Gem & Mineral Show..

I had the chance to run by a Gem and Mineral show today that was in town for the weekend.

There is always so much inspiration at these shows and I always have a list of things I need to pick up...

I grabbed some mica for an upcoming art project...the mica pulls apart in thin sheets and has a metallic sheen.

And some optical calcite!!! What a score! I use them for display bases for small architectural fragments or other oddities I have. (Got the idea from a Veranda magazine where one was used for a place card holder)

Here is the picture from Veranda where a calcite crystal is used for decoration.

Ok, back to the show. I always take reference shots of minerals for use in faux work.

Look at the banding of the malachite! Great reference for some trompe work.

Even the smallest specimens were not to be overlooked.

The best part of the show was a table they had set up for a large meal..every food item was a mineral or  gemstone!

There were loaves of rustic bread, cured hams, baked potatoes and pie!

Ended the day with a few pieces of mille fiori glass. I am a sucker for their intricate designs. Hope your weekend was full of fun and art!!

100,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who knew when I blogged my first post in April of 2009 that I would still be hanging around in 2012? This is a monumental day for Art's the Answer! I just hit 100,000 pageviews for all time!!! I have followers in France, Italy, United Kingdom, Russia, Poland, India, Canada, Chile, Spain and so many other countries.
I thought I would share what the statistics say are my top ten posts.

Math and art seem to be very popular! Fractals...Math and art in Harmony is my most viewed post with 3,381 hits.

It seems the basic, age old techniques are the most searched. Second on my list is Scagliola with 2,823 hits.

Back to math again with Haeckel coming in third for all time with 1990 hits.

One of my all time favorites...The Beetles are Coming is fourth with 1606 hits.

Fifth was "Going for Baroque"and Hans Silvester (another one of my favorites) came in sixth.

Mood Boards, Headboards,Strapwork (another favorite) are seventh, eighth and ninth and finishing tenth is  The Art of Grottesca! How timely ! I will be studying with Carolina again in April through Jeff Huckaby's studio. Here are the details if anyone would like to join me.

Thank you all for following my blog and taking time to leave comments. I have made many friends and this journey has enriched my life more than I ever knew was possible. Now, I am off to research a new post!

Blue and White

Michael Duté

There is no doubt of my love of chinoiserie, but the blue and white palette seems to make it even better!

The simplicity of colors ....the blue just pops against the creamy white background.

Many elements of chinoiserie motif can be drawn from ceramic designs.

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Michael Duté's chinoiserie murals always delight me!

His work reminds me so much of intricately painted porcelain.

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The work of Irish artist Michael Dillon also features some incredible blue and white chinoiserie.

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 Wedgwood, delft, chinoiserie...all blue! Blue is soothing..it reduces stress by lowering blood pressure. I think that is another reason I am so drawn to it!

Driven to Paint....

Over the Christmas holidays, I had a job to  woodgrain two metal doors for a client. The clients are a husband/wife team of doctors and I would be working in the medical complex while they were closed.
I knew I would enjoy this job because the mother of the wife was a very prolific painter and her work is featured throughout the halls and waiting rooms of the complex.

Living in exile in Yugoslavia and being sent to prison did not deter her from painting

Painting from her soul, she used canvas, sometimes in the form of scraps  glued together... wood...any flat surface she could find.

You can see the urgency in her brushstrokes, the energy, the drive to paint.

The daughter, (wife) besides being an oncologist; is also an accomplished artist favoring sculpting. These pieces are in the waiting room of the medical complex.

Almost 800 paintings tell the life story of the mother.....the villages they lived in, the dreams for better.

I somehow managed to woodgrain the two doors, often taking inspirational breaks to look at the many paintings lining the hallway walls. I considered it an honor to have even been asked to do the job, knowing the depth of artistic background the couple have.
What drives you to make the world better for 2012? We can all make it better through art!

High-Tech vs. Low -Tech...

I received an email a few days after Thanksgiving from Sinopia Pigments. This was just after "black Friday" and their opening line was-

"Now that you have taken care of your high-tech cyber Monday gift shopping, its time for your low-tech artists on your lists..."

This really stuck in my head and I thought about it for several days...I had been struggling over the decision to purchase an iPad or similar tech gadget. I really enjoy my MacBook computer and 4s iPhone and thought it would be nice to add an iPad to the family.  I thought I could justify the purchase to make choices easier for my clients.

But that Sinopia ad kept playing over and over in my mind...."low-tech artists.."

