Original Acrylic Painting

Original Acrylic Painting

History of Art at University Did It for Them

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With the news that Prince William and Kate Middleton are getting married circulating the globe, a minimal amount of digging into their history together you will find the common love which has brought them together. They met at St Andrew University where they both studied and graduated with a degree in History of Art. This shows that they both have creative and curious minds which should stand them in good stead for their future roles and as King and Queen.

Having a love and appreciation of art is an excellent way to build a rounded individual. Here's how:

Thinking Outside The Box

With a good grounding in art it teaches individuals how to think about things from a number of different angles. A good thing for a King and Queen I suspect. For the rest of the paupers in the world, art provides a medium through which to explore things beyond those which are in front of your eyes. Studying art teaches you to use your intuition and your imagination to explore the story behind things and how the way things appear doesn't give you their full story. A rounded individual has the capacity to look outside their own situation and explore all possibilities making them more empathetic and decisive.

Creativity

Of course studying art makes you more creative. Not just in a sense of coming up with original ideas, it also teaches you about the history of where ideas have come from in the past and how they have shaped many things in our world today. For the new King and Queen, the idea that they might be forced to continue in all the same stuffy old traditions that have been in existence for 100s of years, will hopefully cause them to make a few changes for the better. Indeed creative ideas which make the monarchy feel more like an asset to the nation and not just a tourist attraction or a secretive family living in a big house. For normal people an artistic education is not just about learning how to be creative and expressing yourself with acrylic paint and other art supplies, it is about understanding others and advancing our society.

Historical Understanding

Having a valuable understanding of history will again be helpful when taking on the role of King and Queen. The history of art is almost as chequered history in general. With an understanding of history, they will have an advantage over their military centric peers. A rounded individual needs to understand what has come before in order to fully understand what's going on now and in the future.

Sam Qam is a royal historian and artist. He lives and works from a small shop in Notting Hill in which he sells specialist art supplies including organic acrylic paint.

Do you have a decorative suggestion for me?

I have an old fireplace in my apartment. It looks as if it is cast-iron, but someone has painted it white (which I hope to return to it's original state eventually-next project-any ideas on how to do that are welcomed!!!!) and it is bricked in with red brick. The opening is small 14"X20"???? and rounded, like an upside down "U". I just want to do something different than just have red brick to look at.....I have a ton of acrylic paint and thought I could mess around with those..... any ideas?

You could try to do a mosaic and cover up the brick. All you have to do is go to second hand stores like Goodwill or something similar and buy ceramic plates in the color scheme you would like. Use closely matching colors, but not exact to give it some dimension. Put the plates in a plastic bag and use a hammer to break them into smal pieces. Then you can use the same materials used to tile a floor (I forget what the glue is called) and glue the pieces in place how you like. Once that is all dry, you can grout them to give it a finished look.
For the cast iron, depending on you color choice for the mosaic, maybe you can leave it white or perhaps a paint thinner will work to restore it to black again. Or maybe you can just use a matte black finish to paint over it again.
Then buy some tall white candles and set them in front of the fireplace, pehaps with an ivy arrangement to go around them. I think that would look awesome.