A bit of fun again

Here's an interesting little applet that creates word pictures.

Ice

This morning I am struck again by the beauty of the winter landscape. But it is a scary beauty, a sort of terrible beauty. The frost covers the trees like lace and the fog casts a delicate glaze over the landscape, unifying it, softening the harsh and hiding the displeasing. The snow absorbs the sound and forces a sometimes peaceful, sometimes eerie quiet on everything. Yet, I cannot let go of the thought of freezing and these same images take on a power that seems to underpin the beauty. Especially the ice.

It is the ice that catches my attention this morning. As we try to safely make our way to school, our car slides around the corner and then we take tentative steps into the building, hoping to not make unexpected contact with the pavement. I see the massive chunks of ice that have slowly broken loose from roofs and am amazed at the size this year, and glad to not have been near when they came down. Beautiful when the sun shines, rays of light finding paths through the crystals and cracks sparkle and the ice is lovely to behold.

All of which reminds me of two things. The first is the how God also fits so many of these descriptions. He covers our sins (Acts 10:43). He holds us delicately at times, knowing that we are dust (Gen 2:7; Ps 103:13,14). He desires for His people to be unified (Rom 15:5; Col 3:14). We can hide in Him (Ps 32:7). He gives us peace, which may seem eerie to those who do not understand (Phil 4:7). And He is powerful (Jer 10:12; Rom 1:20). Still, when I look at the snowy landscape what I see most is beauty and God is revealed to me through it, but revealed as the terrible beauty that defines what is sublime. Then I drink in the hush and sing praises in my heart.

The second thing of which I am reminded is the Robert Frost poem, Fire and Ice. It fits, perhaps in an odd way, with my meditations of the power of God, so I share it here. But maybe the connection is made only in my mind and I'm not sure I can adequately explain it because it puts in mind too many things for me to discuss here.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

In this mood of musing I went out to take photos of our winter landscape, but my camera is not cooperating with its port this morning, so instead of my own photography I share with you an image from a young lady I know. And another photo from another friend, that sums up our winter.

Have I mentioned the snow yet this year?

While I haven't had to shovel my mother's barn this year, we have still been pounded with snow. We've had a week of thawing and freezing now, and we still have at least two feet in our yard. Here are some pics from before the thaw began.

I Can Make That...

Here are some paintings that I've finished just this last month.

This small canvas piece is a collage tribute to my husband's grandmother, who died in October. She was my real-life Proverbs 31 woman and I made a similar 4x4 book page for a swap a few years ago. I gave this painting to grandpa for Christmas and we cried together as we remembered this very lovely lady.




















In the spirit of the still life, this little piece only measures 3-3/4x5 inches and was based on a large green still life in a magazine spread (I've been cleaning out the secret magazine stash that lives underneath my couch over Christmas break). I simplified it quite a bit and left some very dark places like many of the still lifes of the Baroque era. I think the grapes still need work, but I'm living with it for now. Here's a peek at some of the still lifes painted by my students. I cannot tell you how proud of them I am. Remember, for most of them, this is only the third painting they've done--ever!

















This third piece is on 6x6 inch Strathmore linen canvas for acrylic. I went shopping with a friend in November and we both stopped to ogle a little snowman card (we both like snowmen) and I thought what every creative person thinks at one time or another, "I could make that..." Okay, so I really thought, "I could paint that," and it isn't very like the one we saw in the store. But she loves it and I'm very happy with the way it turned out.



I really should be keeping count of the number of paintings I've done so I can encourage the students that we get better with practice, but at this point I can still count the number of realistic paintings I've done on all my fingers and toes. And I'm starting to be happy with them, so there's hope! So, if you have tried painting and been less than happy with the results, please remember what I always tell my students and frequently tell myself (although usually not in the same pleasant tone of voice--lol!) "Art takes practice--just like everything else."

Oh bother! or lemon curd is nicer, even thinly spread

Well, our school's Christmas break is rapidly coming to an end and with early mornings looming near once again I decided to make waffles. You know--those delicious, slightly crispy breakfast cakes with butter melted into each individual square and topped with aromatic maple syrup. Mmmm...

What? We are out of syrup. It was on the list, but apparently the shopper did not go to the store where the best syrup deal is and consequently we are out. Which rather made me feel like the king in the A.A. Milne poem, The King's Breakfast, especially in the middle (or so) verse:

The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"

I wanted to be crabby, but remembering what my dearest hubby has been telling the little people lately about how we CHOOSE to have bad attitudes, I thought it best to pull up my socks and be a big girl. (Bother!)

