I thought I’d do a little self promotion this fine evening.
Not just because it’s MY Gallery, but I can’t begin to tell you how many unique, different, extraordinary artists there are in the world! I am blown away by these people’s ideas, whether it’s miniatures, fabric art, ceramics, photography, metal work, or dozens of other mediums.
If you are bored one afternoon or evening and want to get a more detailed look at some of the fantastic artists I’ve come across, stop on by. We’re open 24/7, there’s no admission charge, and you never know what creative world lies just around the corner!
Now that I am retired I am not as much against Mondays as I was when I punched a time clock at work. If the day has nothing in particular scheduled, I sleep a little later, enjoy my coffee a little longer, and waste a little more time on my computer.
My Sunday Evening Art Gallery folder is filling up fast. Plus I have 2 pages of possible unique artists to explore.
I know no one is as excited or interested in the array of unusual and unique artists I’ve discovered, but I think that’s true for all of us, no matter what our creative outlet.
I’m a unique art fan. I also love writing and crafting (only one particular item). My family isn’t terribly interested in any of the above, which is alright by me. At least I’m not in competition with any of them.
But it’s nice to find others who are interested in the same things you are. I’ve let writing simmer on the back burner for a while now, but I have friends who are writers and poets and I love where they are going with their work. I have friends who have turned from active poets to active painters, and others who are active woodworkers or crocheting superstars.
I believe in shining no matter how good or talented you are.
But that’s just me.
But I digress.
The Gallery folder is filling up faster than I can post. I can’t even keep up with the actualgallery, although it doesn’t get as much traffic as my blog.
The seat of creation has to lie somewhere, doesn’t it?
Here are a few images of artists waiting in the wings:
David de la Mano
Ruby Silvious
Yarn Bombing
Dino Rosin
I hope you all stay around for the ride. I love this stuff! I hope you do too. And stop by the Gallery and see all of the artists I’ve added!
For those of you who enjoy my Sunday Evening Art Gallery entries, I have added quite a number of beautiful images in many artists’ galleries. The depth of these artists (and many more) is just amazing.
As the air I breathe is drawn from the great repositories of nature, as the light on my book is yielded by a star a hundred millions of miles distant, as the poise of my body depends on the equilibrium of centrifugal and centripetal forces, so the hours should be instructed by the ages, and the ages explained by the hours.
Have been working diligently on my Sunday Evening Art Gallery main site. Here are some of the newer galleries I’ve added….more images, more variety … Can’t wait for you to come on over!
Are you a fan of the “Arts”? What sort of art calls to you?
Encyclopedia Britannia says: Traditional categories within the arts include literature (including poetry, drama, story, and so on), the visual arts (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.), the graphic arts (painting, drawing, design, and other forms expressed on flat surfaces), the plastic arts (sculpture, modeling), the decorative arts (enamel work, furniture design, mosaic, etc.), the performing arts (theater, dance, music), music (as composition), and architecture (often including interior design).
I can dig all those categories.
Some of us are very invested in the Arts. We are musicians, painters, sculptors, novelists. We show and sell our interpretations of life and the world to others who want to feel what we feel.
Others of us are merely voyeurs. Nothing wrong with that — our lives are so busy that there’s not often a free moment to just sit and stare at a watercolor or pen and ink drawing. We look, we say, “hey! That’s cool!’, and go on our merry way.
At least we stop.
I think if you love creativity it’s hard to follow only one path. I have a couple of friends in here that do everything from quilting to watercolor painting, from drip art to portraits. It’s such a wide and encompassing world it’s hard to resist playing in it, either by being a voyeur or a participant.
Last night I spent a couple of hours downloading images from an amazing jewelry shop in Japan. Why would I do that? What was I doing there?
As often the case, I don’t know how one thing led to another to another and another and there I was, appreciating the craftsmanship and style of a culture way on the other side of the world from me.
Is it art, though?
I realize my Sunday Galleries are always art from my point of view. You may love Andy Warhol or Claude Monet. You may prefer jewelry artists to barn artists. Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism.
That’s the beauty of Art. It’s something different to everyone.
We all have our tendencies, even if we think we are totally objective. I can see I like structure, texture, and designs that make sense (to me). I like landscapes, jewelry, and sparkly things.
But I try and balance that with truly unique art I’ve never seen before. Discovering artists such as Bisa Butler (quilting) or Ron Ben-Israel (cakes) or Tina Lane (glasswork) or Chris Maynard (feather art) has been the most rewarding and fun times of my life. I mean — who knew they were even out there?
Sometimes an idea pops into my head (scary thought!); other times I see a sample on Facebook or a reference online someplace or even while reading. Some pan out, others are just one special thing among a hundred blah things. And, OMG, just now, while Googling “What is Art?” in images I just found about six or seven new, wonderful, creative artists! See? You can do it, too!
