Just for Fun November 19, 2009
Posted by Beth in Just for Fun, Music.Tags: fun, Music
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My daughter has to attend a performance with a full orchestra as part of an assignment for her music theory class. I am trying to talk her into Pirates of Penzance which is performing in San Jose this weekend…but since I couldn’t tempt her even after showing her this clip, I guess we won’t be going.
ARTIST: Gilbert and Sullivan
TITLE: I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General
Lyrics
[Pirates of Penzance]
I am the very model of a modern Major-General
I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical
I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical
About binomial theorem I’m teeming with a lot o’ news
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotepotenuse
I’m very good at integral and differential calculus
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
He is the very model of a modern Major-General
I know our mythic history, King Arthur’s and Sir Caradoc’s
I answer hard acrostics, I’ve a pretty taste for paradox
I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus
In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous
I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies
I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes
Then I can hum a fugue of which I’ve heard the music’s din afore
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinapinafore
Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform
And tell you ev’ry detail of Caractacus’s uniform
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
He is the very model of a modern Major-General
In fact, when I know what is meant by “mamelon” and “ravelin”
When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I’m more wary at
And when I know precisely what is meant by “commissariat”
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery
In short, when I’ve a smattering of elemental strategy
You’ll say a better Major-General had never sat a gee
You’ll say a better Major-General had never sat a gee
You’ll say a better Major-General had never sat a gee
You’ll say a better Major-General had never sat a sat a gee
For my military knowledge, though I’m plucky and adventury
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century
But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
I am the very model of a modern Major-General
But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral
He is the very model of a modern Major-General
Don’t miss this one November 18, 2009
Posted by Beth in Art.1 comment so far
3 Ring Binder has a post on an artist no one should miss: Eyvand Earle. (Seriously, click that link and watch the short video.) Along with reminding me of my own memorable introduction to Earle’s work (check the comments to her post for my brief story), she also provides an intriguing analysis of one image and her attempt to recreate something with a similar feel. It helped me look and think more deeply.
Here’s a few of my favorite pieces from Earle’s gallery website, just to give you a taste.
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Thin and straight and pure and clear
My friend my love both far and near
Herself a poem for all to share
A queen a beauty everywhere
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Some say that there is time
Some say there’s not
Some see reason and a rhyme
For what we’ve got
Some say that there is hope
And some don’t see it
Some can’t even cope
Therefore so be it
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One ray of sunlight splashes on the hills
Before it disappears below the sea
As fading sunlight over the mountain spills
Lighting the top of every single tree
3 good things (A Day in the City version) November 10, 2009
Posted by Beth in 3 Good Things, Art.Tags: 3 Good Things
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Yesterday I went to the SF-MOMA special exhibit of the photography of Richard Avedon. What a fabulous way to spend the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
1) 3 good friends
2) A walk through Yerba Buena Garden memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr.
“And we are determined…to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
3) The Richard Avedon exhibit itself. 3 of my favorites:
And a bonus:
In a display case, there was a book of Avedon’s portraits opened to a 2 page spread which I thought was rather prescient: Senator Obama on one page and Jimmy Carter on the other.
Fairytales October 21, 2009
Posted by Beth in Just for Fun, Music.Tags: fun, Music
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Just for Fun.
HT 3 Ring Binder.
Back to Encaustics September 21, 2009
Posted by Beth in Art.Tags: Art
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It’s been quite awhile since I have had time to write on my Calla Lily encaustic piece. I finished the piece weeks ago (I had to–the electric palate was on loan from my son’s art teacher and had to be returned when school started again at the end of August.)
When I last wrote, I had finished three images I wanted to combine into one larger piece.
I envisioned ending up with a set of four with the 4th image as something a bit different to provide some contrast. In my photo collection, I had a close-up shot of a calla lily leaf which I liked and though would serve that purpose:
I began the process by fusing the photo to a claybord and then adding a layer of clear wax:
Next I painted each half of the leaf with a block of base color, and then fused to a smooth surface. To capture the straight fine lines of the leaf veins, I chose the intarsia technique. For the wide veins, I used a pencil to carve the grooves before filling them in with contrasting color.
After scraping off the excess wax to expose the filled-in grooves, I used push-pin to carve the thinner veins. as these groves were too fine to be filled by wax, I filled them with oil paint instead, wiping off the excess with a rag dampened with turpenoid.
I was feeling pretty good about how it turned out–but I wanted to smooth out the surface. Afraid that if I simply fused at this stage, the wax would melt and distort my straight lines, I decided to put on a protective wax layer first—-and I ruined it!
All my beautiful clarity was now obscured by the milky opacity of the wax. I tried to scrape and refuse to get the the top coating of wax as thin as possible, but I never was able to achieve the look I desired.
I eventually went through 5 more attempts to capture in wax the image I had in my mind. Along the way I learned a lot–perhaps the most important lesson was how much closer I was able to come to creating my desired image through tediously repeating the process, each time with slight modifications. I felt caught up in a scientific experiment as much as in an artistic creation–but that just added to its appeal for me.
Here is a bit of what I learned:
The scraping stage of the intarsia process is MUCH easier if I used a fine brush to add the minimum amount of wax needed to fill the grooves.–and the smother the surface before carving, the better. Also, I could add more realism to the final image by varying the color of the wax and paint I used as filler. I printed off a copy of my photo to use for color testing, and that further improved my ability to reproduce the subtleties.
Here is the leaf in base colors. I was able to get a very smooth surface by putting the claybord right on top of the hot palate and letting it heat up until the wax melted. The trick then was to get it off without jostling it or the colors would run.
Below is my color tester:
If you look closely, you can see the filler wax changes from yellow-white to yellow. If I was to do it again, I would try for a more gradual shift.
And here is the final result:
It was looking good–but not quite there yet. When I placed this leaf image with all its sharp definition and straight lines next to the softer blended-by-melting colors of the flower images, the effect was jarring and out of place.
I tried lightly fusing to soften the lines, but it still wasn’t quite right.
Especially when I put it with the others.
It looks better here than it did “live.” I did like it, but wasn’t quite satisfied. My son kept telling me that the leaf didn’t fit at all. I didn’t understand why not because I saw it as all part of a set of different points of view on the same calla lily. For me, the subject tied it all together. After multiple conversations, my son finally stated “It may fit together to you because you know they are all calla lilies, but is doesn’t work visually.” He wanted my 4th image to have the same style as the others: a black background and central image. In spite of the days of effort I had put into the improving the leaf, I decided to give his idea a try. In the end, I liked the new leaf best.
The last step was to glue the four smaller images onto a larger claybord. For my first real attempt at encaustic, I am pretty pleased!
Post series: New Project, Calla Lily #2, Calla Lily #3, Calla Lily #4, Back to Encaustics
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