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"If food and shelter give us life, the arts give us something to live for."
Thomas H. Keane

Thursday, April 30, 2009

I love the story that goes with this one:
Once a teammate (from Alabama) told the artist that it was bad luck for a ballplayer to hear a mockingbird sing - the inconsistency of the bird's songs was contagious and the player would soon begin to play in the same manner. Later, two other players, one from Louisiana and one from North Carolina, told of similar superstitions. The pitcher in the picture isn't happy to test the validity of this theory.

A photo description of the creation of a baseball-themed public art sculpture in Frederick, MD. Another Frederick, MD baseball arts project has been written up here.

You might also want to check out "Unforgettaballs"

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Celebrating spring this week with gardens! Garden art and art in gardens.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, a French artist who lived from 1796-1875. (French Impressionism began in 1860, so Corot was something of a trendsetter.)

Souvenir de Mortefontaine

L'atelier de Corot

Les Rochers
>

Woman with a Pearl

Erinnerung an Marissel

We are so lucky to have the resources we do at our fingertips. For instance, the National Gallery of Art offers "Picturing France: 1830-1900," a study guide "organized by region, it provides a quick glance at the setting, history, and cultural life of Paris, the Île-de-France, the mountain areas of Franche-Comté and Auvergne, Normandy, Brittany, and Provence, in addition to a more in-depth examination of more than 50 works of art" for middle and upper grade students of art, history, social studies, and French language. Magnifique!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

The public mural program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is AMAZING. There are over 2000 murals!

Explore Mural Farm to see more of the Philly murals.

This Time Magazine article shows 21 photos of the murals and their artists. National Geographic also featured the murals.

There's a book about the Philadelphia Murals.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Is there anything that people don't sometimes turn into art? If you can think of something, let me know.

Art cars this week:

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD has a great guide to making an Art Car.

You can see movies about ArtCar Fest here.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Lovely original photographs digitally mixed with painting by Parisian artist Labokoff.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

American illustrator Mead Schaeffer (1898-1980).

There is One Captain That is Lord Over the Pequod
By Mead Schaeffer

The Count of Monte Cristo
By Mead Schaeffer

Schaeffer continues to inspire other artists, such as Shelly Wan, who creates wonderful art herself. For instance, Mad Kestrel:

Circus is another beauty by Wan, and so is Goldfish.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Carlos Andres Varela and Victor Affaro took these sensational shots at Coney Island for Dance/Art Magazine.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

'Bots made from recycled materials by Brian Marshall.

Lux
By Brian Marshall

Boo
By Brian Marshall

Swirly, Lord of the Flies
By Brian Marshall

Indy
By Brian Marshall

Thought you might like a glimpse of one of Brian's storage areas:

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Leatherwork by Tom Banwell!

Filigree Flame leather mask in shades of orange
By Tom Banwell

Sigurd Viking Helmet
By Tom Banwell

Black bird leather cut out mask
By Tom Banwell

Leather Steampunk Helmet
By Tom Banwell

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Sometimes I see a set of work that makes me say, "OK, there's this week's Art Thursday." Gordon McGlothlin's Paper Art Studio was like that for me.

Kerry's Journey
By Gordon McGlothlin

Starfish
By Gordon McGlothlin

Dreams for Sale
By Gordon McGlothlin

Yellow Tulips
By Gordon McGlothlin

You can also see his work here.

Interested in trying something new? Looking for a spring-related project? Consider making a stone art sculpture. Check out Creativity Portal's links and info. Stay and explore their site while you're at it. They have everything from batik and tie-dye to altered books.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

"The moon develops the imagination, as chemicals develop photographic images."
Sheila Ballantyne

I love the Astronomy Picture of the Day. Check these two out:

"Explanation: Do you recognize the Earth's Moon when you see it? The crazy, patchwork appearance of the false-color image makes this almost full view of the Moon's familiar near side look very strange. The Sea of Tranquillity (Mare Tranquillitatis) is the bright blue area at right, the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) is the extensive blue and orange area on the left, and white lines radiate from the crater Tycho at bottom center. Recorded in 1992 by the Galileo spacecraft enroute to Jupiter, the picture is a mosaic of 15 images taken through three color filters. The image data were combined in an exaggerated color scheme to emphasize composition differences - blue hues reveal titanium rich areas while orange and purple colors show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron. Multicolor images exploring the Moon's global surface composition were made in 1994 by the Clementine spacecraft."

