As always, if you’re an artist, a finished painting begins in your mind. You visualize it. You agonize over it. You become emotional about it. If you paint in a realistic style, you probably muse over it for days, weeks, and sometimes even longer. However, you know that if you can imagine it, you can paint it. So, the secret is how do you get it from inside your mind and onto the canvas and make it as realistic as imagined.

There are certain procedures a realistic artist must do to bring forth a completed painting to their satisfaction. Every artist will eventually settle on their own techniques, and they should. I settled on mine, and it works. However I didn’t come up with my techniques. I took them from master artists that have been using them for hundreds of years. I always felt that if it was good enough for Rembrandt van Rijn, it is good enough for me.

Here are six steps to complete a realistic painting:

Step One: Make several small thumbnail pencil sketches of the picture you have in mind. I use 3X5 index cards. You can be very loose with these. I know you have in mind what your picture will be, but you need to experiment with this, changing around the arrangements and values. You want to discover abstraction in the sketches that would be the most pleasing to a viewer. If you have ten to twenty different possibilities, you can make a better decision. After you have sketched them, post them on a wall next to each other and give it some time. One or more will pop out at you. Get it down to one. It may not be how you originally envisioned the picture, but don’t second guess yourself. You chose the correct one.

Step Two: Draw a full size study of the picture with charcoal or pencil. In black and white you will be able to work out the values for the painting. Make this as realistic and detailed as possible. While doing this, work out any problems with the background, foreground, and negative spaces. Also, try to imagine any other difficulties you might have while painting the picture.

Step Three: Make a loose color sketch of the painting using watercolor or gouache. If your painting is large, you don’t need to make this full size. What you are trying to accomplish here is to see how the colors work together. As a matter of fact, you may want to keep it totally abstract. When finished with the compositional color study, hang it on the wall. Let it remain for a couple of weeks. Don’t over concentrate on it. Don’t try talking yourself into or out of liking it. If after a while it feels comfortable, go for it. If not, experiment around with another one.

Step Four: Now it is time to step back and decide what parts of the painting are going to present you with the greatest number of problems when you attempt to paint them. This should be easy to decide because you thought about them (probably with a little bit of trepidation) when you were making the thumbnail sketches, the full size drawing, and the small compositional study in gouache or watercolor.

After deciding specifically where the problem areas are, you need to make detailed full size color studies in the medium you are planning to use for the finished work. Hopefully, there will only be a few of these, but you don’t want to practice on the painting. By taking time to do this, it will make the finished painting that much easier to accomplish. Besides, a great artist’s studies are very valuable. Don’t throw them away.

Step Five: Transfer the drawing to whatever substrate you’re using; paper, canvas, or board. Most importantly, be very careful not to damage the surface of the substrate by pressing down too hard with pencil or roller. Once the transfer is complete, copy over the graphite lines using a small diameter brush and a light neutral color paint. You will want to do this so you do not have to continually keep copying the drawing.

Step Six: Paint the picture and make it a masterpiece. This should be easy to do because you worked out all the problems of the painting in steps one through five. You even know exactly the colors for your palette because of steps three and four.

In conclusion: As I said when I started this article, these steps are not mine. They have been around for centuries. I know Rembrandt not only used these steps, but a couple of more that I don’t use. There are hundreds of other master artists that used them in the past, and there are hundreds of artists that use them today.

If you are a realistic artist and want to paint what you plan, then you need to make sure you’re planning stages of the painting are covered by all the right steps. If you are not already using the six steps that I mentioned here, then I invite you to do so. They do work. However, whatever you do, just keep painting.

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Magazines are the best reading objects available in this world. Not only does it help in developing your reading habits but also improves your vocabulary and command over the language in which the book is written. Moreover, you get to know about different incidents and news happening in the surroundings which does not get highlighted in the local daily newspapers.

UK is one of the leading producers of quality international magazines in the entire world. Not only do their published products are rich in gloss and glamour, but also are rich in content that covers information on different topics and subjects from various places of the world. The local news is featured at a certain section, but the international section takes up more space to get covered up. There are certain articles and short stories that are also included in the contents. Current affairs are also covered at certain sections of these books.

The perfect English language along with correct punctuation and spellings make these books great ones to improve and develop great common over the language along with updating on knowledge over different topics and issues.

If it publishes and gets available only on the local region of the nation, then the best place to get them availed outside the nation is through the internet. Each and every publishing house of the United Kingdom has their websites available in the net. These publishing house features for easy subscription offer to local customers as well international customers. Although the international ones need to pay a bit extra due to foreign country tax, but that is acceptable to get in hand the rare magazines that are not available through physical searching at the bookstores and newsstands. However, there are several offers comes with the subscription offers. These offers include certain attractive gifts if subscription for a certain period of time is availed. Sometimes, heavy discounts on total subscription charges are also given. It is to be noted that readers don’t run in loses if they avail the subscription offers. Instead, much of their worries and headaches get reduced due to the surety of the availability of the issues for the entire time period of subscription.

Some of the topics on which magazines in UK get published are travel, arts and craft, photography, movies, pornography, health, child care, fitness, cooking, home, interior decoration, business, trading, music, cartoon, etc.

Thames Guardian, Wanderlust, Dalton’s Weekly, Sussex Life, Triangle and France Magazine are some to name from a wide range of travel weekly, bi-weekly and monthly ones that come out from notable publishing houses of the British nation. The issues feature information regarding travel and accommodation available at various parts of the world, following the national as well international aspect.

