Author: humoringthegoddess

I am a writer of fantasy fiction that often surrounds middle-aged women. I am a married mother of two and granny to three, a BoHo Chic kinda gal. I am recently retired and busier than when I worked 9-5. But writing and blogging is my main game.

Cubism and Discovery

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 6 Comments
The Weeping Woman, Pablo Picasso

 

I am not necessarily a fan of Cubism. It’s more that I don’t understand Cubism, let alone abstract art.

But I’m learning to take a few minutes and really look at some of the modern art that has made a difference to the Art World.

I was looking through my Pablo Picasso Gallery last eve, cleaning it up, straightening it up, when I came across the above painting. The Weeping Woman.

It  has been described as “an iconic work within the history of British Surrealism” (says Wikipedia).

I didn’t look up the meaning behind the painting, the inspiration, the emotions. All I did was sit and look at the woman to see what I could gleam from its entirety.

I can’t say that most Cubism moves me, but this one did. Are her tears in her Kleenex, or are they just boxed under her eyes? Her fingers near her mouth — is that her chin or another hand? A star in only one eye, two different colored hairs — enough of an abstract image to read pain and/or sorrow or both in her face.

There is a lot of modern art in this world that has a lot of meaning behind it, both what the artist intended and what they intended the viewer to decide. A friend once explained modern art as whatever the viewer sees and interprets.

We all see landscapes and portraits for what they are … recreating the exactness of a scene or a person. I’ve always loved scenic landscapes, precise details, realistic portrayals.

The Crying Woman is none of these.

Or is it?

I hope to explore other artists and their paintings one by one. Not all of them all at once. But to take a closer look at the ones that “call” me. After all, I would not have showcased the artist has something not caught my attention.

Do you ever take a second look at art that calls you in a somewhat different voice?

What do you see when you look at the Crying Woman?

 

 

Nothing Melts a Heart Faster Than …

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On my way to researching something else…….

This was a cute one. Hope it makes you smile this morning!

 

humoringthegoddess's avatarHumoring the Goddess

Google Searches related to nothing melts hearts faster than….

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They just don’t get it, do they?

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Nothing melts hearts faster than LOVE.

Start melting TODAY!

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Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Raymond Logan

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Artist Raymond Logan paints a wide range of subjects with exquisite depth and color. His layered palette resembles sculpture, crafted of hue and shadow.

Frederick Douglass

The works have reverence and gravitas, coupled with a lively playfulness, born of both the artist’s execution and the connections he evokes between the viewer and the subject.

Benjamin Franklin

While each portrait is often recognizable, they are not realistic in the truest sense of the word.

John Coltrane

It is as if an explosion of colored confetti had descended from the sky and reshaped itself into the personification of a human being.

Harriet Tubman

Created in oil paint, using both palette knife and brush, all the elements are there, but it is those many disparate pieces that form a realistic whole.

Charlie

“My work is born through solid draftsmanship plus a liberal application of paint via a brush or a knife or anything I can get my hands on, plus plenty of color experimentation and the carving of my medium,” Logan explains.

Charles Darwin

“It is truly gratifying when a viewer, while being up close to my work, stares in wonder at the surface, then, while backing away, witnesses all that texture and color (that an art textbook tells them shouldn’t work) and abstraction somehow mysteriously develop into a recognizable subject.”

Ernest Hemingway

“That ‘somehow’ is me.”

Frank Sinatra

More of Raymond Logan’s wonderful paintings can be found at http://www.raymondlogan.com/.

 

High recognitions . . . The Little Flower Fairies

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My thoughts on faeries exactly …. Thank you for the post, Purplerays

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The Little Flower Fairies

The little flower fairies have the same radiant beauty as their great guardians. Their size varies according to the size of their flowers. However, they are hardly ever over six inches tall. Since the enteallic nations are also subject to a development process, the daughters of the flowers fairies are consequently very tiny little creatures.
All flowers, without exception, are under the fairies’ care. This, however, does not mean that there is a fairy in every flower; only especially protected flowers are directly cared for by the fairies. It is not too hard to spot these flowers, for in their luminosity and beauty they surpass all others. The flower fairies do not live in flowers of gross matter, but in the somewhat finer layer, which still belongs to the world of gross matter, and permeates Earth entirely, enveloping it as if it were another…

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Faerie Paths — Poppies

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 13 Comments
Debra and Dave Vanderlaan

 

 

I write, erase, rewrite
Erase again, and then
A poppy blooms.

A Poppy Blooms, Katsushika Hokusai

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Naoki Onogawa

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Japanese artist Naoki Onogawa has been fascinated with the traditional art of origami since he was a child.

 

Now, he incorporates the popular craft into his own artwork.

Using nothing more than his hands, the artist folds hundreds of tiny origami cranes that are small enough to fit on the tip of his finger.

 

Inspired by the legend of the 1000 cranes and the story of Sadako Sasaki, Onogawa folds hundreds of miniature origami cranes that later become bonsai trees of various colors and styles.

Those minuscule paper creatures are used as leaves on the delicate branches of his asymmetrical tree-like sculptures.

 

“Origami cranes sometimes feel like a solitary ceremony filled with prayers, entrusting the feeling of having nowhere to go, and going back and forth to places other than this world,” Onogawa explains.

“I can’t express it well in words, but the paper cranes I’m folding up now may be the result of such ‘prayers’.”

 

“By layering paper cranes on the threads and blessings of nature and such things and incorporating them into my work, I have created a “place” for paper cranes.”

 

More of Naoki Onogawa’s inspirational work can be found at https://naoki-onogawa.com.

What Happened April 18, 2011?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 15 Comments

April 18, 2011. It was a Monday. A partly cloudy day, the temperature peaking at about 46 degrees. It was before the tragic events of 9/11 and my personal loss of 2/22.

It was a few months before the Royal Wedding of William and Kate and long before the terror of Covid-19.

I was still under 60, still working as a catalog coordinator, and still dreaming of being a writer.

And it was the date of my first blog. 

Originally called Humoring the Goddess: Managing the Madness Magic of Middle Age, it was supposed to mingle a bit of magic with the madness that surrounded us as we eased away from the dreams of our 20’s to the realities of life past 40. 

In my first blog called Even the Universe Chuckles, I toyed around with the sections called Momentary Musings and Quimsical Quotations and Frivolous Facts and Falderal. 

My first response was from my good, good writing friend Boyd, who passed away much too young, and my best friend Jillian, who is with me still.

It was working.

As I got older I grew up (just a little) and wrote about all the things that bothered/affected me/made me laugh as I got older. I followed other blogs and found inspiration in many of them, some of which are no longer active. 

Eleven years ago I started on a journey that I’m still on. I found I enjoyed discovering and sharing unusual, unique art, whimsical quotations, and unique pictures and gifs.

I discovered I am no different than anyone else who reads and writes and feels, and I have made special connections with those who have commented on my blogs through the years. I found that I love encouraging others to find their creative muse and run with them to the ends of the earth and jump off at the end and follow that spirit through the stars.

I have come a long way from that young (under 60) woman looking to entertain and be entertained. And I have a long way to go, still wanting to entertain and be entertained.

Thank you all for 11 years of creativity.

Thank you for reading me, listening to me, and being a part of my life. It has been amazing. And full of love. Lots and lots of love.

Here’s to 11 more years of everything — for you and for me!   

 

 

 

 

 

Movies Ad Nauseum

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 5 Comments
Godzilla Raids Again, 1955

I wanted to  chat with y’all this evening about movies. But I’m not quite sure what it is I want to talk about.

Our family got rid of cable a few years ago, substituting the paid outlets of Amazon Prime and Netflix as our entertainment kingdoms, along with an every day antenna that pulls in local channels like Grit and ME-TV. I’m sure you all have similar guilty pleasures as far as movies and old TV shows go, too.

The other day I thought I’d wander through some off the free, off-channels that are offered on various networks.

Holy Smokes, did I find the movies.

I would say I discovered hundreds — nay, thousands — of movies that I’ve never heard of. Movies I never dreamt existed.

All genres were represented on a number of free movie streaming services: drama, horror, comedy, documentaries, the black experience. I imagine the time frame stretched back ten, maybe even twenty or thirty years.

That’s a lot of movies…. a lot of movies I’ve never heard of.

Who made these movies? Who were these actors and actresses? Who wrote these stories and how did they ever get funded and made?

The world of movies is vast. I mean universe-vast. Like any other topic you can think of, us mere mortals usually only watch the tip of the iceberg. For every Titanic or Top Gun that steals the attention of the media, there are film names like Pete’s Meteor and In the Fade and Evil Bong 666 that make you add several question marks after the title.

