Painting Equipment and Explanation

ACRYLIC
Also called plastic paint or acrylic-resin paint.  Depending on how the painter handles it, acrylic paint may be as transparent as watercolor or as thick and pasty as some oil paints.  It will stick to almost any surface.  It will not yellow, and it is not affected by heat and humidity.  All these qualities make it one of the most popular paints today.

World of Fairy Tales

Fairy tales have been loved by children through the ages and in every part of the world.  A child who reads a fairy tale is carried away into a wonderful
land of make-believe where handsome princess rescue beautiful maidens, where ugly witches and giants are put to death by daring heroes, where a tiny seed becomes a beanstalk that reaches high up into the sky.  As soon as a fairy story begins, the reader enters a new exciting world, a world was impossible but thrilling events take place.  How marvelous to wander through  an enchanted palace, to ride on a swift black steed, or to travel in a beautiful coach.  How frightening to come face to face with a giant, to meet a wicked wolf, or to duel with a dragon who spouts fire!

Ballet in France

Queen Catherine de Medicis of France was familiar with the elaborate dance productions of Italy, her native land.  In 1581, she ordered a grand entertainment, a ballet, to celebrate a royal wedding.  The result was most spectacular.  Thousands of people witnessed its lavish blending of dance, dramatic scenes, music, and complex scenery.  Hundreds of dancers, singers, and actors took part, portraying the goddess Circe and all of her friends and enemies.  Huge machines and stage effects were moved about the room so that the audience, seated on three sides, could see them.

Ballet And Its History

A ballet theatrical entertainment combining dance with other art forms, usually stage design and music.  It may tell a story or merely depict an idea or mood.  Ballet is a French word that comes from the Italian ballo, "a dance."  The exercises, or techniques, of ballet are designed to display the human body in the most elegant and harmonious way possible.  Ballet technique is strict, and the training is strenuous.  But the result on stage is natural and beautiful.

African Art

Ivory Head Carved in the 16th-century in Benin

No one seems to know exactly how old the art of African is.  We don't know where it started, how it grew, or how much it was influenced by other countries, We do know, however, that African art has developed from traditions as old as those European and Asiatic art.  Africa and its arts were once thought of being primitive.  But generations before, England, Frnce, and the United States had become great powers, Africa had known the rise and fall of many great kingdoms.  The organization, discipline, laws, and religions of these ancient kingdoms show that Africa has been civilized for many centuries.

The History of Art

Art is one of mankind's oldest inventions.  It existed long before a single farm was planted, before the first villages were built.  Art was already thousands of years old when writing appeared; in fact, the letters of the first alphabets were pictures.  People were probably shaping objects and scratching out images even as they turned their grunts and cries into the first systematic spoken languages.  Indeed, man was making art before he knew what are was.  He seems to have made art without questioning why, as if making art was simply something that human beings did in the natural course of their lives.