Stick with me. This ride will open your eyes to the creative world around you.
Lately I have been going through my blogs over at my Sunday Evening Art Gallery, double checking links, adding more images, correcting picture spacing, turning it into the blog it’s SUPPOSED to be.
Funny how, at first, I was more anxious about getting the images up and running, not thinking through what I would want to see and experience if I were visiting for the first time.
I think we all are over anxious at one time or another.
I don’t have as many followers over there as I do here. I still start out sharing unique art as a Goddess thing. It’s only after a few months that I give the artists their own world, their own room, so their creations can be slowly and thoughtfully and individually perused.
Quality should be in everything you do. When they say “quality over quantity” that is so true for so many things we do these days. The quality of one or two friends overrides mass popularity on Facebook or Twitter. The taste of homemade spaghetti sauce that has taken hours to prepare rocks over the $1.99 jar substitute. Going to a live concert/sports game/class is far more rewarding than seeing the same on TV or the computer screen.
That’s why I want the images I share with you be clean, communicative, and organized. Just like you were strolling through a gallery in an art museum. The gallery should be dedicated to just one artist. No extraneous words or music; no distractions. Just a chance for you to take your time and really look at the creativity around you.
Here’s a few gems I have come across that I almost forgot about….
I hope you take time to wander around a gallery or two. Follow if you’d like; just stop by if you don’t. It’s amazing how much unique art there is around the world.
And I plan on discovering it all one gallery at a time.
I wanted to address the reactions to yesterday’s Sunday Evening Art Gallery, Bruno Pontiroli. Bruno is a surrealist, and his paintings are creative in an uncomfortable way.
Those of you who responded that they made you uncomfortable; that you didn’t really care for the vibes the images gave you — Thank you. I can’t tell you how good feedback feels.
That is the purpose of Art.
I don’t remember how I found Bruno, but I’ve had him in my gallery repertoire for some time. His paintings are clear and expressive. But the images themselves made me take a step back and wonder. Should I? Or shouldn’t I?
I honestly enjoy all the artists I highlight. In that same vein, I’m not always comfortable with their art.
Some art is really hard to look at. To understand. Hard to like.
I am proud of those of you who had adverse reactions to yesterday’s art and said so. You said nothing derogatory about the artist — just the form the artist took.
Keep your minds open.
Its good for you, it’s good for the world of art. If a certain style or piece of art stirs something inside of you — good OR bad — then the artist has achieved what they’ve worked a life time to achieve.
A beautiful summer’s day outside. I should be out there, walking, or at least fetching the dog, walking down the paths, daydreaming of new story lines or what color to color my hair.
Instead, I’m inside, sitting in front of my computer. Final editing, I say. Looking for dinosaur remote cars for my grandson, I say. Ordering the six disc Lord of the Rings/Hobbit movies, I say.
This is insane.
I’m going outside in five minutes. I just wanted to share that I have found so many amazing, beautiful, unusual artists for upcoming Sunday Evening Art Galleries that I’m about to burst.
Humankind can be sooooooo creative. Amazing to the point where they put me to shame.
Happy, it’s okay shame, so to speak.
Here are a couple of pictures of upcoming blogs: Take a look and be amazed, too.
kalamkari
Jeff Bell
cars
Ellen Jewett
There are more, more, more. I hope I don’t overcrowd your Reader. But I want to get the majesty and quirkiness and beauty of the Arts out there where it is loved and appreciated — in your hands.
Continue your creative quest. Keep trying. Don’t be afraid to be the same; don’t be afraid to be different.
And share your creativity with those around you. With me. With the world.
I have noticed that the number of followers for my blog has been slowly increasing lately, and for that I am soooo grateful. It means so much to me that you are either enjoying my BoHo Chic Old Lady offerings, my newly discovered Faerie Paths, or my love of discovery of unique art.
And I’ve been thinking. I would bet that more than a few of you are artistically inclined. The spectrum of creativity is far and wide. And I’d love to know about it. About YOU.
I’ve gone on about others’ creativity for years. I have made friends with poets, painters, fabric artists, and potters. I’ve shared their art and websites to encourage my readers to explore further the gifts we all are given.
If you are developing an artistic talent, why not let me know? You don’t have to be first in your field to talk about your creative direction — just someone who loves what they do.
Send me an email at writing.unicorn@gmail.com and tell me about your art. Do you have a website? Do you have pictures of your work? Are you trying to learn a particular skill? Have questions? You can also answer this post and I can go through it and put something together.
True artists get excited about other artists. Help promote each other. Encourage each other.