It’s almost scary.

Like the bazillions of microbes that exist on earth (Dr. Universe says there are about a billion microbes in a teaspoon of soil), there are stories upon stories that have found their way from some obscure movie studio to a movie screen somewhere to today’s free movie land.

That doesn’t even cover the dozens of episodes on hundreds and thousands of old television shows you can watch, too.

But I digress.

There are dozens of free movie channels at our fingertips; if you don’t mind watching commercials, these avenues are wide open for you to explore.

Not that you will want to, mind you. We all have a million other things we’d rather do — and should be doing — than waste brain cells watching movies that probably never saw the light of day.

I know I won’t be exploring those worlds any time soon.

But still … like the billions of microbes floating around in our soil and air, they still exist. Waiting silently for you to click and watch.

Doesn’t that give you the creeps? Just a little?

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Anand Shah

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

Jewelry designer Anand Shah has the power to surprise each time he unveils a collection.

With no formal training, but a passion for design, Shah founded Ansaa Jewelry in Mumbai, India, in 1997, with the simple aim of creating exemplary hand-crafted 22 carat gold pieces.

Shah broke through established conventions to come up with a new and contemporary style, harnessing traditional Indian craftsmanship.

Much ahead of his times, the prolific and experimental artist uses alternative material like rosewood, oil paints, cameos, mother-of-pearl and glass in his extraordinary collections.

An artist par excellence, Shah uses gold, a medium he reveres, to stylishly replicate the bounties of nature.His pieces have a distinct design grammar bearing a blend of luxuriant grandeur coupled with an understated simplicity, which perhaps is a reflection of his own grounded nature.

Invoking the spirit of nature in gold is no easy task. It requires a high level of virtuosity to envision unexpected and intricate forms and to be able to turn them into sophisticated and wearable art.

“Nature is a fount of inspiration for me,” says Shah.“We are lucky to live on this planet which is full of beauty – and through my creations, I try to bring forth the synergistic relationship between Man and Nature.”

More of Anand Shah‘s marvelous jewelry can be found at https://www.facebook.com/aanandsshah/ and India Times.

 

Closer to the Sun — My Inspired Life (repost)

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 5 Comments
I love this writer, this artist, this blogger. Her posts always lift me up, inspire me, gives me a hint of what all this nonsense is around me now and then.

I hope you’ll wander over to Michele‘s blog and see how you feel when you’re done reading…….

Petals, stems, and hair whipped by the wind Rooted beliefs and thoughts twirl and toss becoming a new language when blended with the ancient Protected knowledge penetrates skin, blood, and bones creating shivers and swells Wings yet to be given this is the final ascent Secrets decoded confusion quells when the wind calms and the […]

Closer to the Sun — My Inspired Life

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Odilon Redon

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Odilon Redon (1840–1916) was a French Symbolist painter, lithographer, and etcher of considerable poetic sensitivity and imagination.Redon depicted a variety of motifs including dreams, floral still lives, landscapes, and mythological scenes.His collection is associated with the Symbolist movement, which is typified by an interest in imbuing art with ambiguous metaphors and themes of romance, morbidity, and the occult.In both charcoal drawings and lithographic prints, the artist relied on the expressive and suggestive possibilities of black in his monochromatic compositions called noirs. Instead of drawing inspiration from what he saw, Redon preferred to paint images from his dreams, nightmares, and stories from mythology.This resulted in drawings and paintings with a tenuous grasp on realism, and a preferred emphasis on emotion, color, and atmosphere.His lithographs and noirs in particular were admired by the Symbolist writers of the day but also by later Surrealists for their often bizarre and fantastical subjects, many of which combine scientific observation and visionary imagination.In the 1890s pastel and oils became his favored media; he produced no more noirs after 1900. 

More of Odilon Redon‘s intense artwork can be found at https://www.wikiart.org/en/odilon-redon and https://www.thecollector.com/.

 

 

Promote Yourself Monday!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

You know me. A bucket full of confetti. Of confusion and magic and Chatty-Cathy-itis. (I wrote a blog way back in 2012 about this very subject.. you can check it out and get a chuckle).

But now Spring is coming/here, I’m working on my next collection of Angel Tears (which I hope to get online very soon) and I thought there is no better time to promote myself here right in front of you all.

I would make a terrible salesperson — I feel uncomfortable suggesting and pushing and beating around the bush about my own creations. But if I don’t give them a shout out, who will?

The first free offering is my book Corn and Shadows. Written way back in 2011, it has been edited forever, and now is available for a free download. It’s a story about a 40ish woman going through a midlife crisis, which happens to include time travel and a little love crush as well.

If you’ve already downloaded it and read it, please let me know what you think about it.

I also offer a free writer’s guide, Let’s Write That Book! It’s common sense advice if you are thinking of writing your life’s story or just a short story or two. Starting out is not as hard as you think.

Of course, what would advertising be if I didn’t shout out my full, blown out art gallery, the Sunday Evening Art Gallery. A full length extension of my Goddess Gallery blogs, each gallery is jam packed with unique delights such as the amazing glass works of Dale Chihuly, the imaginative weirdness of Stairways to Nowhere, the wild forest sculptures of Spencer Biles, the metallic sculptures of Kang Dong Hyun, the painted cups of Luycho, or the original porcelain sculptures of Sophie Woodrow.

I could go on and on about the truly unique art I’ve found, but you’ll have to explore those worlds yourself.

I am STILL working on a website for my Angel Tears, and hopefully I’ll have something to show you in the near future. They are sparkling suncatchers that blend into their surroundings, bringing magic and delight to your world.

I hope to be posting the follow up novel to Corn and Shadows named Time and Shadows, a continuing of Annabella Powers’ time-travel adventure.

But that is a promotion for another day.

Looking forward to YOUR self promoting!

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Marbles

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 8 Comments

If every year is a marble, how many marbles do you have left? How many sunrises, how many opportunities to rise to the full stature of your being? ~ Joy Page

 

Three-Ribbon Divided Core Swirl Shooter

 

Blue Spotty Shrunken Onion Skin Marble

 

Deep Royal Purple Banded Opaque Indian Swirl Joseph Twist German Marble

 

German Amethyst Colored Glass Banded Lutz Marble

 

End-of-Day Lavender Spots and Blue Streaks Marble

 

Moonstone Red Marble

 

Hand Made Art Glass Alloway Dichroic Purple 9 Cane Marble

 

Japanese White Cross Through Cats Eye Vintage Marble

 

Pincushion Flower and Dragonfly Marble

 

Rare Christensen Agate Co. 4 Color Flame Marble

 

 

So Watcha Doin’ Tonight?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 11 Comments

I was wide awake last night, all alone in my bedroom, snug under the covers (except for 2 dogs and a cat), listening to the rain thunder past at 8 o’clock in the evening, and I wondered …

How do you spend your evenings?

Everything I read says you shouldn’t go to bed and read your phone or iPad or computer. You’re supposed to go into your bed and SLEEP!

What’s up with that?

Climbing into bed early is a luxury most of us can’t afford. We work (or play) up to the very end and then flop in bed, exhausted, praying for sleep.

Not me.

I kinda enjoy climbing into the solitude of my bed, turning on some ambient  music (any flavor), and either reading or wandering through the Internet.

That’s when I get my best ideas. My most interesting explorations. Where I can find inspiration and strange experiences and weird tales and visit worlds I never will set foot in.

From the quiet confines of my room in the evening I can control my world. My wanderings. I can call the shots and cruise through the galaxy with my brave dogs and bossy cat without leaving the covers.

It’s no wonder I can’t fall asleep at night. I am the antithesis of everything that I’m supposed to do and be. I eat pizza for breakfast and look for dinosaurs in the woods when I walk with my grandson and make wishes on fairies blinking in the dark.

I kinda get tired of doing all the things I’m supposed to do. Tired of following the rules. Tired of being the good girl.

Of course, what better place to get fresh and sassy than under the safety of my covers wrapped in comforting music? Who am I going to threaten? Who am I going to boss around?

Since my husband’s been on the night shift, I have come to be a night person. Sort of. I love the dark blues of night, the sounds of frogs or crickets singing their songs or coyotes howling as they play in the distance. I love the mystery of the unknown which exists just outside my back deck. 

I doubt if I’ll ever explore all of that mystery outside my back yard — not at this age. But that doesn’t mean my mind can’t explore it. Besides. Thunderstorms provide such encouragement to exploration — coming and going!

So …

What’s your favorite way to spend an evening?

