A circus painting is a type of artwork that depicts a circus or carnival scene. These paintings typically feature colorful and lively imagery that captures the excitement and energy of a circus performance. The subject matter may include acrobats, clowns, animals, and other performers, as well as the audience and the surrounding environment.
Circus paintings have been created by artists throughout history, with notable examples including the works of Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pablo Picasso. These paintings can be created in a variety of styles, from realistic to abstract, and can be executed using various mediums, such as oil paint, watercolor, or mixed media.
In addition to being visually striking, circus paintings can also serve as a commentary on the human condition, exploring themes such as joy, fear, and the relationship between performer and audience. They can also evoke a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era, as circuses have undergone significant changes in recent years, with many countries banning the use of animals in circus performances.

Miss Lala at the Fernando Circus, 1879

Lara showed her strength and agility in the Circus Fernando, which began in 1875 north of Paris. The circus was a popular venue for artists.

Degas was particularly captivated by Lara's captivating performance, and in January 1879 he painted a picture of her successful one night. Painted in pastels, this painting is an important study of oil studies of Lara's performances and is now in the National Gallery, London.

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​ Chagall believed that the true spirit of art lies in love. He saw marriage as the completion of true love. Marriage and Circus, which Chagall produced in his later years, is also a representative work based on the love he had been obsessed with throughout his life. Using subjects such as the bride and groom, colorful bouquets, an acrobat riding a trapeze, and a musician playing the violin, pure love was captured with a unique surrealistic sense of beauty. Nostalgia for hometown is metaphorically expressed as a violinist, and longing for a utopia is metaphorically expressed as a bouquet of flowers.

Marc Chagall is said to have been influenced by Cubism, but more specifically, he was influenced by Orphism. Orphism is also called Orphic Cubism (Cubism) as a branch of Cubism represented by Delaunay. Originally, orthodox cubism, centered on Pablo Picasso or Georges Braque, focused more on geometric composition than color because the main purpose was to analyze objects and realize three-dimensional objects on a flat surface. In response to this, Orphism developed the theory of complementary colors of Impressionism and drew all the colors of the spectrum to the screen to pursue a colorful screen composition based on musical rhythm.

​French painter Georges Seurat (1859-1891) scientifically systematized the Impressionist painting method and left a great mark on the European art scene with his pointillism technique that utilized small dots of color leaking through the prism of light.

​The Circus is the last work of Neo-Impressionist painter Georges Seurat. Beginning work in the summer of 1890, it was introduced to the public at the Independent Artists' Exhibition held on March 20, 1891, nine days before Seurat's death. He was dealing with modern life in trivial places of everyday life rather than grandiose and historical things, and his leisure life, such as sightseeing and entertainment, was described in much more detail than before. The circus Seurat drew was the Medrano Circus, which was famous in Paris at the time, and it was a troupe that not only Seurat but also famous painters of the day, such as Edgar Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec, used to be inspired by.

  Cézanne is one of my favorite painters. I love looking at his pictures. However, while I like the strong colors, brush marks, gross tasking composition and comfortable feeling of his paintings, there are parts that I want to correct when looking closely at his paintings.

​Where does the light come from in this picture? Why is the desk twisted?

 Is the size and perspective of the fruit correct in this drawing? Also, the bookshelf are desk twisted in the back. He probably didn't use a ruler.

 ​All the apples are drawn perfectly in line. I thought it was a manga to color inside the lines

 ​The kettle is looking at the same height, but the plate is looking down from a high place. Is it one person watching? Or does one person have eyes in multiple directions?

 In this painting, the desk is also distorted, and the view points of the basket and kettle are different.

​Does this picture look any better?

 ​A characteristic of Cézanne's paintings is that the actual size of objects is difficult to predict. The time and season of painting are also difficult to predict.

 ​It also gives the impression that the kettle and the two plates are looking in different directions.

 ​If someone had painted grapes like this one, they would have been told to draw them again.

 ​Why is the wine bottle about to fall?

 But when you look at his paintings, you realize that these flaws are no longer visible. And you will be surprised to find that the picture is more powerful and beautiful because of this imperfection. Can you believe this? He ignored everything about the composition, contrast, and angle of light, and it was beautiful and perfect. There are so many flaws and mistakes that it makes me feel as if they were made into a single piece.

I think that Cézanne's paintings will serve as a good example for those who are frustrated because they are difficult to draw or who give up easily because they have no talent. Looking at his pictures, something seems easy to draw. But if anyone tried to copy his picture, they would be surprised themselves. Because you can see how much he put everything down and painted with a pure heart. It seems that he wanted to know the nature of the paintings and things, so he put down all the recognition, praise, and honor around him and only talked to himself. So when I look at Cézanne's paintings, I always feel that the paintings are difficult.

  There is a Korean artist who captures landscape paintings with a sense of familiarity unique to the Orient and portraits obtained by visiting China and Mongolia through the misty and mighty tip of a brush.

  Using the 'sfumato technique', he developed oriental painting materials and techniques into his own unique technique, interpreting oriental painting in a western way and creating a new world of art. Sfumato is an Italian word meaning 'smoke-like' and is a technique of naturally spreading the contours of objects or people without detecting them with lines.

  ​This technique is fine shading to create smooth transitions between colors and tones to achieve images with greater detail and depth. It is often used to create a subtle gradation from light to dark without lines or borders. This technique has been used not only to create ambiguous and fantastical representations of human faces, but also to create rich atmospheric effects. Leonardo da Vinci described this technique as mixing colors without the use of lines or borders "like smoke".