I am home bound (like most of you), and see no exit for the foreseeable future (except to grocery shop). The world is stressing all of us out, and I myself can do nothing about it except to stay inside and away from the virus.
So…..
I have decided to post a few more Sunday Evening Gallery artists during the next few weeks. We need more beauty, more creativity in our lives. We can’t do much about what’s going around except stay in and stay away, so why not fill your world with unique and beautiful art?
On days I don’t introduce someone new I will repost some of my early Gallery artists so you can revisit their unique beauty.
Stay in, stay safe, and dream of green fields and fresh air.
Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765), a Piacenza-born artist, was a celebrated painter of views of modern and ancient Rome and a prolific architect and draftsman during the eighteenth century.As both painter and teacher, Panini was versatile in his craft and, accordingly, was highly respected for his contribution to the art scene in Italy.Although Panini worked as an architect, designing Cardinal Valenti’s villa and the chapel in Santa Maria della Scala (1728), and produced fireworks, festival apparatuses, and other ephemeral architectural decorations (and painted magnificent records of them), in the last thirty years of his life he specialized in painting the views of Rome that secured his lasting reputation.These were of two main types, vedute prese da i luoghi (carefully and accurately rendered views of actual places) and vedute ideate (imaginary views and combinations of particular buildings and monuments).His views of ancient and modern Rome encompassed practically everything worth noting in the eighteenth-century guidebooks to the Eternal City.
These paintings were not idealized or symbolic representations of Rome’s past and present grandeur, but accurate and objective portrayals of the most famous, most picturesque, or most memorable sights of the city.
More of Giovanni Paolo Panini‘s amazing paintings can be found at museums and websites around the Internet.
Snow Snow Snow! Wonderful to look at, fun to ski or toboggan in, yet hell to drive through. Alas, you in the southern part of the country/continent/Earth ball — yours will come. Right now for me it makes for a wonderful meditation background.
I have some great Sunday Evening Art Galleries coming up. If you have favorite artists and styles, be sure to let me know. But here’s a peek at a few up-and-comers:
Matthias Jung
Alexandra Spyratos
Masks
I have been behind in adding galleries to my actual gallery, Sunday Evening Art Gallery. Here are a few recent additions:
Duro Olowu is a Nigerian-born, London-based fashion designer. He is best known for his innovative combinations of patterns and textiles that draw inspiration from his international background.He grew up living in both Nigeria and London and spent summers in Geneva, immersing him in multiple cultures.From an early age, his enthusiasm for fashion was inspired by the unexpected mix of fabrics, textures and draping techniques of the clothing worn by the women that surrounded him.He is best known for his innovative combinations of patterns and textiles that draw inspiration from his international background.
His first collection in 2006 was an instant hit with fashion editors and buyers worldwide and an international sell out in its worldwide stockists at the time.Alluring silhouettes, sharp tailoring, original prints juxtaposed with luxurious vintage fabrics in “off beat” yet harmonious combinations are Olowu’s signature.His colors are bright, mismatched, yet coordinated, reflecting the brightness of life and of being a woman.Olowu says, “My idea [was] to create a beautiful feast for the eyes reminiscent of a warm and joyful season filled with international treasures and signature fabrics.”
Rob Mulholland is a sculptor and environmental artist based in the United Kingdom who exhibits throughout the U.K and world-wide.Mullholland explores the complex relationship between humans and the natural world.Utilizing a wide variety of forms and materials, his sculpture installations interact with their surroundings.He incorporates mirrored surfaces in his sculptures to reflect the given environment and alter the viewers perception of the space.The reflection is purposely distorted inviting the viewer to question their individual relationship with their surroundings.As leaves change colors and fall, clouds and storms pass by, daylight waxes and wanes, and people walk by, these stationary figures shimmer and change, creating a reflection of the mood around them.They can be eerie, ghostly, magical, and whimsical by turns.More of Rob Mulholland‘s remarkable visions can be found at http://robmulholland.org/.
A quiet evening. Been wandering through some of my older Sunday Evening Art Galleries. Such talent, such imagination. Let me share some of the highlights with you. Then click on the blue name and take a look yourself at the magical creativity of our fellow artists.
The goal of Tresor Mukonkole’s artistic vision is to illustrate certain complexities, including his artistic point of view, of the world.Mukonkole comes from the Congo, an unstable country on all fronts, underground rich in minerals, yet full of numerous conflicts between different political and economic factors.From the soil of the Congo, his homeland, his work as an artist is about the analysis of the presence of man on earth, and his impact on everything, especially the environment and the future of nature.Mukonkole says he produces a narrative from his paintings with butterflies in order to express himself on the beauty and the fragility embodied by nature and the earth.His artistic work aims to illustrate his perspective as an artist on the threats to our environment by presenting a glimmer of positivity to replace the darkness.Despite the complexities of his world and his artistic calling, his butterfly paintings are bright and full of life and hope.