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

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Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) was a Dutch-born painter whose scenes from everyday life in the ancient world were immensely popular in its time.Alma-Tadema, the son of a Dutch notary, studied art at the Antwerp Academy (1852–58) under the Belgian historical painter Hendrik Leys.During a visit to Italy in 1863, Alma-Tadema became interested in Greek and Roman antiquity and Egyptian archaeology, and afterward he depicted imagery almost exclusively from those sources.Moving to England, he became a naturalized British subject in 1873 and was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1879. He was knighted in 1899.Alma-Tadema excelled at the accurate recreation of ancient architecture and costumes and the precise depiction of textures of marble, bronze, and silk.His expert rendering of settings provides a backdrop for anecdotal scenes set in the ancient world.His paintings are marked by clarity of color, exactness, and smooth finish; he imagined a Rome of splendor, sunlight, and gentle sentiment.Though admired during his lifetime for his draftsmanship and depictions of Classical antiquity, his work fell into disrepute after his death, and only since the 1960s has it been re-evaluated for its importance within nineteenth-century British art.More of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema‘s classical paintings can be found at https://www.wikiart.org/en/sir-lawrence-alma-tadema and https://artrenewal.org/artists/lawrence-alma-tadema/8.

 

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Gold n’ Glitter

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The Ballroom at the Grand Palace, Peterhof, Russia

 

All that is gold does not glitter;
not all those who wander are lost;
the old that is strong does not wither;
deep roots are not reached by the frost.
~ J.R.R. Tolkien

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Dain Yoon

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Like many artists, artist Dain Yoon enjoys working with paint.But it’s not a canvas that she puts pigment to — it’s her own body.Using an extensive palette of paints and brushes, she applies the pigment to her skin and transforms herself into amazing optical illusions.And most impressively of all, she does this all without the use of Photoshop or other photo manipulation programs.Each piece is 100% authentic, painted by herself, in mirror image, on herself, which can take anywhere from three to twelve hours.Much of Yoon’s early work focused just on her face, but she has grown her portfolio to include complex illusions that incorporate her entire body.The “complexity of human beings” stands at the root of Yoon’s body art.“Anything, even in a very ordinary life, could be great inspirations with different perspectives, ” she shares.“We are complex beings, our multitude of emotions, personalities, traits, viewpoints, our complex face expressions are what fascinates me and influences my work.”More of Dain Yoon‘s extraordinary body art can be found at https://dainyoon.com/ and https://mymodernmet.com/dain-yoon-optical-illusion-body-art/.

 

 

Goin’ Forward

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

Hans Holbein the Younger

This is the time of year that I call transient.

Tran·sient   /ˈtran(t)SHənt/ adjective.  Lasting only for a short time; impermanent.

For those of you down south (Ivor) it is summer winding down, beautiful colors and cool mornings and warm afternoons. For those a little more north (Darlene) most are waiting to hear birds singing and walk around in shorts.

But why is it transient?

Besides the obvious fact that life itself  is transient, its more of an overall movement of uneasiness. A self-diagnosed A.D.D. or a feeling like you’re sitting on the stove, waiting for the burner to be turned on. You can’t sit still. You have no idea what you really want (or want to get rid of) but your mind is still running, running, running, getting ready for the next step.

This too shall pass, but what do we do while we’re percolating?

It’s not nice enough outside to start gardening. There are no craft fairs in the near future, nor vacations planned nor dinner dates with friends in the in the next few months.

How do we scratch that itch? Fill that empty pail?

Keep moving. Both physically and mentally.

There is no time like the present to do a little research on topics you’ve always had interest in. Learn something. Plan something.

There’s so much out there to explore!

You can go on virtual tours of museums like the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. or the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. You can research and travel through the galaxy at Nasa or mark out a tour route at Quilt Museums on Our Must-Visit List.

You can watch the history of King Henry VIII on You Tube or read up on the conqueror Charlemagne on the History Channel Website, or find a website to  learn something at Newsweek.

I myself am currently on a King Henry VIII kick. The world and the man is fascinating. (Henry VIII: Man, Monarch, Monster on free Tubi)

All I’m saying is that this lull, this hush over the learning world, is only temporary. Being tired, sleepy, lazy, will pass.

In the meantime, go exploring. Don’t get stale! Check out the world! Don’t be afraid to learn something new.

Keep those synapses firing!

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Akane Yamamoto

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Akane Yamamoto has developed a new and original field of art known as “Kirikane Glass,” which involves forming various patterns using the age-old kirikane decorative technique and encasing them in glass.The technique was born from Yamamoto’s desire to make the Kirikane levitate in space so that it can be the focus of the art piece.Yamamoto is from Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and studied Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) at Kyoto City University of Arts.Kirikane is a decorative technique for creating patterns that involves pasting together thin layers of gold leaf or other metals.The technique is highly delicate. Several layers of gold, silver, platinum, or other foils are cut into strips finer than a human hair, or squares measuring a few millimeters across, and then brushed with glue and adhered together to produce exquisitely detailed patterns.The process of making a Kirikane Glass piece has infinite steps, and completing one piece takes a very long time.It is the same accumulation of “infinite choices for the sake of beauty” that the draftsmen of ancient times experienced.“The aspects of nature in Japan along with the classics of Japanese literature, especially, the Tale of Genji, are inspirations for creating the imagery in my work,” Yamamoto shares.“I hope that my Kirikane-glass works featuring aesthetic sense and sensitiveness of Japan, are to be dispatched to the world from Kyoto, the center of traditional Japanese arts.”More of Yamamoto Akane‘s amazing glass work can be found at https://akane-glass.com/.

 

 

Faerie Paths — Life

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

Life is short, Break the Rules. Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly. Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably And never regret ANYTHING That makes you smile.
~ Mark Twain

 

 

Anxiety Created, Anxiety Controlled — Marla’s World (repost)

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

I thought I’d share a post written by a friend who seems to go through the same anxieties as the rest of us. They do say misery loves company; although I hope no one is in real misery, it’s sometimes good to know others can be as overly anxious as we are!

Anxieties

 

What makes you most anxious?

Absolutely everything, and absolutely nothing.

As with most people and things, my anxiety is triggered almost at random. I could be sweating bullets and anxious beyond belief because I’m running 2 or 3 minutes late; I could be going to the same place to meet the same person a day, week, month later, be running the same amount late and simply not care…….

Anxiety Created, Anxiety Controlled — Marla’s World

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Tiffany Arp-Daleo

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Tiffany Arp-Daleo is an artist from San Diego, California, who works primarily with acrylics and oils in abstract and mixed media.She has developed a unique painting style described as Bohemian Abstract, highlighted by bold contrast, gobs of rich color, and layers of texture.Arp-Daleo expresses her complex emotions by creating intuitive abstract paintings and mixed media artwork, as she is fascinated with color and how it affects moods and feelings.The artist find inspiration through traveling, attending concerts, and mingling with other artists and creatives in search of new inspiration.What is enjoyable about her art is that she brings the world of Abstract Art into every day lives with a simple explanation — or sometimes with no explanation at all.“I create art every day because I HAVE to,” Arp-Daleo explains.“It’s the release I need and my therapy. If I can share it with someone who will enjoy looking at it every day, awesome!”

More of Tiffany Arp-Daleo‘s fresh and colorful art can be found at https://tiffanyarpdaleo.com/.

 

 

Ran Out of Gas

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 10 Comments

I feel that lately I’ve run out of words.

Word to share, words to encourage, words to heal.

Ack — I don’t know what the reason is that I’m a silent partner in this wonderful company. This, too, shall pass.

But I have been collecting cool art. That’s easy peasy. Especially if listening to smooth jazz and drinking a bit of coffee and looking at the sunshine that promises more warmth in a month.

So this bright Friday Morning I thought I’d give you a sneak peak of future Gallery contestants:

Marbles

Odilon Redon

 

 Iris Scott

 

Boris Vallejo

 

I look forward to sharing with you all these wonderful, marvelous, crazy, inspiring artists. I hope you look forward to coming back!!

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Paulina Bartnik

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Poland-based artist Paulina Bartnik creates realistic-looking embroidered brooches of birds.The artist graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and is very passionate about embroidery.While it may be hard to see the abundance of bird species in the world in person, Bartnik  immortalizes their portraits in exquisite embroidered brooches.She uses her meticulous stitching techniques to render the unique appearance of each feathered creature—from barn owls to hummingbirds.She uses the needle painting technique, which she feels perfectly imitates bird feathers.Beginning with a background of felt sheets, the artist creates a combination of short and long stitches in a variety of colors to produce a textile effect.The faces of her embroidered birds feature all of their distinct markings, which make them appear incredibly real.Not only that, but the variety of hues she uses to create the feathers make it seem like the texture of the bird shimmers in the light.In general, I’m a little bit of a chaotic and impatient person,” Bartnick admits. “Embroidery helps me focus and calm down. I don’t treat it as a job, for me it’s a way to relax.”More of Paulina Bartnik’s amazing embroidery can be found at https://embirdery.com/.

