Narcissus-X Proffers Plenteous Provisos

(Narcissus-X, proffering plenteous provisos.)

Periphrastic pleonasms, ostentatious expositors, banished vulgarians! Narcissus-X willingly assists the Lemming, proffering plenteous precepts, purling pearls or pairing purlins by the penguin portal.

Narcissus-X further declares that the Lemming's retreat continues. But fear not for the Lemming! For Narcissus-X is at hand, elevating this banausic blog through profound vaults of obsidian splendor.

Not for naught has Narcissus-X ascended the nadir of nattering Nibelungian nabobs. Had the Lemming sought Narcissus-X, sought artist, sought art, spotted snakes with double tongue, weaving circles round him thrice; then might the Lemming have leaped large lengths of miles.

But time twists and moments pass as pigeons on the grass, alas! Narcissus-X is here and the Lemming's path is knotted through haunts where slithy toves gyre and gimble in the wabe. Mimsy are the borogoves, when the mome raths outgrabe: and many hunt the snark in vain.

Time, tide, and Plato's fifth solid, surely shall return the Lemming to this blog. But not today.

This isn't Shakespeare, but neither is Narcissus-X.

• From the Lemming, selected by Narcissus-X
  • "Remember the Paths"
    (July 24, 2015)
  • "Ashikaga Yoshiakira's Birthday, Independence Day, and All That"
    (July 4, 2015)
  • " 'Let Me See That Map!' "
    (February 6, 2015)
  • " 'We Saved You a Piece' "
    (January 30, 2015)
  • "Pip: Not Your Usual Fluffy Christmas Rhyme"
    (December 5, 2014)
• Profundity and penguins, from Narcissus-X
  • "Narcissus-X and the Gloomy Dane"
    Narcissus-X (August 12, 2015)
  • "Penguin, Penguin, Burning Bright: Narcissus-X Ponders"
    Narcissus-X (September 5, 2014)
  • "Narcissus-X Listens"
    Narcissus-X (July 25, 2014)
  • "Angst and the Artist: Interview With Narcissus-X"
    (May 30, 2014)
  • "Jabberwocks: A Guest Post by Narcissus-X"
    (June 11, 2010)

Angst and the Artist: Interview With Narcissus-X

It is with great pleasure that the Lemming presents an interview with that remarkable and abstruse artist, Narcissus-X.

The Lemming: Tell me a little about yourself. What started your interested in art? Have you taken art classes?

Narcissus-X: Narcissus-X is artist! Narcissus-X is art! Art not that art be art, lest aardvarks swim delirious cadences with Calliope musing over the sound of silent shibboleths.

How could Narcissus-X teach, or be taught? For in teaching is the stultifying fog of pettifoggery and impecunious pelicans: publicans of plebeian platitudes. Narcissus-X perceives, and perceiving ponders crystal penguins: silently sliding against an obsidian sky.

The Lemming: Ah, thank you. What medium do you prefer, and why?

Narcissus-X: Far from medium is Narcissus-X! Ultima Thule beckons, echoing from the depths of the digital abyss. Slickly slides crimson and azure, chrome of saffron and amber hues, lest jonquils jeer in haste. Yet monochromatic musings mutter ashen laments over once-unblemished expanses of alabaster or ivory leaves.

The Lemming: May be view your portfolio online?

Narcissus-X: Portobello Road runs not through Nottingham Wood. Little cares Narcissus-X for pandering to pretensions of philistine posers.

The Lemming: Do you have a favorite artist? If so, what appeals to you in that person's work?

Narcissus-X: Visions of leonine aspect, the artificer of Hohlenstein Stadel stands before Narcissus-X, silent yet crying across ages for expression of facing introversions of unrecognized anima.

The Lemming: Can you remember one of the first works of art you created? why is it memorable?

Narcissus-X: Full fathom five found Narcissus-X a filigree of floss, fiber frame of fantasies. Yet round and round it wove its walls and towers, and still Narcissus-X shuns the person from Porlock.