Peter Jansen (1956) studied Physics and Philosophy at the university.For a number of years he worked as a guide, accompanying groups on survival and canoe trips, after which he dedicated his live entirely to the arts.Based on his ideas on transposition and movement the artist uses shapes of the human body to create energetic spaces.In his earlier works he focused on open spaces, created almost free of matter and weight.In his recent sculptures he captures sequences of human movements in space and time, in a single frame.
More of Peter Jansen‘s amazing sculptures can be found across the Internet.
Colin Fraser is a contemporary Scottish painter known for his detailed still life, landscapes, and interiors.
Fraser has long been established as one of the world’s leading egg tempera painters.
Born in 1957 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, he studied art at Brighton Polytechnic before moving to Sweden in 1981.Fraser’s use of egg-tempera gives his work a light-filled, translucent quality unequaled in other mediums.It is notoriously hard to control and seldom used by contemporary artists.“It’s a medium fraught with technical difficulties, but therein lies its charm. Brushstrokes dry instantly and are never really fully opaque, so just about every mark the painter makes shows,” Fraser has explained.“You can’t force your will on it, it forces you to accept the marks you make and live in the ‘moment’, with each brushstroke that is applied to the panel.”
More of Colin Fraser‘s work can be found at galleries around the Internet.
Artist Trading Cards for International Artists Day
Today I went wandering around the Internet looking for images for an upcoming Sunday Evening Art Gallery blog about Reflections. During this search I came across so many amazing images.
Amazing isn’t even touching upon the truth.
If I once thought there was competition to get my writing out into the universe, it is mirrored tenfold in the number of creative images artists, photographers, graphic artists, and other creative muses out there.
The world is an amazing place. Artists abound in so many ways, with so many ideas. I am blown away.
Google a phrase, an idea, then go to images or to the websites that pop up. Read the articles. Look at their pictures. Their backgrounds are as diverse as grains of sand. But each of their creations are unique. There are hundreds of versions of an image such as trees or ice or dreams. The visions are endless.
Just like the Sunday Evening Art Gallery gallery I just posted yesterday. You have nightmarish paintings by Zdzisław Beksinski sitting next to paintings of lovely Indian women by Raja Ravi Varma, which are down the hall from unusual Chairs, which is some ways from Rita Faes who takes remarkable photos of flowers, who is way down from Pumpkin Carving King Ray Villafane, who is quite a bit away from the famous, beautiful Fabergé Eggs.
See what I mean? Such varied talent, such amazing work. Everywhere.
Whether you paint leaves or embroider geometric designs or make stained glass, your work adds nothing but glitter to the Earth’s aura. Every time you write a poem, every time you carve a pumpkin or paint a watercolor landscape you add to the positive vibes of the world.
Just like these artists I came across online who did miracles with bottles or mirrors or paint drops, all you need is a dream and some imagination and the urge to do something fun.
Ronnie Hughes was born in 1954 and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
He learned glassblowing with the help of a friend after graduating from Wake Forest University in 1976..In 1980, after hiking on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Hughes came upon a field of hundreds of breathtaking Pink Lady Slipper orchids, which inspired him to change his subject matter completely.Using both clear and colored glasses, Hughes create his wildflowers and then integrates them with his free-formed, solid glass bases. His sculptures stand entirely on their own in continuous glass, a more challenging and time-consuming process.Hughes believe that the purity of clear glass lends a mystical feel to the flowers, emphasizing the delicacy and fragility of our natural world.The colored blossoms provide a vibrant focal point while the clear glass challenges the observer to look more closely and to use their imagination to complete his vision.More of Ronnie Hughes‘ delicate, beautiful work can be found at https://hughesglass.net/
José Victoriano (Carmelo Carlos) González-Pérez, better known as Juan Gris (1887-1927) built upon the foundations of early Cubism and steered the movement in new directions.
Gris was a Spanish painter and sculptor born in Madrid who lived and worked in France most of his life.
Cubism is an early 20th-century style and movement in art, especially painting, in which perspective with a single viewpoint was abandoned and use was made of simple geometric shapes, interlocking planes, and, later, collage.
Unlike Picasso and Braque, whose Cubist works were monochromatic, Gris’s chief aim was to please the eye through color.
Often he incorporated newsprint and advertisements into his work, leaving more of the original pieces of ads and newsprint intact, as if to preserve the integrity of the originals.
Gris’s later works exhibited a greater simplification of geometric structure, a blurring of the distinction between objects and setting, between subject matter and background.
The clear-cut underlying geometric framework of his work controls the finer elements of his paintings and their composition, including the small planes of the faces, become part of the unified whole.