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Rune Guneriussen

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Rune Guneriussen’s conceptual work, somewhere between installation and photography, features site-specific installations throughout his native Norway.Born in 1977, Guneriussen studied at Eiker College and received a BA in photography at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design.Using an artistic process that concerns the object, locale, and time of installation, Guneriussen takes photographs using a large-format view camera that documents the existence of the installation itself.The resulting photographs illustrate attentive handling and a recognition of light to form a new idea of reality.Mixing rural landscapes with everyday objects such as desk lamps or books, Guneriussen’s analogous application of material and space correlates to humans’ connection to the planet.As an artist, Guneriussen believes that art itself should be questioning and bewildering as opposed to patronizing and restricting.As opposed to the current fashion, he does not want to dictate a way to the understanding of his art, but rather indicate a path to understanding a story.

More of Rune Guneriussen’s installation work can be found at http://www.runeguneriussen.no/ and https://www.scandinaviastandard.com/artist-spotlight-norwegian-conceptual-artist-rune-guneriussen/.

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Starting With Something Simple — Artistcoveries (repost)

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A delightful way to find your way back … we all need to find our source again!

 

The good news — well, I guess it’s good — is that I’m getting back to the studio. I’ve been thinking about picking up a paintbrush again, thinking about putting a bit of paint on a palette, thinking about painting clouds and skies, trees and rivers… you know, all those landscape elements that I love. […]

Starting With Something Simple — Artistcoveries

 

 

I Have No Idea What I’m Doing

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The title of this blog is the story of my life.

Of course most of the time I know what I’m doing … or at least believe I know what I’m doing. Otherwise I wouldn’t have a great son who found a great girl who had great kids and now a great dog.

But other times …

Last night I filled out the March Madness Basketball Challenge. You know the one — 64 teams, 32 competitions between amazing college basketball teams. I’m in a pool with my family, and the winner gets bragging rights at the next family gathering.

Have you ever looked at the brackets?

Do you even know what you’re looking at?

I fill out these things mainly because I want to be one of the “guys.” One of the “family.” One of the “players.”

You might as well as me how to milk a cow. I know zip about that, too.

It’s important to me to be “one of the guys.” Women have a hard enough time breaking into men’s circles. We are of a different mind set. Different temperament, different planet. Although we share our lives with men, we don’t always walk down the same path.

Heck — our paths are often in separate woods!

But having fun with others is worth all the confusion surrounding your choice of competition.

Have fun with your friends and family. Find games, puzzles, and conversations that you can be goofy with.

Winning and losing isn’t as important as sharing.

I picked Arizona to win the Basketball Title. Like I even know where the campus is.

Somewhere in Arizona, I’m guessing …

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Arabella Proffer

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Arabella Proffer is an artist, author, and co-founder of the indie label Elephant Stone Records.She attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA before receiving her BFA from California Institute of the Arts.Considered a pop surrealist painter, Proffer’s work combines interests in portraiture, visionary art, the history of medicine, and biomorphic abstraction.She delves into her practice of oil painting by creating surreal organic environments related to biology, nature, and emerging sciences.Although she started from a place of abstraction, her art became filled with strange hybrids of flowers, cells, and symbols that appeared like organisms from another planet.When her doctor showed her scans of her cancer tumor and close-ups of the cells, it looked almost identical to what she had been painting – tentacles and all.“Insects, flowers, human organs all come from the same process at the core, but within these works visualizing their fictional evolution at any given stage comes from instinct,” the artist explained.“Creating my own fragile beings and nature within these little worlds, alien forms mesh with what might be viewed under a microscope or through a telescope. Perhaps it is a wider vision of awareness, of what is seen and unseen.”More of Arabella Proffer‘s marvelous paintings can be found at http://www.arabellaproffer.com/.

 

Looking For Your Suggestions!

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Summer, Giuseppe Arcimboldo

You all have been very generous with your comments through the years. I don’t get many responses, but the ones I do I love.

So now I’m going to ask for your opinions again.

I have a ton of unique artists and their artwork in the wings, just waiting for their chance to have a Gallery of their own. There is so much marvelous art out there that the sources are endless.

But I was wondering if you had any suggestions for the Gallery.

Unique art, unusual art, amazing art.

Art that lies hidden in small galleries or websites or museums. Art from any genre. I love them all.

jeffw5382, one of my followers, suggested the artist Guy Buffet. Following up on the suggestion, I find him creative and unique and so good at creating worlds for chefs and waiters and all in-between. So I hope to add him to a future Gallery.

I am always open to suggestions and ideas. Maybe there’s an artist you’ve always loved that crocheted or painted or made things out of unusual materials. Maybe it’s new twists on old ideas. Maybe it’s one of the masters from the past that have slipped through public attention. Let me know what you’ve found.

I love sharing with you all as much as you all enjoy the art.

Art is meant to be shared. Let’s share.

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Kiko Miyares

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Artist Kiko Miyares carves and colors stretched, distorted sculptures of the human figure.Miyares was born on the April 27 in 1977 in Llanes, in the Asturian Province in Spain.After his studies at the Faculty of Beaux Arts at the ‘Universidad Publica del Païs Vasco’ he started exhibiting his work in Bilbao.The Spanish sculptor often focuses on the head and shoulders of his subjects, with each bust combining realistic renderings of facial feature with a dramatically narrowed shape that makes the works appear to be squeezed or warped.In some works, elements of the elongated sculptures are fractured, creating surreal doubling of torsos, heads, and arms.Miyares often shows his busts in groups, to create striking and perception-altering vignettes.Although the skewed works are best viewed in the round, each photographed angle provides a new and fascinating look into the the artist’s boundary-pushing portraits.More of Kiko Miyares amazing works can be found at http://www.kikomiyares.es/ and https://www.instagram.com/kikomiyares/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Janis Miltenberger

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Glass artist Janis Miltenberger draws on the roles of mythology and storytelling as attempts to explain our experience of the world to build complex glass sculptures.Her work often takes the shape of recognizable objects, like human figures and chairs, which are then filled with incredible detail. The artist uses borosilicate glass, and enhanced with glass colors, gold luster, sandblasting, and oil paint.

Each glas sculpture is built, first the internal structure and then one by one elements are fashioned and added to the framework.Miltenberger was originally drawn to ceramics, and discovered glassblowing in college, where she apprenticed with Richard Marquis.Many years later, she was introduced to lampworking, which is her preferred technique today.After so many years working with glass, Miltenberger now finds it quite natural to imagine her work in all three dimensions.

“I start building the work, it can deviate from my original drawing,” Miltenberger shares.“Sometimes as I work on a piece, I am surprised and see a different design emerge, something that better reflects my story.” 

More of Janis Miltenberger’s intricate glass work can be found at http://www.janismiltenberger.com/.

Faerie Paths — Bubble

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The idea hovered and shimmered delicately, like a soap bubble, and she dared not even look at it directly in case it burst. But she was familiar with the way of ideas, and she let it shimmer, looking away, thinking about something else. ~ Philip Pullman

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Shary Boyle

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Sculpture can be so many things. So many different shapes. Colors. Meanings.Canadian artist Shary Boyle works across diverse media, including sculpture, drawing, installation and performance.Highly crafted and deeply imaginative, her practice is activated through collaboration and mentorship.While she works in multiple mediums, Boyle is best known for her porcelain figurines.Boyle’s work considers the social history of figurines, spiritual energy mythologies, and folk art forms to create a symbolic diversity uniquely her own.At first look you wonder what it is about these creations that makes you want to look closer.Boyle’s fantastical and frightening characters are indeterminately human and animal, male and female, and each one sends out a unique vibration that makes you appreciate her diversity.More of Shary Boyle‘s wonderfully unique art can be found at https://www.sharyboyle.com/.

 

 

Why Does “Your Favorite…” Have To Be Just One?

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Sometimes when you are asked “What/Who is Your Favorite …?” you have a steady, solid answer.

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate, of course. What is your favorite color? Mmmm… royal blue usually hits the spot for me.

But other questions are a lot more volatile.

Who is your favorite artist? Who is your favorite band or group? What’s your favorite movie?

