Popping into the National (homage to 2000 dead squirrels)
24 February 2016
Last week the 'Day Job' took me to big, old London Town.
To Westminster to be exact, though don't get excited. I was opposite the Houses of Parliament - not in them.
But, I digress.
So, my work done for the day I had a bit of time to kill before the train back to the shires and I decided, on a whim and because Waldemar Januszczak had been so inspiring, to pop along to the National Gallery.
It was half term and I am pleased to say the place was absolutely heaving. And lots of school children and also, it seemed to me, an awful lot of French school children (which was funny as I could imagine hoards of English school children all pouring into the Louvre).
But I was on a mission. I could have dallied in front of a few Gainsboroughs or dillied in front of a Constable or two. But no - I headed straight to the new wing (on the left hand side as you face the gallery from Trafalgar Square) and for the Renaissance art. And there I sought out The Arnolfini Marriage.
Now I mentioned just how amazing this painting is in a previous post. What ever you think of the Old Masters you really have to be in awe of the incredible achievement of this work of art. You might not like it, you might think the couple a bit stilted. It does not matter. As a piece of social history it is just stunning.
Up close and personal I looked at the clothes the couple were wearing again. The fur lined wool dress she is wearing is obviously very luxurious - not is a party frock kind of way, but in a practical elegance kind of way. But I would not have guessed at the squirrel fur in a thousand years. ( Pop back to my previous post to get the full gist of the squirrel reference).
Here is the genius in the Arnolfini painting - that is the detail in the mirror in the back of the picture. You see the backs of Mr and Mrs A and the painter himself!
Anyway, the latest programme on the Renaissance from the national treasure that is our Waldemar did go down to Italy and looked at a lot of the religious art. A few familiar names cropped up, including good old Michelangelo.
Now we are all familiar with David.
Last year I was even lucky enough to go to Carrera in northern Italy to the Marble Quarries where they still quarry the white marble used by Michelangelo to create this masterpiece.
That is not snow - it is finely ground marble, which, by the way, is also used in toothpaste!
I guess Michelangelo would have had to use a donkey!
Here's the thing.
That marble is all white. It is dazzlingly white. And so is David.
And good old Waldemar - bold as you like he said "Michelangelo got it so very wrong!"
Of course not David per se in all his unrealistic beauty (Really? Can anyone be that perfect a specimen?) but just the approach Michelangelo took in creating David from glowing white marble in the fist place.
Because what Michelangelo was aspiring to (and didn't we all learn this in school?) was to recreate the statues of the classical ancient world of Rome and Greece. And, hey, but weren't all those statues also perfect white marble? (Carrera dates back to the Roman period!)
Well no!
They were, as Waldemar put it, rather gaudy!
But Michelangelo and his chums did not realise this. They did not quite appreciate that all that paint had rubbed off over time.
Hence they got it wrong!
Oh - I love this programme and its jovial host Waldemar Januszczak. He is bouncing round Europe making bold claims about the greats - and I cannot wait for the next episode.
To Westminster to be exact, though don't get excited. I was opposite the Houses of Parliament - not in them.
But, I digress.
So, my work done for the day I had a bit of time to kill before the train back to the shires and I decided, on a whim and because Waldemar Januszczak had been so inspiring, to pop along to the National Gallery.
It was half term and I am pleased to say the place was absolutely heaving. And lots of school children and also, it seemed to me, an awful lot of French school children (which was funny as I could imagine hoards of English school children all pouring into the Louvre).
But I was on a mission. I could have dallied in front of a few Gainsboroughs or dillied in front of a Constable or two. But no - I headed straight to the new wing (on the left hand side as you face the gallery from Trafalgar Square) and for the Renaissance art. And there I sought out The Arnolfini Marriage.
Now I mentioned just how amazing this painting is in a previous post. What ever you think of the Old Masters you really have to be in awe of the incredible achievement of this work of art. You might not like it, you might think the couple a bit stilted. It does not matter. As a piece of social history it is just stunning.
