Archive for the 'Les Beaux Arts' Category

The Best Method for Carrying Cards in London

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Oyster holders allow one of the economic methods, which insures a visual spot for your company or brand name and allows many outstanding chances to publicize your society. It is a stylishly fashioned promotional product, which makes an superior campaigning platform for your organisation and allows for a solid platform for your business. Oyster wallets enable you to pair the want as well as the taste of your likely clients. It is a perfect item of usefulness, which provides an innovative, working and a dependable way of pushing your trade name. It gives a great option for gift making, availing you to exhibit or further your business among your treasured clients, indifferent of the character of your business.

1) Your customers will be able to travel in vogue and protect their precious oyster card or ID at the same time and thinking of who gave them such an fine present. It can be printed in full gloss with a assortment of unique coatings. By using your party logotype, you can all of a sudden shape this simple object into an irresistible stunning promotional instrument. This item can assist you to prompt your clients of your society brand, over and over again.

2) An oyster card holder is attractively hand made in the most durable PVC plastic. You can add surnames of each recipient, or expertly boss your society logotype on top of it. It is made by employing advanced quality photographic prints and makes a great corporate present that survives forever. It is ideal for your exemption pass, bus tickets, or Driver’s Licence. This Card wallet supplies adequate space for your particular design or company logotype.

3) They are rather versatile and can be utilised for driving licence, oyster card and journey tickets. They can be packaged and would make an perfect present for that great somebody. These are highly trusted promotional items, which will assist you accomplish all your commercializing aims.

4) It is a outstanding value promotional item for your targeted audience and ships in a large range of extraordinary colorings and designs. It is fade proof and prepared of moisture repellent and water repellent materials. Oyster holders will make a large impact, when passed out to your work colleagues, clients, relatives or even acquaintances on their special social occasions.

5) It is a fantastic value promotional item for your targeted audience and arrives in a huge range of unique colours and conceptions. It is anti-fade and prepared of wet repellent and water immune textiles. Card wallets will create a large impact, when handed out to your business fellow workers, clients, relatives or even champions on their special junctures.

How Halloween is Celebrated around the World

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

It is fun to learn about how Halloween is celebrated around the world, since every country has their unique feel to this old holiday (Halloween is among the oldest holidays in the world). The countries that celebrate this holiday in one form or another, include: Spain, Mexico, and Latin America (All Souls’ Day), the United Kingdom (the Autumn Rite), United States, Canada, and Ireland (Halloween).

Spain, Mexico, and Latin America

All Souls’ Day (El Dia de los Muertos), November 2, is the final day of the three-day celebration, which begins in the evening on October 31. At the time of celebration, many families honor the dead, who are believed to return and visit their earthly homes. People construct special altars in their homes, where they place flowers, candy, photographs, fresh water, and the favorite foods and drinks of the deceased. Often, a towel and wash basin are left out for the spirits to wash before the feast.

People burn candles and incense (meant to help the dead find their way home), as well as tidy and decorate the graves of their departed family members. November 2 is when families gather at the graves for a reminisce picnic.

United Kingdom

Guy Fawkes Day, November 5, is the British version of Halloween. In the evening, people light bonfires (large celebratory fires originating from old times when people burnt animal bones to chase away evil spirits) throughout England, burn effigies made of straw and old clothing, and set off fireworks.

The fact is, however, that even though this celebration resembles Halloween with its activities and timing, it actually has nothing to do with Halloween. Ever since the times of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, the belief in saints had started to fade and most English stopped celebrating Halloween. November 5 is the day when Britain celebrates the execution of Guy Fawkes – the most notorious English traitor from the 17th century.

At first, pilgrims in America also celebrated Guy Fawkes Day, but eventually this tradition died out.

United States, Canada, and Ireland

Halloween (October 31) originated in Ireland back in the Celtic days. To date, Halloween is celebrated in Ireland similarly to the United States and Canada, but with an Irish twist.

