Orange, which is the complement of Blue.

• Red + Blue = Purple, which is the complement of Yellow.

• Blue + Yellow = Green, which is the complement of Red.

When you examine these colors on the color wheel, you can see how they are related. You will also note that the complements of the primary colors (red, yellow and blue) are all secondary colors (green, purple and orange). The next time you make art, keep the complementary colors in mind to see if you can make your painting more dynamic.
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3 Ways that Artists Can Benefit from Blogging

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Before the invention of photography, artists had to work from real life. How did that affect artists' working habits?

The necessity of working from life meant that in order to paint a portrait, the sitter had to pose for hours, days, weeks, and sometimes months before the artist was finished. To paint a still life, the artist would have to make sure the set-up stayed the same day after day, and could only paint when the lighting conditions were the same as the previous day. For landscape painting, artists would have to finish as much as possible on-site and often complete the final painting in their studio, often surrounded by smaller studies that contained notes on which hues and values to place where.

The invention of photography – especially digital photography – has changed the way artists work. Thanks to the convenience of affordable digital cameras, artists can easily take a variety of high-quality pictures of whatever they want to paint, and then instead of working from real li

The main goal of art marketing is to get your art out there. The more people that know about you and your work, the better. Blogging is an excellent – and free - way to put you and your art in front of a wider audience. In this article we'll take a look at how artists like you can benefit from keeping a blog.

What is a blog?

"Blog" is short for weblog – a word that was first coined in 1997 when the general public was still getting its feet wet with the Internet. At first, blogs were merely online diaries – personal accounts of people's daily lives. As the Internet has matured, blogs have turned into so much more. Blogs are now powerful marketing tools that are used by corporations and individuals alike to promote their businesses.

How can blogging be used as an effective art marketing tool?

1. Blogs provide exposure. The search engines love frequent-updated blogs. Each update you post gives you another chance to be found on the Internet – by a gallery owner, a potential collector, or anyone who might be of benefit to you and your business in some form.



2. Blogs provide insight. When you blog about your art, you can write about everything from your inspirations to your struggles and everything in between. Blogs give gallery owners and potential collectors insight into your working process, which shows them that you are a serious artist.



3. Blogs facilitate connections. People who buy artwork online are more willing to purchase art from someone with whom they feel a connection. Blogging allows you to connect with your fans and collectors on a personal level – showing them that you are a real, live, trustworthy human being, as opposed to an impersonal collection of pixels on the screen.

These are just some of the many ways that artists can benefit from blogging.

One final note: remember that a blog is better as a supplement to your website, and not a substitute. While some artist blogs double as an online gallery and a blog, it is generally better to keep the two separate, so that it is easier for your site visitors to navigate from your new content in your blog to your static content on your website (such as your gallery).

Ready to set up your art blog? You can start a blog for free through Wordpress or Blogger. Have fun!

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United States President Caricature Art by www.segmation.com!

United States President Caricature Pattern Set for SegPlay® PC by Segmation (see more details here)

Here's a fun and easy set of United States President Caricature patterns (thanks to our friends at Graphics Factory for providing this content) The set includes 17 nicely done portraits of the more familiar presidents including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

When these patterns are completely colored, the resulting image has a very strong resemblance to the original artwork. These vibrant and colorful pieces of art are truly engaging and exciting for you to paint, and especially a joy to look at when completed.

With over 2800 available patterns from an ever growing collection of artistic themes, SegPlay® PC will provide you with hours upon hours of painting fun and entertainment. SegPlay® PC Splash Screen With SegPlay® PC as an Art Appreciation teaching tool, students can memorize famous works of art, color by color. Children can truly touch images related to a wide assortment of subjects. As a parent or educator, the learning possibilities stretch as far as your image-ination!

SegPlay® PC is in the computer software category known as "casual gaming". While it provides a pleasurable and creative escape from mundane computer activities, the program is simple to use and new players can begin the painting function immediately, with just a few, intuitive tools. However, the program also offers rich features with challenging and engaging options, so it expands with each user, whether they seek an education in art appreciation or just want to enjoy a creative gaming challenge.

With a dynamic and clear user interface and fun sound effects, the program's gaming features compliment the artistic benefits and engage users at all levels. For a gaming challenge, users can race against a timer to complete patterns in a given timeframe at levels from Easy to Experienced and Expert. Users can also employ speed-painting tools, monitor the mistake counter, and track the number of remaining pieces and colors to increase the program's challenging and addictive potential.

United States President Caricature

Have fun and relax with beautiful online painting art. So fun and easy to use with no mess but just a mouse!

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Season's Greetings Paint by Numbers

Season's Greetings are often spoken with good intentions to friends, family, and strangers during the months of December and January. "Happy New Year", "Merry Christmas", "Happy Holidays", "Peace on Earth", and "Season's Greetings" are shouted with joy during this time period. In other languages, you can say "Boas Festas", "Bon Carnaval", "Feliz Navidad", "Glædelig jul", "Hyvää joulua", "Iyi Seneler", "Nollaig Shona Duit", "Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon", and "Joyeuses Fêtes". Our Season's Greetings artwork has been provided by Puffy P who creates edgy and humorous properties for licensing, with a specialization in the teen/tween, Latin, and women's markets. You find snowmen, menorahs, snowflakes, Christmas trees, confetti, champagne, and cookies among the greetings!

This set contains 25 paintable patterns. We know you'll enjoy coloring these great patterns!

Follow a number key to fill in sections of the picture and gradually, the image emerges in color segments. Paint-by-numbers meets modern technology in SegPlay® PC, a computerized paint-by-numbers program for Windows 7, 2000, XP, and Vista.

What our customers are saying about Segmation....

One of my minors in college was art so I am very familiar with a lot of the artists and their masterpieces. While I'm using your Segmation program I have a peace of mind while ironically feeling addicted to complete each work of art I begin. A big plus is I do not make a mess of my art room by bringing out all the paper, mediums, etc. to create my own works of art.*** I love SegPlay. I find myself using it as a fun mind challenge when I have nothing else to do. Years ago, I even told my mother about it when I set her up with a computer and she loves it too*** I have thoroughly enjoyed all the pattern sets that I have purchased from Segmation. Keep the pattern sets coming and know that we frustrated artists out here will keep buying them.*** My grandkids just love painting Segmation. Actually so do I. ***I am addicted to Segmation. My granddaughter is learning her numbers by using the simple paintings you offer. ***Thank you for coming up with such a fun.*** I love this Segplay game!!!!! I get so absorbed in it, that sometimes when I color a big spot, I wonder if I'll have enough paint to cover it or finish the picture. ..I LOVE IT.***I enjoy my “Painting” so much.*** www.segmation.com

Be an Artist in 2 minutes with Season’s Greetings from SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

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