Art Sunday, The Art of Bob Dylan

I heard this on the radio as I was getting ready to meet a couple of friends for lunch. I think I would very much like to go to this exhibition.


http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/internet/Leisure/Museums_and_galleries/City_Art_Centre_exhibition

Bob Dylan; The Drawn Blank series,

31 January - 15 March 2009

Edinburgh's City Art Centre presents an exclusive free exhibition of the artwork of Bob Dylan.  The Drawn Blank Series is the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of Bob Dylan's art ever assembled and casts a vibrant new light on the creativity of one of the world's most important influential cultural figures

Bob Dylan has been a committed visual artist for more than four decades.  Based on drawings and sketches made by Dylan while on the road during the period of 1989 to 1992, the paintings in The Drawn Blank Series visually echo the hallmarks of Dylan’s prose, poetry and music.

Bob Dylan is one of the world's most popular and acclaimed songwriters, musicians and performers, having sold more than 110 million albums and performed literally thousands of shows around the world spanning five decades.

Opening Times

Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm

Sunday - 12 - 5pm

Free Admission

   Contacts

Name: City Art Centre

Address: 2 Market Street,
Edinburgh EH1 1DE

Tel: 0131 529 3993

E-mail: museumsandgalleries

Song Saturday; The Times They are a-Changing.

Song Saturday;
The Times They are a Changing.

I went into Dundee today to meet a couple of old friends for lunch. We had a very pleasant time reminiscing and getting reacquainted but I was shocked at the difference I saw in the town. There were so many shops closed down and boarded up, there were even more shops in the throws of closing down sales. I noticed two shoe shops with notices in the windows to say that the shop was in receivership. This so-called credit crunch, the world recession, call it what you like, had, until today happily by-passed me. It had made no direct difference to my life. And today I noticed that, as the song says…………….The times are a-changing.



 

Time for a New Kitchen, no 2

Time for a New Kitchen, no 2

Well I did say I’d keep you informed so here is a short update on the ‘New Kitchen’. The dream is getting closer, slowly one step at a time my new kitchen is beginning to happen. The Dishwasher and Washing Machine have already been delivered.

I messed up a bit on the timing because now I need to store them until the sink and work surfaces are delivered and fitted. No small task in a two bedroom apartment. They both sit in my hallway still in their boxes and plastic, ohhhh it’s so tempting to rip off all the packaging and look at them, but so far I’ve resisted, don’t want my shiny new things scratched before they are even plumbed in.

The units and work surfaces are due to be delivered early March and the joiner has already been to arrange a start date. Some time next week I’ll be off buying wall tiles, wall paper and paint.

The sink unit is very high gloss white so I’m painting the other units to match, the work surfaces will be black. I didn’t exactly plan on having a black and white kitchen but that’s the way it seems to be evolving.

I’ve been looking at black and white wallpaper but haven’t decided on any thing yet…………..there’s just so much to choose from. I’ve not been here very much this week because I have been working away stripping layers of wallpaper. I go to my work, come home, eat tea and then start work all over again in the kitchen. It’s hard work and I still have so far to go but I just keep thinking how nice it’s going to be once every thing is finished. And what do you think of these wallpapers?? I’m quite taken with the buildings but no decisions have been made

P.P.P.P.: KITCHENS ...............etc

P.P.P.P. KITCHENS..............etc

Today my topic is Kitchens (and all things connected to them), I just seem to be a bit pre-occupied with kitchens at the moment.
;and I don’t think I need to remind any one, but just in case; THIS IS MY 4 IN 1 BLOG, P is for Poem (as in Poetry Wednesday), P is for Photo (as in foto Friday), P is for Performance (as in Song Saturday) and P is for Painting (as in Art Sunday). Just click the pictures to see them full size.

P IS FOR POEM

Back Kitchen.

In my back kitchen all is quite still,
I have cooked my food and ate my fill.
Then the dishes in the sink had their say,
He always eats here but he does not pay.
The empty bottle of fresh brewed beer,
Said, 'He drained me dry without a tear.'
Then of course the mess he makes,
To cook a meal the time he takes.
Could he not eat in the restaurant next door?
They need the money because the Boss is poor.
The only thing that had nothing to say,
Was the frying pan it was not its day.
The knives and forks were filled with rage,
He is a messy eater he should act his age.
Picking out bits here and there indeed,
No wonder he takes so long to have his feed.
Have you ever listened to your kitchen tools?
Mine complain I am the king of fools.
They say I should go out to eat,
Order fresh vegetables with plenty of meat.
Not to come home and start to cook,
I should be relaxing with a good book.
They have no respect for me you know,
Just because I am old and getting slow.
I wash the pots and pans clean each day,
Then I carefully put them all away.
I think I will throw them away onto the rubbish heap,
Except for the sugar bowl that I will keep.