Some popular names that are based on art and craft theme are as follows: World of Embroidery, Antiques Bulletin, Bridge, Coin News, and Stationary Monthly are the most popular and loved ones available.

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A Nobel peace prize laureate, Dalai Lama lives in a compound atop the hills of Dharmasala, India a mountain town dotted with exiled Tibetans. No lama had ever fought a million communist Chinese, who were bent on stamping out Tibetan freedom, but his holiness not only escaped from the clutches of the enemy but he also has been able to set up a government in exile and involve the international community towards the Tibetan cause.

Born on 6-July-1935 as Lhamo Dondrub in a small farming family, at the age of two he was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso after subjecting to series of tests by government search parties who used prophecies and omens to identify next leader. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity.

At the age of four, he set out on his 3 ½ months journey to Lhasa from his home to learn the secrets of Buddhism and ways of ultimate power. Next 2 decades his holiness gained holy knowledge. The teenaged Dalai Lama remained himself. In 1950, battle trained 80K Chinese soldiers fought against 8500 badly trained Tibetan soldier. Tibet reacted with spiritual rearmament by reading Tibetan bibles at public ceremony. His holiness was ascended the throne at adolescent. He became the leader with no training in politics, leadership.But Buddhist scriptures provided him the inspiration and guidance.

Faith transformed the 14th Dalai Lama just as Tibet entered fatal crisis. There was little/no support from other countries.Eight years had passed by where Chinese were trying to convince Tibetans to accept alien rule. Aided by Buddhist scriptures and religious training, he was negotiating with Chinese and taking help from Americans (CIA). But Atrocities of Chinese army on Tibetans were increasing and all negotiations failed. China started its operations to capture Lhasa.

But his holiness escaped from Lhasa aided by his trusted men through the difficult terrain of Himalayas much to the surprise of Chinese and world leaders. For many days His holiness aided with men were crossing a Himalayan pass, the lower ones covered in thick mud from melting snows and the higher ones frozen in ice and snow. As the news of slaughter reached him, the wild temper he had worked so hard to tame returned to him. He closed his eyes and recited Buddha’s teaching ‘One’s enemy can be its greatest teacher’ to calm himself. A mythical solution was not available.

World powers negotiated and it was agreed that Dalai Lama would stay in India. India had granted his holiness the asylum. But his holiness did not want to enter India as a refugee but as a head of sovereign authority. So In front of monks, soldiers, villagers his holiness inaugurated a new government which had no country to administer.

After dropping of his holiness on Indian border most of the men who accompanied him went back to stop the Chinese troops who were coming to the border in search of him. The soldiers never returned. Dalai Lama still remembers the people who gave this great sacrifice. But Tibetans belief in the powers of his holiness, increased after his miraculous escape through the enemy/harsh conditions.

The freedom movement started from India. In exile 14th Dalai Lama modernized Tibetan culture in such a way that 13th daily lama could only have dreamt of. Some of the changes are:

1. Future dalai lama be religious figures and political power be given to elected representatives 2. Next incarnation could be women 3. Tibetan people could vote dalai lama out of office

Dalai Lama of today could be un recognizable to a Tibetan of 1930 or 1850. For centuries/generation Dalai Lama was an occult figure, hidden behind bull shouldered monks and object of extreme reverence. But 14th made himself ordinary and approachable as possible. The world is quite is home now and he travels it in a never-ending service to Dharma. Every refugee arriving in Dharmasala is granted an interview with holiness; it is a policy unchanged since 1959. That means his holiness had consoled thousands of men and women, bewildered, people with stories of persecution and loss

Buddhists believe that Dalai Lama perfected his gift for compassion in the course of many incarnations. Unbelievers may question that. But if you read books such as ‘The Art of Happiness in a Troubled Water’ authored by his holiness and psychologist, it reveals how his holiness shows that there are no magic bullets or secret formulas to solve problems but there are places to start with which are practical and some of them are proven scientifically..

The Dalai Lama’s message of compassion has transcended Tibetan Buddhism and enchanted people of all faiths. For instance he says that spiritual practice does not mean doing an activity like reciting of prayers. But rather he says ‘spirituality is a mental attitude’ that you practice at any time. What he means is that if you get tempted to hurt someone then you should control yourself. Also if you get tempted to yell at someone or loose temper than we should control our mind and say „this is not the right way”. So by doing such small spiritual practices we establish a peaceful mind, be more patient and be optimistic towards things.

Once his holiness was asked a question „If he was a free man after being in exile for 50 years”, he replied ‘mentally, yes” We can choose our own freedom by being honest within ourselves and expressing that honesty openly with others. Compassion gives you freedom to feel good about yourself and others instead of being a prisoner of anger and negativity. The Dalai Lama can inspire us all to inject some humor into difficult situations and shower compassion on ourselves and others. If at some point in our live, we meet a tragedy we can react in two ways

- We can lose hope. Let ourselves slip into discouragement, into alcohol, drugs, unending sadness

- Or we can wake ourselves up, discover in ourselves an energy that was hidden there and act with more clarity, more force

Whatever I wrote today about his holiness, is thanks to this book. When you find time you can read this book. More books written by his holiness and information about his moment can be see at the website of his holiness

Across the world there are so much problems due to the land for which borders have been created by humans. Human race have come together lot of time to fight problems unitedly. Hopefully Tibet Exile Government and Chinese government forget the past and arrive at a solution that will benefit the coming generations.

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