Up close and personal I looked at the clothes the couple were wearing again. The fur lined wool dress she is wearing is obviously very luxurious - not is a party frock kind of way, but in a practical elegance kind of way. But I would not have guessed at the squirrel fur in a thousand years. ( Pop back to my previous post to get the full gist of the squirrel reference).
Here is the genius in the Arnolfini painting - that is the detail in the mirror in the back of the picture. You see the backs of Mr and Mrs A and the painter himself!
Anyway, the latest programme on the Renaissance from the national treasure that is our Waldemar did go down to Italy and looked at a lot of the religious art. A few familiar names cropped up, including good old Michelangelo.
Now we are all familiar with David.
Last year I was even lucky enough to go to Carrera in northern Italy to the Marble Quarries where they still quarry the white marble used by Michelangelo to create this masterpiece.
They are gradually taking the mountain away, block by block.
That is not snow - it is finely ground marble, which, by the way, is also used in toothpaste!
I guess Michelangelo would have had to use a donkey!
Here's the thing.
That marble is all white. It is dazzlingly white. And so is David.
And good old Waldemar - bold as you like he said "Michelangelo got it so very wrong!"
Of course not David per se in all his unrealistic beauty (Really? Can anyone be that perfect a specimen?) but just the approach Michelangelo took in creating David from glowing white marble in the fist place.
Because what Michelangelo was aspiring to (and didn't we all learn this in school?) was to recreate the statues of the classical ancient world of Rome and Greece. And, hey, but weren't all those statues also perfect white marble? (Carrera dates back to the Roman period!)
Well no!
They were, as Waldemar put it, rather gaudy!
But Michelangelo and his chums did not realise this. They did not quite appreciate that all that paint had rubbed off over time.
Hence they got it wrong!
Oh - I love this programme and its jovial host Waldemar Januszczak. He is bouncing round Europe making bold claims about the greats - and I cannot wait for the next episode.
Two valentines, a catkin and a violet
17 February 2016
Literally!
The valentines were a bit late, but what with all the excitement over the indigo vat.
And in other news:-
Catkins spotted on the dog walk,
Snowdrops down by the compost bin
And the first violet in the lawn!
The seasons must be on the turn.
(Oh, and I should explain! 2 Valentines - that will be for three men!)
And in other news:-
Catkins spotted on the dog walk,
Snowdrops down by the compost bin
And the first violet in the lawn!
The seasons must be on the turn.
(Oh, and I should explain! 2 Valentines - that will be for three men!)
The Arnolfini Marriage or 2000 dead squirrels and their place in Art History
15 February 2016
There is a picture in the National Gallery in London called the Arnolfini Marriage.
It is a very familiar image.
It is not a very big picture - indeed it is so famous that when you see it close up it is surprising just how small it is.
The National Gallery website describes it thus.
It is a very familiar image.
It is not a very big picture - indeed it is so famous that when you see it close up it is surprising just how small it is.
The National Gallery website describes it thus.
This work is a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, but is not intended as a record of their wedding. His wife is not pregnant, as is often thought, but holding up her full-skirted dress in the contemporary fashion. Arnolfini was a member of a merchant family from Lucca living in Bruges. The couple are shown in a well-appointed interior.
The ornate Latin signature translates as 'Jan van Eyck was here 1434'. The similarity to modern graffiti is not accidental. Van Eyck often inscribed his pictures in a witty way. The mirror reflects two figures in the doorway.
If ever there was an example of understatement, it is that description from the National Gallery.
First of all consider the year it was painted. Yes - 1434. Henry VI was on the throne in England (we were still to have the whole Edward and Elizabeth Woodville, Richard III, Princes in the Tower and Battle of Bosworth thing - that was all in the future.) And the Mona Lisa was not going to be painted for another 70 odd years.
But in Northern Europe this Jan van Eyck chappie was re-writing art history.
Now, I am not an art historian - oh deary me no (I wish I was). Instead I am a bit if a fan of Waldemar Januszczak, an art critic and rather exuberant television presenter who, along with Andrew Graham Dixon, has a knack of making art just come alive.
