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Popular forms of women’s dress shoes in the 1920s can be divided into three basic types: pumps (no straps), ankle straps (mary janes), and T-straps. Closed toes and heels were worn throughout the 1920s. Peep toes and sandle-style high heels (with either a sandal front or an open back) did not come into fashion until the later 1930s. The split upper, with the vamp covering the toes separated from the heel, came into high French fashion in the 1920s, and eventually worked its way into mainstream American fashion by the 1930s.

Read more on Vintage Dress Shoes from the 1920s…

Chucks were invented in 1917, and named after Charles “Chuck” Taylor, a basketball player, coach, and salesman who traveled the country evangelizing the game and selling the shoes. The 1920s through 1970s were Chucks’ glory days. But the 1970s brought new competition from Nike, Reebok, and Adidas, and Converse ceded territory as a performance shoe. After losing their footing in basketball, the brand floundered. And despite its strong ties to the counterculture movement – it was the shoe of choice for bands like Nirvana, The Pixies, The Ramones – Chucks never fully capitalized on the phenomenon. Converse declared bankruptcy in 2001.

Read more on Chuck Taylor All-Stars: A History…

Before adding light streams to an image, first ask yourself where you want the light source for the steams. What aperture or opening will the light be streaming through? What is in the path of the steams? Once you’ve made these decisions, you can begin.

Read more on Creating Realistic Streams of Light in Photoshop…

There are many types of sewing shears and scissors, all used for different applications. Below is a description of each model and their respective uses.

Bent-handle dressmaker’s shears are best for pattern cutting. The angle of the lower blade lets fabric lie flat. They are made in 6″ to 12″ lengths with the 7″  and 8″ lengths used most often. There are also left-handed models and special models for cutting synthetics and knits available.

Read more on A Guide to Sewing Shears and Scissors…

November 8, 2006

There were only a few galleries in The American Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  The art was sorted by date with the most recent 20th century work being shown in the first gallery.  I decided to limit my paper on one particular gallery, which displayed art from 1825-1901.  This gallery was the most interesting to me even though there were some flaws in the layout of the room and in the way the art was showcased.

Read more on The American Art Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art…

Wisconsin Landscape is an oil painting painted between 1938 -1939 of a farm-home in Wisconsin and the beautiful nature surrounding it.  The perspective is from up on a hill looking down on the quiet landscape mottled with cows and sheep.  We can see for miles from the heaps of hay in the foreground to the blue rolling hills in the distance.  Thick clouds dominate the top half of the painting with a blanket of green and yellow fields below.  It is a bold yet calming image with powerful strokes and rich recurring shapes of color.  All of the elements are sewn together by the use of a grid and horizontal divisions.  It is evident that the artist took a very structural and mathematical approach in laying out the scene, but in no way does this affect the overall natural beauty of the landscape.

Read more on Analysis of John Steuart Curry’s Wisconsin Landscape…

Everyone has used the crop tool, and most people have probably used the Crop tool’s Perspective options. But when you break away from the conventional use of the Crop tool, you’ll find some really interesting results.

Read more on Photoshop Secrets: Changing Perspectives with the Crop Tool…

Step 1: For brightening teeth, irises, whites of the eyes, eyebrow arches, undereye circles, and the bridge of the nose, add a Curves adjustment layer. Click a point in the middle of the curve and drag upward. Click OK.

Read more on Photoshop Retouching Techniques: Adding Lip Gloss and Contouring Eyes…