Tag: art

1984 Ceramic Pumpkin saved from the Trash

About 18 years ago Erika, my daughter-in -Law, was pitching this little ceramic pumpkin she had created in elementary school. They were cleaning out the basement. I said No, no no and took it out of the trash. “You have to save it and give it to your children, show your kids someday.” Well her eldest is 17 at the end of this week.

I found this in the back of my China closet. I can’t wait to give her daughter the little ceramic pumpkin her mom made circa 1984. Hoping it doesn’t end up in the trash again

And

Happy Sunday Birthday to Erika.❤️

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Vintage Cat Postcards

Alfred Mainzer was the postcard publisher not the artist, according to this informative article in the Mousebreath Magazine The artist was Eugen Hartung from Switzerland. I have some unused postcards and I see that they sell on Etsy for up to $15 for a single card.  I also have some written on by my father who was a definite fan of these cat cards.  I know he used to buy them in the ’50s  from a card shop in Montclair New Jersey run by Mr. Bert DeCamp.

The artist signed his initials in the corner in a heart which I never noticed before but I read that on Mousebreath   

The Hartung postcards were first published in Switzerland by Max Kunzli of Zurich and then(from the 1940’s onwards) by the Alfred Mainzer Company of Long Island New York.  Each card is signed with the artist’s monogram, a little heart in the lower right corner. (Because of cropping, sometimes the heart gets chopped off.)

Some are printed in Turkey and some printed in Spain.

LOOK WHO IS KNITTING A SOCK (using double point needles)

anthropomorphic cats

A cat is afraid of a runaway mouse?Fabric background by Firecracker  Fabrics.

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Relook at Dancing at Bougival Sculpture

A reblog from June 12, 2014

Here is the delight of the day- (Stef!) 

A monumental sculpture by J Seward Johnson has been at PPG Place for “about four days”, the guard said.

But don’t worry.  The giant dancers will be in place until October.

Dancing at Bougival (painted in 1883 by Pierre A. Renoir ) is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

70-200 lens close-up

Note: August 2020. This post inspired after seeing Pittsburgh Artist Jack Puglisi ‘s Pointillist work “The Dance” from his MASTERWORKS series – remembered I had photographed this sculpture in 2014.

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Tea Bag Art

Joanne painted this tea bag art and created a greeting card for my July 4th birthday.

My friend Joanne, belongs to an artists’ group in St. Augustine, Florida, -Cafe Sketchers

“Mary Ann Miller is the leader . Our group is the Cafe Sketchers and the blog is Sketching in Provence as a group of them went a few years ago…
We meet at a different cafe each time and sketch and eat. Lately we meet via zoom and share what we’re working on.” Joanne writes

The Sketchers in Provence founder, Mary Ann’s blog post says….

“the idea was to use a teabag in a sketch/painting/print in any way you desired. Ideas included painting directly on dried and emptied teabags (inspired by New York artist Ruby Silvious), printing with the wet bag and making something out of that shape, painting with tea or painting a picture of a teacup. I used tea to dye unbleached muslin to cover my T-Doodles books”

The members painted tea bags and to see their artwork click here

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Sharon Weaver – Portrait Artist

Portrait and a Plein Air Artist, Sharon Weaver is also my son-in-law’s mother.

This afternoon I walked up to the front steps and saw a package on the stoop. I read the return address and thought it looked like a box for artwork, stamped “fragile” .

Imagine my surprise when I unwrapped it and saw myself, Knitting.

I think she captured my likeness.

Thank you for the magnificent painting, Sharon. I can tell you put a lot of ❤️ in it. A happy birthday present, indeed!

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Driveway Art in Columbus

My DIL Erika sent me these photos of granddaughter Maura’s sidewalk chalk artwork in their driveway .

Looks like she used some painter’s tape to get those crisp edges.

I forgot to ask how long it took to create.

Painter’s tape
Maura’s Masterpiece
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Anticipation

Waiting. Patiently.

My granddaughter Anna made the beautiful flower covered ceramic art in her high school ceramics class. She gave it to me at Christmas. I put a glass jar inside to hold the stems in water.

The daffodils are from Ireland, but bought them at Trader Joe’s Monday afternoon.  I’m sure many will have opened up by morning.

Bringing Spring inside

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Garden of Constants by Artist Barbara Grygutis

Seen last week when I was on Ohio, I was walking to the swim meet from the  parking garage. And I did experienced exactly what the article quoted below says….”a fun surprise to stumble upon”

“The Garden of Constants at the Ohio State University is a fun surprise to stumble upon. The massive, colorful numbers bring a whimsical air to the lawn outside the engineering building. They’ve stood there since 1994… “ from atlasobscura.com the large numbers are sculpted  from copper and bronze by artist Barbara Grygutis (click her name to see her other public art sculptures)

I will have to return to photograph these….

“…. you’ll find pavers containing mathematical and formulaic constants. The formulas reflect the electrical engineering and computer science activities and classes that take place within the surrounding buildings.“

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