Humans have prided themselves on their intellectual and cosmic growth. We have learned to appreciate individuality as well as companionship. Learning to accept life and all its gifts and delights.

How can one turn that cosmic oneness into an individual preference?

Aren’t you defying the laws of nature and abundance by choosing just one of anything?

Over the weekend I finished filling out my questionnaire from Storywatch. For those of you who didn’t know, my daughter-in-law gave me a gift from them: they send you one question a week for 52 weeks and after you answer and e-mail them back they compile them into a book. She bought one book for me and one for her family.

Some the questions had singular answers. What is your favorite drink? (chocolate milk.) Where were you when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon? (sitting in front of the TV watching it.)

Other questions were loaded. Do you have any regrets? (Who doesn’t?) What is your secret? (If I told you it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.)

I changed some of the questions to ones that were more important for my grandkids to know. How many brothers and sisters do you have? (three brothers.) What are some of the most amazing inventions you’ve seen in your lifetime? (computers going from room-size to fingernail-size.)

But the hardest questions were the obvious ones. Who is your favorite artist? What is your favorite movie?

This is where my experience as a writer comes in. I changed the text (Who are your favorite artists) and expanded on most questions: Do you prefer winter or summer? (one paragraph for each season with a reluctant admittance for preferring Autumn).

Can’t I ever follow the rules?

Can’t I ever give a simple answer?

The world really comes down to yes or no. You either do it or you don’t. You either go there or you don’t. You either eat lunch or skip lunch. There is no middle grey in the end (I kinda wanted to do it but wasn’t sure so I did nothing…)

But I don’t have ONE favorite artist. Or ONE favorite food. Or ONE favorite memory of times spent with my kids.

I want my kids to know I loved a whole lot of foods and places and musicians and movies and seasons. That I’m a polka dot fan one day and a plain Jane beige girl the next. And I can tell you why I love paintings and sculptures and smooth jazz and nature photography all 100%.

The purpose of this Monday Morning blog started out to be me asking you who your favorite artist is. In any field.

Now I’ve changed my question. And hope you answer.

Who are your favorite artists? Musicians? Foods?

It’s me asking. You can list as many as you wish. The sky’s the limit! (for me it has to be!)

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Sailing Ships

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I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

~John Masefield

 

USS Constitution, 1797

 

Preussen, 1902

 

Santa Maria Replica, 1492/2012

 

Sea Cloud II, 2001

 

Lady Washington Replica, 1787/1989

 

The Thomas W Lawson, 1902

 

Mayflower Replica, 1620/1956

 

Barque Sedov, 1921

 

 

Pinball — Tiffany Arp-Daleo Art

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What I find interesting/different/fun about this colorful painting is the very fine white line that highlights unsuspecting corners and objects and swirls. Pinball is the perfect name for this painting, yet it teases a lot more!

Tiffany once told me that “all of my work is intuitive, never planned.” That is inspirational for sure. Planned art has its place, but so does impromptu channeling!

 

If I were a ball, this is where I would want to roll. 😉

Pinball — Tiffany Arp-Daleo Art

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Jan van Eyck

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Jan van Eyck  (before 1390 – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting.

Arnolfini Portrait

 

van Eyck must have been born before 1395, for in October 1422 he is recorded as the varlet de chambre et peintre (“honorary equerry and painter”) of John of Bavaria, count of Holland.

Man in a Red Turban

 

van Eyck was one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art who perfected the newly developed technique of oil painting.

Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon

 

His naturalistic panel paintings, mostly portraits and religious subjects, made extensive use of disguised religious symbols.

Lucca Madonna

 

His artistic prestige rests partly on his unrivaled skill in pictorial illusionism.

Ghent Altarpiece

 

Securely attributed paintings survive only from the last decade of van Eyck career; therefore, his artistic origins and early development must be deduced from his mature work. 

Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata

 

The artist’s paintings achieved an astonishingly sophisticated level of realism, heretofore unknown in the art of painting.

Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele

 

Glimmering jewels, reflective metals, lush satins and velvets, and even human flesh were each rendered with their own distinctive qualities with such a high degree of naturalism it seemed he had conjured a new artistic medium.

Portrait of Margaret van Eyck

 

More of Jan van Eyck‘s amazing oil paintings can be found at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-van-Eyck and  https://www.theartstory.org/artist/van-eyck-jan/.

 

 

 

Who Am I … Again?

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It was a long weekend away, skiing in Michigan.

Of course, I didn’t ski. I watched. 

It was our annual get away weekend with family and friends. The 24th anniversary for the grandparents that started it, about 10 or 12 years for us newbies. We kinda mooched our way in when our son married their daughter, and it’s been fun ever since.

We missed one special couple, one special skier in particular, but he was somehow there on the slopes and in front of the fire and right in the middle of the wild card games. 

Home again, I’m rushing to fill out a gift that my daughter-in-law gave me LAST CHRISTMAS. Like Christmas 2021. It’s from Storyworth, a company that sends you a question a week about yourself, your life, and at the end compiles your answers and makes a book for both you and your giver.

LAST CHRISTMAS 2021.

And I’m only starting yesterday when the questions have stopped coming and the deadline is approaching.

I don’t even have a good reason why I left this to the last minute. I’m not really a procrastinator, but more like scattered. I start something then get distracted by 10 more things and often forget the first thing I was working on.

No excuse.

It has some strange questions, like they were struggling to find 52 common items to talk about. (Where were you when Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon? What is your favorite drink?) Some I deleted, other questions I thought more pertinent to my grandkid’s informational scale (do you have brothers and sisters? Where have you lived?) and which I think are much more important than what my favorite drink is (chocolate milk.)

It comes down to — what do I want my kids to know about me? My grandkids?

I knew very little about my parents. Enough to pass basic information, but nothing intimate. Nothing personal. My parents were of the World War II generation. My dad had three tours in the Army, yet talked very little (if at all) about his experiences. My mother had a child out of wedlock when she was young who was raised by one of her sisters, but I only met her once (when I was about 10) when she stopped by our house and introduced her husband and new baby. 

My generation seems to be more open-mouthed. My kids know pretty much about me. Not everything, but face it… some of the things that made you grow up either aren’t very interesting or are quite uncomfortable.

So how do I answer questions about my brothers (which I never talk to) or the farthest I’ve traveled (Cancun) or my favorite artists (painters, writers, composers, infinity room makers, the whole shebang).

I answer with heart and honesty. I want my kids and grandkids to know where my heart was and is at all times.

For that is the real history of all of us.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Kristen Egan

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Kristen Egan is a mixed media artist specializing in masks and small sculptures.

Egan has a BFA in Art and Design from the SUNY College of Ceramics at Alfred University.

Her creative process relies on the organic shapes of natural materials like gourds, antlers and tree branches.

Adding details with carved wood, paper clay and acrylic paints, she often juxtaposes bright patterns and ornamentation against raw or weathered surface textures.

The artist explores themes such as evolution, predator-prey relationships, folk art and totemic imagery.

Her pantheon of recurring animal characters are frequently inspired by species native to her home state, or mythologized elements of personal experiences.

Egan’s captivating sculptures and masks lets the observer go wildly into the forest of imagination where totem-like creatures and folktales carve a path from her thoughts to ours.

More of Kristen Egan‘s marvelous masks can be found at https://www.kristenegan.com/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Galleries — Textiles

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The world of Art is a world of creativity. All textures. All fabrics. All mediums.

Today we visit the past galleries of  

 

Bisa Butler
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2019/07/26/bisa-butler/

 

Gabriel Dawe
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2019/03/21/gabriel-dawe/

 

Duro Olowu
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2020/04/30/duro-olowu/

 

Susanna Bauer
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2019/10/16/susanna-bauer/

 

Aiko Tezuka
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2021/10/05/aiko-tezuka/

 

Sally England
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2020/09/19/sally-england/

 

Quilts
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2017/10/12/quilts/

 

 

 

Enjoy these and MORE at

http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.com

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Galleries — Food

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The world of Art is a world of creativity. All flavors. All aromas.  All realms.

Today we visit the past galleries of   

     

Ron Ben-Israel
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2019/05/01/ron-ben-israel/

 

Faberge Eggs
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2015/11/20/faberge/

 

Kathleen Ryan
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2022/01/03/kathleen-ryan/

 

Famous Food Paintings
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2022/07/25/famous-food-paintings/

 

Michael Massaia
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2015/08/09/michael-massaia/

 

Daniele Barresi
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2018/08/01/daniele-barresi/

 

Pysanky Ukrainian Easter Eggs
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2017/01/04/pysanky-ukrainian-easter-eggs/

 

Enjoy these and MORE at

http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Galleries — Nature

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

The world of Art is a world of creativity. All weather. All seasons. All dreams.