There is something surrealistic about Valerio D’Ospina’s dramatic artwork.
Looking at the city scapes, one feels as if they are moving forward in time, glimpsing life as it blurs past the window.
D’Ospina was born in Italy, but now lives and works in Pennsylvania.
The artist paints gritty scenes from industry including ship yards, trains, and urbanscapes.
D’Ospina also finds beauty in industrial transportation, specifically oil tankers and old locomotives that lumber into rail yards or sit docked in harbors with a captivating sense of dignity.
His perspective has an edge of starkness to them, as his brush strokes streak across the canvas.
It is a sharp, beautiful, unique way to view the world.
That young minds and old should be focused on more important things like finance and politics and how to earn a living.
Well, art is a miracle of the mind, heart, and soul, too.
I’ve been finding a lot of new and unique artists to share in futureSunday Evening Art Gallery blogs. And with each piece of art comes an overwhelming sense of self. Of accomplishment. Of caring and sharing.
Here are a few of the artist I’ve already featured. Take a look at the thought, the fine detail, the foresight these people had in just creating something:
Here is a sampling of some of the artists to come:
Pegi Smith
Matt Molloy
Vanessa Davis
Just think for a moment all the work that went into each creation. All the thought, emotion, and precise movements it took to get their art just right..
Art is all around you.
If ever in doubt, just open your eyes. Hereare a few views of art made by a more “cosmic” artist … be sure to take in this sort of art when you can …
Nolan Preece was born in 1947 in Vernal, Utah. His parents encouraged his early interest in art, and he was helping his father in the home darkroom at age five.
A photographer for over forty years, Preece has devoted his work to understanding and mastering the challenging techniques of early photography, but also promoting new processes such as the chemogram, an experimental process he discovered in the late nineteen-seventies using cliche-verre (print on glass.).
Preece drips chemical solvents onto glass that has been coated with smoke. To convert this glass matrix or negative into a lasting paper print, it is enlarged onto fiber based paper. This process must be completed in the darkroom.
The chemigram combines the physics of painting (varnish, wax, oil) and the chemistry of photography (photosensitive emulsion, developer, fixer); without the use of a camera, an enlarger, and in full light.
He has his own methods and applies them meticulously.
Over the past thirty years, the artist has continued to create images of surprising complexity and beauty, exploring new methods including the use of digital technology.
Preece’s work evokes a speculative, poetic feeling unlike other forms of painting.
Preece has said that the essential qualities of this experience include a sense of translucency, stilled movement, vastness within the intimate, and a quietude that contains within it a spectrum of unsettled emotions.
A lovely, crazy, wild, serene, inquisitive, jovial, restful, whirlwind, boring, or otherwise refreshing weekend.
I thought I would take a Monday evening to show off some of the beautifully intricate and unusual and amazing art I’ve come across since I started my Sunday Evening Art Gallery blog.
I cannot tell you how much each one of these artists have taken my breath away with their talent, their determination, and their creativity. Hope you appreciate the galleries, and if you are interested, come on over to the main Sunday Evening blog and see a lot more of their magic. Follow if you wish — just peek in now and then if you don’t. But no matter where you go, keep an eye out for the unusual, the beautiful, the world of art.
One of her professors asked her to create a sculpture that felt like a landscape but was not a sculpture of a landscape. She had no idea what that meant, and he told her it was up to her to figure out.
Meade decided to see what it would look like if she put black shadows on the human body.
And then she started painting not only shadows but also a full mapping of light in grayscale, highlights, darks, everything coming together in a mask of paint on her human palettes.
Meade could make people and things look like two-dimensional paintings of themselves
After she discovered this, she left politics behind and made her job teaching herself how to paint, through the process of inventing this new style of painting.
When one thinks of Surrealism movement (1920s-1960s) they think of Salvador Dali or Rene Magritte.
But Hiëronymus Bosch (1450-1516) was considered a highly imaginative “creator of devils” and a powerful inventor of curious creations full of satirical and moralizing meaning.
His paintings are sermons on folly and sin, addressed often to initiates and consequently difficult to translate.
Unable to unlock the mystery of the artist’s works, critics at first believed that he must have been affiliated with secret sects.
Although the themes of his work were often religious, his choice of symbols to represent the temptation and eventual ensnarement of humans in earthly evils caused many critics to view the artist as a practitioner of the occult arts.
More recent scholarship views Bosch as a talented artist who possessed deep insight into human character and as one of the first artists to represent abstract (surreal) concepts in his work.
No matter what Hiëronymus Bosch’s beliefs and involvements, his art was quite surreal, especially for the 1400’s.