The Lemming: Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Narcissus-X: As far as the obsidian sky, yet near as night, through the onyx gates of twilight and gloaming; deep within halls of reflected shade: there Narcissus-X drifts on ebony sampans, beholding flights of crystal penguins.

The Lemming: What do you feel is the most difficult part of creating a masterpiece?

Narcissus-X: Having traversed Stygian scenes, silent symbols clashing cacophonous cadances amid grim menhirs of lithic lyricism: then must Narcissus-X ponder. And pondering, wrests chimeric visions from their haunts: yet this does not try the art of Narcissus-X. It is later, as form emerges into actuality, that Narcissus-X ponders anew: is this the form? Or does Narcissus-X behold a mere phantasm?

The Lemming: Finally, please share a few images and tell the Lemming about each: briefly.

Narcissus-X:



Limpid occlusion, refracted reality or patchwork perception? Narcissus-X presents for pondering.



Orthogonal orthodoxy or shattered dream? Narcissus-X, having wrung, moves on.



Spindrift swirl blown in every-circling winds yet never reaching an end. Narcissus-X broods.



Boil, boil, toil and travail, roiling thoughts emerge from the mind of Narcissus-X.



Paltry placards, silent shouts, morning beckons, yet Narcissus-X stands: whither the penguins, the silent crystal penguins of fiery eye?

The Lemming: Thank you! That's all we have time for.

Related(?) posts:

• "Nullurpa: The Unsoda"
  (March 7, 2014)
• "Night of the Creeping Tree"
  (February 21, 2014)
• "A 'Bookish' Librarian, Art, Words, and a Rambling Lemming"
  (November 8, 2013)
• "Narcissus-X: Earnest, Angsty Artist; and now an Online Comic"
  (February 11, 2011)
• "Jabberwocks: A Guest Post by Narcissus-X"
  (June 11, 2010)

Henri Matisse, Color, Light, and Art

"Henri Matisse: Color and Light"
School Arts: Looking/Learning, National Gallery of Art (May/June 1999)

"Henri Matisse painted Open Window, Collioure in the summer of 1905, when he and André Derain worked together in the small Mediterranean fishing port of Collioure, near the Spanish border.

"The scene is filled with light, vibrant, and inviting. The vermillion masts of blue-hulled boats float on pink waves below a sky banded with turquoise, pink, and periwinkle. Reflected in the glass of the open window, the scene becomes rectangular blocks of bright green, watery cyclamen, and lilac, and the walls framing the view are violet and turquoise. These are hardly the colors of nature--and they provoked an outrage when Matisse exhibited Open Window, Collioure later in the year at the Salon d'Automne in Paris.

"Eyewitness accounts tell of laughter emanating from room VII, where audiences saw this painting and similar works by Matisse, André Derain, their friend Maurice de Vlaminck, and others. Gertrude Stein reported that people scratched at the canvases in derision, and a critic, noting the presence of a Renaissance-style statuette in the center of the room, quipped 'Tiens, Donatello chez les fauves' (Well, well, Donatello among the wild beasts). Soon, these artists were being called the fauves, and room VII la cage. It was one of the first places where the world got a glimpse of what art would be in the twentieth century.

"The fauves liberated color from any requirements other than those posed by the painting itself. 'When I put a green,' Matisse would later say, 'it is not grass. When I put a blue, it is not the sky.' He was painting pictures, not things. Color was a tool of the painter's artistic intention and expression, no longer limited by the imitation of nature...."

Matisse knew what he was doing.

In the Lemming's opinion, one reason that 'modern art' gets mocked so much is that it's entirely too easy to:

• Slop something onto a canvas
• Say that anybody who doesn't appreciate it is a dunce
• Sell the mess for a few thousand dollars

Sort of like The Emperor's New Clothes, except this racket kept going for decades. The Lemming suspects there were too many people with lots of money and too little self-confidence: and that's another topic.