So, I set about digging through the fridge and came up with an option--lemon curd. Not just any lemon curd, I might add, but lemon curd made by a true English woman and gifted to me in celebration of The Saviour's birthday. (Which makes it extra yummy, don't you think?) My daughter added to the options by pulling out huckleberry jam from another dear friend, which prompted me to scrounge a bit more and find the blackberry from yet another friend. I don't can. I don't make jams. I barely like to bake. In fact, other than eating, there's not much that happens in the kitchen that I really enjoy. Maybe watering the plants... Anyway, all this antipathy toward kitchen duties makes me doubly appreciative of all such gifts and my three little jars from Esther, Patty and Susan (respectively) are like little pots of gold.

Little pots of yummy gold to top my waffles! The lemon curd was very nice on top of some gingerbread cookies I had, but my taste buds were eager to try it on that most northwest of northwest breakfasts, a huckleberry waffle.

For anyone interested, here's a scrumptious recipe for sourdough waffles:

2/3 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2-1/2 cups baking mix (my mom uses Bisquick; I use Jiffy)
1 cup milk
1 egg
We (my mom and I both) mix everything in the blender, then pour the appropriate amount into the waffle iron. I sprinkle frozen huckleberries into the batter before closing the lid. (Please be aware that this recipe makes waffle batter that grows, so it can pop the lid off your blender, if stored in said container.) Then top with butter and syrup.

Oh wait, not today. It was a difficult choice--each topping had its own merits. Huckleberry in double doses is definitely delicious. Blackberry added a bit of zingy bite. But I think the lemon curd was the luscious winner for me. Lemon and huckleberry are quite complementary (just like their respective colors on the color wheel. You knew I had to work art in here somewhere, right?).

Now, I'll have to find something to try the apple and tomato chutney on. Hmm, I don't think it's going to be huckleberry waffles. ;-)

Why Is There a Snail Next to Gabriel?

One of the things I love about the Christmas season are the lovely greeting cards people send each other. For many people it is their only exposure to the beautiful art of the Renaissance and Baroque periods and to paintings with religious themes. Recently in my grammar art classes we have been looking at the Christmas story as told in art and in the logic and rhetoric painting classes students have been painting Medieval Christmas images. Most of us are familiar with scenes of the Nativity, but there are many paintings that tell other parts of the story, too.

In the book of Luke, the Christmas story begins with Gabriel telling Mary the good news that she will be the mother of the Messiah. These scenes are typically referred to as "Annunciation" paintings and obviously include Gabriel and Mary. However, many of these images also contain other objects that may leave us wondering. Why is there a snail in the front of Francesca del Cossa's version (seen at right)? While viewers today may be stumped, viewers during the Renaissance would have been familiar with the many symbols that we look past or scratch our heads at in these paintings. The snail was thought to live underground in the dark in its shell for three months of the year when it would re-emerge. If this makes you think of the time Christ spent in the tomb, you have solved the riddle. Many of the extra items in these paintings hint at the end of Christ's time on earth, even as His time in human flesh is just beginning. Lilies are an obvious symbol, but take note of how many there are in a painting. Not only do they refer to Christ's death and resurrection, but if there are three of them then they refer to the Trinity. While three is also a visually pleasing number, many instances of three are meant to be symbolic of the Trinity: three windows in a background, three divisions in the architecture, three vases on a table. Colors also have great significance in Renaissance art. Mary is typically depicted wearing blue because it is a heavenly color. White objects frequently refer to purity and red is the color of Christ's blood shed for us.

While viewing the Annunciation images, students noted that not only were there many recurring symbols, but the storyline of the paintings rarely varied. Traditionally Mary is depicted as being interrupted in her devotions by Gabriel's visit, so she is usually seen kneeling with an open Bible nearby. Luke 1:26-27 says, "In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David." It really doesn't say what Mary was doing--she may have been sleeping, which is how one Henry Ossawa Tanner painted his version (look back a couple posts to see his version). Which also brings up the quandary of what really is Biblical versus what is simply traditional. Well, the best way to find that out is to open one's Bible and read for yourself, but we do talk about these things in class. Lilies aren't mentioned in the Bible, and neither are haloes, which are always of interest to students. One of the most common questions I am asked is why some of the people have gold circles around their heads. We discuss that this is an artistic device to set apart the saints in the image; then we talk about how the Bible defines saints (all believers). But then, just when the students grow used to seeing the haloes we see a painting that doesn't have them and the question becomes why aren't there any! If you pay attention to the haloes, you will notice that Christ's frequently has a crucifix in it because He died on the cross for us.

