I spotted this on a morning walk around Paris last Friday:
He was very hungry….
Tag: art (page 15 of 18)
I found this on the SwissMiss today and it made me very happy! Wouldn’t it be nice if we had something like this at work, in our neighbourhood, on Main Street, just so we can make people smile, laugh, feel good about themselves!
P.S. Besides the Buzz LightYear shout out, I loved the lady who said she like the other lady’s umbrella. Kindness is contagious, so spread it around!
“Whatever blows your dress up”, is something that my grandfather likes to say. It has always made me laugh, and is the first thing I thought of, when my Mom asked me if I had read about Chicago’s new statue.
It is non other than a famous Marilyn Monroe poised 26 feet high, with her dress undulating around her in the iconic image from The Seven Year Itch.
I know that there has been controversy surrounding it, namely people keep walking under her to see if she has on undies. Others appear to even question the integrity of the piece itself, seeing it as a tourist ploy, rather than a piece of Art; Pop Art even. But this, to me, is Art.
And as the saying goes, “Whatever blows your dress up!”
(The statue was created by the Artist Seward Johnson)
I toy at times with the idea of getting a tattoo. I know what I would have done and where I would put it. I would definitely get something with color, it would be small and it would have a vintage feel.
There are people I know, who have tattoos that I admire. Some people’s tattoos are truly a piece of art.
However, the truth is, I am not brave enough to get one, the thought of the needles are just too much for me. But, this is an idea I like:
something that is sweet and would eventually wear off, something that would more importantly, go on painlessly. Seeing these popsicles, made me re-think the tattoo I thought I wanted, maybe I would get one of these little retro frozen treats instead for real, if I ever got up the nerve.
Tattoos found here: Tattly
Via the Swiss Miss blog, I found this fantastic site: The Color Of… type in anything that takes your fancy and it generates a beautifully minimal artistic palette of “the color of” it.
I love how this challenges our preconceptions about color. I typed in some words expecting it to generate particular colors but the results were not always what I expected. Go over and check this site out, it is just FUN!
Here are a few of my Color Palettes:
What is it about the magic of a swing? I don’t care what age you are, those two ropes and a board, hold something very special to them. They conjure up memories of being a child, your hair streaming behind you like ribbons, the breeze hitting your face, your palms becoming sweaty from holding on so tight.
Races with each other to see who could go the highest, or who could jump off their swing at the perfect moment and land the farthest. Pumping your legs harder and harder so you were swinging so high, you knew that if you let go, you would sail into the tree tops.
There is a park near my house with a nice little playground and some evenings when we go on walks through the woods, we stop there on our way home and just swing for 5 minutes or so. I find that there is something very therapeutic in that! Just letting go.
This is a very interesting and wonderful project, so I thought I would share it with you:
Danny Brito is an artist I discovered ages ago, through Danielle Thompson’s blog. He is someone whose work I have come to appreciate it. Especially his curly whirly whipped ice-cream beehived hairdo clad women!
This is a little video he made on making a handmade book and I liked his process, so I thought I would share it with you, I can’t wait to try making one of my own on my little dollhouse sized machine! Enjoy:
(All images and video copyright Danny Brito)
Right before Christmas, one of the Art teachers in my department, decided that she would have the students create shadow puppets as a nice little wind down to the week that we were breaking up for the holidays. I love shadow puppets, there is something very magical about them!
She showed the students a video by Lotte Reiniger, so they could get an idea of what kind of final outcome they were aiming for and to see how the process works in actuality. I had never seen these Reiniger videos before and I fell in love with them. They are beautifully crafted and absolutely enchanting.
She was a true visionary, ahead of her time in innovation and even beat out Walt Disney in the designing of and use of a multi-plane camera to achieve distinctive visual effects. She was filmed to show her working through her creative process and it is truly astonishing to see how quickly she sketches and expertly cuts the puppet she is creating.
As a group of digital Art students are now working on a similar shadow puppet project, it made me think of these bewitching videos, so I thought I would share them with you! There is such a sweetness to them and they are without a doubt, timeless interpretations of beloved fairy tales! Enjoy!
(Still images courtesy of the Animation Archive)
I was creating a sign today to describe the artwork that was being put on display for a particular class and in searching for a totem pole image, I came across this:
I think these are just amazing, the time that must have gone in to creating these lilliputian sized artifacts. They were sculpted by an artist named, Diem Chau, and I love their rainbow happiness. What a true little piece of art. The personality that they each appear to have for something so minuscule is quite astounding.
The girl reminds me of the soap carving that Boo Radley made of Jem and Scout in “To Kill A Mockingbird”. They have that air of vintageness about them with the styling of the girl’s hair and dress. Maybe these would be the modern version of what Boo would carve?
The smell while carving them had to be heaven. I love the smell of a fresh pack of crayola crayons, that waxy scent that is distinctive to them. It is not the aroma of a candle or of any other crayon brand.
There was nothing better in the world when you were little, then when you got a new pack of crayons and a coloring book and your entire afternoon was spent lying on your belly deciding which color you would pick for the ballerina’s slippers. Oh, to be little again!
(Images found here)
One aspect of not only being an Art Historian, but also an Artist and appreciator of Art is the opportunity to continually discover new Artists.
I am constantly making suggestions to the Art students to look at this Artist or that Artist and they in turn open my eyes to Artists I am not familiar with.
While flipping through the Illustration Now: Volume 3 book one afternoon in the department, I was inspired to do a little online research on an Artist I had come across. Her name is, Catherine Campbell and her work is hauntingly beautiful, I fell in love with the girl and owl in the teacup. Her work is colourful and imaginative and I like her use of mixed media.
I endeavour to always make new discoveries and continue to explore, that is what life is about, just keeping yourself open to something new.
(All images copyright Catherine Campbell)