Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Favorite Christmas Images

Just to share some beautiful Christmas images I have been collecting on Pinterest, and hope you take a moment to enjoy the season... 
Angel with Lute di Jacopo (Italian Mannerist painter, 1494–1540) source

Luca Signorelli (1441-1523) source

George Bernard O’Neil (Irish artist, 1828-1917) Hanging the Mistletoe 1892 source

Gustave Brion (French painter, 1824-1877) Christmas Singers Detail 1856 source

Melozzo da Flori (Italian Renaissance artist, 1438-1494)
 Angel Playing the Tambourine source

That is a DOG by the fire! source



linking to Inspiration Avenue and  the Victorian Era

source

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Silk Painting: Poppies

A few hours to make the correctly sized frame to hold the fabric taut, two weeks to paint, a bit of a mess in the kitchen, two hours to steam the painting, and meticulous ironing of the silk resulted in this painting:

Dimensions: 33" X 22"

Close up of the flower in left upper corner

I am pleased with the results and learned more about using the gutta resist. This will go to our local frame shop (today?) to be protected by some sort of plastic overlay.

Thanks to the husband for finding the wood for the frame and for putting up with me in the kitchen while completing this project.  He still managed to make some wonderful meals while working around the paints on the counter tops.

Prior posts on my silk paintings can be found here and here.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Meeker Sheepdog Trials

Nine of us joined the Museum of Western Colorado van for another adventure in the Colorado outdoors yesterday;  we drove up to the Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship Trials, a three day event.  The volunteers working the event said it was the biggest and best ever.  And who would disagree?  I was certainly impressed.


First off, we learned a bit about what sheepdogs must learn in order to actually herd.  And by herding, we were told that these dogs will herd anything...ducks, geese, sheep, little kids...you name it, they will herd it.  Whistles were explained, calls were named and good information abounded.  Sorry I did not get too many pictures, but this one of a professional and her dogs was the first I caught:


We settled down in our lawn chairs, hats on and sunscreen applied, and watched several hours of the sheepdog trials.

(on the course, border collie keeping the five sheep on track)

(herding directing his dog from far away by whistle)

Mick, the border collie owned by the Enzeroths, is shown with Ron and his wife in the photo below.


It was only after reading the program and reviewing the names of the 42 dogs participating in trials yesterday that I saw that the Enzeroths had listed "Dublin, Texas" as their home. Now that is a small world because I lived in Stephenville, Texas for three years. (Stephenville is about 12 miles from Dublin.)  Too bad we did not mention that little factoid when we were talking!  And if you two are reading this, I lived with my grandparents then, the L.B. Howards.  Contact me if you want to talk about Dublin and our high school football rivalry since I was an old SHS cheerleader.  Or maybe it should be "former" cheerleader since none of us wants to be considered "old".

Mick was friendly and liked his ears scratched. He and three other border collies allow the Enzeroths to live with them and take care of their high energy needs. The Mrs. said they sleep downstairs in their private kennel quarters and enjoy walks and training.  Their youngest dog is 10 weeks old, and the older is 12 years old. Mick is 2 and it was his first trial run.

You should have seen the look on Mick's face when he looked at Mr. Enzeroth. Adoring. It reminded me of when Nancy Reagan used to look up at Ronald Reagan like he was the only man in the world (for her).  Really, Mick's expression of love was just heartwarming.

Bringing in over 700 sheep from the area around Meeker is no small task, and most of the budget for the event consists of getting the sheep down for the trials and then back to their grazing areas.  Real, live, cowboys were there for getting the sheep off the eastern side of the course.  Again, sorry, no photos.

Those caring for the sheep?  What about them?  That is another whole story, but I can show you a picture of a current day sheepwagon seen off road outside Meeker, Colorado below.

The first sheepwagon was built in 1884; the standard design is 11 feet long and 6.5 feet wide, enclosed by a canvas top, with a stove for heating and cooking. The interior is designed for storage and the compact beds are tucked away.  Tables fold down when not in use....In the early years in the American west, a lone sheepherder and his dogs could tend 2,000 sheep - with the sheepwagon as his mobile home as he followed the sheep.  A camptender delivered supplies every ten days or so.  In the Meeker area, you may see sheepwagons and herders with their dogs and horses, however, they may have solar panels for power to modern conveniences. (Lee Raine...source)
This has to be cut off soon, so I will show you my acquisitions from the dog trials adventure.  Too bad I ate that delicious lamb fajita with yogurt topping without taking a picture.  But I did buy some 100% Shetland Mule Wool from the Sheepcamp people in Molina, Colorado who own a family business there and create their yarns that go from sheep to skein.  And I helped out the Western Border Collie Rescue by purchasing one of their monogrammed shirts.  After Libby Sweetpea retires from her day job as a registered Therapy dog,( link  link link link link link) maybe an older collie would make a good therapy dog.

