Stewart Gallery Leaves a Lasting Impression

This gallery's simple and straight-forward character, its plain black background, simple text format and easy navigation, quickly directs its audience's eyes to where it should be - the artworks themselves. Brilliant colors and forms with curious detail advance forth from a dark, uncluttered plane.

The Stewart Gallery is a collection of artworks, by J.M. Stewart and Alan Stewart, that generally captures its subjects' raw aesthetic qualities, through passionate execution of various art styles. Most of these pieces give off a sense of serenity, a quality that probably owes itself to stunning views on the Great Smoky Mountains landscape that lent inspiration to the Stewarts. This, and a genuine appreciation for the visual arts that was seeded since childhood.

Palette knife is another one of the techniques that the artist use. This method of painting uses a palette knife in place of a paint brush. Paint is then directly applied onto canvas to create strokes and textures that are unique from that of a brush. In her paintings, the use of a palette knife went very well to convey "crispiness" of the cold air on the mountains, especially during winters and falls. the knife left inconsistent and interesting strokes that merely slightly blended with each other, rather, the colors mostly overlay. Adding to this, the paintings depict a sense of "rawness" in the sceneries or subjects as they were spontaneously executed, however, the elements are vivid enough to show texture, form and movement, especially those pieces with flowing elements.

Tediously hand-painted repetitive lines and forms seem to dance on each plate to create images with a kaleidoscope effect. They're almost tantalizing as the viewer's mind absorb all those details and begins to process the amount of time, control and patience the artist has invested into these works. Each piece's design radiates a certain theme and emotion too vague too name. This is an attribute that probably owes itself to its kaleidoscope effect, which is almost hypnotic if one stares too long into them.

Photograph of the Great Smoky Mountains and Eastern Tennessee landscapesPresent day technology provides photographers the ability to capture a scene or subject and present it to an audience through very unique eyes, so to say. From distortions, lighting adjustments to interesting plays in perspective, there are endless tricks that one can play on a viewer's eyes. Al Stewart's photo's however, simply capture the natural beauty of his subjects. Play of light contrasts are minimal, which allow his shots to capture the colors of its elements that are very close to the original, considering camera angle and the amount of available natural light

The entire plane soothes the eyes as it does the mind and soul, conveying the messages well. Floral decorations compliment the texts in a minimalist yet charming way. The entire white plane is then wrapped in cozy wooden frame and earth-colored padding.

A visit to the online Stewart gallery like a trip to a good ol' gallery of the fine arts where an atmosphere of genuine appreciation for the arts fill the quiet halls. Lively artworks are mounted on dull walls and illuminated by white ceiling lights and subtle spotlights.

Here Comes the Boom Movie Review

I rented Here Comes the Boom at the only RedBox that my tiny little town has. I had heard great things about this 2012 movie and wanted to see for myself.

The movie is set in a school which is about to lose their music program and music teacher due to funding cuts. A biology teacher, Kevin James, decides that he will do whatever it takes to bring the music program back and to save one of his fellow teachers and best friend's job.

The biology teacher decides that he is going to take up kickboxing to raise the money needed for the music program. He has been teaching a class to non-citizens on how to become a citizen and that were he meets his would-be trainer. He blackmails this trainer into teaching him how to fight in Here Comes the Boom. He makes a trade, fighting lessons for citizen lessons.

The first few fights, Kevin James, loses his rear but he never give up; his "children" are too special for that. He keeps going until he reaches the ultimate fight in the UFC.

This movie is comical, romantic, and has a great moral lesson to teach; never give up on anything.

Keven James' character is filled with clumsy moments, a heart-felt teacher, and someone who wants to win the girl.

The last few moments of Here Comes the Boom will have you on the edge of your seat as you watch the biology teacher go up against an ultimate fighter in a breathtaking UFC match. If you haven't seen this movie, you need to watch it.