Art and Shakespeare

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It's been a while since I posted for Art of the Week. Everything else I've been clamb'ring to learn caused art to slip my mind. So here goes.

My favorite art movement is the Pre-Raphaelite. It appeals to my love of melancholy, drama, beauty, and history, I suppose. A favorite subject for these 19th painters was Ophelia, the tragic heroine of my second favorite play by Shakespeare (my first being Macbeth). Many a Pre-Raphaelite artist had a unique vision of this fragile, lost little soul, but nearly all these visions revolve around her death, described in lurid and lovely detail by Queen Gertrude in Act 4, scene 7, of Hamlet.

"There is a willow grows aslant a brook
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them.
There on the pendent boughs her crownet weeds
Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down the weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
And mermaid-like a while they bore her up;
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and endued
Unto that element. But long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death."

Three paintings to contrast:

OPHELIA, AND HE WILL NOT COME AGAIN
Arthur Hughes, 1863

OPHELIA
Alexandre Cabanel, 1883

OPHELIA
John Edward Millais, 1852

I had not seen the Cabanel painting before today. I love it for catching Ophelia in the actual fall. For still more paintings to compare and admire, there's a wonderful entry >HERE< at blogspot.

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*groan* I Bit The Bullet

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It doesn't hurt as badly as I thought it would.

Anyone who knows me, knows how I shout slander and all manner of vile things against the privacy-sucking, time-wasting institution that is Facebook. But my friends and family and all manner of writer-marketer people out there assure me that Facebook is my friend. These days, writers must be marketers, too, and one of the easiest ways to spread the word of one's aspirations to sell books is through the Facebook network, so last week, some friends convinced me to set up a fan page on Facebook. I don't have any books yet to sell, only a handful of stories available, but it seems that I need to start building the "fan base" now. I have a small following on my blog, but FB is supposed to help change that, or so they say. So interesting parties may find my fan page here: Court Ellyn

Clicking "Like"--even if you're not a fan--will help me out. So will any tips from FB users who know how to market themselves via that avenue. I'll be happy to return the favor if you provide me a link to your fan page or equivalent. Bribing fans? You bet. I'd throw in a batch of cookies, too, but I don't think they would taste very good when posted here.

On another note, one I prefer far more, is our Art of the Week:

HOBSYLLWIN, THE WHITE GUARDIAN
by Ciruelo Cabral

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The Cusp of Spring

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Ah, it's the last day of February! Spring is just around the corner. In fact, it feels like it's already here, at least where I live. We've had thunderstorms, warm south winds, and twice I've had the chance to sunbathe. Yep, in February. Which means March will likely be cloudy and cold. Time seems to get confused on occasion. Or maybe the issue is humanity trying to create order by naming a set of days and then expecting those days to behave a certain way. And then we're scandalized when things happen differently than we say they should. That's Philosophy In Your Corner by Court Ellyn.

In honor of the cusp of spring, here are two timely masterpieces for your enjoyment:

An Orchard In Spring
Claude Monet, 1886


Springtime at Giverny
Claude Monet, 1880

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Title? Who Needs a Title?

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TODAY'S PROGRESS
Project: Falcons Rising
Pages Rewritten: 4
Pages Cut: 4 1/2
New Scenes: 0
Bad things that happened: Rhoslyn reveals herself to be the most needy person ever!
Good things that happened: Um . . . the shellfish was nice?

Today was obviously about cutting crap, while making use of (and greatly reorganizing) the few odd lines here and there. *whew* I'm still not happy with the flow of the scene, which was intensely emotional, and I'm not sure I was up to it. But there's always the next read-through, so I can relax about it and move on.

Art of the Week:

Stairwell of the Hotel Tassel, a town house built by Victor Horta in Brussels for the Belgian scientist and professor Emile Tassel in 1893-1894. Considered the first true Art Nouveau building.

Enjoy!

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Progress Report, 2-15-11

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TODAY'S PROGRESS
Project: Falcons Rising
Pages Rewritten: 5
Pages Cut: 3 1/4
Bad things that happened: Kelyn drinks too much poppy wine and becomes easy prey. For whom, you ask?
Good things that happened: Still nothing (very evil laugh follows)

Side note: I have spring fever. It's 70 degrees and sunny here, and I wrote with the back door open and thought I had gone to heaven.


Art of the Week:

SHADOWLANDS
Gloria Scholik, 2010

(I love the fairy's distrustful expression!)

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Gift Shopping Update

Oh, dear, did we go nuts on buying gifts for Manalito. Of course we wanted to buy the biggest and most, like the Hot Wheels. At first we put into the cart the package with six cars, but on second thought had to choose the package with only three. Same with the Legos. My husband is all about Legos, so he picked out this huge scorpion creature, but we had to go with the smaller spider and medium shark. Then we went for the soccer ball and air pump. Picked up one air pump, but lo! and behold, there was a smaller one nearby. And, yes, we deflated the soccer ball, but it still wouldn't fit with all the clothes and hygiene items. *sigh* Off to the post office I go to get a second box.