"Explanation: Is this a picture of a sunset from Earth's North Pole? Regardless of urban legends circulating the Internet, the answer is no. The above scene was drawn to be an imaginary celestial place that would be calm and peaceful, and therefore titled Hideaway. The scene could not exist anywhere on the Earth because from the Earth, the Moon and the Sun always have nearly the same angular size. This is particularly apparent, for example, during solar eclipses. Still, the scene drawn is quite striking, and the crescent part of the "moon" shown is approximately accurate given the location of the parent star. In reality, the North Pole of Earth looks different."

"The basic idea is this: about 4.45 billion years ago, a young planet Earth -- a mere 50 million years old at the time and not the solid object we know today-- experienced the largest impact event of its history. Another planetary body with roughly the mass of Mars had formed nearby with an orbit that placed it on a collision course with Earth. When young Earth and this rogue body collided, the energy involved was 100 million times larger than the much later event believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. The early giant collision destroyed the rogue body, likely vaporized the upper layers of Earth's mantle, and ejected large amounts of debris into Earth orbit. Our Moon formed from this debris."

Thursday, February 5, 2009

There's a creepy sort of feeling around Art Thursday this week. As though a mysterious stranger in a hooded cloak was somewhere behind us ... coming closer, ever closer ... almost breathing down our necks as we sit here innocently looking at the screen.

Maybe they want to see, too. After all, we're celebrating Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe, the king of creepy, was born 200 years ago on January 19th. His delightfully sinister works have inspired not only stories and poems, but art:

To Edgar Poe: The Eye Balloon (The Eye, Like a Strange Balloon, Mounts Towards Infinity), 1878.
By Odilon Redon

Art Institute of Philadelphia, Edgar Allan Poe poster
By Joanna Boyle

"Open here I flung the shutter."(From The Raven)
By Gustave Dore

To Edgar Poe, 1894
By Felix Vallotton

PoeStories.com, an exploration of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, also has a gallery of Poe-inspired art.

Three neat Poe-related pictures on Omnicomic.

I would love to get a good look at this -- Gahan Wilson illustrates Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven and other poems.

Aisling d'Art explains that "art shrines" are a tribute to a person, place, or idea. She's made one for Poe that is available to be printed out, free.

A fun cartoon of Poe skiing by Mark Summers.

After you check out the art, don't forget to visit my youth writing contest and share the info with your young writer friends.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

A bunch of awards were announced by the American Library Association this week, including the young adult book awards and the Caldecott book illustration award for most distinguished American picture book for children. This year's Caldecott winner was Beth Krommes for The House in the Night, written by Susan Marie Swanson and published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

The House in the Night

On the Moon's Face

Another book illustrated by Ms. Krommes.

Grandmother Winter

While I'm at it, I'd like to include the cover of this book of art from children's illustrators. Love this picture!

Under the Spell of the Moon

An illustration by Randolph Caldecott (the person the award is named after). He lived from 1846-1886.

from The Queen of Hearts

Thursday, January 22, 2009

This week, pop-up art! (There are more terms, such as movable books, paper engineering, and paper architecture, so if you want to look it up yourself, you might want to try those.) There are quite a few links below the images if you'd like to learn about them and how to make your own pop-ups.

Fort Mifflin
by Colette Fu

Ms. Fu says, "Fort Mifflin is inspired by photographs of a supposedly haunted casemate at Fort Mifflin where a Civil War prisoner, Billy Howe was held (and executed)." Ms. Fu combined the casemate with a brain responding to stimuli, such as fear, to show how the brain's primal reaction can make rational thought difficult.

Academy of Music
by Colette Fu

Ms. Fun explains that this pop-up was influenced by descriptions of "imaginary audiences," both unseen observers that people, particularly women, imagine are judging them and ghostly audience members.

Golden Doorway
By Ingrid Siliakus

Inner-Outer Space
By Ingrid Siliakus

An amazing high schooler's work.

There's been a lot of love for David Carter's bugs at my house. David and Noelle Carter's site has a lot of "make it yourself" pdfs (my favorite: the noisemaker) in their "Surprise" section. They also have videos you can watch to see how to use the pdfs.

Making Pop-up Art/A Tunnel Book.

How to Make a Pop-up Pyramid.

Birds and Bees from The Pop-Up World of Ann Moranaro. Ms. Moranaro is a wonderful resource about pop-ups. The Birds and Bees page just happens to be my favorite, but feel free to look around!

The Pop-up Lady, who created an Inaugural Pop-Up.

Visit NPR's piece on Robert Sabuda's Alice in Wonderland to see some great photos of the book actually being made (in the factory).