The National Gallery article tells about Matisse - and how this unlikely young man from an industrial town got started as an artist. You'll also find a (very) short discussion of how 19th and 20th century artists studied color.

And yes: artists don't just lie around being 'artistic.' There's a certain amount of work and research involved. If you're going to do it right. In the Lemming's opinion.

Related posts:

• "Color, Psychology, Emotions and Mood"
  (January 30, 2010)
• "Interior Design: A Pretty Good Learning Resource"
  (September 24, 2009)
• "Henri Matisse: a Pretty Good Set of Biographical Information"
  (August 30, 2009)
• "What Color is Your Blog? Why? An Online Discussion With Resource Links"
  (February 12, 2009)
• "Are Moods Really Blue? Color, Psychology, and Culture"
  (May 21, 2008)

Soldier Zero, Starborn and The Traveler at Comic-Con

"Stan Lee Unveils 3 New Superheroes at Comic-Con"
Underwire, Wired (July 22, 2010)

"A time traveler, an unwitting heir to an intergalactic empire, and a wheelchair-bound professor who winds up bonded to an alien weapon: These are the latest superheroes cooked up by comics legend Stan Lee and his creative co-conspirators at Boom Studios.

"Lee, whose Pow Entertainment is partnering with Boom on the three series, introduced new characters The Traveler, Starborn and Soldier Zero during a Wednesday press conference at Comic-Con International here.

"Boom Studios' Chief Creative Officer Mark Waid, writer of time-bending series The Traveler, said the new comics would be inspirational and non-cynical, without resorting to a retro feel. He also said the characters would breathe with the kind of human foibles for which Lee's creations are known...."

There's a brief telling of each new comic's premise, a few more pictures - of Soldier Zero - and a bit of what Stan Lee and Boom Studios’ Chief Creative Officer Mark Waid had to say.

From the sounds of it, they could have a winner or three here.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "A Book Narrated by a Dog: a Micro-Review of a Review"
  (June 17, 2010)
• ""Mary Quite Contrary" Returns: The Title Character Turns 15"
  (May 31, 2010)
• "At Last! A Comic About Chess: Sort of"
  (January 17, 2010)
• "New Google Themes: Comics, This Time"
  (July 23, 2009)
• "Cartoon About Classroom Seating Habits"
  (May 24, 2008)
• "News, Comics, Games: and Family-Friendly"
  (December 26, 2007)
• "Cats, Lots of Cats, to End the Day"
  (November 1, 2007)

"Transparent Watercolor" is Important: Why, I don't Know

Transparent Watercolor Society of America

History and Statement of Purpose

"In 1976, Nora Stevens and Sybil Olson attended an Ed Whitney workshop, discovered a passion for transparent watercolor and decided to begin a society for their region, the Midwest Watercolor Society. The first annual meeting was held on August 6, 1977 at the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, Minnesota where Nora Stevens presided as President....

"...In 1977 the first annual exhibition of transparent watercolors was held and through the years has been juried by some of the most respected watercolor painters of all time. In 2003 the President, Tom Francesconi, recognized that the society had grown from regional to national status and the Midwest Watercolor Society became the Transparent Watercolor Society of America. From a membership of 185 artists the first year, TWSA moved into the new millennium with well over 1,000 members and includes artists from across North America, all with a common dedication to transparent watercolor...."

"...TWSA recognizes an important distinction between 'transparent watercolor' and 'water-based mediums,' and as such moves forward with its mission, to preserve and promote the unique character of transparent watercolor as a major medium."

I did not know that there was "transparent watercolor" and other sorts. And I certainly didn't know that the distinction was important to over 1,000 people.

Unhappily, I didn't find an explanation for what "transparent watercolor" is, or why it's important to distinguish that from other "water-based mediums." Too bad. Maybe they'll put something about that on their website next year.