Today we visit the past galleries of

 

Rock Formations
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2021/05/16/rock-formations/

 

Ansel Adams
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2021/06/24/ansel-adams/

 

The Woods
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2019/01/26/the-woods/

 

John Lemke
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2021/12/24/john-lemke-2/

 

Pyramids
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2022/07/21/pyramids/

 

Emeralds
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2021/06/07/emeralds/

 

Star Stuff
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2015/09/24/star-stuff/

 

Enjoy these and MORE at

http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.com

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Galleries — Buildings

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The world of Art is a world of creativity. All worlds. All styles. All kinds.

Today we visit the past galleries of   

 

 

Glass Houses
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2015/08/03/glass-houses/

 

Faerie Houses
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2017/12/20/faerie-houses/

 

Unusual Hotels
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2017/05/03/unusual-hotels/

 

Doors
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2015/08/18/doors/

 

Takanori Aiba
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2020/09/22/takanori-aiba/

 

 

Robert Finale
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2018/04/03/robert-finale/

 

Peeta
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2020/03/14/peeta/

 

Enjoy these and MORE at

http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.com

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Galleries — Glass

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The world of Art is a world of creativity. All styles. All shapes. All mediums.

Today we visit the past galleries of  

 

Rick Satava
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2018/12/11/rick-satava/

 

Mirrors
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2019/06/15/mirrors/

 

Architecture in Blue
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2016/07/20/architecture-in-blue/

 

Latchezar Boyadjiev
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2017/09/19/latchezar-boyadjiev/

 

Aquariums
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2015/10/29/aquariums-3/

 

Dale Chihuly
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2016/06/27/dale-chihuly

 

 

Niyoko Ikuta
https://sundayeveningartgallery.com/2021/01/23/niyoko-ikuta/

 

 

Enjoy these and MORE at

http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Elena Dal Cortivo

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Elena Dal Cortivo is a master luthier (a maker of stringed instruments such as violins or guitars), musician, and creator of roses for stringed instruments.

Parchment roses are decorative elements used to enhance harpsichords, clavichords, baroque guitars and other early musical instruments.

She enrolled in Milan’s Civica Scuola di Liuteria in 1980, and after graduation, obtained the qualification of ‘Operator and Conservator of Stringed Instruments’.

Dal Cortivo trained as a luthier in Milan, and began work in Vicenza, occasionally making decorative rosettes, intricately designed and made from goat parchment, for harpsichords and baroque guitars.

In 1991, she opened a workshop in Milan where she continued to make and restore musical instruments and to receive requests for rosettes.

Gradually, creating rosettes became her main occupation and today Dal Cortivo is one of the most highly regarded practitioners of this rarest of crafts.

The incredible and elaborate parchment roses that can be admired in her extensive catalogue are genuine masterpieces in miniature whose execution requires particular taste and skill: a rare and highly poetic craft of extraordinary virtuosity that very few are still able to practice with such delicate mastery.

More of Elena Dal Cortivo’s magnificent handiwork can be found at http://www.parchmentroses.com/ and  https://www.maestrodartemestiere.it/en/libro-d-oro/2020/elena-dal-cortivo.

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Whirling Dervish

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Whirling Dervish (wûrl-ing dûrˈvĭsh)
(noun) Islam

a dervish (member of an order noted for devotional exercises involving bodily movements) whose actions include ecstatic dancing and whirling; a whirler

 

 

 

Oldies But Goodies

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 5 Comments

I am setting up a new Instagram account with pictures from all of my past Gallery Blogs, just in case someone is wandering through Instagram with no particular place to go. Ha.

(https://www.instagram.com/writing.unicorn/)

But in going through those pictures, I realize how long I’ve been doing the Gallery. A long time. So since I don’t have a lot of opinions on the world at this time of the year, I think I will make next week 

 

Saturday Evening Art Gallery Week

 

I’ll post pictures and links to some of the best artists in my past — a link to my gallery, along to their personal webpage (if they have one) so you can explore their world on your own, should you desire.

I have such a blast sharing UNIQUE artists with all of you that I don’t mind tooting my horn for them now and again.

If you have any favorite artists I’ve posted, or any other artists you’d love me to show off, let me know, and I’ll dig them up!

 

Art Never Dies!

 

Taking Advantage

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I feel sorry for old people (me! me!)

I feel sorry for anybody — especially old people — who are stuck at home, nursing one thing or another, and turns on the TV in hopes of a little distraction. Relief. Fantasy.

I feel sorry for anyone home all day with nothing to do.

I had the 24-hour bug yesterday, and it hit hard. (I’m perfectly fine today… go figure). I slept a lot, but between glazed outings I turned on the local TV.

Every other commercial was for either health care for your funeral arrangements or life insurance for $9.99 a month or Medicare supplements or magic pills for metastatic breast cancer or stage four pancreatic cancer.

I am not for one second downplaying the severity of any physical condition, whether it’s fatal or lasts only 24 hours. This is a personal world that only those suffering with their conditions can understand or deal with.

But this also is a world ripe for picking.

I was amazed at how gullible TV ads think viewers are. 

There are bright (yet serious) actors talking about “impending doom” scenarios like funeral expenses, car repair, and cancer treatments. Advertising assures these bright (yet serious) actors that they can be prepared ahead of time for all of the above (and more) by paying just a little amount every month.

I have a hang up about advertising anyway, but it’s a necessary part of the all cultures, keeping people employed and consumers informed.

But constant bombardment by holding death over you and scaring you into moving into directions unknown kinda crosses the line for me. Not is a big, blown-out way — more like a needle-in-your-skin way.

And, by the way –many of these plans are posted for those 45 and up too! WooHoo!

People with no one to talk to or confide in may think that these quickie schemes will actually help them get better or save money. They may give scarce funds towards ends that never really pay out.

I may sound like a broken record, but again — deals that are too good to be true don’t exist. No matter what age you are.

Just because a new drug is advertised doesn’t mean it works for everybody. Just because big man ‘A’ got his blown engine replaced for free doesn’t mean he didn’t pay a fortune before trouble showed up. And Medicare supplements don’t just freely put money back into your savings account. 

Before you invest in late night fly by schemes, talk to somebody. Anybody. Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t worry about seeming confused or panicked or lost. Talk to  someone who gets out into the working world and fights for a living. Someone who can see behind the curtain.

Get a second opinion.

Don’t take this invasive species sitting down, Golden Oldies! Mute those babies as soon as they pop up!

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — The Unicorn Tapestries

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The Unicorn Tapestries, woven between 1495 and 1505, celebrate a world of wonders with the unicorn at its very center.

The Hunters Enter the Woods

 

The tapestries were owned for centuries by the La Rochefoucauld family before being purchased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who donated them to The Cloisters Museum and Gardens, the medieval branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in 1937.

The Unicorn is Found

 

Though these tapestries depict the hunt for this legendary creature, they are also a hymn of praise for Nature and all its abundance.

The Unicorn is Attacked

 

Lavishly woven in fine wool and silk with silver and gilded threads, the seven wall hangings are certainly amongst the most spectacular surviving artworks of the late Middle Ages.

The Unicorn Defends Itself

 

The tapestries were probably woven in Brussels or Liège, which were important centers of the tapestry industry in medieval Europe.

The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle

 

Comprised of seven wall hangings, each panel is at least 12 feet high by eight feet wide.

The Mystic Capture of the Unicorn

 

The unicorn’s world includes over 100 recognizable plants and trees, all flowering at the same time, along with  animals, wild and tame, domestic and exotic: pheasants, rabbits, a lion and his lioness, frogs, dogs and ducks.

The Unicorn in Captivity

 

The details and beauty of these tapestries have held viewers in fascination throughout time, and hopefully will continue in the future.

More about the Unicorn Tapestries can be found at:

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-unicorn-tapestries-1495-1505 https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/unicorn-tapestries-at-the-cloisters https://www.metmuseum.org/primer/met-cloisters/unicorn-tapestries-story

 

 

Faerie Paths — Spacing Out

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Frank Moth

 

Part of a writer’s job is just spacing out, looking into the air and imagining things.

~ Kelly Sue DeConnick

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Mad Cat Teapots

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Ceramic art is visual art.  What you see often thrills your senses.

These teapots may be hand crafted, machine crafted, mass produced or individually created. I just came across these Mad Cat Teapots one day and thought, “My word… this is creative art!”

After all, who are we to judge what is art?

