Thor's Day

Astrophotography from Deep Sky Colors.

Frustrated with Firefox

...beautiful sculpture by Hammerkast...

...blast it all! I switched to Firefox, and so far I hate it. I've been trying to give it a chance--been about three days now--but I continue to find irritating, functional flaws. In the old days, I could easily have posted Hammerkast's photo here, but now I can only link to it. I'm going to try to go back to internet explorer without mucking up too much. I don't want to mess with this stuff. I just want to share my pictures and notes with peoplessss!

Here, at least, is the link to this amazing sculpture, so beautiful.

Deep Sky Colors

Uncle sent me a beautiful image today in an email, Thor's Helmet. I wanted to post, but read Astronomy Picture of the Day's copyright notice and decided it was best to explore the photographer's website first. I'm glad I did, because I have discovered Deep Sky Colors. The site is an enjoyable read and then there are the breath-taking photographs. If one has a few, free minutes...

Microworld

I like this artist's work, Microworld.

Wichita Photos

See RobertD's images at EyeFetch for a current view of Wichita, KS, my hometown.

Featured Artist: William W. Hoyt

My EBSQ subscription brought me a present surprise this morning, the discovery of a fantastic artist, William W. Hoyt.

The theme this week was Baby. It's Cold Outside, and featured some of the most enjoyable images I've yet received in my mailbox. Even at that, I usually delete and move on. It's not often I follow a link to look at an artist's profile and portfolio. Today I did.

Check out Mr. Hoyt's work at EBSQ.

Maine Marsh by William W. Hoyt.

Juncos

Outside Dad's window are juncos on the ground eating the seed I spread for them. Many years ago, I painted these three birds from a similar scene. Unfortunately, I sold the pair about a year ago. I would make a poor commercial artist; I can't stand to let go of my work, which represents memories to me.

We have juncos only in the winter, and they are a sign of it. They're a softly-colored bird, grays, dusty blacks, pale washes of pink. They make small sounds, not infrequently, but neither do they chatter. They gather in small groups, seldom more than six or eight in my yard, even less often alone. They are the first to find scattered seed (besides the squirrels). Of their mating, their spring or summer habits, I know nothing, because they are gone again. In all things that I know about them, except eating, they are moderate, a trait I find charming.

I hope Dad is enjoying the company of the juncos. I am.

The Big Snow

The Big Snow by Tammy Fleetwood Moody

Snowboy, watercolor by me

Once in a while my daily subscription to EBSQ actually presents me with an original I like. Today, it was this fun acrylic by Tammy Moody. It reminded me of this watercolor I did years ago of a little boy catching snowflakes on his tongue. The image is from a children's book, but I don't remember the title. It might even have been called The Big Snow.

Sudbury Sketches by moi

Tammy's painting reminded me, too, of these watercolor sketches I made of children playing at the Sudbury School in Massachusetts. It was summertime then, but the mood is similar, yes?

[Unfortunately, one of my great failings is my lack of photography skills, so the colors in these pics aren't very true to the originals. I tried to adjust once I had them on the computer, but the whites aren't very white in Snowboy, and the figures are fuzzy in the sketches.]

Goya's Colossus

After years of doubt, the Prado says that Goya's Colossus is not Goya's.

I don't even like Colossus, which, among his war paintings, doesn't make any sense. I'm also not a big fan of his so-called Black Paintings, especially his Saturn, which doesn't make much more sense than this Colossus. I do like his tapestry cartoons and some of his portraits. I especially like his portraits that feature dramatic reds. The only one of this type that I don't care for is his washed-out Duke of Wellington, which doesn't count for red anyway.

Portrait of Don Manuel Osorio de Manrique Zuniga, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Love this gem of a portrait. The boy's face is ordinary, but nothing else is. The little drama of cats and bird is suspenseful, and the flamboyant costume of the boy is delicious, especially set against the fantastic light display. Gimme this for my wall!

Count Floridablana , Banco de Espana, Madrid

Here's another portrait in red costume, also against a dark, but dramatic setting. When your eye wanders away from the count, there are several more faces to be seen, including a clock face and Goya himself.

Mourning Portrait of the Duchess of Alba, The Black Duchess, The Hispanic Society of America, New York City

The red in the costumes ties these two paintings, one black and the one below, The White Duchess, together. These reds and others he uses, like in the portraits above, can't possibly be unintentional.

Portrait of the Duchess of Alba, The White Duchess, The Alba Collection, Madrid

Old Men Eating, Prado Museum, Madrid

Here's one of Goya's Black Paintings. They're mostly of these dreary and macabre figures. One exception is Asmodea, which features--significantly!--a figure in scarlet costume.

*All these pictures, except Colossus, are copied from Goya Artwork. Thanks for putting together such a nice page.