If you want to delve deeper, you could join the Movable Book Society.

OK, I thought I was done, but I have to add just one more (a book): Pop-Up Paper Engineering Cross-Curricular Activities.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

More animals this week, but of a different sort. Do you know what distinguishes gargoyles from chimera? In Greek mythology, Chimera was a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head and a goat's body and a serpent's tail. But architecturally-speaking, a chimera is a fantastic, mythical, or grotesque figure used for decorative purposes. Gargoyles, technically, are carvings which serve as water spouts on buildings. (I heard that the word comes from "gargouille," meaning throat, so I suppose they are the throats of the building?) People commonly refer to non-water spouts as "gargoyles," though. So this week, we have chimera/gargoyles. (Chimera are also sometimes called "grotesques," but it feels funny to call them that...)

An icy gargoyle in Prague (St. Vitus Cathedral)
taken by Mat and Trace Ward

In Valencia, Spain

A lion in Florence, Italy

from the University of Chicago gate

Notre Dame has some of the world's most famous gargoyles. New York Carver has a very attractive page about them.

A gargoyle tour of Princeton University.

More info about gargoyles for students who are preparing to make one out of clay. One way to make them is posted here. Here's a cool lesson for making a gargoyle box.

A Gargoyle art contest for fans of the cartoon show, Gargoyles.

One more thing...AbeBooks has put together a page about unusual book covers. Not the pictures on the cover themselves, necessarily, but what the covers are made of...such as burlap or python skin. (Note to self: I should have a "book cover" theme some week.)

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Carousels this week! Aren't they fantastic?

Armored Carousel Horse
By Joe Leonard

Dentzel Hippocampus
By Joe Leonard

Lead Carousel Horse, EuroDisney
By Joe Leonard

The non-profit Albany Carousel Carving and Painting Studio is working on a terrific long-term volunteer project (no experience necessary!). Here are some of their animals, in various stages of completion:

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The first day of a new year! Hope you have a creative 2009. Today, we have American Impressionists.

Drifting with the Tide
By Ralph Wormeley Curtis

Mrs. Chase in Prospect Park
By William Merritt Chase

Chase did a number of wonderful paintings of his wife, Alice Gerson, including Tamborine Girl, Reflections, and Blue Kimono (I'm not sure that last one is of his wife, but she looks like the same person to me. What do you think?).

El Jaleo
By John Singer Sargent

I had the urge to post this or this by Sargent, but then I realized I was going for all the paintings with boats in them.

Self-Portrait
By Mary Cassatt

Allies Day, May 1917
By Childe Hassam (1859-1935)

Take a look at the Metropolitan Museum exhibit about Hassam.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas! First, porcelain artist Laura Peery...

Black Ruffle
By Laura Peery

Understanding Midnight
By Laura Peery

Lines and Colors, a terrific art blog, has compiled 2008 Best Graphic Novel Lists. If you like graphic novels (or are wondering what they are), take a look.

Aren't these ear ornaments from the 1400s-1500s amazing? They are made of wood and feathers!

Pair of Ear Ornaments

Chimú/Inka; 15th–16th century
Diameter 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm)
American Museum of Natural History, New York

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Russian artist Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910) is our focus this week.

Demon Seated
By Mikhail Vrubel

Demon Seated (1890) was Vrubel's first large canvas, which, though vehemently criticized by contemporaries, elevated Vrubel to a whole new plane of artistic expression. Vrubel had developed the theme of Demon, a hero of Mikhail Lermontov’s poem, from 1885. With Vrubel, Demon becomes the incarnation of the romantic spirit. Demon starts out full of hope, searching for harmony and truth, beauty and love. For a brief moment, he even seems to find what he longs for. But eventually his hopes are crushed. He becomes disillusioned and boils with rebellion. In the end, he himself is crushed and thrown out. This world has no place for him. (Information from Russian Art Gallery, Victor Potoskuev)

The Pearl
By Mikhail Vrubel

Morning
By Mikhail Vrubel

Night
By Mikhail Vrubel

You can read more about Vrubel's creative life and his sad end here.

Some other great works from the Russian Art Gallery include Ilya Repin's Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan, Nikolay Yaroshenko's Life is Everywhere, and Victor Vasnetsov's Sirin and Alkonost, Birds of Joy and Sadness.