In the USA and Canada, it’s carving Jack-O-Lanterns, trick-or-treating, parties, decorating homes with pumpkins, and dressing up in costumes, including plus size Halloween costumes.

In Ireland, it’s bonfires, trick-or-treating, and evening parties with friends and neighbors. Halloween parties in Ireland often include playing games (i.e., “snap-apple”, card games), and candy treasure hunts. Traditional food is barnbrack – a fruitcake with various muslin-wrapped treats that are believed to foretell the future.

Remembering or greeting the dead also takes place in other countries, including: Austria, Belgium, China, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Sweden.

Penmanship Skills Still Required in 2009

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Although it might appear as though hand writing is dying out, it’s one that is still today important in numerous walks of life. A written letter conveys more importance than a typed letter, such as an application for a job, an invitation or an apology.

You might believe it’s a recent trend of the masses eschewing hand-writing for the keyboard, yet as far back as the late 1800s, there were cries that hand writing was uncared-for because of the invention of those times : the typwriter. Now in the 21st century, the blame is being connected to the ubiquitous utilization of computers.

Even so, there is still a strong requirement for handwriting ability in in all walks of life. Handwritten missives are thought of as more trustworthy, they evince the writer has studied over his words, and they show more respect to the recipient. During the modern era of templated responses, the penned letter has never been more authoritative.

I’ve frequently been caught out with my own poor penmanship – made worse by decades of reliance on my computer keyboard. In situations where I’ve had to handwrite something, my writing’s been almost indecipherable at times. That can be embarrassing. So how did I get over this problem? I handwrote as often as I could, and my writing improved greatly. So it’s wise to polish your hand writing through sheer repitition.

Another point is to get a pen your hand is comfy with, and it must accept refills. Good refills include the legendary mont blanc refills. This permits you to improve your hand writing with the same pen.

An Introduction To Graffiti Stencilling

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Stencilling has actually been around for 25 years, even though many people think Banksy invented it. You can employ paper, cardboard or other types of surfaces (such as plastics) to develop templated imagery and text. You merely cut out the shapes from your cardboard/paper/other surface, put then put this surface against a wall (for example), and roll-on paint or spray into the cut-out shapes.

The fundamental rule of stencilling is producing outlines via cutting shapes, and spraying paint within these cutout shapes – creating unmistakable images on the surface underneath. It’s also possible to employ multiple layers of stencils to create an illusion of depth or even add colours.

There are countless causes for being a stencil graffiti artist. For some, it is a great platform to put across a political point. Many artists appreciate the PR that their artwork can obtain. Some merely want their art to be seen. As the stencil stays consistent throughout its use, it is far easier for a stencil artist to rapidly copy what could be a complicated piece at a very quick rate, when compared to other traditional tagging methods, so without doubt, there is also a strong self-promoting reason to choose stencilling.

Banksy has used stencilling as a way to put a point across, often rather succinctly, leaving the spectator to get the message themselves. This is oftentimes why people love his artworks so much, as they force the viewer to meditate on the meaning behind the artwork. Banksy artwork is being reproduced on canvas, t-shirts and posters, such is the popularity of the street artist.

The Wish Lantern and the "Loy Krathong" Festival

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Sky Lanterns or Wish Lanterns are a prominent feature in the Loy Krathong festival in Thailand. The origins of the Loy Krathong festival are unclear to say the least but it is generally understood that the festival was born in India, a Hindu festival similar to that of ‘Deepravali’, as a thanksgiving to the Deity of the Gangee. It was adapted by Buddhists in Thailand as a ceremony to honour the original Buddha, Siddharta Guatama. The Festival is an exciting spectacle filled with beautiful decorations and symbolic gestures, which takes place on the full moon of the twelfth month of the Thai Lunar calendar- this is usually November. Interestingly enough, the word ‘Loi’ means to float, and ‘Krathong’ is a raft roughly the size of a hand span in diameter. It is traditionally made from a section of a banana tree-trunk. It is also decorated with elaborately constructed banana leaves, flowers, candles, and incense sticks. A beautiful sight to see! During the aptly named festival, these rafts- or Krathongs- are floated on the river to symbolise the floating away of anxieties, grudges and frustrations. It is often the case that people cut or shave their hair, and clip their fingernails and release these, to represent the discarding of the bad parts of the self.

