Holiday nonsense

I am not one of those people who jumps on bandwagons; I see stuff on Facebook and think 'that looks interesting', but then I move on. But I was intrigued by the green smoothie thing; I do eat green stuff, but at the same time have had low level anaemia on and off over the years. I like smoothies, and during the strawberry season Monkey and I have made loads, but they tend to be pink. It being holiday, and not having to get up early for work, I decided to have a go at the Green Smoothie Challenge. Ok, they are trying to sell you their recipe book and probably have affiliate links to the very expensive smoothie machines they tout, but they do send you recipes and offer some inspiration and encouragement. I planned to shop in advance and have lots of interesting stuff to put in them, but the first morning I just went with what I had. This one has frozen spinach, one apple, two satsumas and some pumpkin seeds. It was ok. Tasty enough to decide I could stick it out.

This morning's offering is a not-so-green-smoothie. The shopping arrived, so this one has chard (something I have not bought before), banana and frozen blackberries. I decided I had better eat last year's blackberries before the new season arrives with a vengeance. It is a sad fact that I have not made very many blackberry crumbles so there is a huge bag still sitting at the back of the drawer. The seeds in the blackberries make it a little gritty but no unpleasantly so.

Oh whoops! This one has no green stuff in it at all: an Eton Mess Ice-cream Sundae at Fortes.

Dunk and I went for our annual date

to Llandudno on the North Wales coast, home to the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm, the second largest in the world.

 Several books have been read in the last week ... reviews to follow I promise; we are resting today after shunning both the tram and the cablecar to climb the Great Orme.

I have not posted any knitting in a long time. The yarn I had to knit a second Bressay Dress is instead being made into a Still Light Tunic (Ravelry link) that Julie bought the pattern for and we have been knitting together. I used this photo because it shows the colours properly, it won't be finished for another week.

A to Z Challenge Reflections

It all started with the puzzle of Convergence that Dunk bought for me, which led to this second puzzle, 'Battle of Lights, Coney Island' by Joseph Stella, (bought from Barney's Newsbox) which led to my decision to blog about art for my A to Z Challenge this year. After much coaxing and cajoling and nagging I also managed to persuade Dunk to join in too, and much to my surprise he stuck it out and I learned all sorts of new stuff about him.

April's Blogging from A to Z Challenge always manages to bring me back to the early days of blogging when I used to spend a lot of time browsing other people's blogs, so I tend to use my reflections post to point people to a few new places that I have been visiting. 

Chicaderock blogged about life in Galicia in rural Spain, a real window on another world.

Edward Kowalski blogs at Rants Unto The Ether, does exactly what it says on the tin.

Daryl blogs at Fairwinds, and expounded the delights of owning goats.

Fantasy Writer Guy gave us a huge selection of film reviews, some excellent recommendations.

I always love the crafty bloggers, and my new find this year was Maggie C at Glass Manifestations, who does the most beautiful stained glass.

Sarah at Deeply Trivial was not trivial at all, a very informative A to Z on the subject of social psychology.

Tilting At Windmills is the home of Amy who is another inspiring homesteader.

Lynne writes about various stuff over at Lynnelives, though her A to Z was delightful little watercolours of fruit and veg.

And finally, Robyn at 'Life by Chocolate' gave us the most surreal of A to Z themes, replacing Donald Trump's hair with various insane images, it made me smile every time.

Thanks to the organisers and all the participants, the A to Z Challenge always renews my enthusiasm for blogging.

Z is for Zwillinge

Wikigallery

We reach the end of our challenge and on the last day I have this very odd offering: 'Zwillinge' (Twins) by Paul Klee. I have tried to include a variety of styles over the month but had not included much abstract art. Klee is an interesting and unique painter; his wiki page does not label him as belonging to any group or movement but describes his style as being influenced by Surrealism, Cubism and Expressionism. He worked in a huge variety of mediums and developed his own techniques and was often influenced by music and poetry. He was Swiss-German but left Germany in 1933 where his work was decried by the Nazi regime as degenerate art.

Well it has been a very interesting April and I feel like I have learned a lot in order to complete my rather spur of the moment challenge theme. I hope everyone out there in blog-land has had an enjoyable challenge. See you all again next year.