The Art of Writing

sample of the notes I produce while working on my book

This is Gardening

The small things in gardening delight me the most. Although I bow to the opinions of people who judge my garden by the large splashes of color I can create, I'm not personally impressed with swatches of monocultured flowers. Anyone with a couple hundred bucks and a watering system can do that. The difference between 'landscaping' and 'gardening' is miles wide. I won't ever pair a red-leaved barberry with a yellow-leaved one, because that's hideous, and it doesn't even belong at McDonald's, where it turns up as frequently as weeds. What I do is garden. It's an art, not a profession.

This is a poem. Santolina in bloom, Lamb's ear and Kniphofia.



Oregano growing out of bounds, a stray larkspur, the first purple coneflower bloom of the season, garlic going to flower and tiny impatiens which spring up spontaneously in the path to bloom willy-nilly. This is gardening.

Three Birds

/shrug

Royal Guard

I subscribe to Art of the Day, which sends me an email from self-representing artists each day. Most of it is blech, but every once in a while, a piece of work jumps out. Here's one!

It's by Dottie Cooper Katz, and I love it.

Fire and art

Paleontologists debate whether a piece of charcoal found in a cave is incidental or represents a hearth. They want to know whether, like them, ancient man lit fires.

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This horse is found in a cave in Loubens, France. In 1974, the cave was privately owned and permission had to be obtained to see the grotte. A quick search on the internet didn't yield much information about the site or this painting. Perhaps the cave is still privately held. The one image of this horse I found was courtesy of Douglas Mazonowicz. My impression is that Mazonowicz's reproduction is in The Gallery of Prehistoric Painting in New York City. Mazonowicz, who traveled the world studying cave art and making precise and comprehensive copies, said this about the Loubens horse in his book, Voices from the Stone Age, "Without doubt, this is one of the most charming cave drawings so far discovered. ... Every part of the animal's outline is expressive, a perfect interplay of lines that provides a remarkable sense of movement." I agree.

Mom's Day

Painted this today as a gift for my mom.

Two Blue Mushrooms

We've had storms here. Thunder in the night and downpours. Showers during the day. I've been turning nudes into fairies and angels.

Millais' Ophelia

When I was in Amsterdam, I visited the Van Gogh Museum. (Say Gogh as though clearing phlegm twice from your throat for each of the g's, then you'll be pronouncing it like the Dutch!) The museum houses the largest collection of Van Gogh's work, and I saw them all. They were, to say the very least about them, pure genius.

If you have not visited art in the original, you are missing out on an intensely satisfying and inspirational experience. Trust me--art on the internet, or even in fine picture books, does not compare to the originals in color, brilliance, size, textures, emotion. When you look at a great original, you virtually FEEL the artist touching you with his hand, his eye, his soul!

So it was with Millais' Ophelia. I knew about this painting, Ophelia, and was lucky enough to be in Amsterdam while Millais' exhibit was on display. Pretty much near starving and exhausted from hours of the Van Gogh, I went to look at it. Now I have to digress to explain that Shakespeare's Hamlet is my favorite of his plays. Usually just thinking about Ophelia can get me teary-eyed, so you can imagine how I felt in front of this huge canvas, the colors so vibrant, the details of the flowers and background absolutely sublime. It doesn't come across in digital reproductions, but the background is painted with such precision that it is almost photographic, yet not so photographically perfect that you can't also tell that the hand of the artist was involved.

Then there's Ophelia herself. Millais used a model suspended in water to perfect her pose. The story is that the model caught a cold from lying in a tub so long. Millais has painted her just as I imagine Shakespeare wrote her. In the play, great tragedy has fallen on Ophelia. Her lover has scorned her and has also murdered her father whom she loved. It is more than the gentle maiden, Ophelia, can bear, and she is driven mad. In this state, she wanders into the countryside, innocently picking flowers. Shakespeare tells us she fell, but the suggestion is also there that she floated away from life which is tragic. Millais paints her with her hands poised as though she has not accidentally fallen, but has relinquished life. Her face seems vivid with life, so you imagine she is not dead, but has surrendered to the flowing water, the day. In fact, he paints her almost as a Christ figure, innocent and sacrificial. Hamlet's sacrifice.

Needless to say, I did tear up while looking at this painting, but I was not the only one!

For Persephone

I found this interesting pose of a young woman and tried to replicate it myself. Seeing it digitally with fresh eyes, I notice places where I should have added shading, and I don't like the color in areas. The face, I like that. She looks thoughtful anyway.

A Picture for Ksera'mala

Ksera'mala, these are for you~ because you're gorgeous!~, a sprig of blossoms!

Painting with Tea

I'm a watercolorist, which means I paint with pigments and a LOT of water. I'm often dipping rapidly into the water to wet a large surface or dilute a strong color or changing colors very quickly between strokes. I also drink tea while I paint, so sometimes I dip my brush into the tea cup by accident!

Not wanting to bother either with cleaning my brush or making a fresh cup of tea, I just paint with the tea and drink the paint!