Just opened another gallery over at Sunday Evening Art Gallery, and running through all the different galleries, I decided to show off a few of the images you didn’t see here. It is my hope that you wander over to http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.com and take a look at the wonderfully creative artists I’ve come across.. These people blow my mind. I hope that if you’re not following me over there, you’ll think about it. I have a ton of artists waiting for Sundays here, then exploding in their glory over at the SEAG. Come and stay a while!
Ellie Davies has have been working in UK forests for the past eight years, making work which explores the complex interrelationship between the landscape and the individual.
Davies notes UK forests have been shaped by human processes over thousands of years and include ancient woodlands, timber forestry, wildlife reserves and protected Areas of Outstanding Natural.
As such, forests are potent symbols in folklore, fairy tale and myth, places of enchantment and magic as well as of danger and mystery.
Against this backdrop, Davies’ work explores the ways in which identity is formed by the landscapes we live and grow up in.
The forest becomes a studio, forming a backdrop to contextualize the work, so that each piece draws on its location, a golden tree introduced into a thicket shimmers in the darkness, painted paths snake through the undergrowth, and strands of wool are woven between trees mirroring colors and formal elements within the space.
Chrissy Angliker is a Brooklyn-based Swiss/American artist who was born in Zurich and raised in Greifensee and Winterthur, Working from controlled subject matter, she quickly loses herself in the chaotic magic of the process.
Her first painting did not go as planned. “I thought I would begin with a self portrait,” she explains. “I began to paint the eyebrows, and the paint began to drip unexpectedly. It was beyond my control, and I had a very strong emotional reaction.”
The beauty of her method of drips is a connection to the chaos she finds in her art.
Well, I guess today was the last day I can wear my heavy-duty sweater as an outer garment. With temps hanging around 25 to 30 degrees, even my hot flashes won’t hold up against the chill and wind.
And speaking of chill, and cold, and snow, and sleet (were we really talking about all that?) I have been searching for a new name for my sometimes-Thursday evening art gallery. I am finding so many fantastic artists that I just can’t help sharing them more than once a week.
I hope you don’t mind.
So thinking of the depths of winter that is soon to arrive, I thought of soft music, crackling fires, and rooms full of art. Cinnamon and apple and spice potpourri and mulled wine or shots of Rumchata. So with thoughts of snuggling and armchair tours around the gallery, I’ve decided.
Art Around the Fireplace
Or should it be…
Thursday Art Gallery Around the Fire
Or maybe…
Sunday Evening Art Gallery on Thursdays In Front of the Fire
You see why I have trouble with subject lines for emails at work…
You all are a delight. I hope you enjoy the unique art as much as I do. And if you ever want to see more of these artists, THE gallery is open 24/7.
Here is a preview of what’s in store this winter in the Gallery….
Thomas Arvid captures our wonder with his over sized still life compositions of wine and the rituals surrounding it.
Arvid astounds viewers with the intricate details of his images and with his mastery of light, depth, and reflection.
The magic of his painting is in Arvid’s ability to visualize and chronicle an entire scene beyond the frame – to tell a story of enjoyment and the good life –using lush color and adroit composition.
Arvid is passionate about art and wine: a collector of both, he strives to capture the pleasure of a life well-lived on each canvas.
Arvid’s approach to wine and painting is surprising, given his background as a Detroit native raised to parlay his inherent artistic talent into a secure job in the industrial complex.
According to Arvid, “Wine is a great subject because people are familiar with it; they really connect to it. My paintings are really the landscapes between people sharing wine – it’s amazing that my collectors find personal fulfillment in my work, especially when I’m just doing what I love.”
Friday the 13th. Spooky for some, lucky for others.
My black (and white) cat and I are taking the opportunity this day to promote my other blog, SUNDAY EVENING ART GALLERY.
I have added a lot of additional images to each artist’s base. When I first introduce the artists here on Sunday nights, it’s often hard to pick just 5 or 6 of their masterpieces.
That’s what the Gallery is for.
So when you are in need of that “wow…how do they DO that?” moment, pop on over to the other side. Better yet, sign up to follow the blog. It doesn’t fill your mailbox full of fluff junk mail; just notices when I open a new gallery. Which is at least once a week.
Come on — take a chance. It’s a fun world to explore.
Each pot is built in the coil method, one layer at a time. It is then embellished or carved and set to dry for a month before it is fired.
The firing process involves bringing the kiln up very slowly to a temperature of around 1300 degrees and then it is turned off and watched until it hits 990 degrees. After the firing, the piece is lifted out with Kevlar gloves and placed in sawdust to “smoke” the pot in the old Pueblo style tradition.
Lucy uses no glazes in her process –the sheen comes from burnishing (polishing) the piece with a small quartz stone until it is smooth and silky to the touch.