A Two Wheeled Challenge

Saturday, June 14th, 2008

Finally getting settled in life, the townhouse needing little in the way of repairs and the maintenance men taking care of the outside, I was free to pursue my hobbies. My favorite thing was to get on a bicycle, pedaling to unknown neighborhoods looking for likely subjects for my trusty camera. There was just one hitch, I didn’t have a bicycle. Not that I couldn’t afford one, but the ones I could afford were poorly made consisting of rubbery-feeling gears, intermittent anemic brakes and uncomfortable seats. What I wanted was a fast hybrid bike with eighteen precisely engaging gears and brakes that would slow my one hundred eighty pounds down a steep hill without smoking. Of course there are custom bikes assembled from top-of-the-line European components that cost thousands of dollars. I’m not talking about those. Just a decent quality bike that would last ten years with TLC and a little luck.

Bikes at this level of quality cost from four to five hundred
dollars – an amount not even in my wildest moment could I rationalize. Occasionally on my trips to the local dumpsters, someone would discard an old bike for pick- up. These relics of twenty years ago were the rusted remains of now-college-age spoiled children who left them out in the rain one too many times. They never adjusted the brakes or gears and probably only rode them one year before relegating them to the garage rafters. Mostly sporting ten speeds and riding on skinny bump-sensitive tires, these cheap Japanese imports flooded the market in the seventies. I would walk them home, flat tires thumping on the pavement, trailing spider webs and loose brake cables.

In a week, I would have them straightened, polished to a show room gloss and working as well as they did when new. A flyer in the local super market would result in a call from a beleaguered father of four pre-teens looking for the cheap alternative bike. His kids would ruin them in a few months anyway, so these out-or-date but looking-like-new bikes fit the bill perfectly. In one month I recycled four ten-speeds for one hundred dollars. A trip to Sears garnered me a heavy looking cruiser bike with fat tires, only six speed gears and handlebars that swept back for upright pedaling.

The quality, or lack of it, was a trade off for the low price of seventy nine dollars.For five years, I enjoyed the Sears bike, putting up with the rubbery feeling gears and the constant adjustments to the brakes. It, of course still looked like new with the constant polishing and attention, but I was unhappy with the performance. Then one day I visited the dumpster behind a large bicycle shop. There were parts of bikes all over the ground, run over bikes, bikes with no wheels, rusted hulks of bikes and bikes with no parts at all. But there on the top of the heap was a beautiful jade green Diamond Back hybrid bike. The front wheel was pretzel shaped, but the rest was in pretty good shape. I examined the gears and was surprised to see Shimano gears of the eighteen speed variety. Evidentially a trade in for a newer model, this discard was just what I wanted.

Back home in the cellar, I found an almost identical wheel for the front end and proceeded to restore the Diamond Back to its former glory. I had been saving an expensive lightweight solid aluminum rear carrier that fit perfectly. Twenty hours of intense labor and two coats of gloss lacquer later I tenderly carried the result of my efforts upstairs. The sun sparkled off polished spokes as I wheeled it to the road. Settling on my new gel-soft seat, I took off slowly, the gears snicking like a Swiss watch into the higher gears.

Compared to my Sears clunker, this bike wanted to go. It floated above the road on its ball bearings, a secret hidden motor seeming to propel it without effort. Back at my front step, I braked firmly to a fast stop, without the usual vibration and squeak of complaint. I was now in bicycle heaven and it didn’t cost me a dime.

Retired portrait photographer. Hobbies include graphic arts, photography, singing and fixing things.