Art Sunday; The gardens of Daniel Ridgway

ART SUNDAY; THE GARDENS OF DANIEL RIDGWAY

Many people seem to have spent time in their gardens yesterday and to celebrate the beauty of our gardens and the joy we all experience from them, I’m showing the garden paintings of Daniel Ridgway, American artist, 1839-1924. I could happily live with anyone of these gardens.

http://www.danielridgwayknight.org/

‘’Daniel Ridgway Knight (March 15, 1839 - March 9, 1924) was an American artist born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a pupil at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, under Gleyre, and later worked in the private studio of Meissonier. After 1872 he lived in France, having a house and studio at Poissy on the Seine.

He painted peasant women out of doors with great popular success. He was awarded the silver medal and Cross of the Legion of Honor, Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1889, and was made a Knight of the Royal Order of St. Michael of Bavaria, Munich, 1893, and receiving the gold medal of honor from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1893. His son, Louis Aston Knight (1873 - 1948), is also known as a landscape painter.’’

 

Capitalism; a love story

OMG………………I’ve just watched
‘’Capitalism; a love story’’

I’m pretty sure he’s not every ones cup of tea but….
At last I’ve found my first American hero.

 

Actually...............my second American hero. I've never heard this before either.

 

Song Saturday; .....................

It's saturday, the sun is shining and it's easy to believe all is well with the world. Bet you can't watch this and not laugh

Poetry Wednesday; to the Hudson, Elizabeth Oakes-Stokes

Robert Fulton's (1765-1815) steamboat the Clermont, on the Hudson River, New York, 1861
Richard Varick De Witt

(1800-1868

This is not the sort of poem that usually appeals to me, but this one did.

To the Hudson
  by: Elizabeth Oakes-Smith (1806-1893)

 

  
O RIVER! gently as a wayward child
I saw thee mid the moonlight hills at rest;
Capricious thing, with thine own beauty wild,
How didst thou still the throbbings of thy breast!
Rude headlands were about thee, stooping round,
As if amid the hills to hold thy stay;
But thou didst hear the far-off ocean sound
Inviting thee from hill and vale away,
To mingle thy deep waters with its own;
And, at that voice, thy steps did onward glide,
Onward from echoing hill and valley lone.
Like thine, oh, be my course--nor turned aside,
While listening to the soundings of a land,
That like the ocean call invites me to its strand. 
 

The view from my window

Every evening I sit here at my computer desk under the window. As I check emails, read blogs, write blogs, download photos  or any of the other things I do sitting here, I look out of the window and watch as the the sun sinks out of view. My tomato plants turn into  silhouettes on the windowsill and the sky goes pink and orange. It has never occurred to me  to actually photograph the sun as it sets in the window. Its almost 10 and still not quite dark.

COPYRIGHT.................yeah i know we have all discussed, read and written on the 'multiply and copyright thing; BUT, I've just been happily clicking down my emails and came across a notification of my own post, a post full of my own original photos. At the end of the email notice this is what it says ''Copyright 2010 Multiply, 6001 Park of Commerce Blvd, Boca Raton, FL '' Checking back I see it says the same thing at the end of ALL emails sent by multiply to notify of new posts. Hmmmmm so looks like they were all right after all, Multiply DOES indeed own copyright to all of our posts, photos, writings etc.................

Beech Wood

A walk through the Beech Woods on a nice sunny day in May. There seems to be a wide avenue through the woods with large mature beech trees either side. I think this must have been a road, or farm track, or even an old river bed at one time.