Here's Looking At You: Chicago Gets the Eye

"The odyssey of Chicago's new Eye sculpture"
Arts, Chicago Tribune (July 3, 2010)

Or, "How the giant sculpture got from rural Wisconsin to the Loop"

"On the ides of June, while squinting at a cluster of threatening clouds from his perch on a grassy construction site just outside of Sparta, Wis. this small city, Chicago sculptor Tony Tasset is, to use his words, totally freaking out.

" 'You know those reality shows?' Tasset says, a slightly uneasy smile on his face. "This is that part when the team is up against their deadline, and it looks like they're never going to finish on time.'

"Tasset's 'team' is made up of a half-dozen fiberglass workers at Sparta's Fast Corp. (Fiberglass Animals Shapes and Trademarks), who have been assigned to construct the artist's largest piece to date: a giant eyeball aptly named Eye, which, upon completion, will stand three stories tall and stare east from the Loop's Pritzker Park, at State and Van Buren streets. Tasset was commissioned for the job last fall by the Chicago Loop Alliance, and Fast Corp., with which he had collaborated on prior sculptures (including a 12-foot-high eyeball), took the engineering reins earlier this year...."

Maybe a more important question than how this titanic eyeball got to Chicago's Loop is why?! The article answers that, too:

"...Eye was commissioned by the Chicago Loop Alliance as part of its premiere Art Loop installation: a new, temporary work 'by an important artist' to be installed each summer in the Loop and paired with free programming. For its part, the CLA is promoting the sculpture as if it were the next 'Bean.'

" 'We wanted to have someone do something that we thought was fun and a little irreverent,' said CLA Executive Director Ty Tabing, who sat on the committee of art-centric locals that picked Tasset as the debut Art Loop artist. 'His art is not too highbrow,' Tabing said via telephone in June, 'and still very provocative and thought-provoking at the same time.'..."

I'm not sure that "thought-provoking" is quite what I'd call a 30-foot eyeball staring across the heads of Chicago's commuters. Or maybe I'm being too narrow in the way I define "thought."

It's possible that the sight of that outsized, disembodied eyeball will encourage some to give up drink, see a psychiatrist, or run - screaming - to fling themselves in Buckingham fountain a few blocks east. Provided the traffic doesn't get them on the way.

Okay: "a few blocks east and a little south."

One thing puzzles me about the article. I don't mean some group of citizens intentionally arranging for a huge ersatz eyeball to be placed in their city: 'art' folks have been doing weird, bizarre things for most of my life.

It's that cryptic reference to "Bean." Someone who lives in Chicago and follows culture and the arts there probably knows what "Bean" is - and if that person is you, I'd appreciate it if you'd share your knowledge in a comment. Thanks in advance!

Saul Steinberg's View from New York City

"A View of the World from 9th Avenue (Map)"
scott, via mappery.com (February 5, 2008)

"Famous Saul Steinberg New Yorker Magazine cover from 1976 depicts a New Yorker's egocentric view of world geography. Looking west from 9th Ave."

That was the March 29, 1976 New Yorker cover. There's a 1252 × 1691 pixel version of the image on mappery.com. And yes, it's available as a poster.

The Lemming could get very serious at this point about ethnocentrism and other five-dollar words: but even after seeing that cover off and on for decades - I still think it's funny.

Sunflowers 1888: Van Gogh, Looking Past the Ear

"Sunflowers 1888 - Vincent van Gogh sunflower Painting"
artquotes.net

"Painting Title: Sunflowers (Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers) 1888
"Oil on Canvas, 92.1 x 73cm - 36 x 28 Inches (approx)
"Vincent van Gogh
"Famous Dutch artist - Post Impressionist painter

"About the Sunflowers Painting
"This is one of several versions of sunflowers that Vincent van Gogh painted. This version with 15 sunflowers was painted in Arles, in 1888. The painting is in the collection of the National Gallery in London, England."

artquotes.net has a (much) larger picture of Sunflowers 1888, and other Van Gogh paintings: including Starry Night over the Rhone 1888; A Pair of Shoes 1887; and Autumn Landscape 1885. I think they're worth the clicks and the few minutes it would take to look at them.