This fact created quite a stir when we viewed Nativity images by Duccio and Giotto (shown at left), both of which show two babies with crosses in their haloes. Only the kindergartners solved the dilemma on the first try--there are two baby Jesuses in these paintings. That fact doesn't make sense to most of us, and since we are not familiar with such artistic devices these days it may leave us confused. The device is called simultaneous narrative, which simply means telling more than one part of the story at the same time, and was not uncommon in art of this time. One of Botticelli's paintings shows seven different episodes in the life of Moses--all in one scene. Many adoration paintings show the angel announcing to the shepherds and the shepherds arrival at the same time. Gentile de Fabriano's "Adoration of the Magi" (shown below) shows four moments in the story of the visit of the Magi.

In annunciation and nativity images, however, we frequently find another device that is like simultaneous narrative, but instead of telling other parts of the Christmas story, reminds us of why Christ came. In addition to symbols that refer to the crucifixion and resurrection, there are sometimes hidden references to the sin in the garden from which arose the need for a Saviour. Rogier van der Weyden's panel from the Columba Altarpiece (at left) shows Adam and Eve standing under the tree carved into the wooden furniture on which Mary is kneeling. But these references can be found in many paintings from this time period. If there is a stained glass window or carved sculptures or small figures in the background of a painting they bear close scrutiny and you will frequently find an Old Testament story told and many times it will be the story of the first couple on earth, reminding us of why Jesus has come.

I could write pages and pages about the many symbols found in just the Christmas story, but suffice it to say that if there is something unusual in the painting, it probably had meaning--even if we don't understand it now. If you have any questions a short search on the internet will usually turn up answers, or leave a question in my comment section--I'll try to find the answer and get back to you. A couple other important symbols to note are the dove of the Holy Spirit that descends on Mary and bare feet, which are a sign of holy ground. For a quick rundown: dogs represent faithfulness and loyalty, cats slothfulness, magpies Christ's suffering, irises sorrow and columbines were thought to look like the dove of the Holy Spirit. See if you can spot all these things when you peruse paintings. Merry Christmas, and may God bless you greatly in the year to come.

My own angel

I recently took part in a Christmas ornament swap in the Christian Paper Artists group. Here is a photo of one of the angels I made. The collaged background made them all slightly different, but the colors and design elements were the same. One the back I wrote a snippet of the Christmas story from Luke about the multitude of the heavenly host singing praises to God.

An American Annunciation

Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898

The United States does not have the same long tradition of religious painting that Europe does. One rather obvious reason is that we just don't have long traditions because the country is a young one. Our painting heritage also focuses on different things, like landscapes and the spirit of the west. While still in our teens (comparatively speaking) modernism hit, which totally changed most subject matter. Henry Ossawa Tanner was the son of a preacher, which perhaps explains his exploration of religious themes in his art, or maybe it was the drawing of the Holy Spirit. Whatever the reason, I find his version of the Annunciation lovely. As much as I admire the many beautiful Renaissance and Baroque versions of this topic, I think Tanner's version is more realistic in its simplicity. I like how the focus is on Mary and not the grand architecture surrounding her. I like how we are left to wonder what an angel would really look like. But most of all I like how her face reflects her wonder, her question of how this could be, and her humble acceptance of God's will for her life. Tanner shows us a girl who is on the beginning of a difficult road, but who approaches it without fear--a reminder of how believers should approach the Christian faith. If you are not a believer, I would offer the angel's words to you, to "fear not," and invite you to look a little deeper this blessed season to see what the Christmas Day is really celebrating.

"And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation."

--Luke 1:46-50

Hand carved stamps

While following a link today I found a post about carving stamps that I wanted to share. Hand carving my own stamps is something I started last year and don't have enough time for (some of my friends might be amused to know that I have finally realized that I enjoy cutting things up--I'm constantly cutting out stars and snowflakes this time of year and was always the official Keeper of the Knives wherever I worked). If you are interested at all in trying this activity, check out this link for some inspiration--I see that I need to set my sights a little higher, or rather, larger. Enjoy it!

The Annunciation

Orazio Gentilleschi, The Annunciation 1623

This is one of my favorite Annunciation paintings. I love the bright colors and the dynamic composition as the eye moves down the sweep of the curtain to the line of Gabriel's back, then back up his arm to Mary's face, where our gaze comes to rest. Her humility shows on her face as she ponders the angel's greeting and the news. Notice the dove of the Holy Spirit entering at the window above and the rays of light that signify God's presence. The lilies are a reminder of how Christ's life will end--in the pain and death of Easter, but also in glorious resurrection. Mary wears the traditional blue outer garment, which symbolizes heaven. Gabriel is bare footed, reminding us of God's command to Moses to remove his shoes because he was treading on holy ground. Altogether it is a very graceful and peaceful image.

"Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her." --Luke 1:26-38

The Holy Star

THE HOLY STAR

As shadows cast by cloud and sun
Flit o'er the summer grass,
So, in thy sight, Almighty One,
Earth's generations pass.
And while the years, an endless host,
Come pressing swiftly on,
The brightest names that earth can boast
Just glisten and are gone.
Yet doth the Star of Bethlehem shed
A lustre pure and sweet,
And still it leads, as once it led,
To the Messiah's feet.
O Father, may that holy star
Grow every year more bright,
And send its glorious beams afar
To fill the world with light.

William Cullen Bryant 1875

Thank you to my lovely friend Gayle, for sharing this beautiful poem celebrating the reason for this season of celebration.

New art, and a little bit of it's mine...

Well, I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted anything. Although our first quarter of school is ending next week, so I guess time is going more quickly than I thought. My life has been a blur of art, but not very much of it mine. Here are a couple cards I made for a card deck project that I am participating in. It's a Christian art group that spun off of the Christian Paper Arts group on Yahoo. I've painted other things lately, but nothing that I've taken photos of or want to share right now. And color wheels and other charts aren't that interesting, so I'll spare you those. However, in the interest of trivia, I have painted seven color wheels in the last four weeks and still have at least two more to go next week. Lots o' art!

And Now for Something Completely...

...yeah, you know where that's going, but it really is something different. No photo manipulation involved--just my camera and my son's little refraction toy. Fun, yeah?

Random Images

Summer roses.




Found composition.




I have this thing for roads, paths, trails.




Love that late afternoon sun.




Fun with the baubles.

Sunflowers, Psalm 3:3

Yay! More art, although this piece is a little closer to my regular style than some of the other pieces I've worked on for school. Sunflowers, Psalm 3:3 is based on an exercise in Betsy Dillard Stroud's book Painting From the Inside Out. I like her style of stamping, collaging and painting. The flower stamps I used are ones I carved this summer.

Initially I used watercolor-like washes (the medium is acrylic), but unfortunately, after a not-too-bad start, I made a terrible mistake in my color washes. I was experimenting by using the big paper and that created problems for me, too (said she who lives in the land of 11x17 and smaller). However, a little cropping fixed that easily; you can see the extra paper used as a further cropping device in the last shot (I'm leaving it there to show the students). I experimented with adding a paper that was a grasslike texture and now think that was a mistake, but it's not coming off now. In the last stages I re-worked the flowers using a palette knife. I've never painted that way before and boy did I have fun! Eventually I turned the orientation of the painting and since the last photo have added some green down through the text to give the stems some heft. BTW, the bubble wrap texture visible in the lower flower center in the last shot is a reflection of the flash--it's not white in the painting, but visible at the right angles. What fun!

I'm happy with the colors and the contrast and like the vitality in the knife work. There are things I wouldn't do again, but overall I'm pleased and it will be a great piece to show my students in terms of texture and use of complementary colors. Enjoy seeing the process. (Post-editing note: I see that the photos are rather small, so please click on them to see them bigger. As I frequently post late at night I've run out of time to fix it now and will need to attend to it upon later return. Sorry about that.)

The text in the stem is:

But You, O LORD, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
-Psalm 3:3

Using a toned paper

I don't know if I've shown the rest of the pictures in this series, but I've been working with this image for a while. The original is a black and white image that caught my attention in an ad in a fashion magazine. I began by drawing it as a regular old pencil sketch, but I only shaded half of it and left the other half as just the blocked in basics. I plan to use this to help illustrate how to begin a drawing to my students. The second version was a monotone painting done with combinations of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. I'm not very happy with it, but that's alright, too. I can still use it to show students how things go wrong and how to spot them!

My mom gave me a variety of drawing papers, including toned papers, about the same time a sanguine sketch in a drawing book caught my eye. The image shown above was my first attempt at playing with three colors of charcoal on a toned paper. I quite enjoyed doing it and am very happy with the mouth and nose area. I keep thinking that the one side of her face is wider, but when I compared them they are the same and the illusion turns out to be a function of the shadow on the one side. I'll have to play with this technique some more.

Summer Bouquet

Waxing Philosophical

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." --Soren Kierkegaard

Sargent and arms--er, make that paws

Last weekend brought an activity that our household has been excited about, yet dreading--the annual 4-H Dog Show. Okay, maybe I was the only one really dreading it. I know my 10-year-old daughter was nervous a few days before, but dread might be a bit strong. And truthfully, the dog show is less painful than horse shows used to be to me when I was a horse 4-H participant so many years ago. For one, dogs are smaller (pretty obvious that). Two, The show is shorter: half a day compared to three whole days. Three, the attire is much cooler and easier to deal with--no hats pinned into your head to prevent it flying off in the show ring.

