Rakuda Ginza

Archive for the ‘Arts Entertainment’ Category

 

Anniversary Gifts from Love Custom Art

 

I always have a problem with anniversary gifts, as to what to buy because it has all been done before and can be quite difficult to find original ones to make the day really special rather than the usual flowers and chocolate. So this year I have also bought my parents a weeks holiday in Toronto Canada.

 

But I have found a website where you can create an original piece of art from one or two of your own photographs! They can mix any photos together in the editing process so you have a lot of choices and they offer different backgrounds, or you can go with the original photo back ground, or with any style of your choice as long as you have a reference photo they can use.

 

The way it works is you upload your photos to the website with instructions on how you would like them edited and then once edited you can confirm or make additional changes which is then sent to a professional artist to be painted by hand to make the best anniversary gifts they can be.

]]>

 

I had three portraits commissioned with the same company and to be fare, they were great and produced absolutely, lovely, ideal anniversary gifts for members of my family and for myself.

 

Mine was a portrait of my three little girls sitting on the carpet and I had a duplicate painted for my parents, plus a portrait of my best friends Cat. They were all as pleased as punch with their original anniversary gifts as my best friends birthday is on the same day as my parents wedding anniversary.

 

They were all delivered on time to the three different addresses and can honestly say that the whole process was a pleasure. There was some communication issues with the artist to get across what I envisaged but nothing major, just trying to convey to them how I saw it in my head and how I wanted perfect anniversary gifts the way I saw them.

 

I would really recommend this company and I will definitely be going back for more anniversary gifts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Arts Articles

I consider myself fortunate to have also studied the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun Kung Fu (or in Cantonese also known as Gung Fu).

Coming from a Shotokan karate training background I will admit that studying Wing Chun was a real change of pace, if you know what I mean.

But after having read about some other famous practitioners such as Ip Man, Bruce Lee, Ip Chun, Leung Ting, Emin Boztepe, I just had to give it my best shot.

I studied under Sifu Francis Fong, one of the finest kung fu instructors in the U.S.

Wing Chun, translated into English, means ‘Eternal Spring or Beautiful Springtime’ and refers to the name of Yim Wing Chun, who received Chinese boxing training from a Buddhist nun. At the time the style was nameless.

Yim later married and taught her husband this style of fighting. He then simply went ahead and gave the syle her name, Wing Chun.

]]>

There are a number of theories and versions about how this style originated. I like the one I just gave you.

The typical stance is supposed to be like a piece of bamboo, firm but flexible, rooted but yielding.

Wing Chun favors a high, narrow stance with your elbows kept close to your body and your arms are positioned across the vitals of the centerline.

Attack and defense follow along an imaginary horizontal line drawn from the center of your chest to the center your opponent’s chest. The prime striking targets are on or near this line, including eyes, nose, throat, solar plexus and groin.

With the emphasis on the center line, your vertical fist straight punch will be your most common strike.

Your kicks are to be kept below the waist. This is typical of southern Chinese martial arts, in contrast to northern systems which apply many high kicks.

Chained vertical punches are used a lot.

You develop your reflexes by searching unsecured defenses through use of sensitivity.
Training through Chi Sao (‘sticking hands”) with a training partner, one practices the trapping of hands. When an opponent is “trapped”, he or she becomes immobile.

Wing Chun also offers forms that are meditative, solitary exercises to develop self-awareness, balance, relaxation and sensitivity. They also help you in the fundamental movement and in generating the correct amount of force.

This style generally consists of three empty hand, one “wooden dummy” and two weapons forms.

There you have it: Wing Chun in a nutshell.

Enjoy this exciting martial art and always protect your centerline!

TheMartialArtsReporter.com

Have you been known the bewildering task of hiring entertainment used for your forthcoming corporate event?  Are you scared to death by the sense of wearisome to bargain something so as to will be clean, appropriate, and entertaining to the varied variety of relatives in your audience?  Do you feel like your boss and fellow employees will be blaming YOU if the entertainment is not top-notch?   You are not deserted!  At the same time as a corporate entertainer and entertainment giver in Houston, I prevail on calls from relatives each period who are in the exact same pose as you are.  You like as close to a positively gadget as you can prevail on, but how prepare you bargain entertainment so as to each will like?  Where prepare you create to store?  How prepare you tell somebody to positively the entertainer will exhibition up and tell somebody to you look gain?

STEP 1 – Evaluate your audience.  Take a mental array of your cluster.  Are they crazy and loud, grown-up and subdued, or a mixture of everything?  This will determine your entertainment choices.  For case in point, a wit or hypnotist might be huge used for a younger cluster, but a corporate conjurer or entertaining narrator might be better used for an grown-up or varied cluster.  These days, it’s very crucial so as to the performer’s show is 100% clean.  It is not worth bringing up the rear your job as the entertainer you hired tells off-color jokes so as to offend someone in your organization!

STEP 2 – Make a inventory of the types of entertainers you like, next narrow the inventory down to lone or two types.  For case in point, if your cluster likes to dance, situate “band” on your inventory.  If they like to laugh, inventory “magician” or “comedian.”