Vincent Van Gogh may be the most famous 'insane artist' in recent times. There's that thing about his ear - depending on who you listen to, he cut off a part of his left earlobe, or the whole thing. That's the lurid part of the story.

There's quite a lot about Van Gogh's life online:

• "Vincent van Gogh | Dutch, 1853-1890"
  Art access, Art Institute of Chicago
• "Artist Biography: Vincent van Gogh"
  Art Esplorer, Art Institute of Chicago
• "Van Gogh, Solituce & Alcohol"
  Impressionism & the Making of Modern Art, Princeton University
• "Van Gogh Revisited"
  USC News, University of Southern California (December 8, 2009)

Epilepsy, depression, and alcohol show up more-or-less often in discussions of Van Gogh's life. There doesn't seem much doubt that something was troubling him - and that he killed himself in his late thirties.

That was a loss - for Vincent Van Gogh, and for everybody else. At a bare minimum, we lost a painter who had very real talent, and the sort of drive it takes to create art.

Off on a Tangent

Feel free to stop reading right here. the rest of this post is more about insanity, me, and how folks deal with others who are off the 50th percentile.

I've got a personal stake in how 'crazy people' are viewed. I was diagnosed with major depression a few years ago. And, thanks to a number of medications, am thinking more clearly and easily than I have in decades.

My own temperament, the nature of my problem, and my faith, all make it easy for me to continue taking my meds. Not everybody is in that position.

It's anyone's guess how Vincent Van Gogh would have been treated, and what he'd have done with his life, if he'd been born in 1953 - or later - instead of 1853. We've learned quite a bit in the last several decades: not just how the brain works, but that people with malfunctioning brains aren't necessarily 'being crazy' on purpose.

That was quite a step.

Related post:

• "Prayer, Medicine and Trusting God"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 4, 2010)
• "Medication for Depression? Yeah: The Catholic Church is Okay With That"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (February 25, 2010)

Brand-New Old Masters - Fake Art, Real Money

"Forged Art As You've Never Seen It Before"
Sky News (January 23, 2010)

"A multimillion-pound collection of forged art seized by police has gone on public display for the first time.

"The exhibition, at the Victoria and Albert Museum, features more than 100 fake works from Lowry paintings to Barbara Hepworth sculptures.

"Experts say the collection, which also includes 'paintings' by Thomas Moran and graffiti artist Banksy, would be worth £4m if genuine.

"Many of the works are by one of most notorious forgers in British art history, Shaun Greenhalgh from Bolton.

"Greenhalgh was jailed for four years and eight months in 2007 after police discovered an astonishing cottage industry in his garden shed...."

"...'We hope that by highlighting some of the new techniques criminals use, we can educate people in what to look out for and encourage greater reporting of these crimes.'..."

It's one thing, to copy a painting or sculpture as an exercise, to study how the artist made the original, or for sale - as a copy.

It's something else to copy an original - and sell it as an original.

Apparently, folks aren't quite as careful about checking when they buy over the Internet. Hello? "I found it on the Web" is no guarantee of validity: in information or artwork.

I'm not insulting the Internet. I do most of my research online. Using pretty much the same verification techniques I learned, back in the days when scholars pored over dusty tomes.

No kidding, about the dust: some of those books hadn't been moved in a long time.

Dino Art: Can You Dig It?

"Jurassic art"
Sandra Frykholm, Sequim Gazette (January 20, 2010)

"A 200-pound humerus rests on a custom-made workbench where Don Bradley is preparing it to be mounted on stainless steel arches over a foot-thick slab of giant sequoia.

" 'Whole bones are so hard to find, I decided not to section it into pieces,' Bradley said.