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

Y is for Yellow

Wikigallery

On the penultimate day of the A to Z challenge I bring you this intensely vivid painting entitled 'Harmony in Yellow' by Paul Sérusier (who I had never heard of). He was a pioneer of abstract art and a member of an avant-garde group called Les Nabis in the 1890s. 

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

X is for X-ray

Wikimedia commons

For my X post I found some art which is thousands of years old, from the very origins of human creativity. The picture is an Aboriginal rock painting that shows a turtle and is an example of what has become known as 'X-ray art', because pictures would be made that showed the internal structure, bones and organs, of animals and people. It is a style that is still used today by commercial artists. (There is more interesting stuff about the religious and cultural symbolism in Aboriginal art on the Wikipedia page)

(Linking back to the A to Z challenge)

W is for Where Do We Come From

This painting's full title is 'Where Do We Come From What Are We Where Are We Going' by Paul Gauguin, a 19th century French Post-Impressionist painter (though I find, somewhat confusingly, that Impressionism and Post Impressionism were going on at roughly the same time). A copy of this painting hung on the wall of our morning room when I was growing up, so it became very familiar to me and I always liked the dark shadowy quality it has, focussing the attention on the figure in the centre, which consequently made me more curious about the people in the background, and the weird statue that seems to luminesce. It is another picture with much going on, that you could spend a lot of time absorbing the detail (if you click the picture you can see it a little larger).

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

V is for Vincent

Wikimedia commons

I realise I have already had one picture by Vincent van Gogh. This one is variously titled 'Vincent's chair with his pipe'. He is somehow the epitome of the tortured genius, his work often seems to be understood in the light of his mental health problems. I like the way his work is mostly of ordinary people and everyday things. The very mundanity of the image of his pipe on a chair feels like an intimate insight into his life.

And, because art influences music as well as literature, it is also an excuse to give you Don Mclean's beautiful song:

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

U is for Untitled

Wikimedia commons

I made the decision to use 'Untitled' for U way back at the beginning of the A to Z but had not settled on a picture. I found this while searching Wikimedia Commons and was very struck with it; it is such a graphic portrayal of suffering, but also containing other more subtle iconography. Art has always been political, but I sometimes feel that it has only been with the 20th century that it becomes more overtly so. The painting, Untitled (dropped rose), is by South African artist Thami Mnyele who saw art, and culture generally, as very much part of the struggle against oppression. He joined the ANC and was killed in Botswana in 1985 during a raid by South African commandos.

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

T is for Tea

Wikigallery

I found a very different style of image today with this sketch by the Dutch artist Isaac Israels showing a lady with 'A Cup of Tea', I love the wonderful quiet, wistful quality it has. Israels was a member of the Amsterdam Impressionist movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

S is for Self Portrait

Today's A to Z brings us S, and a selection of self portraits, another subject that has been widely tackled by artists throughout the ages. This first is Zahari Zograf, a leading Bulgarian painter of the nineteenth century.

Wikimedia commons

The second is a famous portrait of van Gogh, painted after his notorious self injury bought on by a psychotic episode.

Wikimedia commons

Thirdly I found this intriguing portrait of an Finnish artist called Maria Wilk (Finnish Wikipedia there she has no article on the British one). 

I just loved her rather suspicious expression.

Wikimedia commons

This final one is of Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian painter who had a distinctive style of elongated faces. He was little recognised during his lifetime, sadly died young and only achieved popularity afterwards.

Wikimedia commons

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

R is for Rain Steam and Speed

Wikimedia commons

The letter R brings you 'Rain Steam and Speed' by J.M.W. Turner. This has been one of my favourite paintings since childhood; we had a game called Masterpiece where paintings were paired secretly with values and you went around the board and had opportunities to build your art collection, the aim being to make the most money and to try and trick your fellow players into buying your forgeries. I am sure we all had favourites that we liked to buy, and this was one of mine. 
I would also highly recommend the film of Turner's life from 2014:

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

Q is for Quincy

Wikigallery

Q has been a really tough letter since I am trying to use the titles of artworks. After much trawling of various sites I am back with the Impressionists. This quaint little painting, entitled Quincy, Massachusetts, is by Childe Hassam, a most prolific American artist of the late 19th and early 20th century. He was very commercially successful in his life and apparently denounced the modernist trends of Cubism and Surrealism. 