We went with those flat-rate boxes and I knew shipping was going to be expensive, but I didn't anticipate quite that expensive. Yikes. That does it for anyone else receiving anything from us. Well, I guess we'll still get the nieces and nephews something. Everyone seems to be cutting back on the gift-buying this year, so there's no need to go overboard anyway. Which is a vast relief.

Expensive or not, nothing has given me more joy than to buy stuff for this child. I just wish I could bring him home with me, but I need to pray that Manalito will be a blessing to his own people, moving mountains for them, one person at a time, perhaps.

Christmas art to ponder:

Nativity (Holy Night)
Antonio Da Correggio, 1528

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New Ideas, Rare and Precious

It's rare anymore for me to find a story idea that takes hold of my imagination and hangs on till I reach "The End." I feel like I'm floundering about, pretending to be busy with a great idea until a better one comes along. All the while, the mental tentacles are feeling around for that new inspiration. It's a murky sea, with low visibility most of the time.

So I was checking out the upcoming themes list on Duotrope the other day and came across an anthology by Dead Robots' Society that grabbed hold of one of those mental feelers and wouldn't let go. The prompt for Explorers: Beyond the Horizon is "characters forever changed by their discovery of lands and worlds beyond their own." I have rarely found a prompt more suited to my taste. Half a dozen possibilities rose amid a frenzied brainstorm session. I finally went with one and started typing. The only problem is that the word count must be under 5000 words. I have trouble keeping stories under 8000, so this will be a challenge. Even if the anthology doesn't accept the story, their prompt gifted me with the brainfood that those mental tentacles were grasping for.

Granted, I undertook this brainstorm session while sipping tea laced with cold medicine. Does anyone else find that while on cold medicine their inner critic shuts up and ideas flow? Or is that my lame equivalent of an LSD trip? Ah, well.

Here's some art to ponder:

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST WITH TWO PUPILS
by Adelaide Labille-Guiard, 1785

We don't hear about too many women painters before the modern era. But this one is a jewel. That fact that Labille-Guiard featured the two future female artists under her wing in this grand self-portrait lets us know that they were out there, creating beautiful things in the vast shadows of their male colleagues. Though I seriously doubt these women painted while wearing their finest. :D Enjoy!

(Click on the pic twice to blow it up all the way. The lady even painted the seam in that shiny dress. Fantastic)
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Art of the Week, Sci-Fi

I have neglected to post any art from the sci-fi realm. Shame on me, for there are some amazing images appealing to the techie side of humanity lurking around out there. I just found a gorgeous one by JP Targete and thought I would share. I guess this one is a little more speampunk-ish, too:

THE CAPTIVE
JP Targete, 2003

As for writing, I have an enormous stack of paper to get through in one year's time. I have to remind myself that the text is printed on only one side of the paper. Then I remember that, b/c there will be so much new material and so many changes in the details, I will have to revise twice -- at least. I'm not panicking yet. Besides, I've set my own deadline. I can move it if I want. But I've already told too many people I'm shooting for December 2011. To hell with that. It's my deadline, I can move it if I want! Nope, not panicking. Though I do need to stop blogging now and get to those revisions . . .

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Art of the Week, Nov. 10

Here's a steampunk-style piece by Hungarian digital artist Kornel Ravadits. Hope it stirs the imagination:

BUDAPEST - Fantasy Panorama
Kornel Ravadits, 2006

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Art of the Week - November 3

I have no idea who painted this or what it's called. But it's striking. A flaming, almost organic, sunset over a dark sea. One of my favorite activities is to drive out west of my house (which is surrounded by trees) and find a treeless hill to watch the sunset. The Great Plains have unsurpassed sunsets. The ocean, too, apparently.

Chiura Obata (1885–1975) Setting Sun: Sacramento Valley, ca. 1925.
Hanging scroll: mineral pigments (distemper) and gold on silk.
Courtesy of Gyo Obata

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Writing High

Last week was hellacious, in a fun way. At least it ended that way. So I missed another week of posting, but no apologies this time. Life was hectic. In short, I was stuck in a house with eleven family members, half of whom were under the age of ten. Aaaah! Chaos. During the day the kids played with Tinker Bell dolls and watched really cheesy movies like Lady and the Tramp 2 and Alvin and the Chipmunks 2. Whatever happened to the originals that lacked the overdose of cheese? Well, at least in the case of the first above-mentioned movie there was no cheese, just spaghetti and creepy Siamese cats. In the evenings, we made smores around the firepit. Nice.