They are so delightful and detailed I thought you would enjoy them too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mad Cat Teapots can be found at retail sites across the Internet.

 

 

Time spent browsing bookstores is never wasted…

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Everyone should find a few hours to wander through the aisles of magic!

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Faerie Paths — Smile

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The power of a gun can kill
And the power of fire can burn
The power of wind can chill
And the power of a mind can learn
The power of anger can rage
Inside until it tears u apart
But the power of a smile
Especially yours can heal a frozen heart

~Tupac Shakur

 

 

Art is EVERYWHERE!

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The more I delve into Art, the more amazing it becomes.

Many of my discoveries are distant links from where I started.

For instance, I was on a site, (the origin of which I forget), and found Paola Besana, whose art I enjoyed. Looking him up led me to a website,  https://www.maestrodartemestiere.it/en/, MAM – Maestro d’Arte e Mestiere, promoted by the Cologni Foundation for the Métiers d’Art, (Italy), which featured not only Besana, but many other Masters of Arts and Crafts.

Curious, I checked out another artist, Elena Dal Cortivo, who makes handmade reproductions of parchment roses made for the sound holes of harpsichords, mandolins, and baroque guitars.

Her website had more links to makers of harpsicords and and other instruments.

Maker of parchment roses?

Where did this art come from?

And who makes homemade harpsicords?

I think I have found my passion. My life’s work.

That makes me laugh. It used to be writing. I’m still passionate about that – but now it’s more experiencing new amazing forms of art and sharing them with those who also have (probably) not experienced such creativity.

This is how I find so many wonderful artists in the world. People and places that those of us in small Wisconsin towns have never heard of.

That’s why I believe in staying away from horrid headlines and problems I cannot solve and explore worlds that are still brand new to me.

I want to wander through fields of Art that are colorful and inspirational and unique. And I want you to discover them with me.

Don’t be afraid to explore the world. The positive parts of the world.

There is so much out there to discover!

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Never Really Gone

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This is a special first year anniversary date that should never be celebrated.

We all have our own special celebration dates.

Never stop celebrating.

 

 

Faerie Paths — Simple Things

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Sometimes, the simple things are more fun and meaningful than all the banquets in the world.

~ E.A. Bucchianeri

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — John Kiley

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John Kiley is a fourth generation Seattle native who attended The Pilchuck Glass School and the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina.Kiley uses primary geometric forms as the architecture for his glass sculptures.His Fractograph series takes a more conceptual approach to the material.Different methods including impact and thermal shock are used to shatter a perfectly polished optic blocks.The sometimes-powerful explosions are filmed in slow motion and exhibited along with the reconstructed blocks.Kiley’s glass sculptures are an exploration of external and internal form: an expression of the relationship that exists between shape and light.

“I strive to create objects that push the material itself beyond its simple inherent beauty. When I look at a finished piece, it should be apparent to me that it could only exist in glass.”’ Kiley explains.

Kiley not only questions which is more beautiful — the whole or its parts, the inside or the outside, negative or positive space, the light, the shadow, or the reflection —  but suggests that it is the interaction of all of these characteristics that results in the beautiful sum.

More of John Kiley‘s remarkable glassworks can be found at https://www.johnkiley.com/

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Particulars

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Nothing in the world can one imagine beforehand, not the least thing, everything is made up of so many unique particulars that cannot be forseen.

~ Nostradamus

Repeating a Repeat

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I was flipping through movies the other night, looking for something to watch — something different, something spooky, something — unusual. The horror genre came to mind.Now, I’m not into gory, bloody horrorfests — the sections of the public who love those kind of movies can keep those movies.I prefer movies that make me think. Make me wonder. Make me suspend belief for a couple of hours. I don’t really believe in spirits and ghosts and the supernatural, but I enjoy letting those who know how to manipulate the genre manipulate me. I love twist endings. Surprise endings. 

The strangest things frighten us. For some it’s spiders. For others it’s aliens. Or ghosts. Or monsters. Or internet predators. Or walking through the woods alone at night. In the dark. 

It’s okay to be frightened now and then, as long as you know what’s real and what’s not, and not let your fears rule your life.

I wound up watching Zoolander. So go figure. 

Which leads me to a blog I wrote back in 2016. Holy Moley! 2016!

 

Something Is Out There

 ~ HUMORINGTHEGODDESS “SOMETHING IS OUT THERE”

20161210_215909I was watching TV the other evening. A horror flick. Or SF. Or both. No matter. Predator. You know — the Sci Fi movie with Arnold and a bunch of special forces macho men. You know the story line — the alien who comes to Earth to hunt humans for sport.  Well, there was one scene closer to the beginning of the movie that made me pull out a camera and take a picture of the TV screen — a scene that flashed the words blog topic into my brain.

The men are walking through the jungle, in and out of clearings, when one of the soldiers stops. Just stops and looks ahead. At the trees, at the jungle. Silence. When asked what was up, Billy said there was something out there watching them. Something you couldn’t see.

That kind of terror gets to me much more than blood and guts.

The fear of the unknown.

Some people can sense something’s not right way before it hits you like a pie in the face. We all have intuition, but some just live with it turned on high, while others barely crack the surface.

Do you ever sense things that are — unnatural? Nebulous? Out of our sphere of reality?

I don’t care for the scientific explanations. I understand them, I agree with them. But that doesn’t stop me from wondering — what if something was watching us? Something invisible, fifth dimension-ish and all that?

I’ve seen dogs avoid places in the wild; some would rather pee on themselves than check out some particular place. I’ve heard stories of birds avoiding certain trees and wild animals refusing to walk through certain areas.

It’s like seeing something out of the corner of your eye. If you turn and focus, the thing is gone. But for that fleeting moment you swear there is something there. It is hearing songs on the wind when everyone else hears a lawn mower. Or seeing a glow in the woods that everyone else says are lightning bugs.

I know that none of these abnormalities exist — at least not on a scientific level. But through the years I’ve regained some of my fascination with the “unknown.” I love to entertain the impossible. The improbable. The ridiculous. For within those worlds lies even more remarkable truths. At least for the person experiencing them.

I have never seen the clear, wavy distortions of a Predator before they become visible. I’ve never seen a unicorn drinking from a stream or a faerie dancing through the night.

Or have I?

We all see things that aren’t there. As we get older and memories fade, what we think we remember isn’t necessarily what happened. The conversations change, the situations change — we rework the past to fit our current psyche. So what I thought my father said before he died might not have been what he really said. The punchline of an old movie might not be the quote I spout out to friends and family.

To be honest, I am spooked by things I don’t understand. I don’t like walking through the woods in the dark, or driving down unfamiliar deserted roads at night, or playing Mary Worth in the mirror. Whether it’s an overactive imagination or the true sensing of something beyond reality, I prefer to deal with the unknown my own way.

Avoidance.

I figure don’t tempt the gods.

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — George E. Ohr

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, the so-called “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” was a wild, inventive ceramic artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but his work was largely misunderstood during his time, and languished in a Mississippi garage.George Edgar Ohr (1857-1918) has been called the first art potter in the United States, and many say the finest.Although active from 1879 until around 1910, it was not until his pottery was rediscovered half a century after his death that Ohr began to enjoy the reputation he felt he deserved.Ohr is considered the most important US ceramic artist for several reasons. First, he was a pioneer of the art pottery movement in the United States.His work challenged the traditional notion that ceramics were purely functional objects, and instead presented them as works of art.Secondly, Ohr was highly experimental, constantly pushing the boundaries of his medium. He was never satisfied with simply replicating existing techniques; instead, he sought to invent new ones.This led to the development of his signature ” coil and pinch” method, which produced uniquely organic and asymmetrical forms.Lastly, Ohr’s work has been highly influential in the field of ceramics. His unique style and approach to clay-making has inspired generations of artists, and his pots are now highly sought-after by collectors.Today, Ohr is recognized as a major pioneer of American ceramics.His work has made a lasting impact on the ceramics community and the art world alike, and has inspired generations of artists working in ceramics to innovate and work with the medium in unique ways.

More of George E. Ohr’s pottery can be found at https://georgeohr.org/george-ohr/, https://mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/issue/george-e-ohr-americas-first-art-potter, and https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-eccentric-mississippi-artist-pioneered-american-ceramics.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Paitoon Jumee

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Born in 1978, Paitoon Jumee is a contemporary Thai artist known for his portrayals of the female face.Jumee studied at the Thai Vijitsil Art School from 1993-1996, later graduating from Pochang University in 1998.The artist was trained in multiple disciplines including lithography, sculpture, and xylography.Of his collections, the series of paintings depicting female portraits remains his most popular. The majority of these faces feature calm serene expressions, often with closed eyes and pan-Asian features such as almond-shaped eyes.Jumee applies painting techniques such as the superposition of repetitive patterning to create layers beneath the surface of the portrait.Perhaps this reflects the idea of a portrait which reveals the person’s many aspects of character beyond surface deep.The use of the drip technique, among other textural effects, can be considered Jumee’s signature touch.