December 11, 2008

Sonia Romero paints, prints, and offers workshops from her wonderfully-named "She Rides the Lion" studio in California. She worked with a team of youth to create East Los Angeles public pool murals:

She is working on a Macarthur Park Metro Station installation, with thirteen linoleum cut and airbrush designs picturing positive community uses of the Macarthur Park area, like the one below:

Langers Delicatessen

This reminds me of a book illustration! The artist sells prints of her hand carved linoleum cuts in her Etsy shop. (Etsy! My favorite "mall"! So great for presents.)

December 4, 2008

D.C.-based artist Nikolas Schiller uses aerial photographs as a starting point for his art, which he calls "conceptual cartography." I'm showing some today from his Lenz Project. There are so many that make me say "Wow," that I have to include links to a few more: here, here, and here.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

This week, we're just looking at one painting, but we're looking at it closely. The painting is Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel, 16th century.

Wish I could see it in person!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

You just don't know what to expect from me, do you? To illustrate that, this week we've got anatomical art.

Vanitas
By Simon Renard de Saint-André, 1613-1677

I like street art, and this "rib cage in Paris" pleased me with its imaginativeness. How nice to be able to see something ordinary and envision it as something else.

I saw the rib cage on Vanessa Ruiz's Street Anatomy site, which also had this charming couple:

Muscles and Brain
By Alesha Sivartha (1834-1915)

Hand-Structure
By Alesha Sivartha

Artnatomy is a pretty amazing tool by Victoria Contreras Flores for artists, students, and others. The official description says "Anatomical Basis of Facial Expression Tool," but just go fiddle around with the faces and see what's underneath.

For a historical look at anatomical art, read the article "The Fine Art of Anatomy" by medical student Rohin Francis.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

We're up to our eyeballs in globes this week. I think there's something inherently beautiful about globes, and apparently I'm not the only one. (I like maps, too, but that will have to be another week.)

Some info from Wikipedia about armillary spheres:
"Renaissance scientists and public figures often had their portraits painted showing them with one hand on an armillary sphere, which represented the height of wisdom and knowledge. Armillary spheres were among the first complex mechanical devices. Their development led to many improvements in techniques and design of all mechanical devices. The armillary sphere survives as useful for teaching, and may be described as a skeleton celestial globe, the series of rings representing the great circles of the heavens, and revolving on an axis within a horizon."

This 1996 community collaboration was designed and built by Holly Hughes with the help of 2000 volunteers, including artists from 17 countries. It is made entirely of recycled items.

More globes, plus some "do it yourself" sites:

Simeon Solomon's The Vision in the Crystal Globe

Frank Meisler's Large Jerusalem Sphere

Artistic Globes by Sabine Réthoré

A self-portrait in a reflecting globe by Maurits Cornelis (M.C.) Escher

The nonprofit organization, Cool Globes, is using art to raise awareness and inspire individuals and community leaders to embrace solutions regarding global warming.

How To Make a Paper Mache Earth

How To Make an Armillary Sphere

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Before we get to this week's art, let me tell you about the free online games on Artsology. There's so much there!! And one more thing... if you live near our nation's capital, you might want to check out FotoWeek, a celebration of photography taking place during November 15-22, 2008.

There's no theme for this week (unless you can spot one).

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The colors! The shapes! Phil Fung!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

We have more impermanent art today. Daniel Dancer creates art that HAS to last only a short time -- it's fashioned out of people! Mr. Dancer has worked with schools, groups, and companies to create living art that seems to have as big an impact on the people who are in it as the people who see it.

"Living art" photographs have been created since the invention of photography. For instance, here's a shot by Arthur Mole and John Thomas from 1918, using 18,000 soldiers:

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Intricate Celtic art this week. These first two images are from the Celtic Art and Culture web site hosted by the University of North Carolina.

Here is some contemporary Celtic art by Cari Buziak.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

I know artists aren't magicians, but sometimes it really does seem as though there's magic at work. For instance, origami. How can a single piece of uncut piece of paper be turned into so many amazingly complicated things? I don't know. But check it out:

For more origami magic, Brian Chan has a fun video of him folding Wall*E. I loved Brian's Kraken.

If you'd like to try to fold your own origami, visit Origami.com for models and for info on how to make folds, visit Fishgoth's Origami basics.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Wood art this week! I have been trying to learn the difference between wood engravings and woodcuts. Wood engravers gouge a design into hard wood, while the other method involves cutting away pieces of soft wood so only the design is left. (Does that sound right, artists?) The funny thing is that The Flammarion Woodcut is actually a misnamed wood engraving.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

I had a hard time picking just two of Paul Grech's works. In fact, here are links to three more: I just love his musical series. And of course, I can't leave out Einstein.