And Mr Januszczak has just started to present a new program on BBC4 called Renaissance Unchained. I am hooked!
Which brings me back to the Arnolfinis.
So here's the thing, and we have good old Waldemar to thank for this. It's all about the clothes (well OK and the mirror too and the general genius of the whole piece) but for now it's all about the clothes.
Mr Arnolfini was Italian but he lived (or at least was based) in Bruges, because Bruges was the centre of the cloth trade.
He is wearing a purple tunic. Now, purple was a very expensive colour. But get this. His tunic is lined with fur. And his wife's green wool dress ( the wool could have come from England though was likely as not woven in Europe) that was lined with the pale fur from the belly of 2000 (2000 I tell you) red squirrels!
Now, we could get all indignant about the plight of the Red Squirrel but let's remember that the grey squirrel did not exist in Europe in those times. I share this gem of information just to give you a clue to how very wealthy Mr Arnolfini was, and how cold it must have been in rich merchants houses in Northern Europe in the 1430s.
But, if you are in London, I urge you to go and have a look at this picture. It takes your breath away - it almost sends a shiver down the spine. And if you look closely in the mirror you can see the artist painting the couple.
Failing that, watch the programme. If nothing else, those early flemish renaissance painters certainly knew how to paint a bit of cloth!
Diving into the indigo vat
13 February 2016
Because when its a dull, grey Saturday in February what better way is there to drive away the winter blues! (which is a bit of an ironic statement I suppose, but you get the drift).
So Mix3d Stitch got their act together and set a date for a bit of indigo dyeing.
Now I am no expert with the indigo vat, but Jane Charles is.
So with Yvonne, the third member of Mix3d Stitch, we met for a session.
She mixed it all up so please don't be asking me for the recipe!
But we used the bucket with the lid, for one thing I do know about Indigo is that it doesn't like oxygen.
We presoaked fabric in a bucket of water - we had a right old mix; some old linen napkins, some odds and sods of furnishing fabric, even some crocheted doilies that Yvonne had found on Ebay.
I love the alchemy - the fabrics come out of the vat yellow and then the air gradually turns them blue. This was one of the napkins in transition.
And on an old clothes drier.
We had a bit of a production line going.
We also had gloves on - that said my hands are still a delicate shade of blue.
A bundle of Yvonne's scarves - dyed and rinsed and going home to be dried and ironed.
Yuk - too wishy washy! This was a bit of calico.
So a few DyNaFlo paints and a spritz of water - nothing to loose.
So Mix3d Stitch got their act together and set a date for a bit of indigo dyeing.
Now I am no expert with the indigo vat, but Jane Charles is.
So with Yvonne, the third member of Mix3d Stitch, we met for a session.
She mixed it all up so please don't be asking me for the recipe!
But we used the bucket with the lid, for one thing I do know about Indigo is that it doesn't like oxygen.
We presoaked fabric in a bucket of water - we had a right old mix; some old linen napkins, some odds and sods of furnishing fabric, even some crocheted doilies that Yvonne had found on Ebay.
I love the alchemy - the fabrics come out of the vat yellow and then the air gradually turns them blue. This was one of the napkins in transition.
But silk works wonderfully well in the indigo and Yvonne has some silk scarves from Rainbow Silks that she had 'bound' to make the pattern.
More alchemy in action on the draining board.
And on an old clothes drier.
We had a bit of a production line going.
We also had gloves on - that said my hands are still a delicate shade of blue.
A bundle of Yvonne's scarves - dyed and rinsed and going home to be dried and ironed.
And here is the pattern all that stitching created, but the colour is not quite right. The blue of the bundle in the picture above is the true colour. Silk really does take indigo well.
But by the end of the day the indigo was worn out - too much opening and closing of the bucket!
Yuk - too wishy washy! This was a bit of calico.
So a few DyNaFlo paints and a spritz of water - nothing to loose.
Ive wrapped it up in a bit of plastic to allow the paint to mingle and flow. I will leave it overnight and see what it is like in the morning.
