Art blog...

http://caseybaugh.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-11-01T21%3A29%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false

Han Wu Shen- Contemporary realism

Cesar Santos-Contemporary Realist painter

Scott burdick- contemporary realism

Collapse of societies

"One supposition of this view( complex society's collapse because of depletion of environmental resources) must be that these societies sit by and watch the encroaching weaknesses without taking corrective measures. Here is the major difficulty. Complex societies are designed by centralized decision-making high information flow, great coordination of parts, formal channels of command, and pooling of resources. Much of this structure seems to have the capability, if not the designed purpose, of countering fluctuations and deficiencies in productivity. With their administrative structure, and capacity to allocate both labor and resources, dealing with adverse environmental  conditions may be one of the things that complex societies do best. It is curious that they would collapse when faced with precisely the same conditions that they are equipped to circumvent...As it becomes apparent to members of the administrators of complex society that a resource base is deteriorating, it seems most reasonable to assume that rational steps are taken toward a resolution."- Joseph Tainter.

Yet it seems apparent that a failure to act is precisely the root of collapse of societies, failures of group decision making on part of entire society due to conflicting interests and group dynamics.The society either fails to perceive weaknesses or fails to even try to solve them

Rights to material wealth- Islamic traditions of brotherhood by Ghazali

The prophet ( peace and blessings be upon him) said, " Two brothers are like a pair of hands, one of which washes the other." The two work in unison towards a common  aim. This also means that brothers take part in  times of fortune and misfortune, in the present and future moments, and an abandonment of selfishness and possessiveness.
There are three degrees of love in brotherhood.
The lowest degree is that you place your believing brother in the same footing as you would your servant, attending to his needs from your surplus. To oblige him to ask in times of need is the lowest form of brotherly love.
The second degree of brotherly love is that you treat your brother as you would treat yourself, as an equal partner in your property and wealth.
The third degree of brotherly love is that you prefer him above yourself, and meet his needs before your own, united in spiritual love. Self sacrifice is the fruit of the final stage of love. The quran refers to the love between believers, " They agree their affairs by mutual consultation, and spend freely of what We have bestowed upon them." (42:38)

The places where light and shadows meet...

Understanding how light travels across a form requires careful analyses of how the form turns away from the light source. The artist traces the tiny transitions of shade from shadow to the light, turning the form on the paper as it turns three dimensionally. Gradually adding the adjacent tones step by step, as an ant would travel the hills and valleys of a human form. Fight the urge to skip around the page, and stay as long as needed in a given area. 

Dan Thompson- Structural drawing

This drawing explores the various angles and planes of the skull, not in an abstract, theoretical way, but through careful observation.

 

http://www.artrenewal.org/artwork/608/6608/38762/Thompson_Dan_Structural_Drawing-large.jpg

David kassan and contemporary representational art community

http://sketchbooklive.com/

Honoring trust and confidence-Islamic traditions and perspectives by Ghazali

A believer does not divulge the secrets that he is confided in to a third party, not even to his closest friends and he does not mention a brother's faults in his absence or in his presence.
The prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said,
  " If a man shares information, then looks about him, (everything said) it is a confidence."
and he said, " Beware of suspicion (of one another) , for suspicion is the most untruthful report, suspicion leads to prying and spying."
A man in the prophet's time was asked, "how do you keep a secret?"
He replied, "I hide it and I hide the fact that I'm hiding a secret, when I'm confided in."
There is a saying, " The breasts of free men are the tombs of secrets." Another saying goes, " The fools heart  is in his mouth, but the intelligent man's tongue is in his heart." A fool cannot conceal what is inside him, but will consciously or unconsciously blurt it out. Hence, it is necessary not to confide in such people.
A man's belief is incomplete so long as he does not wish for his brother what he wishes for himself. The lowest degree in brotherhood is where you treat your brother as you would wish to be treated, and the highest, most noble form is that you prefer him over yourself. A believer's right is that their shame, faults, and sins are covered by others, and not exposed for humiliation.

Islamic tradition of patience

 Islamic tradition of our dearest Imam Jafer Sadiq:

" I instruct you to be patient. God the Almighty appointed Muhammad (a.s) , and ordered him to be patient. God said, 'And have patience with what they say, and leave them. And leave me (to deal) with those in possession of the good things in life.'(Quran: Muzzammil 73:10:11)God, the Almighty, also said, 'Repel evil with what is better: then will he between whom and you was hatred become as it were your friend and intimate! and no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint, none but people of good fortune (quran: Fussilat 41:34-35)
God's Prophet was patient, even though they made great accusations against him of being a magician, being insane and a liar.God, the Almighty, revealed the verse, 'We do indeed know how your heart is distressed at what they say. But celebrate the praise of your Lord, and be of those who prostrate themselves in adoration. (Quran:hijr 15:97-98)
They rejected the Prophet and he grieved. Thus God revealed the verse, "We know that you, [O Muhammad], are saddened by what they say. And indeed, they do not call you untruthful, but it is the verses of God that the wrongdoers reject.Rejected were the prophets before you: With patience and constancy they bore their rejection and their wrongs, until Our aid did reach them." (Quran :Anam 6:33-34)
Again the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) was patient, but they did not stop there. And when he mentioned God's name, they rejected God as well. The Prophet said,'I was patient with them when they rejected me and my family, but I cannot be withstand their rejection of my Lord.'  God revealed the verse,' We created the heavens and the earth and all between them in six periods, nor did any sense of weariness touch us. Bear, then with patience, all that they say.' ( quran 50:38-39)  The prophet was then patient in all situations. And was informed about the prophets being patient. God, the Almighty, said, " And We appointed from among them Leaders, giving guidance under Our command, so long as they persevered with patience and continued to have faith in our signs." (Quran Sajadah 32:34) The prophet then said, " the relationship between patience and faith is similar to that of the head and the body." God admired(loved him) and sent the verse, " The fair promise of your Lord was fulfilled for the children of Israel, because they had patience and constancy, and we leveled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Pharoh and his people had erected (with such pride)...."

Leonardo da vinci Fetus drawings

Great cast drawings

 Examples of great cast drawings. Tools for learning about how light travels across form, shadows, and anatomy
Artists link:.http://www.creativestem.com/artwork/1314
http://www.mimsstudios.com/torso.htm

Seeing Nature as geometric forms.

intending on buying  Michael Mentler's books on human anatomy. His studies break down the figure into a composite of geometric shapes. It really helps in understanding volume and orientation in space.

#Reflections: An interpreter of dreams and visions...

#Reflections: An interpreter of dreams and visions...: "The artist usually has no wish to duplicate appearances. He translates, indicates, and perhaps exaggerates. He goes to Nature for inspirati...

An interpreter of dreams and visions...

"The artist usually has no wish to duplicate appearances. He translates, indicates, and perhaps exaggerates. He goes to Nature for inspiration, but his work bears the stamp of his own personality. He is an interpreter, rather than a copyist."
-Arthur L. Guptill

One of my favorite painters...

David Kassan, contemporary figurative artist.

The Alchemy of Forgiveness

The Alchemy of Forgiveness | Common Dreams

Is this a joke??

(BAMAKO, Mali) — Mali's Tuareg rebels, who have seized control of the country's north in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup, declared independence early Friday of the Azawad nation.
"We, the people of the Azawad," they said in a statement published on the rebel website, "proclaim the irrevocable independence of the state of the Azawad starting from this day, Friday, April 6, 2012."
The military heads of the nation's bordering Mali met Thursday in Ivory Coast to start hashing out plans for a military intervention in order to restore constitutional rule and push back the rebels in the north.


The traditionally nomadic Tuareg people have been fighting for independence for the northern half of Mali since at least 1958, when Tuareg elders wrote a letter addressed to the French president asking their colonial rulers to carve out a separate homeland for the Tuareg people. Instead the north, where the lighter-skinned Tuareg people live, was made part of the same country as the south, where the dark-skinned ethnic groups controlled the capital and the nation's finances.
The Tuaregs fought numerous rebellions, but it wasn't until a March 21 coup in the distant capital of Bamako toppled the nation's elected government that the fighters were able to make significant gains. In a three-day period last weekend they seized the three largest cities in the north, as soldiers dumped their uniforms and retreated.
Their independence declaration cited 50 years of misrule by the country's southern-based administration and was issued by the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, whose army is led by a Tuareg colonel who fought in the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's military.
The group is secular and its stated aim is creating a homeland for the Tuareg people. However, they were helped by an Islamist faction, Ansar Dine, which is now attempting to apply Sharia law to Mali's moderate north, including in the fabled tourist destination of Timbuktu.


The declaration of independence appears to have even taken the NMLA's leadership by surprise. Reached by telephone in Paris, Hama Ag Sid'Ahmed, one of the spokesman of the group as well as the head of external relations for the rebels, said that he considered the move "premature."
"Yes, it's true that I think it's premature — premature to speak of this right now, without a consultation and an understanding with some of the actors that are very active on the local level, and with which we need to work, and we need to find common objectives, common strategies," he said, appearing to refer to Ansar Dine.
In all three of the major cities in the north, residents say they do not know which of the two factions has the upper hand. In Timbuktu, the NMLA first entered the town and put up their flag at the governor's office. They then retreated from the downtown section of Timbuktu, and set up their base at the airport just outside of town.
Residents say that Ansar Dine arrived later, and when they drove by the governor's residence, they stopped to pull down the NMLA flag, according to the head of the local radio station Kader Kalil.
Associated Press writer Martin Vogl in Bamako, Mali and Michelle Faul in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2111370,00.html#ixzz1rGgghOUM

William bouguereau