A couple of art quotes:

There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
~ Pablo Picasso

Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.
~ Frida Kahlo

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Heather Jansch creates striking sculptures! She answers questions about how she makes them here.

Along similar lines, there is an online site called The Green Museum that has info about artists who produce environmental art, including Betsy Damon. Ms. Damon creates public art events and large-scale art parks like "The Living Water Garden," in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

We've got an arts in Maryland theme this week.

The work of Maryland-based photojournalist Jon Soucy caught my eye with these evocative black and white pieces.

This Wheaton, MD program is such a fantastic idea. Arts on the Block offers job training through the arts. Awesome!

Apprentices putting finishing touches on Metrorail panel.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Museum of Wales has a lovely web site, including these phenomenal glass works by the Blaschkas. "During the late 19th century, Leopola Blaschka (1822-1895) and his son Rudolf (1857-1929) produced beautifully detailed glass models of bizarre sea creatures for natural history museums and aquaria all over the world."

Thursday, August 28, 2008

This week, the focus is Greek muse murals.

The Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). There were nine muses, each of whom presided over an art or science. The muses were: Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry; Clio, Muse of History; Euterpe, Muse of Lyric Poetry; Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy; Terpsichore, Muse of Choral Dance and Song; Erato, Muse of Love Poetry; Polyhymnia, Muse of Sacred Poetry; Urania, Muse of Astronomy; and Thalia Muse of Comedy. (from Bulfinch's Mythology)

You can find this painting of Melpomene in a mural at the U.S. Library of Congress.

A fresco at the Vatican, Rome

This detail is from "Sacred Dance and the Muses," painted on the ceiling in the atrium of the City of Morganton Municipal Auditorium, N.C.

Here's a link about how to make a fresco.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I was excited to find out about these contemporary young Afghani artists. Visit the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

I went to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and saw a lot of wonderful pieces. You can make your own "art collection" on their site by browsing their artworks and then clicking on your favorites.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Winslow Homer!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Pen and ink artist Franklin Booth's work is terrific.

For books about this amazing artist, check out Franklin Booth: American Illustrator and
Franklin Booth: Painter with a Pen.
There are helpful lessons about using pen and ink at HomeSchoolArts.com.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Both of these 19th century artists do a lovely job with facial expressions and textiles.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Amazing, ephemeral street painting by Tracy Lee Stum. You can see her in the photo of The Medici Garden, which gives you an idea about the size and scope of her work. She generously offers a recipe for home-made pastels that can be used for street painting.

Chalk for Peace is a worldwide chalk art project for young artists. This year, events will be taking place from September 14-21, 2008. Join in!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Arabic calligraphy -- wow!

This image of a lion originates from Lahore, Pakistan and is part of a rich tradition of zoomorphic calligraphy. This practice, developed in the sixteenth century, employs the flexibility and beauty of Arabic script to delineate living forms such as tigers, parrots, ostriches and cockerels. This is done without disobeying religious injunctions that prohibit their direct depiction.

Texts themselves might constitute verses from the Qur’an and include puns relating to the ‘word-picture’, particularly in Shia iconography. A famous example contains a prayer to Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law, also known as Haidar or ‘lion’.

Information from the Tate Gallery, UK.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Turning the spotlight on Canadian artist Ambera Wellman ... More of my favorites here, here, and here.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Self-portraits this week!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Joe Decker takes gorgeous nature photographs. These two are from his Signatures of the Sun collection.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

And now for something completely different...

Penelope Dullaghan and Brianna Privett started Illustration Friday to provide "a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels. It was designed to challenge participants creatively. We believe that every person has a little creative bone in their body. Illustration Friday just gives a no-pressure, fun excuse to use it. No clients looking for a particular thing. No one judging the outcome of the work. It's a chance to experiment and explore and play with visual art." They welcome novices and pros alike.

Visit Illustration Friday

Thursday, June 5, 2008

The first work by Christian Lorenz Scheurer that I saw was 2:30 a.m. It totally drew me in, so I checked out some more of his stuff. He has a fantastic imagination and I love the way there's so much to explore in his pictures. Want to see more? Click here for Night Walk and Procession of Effigies.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul exhibit just arrived in D.C. at the National Gallery of Art. In its honor, here are two pieces from the exhibit. I don't have info about the top one, unfortunately, but isn't it gorgeous!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Elsa Mora, who goes by Elsita, produces art with a variety of materials...