While I was happy to be with my chaotic family for a few days, the get together fell right in the middle of a writing high. I was pumping through the rewrites on the novel and experiencing that rare and amazing joy, so Monday and Tuesday, while I was preparing for this get-together, I was roaring and ranting and just ugly to be around b/c I was having to cut that high short. "High short"? How about "cut short that emotional high." Yeah, that's better. The inner editor is on key today, folks. Sorry about that. Point is, got home Friday night, so Saturday I dove (dived) back in and got through another chapter. I have only three chapters left until I finish this first half. Then it's on to the nasty second half that hasn't been touched in half a decade or more. I'm scared to see what's lurking in those cobwebby pages. I'll probably die of gag disease.

By the way, it's Monday! So here's some art for your brain:

Telling a Story Stitch by Stitch

Bayeux Tapestry, detail

1073-83

Page from the Belleville Breviary
John Pucelle, 1323-26

When the written word merited this kind of attention.














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Art and Apologies

Oh, dear. I neglected to post last week b/c I was laid up on the couch with a cold. 'Tis the season, says I. Nasty germs. But I'm over the worst, so here's some art for brainfood:


THE BIRTH OF VENUS
Sandro Botticelli, 1485-6
detail













A modern take on Botticelli's Venus,
unknown artist

Art of the Week - Roots

Okay, I decided to go ahead and post my art for the week even though I already posted today.

Going back to the beginning this week, admiring the cave art in Lascaux.

GREAT HALL OF THE BULLS, Lascaux, France,
c. 15,000-10,000 B.C.

I greatly enjoyed taking my art history courses out of order. Totally missing Art History I and II, I started with the third class in the series, which included the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, then the fourth class which, of course, dealt with modern art, like Picasso's cubist works. Then, the next semester I got to take Art History I, which started out with these marvelous and stunning roots of human art. I swear, Picasso must've traveled back in time ... or maybe his ancestors came from Lascaux. Or maybe the ancient world was populated with gifted people. The similarities are too close to be missed:

LA TAUROMAQUIA

Picasso, 1957

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Art and Autumn Fever

It's time for Art of the Week. I chose this week's offering because I'm so ready for Fall that it hurts. We're having an unseasonably warm, dry September, so I'm getting a little impatient for my favorite season to arrive. Here you go:




AUTUMN
by Alphonse Mucha,
my favorite Art Nouveau artist
















AUTUMN
by Russian Impressionist painter, Piotr Nilus,
1893

This one captures the chill in the air. Nearly all the leaves are gone. Autumn on the cusp of winter. November, maybe.



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Art of the Week, Sept. 7

Meh, so it's Tuesday... It's bizarre, it's surreal, it's Michael Parkes!




THE CREATION
by Michael Parkes, 1989



Parkes's work is so strange, it stretches my imagination to its limits. How about yours?

About writing: Some days it just doesn't happen. The magic belongs to someone else, has slipped off next door or something. I simply could not wake up today, despite two cups of coffee. Couldn't make myself get on the exercise bike either. Typed in some revisions on the novel and stuck it out for many pages, so all is not lost. Now I'm baking a big fat lasagna and mean to veg on the couch tonight and recharge with a good movie. I hope.

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Art and Jon Snow

Well, it's almost Tuesday and I haven't even thought about my "art of the week" entry. I think I'm gonna have to rework my little idea, to post some strange-lovely-wonderful art whenever I can post other material. Well, I'm posting, so how about some art? -

CASTLE BLACK AND THE WALL
by Ted Nasmith
(courtesy of www.tednasmith.com)

I've never had cause to anticipate a calendar before, but I can't wait till the new year so I can stare at paintings of the settings of my favorite novels ever, all year long. This one depicts, as the title says, the massive wall made of ice that protects southern Westeros from all the baddies of the far north of the world in George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. Now, personally, I'm not a huge fan of Nasmith. His human figures are stiff and unnatural, in my humble opinion, but his landscapes and cityscapes are really spectacular. I had imagined the buildings of Castle Black a little more rundown than depicted in this piece, but I suppose it might've looked like this a few centuries before Jon Snow signed up for the crows ... er, Night's Watch. So I can't complain. Anyhoo, I'm excited about this collection of art. Saw the calendar on the shelf yesterday and got to gawk at it before my husband rushed me out the bookstore door. He has to keep tabs on me when I'm in a bookstore or bad things will happen ... like weighing down the counter at the checkout and depleting a tiny bank account to nothing. I didn't have $16 in my purse so I had to put the calendar back on the shelf with a sigh -- and the slight terror that next time all these beauties will be bought up and I'll miss out. Please, please, please, someone save one for me.