Some things remain the same, however. The challenge of learning to take care of an animal. The fun (!) of dealing with an animal that has a mind of its own in the ring. And the discipline of practicing with the animal for hours and hours during the months beforehand to properly train.

Well, maybe she practiced for hours and hours, or maybe it was only hours. Last year I was more diligent about reminding her to practice (read: nag her into it), but she received a white because our dog is just spirited and almost as big as she is (still--smaller than a horse!). Despite a year of maturing, he is still quite spirited but a much better behaved dog after the work of the previous year. Because she felt like she knew everything after just one year, my daughter chose the route of minimum practice this spring. Therefore, despite big dreams of a receiving a rosette, she was very disappointed to receive another white ribbon. Her little heart poured out while we drove home, which gave me the oportunity to tell her about a man named John Singer Sargent.

Perhaps you have heard of him. Sargent was an American artist who lived in late 19th/early 20th century Europe. He visited America a few times and painted a fresco series for the Boston Public Library, but he was most well-known for his portraits. During his life he painted the aristocracy of Europe (don't miss the dogs!), American presidents, and wealthy American socialites and their families, as well as the everyday people he saw in the cities. Altogether he is credited with more than 900 oil paintings and over 2000 watercolors. Remember, this was a time when watercolors were still widely considered practice paintings.

Wait--did I say practice? Sargent did a lot of practice, including painting plein air over top of previously painted canvases--much to the surprise of some of his artist friends. He was known for his work ethic, which sometimes meant working sun-up to sun-down or seven days a week, and he also left innumerable pencil and charcoal sketches. Some of these sketches are just the practice of a dedicated artists, but many of them are the detailed preparations for larger pieces, like the dramatic El Jaleo. But the key word here is practice, which is what our discussion centered on. No matter what endeavor we undertake, practice with a desire to improve is the key to growth. Something I hope my daughter will better understand after this experience.

She still hasn't decided if she will tackle a third year of dog 4-H, but if she does she will practice more. Regardless of what she decides for the future, we also talked about what an improved dog we have after only two years of work and how he is now pleasant to be around. Any work at all will give a certain amount of results, which encourages me as I practice my own painting this summer in order to teach students this coming year. And for the record, she did earn a blue in fitting and showing--and we know she earned it because not everyone received blues.

Actually working on projects

And finishing a few. I'll leave out the mundane ones, like cutting out lots of clothing to be sewn at some later date and painting various furniture items. Today I finally got to a long-overdue project, one that came to me much earlier this spring in the form of a swap group. Several of us in my LikeMindedArtists fabric arts group decided to swap parts of our stashed items to see what other people would make with them. I've received several packets of fantastic, unusual, fun goodies that include fabric, fibers, buttons, sequins, lace, etc. With the commitments of school, however, I fell way behind (luckily there is now hard fast deadline--although it would be much nicer to stick with the program. I want to say sheers to the women who have kept up each month!) and finally today finished the first one.

I'm feeling a lot of pressure to paint (in preparation for teaching it this year!), but have a hard time finding things I want to paint. I would much rather take a picture of something than paint it. And many of the things that I would photograph feel rather daunting to paint. Argh. Today I looked to DJ Pettitt and Deryn Mentock's article in a recent magazine and found inspiration to combine the swapped goodies and some painting and came up with "Give". The work card is from a vintage vocabulary card set I picked up at a local thrift store and the background is painted. All the other items are from the swap group (thank you Pallas). I enjoyed mixing the colors, slowly building the glazes and paying attention to what colors work well, etc. The torso is lacking, but the face isn't too bad, considering I still haven't completed ten paintings in my life. Looking at it from a distance I can see that the value contrast in the face could be greater. I'll live with it for a while...



Another project I do have a deadline for is three fabric ATCs with a flower theme. I saw an article about using embossing powder as a resist medium and since I recently acquired carving tools I had to make my own stamps first. ;-) (While cutting flowers in the garden the other day I was pondering how my co-workers used to tease me about having exacto knives and box cutters and how I really do enjoy cutting things up. I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually get a carving set. I really enjoy using them, too.) However, either I didn't use the right medium on the fabric (I used inks) or I need different embossing powder, but the resist part was a bit lacking. Now I'm trying to figure out how to finish them to make the floral theme a bit more obvious. The debate has come to stamping again or free--motion-stitching. I'll probably settle on a little of both, but we'll see. In the meantime here are the stamps and the practice fabric, along with the finished fabric piece.