Record price for Bacon painting

A Francis Bacon portrait of a Catholic Church leader has been sold for $27.6m, a record for a work by the Dublin-born artist. The 1956 masterpiece, called The Study for Portrait II, was sold to an anonymous bidder on Thursday evening. The painting had been expected to fetch nearer $23m when it was offered for sale at Christie's in London. "It is the most important work from Bacon's Pope series to appear on the market," said Pilar Ordovas, the director of contemporary art at Christie's. "The Study for Portrait II established Bacon's position as one of the leading artistic figures of the 20th century." The previous record for a Bacon painting was set in 2006 when Version No 2 of Lying Figure with Hypodermic Syringe sold for $15m at Sotheby's in New York.

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Museum gets new life

LEE Langston-Harrison hadn't been director of the Museum of Culpeper History long when she noticed something about people who visited with children. Though the adults enjoyed the various displays and artifacts, ranging from Civil War gear to memorabilia of hometown baseball Hall of Famer Eppa Rixey, they seldom stayed longer than 10 or 15 minutes when they had youngsters in tow. "We got the idea of creating several children's corners, each with hands-on activities in something that related to the exhibits," said Langston-Harrison, who came to the museum in late fall from Montpelier, the Orange County home of James Madison. With children engaged in activities that included making their own dinosaurs, grinding Indian corn and dressing up in Colonial garb, the museum staff noticed parents were able to take in much more of the museum than ever before.

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Marketing paper a fine art

A JAUNT in France sewed the seeds for artist Shellie Conway to design stylish stationery inspired by the beautiful paperie shops she discovered in Paris. Lantern Paper produces limited edition ranges of journals, pencils, note cards, tile magnets, tote bags and coin purses. Using cloth stitching, blind embossing, foil stamping, soft leathers, woven hemp and damask labels, each piece has a distinct look and feel. Ms Conway has been running Lantern Paper since 1989 and her wares are sold through 150 retailers, ranging from art gallery stores and book shops and, most recently, Officeworks. At Officeworks she has created a "store within a store" where an entire range of her stationery is displayed together. "It's a fantastic thing to be able to design a whole range. Too often ranges are split," she said. After studying fine arts at the Victorian College of the Arts, majoring in print making, Ms Conway began her journey to success after becoming an artist in residence at Cite des Artes in Paris for three months.

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Art unshackled from the word

Question: I am having trouble with the Word Art tool in Microsoft Word that lets one create sophisticated lettering. When I create one of these elegant text-graphics designs, there is a problem moving them. They get attached to the text surrounding them, and when you move the Word Art, all of that text follows with it. I have been using word-processing and layout software functions for a dozen-plus years and have never once wanted an inserted graphic element tied to the text. This is more than annoying.- Judi Elliott A: Helping you solve this problem delights me, because it also lets me tell other readers about the sweet things one can do with this Word Art tool that Microsoft has so successfully hidden inside Word. With Word Art, anyone can create headlines and other special text that comes in zillions of colored fonts and can be made to swirl into a circle or wave like a flag or drop down the page instead of roll across.

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Learn painting methods of the masters

GEARHART - Award-winning artist Lori Wallace-Lloyd leads a class in "Old Master Methods in Portraiture" at Trail's End Art Association in February and March. The class, appropriate for all skill levels, is a series of exercises designed to improve drawing skills through values, edges and accurate observation of head casts and live models. Beginning with monochromatic studies in charcoal or oil, students progress at their own pace. Wallace-Lloyd, represented by Shoalwater Cove Gallery in Ilwaco, Wash., and The Buttery in Cannon Beach, believes any artist can benefit from these exercises, whether drawing a tree, a flower or a face. "It's like sharpening your saw, tuning your car or playing scales on a piano," she said. "These academic methods encourage a more realistic portrayal of your subject and can help free up any stumbling blocks toward your painting.

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Danish painter Carl Henning Pedersen donates 40 works to museum

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Danish painter Carl Henning Pedersen, a key member of the Cobra art group known for its spontaneous expressionism, has donated 40 of his works to Denmark's national gallery. The collection of artworks from the 1950s to the late 1980s includes two of Pedersen's masterpieces - "Out in the Wide World," from 1988, and "Red Firebird," from 1972. Pedersen is known for colourful fantasy paintings featuring horses and birds. His wife, Sidsel Ramson, formally handed over the works Tuesday to the Statens Museum for Kunst in downtown Copenhagen. The 93-year-old artist was not able to attend the ceremony because of health reasons. Gallery director Allis Helleland said she was proud to receive the works "by one of Denmark's most important, modern artists." The canvases are set to go on display at the museum in June.

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The Fine Art of Distortion

James Esber developed a fascination for distorted imagery 20 years ago, shortly after he moved to New York to start his art career. As a newcomer to the city, Esber spent much of his time making drawings. During that transitional period, he ran across a book about anamorphic projection - the distortion of objects so that they appear normal only from a particular view or through the use of a special lens or mirror. The book inspired him to start making distorted renderings of images. This approach has been central to his art ever since. Iconic or emotionally charged images from the Internet and other sources serve as starting points for his drawings and paintings. Kitsch figurines, wrecked cars, posing bodybuilders, erotic couplings and the faces of well-known people are extremely distorted and elaborately embellished in his works, which have been shown at prominent art venues in New York and Europe since the mid-1990s.

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