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

P is for Parapluies

Wikipedia

Les Parapluies by Pierre-August Renoir. What is there to add, I mean, just appreciate all those shades of blue. Strangely it is not a rainy picture.

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

O is for Oberon

william-blake.org

Another of my must-haves for my art A to Z is William Blake. He was included last year in my poetry A to Z (being the ultimate Renaissance Man), our abiding fondness originating from his influence on Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy. Blake has many links to classic literature, having worked on illustrations for the Canterbury Tales and Dante's Divine Comedy (a project interrupted by his death in 1827). This painting however references Shakespeare and shows 'Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing', from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

N is for Nesting Stones

Barbara Hepworth website

I have returned to sculpture today with 'Nesting Stones' from Barbara Hepworth. It is quite representative of her style which is very organic and abstract, though often suggestive of human figures. I think my image of her was influenced by the novel 'Notes from an Exhibition' by Patrick Gale that I reviewed back in 2010; it is the story of the life of an artist but Hepworth appears as a character, and is referred to as TBH (The Barbara Hepworth), which seems indicate the level of awe that she appeared to command amongst her fellow artists. I am however beginning to feel that significant, influential women artists are few and far between. 

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

M is for Mother and Child

I am running late today but we have another selection of images, because motherhood is another of those subjects that has captured the imagination of artists for millennia. 

This first sculpture originates from the Bamana people in Mali, and dates some time from the 15th century.

The Met Museum

 This picture is Mother and Child by Harold Gilman, painted in 1918.

Auckland Art Gallery

 This one made me smile because it captures so well the trials of motherhood; by Pieter de Hooch, it is entitled 'A Mother and Child with Its Head in her Lap' and shows a mother delousing her child.  It was painted in the 17th century, it's lovely how little life has changed.

Wikigallery

 (Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

L is for Little Dancer of Fourteen Years

Wikimedia commons

'Little Dancer of Fourteen Years' is my entry for L today. I have always loved Edgar Degas' dancer paintings but then when the children were little I came across this book,

'Degas and the Little Dancer' by Laurence Anhalt, that takes the statue and creates a background story of the young ballet dancer who poses for the artist to help pay for her ballet lessons. It was lovely to find stories that also want to interest children in art. 

The sculpture itself is quite unique, being sculpted in wax and wearing a real tutu and slippers and with real hair. After his death many copies were cast in bronze and are on display in museums all over the world. 

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

K is for Kiss

Love in all its forms has always been an inspiration for artists over the centuries, so inevitably K brings you 'The Kiss'. But there are so many Kisses to choose from, so I decided to offer several in different styles (though really it is my excuse to include the Klimt.)

The Kiss by Theodore Géricault (1822) 

Wikimedia Commons

The Kiss by Edvard Munch (1897)

Wikimedia Commons

The Kiss by August Rodin (1889)

Wikimedia Commons

The Kiss by Francesco Hayez (1859)

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The Kiss by Gustav Klimt (1907)

Wikimedia Commons

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

J is for Japanese Bridge

Wikimedia commons

J brings us the wonderful Claude Monet and one of the many paintings that he did in the 1880s and 90s of the garden at Giverny in northern France, where he moved with his family. This is strictly titled 'Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge' but I'm sure the challenge police are not going to give me a hard time about it. I am a huge fan of all things Impressionist, which (I read) emphasises the representation of the qualities of light and movement. 

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)

I is for It Turned Me to Admire ...

Hondartza Fraga

After several works of literature inspired by art we now have a work of art that is inspired by literature. This drawing has captivated me. It is entitled 'It Turned Me to Admire the Magnanimity of the Sea Which Will Permit no Records', and is by the artist Hondartza Fraga. It is currently on display in a quiet little corner of the Manchester Art Gallery and Monkey and I came across it quite by chance when we visited a few weeks ago. At first glance it is a book, but look closer and the cover becomes the sea, and it is apparently inspired by a line from Herman Melville's Moby Dick.
I love it, partly because it is a book, but also because of what it manages to achieve; the sea in this drawing appears vast. Most paintings of the sea encompass some land or shore, which gives the sea some bounds, but here it is just sea, empty of vessels, devoid of sky or weather of any kind, and to me this manages to achieve some abstract quality of infinite water. It made me think of arriving at the Pacific Ocean when mum and I went to Costa Rica two years ago and how somehow I could almost feel the vastness of the body of water, in a way that the English Channel is not.

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)