Glassmaking at Jamestown

Captain John Smith

Some examples of vessels they made.

These are drawings from a historical book, The Tryal of Glasse - The Story of Glassmaking at Jamestown about the Virginia Colonists during the presidency of Captain John Smith.

Glassmaking in America began at Jamestown, Virginia in 1608, where a glass factory was operating in the nearby forest just a little more than a year after the first colonists arrived from England. The 'tryal of glass' sent back to England that year was the first glass make by Englishmen in the New World, and the manufacture of glass, therefore, can justly lay claim to being the first factory industry in England's American colonies. (J.C. Harrington)

Aquatint

Georges Rouault, French. Born 1871. Grimacing Man from Flowers of Evil. Aquatint.
The top narrow rectangle is an enlarged cross-section showing particles of resin on a plate surface.

1. Stopped out* before biting
2. One-minute bite - then stopped out.
3. 4 minute bite- then stopped out.
4. 16 minute bite, then stopped out.

Intaglio process. A tonal medium which permits 'grainlike' values in the print ranging from silvery grey to intense black. A porous ground of resin or other substances in applied to the plate, heated, then etched a number of times to produce the required values. (Jules Heller)

* Stopping out: Preventing certain lines or areas of a plate from biting, by brushing on an acid-proof material.

Sabra Field

Fields and Mountains

Dandelion Galaxies

Windows of Light on the Snow

Deer in the Orchard

"The pastoral image... is a model for man to shape his environment with care, to make the natural world more beautiful, more whole. ...The pastoral image poses an answer to the question, 'How are we to live with our planet?' " - Sabra Field

Her prints hang in imposing corporate boardrooms and in rustic New England fishing camps. Her 1991 Vermont Bicentennial commemorative stamp depicting yellow farm fields, a red barn and blue mountains quickly became of the the USPS's best selling issues, with more than 60 million copies purchased. Sabra Field is that rare contemporary artist whose work has found a large falling well outside the traditional realm of collectors and art experts. At her home and studio set in the Vermont countryside, she meticulously carves and hand-inks the wood blocks with which she creates her magical prints, one color at a time. (Tom Slayton)

** From the book, Sabra Field - The Art of Place. by Tom Slayton. University press of New England.

Indicum

Indicum or Indigo Blue

In antiquity indigo was imported as indicum in flat, dried bricks, and Roman writers such as Pliny did not know that it was made from a plant. He described it in the Natural History as 'a certain silt that forms in frothy water and attaches itself to reds. This color seems to be black when ground, and yet when diluted it makes a certain very rich purplish blue.' (Delamare and Guineau)

Paulus Berenson

This is a different kind of post... but it's what I love about writing this blog - discovering new artists and learning more about them) I've been drawn to the artwork on the cover of Red Bird by Mary Oliver ever since I bought the book last summer on a visit to Portland, OR. So, I thought I'd do a post on the artist but came up with only nebulous information about him. No bio could be found on the web... just a book he wrote in 1997, Finding One's Way with Clay: Creating Pinched Pottery and working with Colored Clays. (available at amazon if you're interested)

I think this looks like a woven or quilted piece... but it could also be a 2-D relief clay sculpture. What do you think? Anyone who knows more about Mr. Berenson... please feel free to leave a comment. I'm very curious now!

Winslow Homer

Afterglow, 1883. * (half of the painting... other half below.) Watercolor on paper, 14 x 21 ". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Taking Wet Provisions, 1903. Watercolor and graphite on white wove paper, 14 x 21". (MOMA, New York)

* see above

Prout's Neck Breakers, 1883. Watercolor 14 x 21". Art Institute of Chicago.

1836-1910. US painter and lithographer, known for his vivid seascapes, in both oil and watercolor, which date from the 1880s-1890s.

Born in Boston, Homer made his reputation as a Realist painter with Prisoners from the Front 1866 (MOMA, New York), recording the miseries of the American Civil War. After a visit to Paris he turned to lighter subjects such as studies of country life, Which reflect early Impressionist influence. (Brockhampton)

Bob Dylan Drawings

Brussels 2007

House of Union Street, 2007

Tabletop

View from 2 Windows, 2007

"Art is the perpetual motion of illusion. The highest purpose of art is to inspire. What else can you do? What else can you do for anyone but to inspire them?" -Bob Dylan

I just love the view points and perspectives Bob Dylan chooses when drawing interior and exterior scenes. It figures he would be good at art too! Some people have so many gifts!