]]>

Here are a the minority acts so as to I’ve found to production very well by corporate procedures:

Comedy Magicians – Make positively the conjurer specializes in corporate procedures and performs a CLEAN exhibition apt used for adults (no birthday participant magicians).

Clean Comedians

Bands -Again, tell somebody to positively they routinely stage by corporate procedures!  You don’t like Metallica by your corporate function.

Hypnotists – - live wary at this time used for liability issues in box lone of your executives nail clippings up acting like a chicken in front of each.

Murder Mysteries -These can be a plight of fun if your cluster likes to actively participate in the entertainment.

Fortune Tellers – Palm readers, and the rest. -Make positively they don’t prepare downbeat readings or focus on the occult.

Caricature Artists – These are huge, as your relatives will prevail on to take homewards a cool memento.  Read more... (815 words, 1 image, estimated 3:16 mins reading time)

Summer is traditionally the time of year when cultural calendars are at their busiest, and your favourite Art Guide is full to bursting point with unmissable events.

While the English summer is slowly drawing to an end, other European countries continue to be bathed in sunshine, with a whole host of cultural and artistic events still to come before the clocks go back.

If you haven’t yet managed to get away for a summer break, now is the perfect opportunity to soak up those last rays of late-summer sun and take in some of the wonderful and diverse cultural events that Europe has to offer. Here are just a few of the events that lie in store over the next couple of months.

Schwarzenberg in Austria hosts a major chamber music festival from 27 August-12 September, attracting some of the world’s leading artists. Bernarda Fink, Ian Bostridge, Magdalena Kozena and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau all appear at this year’s edition, which will take place at the purpose-built Angelika Kauffmann Hall.

]]>

Opera lovers should head to Verona in Italy, where the world-renowned Arena festival is well under way. Running until 29 August, this year’s event features a guest performance by veteran performer Maria Guleghina, in Franco Zeffirelli’s Turandot. Festival-goers will also be treated to performances of Madama Butterfly and Carmen, among others.

Greece’s Athens and Epidauros festival, running until 12 September, offers a spectacular celebration of contemporary and classical arts. This year’s edition features a new Greek staging of the opera Parsifal, as well as a French version of A Streetcar Named Desire and a performance by the New York City Ballet.

Opera-lovers in for a treat if they make the journey to Bayreuth in Germany, where the legendary Wagner opera festival runs until 28 August. The event, organised by Wagner’s two great-granddaughters, features a performance of Lohengrin, as well as Parsifal, starring bright young opera talent Christopher Ventris.

Finally, Lucerne in Switzerland hosts one of the world’s greatest classical music festivals, with a programme that stretches until 18 September. The festival is a who’s who of classical musicians, with conductors Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle, violinists Frank Peter Zimmermann and Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianists András Schiff and Helene Grimaud all featuring. Vienna Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony orchestra also appear in what is sure to be a fantastic event, set to the backdrop of Lucerne’s beautiful lakes and mountains.

Certainly, there is hardly a time when one does not formulate personal opinions on a piece of artwork or exhibition. These critics are not simply based upon emotions but proper knowledge and skills in criticizing art. You don’t have to be an art expert religiously trained in the field like Robert Hughes, nor an artist like Pablo Picasso. What you simply need are 10 steps to dissecting an art piece. Here goes!

Study the title and description accompanying the artwork How has the title guided your interpretation? Would you have interpreted differently with another title? Do you agree with the statement of the piece? Bear in mind, the viewer usually deciphers differently from the artist intents.

Observe Scan the painting for a few minutes. Take note of the size, shape, subject matter, symbols represented, medium, colors, texture and composition of elements that constructs the painting. A piece would normally evoke emotions first before critical analysis can be applied. Thus, emotional response should be left to the end.

Size and Shape Try to visualize the actual size of the painting should you view it on the computer screen. Does the shape of the canvas suit the subject matter? For example, a rectangular canvas can add to the focus of portraiture.

]]>

Subject Matter What is the painting of? It varies from a person to a natural object. Is it unusual, controversial or intriguing?

Symbols Are there symbols used in the painting? For example, the red rose represents love and passion, and Virgin Mary in Catholicism while the white rose represents virginity and purity. Another example would be color. Black represents death and formality while purple represents spirituality and cruelty.

Medium What was used to create the painting? It could range from watercolor to acrylic, graphite to pastel chalk and stone to cement. How has the artist manipulated the possibilities presented from their chosen medium?

Colour Has the color been used to convey emotion or to depict reality? Are they warm (yellows, oranges, browns, yellowish greens and orange reds) or cool (blues, greens, pinks, purples, blue-greens, magentas, and blue-based reds)? Do they suit the subject? Has a particular palette been used? Have complementary colors been used as shadows and are there reflected colors between elements?

Texture How has texture been created from the chosen medium? Is it rough, smooth, shiny, or a mixture? Consider how the texture influences your interpretation of the piece.

Composition of Elements How are the elements of the painting placed? Is there a visual flow across the whole painting or does one element dominate? Is the focal point of the piece in the centre of the piece or on the side of the canvas? What draws your eye into or across the painting? Has thought been put into the elements used or copied from a photograph or reality?  Read more... (578 words, 1 image, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)