"A dinosaur enthusiast since childhood, Bradley has rekindled his interest as he nears retirement. His unique approach uses dinosaur fossils in artistic presentations suitable for public or private art collections.

" 'This stuff was found 50 years ago,' Bradley said. He acquired most of his fossils from an old-timer in the Southwest. ..."


(from Sequim Gazette, used w/o permission)

Bradley cuts and polishes some fossils, leaves some in their natural state.

Photos in the article and on Bradley's website show impressive - and attractive pieces of sculpture. I can see why someone would want to buy them.

What the article didn't say, was how he makes sure that he doesn't make something that's interesting to a paleontologist into a paperweight. Given his long interest in dinosaurs, I'm assuming that he's got a process for that.

Don Bradley's studio website, Paleo Lithic Art: dinosaur-gems.com.

The Weasel of Christmas: An Idea Whose Time has Come

"Christmas Weasel. by ~Leechman"

At last! The much-maligned weasel is receiving the attention usually frittered away on the likes of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and that red-nosed Rudolph.

Leechman's tribute to the Yuletide Weasel is on the Deviant Art website. What can I say? That lot even lets some of my stuff get online. (Norski)

Okay: unabashed self-promotion done; now back to the weasel.

Minnesota, my home, proudly supports three species of weasels. Okay: maybe not "proudly," but you'll find short-tailed weasel, long-tailed weasels, and the least weasel. And, no: short-tailed weasels are not long-tailed weasels that lost an argument with a snow blower.

Short-tailed weasels are a different species - and, if you like, you can call them "ermine."

Which raises an interesting question: Why does "ermine" remind some folks of European royalty, and "weasel" of unsavory characters? Which, now that I think of it, have occasionally been the same individuals. Never mind.

Something I learned about weasels, researching this post: They glow in the dark. Or, rather, their coat fluoresces when you shine ultraviolet light ("black light" we called it, back when) on them.

Which should have made them popular party animals, back in the sixties.

More:

• "Weasel"
  Minnesota DNR

Lisa Lichtenfields' Cloth People

LISA LICHTENFELS ~ Figurative Sculpture, Realism in Fabric

"Lisa Lichtenfels studied traditional oil painting at an early age, attended the Governor’s School while a teenager and continued her education at the Philadelphia College of Art. There she met Judy Jampell, who was becoming well known for her three dimensional soft-sculpted facades. Inspired, Lisa was going to be an illustrator until the prospect of independent animation and filmmaking fascinated her. Graduating with majors in Illustration and Film, she was immediately hired by the Disney Studios as an apprentice animator.

"While working at Disney she developed three-dimensional figurines with posable skeletons for stop-motion animation. Like Judy Jampell’s constructions, they had nylon stocking skins. Lisa left Disney to explore the potential of these techniques, expecting to return to animation in a year or so; but it has now been over twenty-five years, and she is still working in nylon and feels she has only barely begun to realize what is possible in the medium...."

Which is saying a lot, considering the sort of lifelike (and sometimes life-size) sculptures she's made to date.

The artist's website gives a pretty good look at Lisa Lichtenfields' life and work as an artist - and the sculptures she's created:

• "Gallery"
• "Artist biography "
• "Techniques"
• "Products"
• "Events"
• "Contact & links"

The BellyButton Video: Sheer Artistry!

"BellyButton Silly Song"

BigIdeaInc, YouTube (May 1, 2009)
video, 4:10

"A VeggieTales Hit! It's the Boyz in the Sink singing their classic, 'BellyButton' from the VeggieTales DVD 'The Ballad of Little Joe' "

The artistry! The special effects! The videography! The singing vegetables!

Words fail me.

A tip of the hat to #3 daughter, for drawing my attention to this video, and BigIdeas' YouTube account.