Western Border Collie Rescue ... Because Every Dog Should Have Its Day!

This is the 2012 winner of the Meeker Sheepdog Trial Art Contest:


A fun day.  Good luck to all those wonderful dogs in the contest this year, and to the people they own.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Painting Bugs

It is Paint Party Friday and here is what is on the easel:


with these two butterflies and one moth that will hopefully resemble something like these pictures:

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Butterflies as Photographed by C. Marley

Flipping through the pages of Christopher Marley's Pheromone coffee table book of bugs and other insect critters makes me gasp at all the colors they wear on their backs.  Philippine weevils don't seem to care that wearing bright red makes them look fat.

Yesterday I bought a 24"x30" canvas.  I'll paint three butterflies, side by side, mixing up spatial orientation.  Don't the colors seem unreal?  Here are my picks from Marley's book:





Marley's background was always white.  I am thinking a warm background of yellow/burnt copper. What is you favorite butterfly and which one would you omit?

This video was first published by Linda on her blog today, and it is worth a listen.

He Listens in Color

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Dragonflies in Oil

One fine summer afternoon, a young fairy leaned over the bank of a creek to drink, but slipped and fell into the water. Now the current carried her away quickly like a wisp of wheat. Unfortunately, the fairy had left the magic wand in the grass, but no one was lost.

Fortunately the water fairies came to help, with a clap of hands made up by the river wave that lifted the fairy to the blue of the sky. While falling, small drops of water were transformed into dragonflies …. that’s why it seems that between the transparent wings of a dragonfly is entangled a drop of water.
source

16" x 20", Oil, Copyright Nancy McCarroll
PPF
...Like dragonflies, the hansoms hover,
With jeweled eyes, to catch the lover...
             (Richard Le Gallienne)

UPDATE: Just as I was finished hanging the above picture in our kitchen this morning, a dragonfly, very large, about three inches in length, flew into my study.  I took his picture (below).  I wonder what he was trying to tell me? Unbelievable!


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Linking to WOWW, two things/tasks/fun projects are on my outdoor table just begging to be finished:


The first is the Different Lines Shawl, a lovely pattern that can be purchased here. It uses complementary colors and results in stripes (mostly) with two borders in a solid color.  About a thousand people on Ravelry have completed it with fantastic results.  Here is a link to see what others have knit with this pattern.


And the second work in progress is a painting of dragonflies on a yellow/chartreuse background. It started out in acrylics, but it will likely end in oils.

My lower back has been out of commission, probably due to working in the yard AND bending over this dragonfly canvas!

What is on YOUR work desk?  Go here to link up your projects.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Hollyhocks, and Note to Self

The frisket I was using was old.  It was too thick and would not rub off the paper; ruined my hollyhock and pig picture. Kept trying. Failed.


  Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men and animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock.
Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 - March 08, 1887)

 Updated 7/17/12 with frisket still there:



Must try to watercolor hollyhocks again.  Get new frisket at store.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Watercolor Tutorials Overview

Betty, this one's for you.  Over at the WoodFairy blog, Betty got me back into painting on silk. She had asked for a tutorial on watercolor techniques, so I will gladly oblige.  This may be a bit tedious, so we shall see how it goes.

Not only will there be one, but there will also be several tutorials focusing on using watercolor paints on 140 lb. watercolor paper.  I will add each lesson on the sidebar as they progress and time allows.