High -tech gadgets or low-tech tools...which direction is best for me?

BOTH!

First things first, I published a new book of updated work for clients to view. I have found that on initial meetings with prospective clients, they can be overwhelmed with the 9000+ photos on my computer! 

They love looking at photos on an electronic screen, but this is like looking at a magazine...there is not always a  personal connection.

They want something they can hold and touch. They respond well to a book! This is the first thing I give someone to look at. It has enough photos that they can see my style and then, if needed, the computer can provide other, more specific shots.

So, for now, no iPad in my future. Just a new self published book through Apple and my three year old MacBook to drag around. High- tech or low- tech...I think artists still lean to a simpler, old- tech style.

A Wonderful Collaboration!!

I have a weakness for hand painted ceramics done in true Italian style....
Gina of Art and Alfalfa is my weekly "fix"for photos of beautiful painted ceramics! She is a gifted artist that lives in the middle of an alfalfa field in Utah.

Gina creates beautiful ceramics and conducts workshops for students wanting to learn the ancient craft. She recently had some of her work displayed at the Springville Museum of Art! I was immediately drawn to the large platter she did. Gina sells her work through etsy and I signed up for a platter to be painted.

A design was chosen for inspiration. Several things were" tweeked", a reference to the Medici family, my family initial and some "artistic interpretation".

My armorial  plate was painted, fired and re-fired  again with gold and sent to me! What to put on it? What about my marzipan fruit from Bologna, Italy that was brought back so carefully?

Or maybe some salted caramel cookies with sugared fruit jellies?  What? Did your eagle eye spot some differences in the two photos? There was a flaw from the firing of the first plate, so, I ended up with TWO! How lucky am I?

How does my new Italian serving set look with them? Pretty fantastic, I think! I picked them up at an estate sale this week!

I just love that each time I received a plate, it came with a lovely letter from Gina on her custom stationary!

These plates are the perfect size for entertaining or displaying on a shelf.

And her colophon on the back makes them very special to me! Thank you so much Gina!

Flea Market Finds.....

With the holidays upon us, I hit the road today to attend a nearby flea market. This market is quite large and just as diverse with everything from almost edible potpourri......

to Santa Claus!

Lots of architectural salvage to dig through......

and way too many cute doggies to distract me!

One booth had acres of fauxed wooden plaques that they would personalize on the spot with your name or favorite quote.

But what really caught my eye were these french linen night shirts.

Their detailing with all those pleats and hand stitching! I had seen these at the Alameda flea market in San Francisco and regretted not getting one. This time, I would not let one get away!

These linens are also known for their perfectly stitched initials, always in red; located somewhere on the garment. Here is a little history behind the stitches-

The trousseau was often comprised of numerous sheets (twelve was common for a wealthy family), numerous dish towels, hand towels, napkins and tablecloths patiently and meticulously embroidered. To mark these linens with one’s initials was an inherent part of every young girl’s education. And in fact the sampler, or “abcdaire,” was the pride of each little girl who arrived in the adult world. On a swath of cloth, she embroidered in needlepoint the letters of the alphabet as well as the numbers from zero to nine. The initialled letters of the “marquoir,” or the family stamp, were always “blood red,” a symbolic reference of the young girl’s destiny as a woman. Why red? Because red was also a strong and durable dye, resistant to multiple launderings and one that could be easily seen. Before the era of chemistry the colorant widely used was “common madder,” or “rubia tinctorum.” Common madder belongs to the vast plant world family of rubiaceae, quite a remarkable family in that it also includes the plants that produce coffee beans and quinine. A perennial plant, common madder has evergreen leaves, tiny yellow/white flowers and reddish black pea-sized berries. However, it’s in the roots that the pigment is found that is the source of the dye known today as alizarin. 

Unlike the refined art of embroidered linens, which was realised in white on white, the stitching of these red letters had a purely utilitarian role and was executed in a simple cross-hatched needlepoint. The letters served to organize sheets that were made in pairs of a top and bottom sheet, and next to these letters, small numbers were often also marked. These numbers were a kind of rank that allowed the sheets to be alternated equally between washings but they also served as a kind of accounting as the family linens had a very great value. And very often a young girl marked her linens with her own initials to distinguish these from those of her mother and grandmother. Sometimes too she inscribed the name of her town or village. (source)

Be sure and hit your local flea markets and gift shows this year and support your local craftspeople! Thanks to Tenny Roche' for her passion with antique textiles and her wonderful booth at Canton Trade Days!