Lucy pulls from her many years as a massage therapist and touching people to listen to what the clay wants to be and how it wishes to be transformed into shape in the physical universe.
Lucy Clark explains her talent best. “To me, life is a work of art, always in progress and only finished when we take our last breath. It is through this belief that art informs all that I am and all that I do. Even within the daily routines that consume so much of our time, art is alive and only waits for our notice.”
My research folders for my Sunday Evening Art Gallery are bursting at the seams with new creative artists! I am so psyched at the amazing talents I’ve found that I’m almost tempted to open a second evening’s showing — Thursday Evening Wine and Art Gallery or Thursday Tea and Art or Thursday Evening Art Walk something like that. (Suggestions are welcome!)
Here is a peek of coming attractions:
Tell your family — tell your friends — every Sunday evening, and perhaps every Thursday evening, you will find magical art and artists here at Humoring the Goddess, then in excess at the Sunday Evening Art Gallery.
Every now and then karma comes back and makes me feel great.
Karma refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Sometimes we hope karma comes back and kicks butt to the meanies of the world. Other times we hope that because we’ve been good or loving that we can win the lottery.
Sometimes something I’ve blogged circles around and shines sunshine back in my face. Last December my Sunday Evening Art Gallery Blog showcased Collin van der Sluijs , a muralist painter from the Netherlands. A few months later there was a comment from the website Life in Maastrichtwho asked if they could use info from my blog to showcase Collin, as he was from Maastricht too. Their website has been part of the Netherlands social media communities since June 2015, covering news and stories about one of the most beautiful cities in the Netherlands. Of course I said yes.
They later stated, “…contacted Collin and he’s happy to participate, thank you for your post, otherwise I wouldn’t have found him.”
So imagine. I got to learn about a town named Maastricht in a country half way around the world, and helped their website find and highlight a homeboy. To me, that’s karma.
When you work inside an office all week, one tends to fist pump the air when the weekend comes and the weather is beautiful. So I expect all of you to go outside and fist pump today, then when you come in this evening, put on some great relaxing music and come visit the Sunday Evening Art Gallery.
It’s easy to follow, and the art I’m coming across is so wonderfully beautiful and unique. I’m adding galleries all the time, plus adding more images to the ones I have. Tell your friends! Say, “Man, have you checkout out that Sunday Evening Art Gallery? Man, that art is so awesome!” (or something to that effect…)
Athens-based architect Katerina Kamprani‘s redesigns formerly useful everyday objects in her Uncomfortable series.
The goal was to re-design useful objects making them uncomfortable but usable and maintain the semiotics of the original item.
Kamprani calls Uncomfortable “a collection of deliberately inconvenient everyday objects,” adding that “it exists in sketches and 3-D visualizations and has no meaningful purpose.”
Kamprani first started the project for no apparent reason other than she wanted to design something, and making things uncomfortable was challenging and amusing to her.
“My project is very carefully designed to annoy — it feeds from the design of each original object and makes a little joke.”
“I am hoping it is not in the list of ‘another badly designed object’ but in the list of extraordinary deliberately badly designed object(s).”
She is an architect and does the work of a rational engineer by day. By night, she is a design enthusiast, interested both in graphic and product design.
Born in 1944, Michael Parkes studied graphic art and painting at the University of Kansas, and then traveled for 3 years through Asia and Europe.
Parkes is both a uniquely talented painter and master of the art of original stone lithography.
He is a painter, sculptor, and stone lithographer.
But more so he has been called the world’s leading Magical Realist.
It has been said of Parkes, “His work evokes a mysterious atmosphere, which can often only be deciphered with the help of ancient mythology and eastern philosophy.”
More of Michael Parkes‘ striking work — sculpture, painting and lithographs — can be found at Michael Parkes.
Ercole Barovier (1889-1972) was the son of Benvenuto Barovier and a member of a centuries-long lineage in the family company, Vetreria Artistica Barovier & C. founded in 1295.
He was named the artistic director of the company in 1926, and quickly rose up the ranks of the family business.
After becoming sole proprietor in 1936, he merged his family’s company with the Toso family to become Barovier & Toso in 1939.
Over the course of his 50-year activity, he invented numerous decorative techniques which contributed significantly to the renovation of art glass.
From the beginning of the Thirties, he dedicated himself entirely to experimenting with new multi-colored effects, in particular he perfected the colorazione a caldo senza fusione technique (staining heat without fusion) which he first used in 1935-36.
He was active for fifty years in the company, and amassed a portfolio of no fewer than 25,000 designs.
Barovier’s work is part of many major museums’ collections around the world.
More of Ercole Barovier’s work can be found Ercole Barovier.
