The Future & The Past

 

I saw this painting at the Scottsdale Ferrari Art Fair a few weeks ago.  The artist is Dennis Numkena (1941-2010), a Native American architect and artist.  As a child, Numkena attended the Phoenix Indian School and graduated from Scottsdale High School.  After serving in the US Military, he lived for a short period in New York City.  A visit to the Guggenheim Museum inspired him to become an architect.  He graduated from Arizona State University and formed the first Native owned architecture firm.  His artworks can be found in collections all over the world.

This painting caught my eye because to me it looked both futuristic and historic at the same time.  It looks very much like a Hopi pueblo site while also looking like it could be a scene from a Start Wars movie.  

The painting was for sale from Savvy Collectors for $30,000.00

Batman

 

I saw this art piece in the window of a building somewhere near 43rd and 6th Ave, midtown Manhattan.  It aroused my curiosity so I snapped a photo hoping to learn more about it. It took a bit of research but I found the artist is Tomaso Albertini.

Albertini was born in 1984 a native to Milan Italy.  He moved to New York City in 2015 and began working with three-dimensional art assembled with pieces of cardboard creating sculptures on canvas.  

After 8 years in New York, he and his family moved to Naples Florida where he uses art to collaborate and support a variety of non-profit organizations.

You can see more of his work on his Instagram site. 

The Cholmondeley Ladies

 Even though the artist for this painting is unknown, I wanted to research it because it is so unusual.  I saw this painting at the Tate Britain in London and it caught my attention right away. The description explains that the two ladies are sisters who were born on the same day, married on the same day and gave birth on the same day.  In fact, there is a barely visible inscription on the lower left of the painting that reads:  "Two Ladies of the Cholmondeley Family who were born on the same day, married on the same day, and brought to bed on the same day."

Although the two ladies appear identical, there are numerous differences in the details of their clothing and facial characteristics.  In fact, their eyes are different colors indicating that they were not identical twins.  The painting is known as "The Cholmondeley Ladies" and Cholmondeley is pronounced "Chum - lee".  It is believed to have been painted sometime between 1600 and 1610 and it remained in the Cholmondeley family until it was donated anonymously to the Tate in 1955.

Still Life Reviving

 

Today I have another work of art that I saw at the Art Institue of Chicago.  I took a photo of this one because I knew I wanted to research it when I got home.  It's such an unusual image.

This work was created by Remedios Varo, a woman born in Catalonia in 1908.  Her father was an engineer and he taught her to draw.  She attended school in Madrid. 

Varo arrived in Mexico in December of 1941 as an artist seeking refuge from the Spanish Civil War and WWII.

Upon her untimely death in 1963, it was given to her mother in remembrance of her daughter.  

This was the perfect choice of art for mourning Varo because in addition to being the last painting she created, its message is one of regeneration and new life.  

Another artist I would never have known if I hadn't been inspired by her work to learn more.

Red Sleigh House

 

I haven't posted to this blog in over six years.  The blog started out as place to post photos of different art work that I had created.  I changed the name slightly and will use it now as a place to post photos of art that I have admired. I hope to post something weekly. 

I saw the painting above at the Art Institute of Chicago when I visited last September.  There was something about the painting that attracted me.  I loved the way the artist framed the view of the house with tree branches.  The artist is Lawren Stewart Harris and it was painted in 1919.  I had never heard of the artist and I was curious about him.  He's a Canadian artist whose early career focused on landscapes mostly around Toronto.  He gradually moved his creative style to more modern or abstract viewpoints.  He was a founding member of the Group of Seven, a group of Canadian painters who shared the same artistic vision.  His modern paintings are more well known than the landscapes like this one.  

Here is a link to a great YouTube video of the actor and art lover Steve Martin introducing an exhibit of his modern works at the Museum of Find Arts in Boston.

More Kaleidoscopes

Bottle Brush Tree

Children's Books

Peppers

Desert Textures Kaleidoscopes

The textures of desert plants turned into eye catching kaleidoscopes.

More Kaleidoscopes

I'm posting a few more of the photo kaleidoscopes I've created.  The one above was created from a photo of a holiday wreath.

This one was a photo of a beautifully set table on display at Z Gallery.

And, this one was a bucket full of champagne bottles!  

Kaleidoscopes!

I love kaleidoscopes!  I actually have a very nice one that I bought years ago and I love sitting on the patio and pointing it at the bright sky and seeing all the changing patterns.  It must be my love of repeating patterns that draws me to these images.

I have a piece of editing software on an old laptop that I don't use any longer that makes gorgeous kaleidoscopes from just about any photograph.  That little tool is the only reason I keep that laptop around.  I haven't been able to duplicate that particular piece of software.

The top two photos were created from photos of flowers but, this last one is actually a set of patio table and chairs in yellow and blue.  It makes an interesting set of patterns.

Popcorn!

This was a creation for my Art Challenge Club several years ago.  It's still one of my favorites.