Paints
9 February 2016
If you pop by thus blog from time to time you might know I'm a bit of a fan of Fresco Finish paint by Paperartsy.
They have a lot of pigment and seem to go a long way. That said I tend not to use them for mono printing, instead I usually use a heavy body acrylic from Daler Rowney or similar ( I find for the effect I want the dark colours work best - navy, black, dark red/maroon, dark green - and often achieve the dark tone by mixing in a bit of black.)
The Fresco Finish paints come into their own for hand colouring and they can also be watered down and used in a spray bottle.
But they are brilliant for brayering onto backgrounds to build up layers of colour. And they dry really quickly making this a really speedy process.
What I love about these paints is that they have different opacity - layering the colours can have a wonderful effect - the translucent paints won't obliterate the paint underneath but instead will blend over it.
Paperartsy do little instruction videos - I have shared a few before - but they've just produced this one to show the new paint ranges for 2016.
If, like me, you are not so hot on colour theory you might find this very useful. What I love is the way the paints are grouped into families. It gives a real insight into cool and warmer colours etc.
I'm not going to explain it here - instead have a little look at this video.
By the way, I think I'm going to give their new retarder a go. You may recall mine was a mare to use last time. I think I should invest in some more and perhaps try a different brand - though I will ask them first if they think their retarder will work with a heavy body paint.
Anyway, I hope that like me, you find this video useful.
Advanced warning - Bucks Open Studios 2016
6 February 2016
We're in, dear reader, we're in!
Much trauma and skidding under the wire at the last minute, but we are in.
"In to what?" I hear you cry!
Now, you might recall how Bloomin wonderful our BOS gig was last year. Three of us from Milton Keynes - Jane, Yvonne and myself - linked via a city and guilds thread got our act into gear and, using the space I have here at my home from home, hosted our very first Open Studios. This was as part of the annual Buckinghamshire arts celebration that is Open Studios. So enthused was I by our experience that I waxed lyrical and even had an article published here!
Well this year there is no guarantee that I'm going to be at the same house (a whole saga in itself, but let's not get distracted by that bit of stress) so where to go?
Well, we had Yvonne's house in mind - lovely but a few logistical issues. And then someone had the bright idea to use the new gallery at Christ the Cornerstone church in MK I reported about here.
Bit of diary checking, and it was free - yay!
Next, the initiative with the church is supposed to include the Arts Central artists co-op in MK. We are all members though I'm not an active one.
And there's a lot of gallery space at the church, so very quickly (we are talking literally a couple of days) we had to see if anyone else was interested and get their commitment.
And we did it, with me filling in the application at the 11th hour. And if you want any proof, here it is.
So - dates for your diary:
Bucks Open Studios will run from 11th to 26th June 2016.
We will be at Christ the Cornerstone on all weekends - 11, 12: 18, 19: 25, 26 and also on Wednesdays 15 and 22.
We will promote it nearer the time, but do come and see us.
And to give you a flavour a few pics from last year.
Bucks Open Studios will run from 11th to 26th June 2016.
We will be at Christ the Cornerstone on all weekends - 11, 12: 18, 19: 25, 26 and also on Wednesdays 15 and 22.
We will promote it nearer the time, but do come and see us.
And to give you a flavour a few pics from last year.
True blue (and red!)
1 February 2016
A bit of painting does the trick. These are water colours.
You may recall, dear reader, that this is all supposed to be blue and white!
Well I just couldn't work to just blue and white - hence a few accent colours creeping in. Do you think anyone will notice?
And a bit of collage ( additional papers and fabric)
The two light houses are still waiting for stitch.
But these tea cups have been on the machine. (Coloured papers collaged on plus a bit of watercolour paint).
As has this leaf motif (papers and paint have been applied to, ad you might just be able to make out the shimmer of the organza layered over the rag paper). I think a few beads are needed too.
And this one also needs a bit of oomph. The colours are cool but it needs a bit of a lift.
You may recall, dear reader, that this is all supposed to be blue and white!
Well I just couldn't work to just blue and white - hence a few accent colours creeping in. Do you think anyone will notice?
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