Bernard Shaw

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P IS FOR PHOTO

These photographs are of the dining area of

‘House for an Art Lover’;

A house designed both inside and out by husband and wife team Charles Rennie Macintosh and Margaret Macdonald. Macintosh was the architect and mostly designed the actual building and Macdonald was mostly responsible for the interior design. I took these photos a couple of years ago when I went to Glasgow and visited the house.


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P IS FOR PERFORMANCE

Jim Morrison,
The Doors, The Soul Kitchen Song      

Lyrics: Soul Kitchen, Jim Morrison
Well, the clock says it's time to close, now;
I guess I'd better go, now;
I'd really like to stay here all night.
The cars crawl all stuffed with eyes,
Street light shed their hollow glow;
Your brain seems bruised with numb surprise.
Still one place to go, still one place to go.
Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen,
Warm my mind near you gentle stove.
Turn me out and I'll wander, baby,
Stumbling in the neon groves.
Your fingers weave quick minarets,
Speaking in secret alphabets.
I light another cigarette,
Learn to forget, learn to forget,
Learn to forget, learn to forget.
Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen,
Warm my mind near you gentle stove.
Turn me out and I'll wander, baby,
Stumbling in the neon groves, yeah.
Well,the clock says it's time to close, now;
I know I have to go now
I'd really wanna stay here all night,
All night, all night.

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P IS FOR PAINTING

Willem Kalf:
Dutch Master of Still Life Paintings

Willem Kalf was a 17th century Dutch painter, known mostly for his amazingly detailed life studies.Today he’s considered one of the greatest still life painters in all of all time .many of Kalf’s paintings are composed images of precious goblets, pitchers, and bowls; sometimes with various pieces of fruit all displayed on expensive woven cloth. This subject matter is connected to the kitchens and dining tables of wealthy Dutch society in the 17th century, and his work became known as pronkstilleven, which in Dutch means, “opulent still life painting.”

Bruegel, Pieter the Elder
Peasant Wedding Feast

Pieter Bruegel (about 1525-69), usually known as Pieter Bruegel the Elder to distinguish him from his elder son, was the first in a family of Flemish painters. He spelled his name Brueghel until 1559, and his sons retained the "h" in the spelling of their names. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, generally considered the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century, is by far the most important member of the family. He was probably born in Breda in the Duchy of Brabant, now in The Netherlands. His paintings, including his landscapes and scenes of peasant life, show the vulgar side of peasant life, but he painted with empathy and humour. The  paintings are beautifully painted, as if in celebration of human life and all its flaws. He was sometimes called the "peasant Bruegel" from such works as Peasant Wedding Feast (1567).

VELAZQUEZ
 AN OLD WOMAN COOKING EGGS
1618

SCOTTISH COLOURISTS

Cadell; Cecillia no2



Hunter; Fruit and Books

Time for a New Kitchen

TIME FOR A NEW KITCHEN

I hadn’t  sat down and thought …..’hey I think I’ll get myself a new kitchen’.. For a start, I can’t actually afford a whole new kitchen and secondly I hate waste and like to use things until they've worn out and need replacing. No the thought process  wasn’t ………….lets go get a new kitchen, it was more like a thought chain reaction.


The thought processes started back in November when my washing machine died. At the time it was too near to Christmas to even think about things like that, so once a week I have been bagging my laundry and taking it to my daughter. This was always intended as a temporary solution until after Christmas when I could look around for an inexpensive machine. Then I began thinking if I had to buy a washing machine maybe I could look for a dishwasher and possibly get a good deal on both machines. I’ve wanted a dishwasher for ages, it’s far more energy efficient to put the dishwasher on every few days than it is to heat the water and use detergents several times a day. From there it didn’t take long to start thinking about the unit that houses the sink, it’s rotten and the wood is swollen with water over the years. Then of course there is the stainless steel sink and drainer, very old and dented which means it doesn’t drain properly which means there is always a puddle of water which means my sleeve always gets wet.  By this time the thought processes were on a roll and I just had to acknowledge the awful state of my work surfaces, very worn and scratched. When I moved into this place I cleaned every thing up, painted all the walls and made do. I’ve painted most of the walls again at least once since then but………………..sigh……………the kitchen wallpaper has started hanging off the walls, guess its time to strip the walls and do a proper job.

So this is my plan, new washing machine, new dishwasher, new sink unit with new sink and taps. Paint the other units that are still usable to match the new one, new matching work surfaces over the whole lot, tiles above the sink area and finish off with nice new wall paper.

The appliances and new sink have been ordered, the joiner has been in to see what needs doing now all I have to do is to strip the walls and make them ready for the work to be done. As luck would have it I have been babysitting all weekend, this time they had to earn their keep. Oh what a wicked Granny I am. Will keep you posted cos think this is going to take a while.