Elsita has a link on her site to amazing papercut art by Peter Callesen

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Mosaics this week!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Roger Xavier is a scratchboard illustrator. For a great scratchboard "how to" page, visit Russ McMullin's Scratchboard Tutorial.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I have seen JMW Turner's works in person a couple of times and they knock my socks off.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Here we have a painting circa 1910 by Emma Florence Harrison.
Ms. Harrison illustrated many of Christina Rossetti's poems, so this work may be an illustration for Rossetti's Dream Land.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Sergey Tyukanov's work is our focus this week.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Meg Harper says she is interested in illustrating -- I can't wait to see what she does!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Artist Scott Wade lives on a caliche road (a mix of limestone dust, gravel, and clay) that coats his car windows with a white dust. He uses that dust to create temporary art. I couldn't resist sharing this Einstein. The impermanence of it reminded me of Tibetan monks making sand mandalas, so I am also including a Tibetan healing mandala below.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Fabric sculptures by Susan Else. Wow!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Two shimmering, colorful digital photography artworks:

Thursday, March 6, 2008

I have more illustrations this week. Love these!

Some Late Visitor at my Door (from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe)
By Gustave Dore

I could pretty much fill a whole page with just Arthur Rackham's illustrations. They are beautiful and haunting, fascinating and mysterious. There was one from Romeo and Juliet that I wanted to post, but couldn't find. I'm not even sure what story this is illustrating, but it seems as if you could make one up just looking at it.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

This Monet was found recently in the back of a car in Zurich, Switzerland. It had been stolen from Zurich's Buehrle Museum, along with three other paintings. A Van Gogh was also recovered, and the police are still searching for the other two paintings by Cezanne and Degas.

Poppies near Vétheuil
By Claude Monet

I am working feverishly on a biography of Joan of Arc. In this painting by Gaston Bussiere, angels and saints are offering young Joan encouragement, prayer, and a sword.

Joan of Arc
By Gaston Bussiere

Thursday, February 21, 2008

from the Steam Wars gallery
By Larry Blamire

Valentine's Day, 2008

All kinds of love...

Banjo Lesson
Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1859-1937

Love Among the Ruins
Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1833 - 1898

His Only Friend
Briton Rivière, 1840 - 1920

Thursday, February 7, 2008

I've been posting art that illustrates stories, and here's another one...

Miranda
by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)

In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Miranda asks her father if his sorcery has sunk the vessel, saying:

O, I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel
(Who had no doubt some noble creature in her)
Dashed all to pieces! O, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished!
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere
It should the good ship so have swallowed and
The fraughting souls within her.

Prospero answers her, "Be collected. / No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart / There's no harm done."

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Another painting inspired by a story.

Narcissus by Caravaggio (1573-1610)

"Narcissus was so handsome everyone loved and desired him, but Narcissus was too proud to offer his love in return. His rejection of one would-be lover, Echo, turned her from an unhappy nymph into the barest wisp of what she had been. Echo shriveled up until all that was left of her was her voice, what we now call by her name.

Not all the would-be lovers of Narcissus were so passive. One of them took his complaint about rejection to the goddess of vengeance, Nemesis. The rejected suitor asked the goddess Nemesis to make Narcissus fall in love with himself, but simultaneously to be incapable of accepting his own love. Nemesis obliged....
On a hot day Narcissus bent down to drink from a clear, silvery pool. As he drank, he saw a beautiful image in the pool. He had never before caught a glimpse of himself. Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection. He tried to kiss and embrace it -- encouraged because he saw the other raising his lips to meet Narcissus' own -- but couldn't. Narcissus could do nothing except keep trying. In time he realized he was in love with his own reflection."

From Narcissus and Echo in Ovid's Metamorphoses: Tiresias Warns About Narcissus By N.S. Gill, About.com

Thursday, January 24, 2008

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights is a favorite story of mine, so I especially enjoyed taking a look at Virginia Frances Sterrett's illustrations. You can read about Ms. Sterrett (1900-1931) here and see more Arabian Nights illustrations here.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Fantasy Roller Bird
by Catherine Wingfield-Yeatts

River View through the Arches
by Catherine Wingfield-Yeatts

A bonus work

Germany's Children Are Starving
by Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945)

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Nicole Fekaris's The Walk drew me right in.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Poetry Friday has been such a terrific experience that I decided to start Art Thursday as a kind of journal where I keep track of works that catch my eye.
I thought about beginning Art Thursday with something lovely, but this is the piece that got my attention yesterday. Not lovely, but arresting all the same.

From the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles

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