G

The letter G-
Derived from the Semitic gimel, it was written like an upside down, slightly lopsided 'V' in the Sinai around 1500 BC. This sign had roughly the ephonetic value of our 'G,' but because the cultures who used the letter drew little or no distinction between the sounds of the letters 'C,' 'G,' and 'K' (in the same way as we make no difference between certain C and K sounds), the gimel (gamma in Greek) eventually became the Greek letter 'C' (being the original gimel turned 90 degrees). The Romans developed the letter 'G' ('C' with a crossbar) around 300 BC. (Rose Folsum)

Jean Cocteau

Menton's Marriages (Registry Hall) - A room decorated my Jean cocteau. (In the city of Menton, France)

Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) . French poet, dramatist and film director. A leading figure in European Modernism, he worked with Picasso, Diaghilev, and Stravinsky. He produced many volumes of poetry, ballets such as Le Boeuf sur le Toit (The Ox on the Roof - 1920), plays IE-Orpheus, 1926, and a mature novel of bourgeois French life, Les Enfants Terribles (Children of the Game - 1929). (Brockhampton)

I thought this piece so interesting, I wanted to share it. The lines throughout the figures and background remind me of Spanish embroidery... although can't remember the name of it! Cocteau was much more than a poet and film director he was also an artist. He created an art museum as part of his legacy in the town of Menton on the gorgeous French Riviera. Read and see more of his art here.

Joan Steiner

Circus

Harbor

Sweet Shop

Joan Steiner -

Is a graduate of Barnard College and a self-taught artist. Her Look-Alike books have sold millions of copies. She has won numerous art and design awards and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Ms. Steiner lives in Claverack New York.

**Taken from the book, Look Alikes by Joan Steiner, 1998. Little, Brown and Company.

***Photography by Thomas Lindley

**** Click on the picture to really see all the details!!

A Little Break

Just a note to say... I'm taking an impromptu break and will be back on Monday! Have a great weekend :)

Richard Diebenkorn Quote

Figure on a Porch, 1959. Oil on canvas, 57 x 62". Oakland Museum of California.

Woman with Hat and Gloves, 1963. Oil on canvas, 34 x 36". Pvt collection.

Girl Smoking, 1963. Oil on canvas, 33 x 25". Collection of Christine and Pierre Lamond.

Sleeping Woman, 1961. Oil on canvas, 70 x 58". Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan.

July, 1957. Oil on canvas, 59 x 54". Pvt collection.

"When I'm half way there with a painting, it can occasionally be thrilling... But it happens very rarely; usually it's agony. I go to great pains to mask the agony. But the struggle is there. It's the invisible enemy." -Richard Diebenkorn.

Raymond Legueult

The Blue Dress, 1952.

French painter, born in 1898 in Paris, died in 1971. He belonged to the group, 'Painters of Poetic Reality' - inspired by the desire to preserve the direct inspiration of nature filtered through his individual personality. His paintings are reminiscent of Oriental painting. His figures seem to dilute themselves in a magical world where everything has an equal density and , as in Bonnard's canvases, one has the impression of confusion, but little by little details appear to recompose the forms and thus to give to the poetry the added value of a secret language. (Samuelson, Kaplan, Hart and Marchutz)

Tympan

Printing paper, blotters and tympan placed on stone.

Tympan: The tallow-covered sheet of red pressboard, zinc, or other material between the scraper of the lithographic press and the printing paper. A cushion. (Jules Heller)

Engross

To copy a document in a formal, ornate way for ceremonial purposes. Today, 'engrossing' connotes the rendering of a certificate or resolution in a 19th century style of lettering, often employing Gothic, Copperplate and Lombardic capitals (sometimes all in the same piece of work). This style is typified by the meticulous work in the Zanerian Manual of Alphabets and Engrossing (1895, 1981). Until the mid-1970s, many Americaln scribes who made their living hand lettering awards called themselves engrossers. Since then, the label 'calligrapher' is much more common. (Rose Folsum)

Tasha Tudor

Tonight, there is a full moon and our yard looks something like this... minus the rustic, log fence!

This is by no means a culmination of Tasha Tudor's work. However, for now I'd like to bring you a few winter-y scenes from one of her many books.* A favorite theme of mine is the way she captures the dogs and cats in her illustrations. She had several Welsh Corgis and cats - many are found in most of her books. I find her life and way of living so interesting and inspiring. She died just last year. Learn more about her life and art here.

*From The Night Before Christmas by C.C. Moore and Tasha Tudor - Little, Brown.

Serigraphy

Edward Landon: "Northern Winter"

Albrecht Durer: Melencolia. (this is an etching but I couldn't stop myself from adding it to this post!)

Sister Mary Corita: This Beginning of Miracles. Enriched Bread - Sister Mary Corita (my personal collection! Sorry for the glare, I'm so very lo-tech.)

Serigraphy: Stencil process. A method of producing original, multicolored prints having a real paint quality. Paint, ink, or other color is forced through a stencil of silk each time for each color required in the print. (Jules Heller)

Willi Baumeister

Baumeister. Gouache, 1923. Private collection.

He was born in Stuttgart, 1889 and is the least German and possibly, the most European of the German painters. He was active during the German Expressionism movement but his paintings did not reflect that style at all. Instead, one can notice Neo-Plasticism, Constructivism, African or Aztec art, speleology, prehistory and calligraphy.
During the war, prohibited from teaching by the Hitler regime, Baumeister began to devote himself to scientific research on color, and became passionately absorbed in the study of prehistoric archaeology. This influence was infused in his work. He has been compared to Legerr and Miro. (Samuelson, Kaplan, Hart and Marchutz)

Garth

Fra Angelico

The Annunciation, 1432-33. Tempera on wood, 175 x 180cm. Cortona, Museo Diocesano.

Garth - The garden of a cloister. (Gardner) Note the predella at the bottom of the painting with an 'ongoing story' being told in pictures.