P.P.P.P.; MAGIC

MAGIC………………..Magic is my topic for today because after my daughter’s recent brush with hospitals and potentially serious health problems I can’t help but feel we have magic on our side. This is probably not as well put together as some of my previous P.P.P.P.’s but I’ve been a little preoccupied this week. I just wanted to post this tonight as a celebration of family and good health.the picture above is 'gone but not Forgotten', Waterhouse. 
 ;and I don’t think I need to remind any one, but just in case; THIS IS MY 4 IN 1 BLOG, P is for Poem (as in Poetry Wednesday), P is for Photo (as in foto Friday), P is for Performance (as in Song Saturday) and P is for Painting (as in Art Sunday). You should be able to click onto the images to see them original size.

P is for Poem;The Recall

I am the land of their fathers,
In me the virtue stays.
I will bring back my children,
After certain days.

Under their feet in the grasses
My clinging magic runs.
They shall return as strangers.
They shall remain as sons.

Over their heads in the branches
Of their new-bought, ancient trees,
I weave an incantation
And draw them to my knees.

Scent of smoke in the evening,
Smell of rain in the night--
The hours, the days and the seasons,
Order their souls aright,

Till I make plain the meaning
Of all my thousand years--
Till I fill their hearts with knowledge,
While I fill their eyes with tears.

Rudyard Kipling
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P is for Photo;
Magical Places around my home.

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P is for Performance;
It’s a Kind of Magic, Queen.  

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P is for Painting;
 A few of the Magical paintings of Waterhouse.

John William Waterhouse was a Pre-Raphaelite painter most famous for his paintings of female characters from mythology and literature.
No 1 is 'Boreas
No 2 is 'The Crystal Ball'
no 3 is 'The Magic circle'
No 4 is 'Offering the Cup to Odysseus

Art Sunday;Bessie Nicol,Glasgow artist

Above painting; self portrait,
Bessie MacNicol was the most important woman artist in Glasgow at the turn of the last century; she was the eldest of twin girls born on 15th July 1869. She studied art in both Glasgow and Paris. She first attended the Glasgow School of Art at the age of 18 in 1887, and in 1896 she managed to acquire her own studio at 175 St Vincent Street. She worked from here until 1899 when she married a gynaecologist turned painter. After the wedding she moved to Hillhead to live with her husband and worked from a studio at the back of her house. Her happiness was short lived.

A Girl of the sixties.

She died on the 4th June 1904 at the age of 34, she was pregnant with her first child. Her husband attended her death and signed the death certificate.
In the late 1890s MacNicol's favourite subjects were images of young girls posing under trees in dappled sunlight. The paintings were intended to capture the youth and beauty of her subjects against a background of nature and the seasons. They are very typical of the Glasgow style of painting and were every bit as good as the more popular and better known work of the male artists of the time.

 Autumn

Her husband survived her by only a couple of years. After a couple of years in mourning he married a young singer but died a few months after the marriage.

French Girl 1895

His second wife remarried in November of the same year and sold the family house along with all of Bessie’s belongings, personal effects and paintings, also the belongings, personal effects and paintings of her late husband. This is a major factor in the lack of documentary evidence of Bessie’s work and life.

Two sisters 1899

All that remains are a few letters and photographs; there are no sketchbooks and no diaries. Her early death was considered a great loss to Scottish art, but typically for a woman artist she was almost forgotten decades later.

Under the apple tree 1899

Picture Perfect; Cold

This is a photo I took back in the summer at the local 'Seafest', a celebration of the sea and all that she provides. This was a little oasis of icy cold on an otherwise hot and sunny day. These are freshly caught White Fish from the North Sea, all packed in ice and ready for the pot. Click on the image to enlarge, Just realized my site is having problems again and you can't click to enlarge, I've posted in a photo album instead and you are able to see the full size version here.
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/219/SEAFEST_2008

Not one to be beaten................tried it another way this is linked from my flickr account

SEAFEST 2008

White fish fresh from the North sea and packed in ice ready for the pot.

P.P.P.P.; WORK

P. P. P. P. WORK

I don’t think I need to remind any one, but just in case; THIS IS MY 4 IN 1 BLOG, P is for Poem (as in Poetry Wednesday), P is for Photo (as in foto Friday), P is for Performance (as in Song Saturday) and P is for Painting (as in Art Sunday). My subject this week is a word that is on every ones lips just now; ‘’WORK’’. As we all return to our different places of work after the holiday period I thought it would be nice to consider ‘’WORK’’ in other ways.  Take a look at what ‘’work’’ means to other people in other times and other places. All images can be clicked on to see the full size  version and all Biography information in this post is from Wikipedia.