These flourishes add depth and melancholy to what would otherwise appear a clean and detached portrait. Jumee’s works display his innate sense for textural depth and allow his work to be instantly recognizable.More of Paitoon Jumee’s unique art can be found at https://onarto.com/artists/paitoon-jumee/ and https://tuskgallery.wordpress.com/thai-artists/paitoon-jumee/.

 

Every Line is Not a Straight Line

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Today has been a rough day, although all the roughness is in my own head. 

Do you have days like this? Where you just can’t function like you’re supposed to for one reason or another? Yet you have to?

And this frustration runs through the rest of your day.

What I wouldn’t do to be perfect.

Everything written out, scheduled, cleaned, detailed, caught up, thought out, followed through, crossed off, and completed.

Logic has never been my best friend. Nor has written out, scheduled, cleaned, detailed, caught up, thought out, followed through, crossed off, and completed.

It’s all cute and forgivable when you’re 12 or 13.  When you’re older it feels like you’ve been left behind.

When I do things my way it’s often the screwy way, the backwards way, the long way. I don’t mind, because I never really notice that it’s the screwy way, the backwards way, or the long way. I just do it my way.

People then ask why I make so much more work for myself. Why I didn’t go directly from A to B. Why I make things so complicated.

They’re right. I’m just wired wrong, I guess. I get everything done sooner or later. It’s often not perfect, but I’ve always made a decent effort. Unfortunately, a decent effort doesn’t always cut it.

At this point I don’t know how to change my flow. 

And I don’t think I can.

I’m beginning to see why younger people get so frustrated with older people. We don’t move or think fast enough, straight enough, purposely enough.  We don’t mess things up on purpose — to us we’re doing it the right way, just like everyone else.

I’m frustrating to myself these days.

Some of us used to walk that straight line quite well, but now have a hard time staying on it.

I think I wandered off that line a long time ago. As a matter of fact, I’m one of those who often think…

….What line?

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — the Fibonacci Sequence

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The Fibonacci sequence is one of the most famous formulas in mathematics. Each number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers that precede it. So, the sequence goes: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on. It’s been called “nature’s secret code,” and “nature’s universal rule.” Just take a look at the pattern it creates and you can instantly recognize how this sequence works in nature like an underlying universal grid. A perfect example of this is the nautilus shell, whose chambers adhere to the Fibonacci sequence’s logarithmic spiral almost perfectly. This famous pattern shows up everywhere in nature including flowers, pinecones, hurricanes, and even huge spiral galaxies in space.

Jonathan Cleveland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Embrace

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I’ve always been averse to the quote ‘Act your own age.’ The older I get, the more I try to embrace my inner kid.

~ Sylvester Stallone

 

 

It Doesn’t Stop .. Not If You Don’t Let It

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Here I am, late Sunday night, listening to the above music, reflecting on what just happened in my airy fairy world.

I have talked to many people who believe there are signs of otherworldly things around us. Messages and thoughts being sent and left behind and forwarded to and through us all the time. All we have to do is sit and listen.

Now, I don’t have a direct connection to any celestial/spiritual being. Not that I know of. Although I must say in the last few years I’ve been getting connections I never believed existed. Take The Cat Story about the cat who showed up at my son’s memorial and also at Thanksgiving, The Cat Story — Part 2. 

I got a text from a long-time-ago friend a few weeks ago; someone I hadn’t talked to in ages but remained friends with (if that’s possible). She asked if I wanted to go to Paris with her. She was also going to ask my sister-in-law to go.

I haven’t heard from her directly in 30 years.

I only started seeing my sister-in-law last December when her daughter/my goddaughter got married.

I didn’t even know friend A knew sister B.

Okay. That in itself freaked me out, because somehow through the past few years we had communicated my desire to see Paris. A kinda bucket list thing that would probably never come to fruition.

And she was ready to start making plans.

Well, it just so happened that last year I wrote a story called “I Dreamed I Went to Paris,” which is a 67-year-old’s version of going to Paris for a week. (No real trip was ever involved).

Tonight I decided to send my friend the story for her perusal.

Sent the thing, went to bed, went to my phone (which was on Messenger) and I absently dialed her number. (I had to go there to get her email addy). I “butt dialed” her number.

I couldn’t figure out how to disconnect fast enough and she answered.

A friend I hadn’t talked to in over 30 years.

And we talked on the phone for over an hour.

Like it was just yesterday.

There are no accidents, my friend. We shared the pains and joys of our past years, realizing that we were still so very much alike. Our dreams, our airy fairyness, our laughter and our experiences.

We just hadn’t shared them with each other lately.

I don’t believe it was an accident to butt dial my good friend. It was the same fate faerie that brought Mikey the cat my way. The same faerie who brought me back together when a friend I thought I’d lost years ago. The same faerie  that encourages me to dream, physically and mentally and inspirationally.

The faerie that has put sharing in my heart and creativity in the air.

There are no accidents, my friends. Don’t try and explain the cosmos. Just go along for the ride.

You’ll not believe the things you will experience!!

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Tin Yan Chan

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Born in Hin Kwong Village of Kwangtung, China to a family of artists in 1942, Tin Yan Chan became a popular floral and landscape artist in Canada in the late 20th century.Deeply moved by his first encounter with the western work of art, Chan found himself filled with inspiration and imagination.At 16 he was admitted to the Wuhan South Central China Academy of Fine Arts.Chan attended the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts where he began to realize the joy of creating bold compositions and expressions.In 1968, the artist immigrated to Canada and started his career as a professional artist. With his experience in China and France, which embraced both ancient and modern Impressionist abstract and contemporary works of arts, he became confident in creating his own style of art work. Chan creates a compelling blend of Asian and Western aesthetics in his snowscapes and floral scenes, producing  works in both watercolor and oil.Delineation of tree branches recalls the curves and strokes of Chinese calligraphy, as does his subject choice of serene natural scenes.Even when working in the strict discipline of the Chinese brush painting tradition, he  scatters exuberant and undisciplined patches of brilliant color throughout his compositions.More of Tin Yan Chan’s colorful art can be found at https://koymangalleries.com/artist/tin-yan-chan/.

 

 

 

Select a Category … Any Catagory

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A lot of you are professional bloggers, weekend bloggers, once-a-month bloggers, daily bloggers — it doesn’t matter how often you write but that you write.

The other day I was re-reading/proofreading my blog on Creativity, adding categories and tags to encourage further reading under those … categories.

Now, I know the more you can narrow the fields of tags and categories, the more likely the Google search engine will find your blog. At least I think that’s how it’s supposed to work. I’m not a techie in any stretch of the imagination, so I really have no idea.

But I glanced over to my categories. It’s been a long time since I’ve checked them out.

I probably should have been looking at them a little more closely.

Many categories make sense — popular words like creativity, encouragement, love, babies, and camping are familiar to all of us.

But let me share a few that stirred something else in me. Puzzlement.

  • Amazing. The whole world is amazing. I am amazing. You are amazing. No one searches for “amazing” unless there’s a noun after it.
  • Being ____. I know there are better words for being busy, being cold, being crazy, being fooled. Offhand I don’t know  what they would be, though.
  • Same is true with action phrases that start with Getting or Losing. 
  • Blank paintings. Is that the same as a blank canvas? A blank wall? I wonder what blog that was for.
  • Bugs. The creepy crawly kind or the way some people affect you?
  • Cockroaches. Same as above.
  • Digital arat. How many people search for that misspelling?
  • Same for firewors, menopuse, and time trael.
  • Messing around. What does that actually mean?
  • Paper cutting and papercutting. Pick one, would you?
  • Reflexion. I suppose that’s supposed to be Reflection, but it’s from the England side of the ocean.
  • Sculpture or Sculptures. In this instance, plural means the same as single.
  • The … followed by any number of nouns. The Arts, The Blues, The Gambler, The Mind, The Seasons, The Unknown, The Woods. Are you seeing a pattern here?
  • w. Nuff said about that typo.
  • WATER PHOTOGRAPHY. Kinda looks like the caps stuck on that category.

As you can see, my categories need some of work. Haste made waste, and all of that. 

Haste also made for some unique category names.