Art Sunday 1981 Photos of Manhattan

Manhattan, photographs from 1981 by Jay Maisel
I came across a 1981 copy of National Geographic with an article featuring Manhattan. It was written by John Putman and illustrated with the photographs of Jay Maisel. There is something about these photographs that appeals to me, they are snapshots in time, a tiny glimpse of a time so recent that most of us remember but so different it’s hardly recognisable, almost like a different world. I apologise for the poor quality of these images, I didn’t want to tear up the book and so many of them have been scanned across two pages.
1 & 2 are in fact one image spread across three pages and it's called Fires of evening
3. a cigar smoking cabbie.
4. two wall streeters using reflectors to ensure tans.
5. 'The ins and the outs'; a labyrinth of neighbourhoods home for countless immigrants.
6. A pinball ride; beneath the streets.
7. Fifth Avenus fills to the walls for Pope John Paul !!'s visit to St Pattricks Cathedral
8. Street Art; last summers beer cans and popsicle sticks in heat softened asphalt.
9. Living cast offs; one such derelict awakens to a cold morning.
10. Wealth and Genuis; Solomon R Guggenheim Modern Art Museum designed by Frank lloyd Wright.
11. A building dies; the second death of a crumbeling street in a slum.
12. this is named ''Twin Monarchs''.....................................
13. A transit strike in 1980 clogged arterial avenues
14. Humbug, fakers sometimes collect for their own personal Christmas funds.
15. fantasy rides high; thanksgiving helium-filled cartoon characters float in macy's Parade.
16. Roller skates are in, so are radio headsets.
17. Morning light; a storefront in the bowery

Janet Smith, American artist

Art Sunday; Janet Fish

Janet Fish

biography info here
http://varoregistry.org/fish/bio.html

These pictures don't seem to enlarge , I'll post them in an album so you can get a better look.

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/260/Janet_Smith_American_artist

Janet Fish, was born in 1938 in Boston. Her grandfather, Clark Voorhees was an American Impressionist, her father an art history teacher, and her mother, Florence Whistler Fish, a sculptor and potter.

She studied sculpture and printmaking at Smith College and Skowhegan Summer School.

She was one of the first women artists to receive her MFA from Yale University in 1963.

Fish received her first one-woman exhibition in 1971 where her work sold out before the opening, and during the next several years became an established New York artist.

Her exhibitions include: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1972 and 1974; The Whitney Museum of American Art, 1973; Brooklyn Museum, 1976; Isetan Museum, Tokoyo, 1985, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C., 1991, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1994.

She was also included in "Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move Into the Mainstream," Cincinnati Art Museum, 1989.

Her works appear in the collections of The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and The Whitney Museum of American Art.

Read the Art Review – NewYorkArtWorld here

http://www.newyorkartworld.com/reviews/fish.html

Song Saturday; Liza Minnelli, New York, New York

 

 

Something by Lisa Minellie, I've always liked this womans work. The picture at the top is one of a series of photographs by Jay Maisel taken in Manhattan that I came across in a 1981 copy of National Geographic. Think I'll scan the rest of post them later, But for now, NEW YORK.....

 

 

garden no 13, an afternoon in my garden

Gardening no 13; an afternoon in the garden.

Today I have had a lovely time in my garden. My pond is looking good, today is the first time I have seen the little solar powered water fountain working. There has not been enough sun for it until now. Also the pond itself is in a shady position under an old apple tree and the small solar panel only has a 2 meter cable so its quite hard to get enough sunlight to power it.

And the rest is over on Jungleblogs.............most people who read these garden updates seem to have found their way over ther already, but in case there is any one else.........here is the link, all you need do is request membership.........no obligation, it just means you get to carry on reading the garden updates.

http://jungleblogs.multiply.com/journal/item/120/Gardening_no_13_an_afternoon_in_the_garden

 

Gardening no 12; my herbs

Gardening no 12; My Herbs

Today has been sunny…………yep actually, really and truly sunny!! I spent the whole of the afternoon in the garden, caught up with just about every thing and then, once I’d finished………….it rained and watered every thing for me. How good is that??

 

And the rest is over on Jungleblogs.............most people who read these garden updates seem to have found their way over ther already, but in case there is any one else.........here is the link, all you need do is request membership.........no obligation, it just means you get to carry on reading the garden updates.

http://jungleblogs.multiply.com/photos/album/101/Gardening_no_12_The_Herbs_.....................

Ahhhhh sun is out and I'm off to play in the garden. I've already got a couple more things to post about the garden and by the time I come indoors I should have some more. Last time I posted a garden update I said I was going to start using the gardening group, JUNGLEBLOGS to post my garden stuff in. It just seemed to make sense, I never get around to posting any thing there and I've been a member for ages, the group is quite small and most of the people there visit my pages any way. Some people seem to think they can't read my garden updates anymore, all you need do is visit the site http://jungleblogs.multiply.com/ and join. No need to post anything if you don't want to, just join and read about every ones gardens. Part of the reason I decided to do this was because the alternative seemed to be to post the same thing twice..... ohhhhh I'm just tooo lazy for that. Seems I'm not the only one finding it hard to post there, which is another reason I decided to move my garden updates over there. Bennett is the group administrator and as she puts it..... 'New Blood' would be very welcome. So please..............if you want to carry on reading the garden updates just click to join the group. :-) OK.............thats it..................off to play now, back later :-)