Tutorial Outline
  • Materials needed: watercolors, at least 140 lb. watercolor paper, brushes, water, ruler, palette knives, miskit, cloth or paper rags to start.  Paint tubes of watercolors are available in hundred of colors.  They will last years and it takes just a dab of color on a palette.  When the paint dries, just add a wet brush and the lively shades reappear on the brush.  Sable brushes are best, but brush prices vary, so just be sure you have a half dozen brushes in various sizes that are dedicated to watercolors and have no oil or acrylic residue left in the hairs.
But I am getting carried away.  (an entire lesson on just materials to follow)
  • 2.  Material preparation, including soaking of water, wet on wet, wet on dry, etc.  (another lesson)
  • 3.  Choosing your subject  ... the less lines the better as we start off.  Perhaps you might choose a coloring book picture to replicate.
  • 4.  Drawing in the subject you will be painting in pencil...pencil marks will be erased after color is applied. (another lesson on using the grid method for ease in replication of drawing in a picture if you are not painting from a still life)  And using the internet to check accuracy of completing subjects drawn ( ...i.e., porcine feet)
  • 5.  Using miskit barriers (another lesson)
  • 6.  Choosing your palette colors.  Look to the great artists and determine the colors they use in a painting that you are particularly drawn to.  An example below highlights colors I like with pinks, purples, yellows, whites, greens, and blues.  How many shades of just green can you count?
source (Frederick Frieseke (1874-1939)The Garden in June 1911)

 ...and then creating your own palette from the colors you have acquired (another lesson)

(the palette I made and use)
  • 7.  Painting, shading, backgrounds, salt preparation for backgrounds
  • 8.  Finishing techniques
There are probably more parts that will be added later.  Stay tuned!  And if you would care to view a few of my watercolors, they are displayed here.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Queen of the Italian Pigs, the Cinta Sensa

The breed of Cinta Sensa, a Tuscan pig, was most notably used for racing in prior times, but now the source of gourmet, pricey meat.

Toscana and Chianti News says:
you can find examples of these animals in very old paintings, in the fresco “Good Government” by Ambrogio Lorenzetti for example, on display at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, there is a farmer walking with his Senese pig held by a leash. This special kind of pig is also visible in paintings by Bartoli di Fredi ... also in a more recent painting by Giovanni Fattori. 
The Cinta Senese is the forefather of all the Tuscan pigs. It is almost savage and very resistant to bad weather, for these reasons it represented a secure food reserve for the farmers and their families. This type of swine grows very slowly (the slaughtering age is never less than 12 months) and this is one of the reasons to why farmers, in the past, abandoned this race in favour of races which grow much faster. The pigs are raised half wild feeding in the woods and on pasture hills and fields. 
They are immediately recognisable thanks to its large white “belt” around the neck on the black body, they have a short and thin bristle, a pointed nose, sloping ears and a slanting, robust back. The fragrant pork is optimal for cooking but it’s mainly used for the production of various kinds of tasty cold cuts. Classical are the “prosciutto alla spalla” (shoulder ham) and the “salami al lardo e il capocollo” (salami of lard and top neck); typical Tuscan products of the highest quality that you just can’t resist.
"Good Government” by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1338

Giovanni Fattori, "Two Pigs on Pasture"

My daughter and I were lucky enough to visit the Tuscan area together in 1997, and shopped at a specialty meat shop in San Gimignana (Town of Towers).  If you look closely, the Cinta Sensa boar heads are at the top of the picture on either side of the entry into the shop.  (Daughter Heidy is posed next to a wild hare.)

1997
We tasted some of the Tuscan boar, along with other specialty items.  I just remember the meat was spicy, and the day was cold, rainy and very dark; not surprising that the camera was not well focused.

I'll be posting some watercolors of these pigs later this week.  Here is my start to a sketch of "Queens Of Italian Pigs" that will be painted with watercolors: 


Thursday, May 31, 2012

Finches

...for PPF

 (Watercolor on canvas)
My mother always called it a nest, the multi-colored mass harvested from her six daughters' brushes, and handed it to one of us after she had shaped it, as we sat in front of the fire drying our hair. She said some birds steal anything, a strand of spider's web, or horse's mane, the residue of sheep's wool in the grasses near a fold where every summer of her girlhood hundreds nested. Since then I've seen it for myself, their genius— how they transform the useless. I've seen plastics stripped and whittled into a brilliant straw, and newspapers—the dates, the years— supporting the underweavings. As tonight in our bed by the window you brush my hair to help me sleep, and clean the brush as my mother did, offering the nest to the updraft. I'd like to think it will be lifted as far as the river, and catch in some white sycamore, or drift, too light to sink, into the shaded inlets, the bank-moss, where small fish, frogs, and insects lay their eggs. Would this constitute an afterlife? The story goes that sailors, moored for weeks off islands they called paradise, stood in the early sunlight cutting their hair. And the rare birds there, nameless, almost extinct, came down around them and cleaned the decks and disappeared into the trees above the sea.  Darwin's Finches by Deborah Digges
(Close up from watercolor above 5/31/12: NAM)