The other day a friend asked me why I didn’t put my Sunday Evening Art Gallery on Pinterest. After all, there is a larger audience, and it would get better coverage.
This is probably true. When one writes something, one hopes a lot of people will read it and like it and share it. It’s true. It’s the same when you write a book, or paint a painting. You want people to see what you see, feel what you feel.
But what you wrap your creativity in says a lot about you, too. The colors you choose, the things you sketch, all showcase your views on love, life — everything that makes us human.
We all have dreams of how we want our world to be. Most times we fall short. Not a big deal. We all can’t live in our dreams. But we can create our dreams. We can create atmosphere, characters, life, death, love — anything we want. Any way we want.
When I think of art galleries I think of the Art Institute in Chicago, or Blue Spiral 1 Gallery in Asheville, NC I visited last August. I think of the special care galleries take to showcase their artists. The way they display collections and single pieces. Pottery, sketchings, paintings, steel work — all stand out on their own because of the way they are wrapped in creativity.
That’s why I created the Sunday Evening Art Gallery.
I created a space that feels classic and comfortable and is open 24 hours a day. You can have a cup of coffee in the morning and wander through one of the galleries, or a glass of wine in the evening and catch three or four.
The art is unique. Amazing. Styles most people have never seen.
Why post it side-by-side with dozens of other posters? Why let the beauty, the fun, the uniqueness get lost in everyone else’s shadow?
The same is true for whatever you create. Don’t use the colors everyone else uses; don’t make the same shapes, the same poetry that everyone else does. Not unless you love what everyone else does. Put your own spin on your dreams. Color and paint the world the way you see it — the way you want others to see it. Do it your way!
And let me know where to find you and your dreams. I’m always looking forward to learning, seeing, discovering something — and someone — new!
P.S. Do stop by the Gallery — bring a glass of chocolate milk with you and stay a while!
“Everyone must have had similar thoughts at least once.”
“Broccoli and parsley might sometimes look like a forest, or the tree leaves floating on the surface of the water might sometimes look like little boat.”
“Everyday occurrences seen from a pygmy’s perspective can bring us lots of fun thoughts.”
“I wanted to take this way of thinking and express it through photographs.”
“It would be great if you could use it to add a little enjoyment to your everyday life.”
Jen Stark (1983 -) is a contemporary artist whose majority of work involves creating paper sculptures.
Her artwork mimics intricate patterns and colors found in nature while exploring ideas of replication and infinity.
Stark takes construction or acid-free colored paper and intricately cuts each sheet with an X-acto knife, layering the paper into a topographical landscape of color and bold shapes.
Stark’s works have been inspired by many things around the natural world such as infinity, topographical maps, fractals, designs in nature, microscopic patterns, wormholes and sliced anatomy.
In her own words, “I love thinking about how enormous shapes out in the universe can have the same patterns as tiny microorganisms under a microscope.”
“How geometric shapes and certain spiraling patterns apply to designs in nature big and small.”
We all have heard of Leonard Da Vinci‘s paintings Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
But Da Vinci was so much more than a painter.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian polymath, having been a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer.
He spent a great deal of time immersing himself in nature, testing scientific laws, dissecting bodies (human and animal) and thinking and writing about his observations.
This was at the same time as King Henry VII — swords and maces, leeching, pestilence, and non-existent technology.
That is why, when you are an artist, your mantle is wide and long and all-encompassing.
You are a multi-colored rainbow of curiosity and creativity.
Robert Venosa (January 21, 1936 – August 9, 2011) studied the Misch Technique (also known as the Master’s Technique) discovered by the seventeenth-century Flemishmasters Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, which utilizes the system of painting in tempera and oil glazes.
This technique is perfect for painting the crystalline worlds that Venosa envisions.
Light goes through the surface oil glazes, bounces off the white tempera underpainting and comes back out hitting the eye with the illusion of transparent depth.
For Robert, it was more than a career — it was a spiritual path of self inquiry and direct experience of transcendent realities.
He has been called a visionary, his paintings slicing through the ethereal and bringing it closer to home.
His neighbor and friend Salvador Dali once said, “Bravo Venosa! Dali is pleased to see spiritual madness painted with such a fine technique.”
Collin van der Sluijs is a renowned painter and illustrator from Maastricht, The Netherlands.
After graduation from the art academy at St. Joost in 2004, Collin moved to the south of the Netherlands where he now lives and works on exhibitions and projects.
His work can be described as personal pleasures and struggles in daily life.
Working without sketches or notes, the artist dives into each artwork with spray paint, acrylics, and ink as ideas take hold and images slowly emerge.
Collin’s art also includes fascinating wall murals.
He frequently examines themes of the natural world such as the cycle of life, the depictions of various species of birds, and the psychology of beings both human and animalistic.
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