Art Sunday; recycled art

RECYCLED ART

I HAVE JUST BEEN LOOKING AT A SITE WITH LOTS OF IDEAS ON HOW TO RECYCLE AND REUSE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING

http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/about

THESE ARE SOME OF THE CREATIVE IDEAS FEATURED ON THIS SITE

 

 

 

 

AND HERE ARE A COUPLE OF VIDEOS SHOWING HOW TO MAKE FLOWERS FROM PLASTIC BOTTLES AND PLASTIC BAGS

 

 

Art Sunday; Lesley McLaren

LESLEY MCLAREN

INFORMATION AND IMAGES FROM HERE

(if the images here will not enlarge you can see them on this web site.)

http://www.scottishartpaintings.co.uk/artist-lesley-mclaren.asp

Lesley McLaren was born in Glasgow in 1959. She attended Exeter College of Art achieving a BA(hons) in painting.

Inspiration for Lesley McLaren contemporary paintings comes from the Scottish countryside.

Whilst travelling Lesley collects images in her sketch book and on camera. Back in the studio she seeks to recreate the essence and drama of beautiful Scottish countryside.

The result is superb paintings reflecting memories and feelings, where Lesley has often allowed the more dramatic elements of a scene to develop through the language of paint.

The finished painting is a little like the end of a little journey.

She describes every painting as "the creation of an exciting new world - one which journeys on from reality"

Art Sunday; Charles MacQueen.

CHARLES MACQUEEN RSW

Information and images from

http://www.manorhousegallery.co.uk/macqueen.htm

Lots more paintnigs and information on the web site.

After graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 1965, Charles embarked on a highly successful career in art education. While he had painted and exhibited continually throughout these years it wasn't until the 1990s that he retired to devote all his time to painting. He was elected a member of the Royal Glasgow Institute in 1983 and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1984, serving the latter as Vice President for the East of Scotland. Charles has won many awards over a long and distinguished career including the Torrance Award and the Teacher's Whiskey Travel Award, both at the Royal Glasgow Institute. He was recently commissioned by P & O to produce two large murals for their new flagship, the Arcadia.

In these recent paintings his style continues to develop in a representational direction; the views of East Coast Scottish harbours and North African games tables are instantly recognisable as such while still infused with Charles' evident fascination with abstracted pattern and design. 

By using textured levels of paint and gesso Charles depicts the sensation or experience of a place.Charles wrote recently...."The forms I use are forms remembered or dreamt about.

The stark visual contrasts of moving between strong blinding sunlight and dark bazaars full of rich reds, golds and turquoise inhabit my paintings.

This is like being put down to sleep in a darkened room with strong sumlight streaming through the shutters. This is not representation but an evocation"

 
 

Song Saturday; Janis singing Summertime

Janis Joplin - Summertime

(Live Gröna Lund 1969)

The sun is shining, every thing in the garden is looking good……………oh what a voice this woman had

 

Gardening no 11, The indoor food factory

GARDENING  NO 11;

The indoor Food Factory

The first thing I did this bank Holiday was to sort out all my indoor plants. The Tomatoes really needed repotting, luckily it was warm enough to take them outside and pot them up in the garden. Now they are sitting in the sun in my kitchen in front of the Peppers. They still look a bit droopy here because I’ve not finished fixing them to the support canes. I’ve pinched out the tops so hopefully they will begin to bush out a bit. I think they are in shock at being uprooted but I’m sure they will settle in a couple of days and begin to look a bit brighter......

To read the rest of this follow the link over to Jungleblogs, its group for people who love gardens and its open to every one. I've decided to post my garden blogs over there in future,

http://jungleblogs.multiply.com/journal/item/118/Gardening_no_11_The_indoor_food_factory

At last .....I think the rain has stopped enough for me to cut the grass..... must go can't risk missing this 'window'

Arbirlot, the photos

The tiny village of arbirlot, 2 1/2 miles west of Arbroath. Walking along Elliot Water and past the ruins of the old Meal Mill.