Such wistful and powerful depictions (and the occasional reread of the previous novels) will tide me over until Dances With Dragons hits the shelves. *sigh* Ah, the waiting is exquisite.

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Art of the Week, Comparing

It's Monday already!? Yikes. Well, I wanted to try something a little different this time by posting two works of similar subject matter, but in totally different styles:

GREETING THE MORNING
by Dale Wicks
(courtesy of artbywicks.com)

















ABSINTHE DRINKERS
by Degas


















Early morning coffee and a stiff, hallucinogenic drink after hours. What could be better? Seriously, I love viewing these two side by side. People in repose, moods totally different, styles of human creativity at opposite ends of the spectrum, yet not. Colors and strokes separated into small dabs and small areas to create a whole that works.

About writing. Revisions have begun on "Dreamflier." I can openly write about it by title now. It didn't win the Shredder contest. Ah, well. It was up against some fun entries, so at least the contest made for a good reading and critiquing experience. While I can't agree with the voters who complained about some mysterious grammar issues (I'm a grammar Nazi, after all, and still haven't found anything wrong grammatically), they were right about the opening being less than smooth. I can do better. And now that I don't feel constricted by a word count requirement, I feel free to elaborate on some setting, etc. to fill out the picture. Can't wait to submit this one!

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Art of the Week, Aug 16

THE KNIGHT, DEATH, AND THE DEVIL
by Albrecht Durer, 1513

I love Durer's copper engravings. The stories they tell, the texture and lighting conveyed. His work was groundbreaking, setting new standards in this particular medium.

There's so much going on in this example, it takes a while to take it all in. The trees and Death's nag, especially, bring to mind the later work of Arthur Rackham, while the knight's warhorse is gorgeously Italian in influence.

Last May, I had the privilege to travel through southern Germany by train. It wasn't until I opened the tourist's map of Nuremberg that I realized Durer was from that city, an unexpected treat. His house, painted gaudily in red, still stands beneath the old medieval wall and reconstructed Nuremberg Castle. The place was packed with tourists, so I didn't pay to go in, just stood and stared in awe at the exterior and tried to absorb the vibes of genius. Not sure my efforts paid off. Ah, well.

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Art of the Week, Aug 9

THE CALLING OF SAINT MATTHEW
by Caravaggio, 1599-1600

The contrast of light and dark, the realism, expressions, movement, are all reasons why Caravaggio is one of my favorite painters. (If you've not had a chance to examine this one, please expand it to full size and indulge)

His work appeals to me as a historian as well. I mean, check out the costuming. My historical fashions reference books don't come in color.

And a bizarre combination of clothing it is. Doublets and hose you might see in a Romeo and Juliet play up against what I assume is more what folks in Jesus's time might actually wear. An artist's license, I suppose.

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About writing... It's wonderful when one word inspires a great idea, the brain cooperates and runs with it, and things fall together. At LegendFire, our irreplaceable Bird is hosting a contest in our Shredder forum. The deadline for submissions is today. The entry I wrote for last year's Shredder contest has yet to go anywhere. But this year's entry is blooming like a garden. It's been a long time since I've been this excited and optimistic about a story idea. I've come to a place near the middle climax where my vision is less clear, and so I'm stalling on diving in today. Clearly. I'm blogging instead. Shame on me. Well, now that I've confessed there's nothing to be done but get to it.

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Art of the Week

I'd like to try something and see if I can stay dedicated enough to it to keep it updated.

One of my favorite past times (when I have few a moments between activities or just to chill) is to find new and exciting art. Art History I, II, and III were, I believe my favorite courses in college, and believe it or not the ones that have proven most useful since. Art is everywhere. Iconic images are plastered on billboards, advertisements, television programs. Dozens of artistic styles from ancient Celtic to Art Nouveau enhance what might otherwise be dull webpages and letterheads. Point is, I love art! I love the way every style and movement from past centuries makes a new appearance here and there. All of humanity's past creativity meshed together in a tireless, eclectic mix that both honors that past while creating something new.

Instead of paying good money I don't have to collect my favorite art, I collect art images from across the web. Granted, most of my collection to date consists of art from the fantasy genre as that's what inspires my writing to expand to strange, new horizons (a necessity, for sure), and I can't apologize for that as there are some exciting things going on in the world of fantasy art. So along with the work of more classic, more widely known artists that one might find in a college text book, I mean to present a few from our contemporary, speculative genres as well. Images to inspire, challenge, and move anyone who cares to take a look.

To begin this whole project, the following is one of my all-time favorite paintings:

NORTH WATCH by Keith Parkinson
Magazine cover, oil on masonite

I think it's the isolation, the loneliness that comes with dedication to duty, that cause this piece to move me. And, of course, having a dragon to ride to work everyday is just too cool.