Driftwood Horses: Sculptures from Dead Wood

"Driftwood Horses by Heather Jansch"
Zuza Fun (September 18, 2009)

"The work of Heather Jansch started from her two passions: drawing and horses. She has a very interesting and diverse biography, many exhibitions, one book...."

That's about it, for text in this post.

On the other hand, there's lots and lots of photos of horses made out of driftwood. And, some other animal sculptures, too.

Here's the first (of many) photos. It'll give you an idea of what she's done.


(from Zuza Fun, used w/o permission)

The sculptures are life-size, or very close - and the samples shown actually do look like horses. And driftwood.

Quite remarkable.

Henri Matisse: a Pretty Good Set of Biographical Information

Henri Matisse
Answers.com

• Born: 31 December 1869
• Birthplace: Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France
• Died: 3 November 1954
• Best Known As: French artist and leader of the Fauve movement

"Henri Matisse is considered the most important French artist of the 20th century and, along with Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential modernist painters of the last century. Matisse began studying drawing and painting in the 1890s. A student of the masters of Post-Impressionism, Matisse later made a reputation for himself as the leader of a group of painters known as Les Fauves. An ironic label given to them by a critic (it means "wild beasts"), the name reflected Matisse's aggressive strokes and bold use of primary colors...."

That's how the Answers.com page on Henri Matisse starts. Most of the information's what you'll pick up elsewhere online - although Answers.com has, I think, one of the more thorough and accessible collections of text and pictures.

I was particularly interested in a paragraph at the end of Answers.com's copy of a Wikipedia page:

"...Henri Matisse's grandson, Paul Matisse, is an artist and inventor living in Massachusetts. Matisse's great granddaughter Sophie Matisse is active as an artist in 2009. Les Heritiers Matisse functions as his official Estate. The U.S. copyright representative for Les Heritiers Matisse is the Artists Rights Society...."

The links on Answers.com led back to Answers.com pages (fair enough - they like to generate internal traffic). I did a quick search and found the URL for Artists Rights Society: arsny.com.

Arsny?!

Artists Rights Society uses the acronym ARS - probably inspired by "ars longa, vita brevis", attributed to Hippocrates: or, 'Life is fleeting, but art endures.' ("The Trouble with Art" Ronald R. Thomas) And ARS is in New York City: N. Y.: so a good, memorable URL for the outfit is arsny.com - until someone pronounces it.

Getting back to Henri Matisse.

I was glad to learn that his descendants, some of them, are keeping up the sort of creative work that Henri Matisse did.

Lemming Tracks: Thinking and Imagining

The Lemming's Been Thinking


You may have seen this picture before. I used a copy, in "Lemming Tracks: The Lemming Has Been Thinking, Again" (October 30, 2008)) This graphic's been reduced to 48% actual size, to accommodate the blog's format. If your browser allows you to, you'll get more detail by viewing the image by itself. Or, try viewing it in this gallery page at Renderosity.

The only sort of art I've been able to work with for the last several years has been digital stuff like this. The thumb and first two digits on both hands were numb, an effect of carpal tunnel troubles. That was actually an improvement: for quite a while before that, they'd been quite distinctly painful.

Thankfully, I had learned touch typing in my youth, and so could type adequately well without (paradoxically) being able to feel the keys. Happily, keyboards generally are of a standard size and configuration. Using a mouse was no problem. The tactile sense in my palms worked fine.

Drawing or painting, though, were out of the question. I hadn't realized how much I relied on tactile feedback from those digits. Without it, I had barely enough control over where a pencil tip went to write legibly.

Getting laid off in the spring of 2006 freed up time to take my body in for a long-overdue overhaul. By the end of the year they'd swapped out both hips and fixed problems with my hands - including the carpal tunnel thing.

About that picture: The figure sitting on the box is this blog's mascot, the Apathetic Lemming. I'd been working with light and shadow, and this is how the exercise came out. If it seems a bit - somber? - that should be no surprise. I've felt like that, quite a bit, since I turned 13.