The painting at the top is ''The Moneychanger and his Wife, sometimes called ''The Misers'', There are two different versions: one by Quentin Massys, 1514, and another by Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1539. I believe this is a copy of the later version by Reymerswaele, (Flemish)
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P IS FOR POEM
‘’Work’’
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

What are we set on earth for ? Say, to toil;
Nor seek to leave thy tending of the vines
For all the heat o' the day, till it declines,
And Death's mild curfew shall from work assoil.
God did anoint thee with his odorous oil,
To wrestle, not to reign; and He assigns
All thy tears over, like pure crystallines,
For younger fellow-workers of the soil
To wear for amulets. So others shall
Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand
From thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheer,
And God's grace fructify through thee to
The least flower with a brimming cup may stand,
And share its dew-drop with another near.
Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett was born March 6, 1806 in Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England. Elizabeth was educated at home, attending lessons with her brother's tutor and was very well-educated for a girl of that period. During her teen years she read the principal Greek and Latin authors and Dante's Inferno in the original languages. Her appetite for knowledge led her to learn Hebrew, she went on to  read the Old Testament from beginning to end. By the age of 12 she had written an "epic" poem consisting of four books of rhyming couplets. She remains one of our most celebrated and admired poets
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P IS FOR PHOTO

Arbroath Harbour has lost most of its fishing fleet but remains a working harbour.

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P IS FOR PERFORMANCE

This is a light hearted look at ‘’work’’, a classic, something loved by generations of adults and children.  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first full-length animated feature (83 minutes in length) in colour and with sound, one of Disney's greatest films, and a pioneering classic tale in film history.
It was the first commercially successful film of its kind’ It was a technically brilliant example of Disney animation. It was also the first film to release a soundtrack album. The story was adapted from the original Brothers Grimms' Fairy Tales, but in a bowdlerized or sanitized version, without overt sexual references or violent content. Snow White was the last major classic film that Disney released to the consumer market on videotape - in late 1994!

The story is a familiar one: raised by a wicked and vain Queen (voice of Lucille La Verne), beautiful Snow White (voice of nineteen year-old Adriana Caselotti) is taken into the forest to be murdered. However, the Huntsman (voice of Stuart Buchanan) cannot commit the horrible deed, so she flees and finds refuge in the home of seven diamond-mine workers/dwarfs. The voices of the dwarfs are;
        * Doc (voice of Roy Atwell)
        * Happy (voice of Otis Harlan)
        * Bashful (voice of Scotty Mattraw)
        * Sneezy (voice of Billy Gilbert)
        * Sleepy (voice of Pinto Colvig)
        * Grumpy (voice of Pinto Colvig)
        * Dopey (mute)
It took almost four years and an astronomical (at the time) $1.7 million to create, and was released for its premiere during the Christmas season of 1937. Its single nomination was for Best Score. For the film's remarkable achievement, Walt Disney was awarded with an Honorary Oscar - the film was "recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon."
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P IS FOR PAINTING

For the paintings I have chosen a couple of works that I am quite fond of. They are all by different artists and depict very different types of work being carried our in different countries.

The Dance Class,
Edgar Dagas, 1871

Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917), was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist. A superb draughtsman, he is especially identified with the subject of the dance, and over half his works depict dancers. This painting shows a teacher of classical dance taking his class.

Shipbuilding in Flatford,
John Constable,
1815.

John Constable (11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection. "I should paint my own places best", he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, "painting is but another word for feeling".

His most famous paintings include Dedham Vale of 1802 and The Hay Wain of 1821. Although his paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art, he was never financially successful and did not become a member of the establishment until he was elected to the Royal Academy at the age of 52. He sold more paintings in France than in his native England.

Sir James Guthrie,
'A Hind's Daughter'
1883

The small girl has just straightened up after cutting a cabbage and looks directly at the viewer. Girl and landscape seem inextricably merged in this essentially Scottish scene. A hind was a skilled farm labourer, and cabbage (or kail) a staple diet of Scottish hinds and their families. Guthrie painted the picture in the Berwickshire village of Cockburnspath, where he opted to stay during the winter, unlike his Glasgow friends who returned to the city at the end of the summer.

Sir James Guthrie (June 10, 1859 - September 6, 1930) was a Scottish painter. He was best known in his own lifetime for his portraiture, although today he is more generally as a painter of Scottish Realism.
Born in Greenock, Guthrie, the son of a clergyman, originally enrolled at Glasgow University to study law, but abandoned this in favour of painting in 1877. Unlike many of his contemporaries he did not study in Paris, he was mostly self-taught. He lived most of his life in the Scottish Borders, (mostly in Cockburnspath, Berwickshire), where he painted some of his most important works, including A Hind's Daughter (1883), and Schoolmates. He was strongly influenced by the French Realists, especially Jules Bastien-Lepage, and was associated with the Glasgow Boys. He was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1888, and a full member in 1892. In 1902 he succeeded Sir George Reid as RSA president in 1902, and he was knighted the following year. He died in Rhu, Dunbartonshire in 1930.