   Sfumato is an oil painting technique primarily associated with Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, where the contours of the face are unrecognizable and the shadows have only a soft gradation. A great sfumato can be obtained using a variety of art techniques, such as applying a thin glaze, as Leonardo did. A smudge technique using a rag and fingers, and finally dry brushing a fine cake mixture of oil paint over specific areas of the portrait. Thinner paint rubs lightly like a soft pencil or charcoal.

   This technique, like oil painting, can be painted subtly, allowing for minimal brush strokes and materials by rubbing oily paint on a cloth canvas between the threads of the textile and among the tiny fine spaces. However, there is a limit to expressing this technique with oriental paint that spreads uncontrollably with a few drops of paint on paper. This is also the fundamental reason why oriental ingredients do not have a western feel. Therefore, if these technical limitations are not overcome, there is a high possibility of being isolated in each area, divided into oriental and western. In this case, there is a risk that art will become indigenous and will not develop any further.

 However, in my personal opinion, it is interesting that Lee Gwan-soo, who challenged Western techniques beyond the limitations of materials, raised the possibility of a fusion art of the East and the West once again. And as more and more of these challenging oriental painters become more and more, I want it to become a common style of painting where the oriental and western arts naturally harmonize.

  Below are some of my favorite works by Lee Kwan-soo.

  * ​The image above was uploaded with the permission of the artist and cannot be downloaded or used for other purposes under copyright.

 ​Practice beats talent!

This is a lovely phrase presented on the site of one colored pencil portrait painter. The hero of this phrase, Leontine van Vliet, is a wonderful woman who is not disappointed in her own artistic talent and has been painting steadily for 16 years, finally making it to the ranks of a painter.

  ​Comparison of her Instagram pictures below shows just how important patience and practice are to a painter.

  We know how important patience, persistence and passion are. However, there are not that many people who consistently practice this and eventually bear fruit.

 ​So, what is the driving force behind this persistence? Everyone wants to do that, but why can't they? If you think about this point, you can know that there is a way right away.

  First of all, it's because we don't even try it the first time. I really like the Korean proverb that well begun is half done. The story goes that once you start, you're halfway there. In other words, there are so many cases where we end up dreaming without even starting what we planned.

  To make these fantasies a reality, it's time to start right now. In particular, I think the courage to start is very important to become an artist.

 ​As French artist Henri Matisse said, "Another word for creativity is courage." It takes courage to express what you are passionate about and to push the limits of your comfort zone or irrational fears.

 Another reason is that we keep comparing ourselves and easily become discouraged. First of all, if you say you started with a big heart, you need to put a blindfold around your eyes like a horse and only look forward and run. Because if you are going to do or say you will do something, the reaction around you will not automatically be filled with cheering.

  ​This was also the case with Leontine Van Vliet, the pencil artist introduced earlier. She says that when she was practicing hard to draw a horse, focusing all her life on her drawing, people around her saw her drawing of a horse and laughed at her as a donkey. Like this, the moment you say you're going to paint, people who see your painting will criticize you one by one and ask you to find another way. You may even be told from the beginning that artificial intelligence is better than you and that the profession of painter will eventually disappear.

  ​Can you stand up to these criticisms?
I think that persistence requires the strength to endure. It is a heart that will not be shaken no matter what anyone says.

  ​To do so, you need your own hypnosis method that strongly believes in your own judgment. 'I've always made the right decisions'. You have to walk steadily with this kind of heart.

  ​However, this kind of mind can be maintained even when running through the early and mid-season. There are people who, by temperament, are exceptionally stubborn in their resolutions. Sometimes you just have to move forward because you are afraid that your efforts will be in vain.

  However, even in this case, it is rather a green light. Because you can go forward. If you don't give up and go forward, at least you can grab the doorknob that opens.

 What would you do if you came to the door with all your strength and grabbed the handle with all your might, but the handle won't turn? There are cases like this. You have to hold on though. By this time, you will probably be sensitive to success stories around you. Others open the door and cheer, but you seem to be the only one standing in front of it. Maybe that was the case with the painter I introduced? For example, the 15th year must have been the hardest to Leontime Van Vlie.

​ People despair when they can't afford to do anything anymore and when it seems that there is no income anymore.

  No matter how good it is, you start off excitedly, endure all criticism, and hold the doorknob with all your might, but if the door does not open, you will think again about the path you have walked. However, if you really want to continue doing something, you shouldn't be disappointed even in this case. If the door doesn't open, you'll have to break through the window.

 ​Fortunately, now with the development of the Internet, many such windows can be created. And you can show and talk about your passion, perseverance, and love for your work.

  ​And so that the steady running road is not boring, we can look around from the horse we are riding, and we can get off and take a break. In this sense, we must be strong again. I pray that the goddess of luck greets you at the end of the road running with your passion.

Sergey Taran, an animal photographer from Russia, created a vivid photo series of animals. 
​

  I happened to know an artist today who gave good reviews to my paintings. I was curious about who he was and visited his site with a reply saying thank you. Then I got to see some of his amazing work. I felt the urge to feature him on my blog. Sergey Taran is an animal photographer who takes pictures of animals. According to his previous interviews, he decided to become an animal photographer himself because of the following motivations.

   "Animals are not just posed in front of the camera, they are truly real, each with its own characteristics and emotions, but existing in nature".


 He highlights their true beauty and hopes his photos will make people appreciate and respect animals more.

Image source from Fine Art America.

​Maybe that's why, when you look at his works, you realize that the facial expressions and characteristics of animals are revealed as they are in the photos.

  ​Personally, I'm grateful to have found such good artists and work in any format. Looking at his vivid and lovely works, I realize once again that photography, like painting, can convey the energy and vitality of an object as it is.