A few years ago I was diagnosed as having major depression: a treatable chemical glitch in the central nervous system. Now, instead of drinking a dozen cups of strong coffee each day to keep me going, I take a set of (prescribed) drugs that works better - without the jittery side-effects.

Enough about me. Next, here's the sort of thing I'd imagine when my immediate surroundings seemed about as dusty as that attic.

Refuge / Shangri-La


I've displayed this image in a few places, under both names. It's another impression piece, in a way: and something I worked on to get the hang of another 3D modeling program.

I'm not sure where it is, but my guess is that Refuge isn't on Earth. Or anywhere else in the Solar system. There's enough atmosphere for cirrus-like clouds, but the sky's mostly clear. And those stars are awfully bright.

Maybe someday I'll discover where it is.

---

Back to "Lemming Tracks: Digital Artwork Dredged from My Computer" (August 27, 2009)

Lemming Tracks: Digital Artwork Dredged from My Computer

As a change of pace the last 36 hours (part of it I've discussed in "Lemming Tracks: Skittish in Cyberland"), I decided to spend much of today getting some of the files on my computer organized.

I unearthed a few gems that had been misplaced a couple of years ago (a word of advice: don't re-organize your filing system while taking prescription pain medication).

That's the good news.

The bad news is that I haven't had (or taken) time to do my daily bit of reconnaissance on the Web, and don't have a single micro-review to post today.

I know it's not the same thing, but here's a selection of some graphics I found today: I've divided them into three posts, with two pictures and a bit of text in each. Autumn Holiday Graphics has a 'bonus' picture in it.

Thinking and Imagining


Artwork From a Work-In-Progress


Autumn Holiday Graphics

Rembrandt van Rijn: Take a Look, Buy a Book?

Rembrandt van Rijn
life, paintings, etchings, drawings & self portraits

Sure, the website's got an online Rembrandt bookshop, plus opportunities to buy hand-made Rembrandt copies, or prints & posters: but there's a pretty good selection of information about Rembrandt - and his house, and galleries of paintings, etchings, and drawings by the 17th century artist.

Sure: it's commercial. It's also a pretty good website for people wanting a look at Rembrandt and his work.

Online Comic 'Mary Quite Contrary' Back in Publication

"Chapter 8, Cover"
Mary's Summer Sketchbook
Mary Quite Contrary (August 10, 2009)

"Sorry for the long delay. Hopefully you'll enjoy these sketches of how Mary spent her summer."

It's just one illustration, so far: but Mary Quite Contrary is definitely back in publication.

I'll admit to a bias for this online comic. The artist is my oldest daughter.

Mary Quite Contrary is a fictionalized account of what it was like, growing up in this household. If anything, she's probably toned it down a bit, for the sake of maintaining that willing suspension of disbelief.

The last post before this was in June, then a hiatus which the artist may or may not choose to discuss at length. She spent the summer here, and went back to her place today. (More in today's post in my personal blog.)

Related post:

• " 'Mary Quite Contrary'" a Comic About Family and Fantasy"
  (September 5, 2007)

---

A tip of the hat to irish_brigid, on Twitter.

Toothpicks, Creativity, and Time: Lots of Toothpicks, Lots of time

"Man builds toothpick city June 18, 2009"

CNN, YouTube (June 18, 2009)
video 2:01

"Scott Weaver used over a million toothpicks to build a San Francisco model. And he rejected Ripley's $40,000 offer."

Mr. Weaver took 34 years to build a seven-foot-wide by nine-foot-tall toothpick sculpture - with 50 feet of ping-pong ball tracks.

It's folk art, we're told. The ABC-7 reporter told us that we were supposed to see this in a particular way: "In a world going ditto-head, one that bucks the trend..."

I'm more inclined to listen to what Mr. Weaver had to say: "...the lesson in this is 'What do we do with our time.' And I love to create, and I like to show people what can be done in life if you spend to create, to use your imagination."